Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Tuesdays, shopping, and forgetting to buy food.

To understand the full content of this post, I must first introduce you to Tuesday. I know that Monday is the traditional dread sibling, but Tuesdays most often kicks my trash.


~ You see Tuesday is shopping day (no small feat when providing nutrition for 8 people).

~ Tuesday is also a music class for my preschooler.

~ Tuesday is also church activities night, and with Peter's schedule that often entails me bringing 3 extra kids to wait while the other 3 attend activities.

~ Tuesday is also the day (while I am already out) that I usually hit the library, craft store, consignment shop, post office, and any other random errands when they're needed.

Tuesday is a day when at least one of my kids stays after school for something and needs me to swing by and pick them up, too.

~ Finally, Tuesday is the day I realize maybe half my kids have practiced the piano maybe half the time and piano lessons are the next afternoon, so they must, must practice NOW.

Like I said, Tuesday kicks my trash quite regularly.


And now for This Tuesday:

Yesterday I decided to wear my Shape Up shoes so I could count my crazy Tuesday as workout time. I also decided to start buying supplies for Halloween costumes.  This meant constant meandering back and forth between departments, multiple times, a process I normally eschew. Extra walking + shoes designed to make walking extra arduous; I know, my brilliance is blinding sometimes.

By the time I arrived home, my legs were killing me! But despite this exhaustion, immediately after picking my son up five minutes late from after school football (I'm supposed to remember I'm a kid short in time to be on time?) and heading upstairs to use the restroom (AKA hiding in my room and reading for 45 minutes), I began dinner.

This is no small victory. Dinner has to be early on Tuesdays which usually means tacos or corndogs or fast food picked up on the way.  But today I was cooking Chicken Carbonara, a fancy family favorite. (Fancy being defined as something that take more than 30 minutes of effort on my part).

I baked and chopped the bacon and then chopped and baked the chicken.  I simmered the sauce.  With 12 minutes left before GO TIME for church, I was ready to add the pasta noodles to boiling water, reveling in my togetherness and homemaking skills.

It was not till that moment that I realized we were out of spaghetti noodles. Gone. Unless I wanted to used lasagna or manicotti noodles, there weren't even substitutes.

Wait, you might ask, didn't you say today was shopping day?  How could you be out of food?

To which I hypothetically reply, Thanks for rubbing it in, did I mention my out of shape legs are about to collapse and I've only been home for 2 hours today, most of which was spent unloading groceries with my worn out legs?

So that is why we had delivery pizza for dinner last night, ordered by Peter while I was on my way to church.* On a positive note, I have dinner ready for tonight, as long as I make it to the store again to buy spaghetti noodles.

This post would be a whole lot funnier if I didn't miss some key ingredient for one of my planned dinners every single week. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this.



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*Peter would normally be the one driving to church, but Young Men's was canceled so he didn't have to go and I thought sitting in the foyer without any kids around would be quite relaxing. I was right. It was the saving grace of a hectic day.

31 comments:

  1. Your life sounds so, so, so like mine (minus the exercise shoes).

    I have never heard of carbonara with spaghetti. We always used bowties! Heresy!

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  2. I forget all the time!

    Tuesdays are my least favorite day of the week.

    exercise shoes?

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  3. I worked late, and we had frozen pizza and leftover chicken salad.
    Tuesdays are crazy--it's our mid-week activity night too. And I worked until 7:10 last night. So Mr W got to run to the church instead of me for once!
    I came home to an empty house and took the pizza outta the oven (they called to tell me it was cooking when they left, and I work literally 3 mins from the house), so I got a slice of pizza and sat down in a quiet house. Bliss.
    Total bliss.
    Hope ur day is slower today!

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  4. You are definitely not alone. Last night we got through making our dinner and I went to pull out the cheese for the topping... none. Apparently when I was in the store and got everything else, I completely forgot that this meal needed 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. How did I forget this? It's a prime ingredient! I have no idea. Luckily, my husband called just as noticed this to see if I needed anything as he passed the grocery store.

    INSPIRATION!

    How one man saved dinner...

