Epiphany, Part II

I hope that whomever is out there reading this is not expecting an incredible advancement in the theory of home economics because I simply don’t have one.  What I have discovered in the past few weeks is a system that works for our family.  The lists that I was so afraid of making are now not so scary.  I modified the system a little to meet my needs.  Here’s what I came up with:

At the beginning of each two week period I make a list of recipes that I want to make for dinner, a mix of old stand bys and new experiments.  I don’t assign the recipes a day that way I don’t feel too pressured to make that specific item if I don’t feel like it or someone’s sick or whatever.  Dinner time can still be a little hectic but I am feeling much better about it.

I have taken the same approach with the housework.  I make a mental list of all the things I want to accomplish and work on a few things a day until all of the chores are done for the week.  This has been working out really well and I don’t feel stressed or grumpy when cleaning.  And the house actually stays so much cleaner!   I grew up with the typical “clean the entire house on Saturday morning” routine and so I always thought I had to do everything all at once.  Now that I know I can’t do it all at once and I have to do a little at a time I am so much happier! 

I have reluctantly decided to stop doing the laundry every two weeks and start doing it every Monday.  The laundry is my least favorite chore so I always did it as least often as possible and no one needed it done more often than that anyway.  But, I thought  doing it more often would be less time consuming and less irritating.

So, there you have it!  Nothing even remotely fascinating or exciting.  Just some small changes in one mom’s life that have made a huge difference!  Here is a list of some of the things that I have learned since starting my journey:

-  Laundry, like people you don’t particularly care for, is better tolerated in small doses.

-  The vacuum cleaner handle that had been duct taped together for the past three years was not broken but just put together wrong!  It is now duct tape free and working great.

-  Recipes written for moms include way too much canned soup, Bisquick, and instant rice!

-  Simple Green really is awesome at taking the grease stains out of clothing!  This stuff is amazing!  It even takes out old stains that have been through the wash several times already.  A real clothing saver!

As a treat for another long post enjoy some pictures of our trip to Countryside Farms with Thomas’ preschool class.

My best attempt at getting a picture of the elusive Noelle!

Getting Ready

We’ve had lots of fun getting ready for Halloween!  Thomas and Noelle have both been enjoying the decorations in the house.

We had a great evening sharing dinner with friends last Thursday  My homemade pumpkin cupcakes with spider web decorations were a hit with the kids.

With the left over pumpkin I made some pumpkin pancakes for breakfast the next morning.

  

They were good but a little to “cakey” for me, I like a thinner pancake.   If anybody has a good recipe send it to me!

Epiphany

I hate to do the laundry.  I mostly just hate putting it away.  I hate hanging up all of Noelle’s little dresses and finding the little panties that go with each one to hang them up as a set.  I hate that there are always matchless socks.  I hate carrying mass amounts of laundry up and down the stairs.

I hate to clean the house.  I love for things to be clean and organized but I hate making it that way.  I hate that when I clean I feel angry at the people who made the messes.  I hate that I  always put everything off until the day before I go back to work so that I feel rushed and anxious about getting it all done.

I hate dinner.  I don’t hate cooking nor do I hate eating nor do I hate spending time with the family at the table, in fact I love all of those things.  I hate trying to figure out WHAT is for dinner.  What do we have time for, what I have the ingredients for, what will be creative and delicious.  I’m so sick of all of our staples and I have been staying away from all convenience and prepackaged foods in an attempt to not only teach our children about healthy eating but also in an attempt to give them a more refined palette. 

I thought and thought and thought about all of these things for a few months….

Then my good friend Beth put a post on Facebook about how she was having an epiphany and I decided that I would have one too!

I had heard of other people making menus for the week (like my awesome neighbors) or even the MONTH (like crazy Christina, miss you!), but I never thought that would fit my lifestyle.  I had also heard of people making schedules for their housekeeping, like Brandi, http://dillydabbler.blogspot.com/search/label/house%20keeping , who has inspired me several times even though I have never met her! 

If you know me you know ILOVE LISTS!  I am the listy-est person I know.  I was very hesitant about making these lists though because if I write it down it must be done!  I was very worried that if I started making weekly menus or chore lists and then didn’t complete them I would feel like a failure and then I would be worse off than I already was!!

After thinking about it forever I just decided to go for it, to let my epiphany take over my life.  I needed new direction and a purpose!  I work 72 hours in 6 consecutive days so that I can spend 8 full days at home with our children.  But I found that a lot of those days were wasted running around doing errands or other days just lounging around feeling bored.  I wanted to shake up my life!

I know you’re thinking, with a menu? 

This is the longest post ever!  So, I’ll finish by telling you I have been working my epiphany for a month or so and I’ll blog in a few days about how it’s going.

As a treat for sticking around this long, here’s Pismo!  She’s growing like a weed and contrary to what Dave might tell you she is not the most dimwitted dog on the planet!