Everyone Pitches In

Making most of our meals from scratch is work. When I was employed and out of the house for 9 plus hours a day five days a week it was really, really hard to make a majority of our meals from scratch. I did the best I could but running in the local grocery store and grabbing a hot roasted chicken and microwavable mashed potatoes was so easy. Ordering pizza on a Friday night just seemed like a nice end to the tough work week. Now that I’m home we still have pizza once a week but we stepped up to gourmet pizza. Homemade, thick, cheese-stuffed crust with veggies and bacon or burger.  Our homemade pizza is better than any purchased pizza we have ever had. The cost difference is huge. The crust cost only cents to make, .54cents to be exact. Making the crust seemed daunting at first but we figured out how to use our stand mixer or our bread maker to combine the ingredients without the mess.

The sauce, cheese (we buy brick cheese and grate it ourselves) and toppings average $7.00. $8.00 for an extra large, extra cheese, meat and veggie topped, stuffed crust, 12 slice gourmet pizza. Yummm!

Now that I am a stay at home-school at home Mom I do not have any excuse to not feed my family healthy, homemade, and low-cost meals. The difference is that now everyone pitches in. The boys and I are home all day and we can have the dinner prep completed before lunch. All the chopping, peeling, and measuring is completed and ready for the oven. Meal prep is a great opportunity to spend quality time with your family. Math, problem solving, planning and motor skills are just some of the skills that can be developed during this time. The boys are willing participants and I overlook many calamities to keep the mood light and cheerful. We have found that including the boys in the meal preparation they are more agreeable to trying new foods and in eating meals that look nothing like their boxed competitors. My husband is “famous” for his homemade macaroni and cheese. Our oldest child (soon to be 22) still request this meal when she is home. The recipe is baked and uses white sharp cheddar cheese so it looks nothing like the blue box that most kids would eat 3 times a day if they could. When macaroni and cheese is on the menu the boys argue over who will grate the cheese which is usually all grated by noon.

My husband works 40-60 hours a week and still pitches in. On his day off he will cook the main meal or help the boys and I. When we first met I assumed I would always do all of the cooking. I am the wife is that not my job? I have discovered that cooking is no ones job and its every ones job. Confused? Everyone regardless of gender needs to know how to cook. Everyone has different tastes and ideas. When everyone is a part of the process then generally everyone ends up happy. Happy = Good and everyone benefits from that.

Why? Why? Why? Sounds so much like wah, wah wah !

Why is it so hard? Why do some days seem so much more difficult than other days? Tuesday seemed like a day of answers, every time I confronted an issue on Tuesday I had an answer. Example: Issue -gaining weight=answer-go to the gym;join weight watchers;go on a diet. Then Wednesday about 12 issues came up and I was helpless...or hopeless..or both? Today was a mix of answers and impossibilities! Very frustrating! It seemed as if today Will was in a bad mood and Luke was in a good mood. The first half of the day I did well on my diet, the second half..well...can you guess? Britt was solving problems and Ben was making problems? Just a weird day altogether. I used to think it was my mood that navigates the direction of my day. However i am not so sure. Wednesday I was ready to seize the day, I had the right attitude I just couldn't make anything happen. Same thing for today...I was ready and approaching my day with a positive attitude ..yet something was/is missing and I cannot figure it out.

On to a more positive note...please.... I am depressing myself! Will (6) has really turned into a reader. This morning as I sat with my coffee he came into the living room sat down and picked up the newspaper and began reading it!!! Okay, Ben and I have read to Will since we knew we were pregnant. We do not have a TV in our living room, nor do we have any cable access. Ben and I are also both avid readers. Okay ..maybe not avid...we both have almost always have a book that we are reading. Will has been reading for almost a year now. In the beginning he read words he recognized. Like the STOP sign and words here and there in story books. Then he began reading sight word stories. (these are sold as kits at Borders-highly recommended). By May of last year he was reading most of his bed time books with our help. By December he was reading small books all by himself and now, March he is reading just about everything. This amazes me. I understand the process of memorizing words at a young age, what I don't understand is his grasp for sounding out words that are NOT phonetic. Like the word aphids, he already seems to know a lot of the major rules of reading. Even the rules that do not make sense. He has figured out how to use the pictures if there are any, and the structure of the sentence to determine what a word is when he is unsure. And ..this is the kicker.. he remembers! and is consistent! Yeah Will!!!! Did I also mention he is doing Math, no? well, that's
another whole story.........................

This Time of The Year

Yep, it's THAT time of year. You know what I mean. The calendar says it's spring but there is still snow outside and in the forecast. Ugh!!! Well, I have pulled out some spring clothes and ..well...guess what? They are tight. Yep, I weighed in at almost 20lbs heavier than in June of 06. I started back at the gym last week. See... I already kinda knew I had gained some weight when my current clothes were getting tight too. The key is not to stop going to the gym. That is the plan, even if I hafta go at night, I need to go 3 times a week. I have also decided to go back to weight watchers. I can walk from my house and the support is fantastic! This will be my 3rd time joining weight watchers. After my 3rd baby I lost 50lbs! The other thing I did was start tanning. Not so much for the tan, more for the sun. Tanning is another thing I do, usually in the spring. It helps my mood, lightens my hair and I get a bit of color. Mainly I go for the uplift...it's weird but it works. I am a bridesmaid in a June wedding so I am setting my goal for 20lbs lost by June 15. (12 weeks away =1.6? lbs a week) Wish me luck. I have another incentive, besides my overall health and the wedding. I got a motorcycle for Valentines Day! A cute little Suzuki 650 She's Buck Cherry Red and...I love her. Anyway if I am going to bomb around town I want to look good...no thunder thighs on the bike...that's just not cool. So tonight weight watchers, tomorrow the gym, I can do this!!!!