Stream of Consciousness Sunday - The Fall Purge Begins

It's Week 12 of my Stream of Consciousness Sunday posts. I'm writing this on Saturday evening. My Munchkin is sacked out still in his Spiderman costume. My hubby is studying for his final CMA exam quietly down in the man cave. He's also noshing on some of the venison sausage he finally take out to cook after I told him I was going to throw it out. Mind you he hunts for Bambi every year, brings in more of the stuff & does not eat any of it!

Okay moving onto my triumph of the day: The Fall Purge (has begun.)

I am the worst about sticking to that rule: "For every piece of clothing you buy, something else must go." This mama loves clothes - no doubt about it.  I keep pieces with a sentimental attachment because of how I looked in them or for what occasion they were worn. Letting them go (even if they no longer fit) has always been very difficult. Paying a lot of money for most of them has been inevitable.  Buying quality brand names when it comes to business attire are the way to go - for the way they fit & because they don't look totally worn out after a season of rotation.

I needed to buy some new separates for work for this fall & winter because quite frankly my jackets are almost all too tight.  Don't ask me how the hell that happened & after my c-section so many gorgeous tops are just too short.  

I pulled out 6 business suits & 4 jackets/blazers for the last time & made my way to Edina Realty, a drop-off site for a wonderful organization called "Dress For Success".  They outfit women in need with outfits from head-to-toe in professional work attire.  I've been meaning to donate for a long time & finally today was the day.

I filled two more bags with clothes for Goodwill & dropped those off as well.  The third bag is slated for consignment - we'll see how that goes...Need to make an appointment during the week.

The best part of purging just that much?  It left me room to breath a bit in my tiny master closet.  All my clothes have to fit in the upper & lower section of one side of our closet.  I am a freak about saving space, so I use the Joy Mangano original Huggable Hangers, which I love.

Amazing what just sorting like pieces together can do to organize the space & make you feel a bit more in control as you start the work week.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.

§         Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.

§         Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

§         Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.

§         Link up your post at all.things.fadra

§         Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Wordless Wednesday - Simple Joys in Life  

or Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Last Minute Plans

Stream of Consciousness Sunday ~ The Chef Within Me

It's Week 11 of my Stream of Consciousness Sunday posts. So I'm not sure about the other working Moms out there, but I'm exhausted at the end of the workday & most of the time I am not sure what I'm cooking for dinner until I figure it out on the drive home.  

Before we had Munchkin I used a rotation of about 24 different meals that my husband & I both enjoyed. Now that we have a preschooler, who is a very good eater - don't get me wrong but when it comes to his main meals he's a very clean eater. He is also very much like my father was when I was growing up - he's a straight protein & carbohydrate kid. Dad would never eat a hot dish or casserole as some people call them.

Munchkin loves roasted or Grilled Chicken, Pork Tenderloin, Pulled Pork, BBQ Spare Ribs, Beef Roast, Salmon, Spaghetti or simple Soft Tacos.  He'll also eat Chili, Ham Steak, Butternut Squash Soup and Veggie Stirfry. He loves Potatoes - mashed or roasted, plain Brown, Wild or Spanish Rice. Simple Salads & Veggies are also okay. Fresh Fruit we add at almost every meal.

What he doesn't like to eat yet are some of my most favorite things to cook, like Lasagna, Enchilada Casserole, Chicken & Dumplings, Chicken Wild Rice Soup, Beef Stroganoff, Tuna Casserole, Chicken Parmesan, Cheesy Potatoes and so many other things I might prepare ahead of time at a place like "Let's Dish". He might also be the only kid alive who won't eat Macaroni & Cheese - and I only make the homemade variety. 

http://pinterest.com/mrobin032009/

So I find myself obsessing over my cookbooks & all the new things I'd love to make that I find on Pinterest. My almost month long rotation of meals is reduced to about a 2 week rotation & it's getting a bit boring.

I know it's a matter of time & he's want to eat more things, but until then I need to stay motivated to plan our meals a week in advance.  My husband & I were a bit spoiled during the time I was staying at home looking for work - I had a ton of time to plan meals.

