I got back with the Flylady program on Tuesday, and I'm feeling much better, and have gotten a lot accomplished, too. I basically spring-cleaned the living room -- vacuuming under and behind furniture, washing windows, washing and re-hanging curtains. Plus I just submitted an article ahead of deadline, leaving me time later today and tomorrow to meet the next deadline.
The cooking indulgences continue: yesterday I revisited an old favorite recipe for dinner, and also made yummy cherry-berry jam. Easy, both of them, and delish!
Speaking of food, I've decided to take the Flylady/baby steps approach to my weight issues. Since I went cuckoo on Weight Watchers last fall, I've fallen off the wagon in a big way -- gaining back the 10 or so pounds I lost, plus five more. All told, I'd like to lose 20, but would probably settle for 15.
So my new mantra is: "one pound at a time." Translating, roughly, to "one pound a week." I think I can do that without feeling deprived or like too much of a martyr. Because, as I've already written in this space, I love to eat. Exercising is dicey these days, schedule-wise, but if I can just take off a pound a week until after the kids are back in school and my schedule (presumably) eases up a bit, I'll only have 15 pounds to deal with in the fall instead of 20.
And one final note in this brain dump: the other night, when I was feeling so grumpy, I started reading The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson. Very few books make me laugh out loud. This one does, every single time I sit down and read a few pages. I highly recommend it.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
(Dragon-)Fly Lady
I overdid the flinging and flying today, and I'm grumpy, tired and a little sad about it. Harrumph.
Monday is "house blessing" day -- so I spent an hour doing a very basic dusting/vacuuming/mopping/cleaning mirrors/changing beds/emptying trash. No biggie, and the house looked and smelled pretty nice from it.
Then, I took on the daily mission for the "zone" for the week, which is the living room. The mission itself, which was to re-think the various decorations on shelves, etc., was pretty easy. But then I got started on the toys.
So many toys! I spent a couple of hours going through the various toy boxes and baskets in the living room and dining room, and set aside some to give away. I think I just spent too long on them, though, and I'm feeling very overwhelmed and cranky about how many more there are to deal with, in the family room and the kids' rooms.
I should have just set my timer for 15 minutes, like I'm supposed to. But I got carried away, and instead of feeling proud of what I accomplished, I'm dreading having to deal with the rest of the toys.
Perhaps there's a lesson here. Like, don't bite off more than you can chew (deal with the toys in that one corner of the living room instead of everywhere the toys are stashed on the main floor.) Like, take a break (I never got to the gym or did any writing or had any fun today.) Like, take baby steps instead of trying to run a marathon (just do the mission and don't create additional work for yourself.)
And now, I'm going to read for a while. I deserve some fun. Harrumph.
Monday is "house blessing" day -- so I spent an hour doing a very basic dusting/vacuuming/mopping/cleaning mirrors/changing beds/emptying trash. No biggie, and the house looked and smelled pretty nice from it.
Then, I took on the daily mission for the "zone" for the week, which is the living room. The mission itself, which was to re-think the various decorations on shelves, etc., was pretty easy. But then I got started on the toys.
So many toys! I spent a couple of hours going through the various toy boxes and baskets in the living room and dining room, and set aside some to give away. I think I just spent too long on them, though, and I'm feeling very overwhelmed and cranky about how many more there are to deal with, in the family room and the kids' rooms.
I should have just set my timer for 15 minutes, like I'm supposed to. But I got carried away, and instead of feeling proud of what I accomplished, I'm dreading having to deal with the rest of the toys.
Perhaps there's a lesson here. Like, don't bite off more than you can chew (deal with the toys in that one corner of the living room instead of everywhere the toys are stashed on the main floor.) Like, take a break (I never got to the gym or did any writing or had any fun today.) Like, take baby steps instead of trying to run a marathon (just do the mission and don't create additional work for yourself.)
And now, I'm going to read for a while. I deserve some fun. Harrumph.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Domestic goddess-in-training, part the second
Yesterday, I indulged in what used to be one of my favorite pastimes: cooking. This is very closely related to another favorite pastime: eating. How I love to eat! But that's a topic for another day.
