Menu planning - Week 1



Tuesday night's Mince & Macaroni, with vegetables.

 I recently purchased Nicole Avery's book, 'Planning With Kids'. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that it has changed my life. Nicole also has a blog by the same name - here's the link.

I have been feeling a bit out of control lately. My house is a mess (no surprise there, for those who know me!); it was getting to 5 o'clock every afternoon and I would dread having to think of something for dinner, going from the fridge to the pantry and back again on the hunt for ingredients to throw together, invariably cooking up a quick pasta dish. Again.

The constant state of disarray was doing my head in. I was becoming one very grumpy mummy.

Enter 'Planning With Kids'. The release of this book couldn't have been more perfect. It came out just as I was throwing my hands in the air and crying "something has got to give!!". The purchase was done online. The delivery was the very next day. The day after that, I'd finished reading it. I felt hope. An enormous amount of hope. Here was a plan that I could use. I wasn't being preached at and told I was a horrible person for being out of control, I was being shown how planning certain aspects of my day - such as meals and housework and all those other repetitive tasks - would leave me with more time and energy to focus on the fun parts of being a mum.

As my first step, I put together a menu plan. You can find a template on Nicole's blog, here. I took certain aspects of Nicole's plan and added my own little things - I have included the regular activities for each day, plus extra activities that might be on, as well as my husband's roster (he does shift work). I decided it would be no good planning a roast if we were out all day and a night shift was on the cards. I needed it all out in front of me, so I could then plan that night's meal. I ended up doing a plan for 4 weeks - both my daughter (nearly 4) and my bub (8 months) fell asleep while I was working on the spreadsheet for week 1, so I figured I may as well keep going! In future, I will do 2 weeks at a time - I was running out of ideas by the end of the 4th week.

Once my menu plan was printed (each week a different colour, just to look snazzy) and stuck up on the pantry door, it was time to go grocery shopping. I was absolutely amazed at how little I came home with. I didn't have to grab 6 packets of pasta to allow for that last minute cooking frenzy each night. I didn't need any 'just in case' purchases. For once, I really did only need what was on my list. I bought a lot more fruit and vegetables than usual, knowing they would be used and not end up as alien life-forms in my refrigerator.

And the results? Well....there have been a few hiccoughs. For example:

• Night one's peanut chicken apparently burnt my daughter's mouth, so she decided not to eat it. We also had complaints about having it with rice instead of pasta. It seems some habits are hard to break.
• Night two's mince and macaroni, which I assumed would be a huge hit, was met with outrage after I dared to serve it with vegetables.
• Night three's pumpkin soup was enjoyed by all. Well, my daughter loved it at lunch time. Just not at dinner time, when she decided she hated pumpkin soup.
• Night four's meatloaf with vegetables was actually eaten and enjoyed by all. Hooray!!
• Night five was a night off - I went out with my sister and the 2 big kids had a sleep-over at their Nanna and Grandad's. Hubby bought himself Chinese takeaway.
• Night six was leftovers - the 2 big kids had the meatloaf and hubby and I had pumpkin soup.
• Night seven's corned beef with vegetables started off shakily, with claims of it not being liked, but ended with every plate empty and every tummy full.

We're already up to night 3 of week 2. I'm loving the feeling of knowing what is expected for that night. My hubby is loving not having a stressed out wife - and avoiding that same conversation every evening of "what do you want for tea? I don't know, what do you want?". Ending in pasta. Again. There is a reason I have planned only one night during the week for pasta.

My next change will be a housework plan. I'll let you know how we go.

Genetics

On Monday, Deb at Science@home wrote about genetics in her post, The family inheritance.

While I am most definitely not scientifically minded, certain science topics intrigue me. Genetics is on top of the list. It defines how I fit into this group of people that is my family.

I think it's fascinating that it's our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, even great-great-great-grandparents, that influence how we look and behave. I love looking through old photo albums and seeing family resemblances with long-ago relatives and hearing stories about having something in common with a relative I may not have even met. I can remember an outing with my aunty when I was younger, where the shop-keeper thought I was her daughter. I remember feeling thrilled that I had so much in common with another family member.