My time is up & my rant is done, but I'm curious what you do to encourage your kids to try new combined foods. When did you see them start to want to eat everything on your normal menus?

 

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.

§         Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.

§         Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

§         Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.

§         Link up your post at all.things.fadra

§         Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Last Minute Plans or Stream of Consciousness Sunday - The Pieces That Make Us Whole

The Heavy Burden

Labor Day weekend is almost upon us.

It is a time of transition: summer to fall, kids back to school, no more wearing white..

For this week’s prompt, write about a season of change for your character or you. It can be literal or metaphorical.

Bear with me as I'm including more of these writing exercises into my blog - this is the first time in a very long time that I've attempted to write pure fiction. I did not take the time to name this character, I just let the words flow. Here it goes:

http://writeonedge.com/red-writing-hood/

The days are already getting shorter and she is left wondering if her time is also slipping away.  It's been a year since the diagnosis.  The prognosis was initially a questionable one.  Depending on how the treatment progressed they would make a decision of  how much longer she would have to live.  It was a miracle they found the tumor at all and she was so very thankful that they did - yet she was terrified.

She had seen so many of the other patients in the last few months come into the office.  They had bonded - none of them really confident that the experimental treatments they had signed up for were going to work. But the possibility of finding a cure wasn't what they faced - they were avoiding the inevitable - pushing it away into the distance - one season at a time. 

She feels blessed to have had the time to stay at home and raise her children. Many of their friends have not been so fortunate having to juggle a full time job along with raising their kids. She has lost touch with a few of who used to be her closest friends - they have always been sympathetic of her condition, yes, but after a while it became increasingly hard not to become a little jealous of their good health.

She did not really know how to work through the feelings, so she chose to withdraw into her responsibilities with the family.  She found herself making excuses and keeping to herself more & more. 

So as Summer draws to a close, she finds herself wrapped up in the duties a mother generally takes on & her husband takes for granted.  Her oldest daughter is preparing to enter high school and has a list a mile long of more clothes she absolutely must have this year.  The middle child - a son is obsessed with nothing but football as he enters the 6th grade. Her baby boy is going into the third grade & is a total Momma's boy.

She plans her weekend in preparation for the week to come when all the kids will be back in school. So much left to do & so little time she uses the crafting room to spread out all the school supplies & separates them into piles to go into the kid's backpacks.  She wonders if she should be calling her husband into the room to watch her routine.  He's never needed to care before. She has always done everything. She has grown used to carrying the heavy burden of the household & her illness. He's always just been the breadwinner. 

She decides not to bother him with it & quickly wraps up the project. It's by then almost time to take her middle son to football practice & her youngest to a friend's home for a play date so she can finish up the last bit of clothes shopping with her daughter.   She calls out to the kids to gather their things & to get into the car.  She hates to be late.

After she drops off the boys, her daughter moves into the front seat of the car.  She takes a quick glance over at her & marvels at the beautiful young woman that she is becoming & her eyes begin to well up with tears.  She quickly wipes them away before her daughter can lock eyes with her & see that she is upset.  She says a little prayer that this Fall won't be her last.  She has so much left to live for & she knows how much her daughter is going to need a mother. She turns the key in the ignition, starts the car & quickly drives away.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:  Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Mom's Night Out or Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Mom Power

Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Mom Power

Here I am staying true to my commitment & it's week 2 of Stream of Consciousness Sunday.  I knew this weekend would be a little more stressful than normal.  My hubby is out of town on a golf trip - left on Thursday, which makes me Single Momma for a few days.  

Every time he leaves for business or pleasure I almost immediately know that at the end of it I will be stressed & drained - not at all recuperated from the weekend off, but it's what I signed up for when I decided to marry my hubby.  I knew what I was getting myself into once we had kids.

Anyway, I escaped a bit early from work on Friday, excited to have a couple hours of me time to get things done before picking up my son. I ran a couple errands, including the grocery store & when I got home I headed downstairs to the basement to put the overflow in the big chest freezer downstairs.

