meatless monday menu

As I already mentioned, we eat meat-free all of the time (13 years & counting, baby!), but one thing that I *don't* do as often as I'd like to is meal plan.   I'm always glad when I do - we eat more interesting meals, and it helps get me out of that rice-pasta-potato-rice-pasta-potato rut.    My husband is always simply delighted at the prospect of not just dinner- but GOOD dinner!  NEW dinner!  He's just tickled by it.   Yes, it helps to have enthusiastic responses, I won't lie.

top 10

Yeah, yeah... so it's 10:30 and I have Friday brain and can't string together 5 sentences;  what can you do?

Here's an idea - the top 10 things about my day:

1. It was *beautiful*.  Sunny and crisp, the perfect Fall day.  Jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, no jacket needed.  Perfect.
2. I had a breakfast date with my husband.  Much laughter and catching up after a busy week for both of us. The coffee was good, too.
3. A book that I'd ordered came in the mail from Amazon today.  Just in time for the weekend - gotta love it!
4. My house is clean.  I'm really trying to do a general, quick tidy each evening and not let things get out of control.  As a result, it only took 15 minutes after school  to get it ship-shape:  I vacuumed, my eldest girl mopped.  Voila!  Clean house!
5. I enjoyed a backyard fire with my girls after dinner.  I loved sitting with them, talking about their days and sipping a mug of tea.  The stars twinkling overhead, and barely a breeze on this warm, clear night.
6. Connecting with a friend this afternoon.  I'm grateful for the meaningful relationships I have in my life - people that I can really talk with.
7. Fun time Skype'ing with my sister-in-law tonight.  
8. The Thanksgiving Blend cup of coffee I treated myself to this afternoon.... well, it's a limited time thing, ya know.  Who can blame me?
9. A new candle burning on the mantle - cinnamon pecan.   It's a little thing that makes me feel happy.
10. Soon to tuck into a warm, cozy bed with a new book  - the night air cooling down and making it feel even more wonderful under the covers.

"Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere."  - Margaret Wise Brown

I drink coffee instead

Writer's Block prompt:  What's the last lie you told?

Hmm.... at first I thought (smugly, I might add)  "I don't believe I can remember the last time I told a lie!", but then it came to me - - I told my husband I was going to Yoga this morning, but instead holed up in Starbucks with my book and a venti Thanksgiving Blend.   Yes, I did.   Now, in my defense, I didn't necessarily know with *100%* certainty that I wouldn't go, but ... yeah ... the coffee was definitely pulling me in its direction.

It's silly, because he wouldn't have given a fig where I was going (and it was only an issue at all because our youngest child was home sick today, though she slept until long after I returned), but somehow it eased *my* Mama-guilt to think that I was doing something at least moderately redeeming rather than just leisurely sipping coffee and reading my book for an hour.

What's that about?

I logically see that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of personal r&r time.  An hour of quiet and solitude isn't any less therapeutic than an hour of Yoga, if that's what you know that you're craving.  I guess the fact that I felt compelled to... ahem... tilt the pendulum in favour of the Gym instead of the coffee shop means that I'm feeling not altogether ok with how I chose to spend my time.  Self-care;  why is it something that we mothers find so hard to accept in ourselves?

So, yes, I told a lie.  Or a half lie - given that I hadn't completely decided at the time I left the house that I wouldn't be going to the Gym.  Is it a lie if you're not decided yet?  Is it a lie if I now know that I didn't go to the Gym, but don't fess up?  So maybe I kind of ended up lying without knowing at the time that I would be lying but having an inkling that maybe I'd rather spend the hour sipping coffee than downward dogging....

On a related note, DANG is Thanksgiving Blend a fine cup of coffee.  Go try some.

what do you do for fun?

Ok, so I'm reading this fabulous book (that I highly recommend to everyone - borrow it, buy it... just get it!) called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  This morning I read about enhancing our leisure time, making more time for fun.  I began to think about the things I do for fun, and also the things that other people do for fun that I don't find enjoyable even though sometimes I wish I *did* find them enjoyable.. I just don't.  From Gretchen's book, and some of the comments to her own blog that she shared therein, I get the impression that this is one of those common elements in our human condition.  We just won't always like what other people think of as "fun".  Personally, I'm ok with that.  I realize and accept that I just don't see the fun in paying a stranger to paint my toenails, and the idea of spending two hours at a beauty spa makes me yawn as surely as watching a documentary on WWII Submarines (sorry, husband).   I don't like going to the Mall.  I don't drink alcohol, and don't want to.  I'm not against it, I just don't enjoy it myself.   I'm not at ALL interested in visiting Las Vegas;  no, not even for the shows.  I'm not all that interested in going to shows.  I'm not a techno-phobe, but I don't care for owning the latest iPhone,iPad or iTouch. I don't even know if I spelled those correctly, and I don't care. I enjoy watching certain television programs (Hello, Dexter!), but I've never seen "How I Met your Mother", "Parenthood", Modern Family or Glee.  No, I take that back. I did watch one episode of Glee.  I just didn't like it.

I didn't write all of this to come across as a kill joy, nor to be all smuggy-smug and make myself out to be some kind of high culture elitist.  I can indulge myself in drivel with the best of 'em!   Sister Wives and Amazing Race, anyone?  Serial Killer dramas?   Ridiculously priced cups of coffee?  Yep.     The whole topic just got me thinking - how often do we feel like we "should" like something we don't?  I can think of one thing that I've felt guilty about in the past:  At times, I've felt like I *should* like getting down on the floor and playing dolls with my children, or doing huge, involved craft projects.  I just don't like doing those things.  I like to think that I'm pretty ok with who I am, but I think these two pull at my Parenting Guilt Strings.  I like to play board games, read books, go for walks, sit in the backyard and talk.. I like to do lots of things with my girls, but playing dolls isn't one of them.  I've worked to become ok with that.

Some of the things I do that are fun for me - my leisure time list:

getting (re)aquainted

First off, is my font too large?  At first I liked it, but now I kind of feel like it's got a "large print book" thing going on.  Feedback, please.

For my first entry in November, I wanted to do something that might reveal a bit about me in a general sense, and then I remembered a friend's entry in her blog last week where she posted a "list of fives".  I enjoyed reading hers, and figured maybe others might enjoy reading mine.

Here goes: