LAY ME OFF, PLEASE

I want to speak to Human Resources tout suite. What is this bullshit that I don't get any sick days? I didn't sign up for this! Where do I file a complaint about my boss?

Welcome to the downside of motherhood. There are no days off. Ever.

Even on the few occasions that I am footloose and babeola-free, I am still consumed by her. I'm amazed to see parents of older kids who are so detached (in a good way) and wonder how I will ever cut the apron strings. I can't imagine letting go, no matter how good that freedom sounds.

So....anyway...my nose is red. My head is throbbing and it doesn't matter. There are meals to provide, entertainment that must be coordinated, and no rest until later tonight.

The only relief comes from a high level of organization and mastery of multi-tasking. Too bad I'm still a novice. However, I did have chicken soup in the freezer ready to go, a supply of Kleenex laid in, and Zicam in the medicine cabinet. I've sort of given up on decongestants, as doing without while I was pregnant and nursing didn't seem to be any different than doing with. Although I might go for some Mucinex if this thing hits my chest. Oh, and you better believe I am chugging the Nyquil at night. It makes me feel no pain so I don't care if it doesn't clear my sinuses.

What I need to do now is figure out a meal plan for the coming week that doesn't have me slaving in the kitchen all weekend. I am just starting to get the hang of meal planning. I am getting better about exploiting opportunities for efficiency, thinking ahead, using up ingredients, shopping primarily to stock the pantry, and finding stuff the babeola is willing to eat, but I still make rookie mistakes. Like believing the fantasy that two big meals cooked on a weekend will last all week. Or that the babeola will eat leftovers. Or that I will actually want to eat what I've cooked all. week. long.

Sometimes the world I create in my head works a lot better than the real one.

So here goes. The plan for this week.

1. Identify mystery meat from the freezer. I have a package of mushed up dead farm animal and I have no idea what it is. It's been defrosting for the last two days and I still can't tell what it is. Once I figure it out, I need to do something to make it edible. If it's pork I'll make an E. European goulash with sauerkraut and cream sauce. If it's chicken, slow cooker chicken and rice.

2. Make cranberry pork roast in the slow cooker. I found the recipe on Allrecipes. A pork roast, an envelope of onion soup with a can of jellied cranberry sauce in the slow cooker and voila! dinner is served. It's supposed to be divine. I figure if it's not, I can scrape off the cranberry and add barbecue sauce.

3. Unstuffed cabbage in the slow cooker or try the slow cooker shredded beef taco recipe my friend gave me. Or both if I need more food. Hmmm. How to  decide which to make first? The unstuffed cabbage requires more work, so I should do that on the weekend when the husband can take over babeola duty. Then the beef mid-week if I find we're running out of food.

4. I want to make slow cooker oatmeal with walnuts and apples for the husband. Walnuts and oatmeal both help lower cholesterol which the husband needs.

5. In a pinch meal for husband: homemade calzones or frozen portabello mushroom pasta, which I bought for the babeola, but she hates it. The husband is a bit like a goat, he'll eat anything.  That and he'll go grocery shopping when I'm sick (and even when I'm not becuase he is husbandly perfection).

Okay, so that's the plan. Now to make up the grocery list and give the husband his marching orders.If you need me, I'll either be in bed snuggling with the Kleenex or cooking in the kitchen (the Kleenex tucked under one arm, of course).