Meal Plan - 4/30/12

Monday - Black Bean Chicken Chili
Tuesday - Beef Stir Fry
Wednesday - {Slow Cooker} Chicken Taco Stew

Thursday - Southwest Quinoa Casserole
Friday - Ravioli with Balsalmic Brown Butter Sauce
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - Chicken on the grill, salad and rice

How to be On Time

Are you chronically late?  By 5 minutes...15 minutes...half an hour...???  

For years, I was late everywhere I went and I didn’t know how to get out from under it. Once I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), I was finally able to get a handle on it.  Wanna know how...?

First off, have I ever publicly mentioned the ADD thing?  For those who have been around my blog for any length of time, this may not surprise you at all.  I'm a bit of a spaz, right? 


Long story short, I was put on some light medication (which helped my focus, resulting in my GPA slowly climbing from a 1.8 to my first 4.0 EVER) and the school assigned me a councilor to help me re-learn proper study skills, overcome test anxiety and manage my time appropriately. She taught me how to assign each task to a specific block of time throughout the day so my priorities actually get accomplished.

(If you're wondering, I quit taking my meds when I got pregnant with Ryan and never looked back. I seem to be functioning fine without them; they’re not cheap and my life isn't nearly as stressful as it was when I was working in corporate America, so I manage without drugs.)

It was during this time that I was introduced to a book called, “You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?”  One of the topics of this book for adults with ADD was focused on tardiness.  

The book suggested that people (with or without ADD) are late because they struggle with inaccurately judging the time it takes to do things and the time it takes to get somewhere.  As someone with ADD, I can tell you that I hate being early because I hate waiting around “wasting time.” There’s always so much to do!  Sitting in a doctor’s office five minutes longer than is absolutely necessary makes my hair stand on end.

This book went on to recommend that, in order to find your way out of consistently being tardy, you need to - are you ready for this??? - leave earlier.  Here’s the good news: the author had a sure-fire formula for how much earlier to leave.

1. If you think it will take you under 20 minutes to get somewhere, double the time.  For example, if you usually take 15 minutes to drive to church, leave 30 minutes early.  

2. If it takes you more than 20 minutes to get somewhere, add 15 minutes to your travel time.

People who are always late have a best-case-scenario of how they think things will play out when they go anywhere. We time things exactly, mistakenly assuming that the world will always run smoothly.


If you drove to work just once and had all green lights, your gas tank was full, you didn’t hit any traffic and you found the perfect parking space, and it took you 17 minutes door-to-door, those of us who are chronically late will tend to assume that we can leave 17 minutes before we need to arrive every single day. Then you’re caught calling your boss en route to let them know that “traffic is terrible” or “I need to stop for gas” and that you’ll be 5-10 minutes late.

And it’s SO much worse now that I factor my pokey little puppies kids into the situation!  If it takes 5 minutes to get the kids’ shoes on, fill water cups and load everyone into the car on the smoothest day, that’s what I assume it will always take. Until someone can’t find a shoe. Or they need to go to the bathroom. Or Jason refuses to climb into his carseat and hides in the back.  Or a million other things that interfere when kids play into the mix.

My goal is to double the time I think it will take to load the kids into the car AND plan to double the time it takes me to get there.  Because then it takes longer to get them out of the car and into wherever we're going. 

With the wonderment that is the iPhone, I no longer dread arriving to my destination early. Worst case scenario, I arrive 5-10 minutes early and can get caught up on texts or emails.  If you’re a reader, carry a book or magazine in your car.  Balance your checkbook. Clip coupons, meal plan or make your grocery list. The extra few minutes of quiet won’t kill you!

Anyone else have any tips on how to beat the tardiness cycle?

I should be sipping Mai Tais on the beach right now...

Raise your hand if you knew that there are TWO kinds of passports: a book that will take you anywhere in the world and a card that is only for land and sea. Guess which one I brought to the airport this morning for my trip to Cancun???

The card for land and sea.

Mike and I spent the entire rest of the day driving to and from Tucson (more than 150 miles in each direction, plus wait time in a lovely government facility) to get an emergency passport so I can join my husband tomorrow for my well-deserved, hard-earned, all-expenses paid vacation to an all inclusive resort in Cancun.

Somehow, after my inital shock and disappointment about the matter, we kept a really good attitude about this significantly annoying interruption to our romatic weekend getaway. On the long drive down to Tucson, I resourcefully made some phone calls.

