DVR

Ok, I know it seems silly to be happy for a piece of equipment that I am told will turn my kid's fragile brains to mush, but the dishes are done. My girlfriend and I have conversations about our kids an television at least once a week.

T: I am such a bad mom!
Me: No your not, what did you do?
T: My kids are watching Max and Ruby so that I can get (insert chore here) done.
Me: That does not make you a bad mom, T, just a normal one.
T: But I feel so guilty!

Don't know how many of you say these things, or have this same conversation with your friends. Come to think of it, she is the only one that I ever talk about this with! I am going to go with the thought that because we both do it, there are other people in momland who also cherish that 20 minutes or so that the television buys them when they just can't seem to get anything done. Maybe rather than being grateful for the DVR, I should be grateful that my boys find me so important they can't be away from me. Maybe I am just so valuable in everything they do, they either want me involved in their play, or mediating an argument because they know I will be fair. No matter what, 20 minutes of mush is worth the peace of a clean kitchen because once that is done, I know that I will be able to be "on" the other 13 hours and 40 minutes when it matters.

Menu Monday March 15th-19th

Here we are, Monday! I can say that with some excitement because as far as food goes, my week is without stress. I just gave a presentation to some of the gals in my newcomer group on freezer cooking and the main point I stressed was using the Flylady calendar to plan your meals. This eliminates that stress that you feel at 5:00 when the kids start pawing at your leg and telling you they are starving. One of these days I need to explain the difference between hungry and starving, because let me tell you, these kids have never starved!
This is a short menu since we are out of town starting Thursday night, but the planning is still there for the start of the week. I know when we get to my mother-in-law's house in Nebraska, the meals are out of my hands, which is nice in a way, but makes it hard to stick to my points goal for WW.

Sunday (marinade wings)
Pancakes a la Dad (my favorite)
Grilled cheese and soup
Runzas and curly fries

Monday (make butter, soak beans and pinhead oatmeal)
Blueberry muffins
Chicken noodle soup, bananas
Sesame Chicken wings, rice, green beans

Tuesday (soak oatmeal)
Irish pancakes with bacon
Cheese sandwiches, green yogurt smoothies
Five-bean chili, cornbread, strawberry pops (we have a date)

Wednesday
Oatmeal
Bagels with cream cheese, apples, carrot sticks
Frozen pizza, salad

Thursday
French toast, apple sauce
Leftovers
On the road (gross to think about)

At Home

I am a stay at home Mom. What more do I need to say? It wasn't always this way, I used to teach a lot of kids, have a paycheck and put my first born in daycare like so many other mothers in this world. I thought I was living very well and should be thrilled with the way my life was going. Then my husband decided to go back to school for a third time, and we depended on what now seemed to be such a small paycheck. I was a single mom four days of the week while he was in South Dakota and I was in Nebraska. We wanted a better life and this was the plan to get it. When he finished school, and started to interview for jobs, I updated my resume. It only seemed natural to continue working, after all wasn't that what I went to school for? Isn't that what everyone does?
We got closer to moving, and we found out we were blessed to be having another baby after two miscarriages. That was when Steve first said those magical words, "Why don't you just stay home?" Could we do that? What would life be like? We weren't worried about the financial aspect of it, thanks to the extra college time, but what would it be like to have me home all the time? Somehow, this seemed so odd, not to mention what a waste of five years of education!
Here we are, five years and a total of four beautiful children later (another Gratituesday post to come) and the question has come up again.... Are you going to stay home? Three of our four will be in school in the fall, and the fourth will be able to attend preschool in October. My mom said to me the other day, "Well, think of how nice it will be when they are all in school and you can go back to work." For some reason, that struck something in me that hadn't before. I was so far away from that decision that it never occurred to me that I may not want to go back. I said this to her and she was clearly amazed, "Well, what will you do?" Do? I wondered what she thought I did now...
In the peace and quiet that followed our usual evening routine (which is anything but peaceful or quiet), the question returned. What will I do? I replayed conversations I have had with friends about how fortunate I am to stay home, or how happy they were to go back to work and have a job again. I remembered all the times I had wished I could go back to teaching because I missed it, or I felt guilty about the school loans, or I felt like I was spending Steve's money... Then it hit me. The Peace that passes understanding. That quiet voice that talks to you in your heart. God was telling me something, and I needed to listen carefully. I was doing something, I did work, I am blessed to have the hardest job, worst paycheck, and bosses with expectations nothing short of impossible, and I have never been more grateful to be working. What will I do? I will continue doing what God has charged me with. I will be a rock, a nurse, a cook, a maid, a repairman, a personal shopper, seamstress, chronicler, cheerleader and teacher. I will be my husband's helpmate, and a friend to others. I will do this all because that is was I was charged to do. I have never been more thankful in my life.
Stop by the Heavenly Homemaker for more Gratituesday!

Is it the weather?

What is it about kids and the weather? The past few days we have had a drastic change in our temperature here and you would think the circus had made a stop in our house. I know I have been feeling a bit crazy being cooped up with the subzero temperatures, but apparently it is nothing to what has been brewing in their little bodies. The oldest kids don't want to come in when they get off the bus because the annual "river" is running down the ditch and through the culvert at the road. When the oldest came in, he was soaked. "Mom, I thought the ice was thicker than it was and I tried to jump over it. Then I sunk in the water cuz it cracked and then I fell back and tried to catch myself, and then my gloves went in and now you have to put everything in the dryer, Mom, cuz it is soaked!" Breathe man.... I had him put it all in the laundry room and explained three times why and how he needed to put his gloves over the floor vent to dry. Needless to say, I was not putting them and a pair of size 7 boots into my dryer. Can you imagine the noise? I shut the door and didn't think about it while we got dinner. Two hours later, I opened the door and nearly died.... the smell! I think there is some sort of chemical reaction between clothing and boys over the age of 8, seriously! Never in my life! To top it off, I can't find the boot dryer DH uses and these boots are so heavy, I fail to understand how he can run for the bus in them. Maybe that's why he doesn't run....

Stepping Into the Unknown

So here I go, venturing into the world of Blogging. I have to admit, I was completely new to this two months ago and had no idea of the extent of people out there who write about their daily lives. One day, happened to stumble across a blog while reading online and from then on, it was nothing short of an educational experience.
I used to teach 6th grade in Omaha, NE and I learned something new every day from those kids. If it wasn't something they shared, it was something I had to research in order to keep one step ahead of a generation that was different than my own. I only had one child then, and my husband and I were just getting started on our life together. It was chaos! Get up, get ready for work, drop son off at daycare, be at school for 9-10 hours, pick up son, go home and try to cook. To top all that off, hubby was back in school for the third time. Fast forward and five years later, we are blessed with four children, and an income that let me quit my job and stay at home. What a great life I have, but I have to admit, I miss the adult interaction.
This leads me to my discovery of the blog world. In an effort to once again learn something new, I started researching and reading about women who cover their heads. What an eye-opener! I never realized how many people were out there sharing their thoughts on a daily basis. The word Blog always conjured up a mental image of some political fanatic, hunched over their computer, spouting existentialism and in general, mad at the world. This is not what I found. Each time I looked, my eyes were opened to a world of lovely young ladies who were openly posting their hopes, dreams and beliefs in God and a wealth of knowledge. Now, here I am. I am looking forward to where this diary of sorts will take me. Even if no one ever reads this, I hope to learn something new about myself as I write.