Back to cooking. I used to subscribe to Cooking Light, a wonderful magazine about cooking food that's good and good for you. Plus a whole lotta other stuff, like recipe makeovers, travel (yawn) and fitness (sigh.) I'd let my subscription lapse because I never had time to deal with all the fussy ingredients, but I was getting tired of the same old same old, so I bought a copy a couple of weeks ago.
Yesterday, I needed inspiration for dinner, so I settled on a chicken shawarma recipe from the magazine. After scouting Stop & Shop for tahini for more than 20 minutes, I finally found it in the natural food section, not in the international foods aisle, where anyone with half a brain would stock it. I had Greek yogurt in the fridge already (quite unusual) so I got to work about 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I was also making sweet cherry pie, a recipe from the same issue, at the same time.
Multitasking is not my forte, but both recipes got made and onto the table. Abby liked the shawarma, Timmy tolerated it and Brian hated it. But Earl and I had a great time, remembering what it was like when we'd try new recipes regularly, and enjoying this one. I didn't love the pie; I think there's a reason most cherry pies are made with tart cherries, not sweet ones. But Earl did, and Timmy, too.
The whole cooking/baking thing took me nearly two hours, and I was tired of standing in my kitchen afterwards, but it helped me reconnect with a part of my life that has been noticeably absent for a few years. I've been so concerned, wanting the kids to always like what I'm cooking, but now I'm thinking that once a week or so, it won't hurt them to try something new. I'll just plan to have parts of the meal that they do like, and if they don't like the entree, they can have the sides. After all, there's more to life than chicken nuggets.
Back to cooking. I used to subscribe to Cooking Light, a wonderful magazine about cooking food that's good and good for you. Plus a whole lotta other stuff, like recipe makeovers, travel (yawn) and fitness (sigh.) I'd let my subscription lapse because I never had time to deal with all the fussy ingredients, but I was getting tired of the same old same old, so I bought a copy a couple of weeks ago.
Yesterday, I needed inspiration for dinner, so I settled on a chicken shawarma recipe from the magazine. After scouting Stop & Shop for tahini for more than 20 minutes, I finally found it in the natural food section, not in the international foods aisle, where anyone with half a brain would stock it. I had Greek yogurt in the fridge already (quite unusual) so I got to work about 4:00 yesterday afternoon. I was also making sweet cherry pie, a recipe from the same issue, at the same time.
Multitasking is not my forte, but both recipes got made and onto the table. Abby liked the shawarma, Timmy tolerated it and Brian hated it. But Earl and I had a great time, remembering what it was like when we'd try new recipes regularly, and enjoying this one. I didn't love the pie; I think there's a reason most cherry pies are made with tart cherries, not sweet ones. But Earl did, and Timmy, too.
The whole cooking/baking thing took me nearly two hours, and I was tired of standing in my kitchen afterwards, but it helped me reconnect with a part of my life that has been noticeably absent for a few years. I've been so concerned, wanting the kids to always like what I'm cooking, but now I'm thinking that once a week or so, it won't hurt them to try something new. I'll just plan to have parts of the meal that they do like, and if they don't like the entree, they can have the sides. After all, there's more to life than chicken nuggets.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Domestic goddess-in-training
This week, I recalled that I used to read a website called Flylady, which offered all kinds of hints, motivation and encouragement to not only keep a clean house, but one which offered peaceful and tranquil surroundings. My house isn't dirty, but with three kids, there's a lot of stuff, and I've been feeling boxed in by the clutter. So I took a gander at the Flylady website, and signed up for the email group.
Immediately my inbox was flooded with emails explaining about Flylady, giving tips for a cleaning routine (called a "weekly house blessing"), a morning routine, a new daily cleaning habit, ideas to get kids to pitch in, and a deep-cleaning zone of the week. I felt a little overwhelmed, but the emails assured me I wasn't behind, that I could take baby steps, and I could do anything for 15 minutes. So I gave it a try.