* Tastefully Simple agreed to change our travel dates to include Sunday night so we wouldn't lose a day of vacation time. (we won't be there tonight to use the room anyway, so why not, right?)

* US Airways was kind enough (while I was standing at the counter in tears) to rebook our outbound flight to tomorrow, at no charge.

* Then another phone agent heard my sob story, had compassion, and asked his manager to waive the $150 per ticket rebooking fee so we could return on Monday. 

* Mike texted his boss and got Monday off work. (without pay, unfortunately, because he is using his last two vacation days for today and tomorrow, but at this point...whatever)

* My mom agreed to stay with the kids a whole 'nother day. (bless her willing heart)

Today was a complete waste of time, but Mike is convinced that God was protecting us from something. Maybe we would have been victims of a horrible crime and would have ended up on Dateline? I prefer to think that by spreading the word about my annoying experience, I might be able to save one of you, dear readers, from a similar mistake.

It's okay...I'm willing to take a hit for the team. I'm a giver.

One day we will laugh about this.  And that day will probably be tomorrow after having a few free drinks by the pool...!

Analyzing my Neuroses

photo credit

Everyone has their issues, right?  Well, one of mine is that I feel calmer when my kitchen is clean. If I can see the counters and the top of the table, if there are no toys to trip over or crumbs crunching under my bare feet, I will actually catch myself physically exhaling.  A sigh of relief, so it seems.

This has been bothering me recently. Why do I care so much about a clean kitchen?

Then it occurred to me: if we're in between meals or are going out for dinner, a messy kitchen doesn't bother me as much. But if I can't find a clean/clear workspace to prepare a snack or fix lunch, I feel my chest tightening and my pulse quicken.  It's weird, I know, but it's how I function.

I've been fighting this little problem of mine for years, but have decided to just embrace it and work around it. For instance, I make sure the kitchen is picked up before we head upstairs at night.  That way, I'm not faced with a mountain of chores while we're racing to get Mike out the door for work in the morning.  Accepting little changes like that (no matter how tired I am at night) has made it so much easier to just move on with my life instead of trying to "fix" myself in this area. I have bigger fish to fry...this is quirk that won't seem to disappear, so I'm not focusing on it as a weakness anymore.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Meal Plan - 4/9/12

Last week's reviews: 

- Easy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars - These were SO EASY to make, but I would like to mess with the recipe a little.  They were a bit sweet for my taste and they didn't hold together well until they were refrigerated, but my family loved them. When I mess with the recipe, I'll repost it. I need another binder other than honey...stay tuned.

- Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash and Quinoa - My family doesn't "do" butternut squash, so this was a risk. I generally have to sneak it into sauces and casseroles, but the author of this recipe raved so much, I wanted to give it a try.  The first couple of bites indicated that it wasn't going to be popular, but the taste seemed to grow on everyone, including me!  It was the weirdest thing...I think we all just got used to the taste and the better of the flavors became more prominent.  I made some Beer Bread and enticed the kids to finish their bowls to earn a slice.  I told them that they'd get ice cream if they ate a 2nd bowl (their bowls are teeny) and the big kids both did. (they rarely do this if they hate a meal) I probably won't make this again, but if your family likes butternut squash, you'll probably have better luck.

This week's menu...
Monday - {Vegetarian} Southwestern Quinoa Casserole
Tuesday - {Healthy} Cream of Potato Soup and salad
Wednesday - {Slow Cooker} Chicken Taco Stew
Thursday - {Rachael Ray's} Meatloaf Roll Up with potatoes and carrots
Friday - Pretzel Crusted Chicken Fingers with veggies
Saturday - Crust-less Quiche with sausage, broccoli and cheese
Sunday - Marinaded chicken on the grill, veggies and rice

Finally...something clicked!

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I am hoping to create an independent learner out of Ryan. Since then, I've been a little frustrated that my ideas weren't "taking." Ryan would do what he's told, but it seemed that he wasn't grasping onto the fact that when he's done with one subject/task/activity, there's usually another one waiting for him.  He had a list of his independent subjects and how much to do of each, yet he seemed to lack the initiative to move from one task to the next. (Yes, I realize he's 7 and yes, I realize we've only been doing this homeschooling thing for a few months, but I have still been a little discouraged.)

