Meal Plan - 4/1/12

Monday - Rice, Bean and Cheese Casserole
Tuesday - Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash and Quinoa *
Wednesday - Pot Roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot
Thursday - Pesto Halibut, green beans and Olive Oil Bread
Friday - Chicken Enchilada Quiche
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - Chicken Pesto Pizza

Other stuff:Easy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars *
Homemade Pretzels *

* These are new recipes that I will review next week!

Since I can't post my status updates on Facebook...

...I will post them here. Because, some days, I just have to tell the world the ridiculous things that are in my head. This is the only way I will be able to stay off Facebook the entire month of March! (it's my 2012 goal of the month)

3/6/12 - I have become reacquainted with Food Network recently, since discovering Pioneer Woman's new show.  It's like welcoming home an old friend! The kids love watching with me...especially Jason.

3/7/12 - Did you know that Paula Dean has a commercial-looking fry station in her kitchen island?  She made fried sweet potatoes on her show today and they looked AMAZING.

3/8/12 - I'm officially down to one of each earring. One (or both) of each pair seems to disappear when Jason's in my room.  I'm fairly confident that if I emptied the vacuum, I'd find the lost earrings. But that's just gross.

3/9/12 - Um, when did I get so out of shape???

3/9/12 - Looking forward to a date night with my honey tonight. We haven't been out since our anniversary nearly a month ago and that's a LONG time for us!

3/11/12 - So when my rule-following 5 year old says, "don't look" ... Apparently I should not assume that she is planning a family game or surprise (as she has in the past). Instead, I should ask if she's sneaking red and green food coloring up to her room and staining her tablecloth and carpet with her colored water creation. (*sigh*)

3/12/12 - Ryan is suddenly VERY interested in talking on the phone. He asks to answer the phone (kids answering the phone is a pet peeve of mine, so the answer is "no" unless it's Dad or Grandma) and call people every day. He's getting so old!

3/13/12 - Why do the Bubble Guppies have the ability to fly in airplanes...underwater?  The show is so realistic, other than that small fact. (insert sarcasm here) The horses and cows have two front legs, but a fish tail instead of back legs.  It seriously kinda freak me out.

3/14/12 - Why are the cords for my Apple products so short? It's maddening.

3/15/12 - "Operation: Get My Body Back" is in full swing. I have worked out five days IN A ROW, which hasn't happened in months. I am so terribly out of shape!

3/17/12 - I just watched Friends on Nick at Nite.  I'm officially old. It was the episode when Phoebe got married and I swear everyone's voices sounded like they were on helium.  Must have been a problem with the station.

3/19/12 - My kids run everywhere, all the time. Especially Kaylin.  If I ran everywhere, do you have any idea how SKINNY I'd be?!?!?

3/21/12 - I was asked to leave the gym today because Jason bit Kaylin.  They have a zero-tolerance policy on biting, but because he bit his sister, they decided to give me a warning instead of suspending him from the child care for three months.  Just when I started working out consistently again...

3/27/12 - The weather is incredible today! I can't bring myself to force the kids inside to homeschool. They're having so much fun playing outside...I'm calling this a recess day.

3/30/31 - Instead of going to the gym, I just took the boys on a long bike ride ending in a picnic lunch. It snowed this week on the east coast and we're basking in 80* weather out here in Phoenix...THIS is why I live here!

An Idea for your Freezer Meals

On Sunday, Ryan helped me make a gazillion freezer meals using some Tastefully Simple recipes with leftover product samples I had lying around. The new catalog has an awesome freezer meal collection that has me longing to spend a couple of hours every other weekend filling my freezer with ready-to-cook meals.

Before buying the kit from the catalog, I used some sale ground beef and chicken to prepare some recipes that I already had on hand.

Having a freezer full of Ziplock bags is one thing, but when I'm in a hurry, sometimes I don't have time to thaw a giant blob of ice before throwing it into a pan. Then I remembered an idea I saw years ago.

This is about half of the meals Ryan and I made. And Ryan begged to be in the picture since he helped!

I grabbed the pans that I planned to use for the meatloaf and casseroles, pressed the unfrozen blob into the shape of the pan, and froze each IN the Ziplock IN the pan until it was firm.  Then I popped the bag out of the pan, returned the bagged meal to the freezer and washed the pan so I can use it in the meantime.

The crockpot meals were left to freeze in a giant blob form, but the grill meals were frozen flat and the oven meals were frozen in their intended-to-be-cooked-in pans. I felt like a genius for remembering that tip! My freezer is now full of ready-to-cook dinners and I won't have to cook for weeks!!!

For the sake of my waistline, a new schedule is needed!

Since we began our homeschooling journey in November, going to the gym has become a sporadic activity, if that. At first, we were getting used to our new routine, then came the holidays, then ridiculous traveling in a relatively short period of time, and now...well, now I have no idea what my excuse is other than I'm just flat out of the habit of making fitness a priority.

I used to go to the gym every morning except Sundays, but now we spend our mornings in the school room. I've tried going after Kaylin gets off the bus in the afternoons, but the kids are so excited to play with their friends in the beautiful weather, I hate to pull them away.  When I'm motivated, workout videos are nice, but motivation has been quite a problem recently.

