Motivated Monday!

I went to confession yesterday before Mass. I never, ever go often enough. I don’t think I’m the only one, but I pretty much always go about two or three weeks longer than I really should between them.

Since I finally did go, now I feel all bright and shiny like a new penny. 🙂

Also, attending a the baptism of a friend’s baby yesterday, and spending some time with said baby, I think has jump started my nesting hormones in a b-i-g way. We got home and I made Atticus compulsively scrub the kitchen with me, while I got teary-eyed, apologizing for “making him live in his own filth” because the floor hadn’t been mopped in a few weeks. Not exactly the perfect picture of rationality, but he bore it like a hero (which he is!).

Last night I downloaded the Motivated Moms Chore Planner (which I found courtesy of the lovely Mrs. 2nd Lieutenant).

What I like about this planner is that it has a spot for daily (or semi-daily) tasks like dishes, laundry, and cooking. It also has a checklist for daily items like exercising and prayer (though it actually says “quiet time” on the sheet). Then for each day of the week are a few additional chores. I c-r-a-v-e structure, and I love school supplies, so this little planner is great! I am still pretty new to this whole “job as homemaker” thing, so I need all the help I can get in remembering when to do things like change the kitchen towels and clean the toilets. My previous answers to those things being – (a) when it stinks and (b) when it looks bad. What can I say, I am a work in progress!

Cooking is another area where I am attempting to make great strides! Before I got pregnant, I did a lot more cooking. Then, when I got pregnant, the sight and smell of raw meat made me retch, so the only thing I cooked was pasta and pizza. Atticus did a lot of cooking, and we did a fair amount of take-out (mostly because I felt bad asking him to cook after he worked all day, but I just couldn’t face the meat — or fish).

Now that I am feeling much, much better and am able to cook without simultaneously vomiting, I’m also trying to get into some kind of meal planning routine. We get a delivery of fruit and veggies each Thursday from Green BEAN delivery (I love you!), so we try to plan our meals based in part on what produce we’ll be getting, or still have left over from the previous week.

Most of the fruit is just for our snacking or breakfast use, unless Atticus requests a special dessert, or we get something really different.

I only really feel a need to plan dinners a week in advance, as its the biggest meal of the day that we eat together, and usually the only one that involves any real amount of cooking (I’m not including heating up a can of soup here as cooking!).

So here’s the menu for this week:

Monday: pasture-raised Pork chops, fingerling potatoes, applesauce and salad

Wednesday: Pasta with shrimp, tomatoes (from the garden!) and basil

Thursday: Leek and Potato soup (Leeks and Yukon Gold potatoes from farm delivery!) and baked fish on the side (the small piece of wild-caught Alaska Salmon we could afford and which we will split!)

Friday: Homemade pizza (God bless you, whole wheat Boboli!) with bell peppers (and whatever else might be laying around!)

I’m not planning any meals for the weekend, as I figure we’ll probably go out once, and there might be leftovers from some of the others.

I also made “Outrageous Bread” today — I made it once before and it’s so good for breakfast or a snack!

“Outrageous” Bread/Muffins

1/3 Cup ground cornmeal

1/2 Cup whole wheat flour

1/2 Cup white bread flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour (pastry type if you have it)

1/4 Cup wheat germ

1/2 Cup brown sugar packed

3/4 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup slivered almonds (or walnuts, pecans, etc.)