Don't Front on the Nap

We all need The Nap

         There are a lot of times where people say to me, “I don’t know how you do it, with all these things going on in your life,” – “it” meaning stay alive I think. I think that’s what they’re referring to. I’ll share a secret with you.

         Come closer.

         *Whispers* I take a nap (almost) every day.

  

Do Not Disturb

       Seriously.

         I have since February 2008 (note that was BEFORE my kids were born).

         Almost every day for about an hour and fifteen minutes (or more if I can) somewhere between 2 and 4:30, I nap.

         Yup. Based upon my schedule (am I working that day, is it a weekend, is it the summer), I have a set time to nap. Weekends it’s 2 p.m. (with the boys who also nap). Weekdays it’s usually 2:45ish.

         At around 2:30 I literally hit a mental wall. If I don’t get to sleep soon, then it will become a full on, “OMG I’m Going To Fall Down And Die” feeling. And if I can’t nap, for example, if I have a meeting at work, then my brain is not in attendance. My frontal lobe, the part of the brain that says, “Oh hey ho, let’s NOT say that at work…” just…doesn’t go to the party. So if you’ve been at a meeting with me and I’ve said something…off…it’s probably because it was naptime.

How my kids found me when they didn't nap today.

        Part of the reason I need to nap is I don’t get enough sleep at night. I know that. I mean, seriously, who does? With two kids, a job, a business, writing a book, trying to keep my house tidy-ish, laundry, and, you know, like talking to my husband for a few minutes a day, I don’t go to bed until far past when I should. I sometimes daydream of going to bed when my kids do and I think, “Wow, that would be amazing…” but then I don’t because there’s stuff that needs to be done. The people keep needing clean clothes and shit.

         So that’s part of it I’m sure. But another part of it is that my brain needs a reset mid-day. I’m not sure if my stroke in 2008 flipped some switch or if it’s because I’m mostly an introvert and my job requires a lot of interaction/mental energy or if there is some other reason (or a combination of them), but I need a mid-day brain break.

         Who’s with me? Admit it in the comments. Who takes Adult Naps?

Yes, I Play Pokemon GO

Last week Pokemon GO, an app theoretically for kids, was released and it has already made its way to the #1 download in the iTunes app store. I watched Facebook for a couple of days, seeing people post about what they found, what they were doing with the app, and I thought, “Huh, Silas might like that.” So I read up on it, and downloaded it for my personal phone.

Don't hate.

The night I got it, I told Silas after his bath, “Hey, get some clothes and shoes on real quick, we’re going for a walk.” Mike looked at me (as he was bathing Sage) like I was high. “You’re going for a walk now?” “I downloaded the Pokemon thingy. We’re going to hunt Pokemon.”

*Eye roll from Mike.*

I’m sorry “Mr. I Still Play Candy Crush and hog my wife’s iPod to do so,” do you have a problem with that?

My kids are learning about technology – we have Leap Pads that they use maybe weekly, Silas knows how to navigate his profile on Netflix, and Sage and YouTube for kids are best buds (and sometimes I wish I could delete some of these toy vloggers’ accounts). But it’s all “alone” stuff. I figured this was something Silas and I could do together (and maybe we could learn more about Pokemon which he has been interested in).

A lot of people have messaged me about the downsides of this game – people walking in the middle of the road to catch a Pokemon (hullo? Have you read the load page?), people robbing users by bringing them to a certain spot by gathering a ton of Pokemon (this is why Silas and I either find them while I drive and he Poke-catches or while we walk around our neighborhood), Google account security issues (no worries, I used a burner account), so I was careful with setting up our account.

Once I read up on it, I showed him how to use it. We caught Pokemon, went to Poke Stops and I showed him how to gather stuff, and we’ve decided which team we want to join (Blue because that’s his favorite color ALTHOUGH he was tempted to Yellow when I mentioned Pikachu). He is desperate to catch a Pikachu. 

So let’s talk about the good and the bad.

Good:

• We’re working on “It’s ok that you missed that Pokemon because there will be another one.” Silas at first would get frustrated while I drove and he missed Pokemon because I was going “too fast,” but now he’s OK with it because he knows more will come.
• We walk our neighborhood every night “for a reason” instead of just, “Hey, let’s take a walk.” When I asked him to walk with me, he’d get frustrated and tired of it fast, but now he wants to keep walking to find Pokemon and to hatch that dang egg that needs us to walk 5k to hatch.
• We’re working on sharing and understanding that sometimes other people have skills we don’t. When we’re at home and a Pokemon shows up, I hand him the phone and tell him, “Hey, go catch this guy. You’re good at it.” But when he becomes frustrated after throwing 5 Pokeballs, he’ll ask me for help and we switch back and forth.