Last night, I noticed that I have merely five weeks until our trip to Cancun. Five short weeks to shed a few pounds and feel comfortable in my summer wardrobe again. I've been hiding out in jeans and baggy shirts all winter...but I'm done hiding. Enough is enough.

So I've decided that I need to make working out a part of our morning routine again and utilize our drive time by having the big kids do their self-directed workbook activities. Then, when Kaylin's home this summer, we'll do the majority of our schoolwork in the afternoons when it's 100++ degrees outside.  

For now, here is how I'd like our days to look:

7am - Wake up, breakfast
7:30 - Jason in playroom while we do our morning chores
8am - History lesson while the kids color.  As the temperatures rise over the next few months, we'll spend this time playing in the backyard before the heat of the day becomes unbearable.
8:30 - Grammar lesson
9am - Spelling and Phonics review
9:15 - Snack time
9:30 - Leave for the gym; kids work on Spelling and Phonics workbooks in the van
10:30 - Drive home from the gym; kids finish Spelling and Phonics workbooks (if necessary)
11am - Lunch
11:30 - Kaylin leaves for the bus, boys play together while I clean up lunch
12:00 - Jason naps, Ryan does Math
12:30 - Ryan reads while I work
1:30 - Freetime
3pm - Jason wakes up, Kaylin home from school, snack time
3:30 - Kids play outside

The rest of the day will be the same until May.  I'm hoping this will get me back in the habit of exercising and will take the wiggle out of my jiggle!  

Confession time...

In the last couple of weeks, I've realized a few things.

I've realized that, now that I can get email on my iPhone, I hardly sit down to a real computer anymore.

I've realized that if I don't blog about a topic within 24 hours of thinking of an idea, the inspiration disappears forever.

I've realized that I miss blogging more regularly. It keeps my head clear of extra "stuff" floating around all the time.

I've realized that I eat healthy throughout the week, then ruin everything by blowing it on the weekends. I then need to take the week to balance my weight with healthier eating until Friday hits, then the cycle starts over.

I've realized that without regular workouts, eating healthy during the week might not undo the weekend damage.  Yes, it's that bad.

I've realized that the 3:00 hour is bad for me. Since Ryan began Kindergarten a few years back, the "after school snack" concept has turned into a daily sweet treat habit that is difficult to break.

I've realized, since starting our "no yelling for Lent" idea, that I don't raise my voice nearly as often as I thought. I still get frustrated, but I'm as loud about it as I used to be.

I've realized that when I get loud, it happens quickly and seemingly out of the blue.

I've realized that I tend to yell when I have a one-track mind about something and I'm thrown off course with bickering, begging or other short-people interruptions.

I've realized that Jason interrupts me. A lot.

I've realized that I don't like hurrying around and that, since we began homeschooling, rushing has become a pet peeve.

I've realized that I've developed a bit of a bad attitude about the "disruption" that sending Kaylin to afternoon Kindergarten has become every day.

I've realized that half-day Kindergarten half-days are a complete waste of time. I drove Kaylin to school at noon on Friday, only to realize that it was a half-day and that everyone was already gone. I can thank the fact that Outlook crashed for my ignorance about the school schedule change!

I've realized that I don't enjoy working my life around someone else's time table. (read: Kaylin's school) This seemed selfish and controlling until I compared it to someone who has run their own business by their own rules but is suddenly thrown back into working for a regimented government office with little flexibility. We get into a morning groove with homeschooling, then if I'm not paying attention to the clock, I need to stop everything to rush through lunch and race Kaylin to the bus stop. I can't wait to have her home with us all day.

I've realized that there are days that I don't step outside until its time to round up the kids from the front yard for dinner. Years ago, this would have bothered me beyond measure, but now, not so much.

I've realized that I was so grateful for February to be over and that I didn't have to wake up early every day anymore, that I completely forgot about my March goal of not using Facebook for month. OOPS. So if it's March 5th today, I suppose I can't check Facebook until April 5th. That sounds fair.

I've realized that Pinterest is not my enemy.  A friend explained that she peeks around for 15 minutes each night before bed and that's it.  So, after weeks (months?) of having an account and refusing to log in, I am officially enjoying Pinterest. In healthy doses.

I've realized that since losing all of my Outlook files, my virtual organization is a mess. I've enjoyed synching my new iPhone with my new Macbook, but I'm still not doing things as efficiently as I was way back at the beginning of February. That was an eternity ago...

I've realized that keeping my "Picture of the Day" project organized is much more difficult with my Mac. I'm not used to how my photos download and where to store them and haven't taken the time to mess around with it enough. So I have dozens upon dozens of pictures on my camera just waiting to be downloaded. But I avoid.

I've realized that I would love to do some Spring Cleaning, but I just don't have the time. Or think I don't have the time.  I could probably squeeze in a little each day.  I should probably squeeze in a little each day. Stay tuned for more on that.

I realize that this post wasn't nearly as juicy as the title inferred, but I had to get your attention somehow! Life's not exactly interesting these days, which is fine by me.