Having my ass thoroughly kicked by Influenza this past week and a half has given way to the kind of clarity that is normally deemed dangerous when provided to someone who has extreme motivation. However, since I am not one of those people, I have realized that my level of clarity is not as much dangerous as it is a part of the never ending cycle of my my propensity towards slacking and sulking. And so, with that realization in tow, I dug deep within and admitted defeat.

And yet, In the mist of hacking dry-coughs, body chills and body aches, I found myself understanding that defeat, even when it shakes you to the core and stuns you with realism, it is only temporary. It is a mere wrinkle in time that, through our own projection of fear, has amassed a reputation for being bad-ass. Defeat is in fact weak; it is a small sound in a loud world and need not be feared.

So, today, in the afterglow of antibiotics, antivirals, steroids, and rest, I broke out the weekly menu template that I made a while back, grabbed my very new coupon binder and scissors, and fired up my previously-created, thoroughly-neglected, Cozi account and muttered with skeptical-determination, “let’s rock!”

My husband, who was also knocking on death’s door the past week and change, let out a sigh (after 16 years he knows that my stubbornness has no limits), and agreed to rock out our plan of attack for the week. And we did. We planned a menu (my love of cooking did not die with my desire to replace my stomach this week), created a shopping list, sorted our coupons, and divided the rest of the household responsibilities between us. Because, truth be told, as much as I… Continue reading →