When Life Gets In The Way

....of being organized, that is! What do you do?

I don't know about you, but I delegate:

Yep, that's my 2 year old vacuuming. Haha. No, just kidding, I don't force her to do chores (yet). She loves to help me though! I stepped away from the vacuum last weekend to untangle the cord and she jumped in and started helping. I hope she always stays that helpful and sweet!!

But seriously, life does get in the way of best-laid plans sometimes, huh? The past week has been completely crazy around here. Last week, I decided to start meal planning again. I went through our freezer one night and wrote down all the meat in there. The plan was to plan enough meals for a few weeks or a month based on the meat we already have on hand. We have a ton of meat, since my husband and his family slaughter their own hogs every January, plus we are pretty regularly sending cows to be slaughtered for us. (I wish I could get DH to keep the deer meat when he hunts, but he always gives it away because he doesn't care for venison.) Anyway, I made my list and then life happened. C had a meltdown over something-or-other (as 2 year olds are prone to do), it was time to cook that night's supper and clean up, then it was bath time and bed time...you get the idea. I think I planned the next night's meal, though.

Then DH's grandma went to the ER and we discovered she had bleeding on her brain. She's been in the Intensive Care Unit since Friday, and has had two brain surgeries. She's had one setback after another, including a heart attack and having to be put on a ventilator. Its been kinda touch-and-go, but she does seem to be improving now. We're just taking it one day at a time and praying fervently.

We've been spending a lot of time at the hospital, naturally. They only let visitors in the ICU at certain times (5:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 5:30pm, and 9:30pm). Obviously, the morning times are difficult for us to make since we have the baby and we both work. Same goes for the lunch time slot. DH's work is about 45 minutes from the hospital, so he can't just go on his lunch break. And after work we both need to get home and take care of our daughter and the animals. So that leaves the 9:30pm slot. Friday night and Saturday night, my mama kept C while DH and I went to the hospital. Sunday, the three of us went that morning and stayed most of the day. Monday night, DH and I went again. Tuesday night, I stayed home and C and DH went to the hospital alone. Last night, the three of us went again, since his grandma had been waking up some and he thought she'd like to see the baby. She did wake up while we were in the room, but she can't talk or anything.

I'm not sure what we'll do tonight. I do know I don't want to take C again - 9:30 is past her bedtime! Last night was rough. She was so keyed up from being up late and seeing the family that she didn't want to sleep much. Which means I didn't sleep much. *yawn*

Anyway, we've been cooking at home mostly this week (to save money), but I've had to rework my meal plan a lot. Practically every day I have to change it. But that's okay. I'm just rolling with the flow. Or trying to, at least! Most nights I've had to cook something quick since we haven't had much time to get everything done. (Try getting home at 6 and having to take care of a 2 year old, an indoor cat, 2 outdoor kittens, an outdoor dog, 3 horses, 12 chickens, and a herd of cattle! Oh, and fixing supper, trying to keep up with laundry....ahh. Needless to say, we need every second we can get in the evenings!)

I thought after a day or two of having to rework my meal plan like that, I'd just say forget it and give up on it altogether (again). But I haven't. My list of meats is still there, waiting for me to make a plan when things calm down. I did manage to plan out the next week or so of meals, so that's some progress.

This morning (once I finally managed to drag my sleep-deprived self out of bed - late, of course) when I looked at the meal plan for tonight and saw that I'd planned to cook a chicken, I said no way is that happening! So I moved that one to tomorrow night. And wrote down "pancakes and bacon" for tonight. Amen. Mama needs an easy night, ya'll!! (Though I do make my own pancake mix, so its not as easy as it could be!)

God's really working on me lately, and it is so awesome. He's teaching me things right and left, and I am so grateful. One day, I'll be what He wants me to be. I'm on the way, for certain! ( :

Oh, and if ya'll could spare a quick prayer for DH's grandma, I'd be very appreciative! ( :