I haven't planned side dishes yet, but I'm going with salad and fresh veggies with ranch and fruit salad with whatever fruits and veggies are on hand this week. It's baseball season and life is too busy for fancy meals.
I'm streamlining my Whole 30 eating for this week too. I'm either having the same breakfast, the same lunch, and the same dinner, or having what the family is having if it's Whole 30 friendly. I have too much to do this week to take joy in cooking and eating. I'll be eating in a rush most days this week. Next week I'll try to slow it down a bit and be more conscientious.
So here goes:
Monday: Breakfast - cereal for kids and eggs for me
lunch for me - a smoothie and nuts.
Dinner- Korean beef over rice for the family and lettuce wraps for me with avocado and pastrami
Tuesday: Breakfast - bacon and fruit for both kids and myself
lunch for me - veggies and hard boiled egg
dinner - cereal for the kids - don't ask - they talked me into it. And it's a late baseball night so it works for me. I'll have the same lettuce wraps with avocado that I'm having Monday.
Wednesday: Breakfast- Oatmeal cookie bake for the kids (it's healthy, I promise), and roasted veggies in scrambled eggs for me
lunch for me - smoothie and nuts
dinner - chicken and broccoli bowls for the whole family
Thursday- yogurt parfaits for the kids, roasted veggies and eggs for me
lunch for me- vegetables and hard boiled eggs
dinner - steak sandwiches for the family, steak on lettuce wraps for me
Friday: Breakfast - Sausage and applesauce for kids and myself
lunch for me - smoothie and nuts
dinner- homemade pizza for everyone - family movie night - Mine will be on a cauliflower crust
Saturday - breakfast - eggs and toast (mine without toast)
lunch for me - we'll be at a carnival type thing and the kids and hubby will have hot dogs, etc...I'll bring nuts and fruit to have
dinner - out after church
Snacks for me will be fruit and dried seaweed snacks.
Snacks for the kids will include fresh fruit and cheese (Babybels or string cheese) and the occasional nuts.
I have a few projects I'm wanting to get to. I'm trying out a new scheduling technique soon that will hopefully get me into my craft room more often to feed my soul. I've been working a lot lately of self-talk and how crafting fits into my life. I have this feeling like I can't craft unless I am done with all the 'important stuff'. I'm working on that. Crafting is good for me in so many ways and I need to treat it like the valuable part of my life that it is. It is part of the 'important stuff'.
So what's on my list for the coming months?
Quilts for my girls! They moved into big girl bed a long time ago and they're still just using blankets from around the house. I can't find anything I'd like to buy so I decided to make them quilts that match their bedroom. I'll be shopping for fabric this week and hopefully can share a sketch/plan with you soon.
Project Life- I'm uploading pictures today and hope to get started on this year's PL soon. I'd like to have January done by the end of next week. That shouldn't be too hard because this year I've planned a lot more on combining weeks.
More scrapbooking- I have a stack of pages that I am ready to roll with, purchases done, pictures printed, etc...maybe I'll plan myself a little scrapbooking retreat in my office for a day.
Skirts and scrubs - I have an idea for my girls that involves bandannas to make skirts. I might move this one up on the list because I just heard their school will be doing a 'dress like a cowboy/cowgirl' day sometime this spring. They already have the boots, it'd be cute to make the skirts to go with them.
Also, I'd like to try custom making my husband a pair of scrubs for work. He has brands he loves but they always have one thing he'd like to change. I'd love to make him one pair that has all the features and fits he wants.
So that's it right now. There are, of course, a bazillion more things I want to make, but that's what I have narrowed it down to for the immediate future.
Oh! I also need to start thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week!
That's quite the title isn't it? I decided to not simplify or be catchy, but rather to go with something as complex as my life. I think all moms should, at some time, acknowledge how complex and all-encompassing it is to run a household.
