Planning Ahead

We've been having a problem lately at my house. I haven't been cooking much lately and there has been a major uptick in the purchase of pre-packaged frozen meals and take-out.

Now, I don't have a real issue with either one of those things, if they make it to my table (or, more likely, on my couch in front of my T.V., because not home-cooked meals seem to not call for the nice family dinner at the table) only once in a while. A couple of times a week is a little much for me, both in terms of my own family values and my pocketbook.

Something's gotta give.

Today is Columbus Day (Or, as I like to call it: Happy Smallpox Day, North America's Indigenous People! Fun Fact: Did you know that between the late 1400's (Hello, Mr. Columbus) to the mid-1650's, the native population in the Americas declined by more than 50 percent? Someone please explain to me why we celebrate this idiot, who wasn't even the first European to discover North America, never mind the first person, period.), so we have the day off. I'm taking to day to throw together some freezer meals. Basically my own version of those lovely, over-salted freezer meals I can pick up at the grocery store.

I've planned for five meals to make ahead of time and one meal where I'm going to make certain components head and then all I have to do is mix some stuff together and throw it in the oven (actually, I could probably make the whole thing and then freeze individual pieces...hmmmm). Okay, make it six meals! So, that means I'll have, let's say, at least three meals that I can just throw in the oven when I get home from work and then steam up some veggies to go on the side.

I've planned on ten meals for the next two weeks. That leaves four meals for take out and family dinners with our in-laws. Not bad, eh? Hopefully having some go-to things in my freezer will make getting us all to the table to eat something that's not vaguely reminiscent of cafeteria food will be a bit easier.

Do you have a tricks to getting a tasty, home-cooked meal on your table most nights (despite being ridiculously busy)?

Note: Please excuse my mini Columbus Day diatribe. I have strong feelings about early colonial decimation of the Americas indigenous population.

Projects

Back in July, I sort of introduced the Pioneer Project. It sort of...didn't happen. At least not as much as I would have liked.

Biggest flaw in this project? The fact that I put myself on a schedule for cleaning. While I like schedules quite a lot and they can be loads of help in keeping me organized and on track, they can also cause chaos. If I put myself on a schedule I have to be on that schedule. I have a hard time drifting from what I've told myself I have to do, but if I do change the schedule in some way, it's really hard for me to get back on board.

What I did like about the Pioneer Project, at least at its inception, was the bigger picture, where I was looking at things like the general health and well-being of myself and my family. When I think about being a pioneer, I think of people who work their very hardest to keep their families as healthy and happy as possible while they worked towards something bigger. That's what I want to do.

So, I'm modifying the Pioneer Project to better fit my needs. These are the areas I'll be focusing on (for now...I may decide to add or take away later):

Cooking/Baking - Try to cook at least one meal/item a week where you know where all the ingredients you’re using are coming from (preferably local).

Homesteading - Do something to improve your home or yard at least once week. It can be as simple as mowing the lawn or finally getting at that dust under the couch or be as big as planting a vegetable garden or painting a new room.

Technology – Try to limit certain technologies (T.V., computer/internet, phone stuff, etc.) to just an hour or two a day. If this is too much (and it could very well be), try to pick just one thing to focus on limiting (for me, it would be my laptop and iPad).

Health - Exercise, in some way, every day. It doesn't have to be a full-blown Biggest Loser workout, but it should be something, everyday. And don't forget about mental health, too. Consider what grounds you and makes you feel happy or at peace with your life.

Spirituality - Take the time to reflect on things bigger than yourself. Go to a place of worship. Meditate. Talk to someone about the biggest questions in life. Go beyond yourself and your little piece of the world and think globally.

Family - Every day, find a small way to recognize your family and everything they do for you. This may seem small, but it adds up

What I'll attempt to do is every Friday give a quick little quip about what I did in each of these areas. I think what I'll realize is that I do a lot of this anyway, but after five years of college and two years of that being mostly education courses, I'm all about documentation. I enjoy the satisfaction of seeing my accomplishments, no matter how small. I also believe a broader consciousness of how you lead your life has never hurt anyone, either.

Now, considering my abject failure to do anything with my original Pioneer Project, you might be leery on my ability to participate in two projects, but I'm about to introduce you to a second thing I have brewing:

Project Baby. (You'll notice how I like to call things "projects"; another by-product of being in education.)

