I enjoy cooking for the most part. However, I have to admit that Nick and I have eaten out more than we should simply because I was busy with my job and didn't think about what we were going to eat for dinner, or I put it off to the last minute and didn't have anything that would thaw quickly. Obviously eating fast food is NOT a good idea both for my weight which has been a constant struggle for me the last few years, or for our general health since it is so high in fat, calories and cholesterol.
To combat this, I've begun creating weekly menus. I LOVE cookbooks...I mean really; I collect them like some people collect stamps. Each week, or sometimes if I am feeling really motivated, every two weeks, I'll create a menu using recipes that are both tried and true and new ones that look interesting.
Here is how I do it:
1. I go through the freezer to see what kind of meat and vegetables are in there.
2. With that list in hand, I sit down with my cookbooks and look first for recipes that utilize the meat I already have.
3. Once I have decided on those, then I look for recipes utilizing that meat, that appeal to me in general.
4. I list the name of the recipe, the cookbook name and page number in a notebook I keep for just this purpose.
5. In addition, for each entree I decide on, I pick two sides that I'll prepare to go with it. They are usually simply things like a salad, vegetable, or some sort of bread.
6. As I decide on each days menu, I keep track of the ingredients I need for each recipe using a shopping list I found at Target that has EVERYTHING on it. If I have the ingredient on hand, obviously it doesn't get written down, but if I need it, I list it then and there.
7. Often many recipes use some of the same ingredients, so I use tally marks to keep track of the quantity of a particular ingredient I may need.
8. Once I go to the store and buy everything I need, it is just a matter of looking at my menu for the week and deciding which dinner option appeals to me. I do this every morning and once I decide on our dinner, I pull the appropriate meat out of the freezer to thaw. By the time I am ready to cook dinner, the meat is ready and it is just a matter of preparing it.
9. No last minute decisions about what to fix, or wondering if I have all the ingredients. Best of all, I seldom buy food that we don't eat, so there is much LESS waste which is a really good thing considering the price of food. Plus, I experience much less impulse shopping, so my shopping bills have actually decreased since I've been doing this.
Nick and I both enjoy the variety of dinner meals I prepare. I have to admit that trying new recipes all the time is sometimes risky and not all together successful. There have been a few that we HATED!! For the most part though, we've liked the recipes that I've tried. In addition, since I keep these menus in a notebook, I have a record of what we've eaten and I jot notes next to each one indicating if we liked it or not. Sometimes, I don't bother looking at my cookbooks first, I go through my notebook and look at recipes we've already tried.
A bonus out of all this is that Nick is developing a real interest in cooking. He told me in the car yesterday that he wants to be either a chef, an actor, or a WWF wrestler. Of course, he is only 11, so time will tell. For now, I enjoy his help in the kitchen and he is learning a valuable skill that will serve him well as an adult. To his future spouse...you're welcome!!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Arguing 101
I guess all parents make mistakes with their first-born children, but since Nick is my only one, I didn't get a chance to "fix" my mistakes on the next ones.
Arguing, talking back, sassing...call it what you will, but this is a big problem in our house. I freely admit that I have allowed the problem to go on much longer than it should by not being consistent or firm enough when it first started becoming an issue, but in the beginning when it first began, I bought into all that crap about allowing kids to have choices and discussing your decisons with them instead of "telling" them what they were going to do. And frankly,being both mom and dad all the time gets exhausting so there have been more than a few occasions when I simply gave in to get Nick to stop.
Do other parents deal with this? Nick has a particularly bad habit that I am working HARD to get rid of. He will argue over and over and over without quitting when he doesn't get his way or if he is told something that he doesn't like. Example: today in the grocery store, he wanted a pack of gum. I told him no because we have a container of gum in the car. When I've bought him gum in the past, he chews a piece for 5 minutes, throws it away and repeats with the next one. This is repeated until all the gum in the pack is gone. Waste of money and I simply wasn't in the mood to throw away 1.29 which is what this particular pack of gum cost. All in all, it wasn't a big deal, but he proceeded to ask me over and over again, in a particularly whiny voice he has perfected over the years: "but why can't I?" and "pleeeeasse, Momma!!!!" If he said it once, he said it 45 times. I've been trying an experiment in which I tell him that I gave him my answer and as far as I am concerned, the subject is closed. I refuse to discuss it with him again. It is beginning to work, but not today...he didn't stop the whining and arguing until we finally left the store 10 minutes later.
I know that Nick began the habit of arguing with me years ago and because I didn't deal with it like I should have, it is at this point now. My refusal to give in and refusing to argue with him is helping. I am seeing an improvement and although he doesn't always like what I say, he isn't aways arguing about it. Grrrr! I try to imagine my sweet little baby boy when he acts this way, so I am less tempted to sell him to the traveling gypsies. (Are there even traveling gypsies around anymore?)
