Week 4 Review

Week 4 Ramblings
Wow, Week #4 has blown by.  I am fairly certain this is because I actually did things this week... ah ha - this might be the key to my sanity!

Going Outside
We did it!  A huge thank you to our neighbor for accompanying us on our BIG outing to the park on Tuesday.  We left the house at 1:40 and didn't get home until 4:40.  The girls had a wonderful time playing and the longer we stayed the more people that we both knew started showing up.  I can't wait for the sunshine to peek out so that I can become more of a park Mom.  My neighbor is an awesome Mom (and person) who I really like.  She is also interested in parks that are not, gasp, in our neighborhood!  I'm willing to try it as it's always more fun to have somebody to chat with at the park than standing there getting cold all by yourself while the kids run around. 

Home School & Preschool
Well the workbook pages are a hit.  Pookie actually asks to do them if I forget!  On the days when we haven't done them during the day then my husband is having fun doing them with her after dinner.  I have to say that working on the pages during the day is much more productive.  She really wants to rough house with her Dad after (or before) dinner... or play trains... or throw things around the house... all the things that I don't like doing of course!

So most of you who are already SAHM's probably know that it's a massive undertaking to find the right preschool.  It is January and one of the local preschools already had their open house (which we attended of course) and will let us know in March if Pookie gets in.  My fingers are crossed since it's a great program from all accounts of the other parents who have kids going there (at least 5 families, that we like, that I can think of off the top of my head).  As a backup plan I am also doing a classroom visit and signing up for the coop program.  I feel like I might be more of a coop Mom so that I can volunteer in the classroom and learn more about child development in the required classes... but we will see how it all works out.  Thankfully I have another 4 weeks before the coop applications are due so that seems like enough time to find a sitter so that I can attend the in-class visit.

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Oh my goodness.  I never knew how much I would miss the food court.  Full disclosure, I am not a great cook.  I give it my best effort but I'm a strict follower of instructions so the creative part of cooking escapes me.  Thankfully my family is not that picky but there have been many dinner creations where we just start laughing sitting at the table trying to chew up that super dry pork chop (last night for instance).  Three meals is day is a little overwhelming.  I have actually forgotten to feed my small child lunch one day last week.  Apparently neither one of us was hungry!  We made it to about 2:30 and then we both realized we were starving - whoops.  My colleagues at work will understand as we often wouldn't be hungry, or busy in meetings, and then wander down for a sandwich around 2:00.  Ah, the good old days of having 20-plus places to eat without having to leave the building. 

I make a weekly menu and have been saving them for the past 3 weeks so that I can figure out a full monthly menu.  Yes, I realize this is a little obsessive but I don't like thinking about the menu so this makes sense to me.  I'm working on it and will probably post it when I'm done just in case anybody else wants to try my weekly ideas for dinner. 

Visit From GraGra
We are busy counting down the days until GraGra arrives for her visit from sunny Arizona.  She is only staying for 6 nights but Pookie has been telling me that she is excited to sleep with GraGra "all the nights".  She usually is down in the guest bedroom for 30 mintues then wants to come back to her own room.  Have I mentioned that my Mom (GraGra) is a good cook?  Oh gosh, what a coincidence that I am REALLY looking forward to her coming for a visit.  Even my husband perks up when thinking about the delicious meals that will be waiting for him during those 6 nights!

Ice Cream Floats
As I sit here typing this  my daughter and husband are enjoying creamsicle floats.  That is vanilla ice cream with orange soda pop poured on it.  This is a first creamsicle float for Pookie and when asked "Do you like it?" she murmurs back "Oh Yeah!" with her little mouth crammed full of ice cream.  I am abstaining from the floats tonight.  I have, once again, jumped onto the Weight Watchers bandwagon.  I paid for the online membership and have the iPhone App so it's pretty easy to enter the things I'm eating and track my points.  So far these past two weeks have been a little hard but I do feel like it's the right step for me at this point.  For those of you who haven't put two-and-two together yet that means that my monthly menu is now going to have some serious 'points' review so that I can be cooking things that we will eat but that I also won't break the bank with on the Weight Watchers points system. 