As I opened the door, I heard a hissing sound & knew immediately my night would be screwed.  A water pipe had sprung a tiny leak & was shooting out sharply in the direction of our furnace.  "Crap, Crap! Why did this have to happen when hubby is out of town, Crap." Those were my thoughts.  

I called my hubby, and got his voicemail - twice, so I called one of his friends who was on the trip.  He tracked down my hubby, driving to the hole were he was golfing.  Long story short, there was nothing he could do except talk me towards the right valve to shut off the water & it would be up to me to get it fixed or be without water until he returned 3 days later. I wrapped duck tape around the pipe to direct the flow of water toward the drain until I figured out what to do next.

I called two plumbers out of the yellow pages & got estimates - both of which were basically highway robbery. It was after 5:00pm on a Friday, so I'd pay $200 to get them there & then time & a half for labor plus materials. I texted my hubby the prices & then thought I have another idea.

I remembered that the contractor who did the job finishing off our basement did not normally go on the trip that my hubby was on. I drove to daycare to pick up my Munchkin.  I then called him & he said, "No, don't use those emergency plumber guys! They are just out to fleece people. I'll be there within a couple of hours to fix it." And so he did.

I felt empowered that I thought on my feet & handled the situation without freaking out about circumstances I could not control. I tweeted about my little victory with a twitter friend who conquered her own dragon that same evening.

No doubt my five minutes are up, but it feels great to know that when it counts you are the Mom that stepped up to the plate & handled the situation. Yes, that's right - I have Mom Power, and I bet you do too. ;  )

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.

§         Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.

§         Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.

§         Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.

§         Link up your post at all.things.fadra

§         Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy: Stream of Consciousness Sunday - Motherhood in the Forties

Late Morning Wakeup Call

It was not our typical morning.  My son was extra tired from the absence of naps on a weekend packed with activity.  I let him sleep in with hopes of a smooth transition at daycare. I took a few extra minutes to make my lunch & loaded up the car all before my son woke up.  Well we all know the best laid plans usually turn out differently in the end.  The drop-off was still a teary one and I ended up missing four express buses.

I typically see something unexpected when I'm on a different timetable. Today it was a cute young Amish Family - a couple & their preteen son, in typical dress, waiting for a bus to go to the Mall of America of all places. Sometimes when you first meet a person, you may have a preconceived notion about who they are and what they are all about? At least until you get to know them better, then your opinion changes. When that fifth express bus drove up, it had a different destination & numbers scrolling along the digital sign from my usual ride. 

Thank goodness for that cute Amish family putting me in the right mindset to believe that somehow I didn't have all the facts. I was busy writing this post and totally missed the driver changing the sign's numbers to match my destination. The long line of people who got on the bus ahead of me must have known the driver's routine. Had I not second-guessed why there were so many people getting on that bus heading for a strange part of town, I would have missed express bus number five too!

Perhaps I had this experience in the start of the week to get me thinking in some new ways. It was a late morning wakeup call. My eyes are open a bit wider & my ears tuned in more closely to the conversations & stimuli around me.  There are probably a few important lessons to be learned along the way.

Live For Today - It Changes In An Instant

How kids make progressions in leaps & bounds at this age amazes me. From writing words to coloring within the lines, my son is growing up too fast. Not that long ago I swear I was just helping him hold the pencil the right way as he wrote & now the words are recognizable - with no help from Mom.

 Memories are made in an instant. Look the other way & you'll miss them. Life can change in an instant. Live for today, because tomorrow is never promised.

Yes, of course I want him to learn as much as possible - to grow more independent every day, to feel confident and secure in his skin. I'm just not quite ready for him to come home and quiz me on the Spanish he learned that day at school: "Rojo is Red, Mom. What is Yellow? What is Green? What is Blue, Mom?"  Or to have a witty comeback for why he's not ready to take a nap like: "I'm not sleepy anymore - I don't have any yawns in my mouth."

