Simplifying life (or at least dinner and shopping)

Around eight years ago, sometime after I married my husband, but I think within that same year, I started doing twice a month dinner menus.  It started on Saturdays.  I would pull all the frozen meat out of the freezer, count it up, and then proceed to build a menu based on what we had first, then filled in the remainder days.  Then the following payday, I'd do the grocery shopping.  This was after months of just shopping for things, and then when it came time to cook dinner, not having one or two ingredients, and having to find something to cook that we had the stuff for.   

My thought was, if I made a menu, we could shop for what we were going to eat, and not have to wonder what was for dinner.  That worked really well.  Every Saturday I sat and scored through my many many many cookbooks, and recipe cards.  I'd throw in old favorites, and new dishes I'd never made.  I enjoyed cooking, and loved to try new things.

Then we had a child.  The nights got busier, it turned into cooking what was quick and easy.  I stopped shopping on payday, and shopped only on Saturday.  Friday became menu and shopping list night.  And over the last five years that has turned into this chore that I hate.  The worst part of the month is the two days I have to sit down and figure out what we should eat for the next two weeks.

When you don't have the time to experiment, you really end up eating the same list of things. With school starting this year, it seems to be an even bigger hassle.  It's just a feeling of, I have so little time to just relax, that I don't want to spend it trying to figure out what to eat.  

All those thoughts had a lightbulb go off in my head.  A way to simplify matters.  Naturally this happened after I finished this weeks shopping list and menu.  But I did extra work on Saturday to set this experiment into motion.

I sat down, and went through my most used cookbooks, and my most used recipe cards and wrote down the recipes.  I came up with six weeks worth of recipes, put them in the calendar, and told it to repeat each one every six weeks.  We already eat these most of the time anyway.  Now it's not a case of, we just had that and I forgot we ate it.  Every six weeks, green chili.  Every six weeks, fajitas.  and, all I have to do is look at the upcoming week the night before I do the shopping and put what is needed for the next couple of weeks.

Naturally, on special occasions whatever is planned for that day will be skipped.  I mean, we aren't going to have taco soup on Thanksgiving.  And as usual with my menus, somedays you just feel like .... (insert random food you enjoy all the time here)...  but for the most part, I think this will work great.  Plus, the six week timeframe offers a lot of variety.  So I don't think we'll get board with the stuff we eat anyway.  

Sometimes you have to find ways to make time for yourself.  Now maybe I can get that long soak in the tub I keep telling myself I'll have.  😂

The first day of school

So... My daughter starts Kindergarten this year.  In two days I will be taking her to her first full day of school.  She is super excited!  Has had her outfit picked out for two weeks.  (she's a little fashionista) I am getting mad butterflies just typing this up!  It's a case of, I know everything will be fine, but I can't help go over all the things that need to be done.  Lunches packed, homework, reading, hoping that everything goes well while she is there.

We aren't unfamiliar with the school, she attend preschool there last year, but it was a half a day.  Three hours.  She loved it.

The kindergarten is set up similar to preschool.  With bathrooms right in the classroom, so there aren't any lost kindergarteners roaming the halls.  Very relieved about that, but at the same time, my brain fast forwards to next year, where she will be in the 1st grade, and in a new school because they decided to build a whole new school, in a whole new location.

See, this is why I have to keep up on meditating, I have a hard time staying in the here and now... I'm always about five steps ahead of myself.

For her first lunch she has told me she wants a sandwich, Pringles, and popcorn.   😂  When I pack it tomorrow, we are sitting down and deciding Pringles OR popcorn, and carrots or cucumbers, apples or bananas or peaches, or pears........  There was a farmers market yesterday.  Fruit happens at those things.

So much preparation and then it will be routine.

