Making adjustments

I'm not sure when it happened that I went from a daily writer to a once-a-month-er.  Full on ridiculous, I keep telling myself. There is so much I want to say, I want to write, and yet I come home and cannot seem to work up the motivation to do it.  What I find funny is how over the last nine months of working full time, all these little things you used to routinely do slowly slip away from you. Before I know it, I'm out of habit with many things and I look around and think, "What the hell happened?"

Some examples:
Writing (or blogging) on a regular basis
Reading often
Cooking everything

I can't figure out if I'm being lazy or if I'm truly realizing time constraints.  Last time I wrote was a month ago, I finally finished a book a few days ago, and just tonight was the first time in a while I really took time to make some food.

What I need to do is set up a schedule.  Perhaps if I mark on my calendar days to write, days to reading, day to plan my meals, days to exercise, then maybe I won't feel so overwhelmed with the idea of accomplishing ALL these tasks in one night?

Don't get me wrong, I love working. I enjoy my job and I love having full time hours.  It feels good to be part of the work force and to help my family. What I'm still learning is how to balance that time with all the other things I want to do.  One thing I will say, is I won't necessarily blame it on "no time."  That always feels like such a lame excuse. You can make time for anything if you really want, the trick is learning how to make time. Life is this constant balancing act and I'm just trying to find my place in it all!

That being said, I dedicated this afternoon to planning meals for the week. I don't just mean writing down a menu plan.  Believe me, I've tried that before and when I hit a day that I'm closing the store and know I won't be home until 9 o'clock, preparing dinner for the family is out of the question. The kids are already in bed! That idea flopped fast for my working-mom-self. In the past I preached about preparing meals in advance. Today was that day! I'm so proud I planned a weeks worth of meals.


Complete with date tags


And instructions for my hubby to cook the meal.

Everything is already made and ready to go. All he has to do is pop it in the oven/crockpot/stove, whatever.

I used the "Food Planner" app for my Android Tablet (you can find it in the Google Play Store, and iPhone users, they have plenty in the App Store as well).  I put the meal on the day of the week, put the recipe in there, and then added the items I needed to the grocery list. In case you are wondering, yes, I did carry around my tablet as my grocery list. Only me... I know. Haha.

Once I came home, I got to work and started going meal by meal, stored it, put a label on, badabing badaboom on to the next one.

And if you are curious, here's the menu plan for the next week:
Today: Homemade Pizza
Friday 5/11: Enchiladas
Saturday 5/12: Herb & Butter chicken
Sunday 5/13: Roast beef & gravy
Monday 5/14: My graduation party -- bbq in San Diego! woowoo!
Tuesday 5/15: Homemade spaghetti
Wednesday 5/16: Chicken Parmesan

If I get real savvy, I'll start posting the recipes and photos as well.  However, one step at a time, one step at at time. Remember "What About Bob?" -- baby steps!

At this point, I'm dedicating Thursdays to "meal day." Wednesday I'll plan the meal with my food planner app, then Thursday I'll actual prepare the meals.  As for the rest of the days... I'll somehow start working in there reading and writing.  Maybe I can take some mornings to sit back and read before work, and then evenings to write?  We'll see, we'll see!

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to collapse into the couch with my feet propped up and enjoy that my meals are done for the next week!