Last fall Josh's parents gave us their old tent-trailer to use for our camping trips. We didn't have time to go inside it when they brought it out. We just sort of hurriedly stowed it for the winter (on some property belonging to some friends) and left it.
Yesterday we decided it was time to get out there and see what winter had done to the trailer. Our friends are going to use it to house some extra visitors next week and we didn't want any funky surprises (mold...spiders, etc). The good news is that it seems to have weathered well! I was most worried about mildew in our moist coastal weather.
I decided to empty all the cupboards completely, bring everything home to wash and sort, and then put it back so I would know what there was and where it was. I have to say, I'm totally impressed with the amount of stuff that Nina was able to store in this thing. It is STOCKED! But it didn't feel overly packed. She's done a great job of having all the important things without any extraneous items. Kenna had a GREAT time playing kitchen in the trailer with all the dishes. She told me that she wants to come back again to "her" kitchen. I'm getting excited for our first camping trip this year on 4th of July weekend!
*********************************
I thought we were done with sick kids, but apparently not. Natalie had a fever for two days and was really lethargic. Today Kenna started running a fever and acting very lethargic. I wonder what it is? Funky bug, but at least it's a mild one. The only bad thing is that I'm home with two sick girls while the others are enjoying a perfect beach day (yep! Sunny, 65 degrees - can't get much better than that). I am getting stuff crossed off my to-do list, though!
********************************
Lately my meal-planning has been, well, non-existent. I used to be religious about making my meal plan and my grocery list. For the past several months (years?) I've been cooking by the seat of my pants and hating every minute of it. I finally took some time to think about all this and figure out what's different - why the change from organized to unorganized? I can somewhat blame it on little kids. Two babies have made it harder to find time to cook. But they're not the entire reason. I've been doing so much studying on nutrition and there are so many conflicting ideas out there, that I was having a really hard time reconciling what I read, what I had time for, what I had money for, and what I wanted to actually eat. It was just a big jumbled mess in my head and consequently I didn't ever want to cook. It's that perfectionist complex that leads to inactivity. If you can't do it perfectly, don't even attempt it.
My goal right now is to regain my love of cooking.
I'm starting by going back, nutritionally speaking, to where I was before Kenna was born. Go with what I know and love and forget the rest for now. I'm going to make small changes, bit by bit, going with what meshes for our family and aligns with the Word of Wisdom. I meal-planned for the first time in ages last week and it was fabulous. I looked at my list around 4pm and started dinner. I didn't even cook everything on my list - there were some changes that had to be made based on time. But I'm ok with that. It's the 4pm and NO CLUE WHAT'S FOR DINNER scenario that I hate.
Of course, I'm still reading a lot about nutrition and diets and whatnot. I can't help myself. It's fascinating to me. I recently read about the McDougall plan. Now, he's got some huge diet thing worked out and that's not what I'm interested in. I'm interested in his recipes because he seems to use more grains and vegetables than a lot of other diet plans do. And that seems to fit the WofW better than most. (He also uses a lot of mexican seasoning in his cooking...a plus for us!) So I'm using his ideas for reference a little as I plan my meals. I'm going to try his tomatillo chili sometime this week. We love tomatillos in our family.
*********************************
This is totally random, but it's exciting to me. Josh, as many of you know, has a summer regional meeting every year in June. It's always a great weekend. He has a few meetings in the mornings, our afternoons are free, and then there are social events for the whole group in the evenings (babysitting included!). My kids love, Love, LOVE this event. They get hotel buffet twice a day (Logan's said for years that his favorite thing in the world is hotel breakfast), get to swim in the pool, and play with a bunch of kids that they see every year. The older girls, in particular, have made friends that they keep in contact with via email throughout the year so it's getting even more fun for them. The problem lately has been our family size. Hotels usually only allow five people to a room. Edward Jones is a stickler for following the hotel policy, and they only pay for one room (who can blame them). The past few years we've had to leave some of the kids behind and it's been really hard deciding who can't go. This year the hotel that was chosen actually allows up to 7 people in a room and everyone gets to go! This is one of my favorite trips of the year because for three blissful days I do no cooking or cleaning! Can you tell I'm excited?
**********************************************
I've read a bunch of good books lately. Some of my favorites are:
"A Long Way From Chicago" - Richard Peck
"Death Comes for the Archbishop" - Willa Cather
"Madame Treymes" - Edith Wharton
"Mary Emma & Company" - Ralph Moody (this is the 4th in a series of five - they're all great!)
*********************************************
My current projects include:
Continued simplifying of our possessions, and instilling better habits in myself and the kids. Having a very clean kitchen is one of my new habits that I'm disciplining myself to develop. I re-organized, cleared stuff off my counters, and am focusing on cleanliness and order. We're also doing a quick pick-up every night before bed. Each older child has two categories (one is their own stuff) that they are responsible for. It's been such a great thing to go to bed with ... and get up to ... a clean house. I'm finding that I have to stretch some days to think of things to do for Family Work in the mornings. Well, not stretch too hard. Bathrooms can always use at least a little attention. Still! Habits are great!! I am going to be working on understanding (both for myself and the kids) the principle behind the habit, because it's the principle that helps us see the godliness behind our actions. We're creating a beautiful haven from the world and freeing up time for other activities and I'm loving some of these changes.
Speaking of which, I've got things to do and my computer time is UP! Thanks for dropping by and allowing me to ramble on a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment