How was your September? Crazy busy and a shock to the system? You are not alone.
I always got a little bit of the September “scaries” as a kid, and in some ways now as a school teacher, they really stuck with me.
Spending the summers at home with my three children is a different brand of wacky, but I enjoy that it tends to be at our own pace. When it winds down and we head back to school for the kids, and back to work for me, it feels like our household suddenly transitions from 0 to 60.
Once I’m in front of a classroom of students in ceramics class I’m perfectly happy to be back at work. It’s great to be able to teach kids how to work with their hands and learn about the material I love.
But that initial re-entry back into balancing work, and the increasingly chaotic schedule of three small kids, can be jarring. It often takes a minute or two to get back into the swing of things.
A few special moments of the month: I dropped my youngest off at school with no lunch more than once. I sent my son to soccer practice with a pair of my husband’s dress socks on because, for the life of me, I could not find the soccer socks. I’ve had to mop up poop 
off my floor and clean it out of my bathtub. I left an entire shopping cart full of groceries at the supermarket because I’d forgotten my wallet and had to drive home and go back for it. In the chaos of trying to get everybody out the door and where they’re supposed to be, I have shown up to work realizing I never put on deodorant. And yesterday my stove broke.
Cooking is My Love Language
September has been a month of chaotic transition but it’s also been filled with save-the-day moments brought to you by wonderful people in my life.
The office I work in is filled with amazing people who frequently make me laugh so hard I cry. I’ve also enjoyed their culinary creations over the last few weeks, from gooey delicious brownies to amazing homemade hot sauce.
With so many back-to-school evening events for me and my husband, who also works in education, we’ve relied heavily on our freezer stock of meals for dinner. After a particularly crazy day, it makes me so happy to smell my father’s Chicken & Roasted Tomato Stew thawing out and then warming up on the stovetop.
I love not having to pack daycare lunches during the summer! But as I got back into the school routine I’ve been so grateful for my mother-in-law‘s Best Canned Black Beans Recipe which is frequently packed in a kid-size thermos and glittery pink lunchbox. These black beans are so delicious they also have been featured in tacos and nachos for dinner.
Things won’t be slowing down anytime soon, but we’ve made the back-to-school transition and I’m settling back into the rhythms and habits that make this day-to-day craziness manageable. It’s not always pretty or graceful, but we make it work and enjoy the ride.
Look out for some tasty comfort food recipes heading your way soon! Happy Fall!
