Friday, October 11, 2013

I Took 4 kids to the Zoo by Myself and Guess What? It Was One of the Best Days Ever!

Last Tuesday I took my boys to the Zoo.

All four of them, all by myself.






And then I drove them up a canyon. . .



. . .and took them to the outlets and Main Street in Park City.




Crazy? Probably. But you know what? It was the most enjoyable day I've had in a long time. I really didn't raise my voice, or get stark, raving, crazy mad. In fact I was happy and calm all day. The boys listened. The baby was so good. And we just had such a great day.



I miss days like these. I miss being home with them. I was so sad to see the day fade away and come to an end. A day where we stole some "free" time and just enjoyed life. We used to get more days like this. Now it's back to working and being crazy busy with school and life, and maybe trying to actually do my homework. Maybe one day I'll get more days like this again :)

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Dinner? What's That?

Is that where you grab food from the freezer and warm it up in a skillet?

I seriously used to cook a lot more than I do now. But it has been so long, and I am so out of the habit. I have even forgotten about some of those recipes I used to cook, and enjoy, all the time. I miss cooking. I miss it being doable. It seems like such a hard task to accomplish these days.

Sometimes we get in good kicks where we prepare fresh salads, and try to eat fruit and veggies, but then all of the sudden there is a shift somewhere, and all that produce just ends up going bad. Lately I've been afraid to attempt to plan on cooking something that requires fresh produce because I'm certain plans will change, or something will come up, and the produce will go to waste.

Also, we always seem to be out and about doing something. When I was able to be at home more I would plan better, and pack lunches. But now we have to just get things done, and get them done now, so we run out the door and just take the loss of eating out.

We have been truly terrible at eating in, and saving money. And we really can't afford to eat out as much as we do. But with both of us working, and going to school, time, and energy, just seems to be far to fleeting to allow for home cooked meals. So I made us a schedule to try and inspire us to eat in. Instead of picking meals for each day of the month I picked a theme for each day of the week (Italian, Mexican, New Recipe, etc.).



This has helped us some, but I have to tell you, eating in leads to way more dishes. I mean before we had plates, cups, bowls and such from meals,-- even ones where we ate out-- but I'm just shocked at how cooking one simple meal can quadruple those dishes. And when you don't have a working dishwasher it becomes a real headache. I didn't need sleep anyway right? ;)

I have to confess, I feel no motivation to want to eat in whatsoever. There is the tiny fact that eating out just gets old. But with our lives so hectic and crazy I just miss the ease that comes from driving down to Little Ceasars for a $5 pizza. And trying to select healthy choices that can be quick and on the go, seems to be harder than one would think. I know, I know, there are always those things that say, "Healthy made easy" or "Eating healthy only takes a little more effort". But I'm afraid that little bit of extra effort can really become a huge mountain to climb when you can't even find time for homework. One future plan is to try and prepare food for the week on Sunday. We're still working on fitting that in.

I'd really like to get more of a handle on life. I'd like to feel accomplished at the end of the day instead of constantly stressed because I know I didn't get everything done that I needed to. I'm not even close to being on top of things. And I'm just taking it one thing at a time. As we slowly strive to get a handle on everything eventually we will work this all in. Until then my kids may be primarily made up of mac and cheese and microwave chicken nuggets.