wah, wah, wah
I am tired and crabby, and I sit amongst people who are cranky and angry and discouraged. One of my personal flaws is that I have a tendency to be a sponge and soak up the feelings of those around me. I’m getting better at not doing that quite as much, but still, I find myself influenced by the negativity around me.
Back in the early summer, I got promoted at work… something I honestly thought would never happen. People talk about this new division as being the promised land at this company, and this job is better than the last. But I now see that the idea of a promised land in this division is laughable. What we do is stressful. There is no way around it.
But I’m finding lately that the stress is really hard for me to negotiate. I am not given to enjoying middle ground. I’m a bit of an all or nothing girl. And I’m probably a bit of a bit of a perfectionist, though I hate to admit it. And this job is all about numbers. How did you perform today or yesterday? How did you compare to everyone else, regardless of whatever your personal situation was at the moment?
I don’t mind that the company has expectations of us, even if they may at times seem unreasonable. That’s the company’s right as my employer. What I mind is not being able to navigate the workload and the expectations successfully. Admittedly, this is my problem, not the company’s.
But all of this focus on the numbers just feeds into my own OCD obsession with numbers… the number on the scale, the number of years, the number of days I blog, the number of … on and on. This job encourages an obsession in me that I clearly see is unhealthy. In this life of mine, I need to focus on quality and not those numbers. But five days a week, I sit and am judged based upon the numbers.
My New Year’s Resolution was balance, and I’m trying really hard to take that to heart and to focus on the important and not the numbers floating in my head. It’s not easy because I want to be really good at what I do. But I also want to be a sane (reasonably) woman and a kind, compassionate, not stressed out wife and mama.
Now, I’m going to end my way too short lunch break and go back to the land of numbers. And try not to worry about mine.
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menu plan monday
I made my plan last week and then didn’t make it to the grocery store, so we didn’t so much follow the plan. We’ll just drop in those meals this week. Each of the kids are getting to select one meal this week, so I’m doing their choices, just a little healthier than they might expect. 
Sunday -Homemade macaroni and cheese with broccoli and edamame
Monday - Mike and the kids are off, so I’ll have to plan a full day of meals for them. Breakfast … pancakes. Lunch … sandwiches. Dinner…corndogs with sweet potato fries (Eliza’s choice)
Tuesday -beef enchiladas (Griff’s choice)
Wednesday -Ria’s Chicken (Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals cookbook)
Thursday - Payday. Going to the grocery store after work, so we’ll have paninis after I get home.
Friday - chicken and dumplins (Mike’s choice)
Filed under Uncategorized | Permalink | Comment (0)Spinach tortallini soup
I posted last week that this was on my menu & Kim asked for the recipe. It’s less a recipe and more me throwing a bunch of stuff together, but here’s what I remember. 
- onions, bell peppers
- olive oil
- chicken broth
- dried dill
- cheese tortellni
- chicken, cooked and chopped
- frozen spinach
Saute the onions and peppers in the olive oil with a bit of salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and simmer for a bit. Add in the dill and chicken and simmer a bit. Add in the frozen spinach (just in the block as it comes out of the package… it will fall apart as it cooks) and then the tortellini. The tortellini will cook quickly . When it’s done, it’s ready to serve.
Ladle into bowls and top with freshly grated parm.
Filed under Recipes | Permalink | Comment (1)menu plan monday
It’s been forever since I’ve made one of these lists, and it’s oddly comforting. Much as I enjoyed the holidays, it is always nice to get settled back into a routine in January. It’s time to get back to cooking healthier meals and spending more quality time around the table together.
Sunday - cinnamon rolls for breakfast… crazy lunch… spinach chicken tortellini soup for dinner (yum)
Monday - spaghetti
Tuesday - choose your leftover night
Wednesday - homemade macaroni and cheese … a healthy version from the Food Network magazine. We’ll see how it goes.
Thursday - lemon pepper chicken with broccoli couscous
Friday - dinner out
Eliza wants lunchables every day for lunch (which isn’t going to happen), and Griff wants BBQ chicken calzones (which will). I’m going to make Flu Fighter Cookies from the Food Network Magazine to hand out for breakfast. Neither kid wants to eat breakfast these days, so maybe the lure of a cookie will be enough. I’ll omit the nuts and add extra dried fruit. They can snack on these in the car on the way to school. This post over at Cookie Madness points out that the cookies probably won’t really fight the flu, but it also notes that they taste pretty groovy.
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Yummy
I’ve been feeling less than great since Christmas. A nice, warm soup seemed perfect tonight. Spinach chicken tortellini soup.
