Erin's Brain- a Short Tour

Thoughts in January...
I really need to work on my career.  It's time to start networking, joining some professional organizations, maybe even start updating my resume.  If I just spent an hour at home, a couple nights a week, that wouldn't be so bad. 

February...
I have got to find a publisher for my book.  It's been sitting there for two years.  Friends reviewed it, everyone was so encouraging.  People keep asking what I'm going to do with it.  I should really get that going before Oprah retires altogether...  

March
It's definitely time to start exercising.  I'm headed for arthritis or a stroke if I just sit in front of a computer all day.  I'm not running at 5 am. Can't do it right after work and sacrifice dinner time with the family.  Ditto for right after dinner, I'm too full then.  I could do it at night.  What's to stop me from getting on the treadmill after the girls are in bed?  I know!  I'll only DVR shows I really want to watch on the basement TV, so I have to watch from the treadmill.  If I do just three nights a week, that's still better than my current zero...

Late March
I keep saying we should be eating better, but then I don't cook anything and we eat at Chili's twice a week.  Gross.  Time to get out the cookbooks.  I know!  I'll bring the girls grocery shopping, and teach them to love the colorful variety of the produce department, let them help me cook more.

Later in March
Woohoo!  I've watched half a season of Grey's Anatomy from the treadmill.  I'm awesome.  Everyone should do this...

April 1
I really need to start gardening this year.  It's time to get off the Neighborhood's Most Unsightly Yard List.  Just a little hedge-trimming, some cute gardening gloves for the kids... how hard can it be? 

Very late March
Hmmm... seems like I'm spending a lot of time reading other people's blogs and feeling the need to comment everywhere on everything... it's almost like I've got an opinion on every topic people are talking about... it's almost like I should really be writing my own blog... wait a minute.  I have my own blog.  Perhaps if I were to write in it more often... If I updated once a week I'll bet I could really get this up and running....

 April...
then if I got my blog really running, I could find someone to publish my book...

A little later in April...
You know what would be cool?  A block party.  We've lived here for six years, and I can't remember my next door neighbors' names.  On Desperate Housewives everyone knows everyone... not that I want someone on the block to die every year, but still... Maybe if I put a friendly little postcard in everyone's mailbox, some people would think it's a cool idea and help me plan it.  It wouldn't really be that much work, would it?

May
Why am I running on the treadmill all the time?  We only get five months of decent weather a year.  I should be enjoying it outside.  I could run alongside the girls while they ride their bikes.  I wonder if they're ready to take off their training wheels.  Maybe I should research how to teach kids how to ride a two-wheeler... I'll bet there's a parenting blog out there with that kind of stuff...

June
I am so overwhelmed.  There's never enough time in the day. I need to stop working so hard, starting all these projects.  Why do I always have to be working on some big goal?  Maybe at night I should just punch out, read a book... what's wrong with some TV?  I don't have to keep in touch with everyone I've ever met...

July
Is it too soon to buy school supplies?  I wonder if the PTA is really like it always is on TV, with all the snooty moms running crazy fundraisers, making everyone feel inferior?  Why hasn't the school sent out any back to school information? How are we going to meet the teachers?  What if they don't understand how bright the girls really are?

Food Revolution

Don't worry. The MOMD knows that Jamie Oliver is my boyfriend. I'm enamored all over again because he is on a mission to get people (and schools!) feeding their kids real food with real nutrients. I'm a little embarrassed about being such a disciple, but it's my parents' fault, really.

When my little brother and I used to take the Grehound from St. Paul to Duluth, MN, returning from visits with our dad, he would send us with snacks. No, not fruit roll-ups. Those hadn't been invented yet. Not Cheetos. No, our snacks were little baggies of sliced green peppers and carrots, and perhaps some whole wheat crackers and cheese.

At home it wasn't much better. There was no pop (that's Minnesota for "soda"), not an Oreo in sight, and even our macaroni and cheese was made of macaroni and... cheese, which Mom shredded using one of those rectangular shredders with four different ways to mutilate your knuckles.
So my brother and I suffered. We never got to eat anything that danced on TV, had a colorful box or a theme song of its own, and had to hang out at the neighbors' to score a popsicle or some Chef Boyardee.

And you know what? They were right. Jamie is right. Excessive sugar, salt and fat makes you crave sugar, salt and fat. Kids deserve food cooked at home. And I'm trying. Yes, they recognize our family at Chili's, and I'm personally a big fan of Noodles, Inc. Many days I just can't seem to get it together to assemble a few ingredients, and the family eats Greasy Crap From NoodlesChipotleChilisPapaMurphysWendys more often than I'd like to admit.

But tonight I was proud. Tonight we had Pasta Dish Made From Random Items I've Been Meaning to Use Up (others might call it pasta primavera. Ingredients: Some swirly shaped pasta, asparagus, sliced shallots, cubes of 2 leftover chicken breasts, and sauce made of olive oil, flour, milk, cheddar, and Romano cheeses). It was tasty. It had something with protein and something green in it.

Check out the Food Revolution. He's onto something.