Weekly Menu Fail and a 31 Day Challenge

Ok so. Last week I came up with a menu - like a boss. It wasn't the greatest menu of all time, not going to get me any Michelin ratings but heck - it was going to feed my family...in theory.

It was a big fat fail. I won't go into every excuse why it ended up with us eating out nearly every single flipping night this week, but suffice to say there was a dangerous combo of poor planning, a sick baby, and a husband that god love him is erm..cranky.. when not fed.

There were definitely lots of uncomfortable silences in our home when this commercial series launched...it was like they knew him :)

Yeah yeah there was a reason every night but it didn't make any less of a fail. And I was feeling pretty down about it because we've been trying to really cut down on our eating our for both health and fiscal reasons.

Because no way I'm going to lose the pregnancy pounds eating out...also looking for this picture just made me sink into the abyss of This is Why You're Fat its kind of horrifying, but in a cool way

We got this app (which I'm still trying to kind of figure out) which helps you track your spending and its legitimately insane how fast eating out adds up. And even if you can afford it technically, its probably not the best use of funds.

Here's some horrible math I just did: this is London. A trip to London for a week would be about $5000. If the average meal out for 2 is $35 that trip is worth 143 meals out. So if you were eating out twice a week in 18 months you could have had an awesome trip. Now figure the math if you're eating out more than that. *shudder*

Blerg. So on top of the eating out fail the house is also not so clean. And by that I mean like - really cluttered.  Its kind of like this:

There's this show called 'Yardcore' on DIY network.

This is their hook: "What if you gave a couple of landscape professionals 48 hours to completely redo a backyard? No problem, right? But there's a catch. What if they don't even get to see the yard until the day before the job, and were not allowed to meet the homeowner? They will only get a quick tour of the yard and a five-minute tour of the home's interior to get clues, and then make it all happen in 48 hours — without ever meeting the homeowner until the final reveal!"

We were watching it a lot this weekend and there is always a lot of discussion as to whether they ever get it right or if the people hate their yard. Which led to a discussion of what they'd take from our house. We were like - kind of formal, kind of bohemian...just sort of gabbing, but truthfully their evaluation would be like this:

 And this would probably be our finished yard:

They are just going to love how the bountiful pink blooms just highlight the collection of 'found' office chair seating!

I keep meaning to finally do the BIG CLEAN UP. The big one that should have happened when we first bought the house. The one where you hang up all the pictures and put everything away in its permanent home. But you know then there was Christmas then the Bar Exam, then wedding, then pregnancy from hell, then baby and busted foot, and then baby. Not that those aren't legitimate reasons but it sure isn't making my house any more organized.

I'm really optimistic. In the morning when I get up I feel like a hero

But you know - as a chick hero, not a dude one...

Because I'm going to clean out the WHOLE HOUSE. I'm going to clean the kitchen, catch up on all the laundry, file all the paperwork, clear up the clutter. Then I'm going to make gourmet delicious dinner AND cookies. And I'll be able to work on all those art projects I want to 'cause the house will be so clean and not distracting. And when hubster gets home he's going to be surprised and awed at my super-human abilities and he'll want to buy me this shirt in a totally not-ironic way...

Only not this shirt exactly because its kind of horribly sexist and completely overlooks my mad Scrabble skillz

 But then baby. And then little girl who is getting too big too fast. And they jointly attack me with cuteness and neediness and temptation to not to housework and instead play with them and cuddle. Oh, and that J is an adorable lovely little man but is also the neediest baby in the world sometimes.

You really can't say no to that level of cute

So by mid afternoon the goals shift to: Ok! I can still do this. I can at least get some laundry done and also the kitchen, yes, at least the kitchen. Dinner - still good. Art projects - well I'll work on cleaning out some of the upstairs. And it will still be impressive and fabulous.

Yeah, because its A-ok that you didn't get everything done because you got most errr a good chunk of it done and you're still winning...right?

But then more baby. And more little big girl. And probably some errands I forgot I had to run. And crying (sadly I wasn't kidding about that gorgeous but needy bebe) And now its 5:07 and I look around and I'm like crap - I didn't even get to shower today!!! 

Sorry guys...its come to this.

In sum it's been feeling a leetle bit like I'm going to be starring in my own not so funny version of fail blog

But rather than wallow and be super annoyed at myself I've decided dammit I will kick July's ass! Enough sad sacking

There is no sad-sacking after unicorns. It's a rule.

Where was I? Oh yeah, kicking July's ass. Much as I'd like to make it the month in which I cleaned the whole house, did all the projects I'd been planning, read all of O'Conner's on Family Law, entered in all the spending in the budget app immediately upon spending, painted the back porch, and cleared out the garden I know there is no way in heaven or Hades that is even remotely likely.

So instead this is the challenge: Not to eat out AT ALL for the entire month of July. And for me and hubster to go to the gym 10 times each.

Here are the rules:

1. There will be no eating out. For me this will not count getting an Iced Latte at Starbucks (sorry, but ain't nothing worth that) and for hubs he's excused for work lunch functions.

2. The goal is to home-cook every meal and not rely on frozen food but as that seems like a step-two type challenge, prefab meals are allowed so long as they are not bought out.

3. The only exception is that if Cal masters her addition tables she gets a night to go eat out and if that happens in July, gotta give it to her. But I'll try really hard not to like it.

4. The gym means each of us has to go 10 times. We can go together or separately but we've got to make it to ten.

I am going to try to post daily and I will include weekly menus, recipes, and a running total of the grocery bill (just for kicks and I want to go to London at some point).

This is not going to be easy. Especially since it's 3:30 am and I'm just now getting to sleep because James decided he'd choose tonight to bypass his normal 12:45 wake up and sleep a solid 5 1/2 hours...

or, you know, not eat out in July...