Each year we head into the new year with thoughts and plans of renewal, of change, and of resolutions - so many promises made only to be cast aside as we adventure into the new year. It's just the way it goes. I stopped making resolutions a long time ago. I began to refer to them as broken promises. They felt akin to setting myself up to fail.
Some of the networking groups that I participate in opt to choose a word that will represent the year, and I always find myself struggling to narrow it down to a single word - I guess it's the chatty part of me - but it's never quite so simple.
Our experience with C19 reminded us all regularly of our often overlooked need for self-care. It also gave us a lot of time at home, thinking about where we were and where we wanted to be -- at least it did for me. Not so much the physical location, but it was a constant state of re-evaluating and problem solving. The plan, as it were, is truly a living document.
I've been tossing around the phrase "back to basics" for the last couple of years. In so many ways, it just makes sense. It's not about drastic changes, but little sustainable changes as we go. That's where I find the most success. I attended a webinar recently where they referred to action stacking. He talked about making a card, then changed it to making AND sending a card, which seems like a little thing but he was right. There are often gaps in the process of getting things done and things get missed.
I'd had my routine in place for many years, I had a plan, and each day shaped up nearly the same way. It was hard to walk away from but in the end I think it was for the best. Too much ignored for too long, is never a good thing. Loyalty and friendship only carry you so far.
With families shifting to work at home, and home-schooling options, with varying access depending on the connectivity of the source of your information. We were constantly having to adapt to this new normal. I was used to being home on my own during the day, not being home with everybody all day long. Not having to worry about being on the phone, or keeping kids quiet during meetings. Not having any personal space whatsoever. It was culture shock to say the least.
Don't get me wrong, I love my family. That's never been in question. I think of that old joke about Mom wanting to pee in peace and everybody coming into her office to talk to her. Covid was a lot like that. We had spots where the fight was about not having for each other in all of the crazy, but truthfully all we had was time - we just weren't making the most of it.
In the end, there's a big difference between being at home, and being told you have to stay at home. I have always joked that my van would sit in the driveway unmoved for days, but then my daughter would borrow it and I could think of a hundred things I wanted to do. Life's kind of funny that way.
As the new normals kept piling up, and recognizing that the plan needed revision, I would try to plot things out. I'd forgotten how little people run on their own schedules and don't always want to play in yours.
Eventually, I settled into some little things like setting an hour every morning to look at the calendar, and work on something of my own choosing - whether that was my social media, e-mail, writing, baking, cooking, or taking care of something specific on my personal honey-do list that I'd been wanting to get done.
Being at home, many of us expanded our gardens and grew vegetables both for something to do and to help support our grocery budgets. We joined a new horticultural society in hopes of learning more and bettering our skills. We have gotten to meet a group of wonderful people who share a variety of interests and I cannot wait for Spring to come and melt the snow away!
Being smart about shopping - shopping the markdown section - a lesson that my Dad taught me early in life, I carry now as a personal challenge. My grandson laughs at me when I refer to the section in one store we go to regularly as the cooking corner. I love bringing home bounty from that spot that then inspires whatever I'll be cooking in the coming days. I used our local Good Food Box program in much the same way. It's neat to get a food item that you aren't familiar with and then research what the heck to make with it. Of couse, if you're truly stuck, you can always give it away. There's value in that too!
I get a lot of ripe bananas this way, but sometimes there are other treasures too. One time I got about 30 pounds of potatoes in varying sizes for only $10 - all I had to do was sort them by type when I got home and I was set. Another time I came home with a shopping cart FULL of peppers which were halved and frozen and kept us in peppers all throught the winter at a fraction of the cost of what they normally cost. We have to save wherever we can. My hubby likes to tease that I have a freezer just for bananas and peppers - it's not that bad, but I can honestly say he never complains when I have peppers to add to a sauce or an omelette or fresh banana bread comes out of the oven. I call it a win.
I stock up on ground beef when it's on sale and get into batch cooking mode. I'll scramble fry some with garlic and onions, and some plain in 1-2 pounds packages and put them in the freezer. It's a game-changer when one of the kids comes home from school and wants nachos and in minutes you can have that on the table. Recently I'd promised to make spaghetti and then we'd gotten busy and I didn't get the hamburger cooked that I'd pulled out. I whipped out one of these packages and diced peppers from the freezer and in fairly short order we had dinner. I love these little victories - you come off looking like some kind of hero, but all you really did was plan ahead a little - a little extra work now, for a big payoff later.
I'll often pick up meat on clearance too. Sometimes it's a matter of bagging the packages up for the freezer as the celophane is a lot thinner than it used to be and doesn't seem to hold up in the freezer. Other times I'll prep the meat with marinade and toss it in the fridge. Recently I pulled some steaks out of the freezer and bagged them with a can of diced tomatoes and put it in the fridge - the next night the contents of the bag went into a casserole dish and made some garlic mashed potatoes to go with it and it made for a remarkably awesome dinner with little effort.
I can't eat Montreal steak spice any more, but I'll grab those up any time I see them. At a reduced cost, I don't feel bad cutting it up and surprising my hubby with a surprise stir fry, or stew. I've almost always got a couple of roasts to employ the crockpot on a busy night of meetings where there's no time to cook but we still want to eat.
I've dusted off my Epicure collection and gotten back into the kitchen, and choosing something new to cook more often - a habit that I fell behind on. I did a targeted strike ordering Tupperware to house baking ,and keep it fresher longer. Now I just have to work my way back into my craftroom.
In a world where we have lost control of so much, little moves like this make me feel like I'm getting somewhere.
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