Keep Out the Mushrooms

Let me preface this with I started it a couple of weeks ago when I was really tired and the idea popped into my head at 3 am while nursing and walking with Jade....so...that's the disclaimer. I elected to just write it out because it was great to get the idea out of my head.

I don't love mushrooms. I know they're generally (excepting of course, the deadly ones and the "magic" ones) healthy for you, but I just can't love them.

So I like to think of things I can't change and don't love about my life as mushrooms. Like, toddler temper tantrums or cleaning stuff I have to handle, unpleasant house projects, etc.

The "Jade doesn't believe in mom doing cleaning while she's awake" face.

And then I think of my weeks as chicken, beef, or seafood. That's in rank for how much fun stuff I have planned. Chicken weeks are boring, I have nothing good going on. Beef have some fun stuff, but low key. Maybe I'm visiting people locally, or they're coming over here to visit, but either way kiddos are going to enjoy it. Seafood weeks are rare and they are busy and fun. Think longer trips out, like all day trips to zoos or whatnot. Stuff that doesn't come up often, and is usually a production, even though it's fun. It's exhausting but builds great memories.

Ok, I did say this was all silly, right?

Good.

But my goal is to not ruin perfectly good food with mushrooms.

Like...chicken. Chicken and mushrooms isn't a good idea. Mushrooms dry out the chicken. A lot. Because they're like sponges of flavor, but also juice. So...if you must have mushrooms with chicken, just a few of them and don't leave them in there too long. Boring mundane weeks can't have too many tantrums or too many unpleasant tasks.

And seafood with mushrooms? Well that's like asking for disaster, because dried out seafood is even worse, it turns into rubber, and stealing the light flavor of seafood ends up with not enough flavor to go around at all. So none at all in there. Like, aim to do no deep cleaning or icky house projects on these type of busy fun weeks.

Beef/steak weeks though, well ok. Beef can handle a decent amount of mushrooms because it has extra juice, and plenty of flavor to share. Especially if you've cooked it correctly, so it's extra yummy. So on low key weeks where we have friends and little stuff going on, I'm getting enough other fun stuff done that I can handle scrubbing the deepest part of the tub, defrosting the freezer, deep cleaning the couch, etc.

But beyond this pretty dumb and silly analogy, is the point of trying to measure out fun stuff and boring necessities into easy to manage chunks.

Try not to let any week have too much awful icky stuff, but don't try to get done too much normal stuff on a super exciting week - just coast on by with those good vacations or whatnot with as little mundane crap as you can manage.

Balance. Just TRY to balance even just one small area of your life. Every little bit really does help.

Legan in his new phase - he doesn't want to wear shirts. So get and stay warm please weather!!

We had one nice day that wasn't too windy. this is Jade's first grass experience.

Surveying her kingdom...er...yard

First time in tub all alone

He's now a big kid that wears parent shirts to bed...before taking them off to sleep without a shirt.

Jade's first time in shopping cart. Also, Legan likes to sit in the cart when he's with her

Silly mommy/Jade time

We got to rent Gigi an RV for a short time alone to herself. It was hilariously small.

Legan was intrigued, especially by the weird toilet and the fact that it was in the shower.

He wanted to be a stowaway.