Obsessive Cleaning
I've tried to let up on the obsessive cleaning thing this past week.  I only vacuumed once and need to do it again tonight (or tomorrow as the case might be!).  The real kicker is the main bathroom.  We've only got one on the main floor and another full bathroom in the basement but I never use the one downstairs.  The one upstairs is vintage 1941 with yellow and maroon tiled walls.  Don't get me wrong, it's in good shape considering that the house is 70 years old.  We have lived here for 3.5 years and I'm done with this bathroom.  It's not my style at all and I'm about ready to attack it.  J-man is begging me to tolerate it for awhile longer but my patience is wearing thin.  Thankfully he mentioned that tomorrow we will overhaul the floor (deep clean and re-caulk around the edges) which is a baby step towards appeasing me.  Five months from now in July I will be telling you about my massive tile painting project.  Those hideous tiles are going to be painted white - either by me or by someone I hire.  After that I'm getting help from my Dad to install a brand new vanity... goodbye 1941 sink that I hate.  I think that tonight I will make a countdown for the bathroom so that I have a reminder to keep me from demo-ing those darn tiles next week. 

Upcoming Week 5
I'm looking forward to visiting with more friends during week 5 and hitting the park again if the weather holds.  It is also (drum role) the week when we will tally up the receipt jar and have the 'come to reality' discussion.  J-man thinks it will be fun, he smiled and laughed... little does he know that I have spent waaaay too much money this month and it won't be fun at all.  I keep saying that some of my purchases like the preschool workbooks are multi-month investments but I have a sneaking suspicion that the February numbers might look a lot like the January numbers unless we really start hitting the free places like the library instead of the shops like the used bookstore.  Until next week my friends!

Wrapping Up Week 3

80's Toys and Television

Did you know that My Little Pony has been remade at least 3 times in the past 4 years?  It's killing me!  Every time we pass by them at Target they have a new shape, new style, etc and Pookie must have the newest one.  They even have their own tv show now on 'The Hub' (channel 121) which we DVR so that Pookie can watch it when we let her watch tv.  Oh - and Strawberry Shortcake is on that channel too... which Pookie also loves!  Oh, and hey - Grandma - do NOT buy her the new ponies - we bought them yesterday (I'm so weak!).

Groceries
Well today I made progress... it's raining here and Pookie wanted to stay in her jammies so we are going really slow today!  I typed up a list, based on my Amazon Fresh purchases, that puts the prices next to the things I buy all the time.  Then I'm going to go through the ads from Safeway, QFC, and Metropolitan Market to see who has the best prices!  Yea me!  I know you can pay to subscribe to a service that does this for you so we will see how much doing this benefits my sense of purpose before I cave in and pay for the service.  


Going Outside
Our outdoor adventure today will be walking to the car and around QFC as we go get the things I need to complete the meals for this week.  I'm counting on sunshine on Monday and also on J-man to get me and the child outside this weekend.


Home School
Yesterday during my $200 trip to Target (yikes) I bought 4 new workbooks for Pre-K.  These things rock!  Pookie liked doing them and even asked about them this morning when she got up.  We are going to put in 30 minutes each morning and 30 minutes in the evening working on workbook pages.  Some of it is way too easy for her (the mazes aren't really mazes - what's up with that?) but some of the letter tracing and such is new to her - yippee!  Thanks for the idea Jennie, your 'lesson plan' idea that you use during summer made me recall the 'packets' that my Mom would make for me and my younger sister during the summers.  I would crank through those packets since I knew the Friday one had a special treat in it!  I'm thinking about buying some packets and making them up on the weekend so that we know which pages and skills we are focusing on each week.  Thank goodness our printer is also a copier so we can do the same workbook sheets over a few times!

Upcoming Week 4
I'll say it again and maybe next week I'll stick to it... going outside.  Must... go... outside... with... small... child! 

