Generally speaking, I like to cook. I do. Hand to god. What I don’t like is that I have become solely responsible for all manner of meal planning. It has become the singular most stressful thing in my life.
Imagine this conversation occurring pretty much on daily basis
Me: "What does everyone want for dinner?"
Everyone: "I dunno. What are the options?"
Me: Internal head slap.
Or this slight variation...
Everyone: "What’s for dinner?"
Me: (Fully exhausted after working a quality 9+ hour day): Blank look, followed by the internal head slap.
There must be some unwritten rule that because I have a vagina and reasonably decent planning skills that I spend all my free time thinking about, shopping or cooking meals.
I don’t.
And when I do just plan and cooking something I am often met with a pulled up nose (mostly from my son because my husband is the equivalent of a human garbage disposal) because he would rather have mashed potatoes instead of baked, or he doesn’t like shredded pork. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Part of the meal planning fiasco is the chore of grocery shopping. There is no one store that meets all my needs, so I end up running all over the place. As a result, my least favorite chore on the planet is grocery shopping.
I abhor it.
Detest.
Hate.
Loathe.
I can generally tolerate it if I shop at Copps, but shopping at Woodmans is pure torture. Yeah, the canned goods are cheaper but the produce sucks and the meat is like monkey chow. Hence the need to run to Brennans for fruits and Copps for meat. It’s exhausting.
The whole feeding the family a balanced meal is a lesson in high blood pressure.
I’m fine to just eat a salad or a bowl of cereal and call it good. But you know, I’m raising a kid so there is this mom guilt about a well-balanced diet; although I swear the kid would prefer to live on 100% carbs. Well, I would to but that’s another topic all together.
I have tried menu planning and engaging said family members in planning discussions with little success.
I’m sadly confident the internal head slap will continue to be an ongoing part of my meal planning routine ad nauseaum.
Showing posts with label household. Show all posts
Showing posts with label household. Show all posts
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
All hail the Dyson
It’s a sad state of affairs when a vacuum cleaner is a blog subject.
For years I have coveted the Dyson.
The roller ball technology.
The fun colors.
The bagless filter.
It’s the Cadillac of vacuums’. And I wanted one. I didn’t want the Dyson price tag which is a lot for a vacuum. A lot. Which is why I hung onto my under-whelming Hoover.
But I’m well into year 10 of our current carpet (which is crap in case you’ve never heard me mention it, although that’s highly unlikely since I’ll talk to strangers on the street about my crappy builders grade carpet) and I’m at least 12-18 months away from replacing it. Plus I have two long-hair cats that shed copious amounts of white fur. It was time to get a serious vacuum.
After some lengthy research I landed on the Dyson animal. It is purple (fun color) with a bigger canister and motor. I opted against the slightly smaller roller ball version of the Dyson animal in lieu of more suction.
The Dyson Animal 28 retails for a lofty $599. I know. That’s a couple of car payments or many many nice pairs of shoes. However, if you have a spouse that works for a major appliance company (and I do), you can take advantage of the factory direct program for like half the price…including shipping. I couldn’t send my check fast enough.
And a mere 10 days later a great big box from my new favorite company was on my front porch when I pulled into the driveway from work.
I think I squealed a little when I saw it.
A mere 20 minutes later I was vacuuming my very modest size living room with Dyson greatness and marveling at what was being sucked out of my carpets.
Frankly, it’s disgusting but also cool.
Like I said, it’s a sad state of affairs when a vacuum cleaner is a blog subject. I need to get out more.
For years I have coveted the Dyson.
The roller ball technology.
The fun colors.
The bagless filter.
It’s the Cadillac of vacuums’. And I wanted one. I didn’t want the Dyson price tag which is a lot for a vacuum. A lot. Which is why I hung onto my under-whelming Hoover.
But I’m well into year 10 of our current carpet (which is crap in case you’ve never heard me mention it, although that’s highly unlikely since I’ll talk to strangers on the street about my crappy builders grade carpet) and I’m at least 12-18 months away from replacing it. Plus I have two long-hair cats that shed copious amounts of white fur. It was time to get a serious vacuum.
After some lengthy research I landed on the Dyson animal. It is purple (fun color) with a bigger canister and motor. I opted against the slightly smaller roller ball version of the Dyson animal in lieu of more suction.
The Dyson Animal 28 retails for a lofty $599. I know. That’s a couple of car payments or many many nice pairs of shoes. However, if you have a spouse that works for a major appliance company (and I do), you can take advantage of the factory direct program for like half the price…including shipping. I couldn’t send my check fast enough.
