Making the Most of My Time

I've always been fairly good at multi-tasking. When I worked outside the home, I did a great job in insurance claims. I'm not exaggerating, I'm just reiterating what my manager and boss told me. I managed phone calls, typing in claim information, recording statements, and handling paper files all at the same time. Those skills, I believe, helped me once I became a mother. Granted, I was able to ease into being a stay at home Mom. I had to go back to work after having Iris, but I still did my job well and got it all done so I could leave and pick her up from daycare on time. After having Lily, I stayed home. Managing two children, the housework, the cooking, and running all the errands can be overwhelming. Then we added a THIRD child to the mix. :) Things were a bit frustrating for the first few weeks, but I was able to quickly return back to my multi-tasking skills from my job and apply them to my children. I treated them as 3 claims. Iris was always the most critical "claim" - she is very attention driven and needs her questions answered ASAp. Lily is a little more laid back - doesn't require too much one on one attention but when she is wanting to cuddle, you better drop everything and hold her! Addison is still my little baby, so she is clingy and whiny and teething....which exaggerates it all.

Just like files at work, my kids have similar needs that I can accomplish in one task for all 3 of them. I can cook and feed 3 at once, giving myself a few minutes to run and do something else around the house. I can bathe them all at once, and I can put them all to bed together. But, like claimants, they have individual needs that need individual attention. And as poor as it might sound to compare them to files, it makes me able to fulfill their daily needs and still have all my hair! :)

Today, I applied my multi-tasking to another area: cooking. I've been reading up on freezer cooking and though I don't necessarily NEED to cook ahead for a bunch of meals, since I'm home every day, it is a good option to have for the uh-oh days or my just-in-case days. For dinner, I'm making a chicken and rice dish. I doubled the amount of chicken to boil, which will leave me with enough chicken for another meal or two that I can freeze. By boiling the chicken, I have also created broth/stock that I can freeze as well and make soup with at a later time. I make twice the amount of rice we'll eat tonight - that too will go in the freezer. So, I'm thinking maybe chicken rice soup later in the week? hehe.

I found a great basic baking mix in the book Frozen Assets by Deborah Taylor-Hough that I used a portion of to make 2 dozen wheat pancakes today and froze them as well. We are out of the boxes of toaster/microwave pancakes, so that helped out a lot. I would like to make the waffles as well to freeze, but first I have to find a friend with a waffle iron! I don't think buying one for the random one day that I feel like planning ahead and making a ton is really worth the money right now.

It's been a productive day, I'm pleased to say. The TV stayed off for most of the day, which thrills me. Thankfully, we had to go to basic cable, which doesn't offer any kid shows after 12pm, so the girls have had to be imaginative for most of the afternoon. They did their own pretend baking session while I did my real one. :) And now I hear Iris pretending to be the baby upstairs while Lily mothers her. Can't wait to see what the mess up there looks like! Regardless, I can relax with cooking at least one night this coming week. Hip, hip, HOORAY!