This post has been rattling lightly in the back of my head for a while. You know why I did it today? Because it's an imperfect day. I was waiting for a great day that flowed smoothly and I was productive and...and while I wasted time waiting for that day, I realized it also wasn't real. It's not the reality of my day to day. My day to day rarely works out as planned. When it does, I've noticed, it's a day that doesn't have much planned because of some event, like an all day field trip.
So here's the truth about how today started. (I started this post last Thursday, so it's really about how last Thursday started.) ;)
I woke up a little after 2 this morning to go to the bathroom. That happens almost every night since having children. ;) But I couldn't get back to sleep for quite a while. I fell back to sleep around 4:30, but my alarm goes off at 5.
5- got up and tried to go back to sleep on the couch
5:30- couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and made lunches, sent my hubby on his way, and started the kids a breakfast of waffle sticks (homemade and frozen waffles from another time make a fast school morning breakfast!). I reviewed my day and prioritized it, and wasted a bit of time doing something I can't remember right now.
6:45- Woke up the kids for school. Got them and myself ready. Swapped a load of dishes.
7:30- Took the kids to school and then went to Trader Joe's for just a few items I forgot on Monday. I don't usually forget items. I am a great list maker. But this week is somehow off. My husband thinks I'm getting sick. I'm in denial about that because I've been eating healthier and that has relayed into getting sick less than everyone else in the house. I carry a bit of pride about that. I might soon be humbled.
8:30- Stopped at Starbucks on the way to home to treat myself to a mocha. I've been Whole 30 -ing January so at the last minute I ordered a hot tea instead. I'm proud of that one. I pulled into that drive through fully intending to break my no-sugar streak.
At home I unloaded groceries, and realized that I never started the dishwasher so I did that. ;)
9 am - Put dinner in the crock pot and sat down to waste a bit of time going through e-mails and watching YouTube. My plan was to work on a Social Studies curriculum unit I'm writing and I got stuck on it so I sent a survey out and took a break.
I wasted a lot of time on You Tube. I was really tired. I put a load of laundry in and that made me feel less lazy.
11 am- I was waiting for dishes so I could start some chili for myself. They were still drying so I put some apples in a pot to make applesauce. I scored organic red delicious apples at Sprouts yesterday for $0.48 per pound! They're not my favorite to eat but they make good sauce and we eat applesauce so I decided to make some. They also had organic Braeburns and I do love to eat those so I got those too ($0.98 per pound).
Once that was simmering on the stove I decided to take my iPhone outside to the backyard and do a quick tour of my backyard suburban homestead. Over the last few years, and with a Back to Eden no-til garden, I've had great summer gardens that are constantly expanding. That has given me a little more confidence to add more in to my yard and try a fall/winter garden. Here's the YouTube video I made of that tour.
I am slowly adding more, but not too much. We plan to start looking for property to move to in about 5 years so I want to plant stuff I'll be able to use a lot between now and then. I can't have chickens in my area of the city and I have elementary aged kids who love to play outside so there is only so much room for growing, but I thought it'd be nice for someone in the same situation to see how I make it work as much as possible.
This video tour doesn't include my front yard, which is slowly getting fruit trees, a butterfly garden, and an herb garden.
Then I sat down to write this post. I stopped in the middle to turn off the apples while they cooked so they could cool and be blended and I switched the laundry.
At 11:40 I realized I hadn't eaten much today and was suddenly starving. I do that sometimes. I started the chili and contemplated waiting for it to finish and decided that was a bad idea. Waiting for food when I'm hungry usually ends up with me making bad food choices. I made a few of these prosciutto wraps with arugula from my backyard and avocado. I made them earlier in the week with apple instead of avocado and I like that better.
While the meat in the chili was browning I started back on this post. Once caught up I started working on my Social Studies unit again.
1 pm-I worked for an hour on my unit, stopping occasionally to stir the chili. Then I felt the sleepless night hit me like a wall. I tried to lay down and get a quick power nap in before getting the kids. It's about balance here, trying to give myself grace and still be productive.
1:30- Got up, wasn't sleeping. Starting catching up on itemizing my expenditures.
