The Overwhelmed Parent

Being a busy parent is one thing, but being an overwhelmed parent it another. I am sure many of you are overwhelmed right now especially those of you doing the last minute tax filing. grrrr those taxes. So what do we need to do. I say we find a good way to calm down and relax. Now if that means throwing your kids into some project that will occupy them, or even throw in a movie and let them veg while you sit in a quiet corner of the house with a good book, crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, cruising around on the internet, gardening etc. Every parent needs downtime, but I find it hard to find the time for downtime. So I have started making it a point that during the times my kids are home and i need sanity time, I make them either watch a movie, color in their coloring books, play their video games, espeically the V-smile, something to keep them busy for a good hour, and then I either grab a good book, or put on a fabulous old movie I love and just relax. Its hard to take that time when you are busy, but you need to.


Here is a 30 min. dinner idea

SKILLET LASAGNA
serves 4

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 lb ground beef
1 jar spagetti sauce
3 cups egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
16 oz cottage or ricotta cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese


DIRECTIONS:
Brown beef in skillet, then drain. Cook noodles as directed on package.
Pour half the jar of sauce over the beef on medium heat.
Spread with cottage cheese.
Then add noodles.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the noodles and top with mozzarella cheese.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes
~big thanks to parentsconnect.com for this recipe

here are some great deals going on right now

WALMART:
don't forget to check out your local walmart, right now they are clearancing alot of childrens items, for some super cheap deals

TARGET:
$5 licensed kids tshirts
10 for $9 gerber two pack food

AMAZON:
Apples to apples game for only $6.99


One of the things I love to do is browse the amazon outlet, overstock.com, and jcpenney outlets

These are just fun things that I do when I have a little bit of downtiime. I am on a search for some great things to do with the kiddos I am on a mission to save us some dough and time.

No sleep? Here are some suggestions

Its Tuesday but yet I feel like its monday, I am very tired today, long night last night. I know there are many of you out there that have the same problem. This is the greatness of having kids. My son lost his tooth yesterday while munching on a few pieces of his Easter Candy. So you can just imagine how excited he was last night when it came bedtime. Speaking of bedtime this blog is going to be a helpful hint for those of you that have children afraid to go to sleep.

My son from the time he turned 5 would wake up about 5 times a night with nightmares, night terrors, you name it he had it. I was a walking zombie, it got to the point that I was starting to get mad at him, but trying very hard not to show it. I finally decided to talk to him and find out what was going on. Funny thing is he didn't remember getting up 90% of the time. This as you can imagine frustrated me even more.

Here was our solution:
He was afraid of monsters, so we developed a monster spray. He would spray it around the room at night before bed, then when he woke up in the middle of the night scared he would grab the monster spray and shoot it at anything he thought was a monster.
We also had him "protected" by his big superman and dragon pillows
The last thing we did was leave a nite lite on for him. Over the course of a few weeks he actually started sleeping through the night.

Also here is a great idea for those busy sleepless parents:

If you are a coffee drinker,(I am a huge coffee drinker, but they say tea is a better boost for the really tire parent) grab yourself a big cup of coffee and some fresh fruit for breakfast, this will help wake you up

If your not a coffee drinker, grab some tea, or a smoothie, both of those will help jumpstart your day too.

Now when that lag time starts in the middle of the day, grab some raw nuts or veggies these will give you another natural jump to the day.

Hopefully some of these things will help you with those nights full of no sleep intermixed with battling monsters and ghosts.