This week's plan - January 12

So I'm a single mom this week. Again. But I think I figured this whole thing out. While DH is in Dallas filming a pharmaceutical conference, I will be responsible for the entire house and its various inhabitants, and I've discovered that if I plan correctly, this shouldn't really be that hard. I think my problem before was a lack of motivation. I always want to do things, but it's been only in the last few months or so that I actually see myself pulling it off. It's far from a perfect system, but here's what I've managed to figure out, and how I hope to accomplish it this week.

1. Make a plan for this week for all meals and chores.
2. Actually follow the plan. But if I don't get something done on the appropriate day, I don't carry it over to the next day-- that just mucks up the whole system. Instead, it gets moved to a more appropriate day, or to Saturday, which is for clearing up anything that didn't get done.

This system started around the holidays, and I like to think that I've become less of a slacker because of it. There's so much to do- cards, cookies, decorating, present-buying, present-wrapping, phone calls, family get-togethers, more present-buying, making cupcakes and cookies for school (yes, it's daycare, but we call it school 'cause she learns stuff there), blah blah blah. Just a flurry of activity that we put ourselves through in the name of celebrating the season. But I enjoy it, and aside from nobody getting Christmas cards this year (something to shoot for next year, I guess) I still managed to pull off Christmas Eve open house/dinner at my house this year for my family and friends, and my house was clean enough that my mother even noticed. And if you met my mother, you would understand how big a deal that is.

Something that hasn't worked for me is scheduling things on certain days. I think it's the Aquarius in me- if something's cast in stone, I feel the need to subvert it. So if I designate Wednesday as Laundry Day, chances are good that I will end up knitting or just looking at Ravelry or I Can Has Cheezburger for the three hours between when E goes to bed and when I go to bed, instead of doing my sock laundry. Instead, I just have a list of stuff I feel should be accomplished in a week's time, and make progress toward getting it done whenever I can, breaking it up into manageable chunks of activity so I feel like I've accomplished something but the end of the week.

This week, since it's after the holidays and I am feeling like me and E have just been eating junk food and snackies for months on end, we're aiming for relatively healthy, complete meals rather than Pizza Hut and Mickey D's. I am ashamed to say that we tended toward fast food quite a bit in the run-up to the holidays. Yes, I have been feeding my toddler McDonald's. Don't judge.

So here's the plan for this week, starting with meals. Since DH isn't home this week, we'll be focusing on bright flavors and colors, with some "sinful" thrown in.

Shrimp stir-fry. Luckily my E isn't allergic to shellfish, and she rather enjoys shrimp as long as it's not deep-fried (yay, her!), so I think we'll stir-fry some IQF shrimp with scallions, garlic, broccoli, carrots and peas, and serve it over some rice. I have white rice in the fridge, otherwise I'd go for the whole goodie-goodie meal and do the brown rice thing. E doesn't care as long as there's something veggie in there for her.

It's really really really cold here, so we'll do something comfort-foody one day this week. I made meat sauce yesterday and tried to lean it up as much as possible. I used ground turkey instead of beef and added lots of onions and garlic. When the meat was brown and the aromatics were translucent, I added a can of diced tomatoes and about a cup of some leftover cabernet (from Christmas Eve) and let it all cook down. Then I added a jar of marinara sauce and let the whole thing simmer.

OK, new favorite pasta? I think it's called "trivelle." Looks like you took about three or four macaronis and connected them into one fun long spiral. I layered some of this (cooked) in a casserole with my meat sauce and some part-skim mozzarella (sauce, pasta, cheese, sauce, pasta, more sauce, cheese) and baked it for a half an hour covered, then 15 minutes uncovered. E liked it, I loved it, and we have enough for another night this week. I tried to use the leaner ingredients and I probably could have used whole wheat pasta, but we don't have any. Next time. I hear whole wheat pasta is less weird to eat if you cook it with something, rather than just slapping a sauce on it.

So that's two meals, and we'll probably do leftovers one night, and one night will be a pasta or pierogi or something. And I cooked up some boneless chicken breasts, just to have them on hand, so we can have quesadillas one night, or chicken & dumplings or something. The aim is for filling meals that not only satisfy little toddler bellies but also keep me from snacking after she goes to bed. I have a terrible habit of snacking when I'm bored and lonely. Hell, I snack even when I'm not bored or lonely. It's a problem.

I'm also planning on getting some organization done this week. We have mountains of laundry both to wash and to put away, and I KNOW there are clothes in my dresser and closet that I don't need, or won't fit into ever, or am now just too old to wear. I don't want to be one of those sad wannabe-cougar types that keeps wearing the twentysomething clothes long past their expiration date. I'm not ready for coordinated tracksuits by any means, but really, I think I'm a little too old for skintight cheeky t-shirts that say things like "stop looking at my tits" right over the boobie area. Time to say goodbye. And some of the shoes I used to wear-- not really my thing anymore... Time to fill the coffers at the local thrift store so I can put the clothes I actually do wear in their proper place. We've already got a bunch of bags filled up with old stuff, but it's up in our attic and I keep forgetting about them, so that's gonna be a task this week- locate all thrift bags, load them in the Ford, and truck them the three or four blocks up the road to the thrift store.

Believe it or not, I will still have time for myself. I can't imagine not knitting something this week, and I'm working on some stuff that I'd really like to have sooner rather than later. More on that tomorrow, or maybe later on today. This post is long enough.