Why I say, "I'm tired"

A few days ago I made a post resolving to stop saying, "I'm tired" as an excuse. I think recognizing the problem was all I needed. It doesn't mean I never skip out on a workout (like this morning...) or never say "no" to one of the girls' crazy requests, but I'm forcing myself to think about the real reason behind it.

That said, I still actually AM pretty tired by the end of the night even when it's a typical day without any extraordinary tasks. I was complaining to my husband about being so tired and that something must be wrong with me. He looked at me incredulously and went through my day pointing out everything we do to keep the family going. When we actually went through it, I'm impressed I'm not MORE tired.

Before I share my "to-do-list" from yesterday I want to add the disclaimer that I am NOT in any way implying that I am superwoman or any busier than any other mom out there today. I just think this is an interesting look at where many of us are at trying to balance motherhood, careers, school, maintaining a house, and tackling the complexities of nutrition.

Some notes about the list...

• I love iced coffee in the summer and have been using this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine to make an iced coffee concentrate. This method saves space in the fridge.
• Packing bug's lunch is like a really complex guessing game. I have to decide what food she might decide is acceptable to enter her stomach at the exact moment in time that she is sitting in the cafeteria. What she deems appropriate one day is not necessarily a winner the next day...
• Errands before work and during lunch have become the mainstay these days because it's too hard to drag the kids out in the small window between dinner and bedtime.
• Dinner last night was a roasted eggplant lasagna that I have made before and love. The girls refused to eat the eggplant this time so I gave in and made them spaghetti to toss with the ricotta/sauce mixture. I followed the recipe here from Peace, Love, and Low-carb. The meat sauce is amazing, but I was trying to save some time so I didn't make it. Instead, I used our favorite locally produced jarred marinara sauce.
• I like to utilize the delay start on my washer and wrinkle care cycle on my dryer to plan laundry around the girls' bedtime. If I put wash in when I get home on a one hour delay, it is usually finished right after dinner/dishes to switch to the dryer. I keep the dryer on the wrinkle setting so it keeps it from getting wrinkly if bedtime takes longer than usual or I get distracted starting another task and don't get to it right away.
• Homework has gone very well so far (it's only been two days...). We are using the kitchen table as our designated homework spot and I keep a bin of sharpened pencils and crayons/markers in the hall closet and bring them to the table for homework.
• The recipe I prepared for dinner tonight is based on the stuffed spaghetti squash recipe here from Closet Cooking. I made a lot of modifications. If it comes out well, I'll share the recipe soon.
• I'm not going to share the creamer recipes because they were not what I would consider a success. They are drinkable and add a pleasant fall flavor to coffee, but I really feel that the non-dairy milk alternatives created more of a flavoring than a creamer. They taste very "all natural" in a way that I am not entirely sure is desirable. I'm going to keep working on it...