I'm Busy Getting a Plan

Things have been improving over here at Prickly House since I wrote "I Don't Even Have a Plan A." I have a few variables in play: I have mega-upped my B-vitamin intake*, I'm making an attempt to cut down on processed foods, and I think I like the boys' current ages (3.25 and 4.75) better than I've liked any since they were rock-to-sleep-with-a-bottle age. So I'm unsure whether it's the vitamins, the diet, or the age factor--but I've been yelling less and enjoying my kids more (which is something I've been trying very hard to work on before it's too late).

Pie likes his homemade Alphabetti-Os

I'm slowly but surely "getting a plan," one aspect of which I've been totally jazzed about lately: the cook-n-freeze menus over at Once-a-Month Mom. (Uh-oh...this is going to start sounding like a sponsored post. It's not! I'm a copy editor and writer by profession...so I sort of can't help it. Sorry.) It's all about getting your cooking out of the way and into the freezer so you're not stressing every single day about what you're going to make, and God knows, I need to cut some stress out of my daily routine. This afternoon I made a big honking pot of Homemade Spaghetti-Os and Meatballs: the meatballs actually had the consistency of the brand-name, canned "junk balls" (as my mom used to call them), and I can happily give it to the boys, because I know what's in it. Little Pie could barely wait for it to cool down before he started to gobble it up. A great aspect of this "OAMM" blog is the choice of diets: my favorites being the "kid friendly" (in my family, this includes my picky husband), "whole foods," and "Paleo." It's just a meal-planning strategy that looks like it might seriously help me regain my sanity.

*About the B-vitamins: I've been doing some independent research on vitamins and brain health, which I want to write about in a future post. Apparently there are studies out there linking the Bs and other vitamins with mood disorders (depression, anxiety, etc.). Just something to think about.