Sunday, August 12, 2007

The Week... In Review

Okay here's how it all went down. I did in fact cook all my scheduled meals, with one deviation... okay two... I made peanut noodles with the steak and salad on Thursday... Steak and salad just didn't seem that filling. Friday I just couldn't get worked up to cook so we had take out and then I pulled it together and made the salmon on Saturday and I am currently slow cooking the pulled pork as I write this. In root beer... I'll let you all know how that turns out. So did it save me money? I'm not sure but it was probably one of the least stressful cooking weeks I've had in a long time, and I didn't end up throwing stuff out that I didn't get around to using. I'm kind of stuck now trying to think of a new menu for this coming week... I can't just repeat, can I?
I also have been kicking ass on the cleaning. Yes I know most of you probably already do things like wipe off your stove, but we Furious' tend to be a wee bit lazy... So after my massive pantry overhaul and floor cleaning.. I vacuumed on Friday (I know shocking! I even vacuumed the stairs!) I cleaned the stove, bathroom and stainless appliances. I've also been trying to keep things picked up as I go. And Yes it is easier but it does take some getting used to. I mean my natural tendency is to see something on the floor and think "I'll get it later" Unfortunately that is everyone is the Furious household's natural tendency so our floors, counters, tables can become quite cluttered. I do think maybe there is something to feeling more in control of my body and that freeing up more psychic energy that I can devote to organizing my environment. We'll see. It is hard to stick to stuff if I don't have the whole family on board. Being organized is great, but if in so doing you become homicidal than maybe it isn't worth it....
So over all a pretty good week. I have accepted that fact that in order to get stuff done I have to actually do it. Sounds a lot like dieting ;)

I've updated my "Weight loss Story" at the bottom of the page. I'm getting more traffic than I had anticipated, and realize that you might not all know how this all began. The new version is quite long winded.... but thorough!

9 comments:

J said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J said...

So, I have to come clean here ;) I am an obsessive "do it now" freak already. If I see something out I *have* to pick it up as I pass or I get "twitchy". It has it's good sides (very little home clutter) and it's bad sides (obvious, I think). Michael and I do plan our meals every week and write our list on a computer generated list form that is organized by aisle for the two stores we shop at most (Whole Foods and Trader Joe's). Does this sound crazy? Yes. I thrive on it though. If you need meal planning advice, I have some thoughts on how we generate ideas for each week. We rarely eat the same meal more than twice in a YEAR!!! Good luck with your organization kick!

J said...

PS I had to delete the above comment because my first attempt had weird formatting ;)

Mrs Furious said...

Hilarious... I always find "neat" people fascinating. Was your mother organized? Mr F's & mine were not!

As for shopping.. interestingly I do write my list by aisle. I am a combo of OCD/lazy... paralyzed by my own OCD nature into doing nothing.. well rolling on the ground and moaning. I'm pretty much a hard core procrastinator, and this is where meal planning comes in.. I like to make up new recipes, but I do this best under pressure, at like 5:45 pm.. we eat at 6:30, now doing this is inherently stressful but pulling it off is exhilarating.
Meal planning is *boring* to me but makes my week less stressful. Angie was saying "why can't you just pick a day and say I'm working with salmon?" I don't know... I just can't. That is part planning and that hinders my culinary *genius*. Nothing is more satisfying then making a meal out of nothing... Also I am resisting the whole planning/preparedness issue. It kind of stresses me out to think of 7 days of meals and try and be creative, etc. Also work around and with Mr. F and Kid F's tastes. I might work toward seasonal menus. I guess I also don't like being tied down to the groceries, but what does it matter we aren't going out these days anyway!
Ahhhh.. I'm a freak

Mrs Furious said...

I will say posting all these recipes has also been helping. I never used to write things down and then I'd be like "what did I make last week? we all loved it.. didn't it have cumin in it..?" Now I'm creating a reference point for myself which has been helpful.

J said...

I actually feel your pain on the resisting planning front. I think that you are probably better than M and I are at creating good meals out of nothing though - we seemed to eat minor variations on the same five meals (pasta with tomatoes and olives vs pasta with tomatoes and sausage)until we started planning. I think if you decide to plan, you have to look at the planning as a creative act. It's a hard switch though. BTW: We always leave one night each week unplanned to allow for creative genius or take out. I think that takes some of the pressure off. Also, I always allow us to push planned meals into the next week (even if it means re-buying some perishables) if we come up with something cool. I think that also helps us not feel tied down. Since we don't have a blog to record our genius moments, I am scrupulous about keeping our cookbook (always thinking of publishing one day!) - the reference is awesome.

J said...

Oh, and NO my mom was not neat and I grew to HATE it. Maybe neatness is my rebellion ;)

E. Broderick Photography said...

What do you mean Mr. Furious's mother is not neat?!

Ho, ho, ho.

Mrs Furious said...

lol!

Mr. F came home from the grocery store (non-sanctioned trip) with 8 family sized boxes of Jello.... because it was on sale. I was like "you are exactly like your mother!"

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