Day 5

I have been thinking about what to title this blog post…here are a few ideas: 

• Losing my mind
• It’s the dishwasher that never ends
• Woman becomes institutionalized after poisoning her children with white flour
• Making turkey gravy at 6:45 am (this is no exaggeration)
• Overwhelmed, under-stocked, and over-budget

The third title is an exaggeration.  The rest, well, they are pretty much spot-on.  Please let me rant during the first half of this post, then I will update on any good news that there may be.

A few things I have come to realize:  First, if I think I have bought enough food, I need to almost double it.  Now that the kids aren’t eating chips, ice cream at bedtime, chocolate chip cookies, they are ACTUALLY eating meals and lots of fruit.  so what I thought was a weeks supply of fruit ended up being only a 4 day supply of fruit.  I also realize that what I considered a meal before (enough for all of us plus a few leftovers), is no longer enough because they are all eating more at mealtime.  I know this is a good thing, but this was something I was underprepared for.

Take last night…rock bottom, as it is now being known.  Wednesdays I work until at least 6, and I had to volunteer with the boys at the nursing home from 6:45-8.  Ed was in charge of supper, and I told him that there were “plenty” of leftovers.  In the interest of the other New Year’s resolution to not waste food, I want to make sure we are eating our leftovers.  Well, my “plenty” and his and the kids’ “plenty” are two different things.  So I get home, and the food is gone, everyone is hungry, and we have nothing to take for lunches tomorrow.  I still have some of my Great Harvest bread, but no one can really stand it, so I have no idea what we are all going to eat.  I peer into the fridge and see a turkey that is thawed (remember it was supposed to be the day #1 meal).  So, we heave that bird into the oven at 6:30 last night so we will have something to take to work and school tomorrow.  We are all out of cookies, so I know I will have to get up early to make some more, the cookies have been a lifesaver!  They are the only non-fruit or veggie snack in the house. 

Fast forward 12 hours…I am showered and dressed for work.  It is 6:30 am and I head upstairs into the kitchen.  The place I have spent the greater majority of my time at home.  I begin taking apart the turkey, peeling potatoes, and making gravy so that we would all have a yummy lunch.  Oh, yes, and then there were those pesky cookies.  So, there I was baking cookies on top of it.  My frustration and stress level were mounting…this is surely not how I wanted to start my day (especially with NO COFFEE!!).  And then, the unthinkable…I grabbed my flour canister and measured the flour into the cookie batter.  The WHITE FLOUR…The NON-WHOLE GRAIN FLOUR!!!!!!!!  I caught myself tipping the bowl over to try to remove the toxic powder, but then realized I may have gone too far.  I began to breathe deeply and try to talk myself off of the whole food ledge I was perched upon.  (As an aside, I do generally buy unbromated and unbleached flour, so my white flour is pretty OK anyway). 

Oh, yes, and I told the kids I would make eggs for breakfast.  They are sick of pancakes, and aside from Ed and I, no one really liked the crockpot oatmeal I made a double-batch of. 

I seriously thought I would lose my mind this morning.

But, now, after being away from the kitchen at work, I have had time to refocus and return home happy.  I have a oven-baked chicken fajita dish simmering in the oven, and the rice is on the stove. 

A few bits of info:  I am probably doing twice the amount of dishes I was previously doing.  Seems I am always preparing something.  I know this will get better as we find a groove of how much food to make, what types of things everyone will eat, etc.

I made an executive decision to buy bread that does not meet the real food rules.  It is still whole wheat, does not contain high-fructose corn syrup, and other than one preservative, it is “clean”.  The lack of any bread that anyone will eat is serious.  Because if they are hungry, they have always made a PB & J, a piece of toast, etc.  So, because I don’t have time to experiment with a bread recipe, because I only have 4 slices of Great Harvest bread left, and because I have been told that said Great Harvest bread tastes like clay, I made the decision and will not look back.

Now, for the good stuff…

We have all been noting, well, um, changes, with our digestive systems.  I am assuming this is a good thing, but it may take a few days to work out the kinks, if you know what I mean.  But the mood around here has been quite good.  Lilly and Alex have been the most invested, and are both waaaay more on board than I originally thought.  Alex doesn’t necessarily like this, but he is sticking to it quite well.  Lilly is much more open to it.  She is talking to all of her friends about healthy eating, and she has seemed much, much happier.  I let her eat school lunch today—mini corn dogs, her favorite—and she told me her tummy hurt after eating them, and next time she probably won’t eat them.  I am glad she was able to make that choice on her own.

Happy faces, hungry tummies, but all in all (minus the cook-a-thon this morning), we are hanging in there!