Monday, March 24, 2008

This Week The Plan

I feel like a chicken with its head cut off lately. Last week came and went in a blur of sickness and entertaining... a deadly and exhausting combination. Baby's been up the past two nights crying again and I fear she's cutting more teeth. I've found myself desperately wanting a nap or the rare and impossible delight of a full nights sleep (only about 2.5 years to go on that front!). The truth is sometimes I just feel it. Thankfully most of the time I think I function somewhat normally on my usual 2 hour stretches of sleep... I might go as far as to say that I function pretty well on very little sleep. But the point is this... I'm feeling crazy, unsettled, and overwhelmed. Maybe I'm just too tired. Maybe I just can't do everything all the time. I'm feeling backed into a corner today for some reason... everything piling up on me and no end in sight. Most likely I just need to get back on track. Need to stop eating cookies when I'm already full. Need to take a nap if the opportunity ever presents itself. Need to workout. Need to make my plan.

So here it is...


Menu:

Monday- Chicken Cutlets w/ spaghetti & tomato sauce & salad

Tuesday- leftover Strata & Fruit Salad

Wednesday- Kid F date night

Thursday- Shrimp & Vegetable Lo mein

Friday- takeout

Saturday- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad w/ homemade bread

Sunday- Tomato & Meatball Soup w/ homemade bread



Diet & Exercise:
This past week I really got sidetracked by my sudden sickness so this week I'm hoping to pull it back together. Thankfully I did not gain any weight... a considerable feat after yesterday's Easter buffet incident! I'm going back to counting calories and trying to cut out the baked goods as much as possible. As for exercise... after last week's Biggest Loser I've decided to try walking backwards on the treadmill!



Cleaning & Errands:

Monday - vaccum, clean kitchen sink, laundry

Tuesday - grocery shopping, finish putting away Kid's off-season clothes

Wednesday - grocery shopping, make returns at mall

Thursday - post office, Target returns

Friday - vacuum, straighten playroom


Things That Are Stressing Me Out:
Taxes
Dealing with Kid's school for next year
Visiting East Coast?

20 comments:

Danielle said...

Yikes! Hope your week gets better. I'm headed to Florida tomorrow (with 3 kids-ALONE) so I'm SCARED to find out what's in store for my diet and exercise program. Maybe I need to make a plan! I'm bringing my running gear, so maybe I'll (at least) sneak a few runs in...

Anonymous said...

ugh. so sorry that baby is having wakings at a nightmarish rate! I'll be hoping you get some rest soon! Hopefully, with a calmer household (no visitors) you can feel back on track.... take it easy if you can!!

Nutmeg said...

Don't visit the east coast in the summer (or at least not August!).

It's a hell hole here, as you know. Just reminding you. :)

Hope getting things back together this week helps even if the exhaustion doesn't get better. I'm right there with you with the misery and confusion over the cause of never sleeping.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

What was the buffet disaster? sound's ominous!!

P.O.M. said...

I had an easter buffet incident, as well! Not pretty but lots of cheese was involved.

Mrs Furious said...

Danielle,
WOW! That is going to be a LONG flight!! I'll be thinking of you :) Have fun, I'm jealous (not of the fight though!)



kt,
You know I am really looking forward to when both kids sleep through the night for good. That will be bliss. Think of all the stuff I could accomplish on a full night's sleep!


Nutmeg,
Word. I know... sadly that probably is when we'll do it! It isn't any better here though either so it is a wash on that front.

Kid was a bad sleeper too... compared to normal kids... but at least I knew what I could expect with her. She'd sleep for three hour stretches... but Baby she's just freaking ridiculous. Under perfect conditions (no sickness, no period, no external stress) I can actually handle it... but throw anything else in there and it is like the bone marrow has been sucked from my body! Kid didn't fully sleep through until I weaned her (3.5 in case anyone needs to be reminded of that crazy fact!) and I don't want to short change Baby but it's looking like 2.5 for her ;)

Mrs Furious said...

Jennifer,
I was doing pretty good. I had a plan. No salads or appetizers just main dish proteins & veggies... and then the dessert buffet happened ;)


P.O.M.,
I shouldn't have started the buffet night with a Margarita... in retrospect it clouded my judgment ;)

Unknown said...

walking backwards on the treadmill? Holy crap! make a video of that one. :-)

I hope you are feeling better and get some sleep. I am a pain in the butt with no sleep. I also feel like a pain in the butt with no sleep. haha.

Mrs Furious said...

Cara,
good one! I'll definitely make a video. I'm worried all need to wear a bike helmet... but that will of course make it all the more humorous ;)

Julie said...

Mrs F, if you do hit the east coast, let me know. Also, is the Cape in your plans still?

