unexpected change of plans

Yesterday I got a call from Taylor asking if I could take her and the babies to the doctor since her mother was feeling a little dizzy and couldn't drive. So I dropped Ellie off to play with Corinne (Taylor's mom watched the girls) and I took Taylor to the doctor. I picked her up at 10:30, and, due to some snow, a mis-scheduled appointment, running behind schedule, and waiting on blood tests, we got back around 1:30. During that time, Leif called me to ask if I could come pick him up from work. He had a migraine and was feeling awful. He got a ride with someone else and was sound asleep at 2:00 when Ellie and I finally walked in the door. I put her down for a nap and worked on putting away clothes. Leif got up around 3:00 and wanted me to spend time with him, and so I did until Ellie woke up. Then around 5:00 we all went into town to get some groceries and ate dinner at Costco.

Needless to say, I didn't get everything accomplished yesterday that I wanted. But we cleaned up after putting the groceries away and I am happy to say that I didn't sweat the stuff that didn't get done, and I woke up to a clean house this morning.

Today I got up and showered, got dressed, and made the bed. Then I worked on putting away Ellie's laundry while she ate breakfast. I got most of it folded and ready to put away when Susan Beth showed up for Latin at 9. Ellie played in her room most of the morning. We played blocks together for a while and then I worked on organizing some of her toys (aka finding puzzle pieces at the bottom of the toy box). And now Ellie is playing nicely, clad only in her diaper, bringing me pretend cake that she made. I did get her dressed this morning, but after Susan Beth left she wanted nothing to do with her clothes and pulled and cried until they came off. And so she has been running around in her diaper all day so far. *sigh* But you know what? It's okay.

I had a healthy breakfast this morning (scrambled eggwhites and one yolk with ham) and I'm going to eat a healthy lunch. Ellie had a good breakfast of cottage cheese and a little orange and then ate a chicken nugget and a lot of peas for lunch. She has had one cup of milk and a cup and a half of juice/water, and I have started working on my water for the day. And Ellie has watched no TV. We have played together and she has played by herself and it has been a good morning.

Progress...

A month ago I was overwhelmed by the chaos surrounding me. I still have days like that. But The house has been basically clean since I cleaned it Friday. We worked to maintain it (even the laundry!) over the weekend. And now I find myself comforted on Monday. I have a few things I would like to tidy up, but there is not the overwhelming mess left by days of activity. Though there were days of activity... Friday we had Ben and Kathy over for dinner (they brought the dinner and cooked it here), then Saturday and Sunday Leif's parents came out for Easter and to let us go out on a date Saturday night. But we cleaned up along the way and kept the dishwasher going when needed and today... no overwhelming mess!

Right now...

The bed is made.
Ellie is up, dressed, and fed.
I am dressed. (but lacking the shoes...)
The pantry is organized.
There is a mess under the kitchen table where Ellie smashed her crackers from breakfast.
There are a few towels that need to be put away.
The guest linens need to be washed, dried, and put away.
The craft room is a mess.

There are lots of things that need to be done, but lots of things are under control. And that is nice. Today is a new day, and it is a new week. And so, with my newly made bed as my starting point, I will work to make sure the house stays maintained today. I will work on the projects I need to finish and not stress over what doesn't get done. One day at a time. One project at a time. I can do anything in 15 minutes.

A New Day.

Today is a new day.

Today I am going to take control.
Today I am going to eat well.
Today I am going to record what I eat.
Today I am going to exercise.
Today I am going to work on picking up the house.
Today I am going to do my Bible Study.
Today I am going to smile.
Today I am going to live.

Because today is a new day and I am free.

Food? We have food?

This is sort of how I've felt about the way our pantry and fridge have been (dis)organized lately. I don't know what to make for dinner because I don't even know what we have. So we fend for ourselves or Leif makes dinner. How sad!

I feel like parts of my life are out of control, so I just want to control things. I want to have my craft room clean and in control. I want to have my food storage under control. And when they aren't and I feel overwhelmed by them, I turn to junk food and eat badly. It is momentarily comforting, but when the pounds start coming on again, I feel out of control and the cycle starts over again!

Leif asked how he could help me get things under control over the weekend. I said I'd like to get caught up on the laundry and get the fridge cleaned out. So he helped me and those things are done!!

My project for today is the pantry. I want to clean it out and organize it so I know what we have, what we need, and what I can make for dinner.

I'll tackle the craft room another day.

Routine Maintenance

I am not very good at routine maintenance. But today I did a little:

Vacuum mattress - CHECK
Rotate mattress - CHECK

Woohoo!

How does it happen so quickly?

It seems like every time I get the house clean it gets dirty again!

I was going to go into Belgrade and buy groceries so I could make a cake and some frosting for Taylor's shower on Saturday, but Leif took the car with the carseat today, so I won't be going anywhere.

Instead, I'm using the time to catch up on the little cleaning projects I've been neglecting lately... You know, dishes... laundry... And because Ellie's diaper leaked on our bed this morning, I'm changing the sheets, washing the comforter, and I might even vacuum the mattress and rotate it while I'm at it! All of the rooms need to be vacuumed - for real, too. Not just a Roomba job. It's time for the Kirby.

So maybe I can get those things done this afternoon when Ellie goes down for her nap. The dishwasher and washing machine are running right now, but I'll put another load in the washer and empty the dishwasher when they're done. I also need to go for my C25K run as soon as Ellie goes down, too. Maybe I can get a load in the washing machine and let it go while I run. Then when I'm done I can pull out Kirby!

That's my plan, anyway... we'll see how it goes.

Menu Planning

In 2007 I used the Body Clutter Menu Mailer. A year's worth of recipes, all relatively healthy, planned for me week by week. It was a great plan and I came away with a bunch of great recipes. But it's been a year now, and I've been slacking on printing out the recipes each week, and I'm not really using it now. In fact, I've sort of slacked on meal planning in general. So I guess it's a new year and time for a new plan.

So for 2008, I'm stealing Dana's idea!! I'm even going to plan out breakfasts, snacks, and lunch. I think that will help me give Eliana a better variety of foods, as well as think about the balance of my own foods. Here's what I've got so far:


It'll be a 5 day flexible rotation, so if we want to do something else that night, no big deal. The lunches are for Ellie, not me. I'll have to figure out what I'm doing for lunch based on what we're having for dinner, what I had for breakfast, and how many calories I have left for lunch. But I will follow this basic plan for breakfast and dinner, at least.