Day 4 not a good day!

Yesterday's praises for a true homemade meal didn't continue into today (sigh).  Some of my family members were sick today.    I don't remember what the kids ate for breakfast (yes, my day was that bad).   Lets say fruit, milk, and cereal?  Lunch was sandwiches, noodles (Travis had Ramen noodles), the rest of the pineapple, pretzel sticks, and I think some apples (had apples left from last week)...  I'm not sure I ate lunch today.  Snacks- popcorn and no bake cookies.   Rob and Travis are sick so we had chicken noodle soup for dinner.
I tossed the chicken left on the dish from last night's dinner along with a bit I pulled off the bone last night (bits of white meat but nothing from the other breast or any dark meat) into the soup pot  with some soup stock (I made 3 batches of stockwith that one chicken carcass),  I added carrots, a bit of celery, onions, salt, pepper, and noodles and ended up with a large pot of soup.  I served it with crackers, and rolls and butter (rolls were 2 sandwich rolls cut in fourths).   Zehira didn't care for dinner  (my 4 year old)  she eats all foods but for some reason she didn't like our dinner tonight.   Honestly, I think she was tired (maybe she's getting sick).   She did the tired cry at the end of dinner.  She ate almost all of her soup.  I didn't really give her a dish of soup.   She had a dish of noodles, chicken, carrots, and such with crackers (no broth).   


A long day with cranky sick family members, with my young demanding healthy family members, and a lot of dishes from all this cooking had me ready to give up today!   I KNOW why people cook out of boxes or buy takeout!   The cleanup from a good old fashioned meal is so much more work!  I have dirty crock pots, dirty soup pots (I've been making tons of soup stock with my chicken carcass).  My family is too sick or too tired to do chores so today I had to pick up the slack (again).  I feel like I'm wearing down.   I am trying hard to not explode in frustration.   I get a bit upset seeing my "sick" family members all playing video games while I run around trying to do everything.  I was to tempted to hop in the car and go pick up takeout. I DID NOT DO THAT!  I made it another day so in the end I guess the "saving money for vacation plan" is going good  (I'm still stretching out the meals and trying to save money). I am not as joyful about it as I was yesterday.  My fridge and freezer seem to be getting fuller every day (All the leftovers and soup stock are filling up my food storage areas).  I just wish I could say today was fun and rewarding but I can't.


Tomorrow is a new day. I will try again in the morning.  I feel that I have no choice but to keep pushing along!  I see a need to save some money so I know my family is counting on me to do it.  I don't feel giving up is an option.   With or without family support I will keep moving along.   I hope to do it with a joyful look on my face tomorrow (wish I could say I did today).   I didn't want to write this ugly truth about my day but I feel I have to be honest.  I guess saving money is sometimes hard work!  Okay, making soup isn't really hard work but making soup with sick people at home can be "work".  A  kitchen full of dishes from soup and stock making after a night of tons of dishes from roasted chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and such is work.  AND! Lets not forget Sunday with a large canister of oats spilled ALL OVER the floor with a pile of baking dishes is a LOT extra to take on when you have so many other things to do!    BTW I do have a dishwasher BUT this type of baking/cooking uses too many dishes to fit in the dishwasher. The work to keep the counters clean is never ending when you're cutting up tons of things each day.   My mom did it when I was a kid so I know I need to "suck it up" and do the same.  You never know how hard your mama worked until you're in a similar situation!  Maybe I'm dealing with some diet soda withdrawal today?   I don't buy much soda much anymore but I think I probably buy one or two small bottles a week when I buy gas and such I add one at the register (I gave that up to save money 4 days ago).  I hope to be back tomorrow with a happy report of my meal stretching day!  I'm too tired and worn out to read over this blog post.... Good night blogger friends.   I think some sleep will make everything look brighter in the morning (I hope).