Busy Days

I kept last week's menu really simple since I knew it would be a busy week.  We had two Christmas parties at school to help with, teacher gifts to give and two work parties for Scott. The hazards of a dual career! We also had lots of gifts to finish ordering, making and wrapping, but I think we're almost finished! 

I had hoped to get all my school grading done as well, before my own kids were out of school, but it was not to be!  I spent a few days fending off a cold, then got excited about a couple other fun projects....like Christmas cookies!

I also spent a whole morning scouring the internet for ideas on how to get out the door on time in the mornings.  We are always rushing around crazy and getting to school late.  I ended up with 3 lists: one for morning, one for after school and one for bedtime. We only had one day of school left after I finished them, but we were ON TIME!

I am glad I didn't try to do too much with our menu this week, 

because I had trouble keeping up with the few things I did have planned. 

 I think I forgot to add the sugar to the batch of kombucha I started the week before and it didn't "grow."  I finally decided to restart it and in the process boiled the pot of water on the stove completely dry and melted the bottom of it!  That's probably the third time I've done that.  I think I'm going to need a new pot soon!

Other than making cookies, we have kept our Christmas activities to a minimum, which has actually been nice.  It's been fun to just enjoy the moments that aren't planned, but are still lovely.

Still plugging along

It's been a busy week and things are looking a bit more Christmas-y around here.
(Scott takes issue with the way I make up words, but oh well!)

I painted the inside of our giant hutch this past week and I think it turned out pretty well!

From all black....

...to gray background. 

I saw the cutest, most whimsical Charlie Brown Christmas tree on Pinterest the other day and casually mentioned to Scott how great it would be to have one.  2 days later, he brought this lovely one home!

Anyway, my Week #2 menu is all ready.

We scored a TON of leftovers from my Grandmother's lovely Christmas party on Sunday, so I've incorporated those into the plan.  I did my weekly grocery shopping on Monday and stuck to my $100 budget* yet again (big pat on the back to myself!).  I hit a new Aldi and an organic store that happened to be right next door.  I even had enough money left over to grab some extra Christmas cookie baking supplies like butter, sugar and flour.

I was able to put salad on the menu for free this week because of this amazing hoop house/greenhouse that Scott made for me. We've had a couple hard frosts and everything is still green and growing inside!

I'll keep you posted on how the week goes, but for now, enjoy your holiday preparations!

*We are using some frozen meat we already have like chicken thighs and ground beef.  I don't know if I could stick to this number if I needed to buy meat.  We'll find out next week, because I've now exhausted the freezer supply!

Why so Guilty?

So far, I've stuck to my menu pretty well.  

On Monday night, Scott figured out how to turn the Lemon Yogurt chicken into a pasta dish when I didn't have time to make the sides I had planned.  The pumpkin bread disappeared in 2 days. The jam bars were enjoyed the first day, but since then the kids haven't seemed too excited about the leftovers....but I like them!  I had to switch out the Cinnamon Spice Kombucha for a citrus spice one because I didn't have any apple juice, but the Russian tea turned out delicious and much more healthy than the powdered tea/Tang version I used to make.

Today, I didn't make the Pop Tarts for breakfast once I realized you have to use a food processor (not something I thought I should subject everyone to at 5:45 am), so we settled for yogurt and toast.  I also did different lunches for the kids because we didn't have as much leftover chicken as I'd expected.  Kip got a smoothie and a cinnamon sugar tortilla roll-up and Gus had leftover soup since he amazingly ended up liking the Cauliflower-Potato soup!  Scott and I did, too.  It seemed especially  yummy since it was such a gray, dreary day yesterday.

I've spent this morning baking for the rest of the week.  And while it's been quiet here at home alone, I've been trying to sort through why spending all this time in the kitchen is making me feeling vaguely guilty.

I keep glancing at the clock and thinking to myself, "Hurry up!  There are more important things you need to be doing."

So, my question is: Where is that coming from?  Is this something everyone wrestles with-always feeling that there is something else that they should be getting to?  Or is this a (mostly) stay-at-home mom complex that makes me feel like I should be contributing to society more? 

Do people with full time jobs think about this at work?  "I wish I were home 

getting this or that project done!"

Or is it because I have a legitimate part-time job that I always could be working on-grading papers or planning lessons-and I'm feeling like that "real" job is more important?

Or is it because I genuinely enjoy these "house-wifely" pursuits as a creative outlet and feel guilty about spending time on them when there's "work" to be done?

Leave me a comment if you have any wisdom on this:)

~Amy