Works for Me: Nothing

I thought I should mention that I haven't "quit" Works for me Wednesday - I just haven't been able to come up with anything brilliant that works for me, lately. Between having a house full of sick people, getting in arguments with people, and the general chaos that reigns in my house when it comes to housework, I haven't felt at all qualified to sit on high and make pronouncements about better ways to do things.

It must be going around, because Shannon couldn't think of anything today, either.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine. We're fine. The kids are better (although Claire is still hoarse, and if she isn't over it by Monday I'm going to take her to the doctor - and I just wrote, and had to correct, "take her to the vet." I am an excellent mother). The house isn't really that bad, mainly because I haven't been cooking a whole lot, lately. It's too hot, and we've been too busy. The toys have spread out of the toy room, again, and it could use a vacuum, but it's not like the city is coming by to condemn my house any time soon.

I could use a few suggestions, though. For one thing, Claire has been climbing the chairs and sitting on the dining room table. The chairs are cheap (hooray Ikea) so she can actually pull them out and climb them. Does anyone have any good ideas for how to stop her? Preferably ideas that won't interfere too much with the normal use of the chairs. I'm not excited about, say, putting them upside down on top of the table, the way we had to do with our chairs at the end of the day in school, because she could pull them down on top of herself. BJ's thinking bungee cords, but that sounds like a pain in my neck. Maybe I'll just put a stack of books on each chair's seat, so that they're harder to pull out. Lord knows we have enough books!

MG loves the movie Monsters, Inc., she calls the music at the beginning, during the credits, the "door music" because of all the doors that open and close during the opening sequence. Well, we have a Disney book called "Family Story Collection Volume 2" which has a bunch (75 actually) of stories from the Disney movies, and yesterday she was excited to find that Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. are on the cover, and there are two Monsters, Inc. stories in the book. Hey, she's 2, it was a big thrill. Well, she just brought the book over to me, and said, "Look, Mommy. This book has door music!" She was pointing to the "bibliography" page at the end, where it says in fine, centered print which story came from which movie. Then she said, "Something must be wrong, it's not moving!" Apparently the credits in the book are supposed to roll like the credits in a movie. HA!

The other thing I need a suggestion on is kind of fun... Our friend, we'll call him Jacques because he gets all irritated when I put him "all over" the internet (as if anyone reads this!), has a cousin, we'll call her Justine, because that's her name, who is coming from France on Friday to stay with Jacques for a month and improve her English. She's going to spend a lot of time with the girls and I while Jacques and his girlfriend, Fran, are at work all day. He wants to bring her over this weekend to have a meal with us and let us all get to know each other.

When I went to France as a teenager, I was so excited to try the food. Our first night, we had dinner at a prix fixe place where everyone got the same thing. Steak frites. Steak and fries. I was so disappointed to be served something I could easily get at home! I still remember it, what, 17 years later? That's a disappointing meal.

So, I want to make the "All American Meal" for Justine. I was thinking meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, but that's a pretty heavy meal for summer. It's more of a cool weather meal. Then I thought about burgers and hot dogs on the grill, with potato salad and baked beans, but that didn't seem very interesting, either. I also considered tuna noodle casserole (with crunched up chips on top) and Jello salad, but I don't want her to run screaming back to the airport.

What is the "All American Meal"?

Thanks for the help! I hope something works for me next week!