Spinning Plates...

For Christmas my parents gave each of the older kids $50.00 to spend on whatever caught their fancy...SO GENEROUS! Thomas spent his on a laser tag gun set, some surprisingly good quality walkie talkies and a large Hex Bug. Madison decided to spend hers on sprucing up her room. Hmmm...whoever could she have gotten the decorating bug from? Not me I'm sure...hee hee. Anyway, she spent some money on a cute furry pillow for her bed and then decided to spend the rest on paint. Of course, if we're being really honest then I must confess that I've chipped in some extra money to the project. It was fun to go out for a GNO with her and buy her pillow and pick her paint colors. Her and Thomas have been busy painting away for the last two days and I have been shuttling them back and forth to Home Depot the last 3 days and also supervising the project trying to ensure the paint goes on the walls and nothing else.

While doing all this the house has fallen apart around me. The dishes just got done, like minutes ago, and the counters wiped off. As for the rest of the house? It looks like a bomb went off in pretty much every room. We are mostly out of groceries that would actually make a balanced, complete meal BUT after hanging at The Depot 3 times with 3 children repeatedly in the last week, I am fresh out of patience and energy to attempt the grocery store now. I have no idea what we're gonna eat for dinner tonight. Lunch isn't looking to promising either at this point and it should have been served two hours ago! I keep looking around and thinking of all of the other things that need to be cleaned and de-cluttered and organized around this place. None of it's gettin' done anytime soon!

But I keep reminding myself that I'm doing what's important. My kids are building skills and confidence. I am showing them that I believe in them, that I trust them with important projects. I am spending time with them that they will remember...and so will I. I am helping them complete a project that Madison and I have talked about doing for a long time. The proud smiles on their faces when they show me the progress they've made make it all worth the grinding halt that has come to the rest of the house. Yeah, this was a good idea. I'm glad we're doing it.

Now, about tonights dinner....is Behr paint non-toxic?






Kidding...just kidding!!!







    

Betty Crocker I ain't!

 
I hate HATE cooking. I really enjoy baking, maybe because there is a delectable sweet treat at the end (my rear end really enjoys it too!), but cooking....UGH! Frequently, what I make just doesn't turn out very good. I also don't have the patience for it so I tend to cook it too hot to speed it up and I burn it, or I burn it because I have a toddler hanging on my leg while I am cooking it and I get distracted. Sometimes, when the smoke alarm goes off while Matt is testing it or something, the kids will holler from somewhere else in the house, "Mom! Are you cooking something?" Yeah. Anyway, I would much rather go out every night and let some restaurant chef cook for me, then clean up for me too! I know I sound lazy, maybe I am, but cooking is one aspect of homemaking that I could definitely live without. I've tried to change it, to think of it differently. So here's where you all come in. What do you do when it comes to cooking each day? Do you have a system? A schedule? Do you have chaos and meltdowns while you're cooking(either from you or around you) or do you have a secret I don't know about? Now all you lurkers better comment because I really need some help here (at this point, about an hour before dinner rolls around, I'm hatin' life)....and we're spending way too much on restaurants (although in my defense Cafe Rio tastes WAY better than anything I cook!).

Your Sister in Homemaking,
                           

P.S. While we're on the subject of cookin'... check out my friend Ashlee's new cooking blog. It's way cute and she has some darn good recipes on there!