Since quiting my job, there are a few things I’ve noticed:

1. I no longer loath Sunday evenings. I used to really be bothered by Sunday evenings. The closer it got to bedtime, the more grumpy I felt. I’m not sure why, because I really liked my job so I wasn’t necessarily dreading work in the morning. I think it was just knowing that starting a new work week was sooo close. I actually really enjoy Sunday evenings now.
2. I’m not as bitter as I used to be about having 1:00 church. I think I don’t mind as much anymore that it is right in the middle of my day. Maybe it has to do with not dreading Sunday evenings as much…
3. My house is cleaner. I’ve actually always kept a pretty neat house, but when I first quit my job, someone told me not to expect my house to be cleaner. I’m happy to report that it usually is pretty clean and orderly. And I make my and the kids’ beds every day…which I’m embarrassed to admit (and my mom would be so disappointed if she knew) that when I was working it did not get done - I just didn’t make time for it in the mornings. Although, now that I’m a bed maker, I should also admit that I actually despise un-making it every night.
4. I stay up later, but still get up just as early. I have no idea why. You’d think it would be the other way around.
5. Some days are better than others. I think it is the same with anything, but as a stay-at-home mom, some days are better than others. I’m not ashamed to admit that one day last week my children (mostly Sam) were so cranky all day that we all needed a little break. Nate had left the house that morning at 6:30 and I knew he wouldn’t be getting home until around midnight, so when Sam woke up from nap we headed straight to the gym…so I could drop the kids off at kids club. And yes, I did go work out, but I also went and sat in the hot tub and then went into the cafe and had a smoothie and read my new magazine on the big, comfy couch…all by myself. (I should add that my kids absolutely love kids club, so it’s not like I’m torturing them…they have fun the entire time.)
6. I still get dressed in the mornings…and comb my hair and brush my teeth. I was a little nervous that I would want to stay in my pajamas all day. I really love being in my comfy pajamas and I was wondering if it would turn into a habit…that would eventually lead to me never wearing make-up and doing all the other things that I normally did to get ready for work every day. So far, so good.
7. We spend less money. Nate and I used to have to eat out for lunch at least once a week because we were too hurried in the mornings to pack lunches. We also hardly ever go out to eat for dinner anymore. When I worked, there were a lot of evenings when we’d get home so late that the thought of making dinner didn’t seam feasible, so we’d eat out. Now, I plan time to make dinner into my day, and Nate has left-overs to take for lunch the next day. I also drive a lot less, so I save in gas. We’re also saving by not paying for the kids’ tuition every month. However, this is countered with the fact that I no longer earn a paycheck, but still…technically, we are spending less.
8. Saturdays are more enjoyable…for the most part. We don’t always get to hang out with Nate on Saturdays, but when we do it is so nice not to have all the chores and errands that we use to have on Saturdays. For example, I now do our grocery shopping every other Friday morning and do laundry on Wednesday. That leaves more time for things like family bike rides (which is what we did this weekend).

And trips to the library.

I’ve been wanting a mini-muffin tin for a while now, and I finally found one that was good quality and on sale.  Magei and I decided to make strawberry muffins on Friday while Sam was asleep.

The recipe I used usually makes about 18, so I thought I’d have about 25 mini-muffins.  Yeah…wrong!  I ended up with over 70 muffins!  Seriously, there were muffins everywhere I looked.  My kitchen was invaded!  We ate strawberry muffins all weekend long, but here it is Monday, and I’m going to have to toss a bunch.  No one can eat that many strawberry muffins.

Magei and I also recently finished the Mercy Watson book series by Kate DiCamillo. I’m sure many of you are familiar with DiCamillo as she is also the author of Because of Winn Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux, and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Her Mercy books are fabulous little chapter books for a younger audience. Chris Van Dusen is the illustrator and is a genius. His art is amazing and captures the characters perfectly. You can look at his other books here, which I think are equally awesome.  There are plenty of pictures in these books to keep a young reader’s attention right to the end. Magei even looked through them several times on her own after we had already finished reading them. We both thought they were fun little reads.

Magei and I just finished Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. I’m sure that everyone has already read this book, so I wont go into the details, but I will say that we thoroughly enjoyed it. We decided to make our own Flat Stanley…or should I say, Flat Magei.

As a side note, pay no attention to Sam’s cowboy hat…it has nothing to do with Flat Stanley. Sam just insists on wearing it ALL THE TIME!