Musings from Week 3

Week 3 Ramblings
This is Tuesday of Week 3 on my experiment of being a stay-at-home-mom (sahm) and wow, this is harder than I thought it would be. For those of you working full time I know you are thinking, "You are crazy. I would give my right arm to stay at home and spend time with my kid(s). There is no way that would be harder than what I'm doing right now." You would be right... this isn't harder than working full time and being a good wife and being a good mother... but it is still harder than I expected it would be. The kicker is the boredom. Yep - you heard me - it is boring to be home all day. I'm sure my whining would be reduced to zero if we had won the mega millions lotto but it wasn't meant to be so we chose to be reduced to one income, a large mortgage, and a new receipt jar to track my miscellaneous expenses. My husband claims to only have one receipt in the jar which is jam packed already and it's only Week 3!!

The Receipt Jar
It's a brilliant idea from my super smart husband (J-man) but it's also the bane of my existence. I know that I buy a lot of stuff but I swear it's all stuff that I need. (You can stop laughing now.) I am dreading the month end reconciliation and I think that J-man is eagerly anticipating it!

I'm Almost Four
So the small child with whom I spend my days (also known as Pookie) is almost four. She told me the other day that she wants two birthday parties this year. One with her Grandma that is Dora and another party with her friends that is Rapunzel. I guess it's a good thing I loaded up on the Rapunzel party stuff way back in December prior to the receipt jar. (insert maniacal laughter here)

Obsessive Cleaning
When I worked full time I was always complaining about the house being dirty. I even tried having a cleaning person come every two weeks. It was nice but I just couldn't stand to pay the money each time and still not have my blinds cleaned or the baseboards dusted. This old 1941 house has amazing woodwork but at some point in time the trim was all painted white and now shows every speck of dust. Now I'm home all day and Pookie loves cleaning house with me... but I just don't have the motivation. The first few days were great. Every day I vacuumed, mopped, and dusted. Organized the pantry and every closet in the house. Sadly now that those things are done I'm over the whole cleaning thing. I realize now that if I took a full day off work each quarter to deep clean my house I would have been much happier. Note to self for when I do eventually go back to working full time.

Computer Withdrawal
"My name is Katie and I am addicted to my computer." After 13+ years of being on the computer every day for hours on end it has been really hard to go cold turkey. I try to log on once a day but I have guilty mom feelings if I stay on too long... or, gasp, let Pookie watch a movie while I'm on the computer! The crazy thing is that my coworkers and I used to complain about the insane amount of email we would get at work but once it's gone it is sad how much I miss it. I'm hoping to overcome this and be more in the moment. Now I find that I'm jealous when J-man comes home to talk about and I know nothing about it. Trying to stay off the computer and keep the television off makes for a very uninformed day.

Home School
Sending Pookie to daycare five days a week from age 12 months through 44 months (1 year - 3.75 years) allowed me to be just a wee bit self righteous about the 'education' she was receiving. In the back of my mind, and sometimes out loud, I would think that by now she would be (reading, doing math, jumping rope, roller skating, playing the violin) if only I had been a SAHM. Well working moms, I'm here to tell you that it's just not true! I'm sure that more one-on-one time would (and will!) improve the skills that Pookie has but I really should have let go of the guilt. So to any of you that currently stay home with your kids I'm interested in finding out if you have a schedule. At daycare they have play time but then circle time or specific activity time. I keep thinking I need to do this at home so that we have some predictability to the day... is that for me or for the preschooler? (I'm thinking it's for both of us!)

Weeks 1, 2, and 3 in Review
Sadly week 1 was a blur. Cleaning, actually going to the grocery store, reading books on my iPhone and letting Pookie stay in her pajamas all day to watch television... oh those lazy days of week 1. Week 2 was better as I started reaching out to my SAHM network of friends to pick their brains. I even had a visit from a friend with her new baby girl! Week 3 is all about getting into gear with a daily routine (but I'm going to be flexible... I swear!) and also getting out of the house each day. One big revelation these 3 weeks has been that if given a choice Pookie and I will literally stay inside our house all day long. The J-man, who loves the outdoors, thinks this is insane and has now taken to asking what we did outside today when he gets home each night. Darn him!

Looking Forward to Week 4
If I write it then I'm accountable for it, right? Week 4 is going to be about a daily routine, setting up some time with friends, and going outside. Tune in for an update next week!