Melissa said...

ummmmm chicken veggie lo mein...that sounds sooo freakin' good

Mrs Furious said...

Julie,
I'll email you. Not sure about the Cape.



Motherhood for Dummies,
thanks for commenting :)
The Lo mein is SO easy pretty much a 15 min dinner.
#1 Start water for noodles
# 2 If using chicken I cut it up into strips and if I have time I marinate it in stirfry sauce then just dump it into a hot skillet and cook through. Remove the chicken and set aside.
#3 I put a whole bag of stirfry veggies in the hot skillet w/ a little oil and stirfry for a few minutes (if using shrimp I use frozen and just put them in with the veggies).
#4 Add some stirfry sauce then put the lid on and let steam until done (a few minutes more).
#5 During all that I cook up some linguine noodles (you could obviously use whatever).
#6 I drain the noodles when done and toss everything together.
Really 15 minutes tops once get the water boiling for the noodles.
If you have a Whole Foods I really recommend their 365 Chinese Stirfry Veg Mix (organic).

wootini said...

: ( Hope you're feeling better... we too have been blindsided by sickness in the past 2 weeks, of everyone in the house EXCEPT me. Yippee.

Sorry to hear about Baby's sleeping. I was lucky in that our #2 kid slept better than #1. I also weaned her earlier (about age 2), but that was largely driven by her.

You have company in the worry over taxes. My husband also freelances a lot in addition to his regular job, and that makes for a lot of extra work come tax season. I was going to do them this past weekend (or at least start) but... didn't quite get there.

Emily

Mrs Furious said...

Emily,
2 weeks! Yikes!

Yeah the taxes start to really gnaw at me about now. When freelance work and procrastination meet it is a dicey and anxiety laden couple of weeks! Of course we NEVER pay any freaking estimated taxes so that only adds to the stress.

Yes I was so hoping Baby would be a better sleeper... no dice. But I will say I enjoy the laying down to sleep with her then I did with Kid. With Kid I was always antsy to get on with something else... with Baby I'm so exhausted that I enjoy the down time ;)

Deb said...

Please don't say "taxes". It's a dirty word in this house.

I love sleeping with my kid most of the time, but MAN the constant wake-ups are annoying. I feel you.

Deb said...

Okay, I gotta ask. Once you wean the kiddies, how do you get them to start sleeping through the night and in their own bed? My little guy weaned already, but he still wakes up a couple times a night and he feels compelled to cling to me all night long. I don't know how to begin to get him in his own bed. We're not a CIO house AT ALL.

Mrs Furious said...

Deb,
I think it might be an age thing. I don't do CIO (obviously). I really just believe that if they need comfort it is my job to do that. So having said that I know it is hard and exhausting and occasionally maddening. Kid was 3.5 when she finally slept through and that is also when I fully weaned her. But it may very well have just been an age thing too. At 3 I put her in her own room (she was game for that) and went in and laid (not nursed) with her until she was back to sleep but she still would wake up 3 times! It took us about 6 months to get her to sleep through and I think it had a lot to do with getting her to fall asleep on her own. We phased out the laying with her and sat in a chair in her room. We sat in that damn chair for an hour sometimes and we kept it up for a year but what can you do? Having been through all that I can say that at least time does pass ;) She goes to sleep on her own now. I guess I don't have any advice but to say it's a hard road always meeting someone else's needs first but it is ultimately rewarding and I wouldn't have done it differently (obviously). Also I think I liked the Sleep Lady's book which involved the chair routine and didn't require crying. We didn't actually follow the routine fully but I think that there is something to what she had to say.

Deb said...

I'm glad to hear Sleep Lady worked for you, because that's the most palatable solution (for us) I've read so far. I also think it's age-related, and you can't have a conversation with them at 20 months old. Fortunately my husband agrees, although he does roll his eyes quite a bit at the suggestion that we're probably looking at another year(+) of co-sleeping.

wootini said...

"When freelance work and procrastination meet it is a dicey and anxiety laden couple of weeks! "

Oh Mrs F. you could not have come up with a better description of these few weeks in the year!!

We never pay estimated taxes either... we used to before kids but when I stopped working it became a scenario where we used part of the current year's income to pay taxes from the prior year - so always essentially 'in the hole' by one year.

It's one of my goals to reinstate the estimated taxes for this year. Even if we can't pay it all it has got to be better than nothing...

Good luck with yours!!! I'll be thinking of you as I sort out receipts and 1099's!

Mrs Furious said...

Emily,
I am right there with you... although I said this last year too... this year I want to make an effort to pay something towards the estimated taxes. Every little bit would take the edge off this time of year.

Good luck... ugh.... I'm dreading it!

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