Well, At Least There's Room For Improvement

Time is running out to enter to win either $100 or $150. I'm trying to give you money, peoples. Take me UP on the offer.

I don't know who is more tired - me or the kids. Back to school is doing.me.in.

Why does there seem to be so many things that could go wrong/have gone wrong/are irritating/or just plain frustrating? Is it me?

Wait. Don't answer that.

It's been two days.

Positives:

• We've all gotten up on time.
• I've made breakfast both mornings. Emma and Riley do not have snack this year, and lunch is more than 5 hours after we get up, so I've got to get a good, heavy breakfast into them. Today it was eggs (scrambled or hard boiled), yogurt and toast. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Lean Pockets with yogurt tubes for the girls - Gabe will probably have frozen waffles with soy butter. Got any good, high protein breakfast suggestions? Lay 'em on me.
• No one has forgotten a lunch. Yet.
• Everyone has all of the supplies. I only had to run out at night and buy one more red folder, so I'm calling that a success.
• I've successfully remembered to email every teacher who requested, AND by the second day of school, I had returned every.single.signed.paper, signed Riley up for soccer, signed Mackenzie up for cross country, AND returned medical forms (in quadruplicate!) AND medications.

Negatives:

• Every person is crabby thanks to not enough sleep.
• I had to do a monster laundry folding night - up until midnight - just to get caught up. AND the baskets are STILL FULL of dirty stuff. I'm thinking about imposing a mandatory nudity day. But then we'd still have towels.
• The Tuesday/Thursday schedule has morphed into 5 hours at the martial arts place.
• My sleep schedule is gone. Gone, gone, GONE.
• And I've got to get myself organized for dinners. Picking random stuff out of the fridge at 6 p.m. isn't going to work.

So, it's a wash. BUT. Guess what's NOT a wash?

Hurricane Earl, bearing down on my town. Tomorrow will be the deciding day - do we stay here? Do we feel like we need to leave?  Will we lose power? Will we lose windows?

Will I lose my mind?

Are you on the East Coast? What are you thinking?

Comments

[GGroszek]

who's Earl? where can I sign up for nudity day. I have my own towel :-/ You are so organized getting all the kids ready for school and, and, and fed. Mine would be eating breakfast bars. You are the worlds #1 MOM!!

[Megan]

I am so psyched for Hurricane Earl. I would head to your area this weekend if I didn't have plans. (And I bet there would be NO eastbound traffic on the interstate!)

Weather events are so exciting. Even when I got snowbound 3 times last year. I should totally work for the Weather Channel.

[amie]

We are 30 miles inland, so not too worried about Earl. I could be wrong. However he promises to ruin any beachy Labor Day plans I may have been entertaining. We have been having chest high waves & horrible undertow. Def not safe for the kiddos. The return of school uniform season has thrown my laundry into a tailspin too. Next week dance & flag football resume-P.U.- more laundry & less time. I got nothing on the high protein breakfast front, I am currently pushing fiber and liquids on mine. Breakfast has been zucchinni or pumpkin bread with chocolate milk/almond milk or flavored water. The idea of cooking dinner depresses me, as soon as it is done I feel like I have to think of what to make the next day. So if you figure it out please let me know so I can copy.

[Shelly]

A good heavy breakfast is breakfast burritos with whatever you want on them. We do spinach, cheese, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, zucchini, onions, bacon...the list is endless and anything is a go, just depending on tastes and what is in the cupboard. In Scouts we call this the Mountain Man breakfast.

[Headless Mom]

Yum, the burritos sound good! What about a yogurt/fruit smoothie with protein powder?

[Rox]

I second Headless Mom: smoothies rock, and they're portable if you're rushing out the door! We use frozen fruit (GREAT use of old bananas and whatever frozen that's on sale -- blueberries are power food!), yogurt, soy milk, and peanut butter (can change that to soy nut/sunflower seed and it still tastes great). A glass of that definitely fills the belly! If I'm really feeling like I've got to make it last, I throw in flaxseed or flax oil and/or wheat germ. I've also snuck in the prior night's cooked carrots (kids never notice) -- but they do notice when I throw in anything green. Nonfat dry milk adds more protein with less expense than protein powder. BTW, I learned to make these when I was pregnant with my first and having a hard time gaining weight -- so they're not good diet control, but, as a meal replacement, won't be bad!

Good luck with Earl!

[Elizabeth]

Shelly said what I was going to say except Breakfast Tacos. All you need is whole wheat tortillas/wraps and fillings. I usually keep it simple, eggs, cheese, bacon/sausage, and/or minced potatoes. I've been known to chop up a hardboiled egg instead of scrambling some even! You can add salsa, onions, whatever you want. Roll it up and go!

You are doing great so far! My suggestion for laundry - put their clean clothes in individual baskets for the older kids and tell them to put them up. If they don't, oh well, they can live with the wrinkles. This does require giving up some control however and is easier SAID than done! :)

[Patti]

we are in Boston and he may make an appearance on Saturday...we are supposed to go on a boat cruise my friends planned for their 10th wedding anniversary. So I may end up like Gilligan. Fingers crossed he goes out to sea.

[Me]

We've canceled our Sat plans and stocked up on stuff to eat without power. BTW, we have a generator if you need to come over in case of extended power outages.

[amie]

Thanks for the tip on the nonfat dry milk in smoothies- something about the smell of the protein powder turns me off. I have tons of frozen fruit in freezer, going to break out the blender & try those as after school snacks I think. Mine are always STARVED after school.

