Secret Blog

I've been accused of starting up a secret blog (Sara). I didn't think it was a secret, but apparently it was. So here is the big announcement- I've started up a new blog with two of my friends. We have decided to be each other's back up and support for all things health related- mental, emotional, physical and the blog is a way for us to keep in touch and on track. I've tried to start up a blog dedicated to my health before but I can barely keep up with this one much less another one on my own.

Here is the brand new, secret now no longer a secret blog!!!:

*drumroll please*

Support Sisters

Making some progress

We are doing fairly well with our new plan. Granted, this is week 1, but still. The kids and I laid out all the clothes for the week and this has saved so much time in the mornings. Instead of the usual arguing and stalling, they simply pick up the next outfit in the stack (hah, not really but they do grab something) and get dressed without any lip.

Every night this week (all three of them), DH or myself has prepared the lunches for the next day so we don't have the mad scramble the next morning. Progress has been made on at least one load of laundry every day. Best of all, I have a system for dinners now.

The weekend before, I plan out the meals for the week and try to gather all the ingredients. I write down the list of meals on the white board in the mudroom. I bought a small white board for the kitchen on which I write down the next evenings meal before we go to sleep. I also place any daily activities/things to remember on the little white board. I have a giant white board with the month in the mudroom, but since we don't live in the mudroom like we do the kitchen, it's nice to have the reminders right in front of us.

Today's board reads:
Wednesday
Family Fun Night!
Make your own pizzas
Bike ride and dominos

Family fun night

It seems that when each weekend arrives, I throw myself a mini-pity party. Hubby works weekends do we don't get to do the fun family stuff that I'd like. Instead of feeling sorry for us, I decided to take action. Who says that fun family activities can only happen on weekends? We have declared Wednesday night Family Fun Night. We will probably have to shift the shedule a bit when baseball starts up this fall, but for now, Wednesdays work great.

Last night was our first Family Fun Night. We decided to go bowling. I'm wondering when bowling got so expensive? $45 for a four of us for one game? That seems quite steep. I am now looking for ideas for our weekly adventures, preferably ones that don't cost money.

Here is what we have on the list so far:

- family bike ride
- roller skating
- getting gelato from Whole Foods
- driving range
- rock wall at the gym
- Astros game
- we have tickets in December to see The Sound of Music
- movies

Setting mini-goals

One of my favorite activities is to brainstorm ways to simplify. If I instead spent the time doing instead of thinking, I'd probably get more accomplished but what's the fun in that?

One of the big issues around the house is putting things away. The kids (and us) will leave one or two little things out and before you know it, the house is completely trashed. Once it starts piling up, all effort goes out the window which makes it doubly bad.

How to make life a little simpler? Keep on top of it. We've made a pact to implement a new idea every week.

Here are just a few that we've come up with:

- lay out school clothes for the entire week on Sunday
- pick out meals/recipes for the week on Sunday
- do not go to sleep unless the sink is clean
- run the dishwasher every night
- do a load of laundry a day (side note: only do one family member's clothes at a time to ease the put away stress)
- if you get something out, you put it away

What tips/tricks do you have for making life a bit more simple?

Dinner and laundry

I have issues with both and would like to see them struck from everyone's to do list. In the mean time, I have figured out one way to make dinner less of an issue. My biggest problem is that I don't want to make the same dinner twice. Maybe once or twice a year but certainly not once a week or even once a month. That makes planning and coming up with ideas terribly hard. To make it a bit easier, I've added breakfast for dinner once a week. Last week was blueberry pancakes and sausage, this week was veggie frittata and breakfast tacos for the non-veggie eaters. I've also taken to the meals to go at Whole Foods. I have to grocery shop there once a week anyways, so I make it a week night trip and pick up prepared food.

The laundry problem is still a stinking mountain. I know people that do a load a day and while that is admirable, I just can't bring myself to get into the habit. I am too exhausted during the week to even think about laundry which means I get to waste the wonderful weekend swimming in 8 - 10 loads of clothes.

I think the solution is a personal chef and maid that comes every day. Anyone have advice on how to become independently wealthy so I can hire both?

My List

I have a long list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Some may be realistic, some not as much but I've been thinking about my list lately and how I'm not really any closer to any of the items. I need to focus on a couple and do something, otherwise they'll never happen on their own.

Here is my list, in no particular order:

- travel by train across a beautiful part of the country (ie Colorado, California coast...)
- learn how to dance hip-hop, salsa, jive, all of it
- go to bartending school
- get good enough at golf where I'm not embarrassed to play with others
- complete a half Ironman (running a marathon pretty much cured me of my desire to do a full Ironman)
- passive cash flow exceed expenses
- learn how to play the drums
- take a year off from our lives and travel the world with the kids visiting off the beaten path places
- play golf at Pebble Beach
- hike the Grand Canyon
- visit all 50 states
- volunteer for the local women's shelter
- be my own boss
- grow vegetables
- have a fruit orchard
- make my own wine
- become fluent in Spanish
- try bananas foster