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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I'm so productive I really should ask for a raise

Tuesday was, as it normally is, my day at home with Reagan. She did me a favor and slept till 8:00. I had oodles of time to, um, do nothing. But post-nothing I was very productive. I did laundry (more out of baby accident necessity than anything), folded it, put it away. I made a potato dish casserole thingy for a potluck we had at a friend's house. I washed the dishes. See, honey, I can still do it. Now that I've proven myself I'm off the hook for a while. I loaded the dishwasher. I made the bed and put away all the clothes that, oddly enough, hadn't put themselves away. I rinsed out stuff and put it in the recycling bin in the garage. I messed with my new haircut for somewhere near 90 minutes. I had Reagan watch a Baby Einstein DVD which she was fairly fascinated by for at least 20 minutes. I had the diaper bag totally packed and ready to go at least 45 minutes in advance of departure.

And all that would leave me feeling okay about my accomplishments. But one thing set me over the top. My meal plan.

I've previously discussed the necessity of a meal plan in our house. Without one, we don't so much eat. If we do, it isn't well. We've been living without one for quite some time. And we've been getting by - so says the slightly snugger pants. I've been trying a few new recipes here and there with pretty good success. Its on those off nights - those nights where I have nothing thawed, nothing quick, nothing healthy, nothing new, nothing even close to impressive - that we are lacking. So yesterday I set about to fix all of that. I made a meal plan...for the rest of April.

Not only did I plan an entire month of meals, I actually wrote them down on a monthly menu form and a weekly menu form. Beside each weekly menu, I also made a list of groceries we will need. Oh stop. Your applause makes me blush. Truly, I was feeling pretty good about myself...until I showed Hubby. It wasn't that he wasn't impressed and grateful - he was. It was the question that followed that sort of gave me one of those V8 juice commercial bops on the head. "And this is all coordinated with the budget?" He said it more out of impressedness than out of sarcasm. I sort of stared at the little calendar and didn't know what to say. I really didn't plan a thing with finances in mind. It isn't like we are really hard up for money or anything. We are a budgeted little family because it helps us plan for things we can plan for and be prepared for the things we can't ~coughrootcanalscough~. I get a real kick out of saving money - contrary to what some people may believe. Hopefully, my little meal plan helps us cut out some of the "we could eat this sometime" food that sits in the back of the cupboard.

Despite the brief disappointment in my planning abilities, I still feel quite prepared and organized. And for me, feeling organized is glorious.

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