Intentional Parenting

Love this!  12 Words on Selecting Goals for the New Year

Project 1: Meal Planning

To help you understand why meal planning is stressful is me, here is a typical weeknight in my family:

I generally work 8-5, then pick up a child or two. By the time I get home, it is between 5:45 and 6 pm. If I have to begin preparing a meal, it is often 7 pm before we eat. By the time we clean up after dinner, it is time for baths and bed for the kids. On nights like this, I don't get a chance to spend quality time with my family.

No plan for dinner causes me anxiety. Just the thought of adding a grocery store stop to my trip home raises my blood pressure. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that meal planning would be a great solution for this.

I see shopping as a real time-waster. Every trip to the grocery store, Target, etc is time that I could be spending on something more important. To spend my time more intentionally...I am going to make a bi-weekly meal plan (with a goal of moving to a monthly meal plan), so I can do most of my shopping in one trip. I'm sure I'll likely have to stop by the grocery store for some milk, bread, veggies or fruit between my main trips, but it is a start.

Some of the criteria that I am working with:

• My husband isn't much of a cook, but he can put a meal in the oven or whip up a mean meatloaf or goulash. I need to tap into this more.
• He's also a bit picky and has a fish allergy.
• I try to make most of our meals from scratch and eliminate processed food.
• We eat a lot of beef. My husband grew up on a farm that raises cattle, so we get a 1/2 beef each year. However, I'd like to reduce the number of meals that consist of red meat.
• After watching Food, Inc. The scene of chickens that can't walk really stuck with me. So we don't eat many chicken breasts. Instead, we get whole chickens from a Hutterite colony.
• I would love to have a weekly meal routine like Simple Mom. Note to self: Either Dr. Oz or Dr. Weil recommended one meal including cooked tomato sauce, be sure to include this.
• Since I also want to declutter, I'd want to begin with using the food that is currently in our cupboards and freezers.

Off to work I go on my meal plan...

Enough...

It is time to make a change.

I am tired.

OK, to be clearer...I am tired of wasting my life rushing from task to task: cooking, picking up, cleaning, doing laundry, paying bills and trying to tackle the items on my To Do list. Is there really all there is to life for a working mom?

I know that these things need to get done, but there must be a better way. I feel like I go to work, come home from work, rush from task to task, fall asleep and start all over again the next day. I spend so much time taking care of our "stuff" that I am missing out on spending time on the things that are most important. My family, my health and myself.

OK, enough complaining. Here is how I really want to approach life:

• Intentional
• Mindful
• Grateful

And I am missing the boat. To make a change, I feel like I need to SLOW DOWN.

Thus, the intent of this blog. I think it will be interesting to track my progress. Whether anyone else finds this helpful for their life, I don't know, but I think it will be good for me.

I know that "slowing down" means something different for everyone. I am going to chronicle what it means for me and my family. I have a few ideas on how I will start:

• The first thing I want to tackle is cooking. I get stressed when I don't know what I'm going to feel my family for a meal, especially a weeknight dinner. I want to be more prepared and spend less time cooking.
• Since I have two sons (ages 4 and 6) plus a husband, so I need to do a better job getting their help with cleaning and picking up. I'm thinking of some strategies for this... 
• Downsize and get rid of clutter, so there isn't so much to clean and care for.
• Automate finances and spend money intentionally.

Stay tuned!