Because I am finally gainfully employed, with benefits, summers and weekends off, DOH and I decided it might be time to talk about when we can get pregnant. We've settled for some time next summer. Why then, you might ask? Number one, right now I want to focus on my job as much as I can. I love where I'm working and I want to be able to give 110 percent. Two, waiting until next summer gives me almost a full year to drop some  a lot of weight. And three, we'll have time to save money and make any other adjustments to our lives in order to bring in a new kiddo.

Maybe it's because Lizzie was such a surprise and we were such bumbling idiots through the first months (okay...years) of parenthood, but there is something makes me want to really, really prepare for baby number two. And that's not to say we haven't put our best feet forward in raising our daughter, but I feel like we parent her much better now than we did in the beginning. I think a lot of our success with baby Lizzie can be credited with sheer dumb luck (like having the perfect infant who never cried) rather than actual skillz. We can't count on lightening striking twice.

So all this leads to project number two, which I'll be updating every other Monday, depending on how I see fit. The basic timeline of the project (as I've set it up for me) goes as such:

Pre-conception: September 2011 through June/July 2012
This will include - Me, trying to not be fat. Eliminating as many chemicals and preservatives from our household and diets as possible. Building a stronger and even better relationship with my husband and daughter (and facilitating a stronger and even better relationship between DOH and Liz).

Trying to Concieve: (Hopefully) July/August 2012
This will include - Taking the necessary steps to be able to conceive again. Maintaining a relatively healthy weight. Speaking with midwives and OB/GYNs and figuring out what's best for me and my potential pregnancy and health.

Pregnancy: (Again, hopefully) Late Summer/Early Fall 2012
This will include - OBGYN vs. Midwife (if that's even a choice). Birth plans and what to expect during a second delivery after an emergency c-section. At the hospital, at a birth center, or at home? Continuing to eat healthfully and remain active (because I'm assuming I'll be doing all these things at this point). Preparing Lizzie to be a big sister and how to most peacefully introduce a new person into our family dynamic.

Birth: Late Spring/Early Summer 2012
This will include - Recovery. Parenting two kids. What I'm doing different this time around. Babywearing (because I'm obsessed). Breastfeeding. Cloth diapering. Woodstock (not really).

So, if you're interested in participating in these projects, please do! I realize my number of readers is small, so the chances of either of these projects taking off beyond myself is quite small, but  it would be cool if others did participate, too. And when I say participate, I mean you can take what I'm doing as inspiration for your own version of either project (or both!).

The Pioneer Project

If you've ever read The Little House in the Big Woods, you might remember this little saying from Ma about the weekly chores: "Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Bake on Friday, Clean on Saturday, Rest on Sunday." There is something sweet and comforting to this litany of household chores--with all the unexpected that could happen in the time when little Laura Ingalls was growing up, there was at least this daily consistancy that was always present, grounding the family into the rhythm of life.

And while the some of the dangers that plauged Laura and her family do not affect us, or at least not as much, there is still a world out there that can, at times, feel overwhelming and throw things at us and our families that we did not quite expect.

Along those same lines, with an economy turning upside down, wars being fought overseas, and cultural wholesomeness starting to disappear (and I do not mean "wholesome" in any religious way, just there is far too much objectifying going on regarding everything), we parents are becoming pioneers (rather like the Ingalls) in our own right. We are fighting to keep consistancy and values (whatever those values) strong within our families.

So this is what I want to do. I'm going to start a project. Who knows how successful I'll be, how this will evolve (or devolve), but I feel like I need to do something to create a higher, more organized purpose to my days. It is as basic as making sure I get the toilets cleaned every day to working towards becoming a stronger and better wife and mother.

This project (as maybe you've guessed from the title of this post) is called the Pioneer Project, keeping the idea of those strong people who left everything they knew behind and ventured West to create better lives for themselves, despite the immense danger to themselves and their families.

For me, there are two components: First, I'm going to remake the saying from Ma Ingalls above to fit my own life (thankfully I don't have to dedicate a full day to ironing). So...here goes:
Organize on Monday (get everything for the week organized) Scrub on Tuesday (bathrooms, kitchen, floors), Sew on Wednesday (make a consistent effort to sew), Wash on Thursday (bedding, curtains (if needed), excess laundry, etc.), Bake on Friday (make something tastey for the weekened), Clean on Saturday (dust, clean floors, anything else that hasn't gotten done over the course of the week, etc.), Rest on Sunday.