And on that first day, I had a vacation day that needed to be used, so I took it off.  I didn't want to rush when I didn't know quite what to expect.  My husband thinks I'll be sitting outside the school for a bit.  I did finally make that massage appointment I've been trying to do for at least two years.  So I can't stay outside her school the ENTIRE day. 😂

The Power of Music

Completely switching gears from last week.  Mostly because this has been bouncing around in my head all this week, and also because I'm not sure where I was going with that last week.  I had a point, but I also had a husband and daughter doing some major distracting last week.  I'm not sure I even wrote a coherent sentence with the amount of distraction going on.

So, the power of music.  There was a long period in my life, where, if I got upset at something, or somebody, I would play the angriest music I could find.  The Strand, Korn, Godsmack......  These were the bands I would crank up.  For years and years this is what I did.  And it never really helped except prolong the anger.  I would leave work, crank up the music, and arrive at home furious.  Do a bit of Turbo Jam, and my shoulder would be sore for a day or two from how hard I was punching the air.  But I was still upset about whatever it was.

This year I decided to try a different approach.  I call it my "Just shake it off" playlist.  Anytime something upsets me, I play this playlist instead.  Nine times out ten I'm in a much better mood, and have moved on.  That one time out of ten is usually a case of it being something major that needs to be taken care of, not a situation that's just frustrating, or a person who has there head stuck up their you know what.

My playlist does have songs added to it whenever I find a song that makes me feel happy listening to it.  But at the moment my list is....

Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
Let Go, Alice In Videoland
Red Balloon, Charlie XCX
Try Everything, Shakira
Awesome As I Want To Be, Daniel Ingram
Beautiful Life, Ace of Base
Ex's & Oh's, Elle King
Roundtable Rival, Lindsey Stirling


It's a short list, but I'm usually good halfway through it.

Anyone else out there have a playlist of this nature? What songs make you happy/cheer you up?

Trying to Create Goals

There are so many self help authors out there.  From what I've seen, a similar factor between them is that you need to write your goals down to achieve them. This also seems to come from those successful people that have made it big.  They knew what they wanted, they wrote it down, and they went for it.

But what if you are among the people that don't know what you want?  I think too many people are labeled as "lazy" or "not ambitious" simply because they don't know what they want.  It's easy to make blanket statements like "I want to be successful."  "I want to be rich" "I want to live in a huge house"  "I want to travel".

That's great, but you want to be successful at what?  What are you willing to do to be rich?  With the ever longed for goal of being rich, are you prepared for the fame, and lack of privacy that comes with it?  Or, if it's not a famous kind of rich, the long hours you have to put in at a high pressure job?

Some people are, they are ready and willing.  Great! go for it!

These days the "American Dream" seems to be rich and famous.  I think it used to be owning a bit of your own land and owning yourself.  Not being a "slave" to a monarchy.  Although, that is a whole can of worms I don't think I want to delve into today.

So, back the the question.  What are your goals.  Your main life goals.  I think for some of us the question isn't what are your goals, but what makes you happy?  I think this because sometimes we are looking at life thinking we need to achieve this success.  That unless we are striving for some kind of greatness, we are nothing.  That is a mindset we need to get rid of.  There are so many people who's main goal is to survive, and because they aren't trying to make a million dollars, does not make them less important than the person who has been able to make their million.

And at the same time, sometimes the whole goal setting thing is difficult if we don't know what we want to do.  Sometimes we fall into a career, and sometimes we really wanted it, and then grow out of it after the reality of what the day to day of that job entails.  So, I think, (and I am by no means a professional, and these theories are untested.)  that the first step is to list all the things that you enjoy.  EVERYTHING.  From sunsets to hobbies.  Write everything that you enjoy down.

Forever Working on Fitness

It seems once you start, you can never stop.  Although when it comes to your fitness, and well being, you should never stop.  What I find interesting is that I go through phases of workouts.  When I started, all I did was Pilates.  Mat Pilates.  I loved it!  Then I found some great cardio workouts, then I started weight lifting and dropped the Pilates.  Then it was cardio, cardio, cardio, followed by running and yoga.  At this current moment it's all Yoga.  I tend to get into a workout, then my brain starts to work against me.  Then I try to figure out ways to add all my various workout favorites into the week.

