Report Card

I spent a lot of time this week thinking of t-shirts the International Baccalaureate students in my high school used to wear:   Sleep is for the Weak.  I need one of those shirts.

I’m not sure if I can remember going to bed before midnight.  Even now, it’s 12:02 am, but I know wont be able to sleep until I’ve gotten this report card published.  It seems there is never enough time in the week or the day, and I often find myself working away into the wee hours just trying to get things done.  Lately, I’ve even been staying up later than Chris, which is quite the feat — he’s a night owl if I’ve ever known one.

I was thinking I should keep a log of one of my days, from dragging myself out of bed at 7am to unconsciousness 17-18 hours later.  That might make for an interesting post – or maybe a really boring one, depending upon your viewpoint.

How am I doing it?Chai…lots and lots of chai.  That’s right, my caffeine-free days are over.  I’m now consuming 1-2 cups 3-4 days per week.

Luckily, though, Sunday is my day of rest.  Literally.

Chris’ restaurant is closed now on Sunday, so I get to sleep in and the past two Sunday’s I’ve also been napping with Nora.  Today, I actually napped longer than her, which would never have happened if Chris wasn’t home.  And we’ve been eating leftovers on Sundays which gives me a break from cooking (Chris isn’t too up for cooking at home these days since they are bare-bones staffed for the winter and he’s been having to spend time on the line).

So with so little sleep, how am I doing on the Housewife Challenges?  Pretty good.

The house has been pretty darn clean; although those dishes still trouble me I haven’t left a pile overnight to do in the morning (except yesterday which worked out in my favor, because my amazing hubby washed them all today…did I marry well or what?).  I didn’t do yoga, but I thought about it (and that’s half the battle, right?).  I keep telling myself I need to go to one of the Saturday or Sunday morning classes at the Yoga Room so it will really be built into my schedule (and so I can have a mini break from mama stuff).  I find it really hard to actually concentrate on Yoga when I do try to do it.  I can’t ever get more than 10 minutes in without an interruption (or being climbed on), so while I get the stretching benefits, there’s nothing really meditative about it.  Maybe I’ll try building it in better in February when Chris is off work.

I spent $74 dollars at the grocery store (that’s our new-ish budget), which made me happy. I also put that money to good use and made some really yummy stuff.

Orange-Strawberry Yogurt Muffins

Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts and Cranberries

White Bean al Gratin

Sweet Potato and Leek Bake

I finally just decided to post the remaining recipes from last weekend’s report card and I’m planning on spacing these out throughout the week (my chai recipe, too!), so I’m sorry if your reader is exploding with recipes.  I’m sort of turning into a food blogger, which isn’t my intent, but these are so good I want to share them!  After this I’ll probably take a break from writing about food for awhile, but I’m still going to be make sure to stick with the challenge to cook new stuff so Nora can try lots of new things.  So far, it seems like she’ll eat pretty much anything I give her.  She liked the white bean al gratin the first night, but wasn’t too into eating it as leftovers.  Last night, she tried artichoke for the first time and loved it!  I showed her how to scrape the leaves with her teeth and she did a great job with them; she also ate nearly all of the stem and heart.  The other new thing she’s been rocking at this week is drinking out of a cup:She doesn’t spill when she drinks, but you have to watch when she’s done, because as soon as she decided she doesn’t want it anymore, it’s likely to go right off the table…

Unfortunately, I didn’t do any sewing this week, which is good and bad.  I have this beautiful fabricthat I wanted to recover Nora’s new (used) car seat in, but among the millions of things on my to-do list, it didn’t get done.  That’s bad for Housewife Challenge #4, but the fact that I realized I just don’t have time right now and that other things like business planning and house cleaning and Nora-time are more important is a point for challenge #7, prioritize and be realistic in expectations for myself.  We put the car seat in the car today, and I put the fabric up until Chris’ vacation, when I hope to be able to take a day just for sewing, because I realized it needed to get in line behind a lot of other more important things.

The only other challenge to report on is patience, and I’ve done pretty well in that department.  I definitely have moments when I feel frustrated with some of the less appealing the toddler-behavior Nora is displaying more and more often (she actually tried to throw her first real, deliberate temper-tantrum Friday night), but I haven’t let those feelings get the best of me.  No yelling and lots of rethinking what I’m doing.  I’m realizing just how trial-and-error, experimental parenting is.  It really makes me view my own parents in a whole new light.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good week.  We’re nearing the end of January when most people are already forgetting about their New Year’s resolutions, but I’m hanging in there with the challenges.  Did you make a New Year’s resolution?  How are you doing?