My favourite aspect of genetics is the recessive gene. It's like the 'surprise' gene, with a certain trait being able to pop up unexpectedly, reminding older generations of certain great-aunts or second-cousins-once-removed.

As a great example of recessive genes popping up unexpectedly, I only have to look at my three children. My husband and I both have brown eyes and dark brown hair. Our eldest boy has light brown hair, the thickest eyelashes you'll ever see...and stunning blue eyes. In everything else, he is the spitting image of my husband. Our daughter has blonde hair and eyes that are a gorgeous green-blue. In looks, she reminds me strongly of my paternal grandmother. She cannot roll her tongue (finally a family member to keep my mum company with that particular gene!). She has my sister's shocking memory. Our baby boy has a distinct tinge of red in his hair and big, bright blue eyes. At this stage, we're still searching for a family member he resembles. He seems to be very much his own person.

Our three blue-eyed children almost blow the mind of one of our friends. He likes to quote percentages and the chances of having a blue-eyed child from two brown-eyed parents. Apparently we should have stopped at one and had the other two with brown eyes. I guess our genes didn't get the memo.

While the above example is a bit of fun, there was an incident with a woman in a supermarket car park when our eldest boy was still a baby. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that it was impossible for two brown-eyed parents to have a blue-eyed child. I was flabbergasted. This woman was someone both my husband and I knew. I stammered something in reply - and it still annoys me, nearly 7 years later, that I didn't think up a better reply.

Now I know. The blue eyes are a recessive gene. Aunts and uncles on both my side and my husband's side of the family have blue eyes. And they suit our children perfectly.

'Favourite Image of 2010' photo competition

Do you enter your children in photo competitions?  I don't.  Not from a case of having anything against them, rather it's a case of me knowing my children are damned cute and not needing this validated by strangers.  Plus I can never choose just one photo to enter.

So it came as a lovely surprise today to discover that my little girl is included in a photo competition on Facebook.  Susan D'Arcy Photography runs a competition at the beginning of every year, for people to vote for their favourite image from the previous year (it's a little late this year). 

I was actually looking for an image that one of my friends had asked me to vote for and thought I'd just browse through the other images first.  Then I came across 'face72'.  A gorgeous shot of my little girl playing peek-a-boo from behind my legs, during a pregnancy photo shoot I had done last year.

I would love for you to vote for 'face72' as your favourite image of 2010.  Full details can be found at Susan D'Arcy's blog

'face72'.  That's my girl.

Impromptu visits

I love impromptu visits.  I don't tend to be on the receiving end of them very much since we moved mid-last year to be closer to my hubby's work.

The last time someone dropped around unannounced, was just after we had bought our new house.  The lady who runs the local playgroup walked over with her children, to see how we were settling in and to welcome me to town.  I felt warm and fuzzy for the rest of the day; glad that I knew at least one family in this new town.

So it was wonderful to get a phone call from my sister this morning, asking what our plans were for the day and could she and her daughter come and visit.  Of course I said yes!  I'd even done some major housework a couple of days ago, so my house was looking pretty respectable.  My sister and I are both fans of the casual drop-in - although a phone call first is necessary these days to ensure that someone will be home before making the drive. 

Why do I love impromptu visits?  I love that a grey, overcast day with nothing planned, can be turned in to a day filled with laughter and company.  I love that, because the visit hasn't been planned, there are no expectations of what I should wear, or how my house should look (I did freak out a bit when my daughter and my niece both decided to take a toilet break at the same time.  It was like that toilet cleaner add on TV, only I knew I hadn't cleaned the ensuite toilet, not expecting it to be used by 'company'.  eeek!)  I love listening to the sound of cousins playing, instead of my 6 year-old and 3 year-old fighting because they're bored.  I love seeing the person I'm speaking to, rather than just hearing a voice over the telephone.

Do you love or loathe impromptu visits?