Some ramblings.

1. I saw this somewhere and it stressed me out a little at first because there is no punctuation and "then" just sort of hanging there kind of bothered me. 

But, I really love it because it is so the truth.

 In the most recent part of my life (5 years) there have been 2 incredibly defining moments in shaping me, my present and my future: becoming a mom and becoming an administrator. I hate to lump something as important as MY ENTIRE BEING changing when I met Anderson (& Max) with my job, but they are both equally as shaping in their own ways. 

I love my job. Truly. I was out of the building for a few days recently due to various meetings, trainings, etc. and when I got back, I was seriously hugging people. I missed them. How wonderful and gratifying to have a job where I actually hug people when I have been away?

I miss teaching everyday because I love kids and History and planning/executing things and getting excited and shaping futures. God knows, the stress and work of being a teacher are in a world of it's own, and think I was better at teaching than I am at my current position. But, I am learning everyday and making many mistakes and figuring things out and, all in all, enjoying myself. I do miss having a lunch time, but I also know that it is a nice guarantee that I will not have to diet as long as I am in this job. And, that is a pretty nice perk. 

 I see the power and opportunity of education, teenagers, parents, communities and the world so much differently than I did 3 years ago and I appreciate the perspective and the awareness and the chance. The chance is so humbling.

2. I hate cooking. Did you know this? I think you did. How can I love planning and following a rubric and doing things SO much and hate something like cooking? I think it is my impatience, but I am not sure because it could also  be my prioritizing skills. To me, other things* take priority. 

*All things

Anyway, one amazing thing I stumbled upon is this site called HelloFresh. They charge an insane amount of money to send you 3 meals for 2 people in a box at the beginning of the week. Seriously, it is every single ingredient except salt & pepper. The meals are so good and all healthy and pretty easy to do (way harder than my normal meals of boiling and microwaving, but still easy.) It is very  expensive and I cannot imagine anyone actually doing this, BUT if you go through a link, you get $40 off your first box! Since a box is $70, this makes it $30 for 3 meals. To me, $10 per meal for meat and sides and everything is not terrible. Plus, I like mail. 

Now, if your kids eat food then you might not have any interest in this, but my kids only ate the pasta one so the other meals made plenty for me and Brandon. 

Anyway, if you are interested in trying the $10/meal option,  go through this link. I just canceled it after I got my first box. 

One day I will win the lottery and hire someone to cook, clean and fold socks for me. But, until then, I will spend more time finding random solutions to cooking than learning how to like cooking. 

3. I live in this world where everything always works out. It is very, very nice place to be. 

For example, my very own dad came to my school and blew up balloons as an incentive for academic achievers. The kids LOVED the balloons and wanted them over the gift cards. 

If that is not an example of "Whose life is this anyway?", I just don't what is. 

4. Logistics. Planning. Ann. Activity Hoarding. 

All of the above could be my middle name. 

Truly, I work a lot of hours and have these little people who also require a lot of hours of care and the only way we survive is by help from the village grandmothers and by my OCD ability to plan. 

One day I am not going to making school lunches and maybe I will miss this? Apparently I am going to because this is what everyone with older kids tells me.

So, grieving future Melissa, here are their lunches-

and this is all of the food we bring to school each day:

They get there early (7:15), so I bring breakfast and I usually don't pick them up until close to 6, so they are STARVING, which means I bring a snack to tide them over until I can make dinner. 

True story-one snow day we were eating dinner at like 5:30 or something insanely early and Max kept calling it a snack. Like, why would be eating dinner when it is still light outside?

5. I threw this away. 

For 10 years, this pink organizer thing has sat on my dresser with makeup and random stuff in it. I literally moved it with me from my apartment when we got married. It was really a part of the family in a very useful way; I used it multiple times every day. But it was also really pink and sort of ugly and the other day I just threw it away (well in the recycling) and bought little containers to keep in the drawers. Now, the counter is so bare and clean looking and it makes me so happy. And, because I recycled it, I know pink organizer thing will be made into something else and make someone else happy for a decade, too. 

6. Speaking of everyday for years, this has been hanging on our wall for at least 7 years. 

When I walk past it, I am reminded of how much my husband loves me/puts up with me. When I was working on my EdS, I tried to do it as cheaply as possible, so I crammed all of the hours into 2 semesters. This meant that I was a full time college student, working full time and coaching cheerleading (at least a part time job), so I was a little crazy. In hindsight, I did not have kids, so I was actually incredibly rested, but I felt busy. Anyway, one day the program organizer told me about a project that was due in 2 days and since the online portal had not posted it on my page, I had not even started it. I was so upset because I had worked so hard and was so organized and felt defeated and, of course, called Brandon hysterical. Complete exaggeration was, of course, totally out of character for me, so he was shocked said nobody ever. He talked me off of the ledge and showed up that night with this for me. It was really sweet and thoughtful, both of which he is regularly, and it makes me happy to have it hanging in the hallway. I did, of course, finish the class on time. Mostly because money was involved and I was not playing around with having to pay more.