Monday I did the house blessing (vacuum, dust, mop, change sheets, empty trash, wipe down the bathroom and a few other things I don't remember) and tackled the out-of-control pile of photos in the master bedroom, which was the zone for the week. The house blessing took an hour and the photos I got out of there and put into boxes to deal with another time in less than 15 minutes. I did the daily bathroom wipedown and kitchen-sink shining. My house looked better already.
Since then, I've cleaned my bedroom closet; dealt with nightstand and dresser clutter; polished my bedroom furniture; organized and cleaned the non-kids bookshelves in the house; washed the bedroom windows; changed my bed again, including washing all the linens and flipping the mattress; washed the bedroom curtains; and cleaned my bathrooms and kitchen sink daily. All in mostly 15-minute intervals.
And I've kept up with most of the other stuff I had to do, too -- caring for kids, of course; practicing violin with Abby; cooking meals; meeting my column deadline; working on other stories, and teaching a full day on Tuesday. I didn't make it to the gym on Thursday but it was pouring rain. I'll get there today.
One thing I like about Flylady is the constant emphasis on baby steps, and the reassurance that things don't have to be perfect. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, but breaking down big tasks into small steps and not insisting on perfection is very liberating.
If I were braver I'd post a photo of my sparkly uncluttered bedroom. You'll have to trust me on this one.
Immediately my inbox was flooded with emails explaining about Flylady, giving tips for a cleaning routine (called a "weekly house blessing"), a morning routine, a new daily cleaning habit, ideas to get kids to pitch in, and a deep-cleaning zone of the week. I felt a little overwhelmed, but the emails assured me I wasn't behind, that I could take baby steps, and I could do anything for 15 minutes. So I gave it a try.
Monday I did the house blessing (vacuum, dust, mop, change sheets, empty trash, wipe down the bathroom and a few other things I don't remember) and tackled the out-of-control pile of photos in the master bedroom, which was the zone for the week. The house blessing took an hour and the photos I got out of there and put into boxes to deal with another time in less than 15 minutes. I did the daily bathroom wipedown and kitchen-sink shining. My house looked better already.
Since then, I've cleaned my bedroom closet; dealt with nightstand and dresser clutter; polished my bedroom furniture; organized and cleaned the non-kids bookshelves in the house; washed the bedroom windows; changed my bed again, including washing all the linens and flipping the mattress; washed the bedroom curtains; and cleaned my bathrooms and kitchen sink daily. All in mostly 15-minute intervals.
And I've kept up with most of the other stuff I had to do, too -- caring for kids, of course; practicing violin with Abby; cooking meals; meeting my column deadline; working on other stories, and teaching a full day on Tuesday. I didn't make it to the gym on Thursday but it was pouring rain. I'll get there today.
One thing I like about Flylady is the constant emphasis on baby steps, and the reassurance that things don't have to be perfect. It's easy to feel overwhelmed, but breaking down big tasks into small steps and not insisting on perfection is very liberating.
If I were braver I'd post a photo of my sparkly uncluttered bedroom. You'll have to trust me on this one.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Latest family column
My latest "Just a Minute" family humor column ran in Saturday's Patriot Ledger.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Abby, the opera idol
I just got this in an email from the paraprofessional who goes to lunch with Abby at summer camp:
Thursday at lunch the kids were pretending to have an American Idol contest -- an opera singing contest. Everyone had a turn and let's just say they were not so great. Then it was Abby's turn and it was AWESOME!! The kids and I were shocked at her great voice. Just thought I would share that she is the opera idol at camp.
That's my girl. Let them hear your voice.
Thursday at lunch the kids were pretending to have an American Idol contest -- an opera singing contest. Everyone had a turn and let's just say they were not so great. Then it was Abby's turn and it was AWESOME!! The kids and I were shocked at her great voice. Just thought I would share that she is the opera idol at camp.
That's my girl. Let them hear your voice.
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