Read Drink and Be Bloggy

     Imagine being thrown in to a lab study course with absolutely zero training, no tried and true lab books, and no real professor. That's what it’s like to be a parent. Sure, there are books aplenty but what worked for one parent may not work for you, and what worked for ten parents most likely gives you a headache, and you better believe that if it worked for every other parent you have ever met you can forget it having a snowballs chance in hell with you. You'll try every suggestion and your kid will still look at you in such a way that makes you positive that if your precious little angel could talk they'd be saying "ha! Yeah right, ya dummy, better luck next time!"

     The best part is that what one day was a gummy smiling little bundle of happiness will the next become a raging, teething, nonsleeping kick your kidneys till they are black and blue ball of fury (should you do what I did and keep the baby in bed with you). As we speak its 1030 pm and I firmly believe that the db's insistence at giving baby a couple sips of coke at the 8pm dinner has caused baby to be laying T-boning me and repeatedly using both feet to try to kick in my liver. I know of course that in about 10 minutes he will pass out and become Mommy’s little angel once more, but in the mean time I'm writing to keep my frustration at a minimum.
     The Dh may not always be around to hand baby off to, and I may get called in to take over when he decides he no longer knows what to do with baby, but at least he’s there! These single moms I know... well they are quite simply amazing. How DO they do it?! And I have an easy kid!! I mean, I have the world’s easiest going child! What I consider throwing a fit is equivalent to some of my friends kids minor fussing. My mom reminds me hourly how lucky I am and how abnormally mellow tempered my son is. Still, to me, we have our hair pulling moments, too. Typically it’s him pulling my hair though, as opposed to me pulling out my own. We couldn't both do it or I’d have no hair left.
     The point, of this rather pointless entry, is that there IS no studying for being a good parent, there's no perfect parent (though there are definitely really crappy ones out there), but we all do what we can and for THAT we should give ourselves a pat on the back... Or better yet, grab your best mommy friend and pat her on the back…preferably while sobbing outyou’re your frustrations, cause you all know none of us would make it without each other to lean on.
     One thing you can be sure of: there's always someone that's going to judge you... just don't let that person be yourself! Unless you're one of those crappy parents, but, since you're reading this, you probably aren't one of those. Love you all my mommy friends. You get me through the tough times.

A Little Drink for Mommy
   the Opinion of an Alcoholic Natural Disaster by Angie (@angiedjw on twitter)

   Being a mom is hard, kids are the best things that can happened to someone ever, also the worse. It's fun & entertaining but it's also difficult, stressful & exhausting, basically it's chaos in diapers. How do I know this? Simple, I'm a Mom. Not just any mom, a mom of 3. My kidlets, as I commonly refer to them, are 8 and 4 years old and then there's the 15 month old. With needing to get 2 kids to 5 different activities and their associated practices and rehearsal times, as well as us both having full time jobs, and being active members of our church, we spend a LOT of time in the car, hurrying around, stressed, and plain simply tired. True we bring it all on ourself but hey we're molding little minds into active healthy members of society. No wonder Mommy needs a drink every now and then. Mommy's drink of choice, a mudslide! Yes MUDSLIDE, a drink made of alcohol named after a natural disaster, fitting for motherhood wouldn't you say?

Making a mudslide is easy (single serving recipe taken from here):

• ¾ oz Kahlúa
• ¾ oz Bailey's Irish Cream
• ¾ oz Absolut vodka
• plenty of ice

   Put it in a blender and let it spin, or put it in a shaker and shake, shake, shake senora, shake your alchy right. Or you can just pour the yummy stuff over ice and drink it like that, which is how I do it.
   I ran out of the Kahlua & Baileys not too long ago and asked Hubby to stop by the liquor store to buy another bottle of each, this was a mistake. Not because he doesn't know what the stuff is but because my empty bottles happen to coincide with New Years. Boy do people like to clear out the liquor for that. Instead of bringing me home the actual liquor he brought me home these:



I took this picture, not sure why these are sideways, maybe the bottles are drunk. I doubt it though.

    Not exactly the same. These are those pre-made drink mixes, that when drank straight from the bottle taste mostly like syrup. You've probably seen similar things like this in a 7-11 or local grocery for margaritas, pina coladas, & daiquiris but those have a lower alcohol %. But same deal, you MUST make these by pouring them over ice into a blender and making them frozen drink style.

Here's an honest review of each of the three:
My Mommy Drink:
  I use a modified version of recipe I found online 3 years ago (sorry can't point you to it since I lost the paper after I memorized it).

• 2 parts (or shots depending on how you chose to measure it) Kahlua
• 2 parts Baileys Irish Cream
• 1 full cup (yep 8 oz) 2%milk (you can also use cream if you'd like it really thick)
• 1 part vodka 

I don't blend it, but yes it is all over ice just as it is, so there is usually a lot of ice in the cup. As I mentioned, I use milk (and count it towards my daily dairy serving). What? It counts if I consume it right?

Baileys Mudslide:
  I made this one first when I ran out of the "real" Mudslide ingredients. I'll admit, I like those frozen drinks when you buy them at a restaurant, maybe they add an extra shot of one of the ingredients to make it extra yum. This didn't taste at all like those. When I made this I felt it was definitely lacking from the mudslides' I'm used to drinking that I make myself. It really should be noted it doesn't taste like the ones at the restaurants, at least not to me. Also, I'd probably have to drink about half the bottle before I felt any sort of effect from the alchol in it. Over the last two months I've mostly made them using this stuff, with no extra shots since again, I'm out.

Kahlua Mudslide:
  I am currently drinking one of these, as in, while I type this review out. See, look:



Woo are you drunk? Cause this cup is totally sitting upright.

   Taste wise it is very similar to the Bailey's one. This one does have a bit more of a syrupy kick to it though. I love syrup, you know, on pancakes. In my drinks, not so much.  I may have become immune to the it's-not-directly-from-the-bottle alchy effect or something. Again I'm thinking half a bottle later I may feel a tingle.
   For both of the pre-made mixes I fill my blender to the 1/4 mark and add twice the ice as the liquid level. It took about 1/4 of the Bailey's bottle before I found a good Ice-Liquid ratio that removed the syrup taste, this is where I got that equation...experimentation.
   Overall the drink mixes are not bad, just not my taste I'd say. If you are a big fan of the mixes from stores, then I suggest giving them a go. Just make sure you have a working blender. The best part of these drink mixes is that my kids "help" me make them by pushing the blender button. What? We're bonding, and I swear Mommy does not drink that much. Yea, I know, setting a bad example, bla bla bla. Hey FIVE activites, rehersals, practices, church activites, work AND they think Mommy's drink looks like chocolate milk so they are allowed to have that while I have my one drink.
   Sadly until those two bottles are empty I'm not allowed to buy the "real" mudslide ingredients.Sad for me of course. Can't waste money or liquor, afterall there is liquor in there and we've got "healthier" sport related activites to spend on. It's an unfair but understandable compromise between Hubbs and I. Next time though, I'm hittin the ABC store myself, otherwise Mommy might be A Big Crank!

A Real Mudslide, see it's not laying over drunk.

 Have you ever drank an alcoholic natural disaster? How was it?