And a mere 10 days later a great big box from my new favorite company was on my front porch when I pulled into the driveway from work.
I think I squealed a little when I saw it.
A mere 20 minutes later I was vacuuming my very modest size living room with Dyson greatness and marveling at what was being sucked out of my carpets.
Frankly, it’s disgusting but also cool.
Like I said, it’s a sad state of affairs when a vacuum cleaner is a blog subject. I need to get out more.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Washing Machine Update
As previously documented in last week’s “It Comes in Threes” blog (ok, it wasn’t a blog as much as a glorified woes me pity party) my washing machine died. Diagnosis from my spouse, who by the way is pretty good with diagnosing TV issues but has no real mechanical aptitude, concluded the washing machine was suffering from a busted water pump.
Fast forward to Thursday last, when the nice repair man arrives between 8:35am and 10:35am. In my little rose colored glasses world, I was expecting to be doing much needed laundry by noon. My washing machine glass was half full.
After 30 minutes the repairman resurfaces and says: “A busted pump is the least of your worries.”
Ah yes, the words every homeowner loves to hear.
And just like that my washing machine glass went from half full… to sad, empty and broken.
Apparently some random foreign object wore a 3 inch hold in the drum of and then leaked water onto the motherboard, subsequently frying said motherboard. FML.
The good news. A washing machine is still under extended warranty for one year and 4 days. This means it will either be fixed or replaced. Repair dude recommends replaced, which of course requires secret-docier paperwork filled out in triplicate to be routed to a washing machine committee to make the final ruling on fixing verses replacing my very broken washing machine.
The bad news. I am still without a washing machine and will be forced to relive my college days via the Park Town Laundromat. I start scouring for quarters.
Regular laundry is enough of a hassle. However just make things slightly more challenging I am currently prepping for 3 winter craft shows that start in about 2 weeks. Attempting to tye dye 50+ pieces with no functional washing machine is an exercise in creative problem solving.
Commencing hauling 4 baskets and one hamper of laundry to Park Town Laundromat, which I will admit is startlingly clean. Snaps for Laundromats on the west side of Madison. Spend 10 minutes how to change the cycle on the machine. Insert $2.25 in quarters (laundry has gotten substantially more expensive since 1986). Sit back and wait for the magic to happen.
On the plus side – one can knock out 5 loads of wash + drying time and folding in 2 hours. On the downside I still am without my own washing machine – hence another trip to Park Town Laundry in my future to rinse out 25 cotton candy pink dresses and pre-wash a load of blanks that need to be dyed.
Once again. I’m scouring for quarters.
Fast forward to Thursday last, when the nice repair man arrives between 8:35am and 10:35am. In my little rose colored glasses world, I was expecting to be doing much needed laundry by noon. My washing machine glass was half full.
After 30 minutes the repairman resurfaces and says: “A busted pump is the least of your worries.”
Ah yes, the words every homeowner loves to hear.
And just like that my washing machine glass went from half full… to sad, empty and broken.
Apparently some random foreign object wore a 3 inch hold in the drum of and then leaked water onto the motherboard, subsequently frying said motherboard. FML.
The good news. A washing machine is still under extended warranty for one year and 4 days. This means it will either be fixed or replaced. Repair dude recommends replaced, which of course requires secret-docier paperwork filled out in triplicate to be routed to a washing machine committee to make the final ruling on fixing verses replacing my very broken washing machine.
The bad news. I am still without a washing machine and will be forced to relive my college days via the Park Town Laundromat. I start scouring for quarters.
Regular laundry is enough of a hassle. However just make things slightly more challenging I am currently prepping for 3 winter craft shows that start in about 2 weeks. Attempting to tye dye 50+ pieces with no functional washing machine is an exercise in creative problem solving.
Commencing hauling 4 baskets and one hamper of laundry to Park Town Laundromat, which I will admit is startlingly clean. Snaps for Laundromats on the west side of Madison. Spend 10 minutes how to change the cycle on the machine. Insert $2.25 in quarters (laundry has gotten substantially more expensive since 1986). Sit back and wait for the magic to happen.
On the plus side – one can knock out 5 loads of wash + drying time and folding in 2 hours. On the downside I still am without my own washing machine – hence another trip to Park Town Laundry in my future to rinse out 25 cotton candy pink dresses and pre-wash a load of blanks that need to be dyed.
Once again. I’m scouring for quarters.
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