scheduling – Just a Dash

Lately, whenever I’ve been asked where I work I respond by saying “Fowler Inc.” with a straight face and enjoy the perplexed look I receive from the other person. There is no formal Fowler Inc. but for me there is (I have listed it as my place of employment on Facebook). I’m a housewife, and this job is just as serious as any other job. I run this family of two which we do wish to expand, therefore, in a few years there should be a minimum of four and maximum of six ~~who am I kidding having four kids?!? I should make that three, is it too late???~~

Within a month of being married, my husband made it clear he had no desire to be following up on household stuff. I didn’t mind, it meant I wasn’t sitting twiddling my thumbs so as far as I knew, all was well. We’ll be married for 3 years in September and since October 2009, responsibilities have definitely increased.

Take our car for example. We’re a one car family – hey I don’t drive to work and he doesn’t need it during the day. Taking the car to get serviced etc is all up to me. Dealing with this is knowing what hour he needs to be at work, what hours I’ll be free to take it in and still be able to pick him up on time. I’m listed as the contact for everything. So car is finished – call Symone, we want to call and hassle you to buy your car – call Symone, there is a recall for a part on the car – call Symone, you get the idea?

Being the C.E.O. Of Fowler Inc. means I am the contact for everything and chances are, even when you need to speak to my husband about something I know more than he does on the issue (except anything to do with Comcast, that’s his department).

We started having a “family meeting” for me to know when my husband started work during the week to be helpful in choosing the best times to go the gym for personal training and syncing his work hours with any appointments I may have or he may have or need to be scheduled. This meeting time has now progressed to be the time where I decide what I will cook for the week so I also know how to shop at supermarket. Coordination just helps everything to run smoothly. I have a set day for laundry and cleaning is very spontaneous, but at least I know it happens during a certain period.

I’m always asked what do you do? Aren’t you bored? I run a family who is always on the go, I run a household with chores to be done as well as food to be made (we don’t like eating out a lot), I have to make sure everything on this ship runs smoothly and that 80% of the time there are no hiccups (I’m human I need a margin for error). I will never, and never have, mock the life of a real housewife. I’m not talking about the ones who have staff to run a household and say life is hard. I mean the ones who dig in and get dirty. Who schedule, coordinate, live on coffee to keep everything going smoothly so everyone is mostly happy. Every job is an opportunity for growth and humility. A chance to learn how to be more efficient and feel a great sense of pride in what you do. It doesn’t matter how others speak of your job when you know deep down that you have given it your best and feel some accomplishment for what you’ve achieved. Take pride and work your way up to bigger and better things.

#fastfoodthursdays on the menu 🙂

For the last two weeks I’ve been creating a weekly menu (Monday-Thursday, Sunday I just cook whatever I put my hands on). I got the idea here my first week on Pinterest. I’ve found this to be very cost effective as it helps me to prepare a better shopping list as I know what I will be cooking. It also encourages me to cook! I can take out the meat the night before and put it in the fridge or the same day early in the morning because I know what I will be cooking. That way I don’t get frustrated trying to figure out what to cook and end up taking out meat too late and then dinner is also late and rushed.

This menu also makes me get creative with what I’ll be cooking as you don’t want to repeat meals too often. I’d say I spend a good half an hour or more just trying to think of meals for 4 days! Also I try not to cook too much wheat as it’s one of the foods that I’m sensitive too but I just try not to indulge too often. That means I’m left with potatoes, rice or rice pasta.

Last week’s menu looked like this:

Monday: Lamb stew with rice and peas (in Barbados, rice and peas are cooked together so in the future this is what I mean when I say rice and peas)

Tuesday: baked pork chops, macaroni pie (basically baked mac & cheese) and potato salad

Wednesday: Sautéed chicken strips and rice

Thursday: Home-made fried chicken and chips (we were travelling the next day)

This week:

Monday: “Shepherd’s Pie” (made with idaho and sweet potatoes and turkey not beef)

Tuesday: Chicken chow mein

Wednesday: Beef stew and rice and peas

Thursday: Spaghetti and ground beef (mixed together)

I try to think of meals that will be easy to pull together as I don’t always have a lot of time to prep and prepare meals. When I went to the supermarket on Monday, I found fresh diced onions. I jumped for joy (on the inside) and grabbed the white and red onions. This was amazing as I hate cutting onions, and I use them in every meal so this has made me hop into the kitchen faster. I hope to keep this up and not drop it within the next two weeks. As it is, my husband and I check each other’s schedules on Sunday to know how the week will go so I’ve added this menu planning to that. It’s so much easier to have a general idea of the week ahead instead of diving head first into it and just scrambling for the rest of the week. Hope I helped you with your planning this week :).

Tag: scheduling

For the Real Housewives

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