She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls

Proverbs doesn't mention cleaning snow off your car while it is dark out, but I think we can agree this is implied.

So the house is bad. It's really bad. Sooooooo bad. But one thing I have been totally on the ball about lately is making sure I have a plan for dinner each night. I have been very guilty of letting Kim do this entirely too often after his long day at work. Granted, sometimes I do legitimately have migraines or overwhelming fatigue and pain, but I can admit I allow myself to get lazy and rely on my husband who can cook a little too much.

So I've made sure to make a plan each day as I am driving home. We have vacuum packed most of the meat and poultry we have bought recently, so I can defrost it quickly in the sink. I haven't copped out with chicken nuggets in a few weeks! I've even made... salad. I know. Salad. Though I am not good at salads. I like salads, but I lack salad creativity. My mother in law can make a mean salad, so I should ask her for some tips when she comes in March.

This weekend I HAVE to start working on the house. I am putting the Christmas decorations away, so that should help motivate me. But it's really not good over here. I'm scared!

Ruby Rating - 3/5

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

I am concoting a welcome home feast for Kim. Tonight I am defrosting a turkey breast in the sink, and will make a pumpkin pie in a little bit. We'll have mashed potatoes, gravy I will make from the drippings, sauted onions, and whatever else I can whip up. Maybe corn bread and cranberry sauce. I am currently looking for crock pot recipes for the turkey breast so I can put it on in the morning before I leave for work. I will get it set up tonight and put it in the fridge then turn it on in the morning. I have found a recipe that is basically what I do in the oven, so that looks like a winner.

Update on the pie. somehow I dropped the bowl of filling into the pie shell as I was filling it. But I was watching Little Women and I said to myself "What would Marmee do?" So I cleaned it up as best I could and popped it in the oven.

So on a completely different note, I am preparing to go to the Women of Faith conference in Philadelphia with my older sister Annie (Anna to the rest of y'all). The one in DC was during our big crazy family vacation in Myrtle Beach this summer, so I noticed the closest one was in my big sister's neck of the woods and asked if she would go with me. Somehow she got roped into organizing a trip for her church, so there will be a bunch of ladies I don't know also, but I'm adaptable. I'll raise hands in front of anyone! Except when I'm driving... then I raise hand.

So I stumbled across the blog of an artist (who is, by the way RIDICULOUSLY talented) and was fascinated with how she made her list. She DREW everything out. I am very visual, so I thought I would give it a try! I may have gone a wee bit overboard, because I started to draw out which toiletries I wanted to bring. But then I realized while drawing that I had forgotten an item, so I guess that worked out well. My goal is to fit it all in a carry on sized suitcase, and my messenger bag, which has become my purse/work bag these days.

So I feel a little behind on laundry. Honestly, I did neglect it early in the week, but now it's an issue. Normally I want lots of work hours, but I'm kind of hoping I'm out of work by noon so I can come home and finish up laundry before Kim gets home. Not to mention make sure all those little drawings I did are accurate by moving the right clothes through!

The house is clean, the dishes are done, the preparations are being made!

Ruby Rating : 4/5

Ummm, I'm not sure the turkey breast is going to fit in the crock pot!

Oh you earworms!! *presses play on her playlist*

Did you see the playlist? Scroll down and it will load on the right. It just came in very hand for me as Leighann posted a hit of the 1990's as her blog post title and it was stuck in my head. I Saw the Sign over and over. Chris Tomlin, much better.

Speaking of Leighann, she's unveiled Ryan's brand spanking new chest on her blog: http://marquissclan.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-opened-up-my-eyes-i-saw-sign.html Check it out, because it's pretty awe inspiring.

I decided to volunteer to work Labor Day at work because I would get paid double time. So my five hours in work pays like ten. YAY! I woke the kids up super early, but I think they thought I was kidding last night about the early wake up because they were groggy munchkins. Apparently my mom made them a hearty breakfast with bacon and eggs and sausage and they perked up. I went off to a pretty crazy day at work, because things always go wrong when there is limited staff on hand. Everything is fine but I spent half my time putting out random fires. Figurative fires.

Had a nice late lunch early dinner at my folks, then came home. Kim was on Skype, so we were able to chat for a bit, but he was tired, and went off to bed. After the video chat I relaxed for a bit, then made the kids a light dinner. We cleaned up the family room, because for some reason I thought the kids should start the first day of school with a clean family room and kitchen. Is that weird? Maybe it's just me who needs to start the year organized and non-stressed... After the kids went to bed, I vacuumed and made lunches for the kids. Hard boiled eggs, Babybel cheese, carrot sticks, juice, granola bars, and fruit snacks. They will eat some for lunch and some for snack. They just aren't sandwich kids. We tried with Julia, but they always came back smooshed and uneaten, even if she would normally eat it at home. Joe really only likes PB&J, but there are two kids in his grade with severe nut allergies, so I don't like to send it in. Hope they enjoy!

Good day, but a tiring day. I'm glad I get the extra hour and a half of sleep!

Ruby Rating: 4/5

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

I wish I had servant girls!

Can I tell you how much I hate pork right now? I pulled out pork chops (albeit gigantic pork chops) from the freezer a little after noon to defrost, and they are still hard as a rock! Plan B anyone? Well I guess this is why we have those jars of pasta sauce around, but I think I will jazz the jar suce up with a little onion, garlic, and maybe some carrot. Sneaky mom, putting carrots in the sauce. I'll chop them up small and they will never know.

I did not get up before dark today, but I was scheduled for a slightly later shift than usual. I like getting up and leaving the house before dark though. It just feels nice and peaceful in the car, and it also reminds me of freshman year of highschool when we had swim practice before school in the next town over. I dislocated my shoulder pretty early in the season, but I got up every morning for practice, just because I enjoyed the time in the car with the other girls. Except waiting for that girl who took forever to get out of the house. My parents were friends with her parents, so I couldn't be too grmpy with her in the morning without them finding out. Darn you small town parental networks!

I came home from work today, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors, and got a bee in my bonnet. I wanted to vacuum the stairs and the basement. Partly I wanted to use this carpet spray that Renee left at my house. Now my house smells delightful, and I got rid of the cobwebs too!

Julia's room has been a mess, so i made her go up and clean it a bit after she played outside for 5 hours. She wasn't so thrilled with me, and ended up throwing it all in the closet. *slaps forehead* So we spent some time working on that. I'm trying to teach her to clean more methodically, we will see how that goes.

I've been reading Lisa Whelchel's (yes Blair from Facts of Life) book "Taking Care of the Mommy in Me" which has excellent tips on working prayer, scripture, worship and praise into your everyday life. I've been enjoying it a lot and would pass my copy on, except, it's autographed by Lisa herself. When Kim gets back from Geneva I am going to drive up the next day to attend the women of Faith conference with my older sister Annie. Lisa's speaking at the conference and i am very excited to see her speak. I love the way she conveys ideas; her riding style is very conversational and easy to read. I hope I enjoy her speaking style as much.

Today's Ruby Rating: 4/5 Not so bad!