Tag: working mom

{Menu Plan Monday} Taming the Chaos

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

Menu Plan Monday
Last week was pretty insane for me and I have vowed to do what I can to make nights a little easier for me. So I’m back to menu planning!! I’m hopeful that having a menu in mind and knowing that I have all the ingredients I need in the kitchen will bring the stress level down at 5:00 when I have schoolwork, Brooke’s new gymnastics class (!) and the gym on the agenda after dinner.

This week:

Monday: Crack Burgers (via Plain Chicken)
Tuesday: First Gymnastics Class – thinking a little snacky dinner before and another snack after
Wednesday: Meatballs over Noodles (via allrecipes)
Thursday: Taco Night!!!
Friday: Crockpot Lemon Chicken (again Plain Chicken)

Hopefully a little prior planning and prep will lead to a smoother week!!

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

If you’re taming the chaos that comes at back to school time, be sure to get your Back to School Boost for Moms eBook bundle. It’s only available until 8/8!!!

The Problem With Equal-Opportunity Chores

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

I’m very blessed to have a husband who doesn’t balk at the idea of throwing a load in the washer or cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. As a working mom, I’d be a wreck if housework wasn’t shared between us.

But there is a downside…

There will come a night when you clog up the sink. With food you’ve left in the fridge too long. And you’ll be up to your elbows in gross and struggling with pipes trying to fix it.

photo credit: spierzchala

In your frustration, you’ll be silently cursing your husband for leaving you with this “man’s job” while he’s in the bedroom.

Then you’ll remember that tonight that same husband did a load of laundry, emptied and loaded the dishwasher after dinner and vacuumed the majority of the floors in the house. And isn’t just vegging out and watching TV but actually folding laundry in the bedroom.

So you take your frustrations out on the stubborn pipe and it will finally come loose and you finish unclogging the stupid sink.

In the end you decide that being left with gross “man jobs” occasionally is worth it to have the support of a man who doesn’t bat an eye at “woman’s work” and does what he can to keep things running smoothly every day.

Do you ever find that you don’t always give your husband the credit he deserves for what he does? What has it taken for you to realize that you might be taking him for granted?

Working Mommy Wednesday – Weekend Warrior

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

Good Intentions

I start every weekend with them. I have a mental list of all the housework I can tackle: rooms tidied, laundry washed, dried, folded AND put away, meals prepped and frozen…


photo credit vincent0849

Then I have the mental list of all the fun activities I can do with Brooke: play outside, paint, cook & bake, play games, build puzzles…

Paint Brushes.
photo credit ohdearbarb

The reality? By the time I get breakfast made and cleaned up, I look at the clock and realize I need to start thinking about lunch. Lunch is thrown together and I try to get Brooke to eat faster, faster, faster so her nap doesn’t start crazy late.  In a nutshell, my weekends are gone before I even realize they’ve come.

Since moving here to Tennessee, the weekends have gotten better.  We’ve made a real effort to do more during the week so that we aren’t bogged down when the weekend rolls around.  I still struggle with balancing the things that need to be done around the house with spending quality time with both Brooke and Keith but I feel our situation has improved and will continue to do so as we continue tweaking our new routine.

What are your weekends like? Is it a time of relaxation and reconnecting or do you cram your days with chores and catch-up?

This post is linked to Working Mommy Wednesday