When we have these issues, I flash back to my days when I was married to Nick's dad. He did the same thing...we'd have an argument or other problem, and he would hound me until he got his way or I conceded whatever point we were arguing about, in his favor. One night, he followed me from room to room almost the whole night long, talking and talking until finally about 3:30 in the morning, I finally conceded the point to him. To this day, I have no idea what we were arguing about, but I remember him hounding me all night. Nick is EXACTLY like his dad in this regard and that scares me because it is a particularly annoying trait. I am trying to get this behavior to stop, and as I said I am seeing results, but it is slow and we certainly have backsliding like today at the grocery store.
I woul love to hear other points of view or ideas that have proven successful in addressing the arguing gene that my son seems to have inherited. This blog is so new, no one is even reading it, but perhaps someday...
Arguing, talking back, sassing...call it what you will, but this is a big problem in our house. I freely admit that I have allowed the problem to go on much longer than it should by not being consistent or firm enough when it first started becoming an issue, but in the beginning when it first began, I bought into all that crap about allowing kids to have choices and discussing your decisons with them instead of "telling" them what they were going to do. And frankly,being both mom and dad all the time gets exhausting so there have been more than a few occasions when I simply gave in to get Nick to stop.
Do other parents deal with this? Nick has a particularly bad habit that I am working HARD to get rid of. He will argue over and over and over without quitting when he doesn't get his way or if he is told something that he doesn't like. Example: today in the grocery store, he wanted a pack of gum. I told him no because we have a container of gum in the car. When I've bought him gum in the past, he chews a piece for 5 minutes, throws it away and repeats with the next one. This is repeated until all the gum in the pack is gone. Waste of money and I simply wasn't in the mood to throw away 1.29 which is what this particular pack of gum cost. All in all, it wasn't a big deal, but he proceeded to ask me over and over again, in a particularly whiny voice he has perfected over the years: "but why can't I?" and "pleeeeasse, Momma!!!!" If he said it once, he said it 45 times. I've been trying an experiment in which I tell him that I gave him my answer and as far as I am concerned, the subject is closed. I refuse to discuss it with him again. It is beginning to work, but not today...he didn't stop the whining and arguing until we finally left the store 10 minutes later.
I know that Nick began the habit of arguing with me years ago and because I didn't deal with it like I should have, it is at this point now. My refusal to give in and refusing to argue with him is helping. I am seeing an improvement and although he doesn't always like what I say, he isn't aways arguing about it. Grrrr! I try to imagine my sweet little baby boy when he acts this way, so I am less tempted to sell him to the traveling gypsies. (Are there even traveling gypsies around anymore?)
When we have these issues, I flash back to my days when I was married to Nick's dad. He did the same thing...we'd have an argument or other problem, and he would hound me until he got his way or I conceded whatever point we were arguing about, in his favor. One night, he followed me from room to room almost the whole night long, talking and talking until finally about 3:30 in the morning, I finally conceded the point to him. To this day, I have no idea what we were arguing about, but I remember him hounding me all night. Nick is EXACTLY like his dad in this regard and that scares me because it is a particularly annoying trait. I am trying to get this behavior to stop, and as I said I am seeing results, but it is slow and we certainly have backsliding like today at the grocery store.
I woul love to hear other points of view or ideas that have proven successful in addressing the arguing gene that my son seems to have inherited. This blog is so new, no one is even reading it, but perhaps someday...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Welcome to my blog
I've been divorced for over 9 years, but even before that I was basically raising my son, Nick on my own. During the 11 years that he's been on this planet, he has brought me more happiness that I thought possible. However it hasn't always been a walk in the park. This blog is my way of sharing my successes and failures in the hope that I'll learn from them and become a better parent along the way. By sharing them with others, I am hoping to help anyone out there whoever feels inadequate, frustrated, fed-up, exhausted, or any of the other million and half emotions that rise to the surface when you have a child. I can't even fathom doing this gig with more than one kid. I've probably made enough mistakes with Nick to cover a football team's worth of children. But more of that later.
Being responsible for the day-to-day raising of a child is not easy. Nick's dad is in the picture, but since he is in Texas, he isn't a real part of Nick's daily life. We have entirely different parenting styles and this has been the cause of some stressful situations over the years both with me and Nick and with me and Nick's dad. I think overall, though, as time has progressed, we are more and more on the same page about what we want for Nick and our expectations regarding his school work and behavior, which you'll see through some of my blog entries are not always what I'd like.
I hope others read these posts, but even if I am the only one reading them, my hope is by recording the experiences that both aggravate and thrill me, I become better more patient and tolerant parent.
Time will tell...
Being responsible for the day-to-day raising of a child is not easy. Nick's dad is in the picture, but since he is in Texas, he isn't a real part of Nick's daily life. We have entirely different parenting styles and this has been the cause of some stressful situations over the years both with me and Nick and with me and Nick's dad. I think overall, though, as time has progressed, we are more and more on the same page about what we want for Nick and our expectations regarding his school work and behavior, which you'll see through some of my blog entries are not always what I'd like.
I hope others read these posts, but even if I am the only one reading them, my hope is by recording the experiences that both aggravate and thrill me, I become better more patient and tolerant parent.
Time will tell...
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