Upping My Game

 Going to visit Heather reminded me of my other full-full time job - being a wife, mother and homemaker. She is super good at all three of those and as a result I came home with ways to do better in all three areas:

Wifery

One thing that makes a big difference to Bill is a home-cooked meal. I have let myself off the hook from cooking for quite awhile with way too many "Eat what you can reach" nights. Heather has lots of great healthy options for her whole family and frankly just does food a lot better than I do. Since coming home I have started cooking (more) dinners for my family. And because we are still picky about healthy foods, I am sneaky chefing the meals. Here are some of our better meals:

• Pork chile verde chilaquiles - I got the idea for the chilaquiles from a calendar I had in my classroom, but just made them how I wanted instead of what the recipe said. We like chile verde.
• Pork, rice & bean burritos - I used the leftover pork for this.
  
• Stuffed manicotti shells - sneaky chefed with cauliflower and peeled zucchini.
• Posse stew - with pureed zucchini, cauliflower, carrots & yams
• Navajo Tacos - leftover posse stew is always used for navajo tacos later in the week ;)
  
• Waffles w/ bacon on the side - with the white puree (cauliflower & peeled zucchini). Nobody could taste the difference.
• Provolone chicken & wheat spaghetti (which was great, but I can't face eating the left overs)

Ironically, none of these meals would really work for Heather as they contain dairy and/or meat...However, it is much better than we had been doing!

Mothering

Heather was really good about teaching her babies how to take care of the important things first thing in the day. They have their Big 5. They are 5 things they have to do before they can get screen time: Get dressed, put PJ's away, brush their teeth and tidy their rooms and bathrooms, pray and practice their instruments. I wasn't sure how it added up to 5, and I could have even missed some. My kids are older and when I got home I wasn't so sure about implementing the Big 5, but I did want to give them opportunities to develop in ways that will serve them for their whole lives, so I have:

• Been checking in more on their routines (personal hygiene and asking about what they are doing online.)
• Signed both of them up for music lessons: Ivy for piano and Will for guitar.
• I try to go pick up their instruments and do something on them occasionally so they think about it too. I regularly ask to listen to them play.

Homemaking

Heather's home is delightful. Kids are picking up after themselves regularly. Also, the kitchen gets cleaned after every meal (some people think this is basic, but then there's me!) To make my home a better place I have been:

• Trying to clean something every day. This one is hard, but worth it. Bill even told me he has noticed.
• I took the dish drain off my counter and have been drying the things I wash by hand on my drying mat. They get put away faster and I don't have the eye sore of a dish drain out on my counter at all.
• I sanded our rusted patio chairs and Will helped me spray paint them with Rustoleum. Now they look new and are ready for new cushions! 
• I have been looking for solutions for my kitchen to make it less cluttered. I loved that Heather's garbage was in a cupboard. They sell free standing ones that is next on my list to buy for my kitchen.

It's all good for now, but when school starts things will definitely fall by the wayside. However, it was nice to remember that my home and family are important and worth giving as much (or more) to as I do my teaching job. I'm already getting tired! I might need some time to adjust to this crazy housewife gig! The summer might be just about the right amount of time and then I'm going to need a break from it for sure- ha ha!