I decided to step up my game a little bit...by completely handing the reigns over to him.  I think I was sending mixed messages; asking him to do what I want when I want then switching gears and expecting him to be self-directed on my terms.

Every morning, I run the show. I teach the lessons that are intended for both kids (primarily History and Grammar) then during Jason's nap, I let Ryan do whatever he wants. While Kaylin was on Spring Break, he often chose to play with her. She was sick for a couple of days last week and had half-days the rest of the week, so all I saw was playing, playing, playing. It was like pulling teeth to get him to complete his daily assignments.

But yesterday while I was resting after lunch (this has become a rejuvenating, yet annoying, new habit of mine) Ryan took it upon himself to do all of his schoolwork. ALL of it. Generally, he gets distracted or bored and I have to encourage him to stay on task over and over and over.  This time, he had done some of it in the car to and from the gym that morning, but whatever wasn't completed (including his 30 minutes of reading that he tends to avoid), he did it all on his own.  I was so proud of him!  We watched Pioneer Woman then put together some puzzles before it was time to get Kaylin from the bus stop. No nagging and lots of togetherness-fun...it was the perfect afternoon!

I chalked it up to a good day.

Then this morning, I noticed that after we all piled into the car to head to the grocery store, both Ryan and Kaylin didn't make a sound. I looked back in the rearview mirror and watched as they busily read the instructions and completed their Spelling workbooks.

This afternoon was the same: I took a little nap (after an exhausing morning with Jason pushing every boundary he could find) and woke up to Ryan, beeming with pride that he had finished his schoolwork. I checked his assignments, he corrected his mistakes, then we spent the last 30 minutes before Kaylin's bus arrived making homemade granola bars.

I'm so ready to be at a point where I don't have to beg remind the kids to be diligent with their work.  I'm so ready to be at a point where they don't complain and shut down when the concepts in the lesson get difficult.  I'm so ready for our typical school day to look less like a classroom and have it shaped more to meet the specific needs of my 7-year old.

Because that is the freedom that comes with homeschooling and I think we both have our brains conditioned to the picture we've seen of a typical school-day in a typical school.

I asked Ryan today, "What have you done with my son?" (he smiled) "Are you a secret robot that has taken over his body?!?!" He blushed and said, "No, I just wanted to get my work done so we can spend time together." 

He's getting it!!!

This week has given me such hope. I think we're making some real progress...I just hope it sticks when Kaylin's home with us full time in a couple of months.  I'm hoping Ryan will get into some good habits and we'll have this homeschooling thing down by then! But time will tell.  This could just be a random, good week.  But I sure hope not!!!

Homemade Pretzels - Similar to Auntie Anne's from the Mall!

I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest and just had to try it.  It was surprisingly easy and the kids loved them!  Mike thought they tasted more like bagels than pretzels...probably because I didn't roll the dough thin enough before shaping.  These were a fun weekend treat and they disappeared before I could share them with friends.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 3 ounces butter, melted
• 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
• Cooking spray
• 3 quarts water
• 3/4 cup baking soda
• 1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
• Coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to begin activating.
2. Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. (picture below)
3. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.
4. Oil a bowl with cooking spray, add the dough and turn to coat with the spray.
5. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour. (pictures below)
6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
7. Bring the water to a boil in a large roasting pan over high heat and SLOOOOOOOOLY add the baking soda. (Important: If you dump it in all at once, you will get an overflowing chemical reaction that results in an hour of clean up and a stove that still doesn't work properly. Don't ask me how I know this.)
8. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface.
9. Divide the dough into 8 pieces.  Equal pieces will cook more evenly, but mine were all different sizes and turned out just fine. (picture below)
10. Roll each piece into a long rope and form into the shapes that you want*.
11. Boil the pretzels in the water solution in batches. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon.
12. Place pretzels on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching.  
13. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt.
14. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.
15. Add additional toppings immediately after they come out of the oven.

* Next time I make these, I will shape the dough into thinner sticks instead of into pretzels. My whole family seemed to like the crispy outer edges more than the soft inside...including me, which was a shock!

Visual references:

This is as the dough pulls away from the edges of the mixing bowl.

BEFORE the rise

AFTER the rise

Notice the scraping tool that I use to cut through the dough easily...LOVE that thing.

On their way into the oven.

DONE!