When something's got to give

This fall has been full of lessons for me.  Lessons about maintaining my health.  Lessons on making time for relaxation.  Lessons concerning how fast my children are growing.  The latest lesson I have yet to conquer is how to recognize, and subsequently respect, my own limits.

But I'm trying.

My baby sister got married this weekend.  The day after her wedding Bean turned 4.  Two weeks from now MY baby Inchie turns 2.  Given the craziness of the month, I combined their birthday celebrations into one happy party.  I took that as proof that I was finally getting the hang of not overextending myself.  Maybe I was learning my lesson.

Regrettably one less party didn't seem to lessen the load.  At we entered into wedding weekend, I felt out of control.  Work had been accomplished that week through force of will.  There was nothing organic or sustaining about the energy used.  I have a plaque in my office which reads "You will because you can."  It's meant to be empowering I think, but I've started reading it as a warning.  I can do a lot of things but maybe I shouldn't do them all at once.

I wasn't keeping up.  My head was full of unfinished tasks.  So I made a list.  Better out than in.

• Make Dinner
• Set tomorrow's clothes
• Pack Lunches
• Pack Snack (M,W)
• Prep Dinner for tomorrow
• Fold laundry and Put away clean clothes
• Gather up dirty clothes and Swap loads
• Sort mail
• Wipe off table
• Pick up living room
• Pack gym bag for the morning

I showed the list to my husband.  He didn't like the list.  He said I had too many things on it and I was going to discourage myself.  He was right.  That list is too long.  But someone has to do the work.  I tried following the list each day  for a week and I made little progress.

I still wasn't accounting for all the things I need to do on a weekly basis.  They weren't on the list.  And I grew more and more discouraged and frustrated.   My head filled back up again and I pretty much threw in the towel.  I selected our clothes for the weekend from the dirty piles in my laundry room and washed them all at once.  They came out of the dryer, into the suitcase and we departed for the wedding.  I do not like living that way.  Whatever feeling exists beyond overwhelmed is where I was at.  And it started to show.

After numerous heated exchanges, I finally got to the heart of the matter with my husband.  I needed to divest of something.  Ignoring the list to start with we decided that my primary household responsibilities were Finances, Scheduling, Food and Clothing.  My husband took care of  Dishes, Trash, House Upkeep and Yard Work.

Strangely enough, my husband was extremely hesitant to take over any of my responsibilities.  My trend is to control everything to meet my expectations.  It keeps life stable.  It also keeps me very very busy; I'm learning - too busy.  Trying to take a task from me is possibly like trying to cook a nice meal for a gourmet chef.  It's just not fair.

But it was necessary.  As of this week, Food is no longer mainly my responsibility.  I still cook dinner in the evening because I'm the first one home.  My husband is in charge of menu planning, grocery shopping, packing lunches and nightly dinner prep.  I cook what he tells me to cook and make requests.

I haven't driven him to quit yet.  I hope I don't.  When we finally agreed on what our new delineation of duties was I felt like I could breathe for the first time in weeks.  When I turned the cleaning of my house over to professionals, it took me about 3 months to stop being stressed about it.  Hopefully I learned my lessons during that divesting.

We are three days in.

Foodie Pen Pals: Tasty Treats

Today is Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day!!!

Second month in and I love this program. That said, this will be the last month I participate for a while, but more on that later.

This month, my name was selected by Lori.  She sent me a lovely box arriving just as expected.  Here's my box.  It was covered in pretty pink tissue with a very pretty card welcoming me to my box of goodies.

Inside I found two blueberry donuts, a jar of blueberry jam, whiskey stix, quinoa pasta, and dried kiwi.  I'm still working my way through the whiskey stix (swet and salty - my favorite!) and dried kiwi.  The blueberry jam and pasta have yet to be utilized, but I'm looking forward to both of them.  Yummy things I haven't tried before.