That is usually where I burn out and stop working out regularly for a week or so.  So for years I've been trying to schedule everything I enjoy doing, and still manage to do everything else I need to do, because you know, I am apparently an adult, and have to be responsible. Sometimes that responsibility includes looking at what your workouts are, and figuring out if they really are working for you.  And while I think in some ways the Yoga is helping, I also think that I need to add something more in there.

And I also am finding that I am rambling in this post.  Isn't that just entertaining to you?

So, before I completely loose any focus on this entry, I'll ask anyone who happens to read this.  What do you do to maintain balance between your workouts?  Do you stick with one thing, or do you have a schedule you follow?

Let me know in the comments what your workout routine is.  Does it make you happy?  That is very important, none of this painful I hate life workout stuff.

One Week Later

So, it has been a week since I resurrected this blog and posted about my frustrations about the negativity in the world.  One week since I stopped news notifications, and stopped reading my news websites.

In that week,  I have found the website calm.com  A meditation website/app.  And I started to meditate every day using the meditations on that app.
I have also started going to happier.com instead of news websites.  And in general focusing on positivity.
There was one moment, where my husband showed me this awful video that was circling facebook.  While I'm not going to shut down people telling me about news, or completely ignore major news that is going on, at the same time, I don't want to watch a video about some soldier overseas that is basically bullying some poor kids in a country we are at war against.  The only reason people post videos of that sort is to get some kind of reaction.  I told my husband I don't want to see anything like that because what am I going to do? Fly overseas and slap the guy?
So, other than that moment of frustration, I have noticed a change in my attitude in this first week.  I've gone into situations with co-workers with a more open mind.  Usually I would go in with a negative "I don't want to deal with you" attitude and the entire conversation would be unpleasant.  Which really wasn't like me at all.  I would always leave the situation thinking "I used to be such a nice person"

In doing the 100happydays challenge I've stopped more through the day to acknowledge things that make me happy.  I suppose I've been more in the moment.  Now, I'm not saying I've managed a complete 180 in a week.  I still manage to get really irritated by some things.

I've been thinking during this week, that I need to get a notebook and cary it around all the time.  So that I can just write things down as I think of them.  Yes, I have many note apps on my phone, but I am just one of those people who think best on paper.  This blog is really a challenge to that, since I don't write it down on paper first.  I think by writing things down on paper, I probably would have some subjects to keep my blog going, as well as be able to transfer things either to my journal, which I am not comfortable carrying around with me everywhere. Or, if applicable, to my story that I hope to write.  Because I am of course, one of those people who is totally going to write a book someday.   And rather than carrying a bunch of different notebooks for different things, I think one in general will suffice.

Now, I have searched my house and found an old composition book I used for what looks like a creative writing class I took in collage.  So, the book is over 15 years old.  It's kinda strange, because part of me doesn't want to use it.  But it's not like I'm going to take that class again, and need it for the class.  I might as well fill it up with my thoughts, and give the blank pages the use they deserve.  Right?
So, this week will start that project.  As well as trying to actually write in my journal.

My journal is a book that was given to me in 1994. It's not a very thick book.  I've been writing in it off and on (mostly off) since then.  it's 2016, you can see how often I write in it.  I'm trying to write in it more, but I know that if I say "I will write every day!" I will fail early.  But, I feel that if I write every Sunday, I might manage.  At this time in my life, Sundays are my recover day.  I managed to do a massive amount of yard work on Saturdays at this time.  A project that will take me into October for the first part, and will start up again in spring for the second part.  This first part is exhausting.  Placing pavers in a pattern.  I can really only handle 36 at a time and the next day I feel it.  It doesn't help that I think we are still under this "heat dome" thing so I'm fighting heat exhaustion when I do this work.  Even if I wake early (which for me is hard on a Saturday) I'm still sweltering by 9am with this project.  I obviously would make a horrible construction worker.

