Public Service Announcement

Editor’s Note:  This is not a paid endorsement (Ha!  This little tiny blog?  The word PAID?  Surely, you jest).  Nope, this is one lone, hungry woman speaking into the lives of a whole lot of other dinner makers out there telling you that IT GETS BETTER.  Take heart, my downtrodden friends.  You don’t have to live this way.

Once upon a time, a woman had some trouble. 

BIG, recurring trouble.   

That trouble was called DINNER.

Here are the fundamental problems associated with DINNER:

1. Children get hungry.
2. Children get hungry at predictable intervals.
3. The dinner hour arrives every single night at a predictable time, and is designed to assuage the predictable hunger.
4. The parent on scene is reminded, yet again, that some adult around here (namely, HER) is going to need to make dinner.  Most nights, this parent is surprised anew that the dinner hour is upon her YET AGAIN.  She is gobsmacked and amazed and bewildered that she is going to have to create culinary alchemy with whatever is in her freezer and pantry, because, despite her high level of education and above average tactical abilities, she forgot that dinner is a DAILY THING, and therefore planned NOTHING.  Nada.  Zilch.
5. Cue the shrieking and crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  (Not from the children, mind you.  From the dinner-maker).
6. Parent pours a glass of wine and starts throwing baby carrots, cheese sticks, and crackers at her children, not at all unlike a really deranged zookeeper.  

Sound familiar to anyone?  

Please say yes.  Please, please say yes.  Please don't let me swing in the wind ALONE over here.

Well, NOT ANYMORE!  There is a NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN.

Plantoeat.com has changed my life more than any single technological advancement in the history of the world, and while I am obviously prone to exaggeration, THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES. 

It’s just that life-changing.  

Here’s how it works:

1.  You sign up for the free 30-day trial.  FREE!!  Then you quickly fall in love and decide that the monthly subscription cost of $4.95 a month is just a STEAL, as it ALLOWS YOU TO REGAIN YOUR SANITY.  
2.  In the handy-dandy recipe book, you either type in or upload your favorite recipes (using this convenient little button that you install on your computer’s toolbar). 

Isn’t it darling? 

Then, the recipes appear in a neat, organized column for you to peruse at your leisure.  IT IS MAGICAL. 

3.  Now.  BRACE YOURSELF HERE.  You need to look at your calendar for the MONTH.  Yes, the MONTH.  You may weep softly to yourself and curse the day you agreed to let your children do ANYTHING outside of the house.  But then, you take a deep breath, wipe the tears from your eyes, tell yourself that at least the DINNER PROBLEM will be solved for the month, and you GET TO WORK.

4.  Open the planner and DRAG AND DROP your very own recipes into the date that you plan to make the dinner.  PRO TIP:  Consult your calendar while you do this.  I look to see what the evening activity schedule looks like, what kind of running I will have to do, and if there is a carpool involved.  These factors inform my meal planning decisions.  Will we eat at the table?  Will we eat in the car?  Will dinner be consumed in shifts?  MUST THERE BE A THERMOS AND BENTO BOXES PREPARED?  I make a note at the bottom of each day what the after-school time looks like before I start the DRAGGING and DROPPING and PLANNING. 

THEN, THE REAL MAGIC HAPPENS.   

Click on the SHOPPING LIST tab.
That’s what I said.  CLICK SHOPPING LIST.
VOILA!  Look what appears before your bright little eyes!

Everything that you just planned has been automatically created into a grocery list for your very own convenience!  NO LIST MAKING!  It’s MADE, Jack.  You just bookmark the PlantoEat website on the homepage of your phone, click on the shopping list, and get your sweet little self to the store.  Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, as Carter would say.  

What are you waiting for?  Are you still even HERE? 

Leave me now.  Just go. 

Get thee to plantoeat.com and change your life FOREVER AND EVER.  Amen.  

One more thing. . .

Interested trying a month's membership to the greatest, biggest, baddest dinner game changer in the history of the world?  Sign up for a 30 day FREE trial at plantoeat.com.  FREE FREE FREE FREE.  Did I mention it's free?   F.R.E.E.

Ok.  One MORE one more thing. . .

Wondering what’s for dinner this week? No problem, friends.  The Pett boys will be dining on fish tacos, courtesy of the great cookbook Dinner, A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach.  CLICK HERE to read about what happened when I first got this book in my hot little hands. 

AND LASTLY, a BIG THANKS to my friend Kara for convincing me to give this a try.  YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE FOR GOOD.

If you love your friends, and I know you do, share your joy.  JUST SHARE THE JOY.  Keep us posted on how this works for you!

HAPPY EATING!

Say Yes

Like most parents of our generation, necessity dictates that we run a pretty tight ship. There is not much room for movement and flexibility in our schedules from day to day, and when things start to get cancelled or otherwise shift, the entire house of cards that I've so carefully crafted comes tumbling down.  And then the rebuilding and rejiggering and renegotiation of all the necessary pieces of the logistical puzzle begins yet again.  And then my eyes start to bleed.  Kidding.  (Kind of).   

THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED TODAY.

We have planned to spend the weekend in the mountains of western Maryland since the end of the summer.  And we still are.  BUT. . . we had the great good fortune of being able to be FLEXIBLE for once, and the plan that we were able to create was spontaneous and serendipitous and frankly, of the SPIRIT.  THIS NEVER, EVER HAPPENS.  I'm reveling in it.

A great friend called this morning with a tale of heartbreak that all mothers have experienced.  Her boy is hurting.  My boys are at the teen and preteen lonely stage.  And all of our boys are friends.  I asked, could her boy please join us for the weekend?  

YES!  

But it would be much easier for all if we are able to leave tomorrow morning instead of tonight.  

Well, my boys were BEGGING all last night to attend the FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS game at their school.  (Seriously.  I defy you to find a person who doesn't feel exhilarated and ALIVE when hearing the sound of a drum line, feeling the chill of a crisp fall evening, and watching the glare of the lights on a lush, green, freshly lined field.  That, and the prospect of a little middle school or high school shenanigans?  It's just THE MOST FUN).  

So can we leave tomorrow morning?  And can these monkeys go enjoy their Friday Night Lights?

YES.

I texted the boys.  Then the plans started flying.  The biggest one wants to go with his friend and meet Jason at the game.

YES.

The second biggest then borrowed a phone and called.  Could he please go to his friend's house and then meet Dad at the game?

YES.

I told the boys that their old, sweet friend was coming to the mountain with us.  Their responses?

"Sweet!"

"SICK!"  

So.  Are my boys happily ensconced with school friends, thereby feeling less lonely?

YES.

Can I now have a cocktail with my sweet husband on a beautiful fall evening?

YES.

Can we still have a mountain getaway?

YES.

Do I only have to put two little kids to bed instead of four?

HELL YES!

Do I get a quiet night? An entire evening to do as I please?  Drink a glass of wine?  Read a book?  Watch Netflix?  Go to bed early?

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and YES. 

Holy guacamole.

I get to say yes.  

What a complete, unexpected pleasure.

This one?  He wants to carve the pumpkin he brought home from school RIGHT NOW.

YES.  Unequivocally, absolutely, positively YES.