The donuts on the other hand didn't make it more than 2 minutes in my house.  Everyone had a little and they were sooo good!  I loved them!  There was a bit of gooiness, but they were quite tasty and everyone loved them.
 

Another month and another awesome Foodie Pen Pal box.  If you are considering joining in, please don't hesitate.  It's so much fun to get a surprise in the mail!

As for me, I'm out for the rest of the year.  If I love it so much why am I backing out?  Well,  September is our vacation month being I might not be here to receive my box.  October, we have a wedding and birthdays.  And you know what happens in November and December.  Given my time constraints I want to be sure the other penpals get someone who can definitely deliver.  I'm not so sure that I'll be able to.

But thank you Lindsey.  I've loved participating in this program.  And hopefully I'll be able to join in again in the new year!

CSA 2012

Five weeks ago we entered Maryland's CSA season.  Our farm this year is One Straw Farm out in White Hall, MD.  Until this week, I haven't managed to capture a single photo of our share.  Reason?  I was so overwhelmed with greens that I couldn't think.  Must less photograph.  If' you've joined a CSA in Maryland, possibly anywhere, the first month consists of:

• lettuce (romaine, red leaf, green leaf, mizuno, arugula, spinach)
• radishes (pink, purple, white)
• kale (regular and italian)
• chard (swiss and rainbow)
• other greens (beet, turnip, collard)
• cabbage

There were a few other items in there, but the sheer volume of fiberous leafy vegetables needing to be used up in my house was staggering!!!  All good but so very very much.  By week 3 I was using more than I was tossing.  Week 4 I found that I was able to use up all the items (except one head of cabbage which is being saved for golumpkis) before Week 5 veggies walked in the door.  Armed with greens recipes, this is what I found:

Glorious!

 Starting in the top left we have:

• potates
• red cabbage
• beets (I think - they are sort of pink for beets)
• lettuce (I don't know the variety - when you break the leaves off they bleed milky white - very strange)
• scallions (I would call them green onions, but they are red)
• garlic
• yellow squash
• peas
• purple cauliflower

I'm excited.  There are lots of options this week.   The lettuce, peas, cauliflower and squash need to be used first.  They seem to head south quickly.  The bet green also go on that list and I like to eat them when they are as pretty as these ones.  Everything else will hold for a bit, but I don't think it is going to need to.

Except for the cabbage.  I never know quite what to do with all this cabbage.  Maybe I'll try making sauerkraut.  I've never had purple sauerkraut.  It could be fun!

Holy Guacamole!!!

Or should I say Wholly Guacamole?

I found something AMAZING at the grocery store this weekend.  Something LIFE CHANGING.  I swear.  (And I swear I was not paid to write this post.)

A box of guacamole packaged in individual serving sizes.

Why could this not have been invented decades ago?

I love guacamole.  I love it so much that I really don't care how many calories are in a serving.  I will eat it with chips.  On tacos.  With veggies.  On nachos.  As a chili topping.  With my fingers.  Really there is no bad way to eat guacamole.

With a love this intense there is always a flip side.  the dark side of my relationship with guacamole?  I hate when it turns brown.  I hear that it tastes the same.  I hear that you can still eat it.  I don't believe it.  I can't get over the change that has taken place in one of my most beloved foods.  It has forever changed and we can no longer be together.  *sigh*

Shopping on Sunday, I wanted to pick up some guacamole to go with a corn & bean casserole I planned to serve as football eats.  I stopped by the refrigerator case and grabbed my usual pack of Wholly Guacamole.  It is straight forward guacamole which comes in air tight pouches good for preserving the guacamole.  Even on my best day I have a little trouble polishing off the whole pouch.

Than as I turned to find the items on the rest of my list I noticed a box of Guac I hadn't seen before.  Turns out it was Wholly Guacamole Snack Packs.  Really?  Could it be?  a generous serving of my favorite guacamole with air tight portection?

My life is now complete.  A guacamole to go everywhere.  With everything.  All of my dreams have come true!

What was that?  Queso, you say?  Uh oh...