So, because of that, my Sundays are Yoga, Meditation, and writing.  With cooking dinner and watering plants thrown in because stuff still has to get done.  So with that time frame, I believe this blog should be consistently updated on Sundays.  I know that last post was a Monday, but that last post had to get out of me before my head imploded with it.

We will see how I do carrying that notebook around.  I'll be sure to let you know how that's going next Sunday.

100 Happy Days Challenge and Hello again!

I'm resurrecting this blog today.  I have found myself wanting to write on and on about various things, but never quite having the time to put them down on paper, or computer as it were.  Most of that problem stems from the fact that I can think of about 5-10 different posts to write at any given time... although usually while I'm washing the dishes.  But, by the time I have made it to my computer I'm done for the day and don't want to think.

But lately, there has been so much going on, both in my own mind, and in the world, that I feel the need to step back into this forum, if only to get my thoughts out of my head.

So today I'm going to talk about happiness, and the 100 happy days challenge.  This isn't something I've created, but something I stumbled on today.

While I'm at work, I usually have the internet browser up.  My number one reason being that I use my google calendar for everything to keep me on track, and make sure I don't miss anything, work or personal.  Another reason is because I work in video, on an old computer.  Which means render time eats up a lot of my day, and I can't really do too much else while rendering that's going to use up a lot of computer power.  Staring at the little render line can drive a person nuts, so I usually read the news on various news websites while I wait for my computer to do it's thing.

On top of that, I have the AP app on my phone.  There are days where I have other tasks to complete that I don't look online at all.  I wanted to keep up with the national stuff.  I believe I downloaded the AP app shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting.  Then earlier this year, or late last year, I don't quite recall, I started to follow an online news outlet that is local, so I could know what was going on in my own town/state.  I had the notifications on twitter turned on so I could see anything that was posted fairly immediately.

So here I am, keeping up to date on news.  Being aware of what is going on in the world.  But today I woke up, turned my alarm off on my phone, and saw yet another shooting at a nightclub in Florida. Then at work I'm reading about this horrible thing that happened today, and that horrible thing that happened today.  Then my phone lights up with the arrests around town.  I'm not sure at what point it was that my brain said "stop".

It could be that I've been binge watching (well, listening to really) Kino Yoga (on youtube) mainly her playlist on "Living the Yogi's Life"

Who knows what the real cause was, but the moment happened this afternoon when I closed the news browser, unfollowed the news twitter account, and turned off notifications in my AP app.  Then I started to google "happy websites"  because everything that is being fed to me is misery and destruction.  Blood, bullets, bombs, killings......

I decided at that moment that, while I'm not going to plug my ears and say "lalala" when I happen upon the news, I'm also not going to binge feed my brain everything.  What if I wake up in the morning and the first thing I see isn't bad news that happened while I was sleeping?  What if it's something good?  Or, just the numbers on the clock telling me the time?

So, one of the websites I found was 100happydays.com  A website challenging you to have 100 happy days.  To take a photo of something that made you happy every day for 100 days.  I signed up and started today, using my instagram account as the source of the photo being put out into the world.  Now, I was looking later at different pages referring to it, and saw a site where someone was talking about how this was a horrible idea.  that no one has an "exciting day" everyday for 100 days.  It's something that made you happy.  Not having an exciting day.  I think that, even on the worst day of your life, there has to be a tiny spark of something that made you happy, even for a moment.  The idea is that by recognizing these sparks of happiness, that you will appreciate them, and in the end be happier for living in the moment, rather than searching for happiness.

Another part of the challenge is to take the photo of something that truly made you happy.  Not something you think others will like.  So, I have decided in my posts of this challenge, that I will not explain why something made me happy, I will not hashtag the hell out of a post, I will just list the day and the hashtag for the challenge, and that will be it.

Here's hoping that anyone who stumbles upon this will find a little more happiness in their lives.

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