{picture from last year}today i am grateful for a wonderful day with two of my loves. it had all the potential of being a horrible day, as 'a short trip to the mall' to get my son some new clothes before school starts on monday (the older they get, the harder it gets thrifting for them) turned into a 5 hour expedition in a mall i really dislike. a 5 hour hike would be less draining. walking from one end to the other takes forever, and you always have to do exactly that; walk from one end to the other. several times.
but we had some wonderful conversations today. and we made some decisions.
faced with a large amount of work this summer (and before), my husband and i have spent more time outside the house than in, seldom being at home together. our house is dirty, messy and we eat shit. or that would be; chicken with noodles, chicken with rice, take away pizza, chicken with noodles, pasta with pesto, chicken with noodles, take away chicken with noodles. organic, whole grain and raw veggies on the side doesn't really help much here. we're stuck.
we used to be health freaks regarding food. our son could say 'squash' before he could say 'granny', and ate raw garlic, olives and lentils like other kids ate hot dogs. we organized the first organic vegetable home delivery in our town. i used to be a veggie, for crying out loud. i know my greens!
then i got really busy with my studies, and grew tired of cooking. so my husband cooked for many years, then he got tired of it. then we got really busy working, had child number 2 who turned out to be challenging (...) when it came to food (she won't eat anything mixed, and only raw veggies), got even more busy working and gradually it just all faded and ended up with - chicken and noodles.
how embarrassing. i have no idea what we ate during all those healthy years.
so - with my husband out of town, faced with a sudden and large amount of time off from work, i first started sewing like crazy. then i cleaned the house, sewed, and cleaned again. then i tapped my fingers, removed the last bit of x-mas decorations from our front door (!), read some, noticed my kids (...) read some more, tapped my fingers again and then; went for the cookbooks. and it was sitting in my sofa, amidst all those (really dusty) books and with my children there, that i came up with 'the challenge'. i suggested we all engaged in challenging ourselves, stretching for something we found difficult, and supporting each other in it. my challenge would of course be to focus more on what we eat, and actually take the time to be bothered to try out new recipes. planning ahead, and also focus on the kid's school lunches. so i've ordered a laptop lunchbox to get us inspired, and if it turns out good, i'll order one for each of us.
my daughter's challenge is to try out new food combinations. she's a big girl now, and i've discovered that that's a really heavy weighing argument. i'll use it for what it's worth!
my son's challenge is a private one, but it's a good one both for him and for us. it'll bring about some quality family time where we'll sit together, draw, paint, write, doodle or whatever we feel like (and no, the point is not to make him a 'creative soul'!). so i'll be heading out for a sketchbook for each of us for just that purpose.
and now i just really, really hope that the whole thing won't slip away in the hustle and bustle of everyday life with too much work (which will be the case for some time yet) and too many other needs that has has to be met. i hope that involving my kids in this will help, and maybe also putting it out here.
and i'm really excited to see what challenge my husband will give himself when he get's back :)
I almost wish my kids were going to school this year, those things are so cool. I'm sitting here trying to invent a way to use it at home every day.
ReplyDeleteI like the family challenges. I know another mom who is revamping her family's eating habits this year, since thy eat take out almost every day.
Sadly, we have migrated to that habit, also, with my husband travelling so much. It's a nasty habit. Most likely a good reason for the extra 30 pounds I'm carrying.