I mentioned recently in a post that sometimes I’m unhappy with myself as a mother and wife. Most of that concerns “wifely and motherly duties”, simple things like cooking dinner, washing clothes and making beds. Or even things for myself like exercising. Heh, as far as that is concerned some days I’m glad to just get myself a shower. And I understand I have two young children, I have a job and really, a part-time job now with the OTH site and I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. But sometimes, I get on this kick that I’m going to put my family, home and health on priority number 1.
Since this weekend, I’ve been on that kick. In all honesty, we’d gotten to the point that we were eating out almost all the time. And if we did eat a home-cooked meal, I was making breakfast or spaghetti or we were eating at one of parents’ houses. I think it culminated in Asheville. We ate so much food and it was good, yes but I was so tired. of. food. Tired of eating out. Tired of eating bad food. Tired of paying to eat bad food. Not that the food in Asheville was bad but it just put me over the edge on food eaten at a restaurant.
So since we’ve been back I had planned on eating in. Sunday night we did eat out for Heather’s birthday and that’s obviously fine, Monday we ended up eating at Scott’s parents and then last night we ate in at my Mom’s. Tonight the kids will be with MIL. So much for cooking dinner. But I did fix lunch in this week and today I cooked some salsa chicken in the crockpot for lunch and we all sat and ate together. Well, even when we do eat take-out we eat together but still. I fixed us a salad and had some strawberries and blueberries set out. And I just felt so much better about the whole mom thing.
Then last night I started reading the book 7 Pillars of Health that my mom gave me and it talks about all this…going to sleep at a better time, drinking water, taking vitamins, eating better. It all just falls in together. Either my home and health are a priority or they aren’t. Either I’m doing a good job keeping up with dinners, exercising, etc or I’m not. I’ve just found that I have to make an effort and when I do, I feel so much better.
So I’m not making any promises but I really do want to try to eat and drink better, cook more often, exercise more, straighten up more and just do better. You know, I’m thinking this whole 30s thing isn’t turning out so bad after all.
EDW says
I have totally gone through the same thing – it gets easier to keep on track, and then sometimes you fall off, but once you are on it’s easier to get back on. Just like everything else!
EDW’s last blog post..I may as well play
Beth@sportsmomma says
Been there done that- many times over!!! I don’t have a job and yet I still find myself struggling. My goal is to really get on top of things when school starts- set up a weekly schedule for myself and really stick with it. Oh, you might want to check out orgjunkie.com on Mondays- there are usually at least 200 different people posting their weekly menus!
Hang in there girl!
Amy says
Good to know I’m not the only one. I will have to check out that site. If I weren’t working I would totally be doing the flylady stuff. I try to incorporate some of her stuff but I find right now it’s just too hard to do it all.
Jen says
I’ve gone through this myself, and then lately have just gotten tired and fell off the wagon. I like Beth’s idea, and since right now I don’t work outside the home, starting a plan when school starts seems like a good idea. I know my house is in constant dis-array when all 3 kids are here!
I have done the flylady before too, but found it hard to keep up with all her emails. She is really right about the shining the kitchen sink before bed, it’s nice to wake up to that.
Jen’s last blog post..Green Tuesday
Carolyn says
With both of us working outside our home I find our lives are almost too scheduled! During the summer it is a little easier on the kids but as soon as school starts their after school activities will start again and that means that every morning we run down the “Are you sure you have your…” checklist.
I am fortunate that Raouf cooks for a living so he handles all meals. He arrives home before I do so that is the trade off…I pick up and drop off the kids at school and all activities and he cooks. Raouf is not a fan of what he calls “processed” food so he would rather make large pots of soup or pasta that can be used for dinners or lunches. Nothing makes my kids happier than to hear we are getting take out as it does not happen very often.
I handle all laundry (a full time job with two children whose school uniform includes a white shirt!), children’s activities and most of the house cleaning. Over time I have realized that Raouf and I have two very different (and not at all complementary) ideas about house cleaning…even after twelve years of marriage we haven’t quite worked it out!
From what I can see you are doing a great job…and it is amazing that you are striving to do even better. You are definitely an inspiration.