Charm Citizen

School supplies – I opted to shop almost entirely online this year so the boxes of supplies are mounting. The kids have started ripping through them. I spent more than an hour today sorting through the boxes and dividing among each child based on the supply list that the school sent home for their grade level. I think I posted about this before but their school seems to rely heavily on parents to purchase supplies for the school. I don’t have a comparison but it feels like a lot to purchase dish soap, cleaning sprays, sponges, paper towels, tissues and much much more for each child. The supplies are dropped off and used for all students, in other words you don’t label anything with your child’s name since it will be used for all students in the class.

Mom Brain – Here is an example of all the things that are running through my 40-something, female, working mom brain this late August morning.

• Remember to put tooth fairy money under Loren’s pillow before she wake’s up…
• Walk to Giant to but the kid’s salmon at lunch time…
• Organize Farah’s hair dye supplies to demonstrate progress on her request….
• What are the kid’s fall activities? Can I squeeze in one more without complaints?
• Ink in September social and back to school calendar dates…
• Print Loren’s writing prompt, like she requested yesterday…
• Should I take Loren to get a back to school haircut tonight. She will need to wash her hair first…
• What does work calendar look like this week? Can I work from home on Wednesday before my evening flight that day since I won’t see them this Friday.
• Make sure John blocks off calendar to drop off school supplies….
• Buy gift for baby shower this weekend. Buy gift for kid’s birthday party this weekend…
• Why does the store only have farm-raised salmon instead of wild-caught? It’s okay if they have farm-raised every once in a while….

21 Meals – I’ve been working with a nutritionist for the past 11 months. When I reached out to them, I needed to lose 25+ pandemic pounds (I also quit vaping nicotine right before the pandemic started). I also wanted to make sure I was getting enough vitamins and other nutrients a year into my vegan lifestyle. My nutritionist says we should strive, if maintaining weight loss, to eat 19 of our 21 meals (3 meals a day x 7 days a week) a week healthy. By healthy, I mean 50%+fruits and vegetable, lean or plant-based protein, limited fats and sugar, lower calorie choices. I also journal everything I eat in order to track calories and identify foods that may be causing me to gain or not lose weight.

I didn’t get to 5 things. I’m way too tired to write anymore.