Bad:

• It hasn’t happened yet, but I can imagine him some day wanting to hold my phone all the time (if we keep playing). I don’t mind him holding it while I drive and he Catches, but I will be drawing the line at home (since I work on my phone and use it a lot).
• As you’ve probably read, the dang app is a BATTERY SUCKER. I bought a new car charger today (mine died a while ago but I didn’t need a new one).
• The app settings (as I talked about before) – be sure yours are locked down or you use a burner account as logging in with Google as the app asks you to do gives it access to your account (without actually asking you). There’s ways to change your settings if you’re so inclined – do a search and you’ll find them easily.
• Gas – I did drive around a bit today after dropping the boys at camp in order to scope out Poke Stops. I had some time, they showed up on my map when I dropped off Silas…but now I know where the local ones are and can stop in quick whenever we drive by if I want. ß Total dork statement.

So for all of the Pokemon Go haters out there, yes we play. Yes it’s fun because it’s something I get to do with my son and see his excitement when a Meowith shows up on our lawn.

The Family Table

There was a research study that came out a few years ago that found that children who had regular, sit-down family dinners were more likely to do well in school, were less likely to experience truancy, and were less likely to use substances. As a researcher, I found that super interesting – I assume it’s because the parent or parents are more involved with the child/children than just having family dinners, but it also showed me something.

Could you enjoy this too?

After talking with my students in my Psychology of Personality class (granted, a small sample size), I found that many of them didn’t have family dinners growing up and wished that they had. The ones who didn’t have family dinners as a child either had them now with their children or planned to have them when they had kids. When this study came out, I didn’t have family meals and I rationalized it by saying it was hard with two small children (one taking a bottle and one eating whatever a toddler will eat).

Many of my students didn't have family dinners but they wished they had.

When they became 5 and 3, I decided it was time. No more eating in front of the TV. We all sat at the table together and hung out until everyone was done. We chatted about our day, and eventually my now six-year-old will ask, “Daddy, how was your day? Mommy what was fun about your day?” We get to hear Silas’ (not so) funny jokes (he’s six, he makes them up) and we try as much as possible to get Sage, age 4, to participate in the conversation. If nothing else, he gets to hear conversation and tends to repeat what we say to each other.

As we were eating more meals together, I came to realization – I am not a cook. I can bake like nobody’s business, but cooking just wasn’t my thing. I started ordering those services where they sent you all of the ingredients for dinner and my husband and I enjoyed preparing meals together. It was nice. But one thing got frustrating – when you get a service like that, you get 3 meals (or however many you choose) and you literally have to make them in the next three days or the produce will go bad. So I started looking for other options. I spent a few weeks meal planning but realized I was making the same recipes over and over (because they were easy and I knew we’d all eat them). That “got the job done” but it became boring. I could see the “Tater tot casserole again?” look on Mike’s face.

I became a better cook. Look at me, all cooking and stuff!

In May of this year I attended an event where a representative from a company called Tastefully Simple showed the people at the event their Collections products – for the same price as I was paying for three meals a week, they sold the products, recipes, and grocery lists to make 10 meals. You could also go on their website and find new recipes to make with the products that you received in your Collection so you weren’t stuck making the same 10 meals. You could also join their subscription service (called TS to You) where you received a new Collection ever other month. It came with more new products, new recipes, and new options. I was intrigued.

Then I started looking at the other products (besides the Collections) on their website and made a wish list of over 20 items. “This could actually make cooking FUN,” I thought to myself. So I ordered a Collection called Fix it Fast – all of the recipes take 30 minutes or less to make. The first meal I made Mike ate two helpings of and he didn’t add anything to it (like salt, pepper, or hot sauce as he usually did). “This is really good babe,” he told me. Huh. I was impressed that he was impressed.

I actually started enjoying cooking. I know that for some people that isn’t a big deal, but it was and is for me. I have always felt badly about our dinners – we ate out a lot, we made the same things over and over, and looking back, the meals were pretty damn boring. Now I can make the 6 meals for the week ahead of time and freeze them (and the instructions for making the TS recipe a freezer meal actually came with the Collection). We still do frozen pizza on Fridays, but that has become part of our family’s week and I’m not going to change it.

After trying so many of the Tastefully Simple products, I decided that I wanted to share TS with friends and family – after purchasing a collection, you can become an Independent Consultant for $39.95 and get a discount on your own items (as well as help others make better dinner decisions). I’ve become that person that takes a picture of their dinner and shares it because I am proud of the fact that I made that MYSELF. And my family ate it and ENJOYED IT. To me, that’s huge. And I love it.

I'm not kidding, I make this look easy because it is.

I’m betting there are at least 3 people reading this that would benefit from trying a Collection. Think about it: recipes at the ready, grocery list of meats and produce ready to go, and the ability to make freezer meals and have them ready to go when you’re ready to make dinner. Next month we’re trying the Family Favorites collection, and maybe after that we’ll try the grilling collection. Are you excited about dinner? Do you want to be? Check out the options that my family loves here and let me know in the comments which Collection you think your family would enjoy.

XO,

Liz, CEO of Wright Family Dinners