10.25.2013

miscellany: vol. 12

october. the air is consistently crisp and cool and the leaves skitter across the driveway at every gust. the midsemester crush is past and things have slowed down a bit at work. i'd been working so hard for the past month that it felt strange to actually have a few nights with nothing on my chore or work to-do list! i've enjoyed finally having a couple hours a week with the house quiet and no pressing needs to tend to.

i'm a goal-oriented person so sometimes i get a bit obsessive with my to-do list--cross cross cross cross. but lately i've been trying to make space for silence, stillness, and doing nothing. instead of writing a book review or working on next semester's syllabi or sweating to a jillian michael's workout, last night i took my hour or two of free time and read (for fun), watched nashville, even did a bit of coloring in zu's coloring book (i know, its weird, but coloring is so soothing!). and the next day i felt lighter because of it.

later today i plan on taking a long walk in the biting cold just for the pleasure of feeling the biting cold

~ in the kitchen:
as boring as it sounds, i have finally found the easiest and most budget friendly way for me to manage feeding my family while being a working mom! we now have a set meal plan for each week, and i only vary it when i have time to put into varying it (and i do switch up side items). it helps with our grocery budget because it cuts down on buying stuff we don't need/don't eat, we eat out less, and it takes a lot of thought and planning out of feeding the family. here's our weekly set-list:
monday - chinese stir-fry
tuesday - tacos
wednesday -  homemade pizza
thursday - casserole or soup
friday - fish with a veggie and starch
saturday - roast beef with veggie or salad
sunday - pasta
i only plan dinners and lunches are always sandwiches, salads, or leftovers; breakfast is cereal, eggs, or toast. simple.

~ in the notebook:
i have the workings of a poem in my notebook, but its not quite come to fruition yet, and i've been reading poetry here and there. i'm immersed in pilgrim at tinker creek by annie dillard currently.

~ the little one:
zu has begun sleeping in her big girl bed. we needed the crib for june and i thought there'd be lots of drama from zu about giving up the crib, but there was hardly anything. she had a day or two of getting used to it, and now she hops right into bed at night.  i'm so proud of her!

~ the littlest:
june is four months old! she has as much hair as ever and is looking more and more like her daddy.  her tummy is much better than it was, but she is still waking up at least twice each night--usually around 2 and 4am, and she goes to bed around 10pm. she's still nursing, and we've just started her on babyfood this week. we've been getting lots of giggles from her lately, and i think she has the sparkliest eyes i've ever seen.

~ favorite links:
To Invent Your Own Life's Meaning | good men project
"you'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing and to never be satisfied with who you are, where you are, and what you are doing..."
5 reasons social media is dangerous for me | huffingtonpost

advice to little girls | mark twain
"Good little girls always show marked deference for the aged. You ought never to ‘sass’ old people unless they ‘sass’ you first."

7 comments:

  1. i love your idea for a set weekly meal plan! maybe i should try that. i've been very uninspired lately with our meals. everything just seems blah.

    also-- i love 'pilgrim at tinker creek,' though it is a difficult read. and it gave me several extremely weird dreams. definitely one of those kinds of books you wade through. no quick reads there! i was inspired by how vividly she writes about nature-- the most poetic prose i've ever read. i hope you enjoy it!

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    1. it really helps me to have a basic plan to work off of--i feel a lot less stressed about what to cook for dinner when i at least know that i'm cooking mexican or italian or whatever that night--it narrows things down. i'm really loving Pilgrim so far--i'm only through the first chapter--it makes me want to go wander around outside =)

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  2. I LOVE the idea of having a set weekly meal plan. That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It's really hard trying to be creative and having a set plan would really take a lot of stress and guesswork out of it. Doing it. For my next meal plan. Thank you.

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  3. Oh, and I love the Catholic feel of your "Fish Fridays." ;)

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    1. i got this idea from my catholic grandmother--it is what she used to do, having five kids and all--and i pretty much copied her meal plan just subbed out the meatloaf mondays with chinese mondays =)

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  4. I love that meal plan idea, too! I always plan our meals, but I DREAD it each week. It would be so much easier not to have to think about it every week!

    Good for Zu transitioning to her big girl bed. Char still sleeps in her crib, and I think we will leave her there until she tries to climb out. I am worried about how she will do with a toddler bed. Mostly I'm afraid she'll get up 100 times in a night. Does Zu mostly stay put?

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    1. it is a little boring, honestly, but it works for us~!

      and i really thought zu would get up and play a lot, but so far that has not been an issue. . . when i put her to bed and to nap anyway lol. whenever bryan puts her down for nap while i'm at work, she usually gets up at least once. i must be the scary one lol!

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