routines...

My life has been a roller coaster since I started my new job.  For my first 5 weeks, I had such an inconsistent schedule, that I couldn't get into a routine.  That made it hard to adjust the rest of my life to working full-time again.  Now that I am on a permenant schedule, I think that it will be easier.  I have already started to make some changes.

First one is picking up.  I used to pick up 3-4 times a day during any transition with the boys.  I stopped doing that and it has been chaotic!  I told myself this week, that it was OK for me to sit and relax on the couch, but NOT before the toys were picked up and the dishes taken care of.  So far so good...

Second is meal planning.  I got out of the habit of cooking lately...and I hate it.  Not only have I put on about 20-25 pounds in the past year, but we had been eating crap.  Now that I wont be here for dinners, it is SO important that I make stuff during the day for dinner.  I have this really cool book that Real Simple had at target (clearance $3.50!!) that has pockets for recipes, a meal planner, take-out menu holder, and shopping list.  it is the size of a 2-subject notebook, and lets me plan a month at a time!  Now, I never followed it to a tee, but at least it gave me a guideline!

Lastly, it is OK to stay home.  I have been on the go all summer, that I haven't taken advantage of out house and backyard.  I need to stay home and play outside, take care of the yard and gardens.  We started out so strong only to have slacked off.  Not any more :)  

My goal is to have my routine in place so that when my classes start in 2-3 weeks, I wont be a mess!!  This is going to be a great fall!!

From the girl who never liked tomatoes...

Dennis and I just spent the evening making spaghetti sauce :)  We had oodles of cherry tomatoes from our veggie garden, and since neither of us likes them, we decided to make sauce.  I found a recipe online that used the cherry tomatoes, so i kind of followed that (as much as I follow recipes!!).  Pretty much it was a pepper, onion, tomatoes, olive oil, veggie stock, tomato paste and herbs.

Dennis wanted me to have him help so that we could do it together.  Unfortunately with bed times, he was stuck upstairs while i did all the prep (chopping the pepper and onion, quartering the tomatoes).  When he got down, we started to cook.  Now, everything was going great...smell, taste...but texture was another thing.  because the skins were still on, they didn't break down.  we decided that it was fine, even though I knew that I would be picking them out of my sauce when the time came to eat.

We were going to can the sauce, but my pot wasn't tall enough, so i have to wait till tomorrow when I can borrow someones.  But, as I was putting the sauce in a bowl for the fridge, I thought about a gift that I got from Mom and Dad.  A gift that I don't use all the time, but when i use it, I ask myself how people live without it.  My light bulb went off, and i went to my closet and took our my Cuisinart Food Processor.  I put some sauce in, and turned it on.  VOILA...perfect, beautiful, smooth spaghetti sauce!!!!

If I had it in me, I would take a picture...but unfortunately I have to go clean my kitchen!  Tomorrow I will can three large jars of my sauce.  Next week I will make another batch.  Next Friday, I will have another project. Three Cheese Ravioli...from scratch!