We spent a good part of our day Saturday in the city. We started out at Columbus’ Oldest Tradition, North Market. We skipped right past all the produce and headed straight for the cheeses. We love cheese in this family, and the locally produced cheese is wonderful. We bought some Baby Gouda and some goat’s cheese (which Magei spread all over her corn today at dinner and insisted it was goat cheese on the cob), and the find of the day was Quark…which I love and is very difficult to come by.

We wandered down the street and found this great little park. The entrance reminded me of the Arc de Triumph in Paris. I don’t know if it was modeled after it or not, but we thought it might be.

There were lots of people running and there was an outdoor fitness class going on, so we stopped along the paver sidewalks and watched.

We stopped for lunch at Johnny Buccelli’s, a place we have been wanting to try for a while. Nate and I split the tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella baguette…we both really liked it. I’d say, if you have a coupon, you should try it. It was a little on the pricey side, but we had a card for $10 off.

We had to make a quick stop at Home Depot and the kids spotted this cart in about .2 seconds. I bought a “No Soliciting” sign for my front door. Nate was against it because he thinks it’s too big, but I didn’t care. I hate strangers coming to my door when I’m home alone during the day now…and I get a ton! I’ve had three in one day before, but at a minimum, I get four a week.

Our last stop of the day was at Anna’s Restaurant for dinner. (I know…eating out twice in one day…naughty!) Anna’s is kind of a tucked away Greek restaurant that we’ve been meaning to try. Nate had the Moussaka, which is layers of potato and eggplant topped with some type of heavy (really heavy) cream. I had roasted peppers stuffed with rice and eggplant. We both had a side of lemon potatoes. Mine were especially lemony, and I couldn’t finish them. It reminded me of the time that we tried to make lemon sorbet with the Scoresbys and it turned out so sour that we all had stomach aches and puckered lips by the end of the night. However, our main dishes were really good.

This is a daily occurrence at our house.  Seriously…is Sam going to kill me one day for posting these?  I laughed out loud when he came out in his little flash dance leg warmers.  I don’t know how Sam is going to get even with Magei for this, but I’m sure the time will come.

OK, so it’s time I told; I quite my job. Yes, I’ve officially joined the ranks of the stay-at-home moms. I quit about a month ago, but my kids were still in school through the month of July. So, I’ve really only been a stay-at-home mom for a week now. I’ve been slightly reluctant to say anything, and I’m not really sure why. I’ve never been a stay-at-home mom before, so this is unchartered territory for me. I suspect that the key to my success will be not staying home…and by that I mean I will literally need to get out of the house with the kids every single day…I’m talking, like 8:30 a.m…or I’m pretty sure I’ll go nuts. Don’t ask me what I’ll do when it gets cold outside. It’s really been an adjustment for me, though. My children are lovely, but obviously they’re children and that fact alone can make things crazy sometimes. It’s also been an adjustment with Nate starting his residency and knowing that I wont get a break when he comes home, since he doesn’t get home until 10:00 or 11:00 at night. There are lots of times that he leaves before the kids get up and more often then not, he comes home after they are in bed. This isn’t a complaint…I actually really appreciate the sacrifice he is making for our family right now. However, it also makes me hold tight to a strict schedule/routine with the kids. I hope I’m up to the challenge. I really am looking forward to getting to spend lots of quality time with Magei and Sam!

So, here I go into the great unknown…

Since Nate started his residency, its been incredibly difficult to spend any time together as a family.  So, a few weeks ago I made reservations for Saturday night at our favorite restaurant, The Fish Market, and we got to have a family date.

The kids both had fish & chips; Nate had pecan crusted cod with green beans and mashed potatos; I always get the special - that night it was grilled turbot with roasted corn chutney, tomato risotto, and broccolini…so good!

Afterward, we stopped by Kroger to pick up desert and chicken.  The kids thought they were soooo funny…

The kids and I went to Crayola’s 50th birthday party in Worthington yesterday with the Beazers.  It was lots of fun for the kids.  They had birthday cake, a bounce house, lots of Crayola coloring stations, and a little scavenger hunt.  In the hunt, you had to find the eight new colors that Crayola introduced, and when you finished, you got a big box of 64 crayons.

Can you tell it was about a million degrees on top of about million percent humidity?  Love it!

Actually, this isn’t a snake.  It’s a lizard…with no legs…that looks exactly like a snake.  Apparently, what makes it a lizard is that it has eyelids, fused scales, and its tale starts about halfway down its body.  whatever, snake.

Here’s the real snake.  Sam wouldn’t go near this thing.  Me either.