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  5. I'm the exact opposite. I normally buy the same thing every time we go to the grocery store because I think we're out or done to the last one.
    I.e., how I accumulate 6 jars of pasta sauce because I once ran out. Or the 5 packets of taco seasoning.
    Or the 20+ packets of Kool-Aid I bought on sale.

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  6. Tuesdays are also my errand running day, and I also forgot spaghetti noodles yesterday! Although, I think I'm the bigger dunce; we had spaghetti on deck for dinner last night. Duh.

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  7. ManOfTheHouse had to stop on the way home for avocado and mushroom last night... of course, the avocado wasn't ripe yet so tonight I have to cook something that I can use it in...

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  8. I am exhausted just reading about your Tuesdays. And I never forget a key ingredient because it's hard to do so when your cooking repertoire consists of pancakes, quesadillas, waffles, and macaroni & cheese.

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  9. I forget all the time too. Here lately especially... I've been awful at grocery shopping. Instead of planning meals and shopping accordingly, I've been waiting until the last possible second to just run to the grocery store and buy whatever I think we might need to make whatever I think I can come up with... it isn't a good system. I never have anything that i need to cook, and yet I'm still spending a fortune at the store. Must make menu and plan! I know HOW to do this, why am I being so lazy?!

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  10. at least you have a menu and a schedule. Wish I could help. Love you

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  11. Just think how much easier it will be when you can drop your younger three off at your sister-in-laws, or do all your crazy exercise shopping with your sister...

    Tuesdays are usually up to Barlow for dinner since I don't get home from work until 7:30ish. Last night the kids had mac'n'cheese, Barlow and I decided we were too tired for dinner and went to bed.

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  12. Hey, there is no shame in having pizza delivered!

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  13. Yes. I do run out of an ingredient each time I make dinner. That's why we have hot dogs probably 6/7 days of the week.

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  14. The worst for me is when I go to make dinner at 5:00 thinking I am getting an early start to dinner only to realize that I only have crockpot meals left on my list. $5 pizza here we come!

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  15. Oh,too many days like this (except a couple of children less.) At least you know your legs are going to be spectacular!

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  16. What's cooking?

    My kids are probably going to have some serious baggage due to the words, "do you want cheerios or pb&j for dinner?"

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  17. I hope next Tuesday gets better.

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  18. I try to make my Tuesday better by just making Monday EVER"YTHING day... I shop...do laundry... and all the other things I don't want to do during the week... That way I can relax on Tuesday... Except most of the time I'm so nuts by the time I do the shopping Monday that I forget a dozen things and have to go back to the store on Tuesday.

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  19. I'm inventing a new dinner right now, because I just couldn't force myself to go to the store....

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  20. That sounds like one crazy day! I forget key ingredients all the time and I don't even have kids to blame it on.... :)

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  21. I do that all the time! It's so frustrating to have everything all planned out to have it fall apart around you.

    PS The diagram is my favorite part of the post.

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  22. How do you do it? That day sounds exhausting. I hate when piano comes around and nobody has practiced.

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  23. I always forget ingredients. Your Tuesdays are crazy! That's a lot of stuff to keep straight!

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  24. I do this all the time and it's way more annoying now that we don't have a market right around the corner. Gah.

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  25. You are not alone. I don't even have the distraction of kids to use when I forget the most important item on my shopping list.
    So, do you think the exercise shoes really work?

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  26. This week I was at the store three days in a row getting things I forgot the first time....I feel your pain.

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  27. you are not alone friend...seriously. i think all moms have their busy day. mine is Wed...for pretty much most of the reasons you mentioned.

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  28. Your idea is brilliant

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  29. I've been dying to get a pair of those shoes. I'm glad you could feel them working, even if your day was crazy busy.

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  30. It is pretty much every weekday for me.

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  31. I am so with you on the shoes! I wear them every chance I get so I can pretend I still exercise. AND, I always have this major plan for dinner...two nights ago it was meatballs...but I forgot the meat. Awesome.

    p.s. from now on, i am going to include you in my prayers on tuesdays.

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