The next aspect goes beyond a simple outline of weekly chores, but focuses on things in my family's life in a deeper sense. This is what I will be focusing on:

Cooking/Baking - Try to cook at least one meal/item a week where you know where all the ingredients you’re using are coming from (preferrably local).

Homesteading - Do something to improve your home or yard at least once week. It can be as simple as mowing the lawn or finally getting at that dust under the couch or be as big as planting a vegetable garden or painting a new room.

Technology – Try to limit certain technologies (T.V., computer/internet, phone stuff, etc.) to just an hour or two a day. If this is too much (and it could very well be), try to pick just one thing to focus on limiting (for me, it would be my laptop).

Health - Exercise, in some way, every day. It doesn't have to be a full-blown Biggest Loser workout, but it should be something, everyday. And don't forget about mental health, too. Consider what grounds you and makes you feel happy or at peace with your life.

Spirituality - Take the time to reflect on things bigger than yourself. Go to a place of worship. Meditate. Talk to someone about the biggest questions in life. Go beyond yourself and your little piece of the world and think globally.

Family - Every day, find a small way to recognize your family and everything they do for you. This may seem small, but it adds up.

Reading - I'm a reader, so I'm inclined to include it with whatever it is I'm doing. I'm planning on going back through the Little House books over a period of time, and maybe venturing into some more adult pioneer centric reading. I also think reading anything that has to do with the above subject areas (family, spirituality, going tech free, health, homesteading, and cooking/baking) applies, too.

So, this is my plan. It's just for me--I'm not trying to start anything en masse on the internet, BUT if you find yourself inclined to do your own version, please let me know! Leave a comment, maybe even blog about it. I'm going to have a tab (at some point) that documents what I've been doing. I'm going to try to check in on the blog once a month (maybe more frequently if things roll along nicely) and share what I've done.

All right, let's load up the wagon and go! Westward, ho!

Things I Don't Like Talking About

Over the course of about 10 weeks I lost 20 pounds. I've gained about 7 back.

Fudge.

I don't like that. Not one bit. Part of it was a sheer loss of motivation. I had hit the end of student teaching, was graduating, moving, and starting to subsitute teach. Too much going on, no sort of set schedule set in place, and I lost my mind and will to not eat all the time.

I don't like to exercise much, but I'll do it. It's the food.

I like to eat and I justify all my eating with the fact that I need to do it in order to live, but...

I honestly don't need to be eating this much to survive. I mean, if our level of survival was dependent on how much food we could consume, I should have superpowers by now.

But instead I'm just fat.

This sucks.

:-/

It just needs to stop. Now. (All the eating...well, most of it. I do need to live.)

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

Weekend Goals

Friday: Clean up the apartment and get some packing done. Load as much as I can into my car. Read some work for one of my students and e-mail her a response.

Saturday: Drive down to the new house and get some yard work done. Unload some of those boxes. Check out our new public library. Maybe get out on my parents' boat, weather permitting.

Sunday: Celebrate Mother's Day with my mum!

So Much to Do So Little...Everything

Do you ever have one of those days where everything you hear about or see is something you want to do. All day I've looking up recipes, finding different sewing/craft projects, hearing about new books (decided to add Water for Elephants to my "Must Read List"), and making mental notes regarding how we're "going to do things from now on." I just want to pile thing after thing after thing on and I start to feel equally energized and overwhelmed. There is just so much to do, but never enough time or money or energy for it.

My biggest solution, if it's possible to develop a solution, is to make lists. I enjoy lists. They make things...right. I'm a very strange person in that I'm not particularly organized, but I enjoy and almost need the concreteness of a list (even if it doesn't really make things more clear than it did before). I think I need to make more lists and maybe keep them here. I like the tabs feature here, because it allows me a spot to just shove everything, like "My Ultimate To Do List," my sort of mental junk-drawer.

If I did this, I think I'd have to have the following tabs:
Books I want to read (I feel like this list is never ending)
Recipes I want to try
Craft projects I want to complete

There are probably more, but I'm tired and can't think of any. I suppose that will be my little bloggy project over the next couple of days--compiling lists.