"I pray that my love for you will brim with practical wisdom, that where appropriate I will be able to respond to your questions with clear answers. I pray that my love for you will brim with imagination, that where appropriate I will be able to answer your questions with enlightening stories. - Modern prayer from Uppsala, Sweden

How quickly little boys quickly grow into little men. The other day, he asked for a wipe, then proceeded to clean the kitchen table before dinner.  He methodically removed each placemat & them put them back in their places when he was finished. He loves to water the plants in our landscaping and even Swiffer the hardwood floors.  I'm aware the novelty of being Mom's little helper may eventually wear off, but in the meantime I'm enjoying the daily surprises. 

Many working Moms end the day feeling more stressed than when it started. There is usually so much to be done before we are able to call it a night and rest. As I reflected on some of the good family memories that were made this week, a few aha's came to mind. You might even call it a mini survival kit for the working mom.

1. Reserve your battles for the things that are most important. 

2. Don't waste energy obsessing about the things you can't control - the unknowns. 

3. Keep that list of regrets in your life short. 

4. Find inspiration in the things you see around you that renew a sense of hope & fulfillment. 

5. Try not to get so caught up in the challenges of today that you miss the sweetness and the joys.

 

Revisiting Work-Life-Balance

Photo Courtesy of:  
EA / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And so it begins. Back in the rat race again. One can't help but be thankful and fortunate during this fragile state of our economy, yet at the same time, I'm having all sorts of mixed emotions about what lies ahead. This time it's a little like the 1st day of school as an exchange student. You're only there for a short period of time, but while you're there in a strange country, you do your best to blend in, learn the culture of the family that's hosting you & the expectations of the school that's teaching you. It's truly a peculiar place to be in your career during your early 40's.

 Photo Courtesy of:  
Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our family is having to find our new normal. New schedules, responsibilities & expectations all around. We'll be searching to find a balance between the comfortable life we had before I was laid off, the cautious reality of the past fifteen months and the relative uncertainty of the months ahead.

 Photo Courtesy of:  
Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'll miss the limited amount of alone time I had.  Doing those simple things on every mom's to-do list in solitude, like shopping for groceries, doing the laundry, planning meals, cleaning house.

Photo Courtesy of:  
Mantas Ruzveltas / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's my greatest wish? To have the patience and the strength to begin each day with purpose outside of myself & to end the work day prioritizing the most important people in my life - my son & my husband, what their needs are, but not to forget my own. 

I'll squeeze out time for my workouts, to get my hair done, and maybe have a massage once a year.  I'll ask my husband for his help & support when I need it, because I really don't have to play Superwoman to be successful. 

"Night is drawing nigh -
For all that has been - Thanks!
For all that shall be - Yes!"
An Evening Affirmation by Dag Hammarskjold

But more importantly, I know that it will all come back to me... remembering how I did it before, how I found the time in every day to get it all done. I will find my Work-Life-Balance.

A taste of life on the other side

Twitter seems to be a buzz about good things happening to good people. Within the past week, I've read news about three people accepting new jobs.  Hopefully this is a sign that things are turning in the right direction in the Twin Cities & my turn for some good fortune will soon come too. 

Something very bad also happened to a family very close to us - they lost a portion of their home & a significant amount of their belongings to a fire.  There is nothing that I know of that could have prepared them for the shock & despair that goes along with a tragedy such as that. It will be at least 8 months before they will get their home back in the condition it was when they left home that day, but their minds & hearts will forever be altered.

When it is dark enough you can see the stars. - Charles A. Beard

Times like that call on us to rely on our faith to help us understand why good things happen to good people & why horrible things sometimes happen to good people.  If you're one of the people to whom something bad has happened you automatically think to yourself - why me? Why couldn't this have happened to someone else.  At least that was the immediate reaction of the victims of that fire. 

Once the initial shock passes, you are left with a feeling of relief - that you survived & that things could have been much worse.  It's faith that pulls you up from your knees & says: I know it's not clear now why this happened, but you are bigger than your circumstances & you will come out the other side a stronger person. It is my time to be thankful for the good fortune of others, and also to lend my hand & give strength to those who haven't been so fortunate.

The tulips opened up today - after a nice period of overnight rain.  It made me happy & very hopeful at the same time. It also gave me the inspiration for today's post.  Of course I wish I could take a taste of life on the other side right now, but it's not quite my time. I swear though I'll be ready when it is.