Salmon salad.
With kids home, spend less time in the kitchen
My children will be home for the summer in less than 52 hours (depending upon when you read this). School’s out for summer in our district at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 2.
For a busy mom, it’s both an exhilarating and terrifying thought. No more morning rush to get teeth brushed and shoes on. (I know, that seems easy, but try getting your cat to put on shoes. It takes exactly the same amount of effort.)
No more lunch-packing, permission slips or unbelievable amounts of elementary school papers to recycle surreptitiously when your children are asleep.
But then again, they’re home. Every second of every day. I knew I was getting panicky when I found myself searching Craigslist for a trampoline and Amazon for a decent-sized swimming pool at the same time.
I love my children, but as a mom who is a writer and owns a business, this is a major change in my workflow. I want to embrace the freedom that is summer, spend time with them and relax, but my work schedule doesn’t change one bit — except I have my beautiful boys home for 35 extra hours each week.
I don’t have an answer, but I do have an amazing 14-year-old who has an open schedule and loves playing with my guys. And I can reclaim the 71⁄2 hours I spend each week yelling about shoes and shuttling everyone back and forth to school.
(It’s summertime, we don’t need shoes. I expect their feet to be permanently stained by August.)
So I’m just going to relax, order that trampoline and enjoy it all the best I can. We’re going to make our annual summer bucket list — weekly campfires, finally visit Old World Wisconsin, camping, art museums and weekly homemade ice cream — and check off as many items as we can.
Here’s just the type of dinner I want to eat all season. It uses the grill and minimal stove-top time, comes together quickly and is fresh tasting and nutritious. And we’ll follow it up with some of that ice cream.