1:45- got snacks and water and left to get this kids from school.
3:00- return from getting kids from school and got them started on homework.
While I was helping them with homework I was putting the final touches on dinner and swapping laundry and dishes...again.
5:00 By the time all this was done it was 5 and time to actually sit down and eat.
Anyone else fee like they spend far more time preparing food than eating it?
After dinner (5:30 ish) we took the dog for a walk.
By six we were home and I was having kids put their laundry away while I did mine, making notes for tomorrow, etc...
6:30 showers were started and rooms were getting ready. Some electronic play time was going on as well as some snuggle time. I got in the shower at 7. I prefer night showers.
7:50- prayer time and off to bed at 8.
The hubby got home right after 8. While he kissed the kids goodnight and read the Bible with our oldest (who actually has time in his room until 8:30) I got his portion of dinner heated up. We watched a recorded show, I think it was Fixer Upper and then I was in bed by 9.
I read My Utmost For His Highest in bed, but barely kept my eyes open. Lights were out for me by 9:15.
That's an exciting day around here. ;)
Every day looks different, some more productive than others. But I find that I'm often productive on some fronts but not all. I may nail my curriculum writing time but don't get much done around home. Or I get house projects done but not much of anything else. One day soon I hope to get into my craft room.
I made it through last week only going over the budget by $12! I was going to take it out of this month's but I decided to move money over from my Teachers Pay Teachers account so I could start fresh this month.
This week baseball practice starts. I am so not ready for another sports season. One day I'll make my kids take a year or so off of sports. Sigh.
The first practice/meeting is tonight so I have dinner in the crock pot for when we come home. I'm not sure if we'll have any other practices this week. We usually practice twice a week. Guess I'll find out tonight. Because of that I'm trying to plan some dinners that are a bit flexible if I need to swap them around to fit into a baseball practice schedule. I also couldn't decide on Friday's dinner so I put a few things down that I already have stuff for. I'm leaning toward the burritos because that's one I came up with while cleaning out and inventorying my deep freezer this week. I have re-fried beans in the freezer and tortillas. I'll also likely have leftover shredded chicken.
So here's what it looks like this week:
Monday: Breakfast - cereal - this is pretty much a Monday staple. (Paleo chili for me)
Dinner- crock pot three envelope roast (I don't use three envelopes, I make my own of all these products)- Ill make mashed potatoes and a green salad with this and I'll eat it too.
Tuesday: Breakfast- raspberry lemon muffins - this is experimental (apple delight for me)
Dinner- Spaghetti squash - I'm thinking a chicken pizza one? I don't know, it was on sale. I'll be eating this too.
Wednesday: Breakfast - toast, no nitrate bacon, fruit (just bacon and fruit for me)
Dinner- Chicken in sun dried tomato cream sauce (I think I'll eat this as well and call it my 1 dairy allotment for the week)
Thursday: Breakfast- banana bread (salsa eggs for me)
Dinner- hamburger chili dish (this will be my one carb for the week since it has brown rice and I don't want to make something separate. This will be my swap around meal if I need to make a second baseball practice meal)
Friday: breakfast- sausage and applesauce (same for me)
Dinner- breakfast or homemade pizza or burritos (I'll have mine on lettuce wraps)
Saturday - Breakfast- eggs for me and breakfast burritos for the fam
Dinner- out after church
Sunday- Breakfast- cereal bars for the kids (veggie omelet for me, and usually 1-2 of my kids ends up wanting this as well, which I am totally OK with)
Dinner- appetizers - I haven't decided on these yet, but the Super Bowl is on so I'll be making more than usual and likely have to make a separate trip to the grocery store. I'm sure I can make 2-3 of the appetizers something Paleo friendly for myself and still edible for the family.
And that's the week! I'll be working on some experimental veggie recipes for my cookbook and working on curriculum as well. I also have a ton of errand to run so some of these dinners are just plain lower key than normal.
Do you have a menu plan Monday posted somewhere? Leave it in the comments below! I'd love to see what you have planned.