[Julie]

I make breakfast burritos quite often. I keep a bag of frozen corn/tomatoes/onions/black beans (this is available at our grocery store but may not be where you live) handy and then I just dump that mixture into a hot skillet. It cooks quite fast. I then add a few eggs and scramble it together. Divide it up onto tortillas, top with shred cheese, and fold the tortillas.

Also, you can throw in any leftover meats or vegetables to the skillet mixture.

As for hurricanes, we live directly on the Gulf Coast in Texas. We usually evacuate to Arkansas to the in-laws and call it a "hurrication."

[Jessica]

I am looking forward to Earl, but I dont think we will get much. I feel for the touristy places who are going to miss out on the last weekend of the summer money. I was hoping for a Hurrican Isabel since we need to get some rain so bad, but I think that Earl is going to leave us miserable and steamy. I am doing the obligatory work from home on Friday so I can raid the local wal mart nad stock up on batteries, toilet paper and snackies for the weekend, I can't wait to see how much people have in their carts for this one LOL. I personally would love a weekend where I couldnt do anything electronic, and would have to sit on the couch all day and read real books.. omg who could fathom!!!

[Varinia]

I make a breakast casserole or frittata over the weekend and will let the kids eat off it for the week. I clean out my fridge with it. Could be asparagus, spinach, ham, chicken, breakfast sausage, etc etc. Mix that up with some smoothies, pb toast or oatmeal pancakes also made on the weekend.
Best of luck with Earl and You are doing great with all the kids!

[Megan]

I've been emailing back and forth with my mom, who lives a mile west of Dam Neck, about her possibly evacuating and coming to my house (in Charlottesville) and here is what she said:

"I'm not making light of this because it could be serious, but I don't think evacuation is an option. The only people I ever knew who actually evacuated during a hurricane went out to Suffolk, and then the storm moved away from the coast and caused massive flooding in Suffolk and other parts of Western Tidewater. Besides, they got caught in major traffic back-ups and almost starved to death because no restaurants were open. That's the thing-think about it-where would you go from Hampton Roads? Even if the roads weren't flooded, you couldn't possibly get anywhere in the traffic."

[kimmie]

I'm here in the middle of the world so I can panic about Earl from afar.

You have gotten SOOOOOO much done....it makes me tired. And makes me want to fold the pile of laundry that's staring at me from the chair.

[Angie]

I second the breakfast burritos. We also have rice and black beans with a little taco seasoning, salsa and a dollup of sour cream on top. English muffins with nut butter is really filling, too, though I think you have some nut allergies in your house? Whole wheat mini-bagels and cream cheese with a side of fruit is a favorite of mine. Good luck, I hope you hit your stride soon. We start next week. :-)

[addy]

The breakfast burrito/taco thing works well. Especially if there are different tastes in the house. Fill it with whatever is there. Works great. From the middle of the country we move into the basement during tornado season. Sympathies with Earl.

[Nike Shox Shoes]

Just exhibits that writing through experience brings so a great deal depth and relevance to kinds readers. Thank you for sharing.

[UKCraftySal]

A quick, high protein breakfast that goes down well here is sliced ham (or salami or other thin sliced meat) spread with cream cheese and rolled up. I like some sliced peach (fresh or canned) in mine too.

Good luck with Earl. Just the thought of a hurricane scares me (living as I do on the safe south coast of England!)

[Karen from A Glimpse Into My Reveries]

Wishing you fair weather and peace of mind with the approach of Earl!

Looks like you've had lots of good suggestions about quick and nutritious breakfasts.

My sister recently told me about a meal planning website that she absolutely swears by: http://www.e-mealz.com/
They have a variety of meal plans to choose from from diet specific to specific markets.

She loves the simple recipes and the shopping lists that accompany the recipes. Her very picky eaters (all 3 kids and especially the husband) all rave about the dinners Mom's been making!

My sister credits this with reducing dinner crisis' and making family meals possible during busy school, sports, and dual careers.

I even found a discount code that can be used: use the code DAVE in the coupon field for a discount!

[Christal]

We just switched over to Tues/Thurs for our taekwondo classes plus go to a new bldg (not the best spot, but we're making do due to increased rent at the old spot making it impossible to be there ... after 30 years.)

I am totally dismayed at my level of fitness. College classes interrupting class time and the achilles & hernia surgery in July have put me back to the point that I should just dig out my white belt to wear.

There have been a lot of changes and I had a 5 year old telling me I was doing blocks wrong. (I wasn't ... he was doing the beginner version.) But it made me wonder just how sloppy my katas have gotten and vow to work on them this weekend & Monday before I go back to class Tuesday.

You have my sympathy. 5 hours at the dojo is a lot of work (even if it's spread between you & kiddos.)

Do you have a monthly whiteboard? Try to plan out your meals on the board. Figure in the leftovers. I did it this summer and it worked pretty slick. Hungarian goulash was a big hit along with stroganoff & spaghetti. It helped take the "what do I make tonight" out of my thoughts because I'd already shopped for it, pulled stuff out of the freezer, and had plans for leftover stuff. Like grilled chicken one night, diced leftover chicken in tortillas or chicken salad with the leftovers. And I discovered I don't always have to do big 5-6 item meals. Sometimes a bowl of tomato soup & a salad or sandwich for dinner is just fine.

PS Hope your family & friends are fine. I lived in NC, MS & FL (& still have relatives there) and remember the "drill" every year and the balance between stay & go. Poor timing for Earl to come around this week.