This is a good day (grandsons are spending the day with their Mexican grandmother at a friend’s house) and this has been a good week. Progress continues on the home front as well as regarding getting Grace Place open for business. We are still working to find a building in which to open. Trusting God for it all.

Laundry and meal preparation and clean up have always been the bane of my existence because they are essential to living, never abating, and yet mundane. I have three loads of clean clothes waiting to be sorted, folded, and put away. I just loaded the dishwasher, as I must do everyday now with the children living here. I plan phone conversations during the clothes folding or catch a news show of interest, but it still seems like a terrible waste of my time. I would rather be working on a project, gardening, exercising, or meeting with someone for our mutual benefit.

Meal preparation and clean up takes up an even greater amount of time and does not allow for any other activity to be accomplished simultaneously…cooking takes concentration or something may get burned! On average……shopping for the groceries, loading and unloading from the car, storing them, planning the meals, getting the ingredients together, watching over the stove and/or oven, setting the table, serving the food, cleaning up after, putting the dishes in the dishwasher and washing some by hand, putting them away after they are washed….. takes about two hours per meal . Lawrence helps with the shopping and putting the groceries away after shopping. I do the rest.

To eat in a restaurant would cost a lot of money and most restaurant meals are heavy on the fat and sugars and light on the vegetables and fruits. I am not willing to trade our health for convenience. This dilemma has been with me since my first child was born. How to balance work and home?

When my children were small and I worked full time, I thought how wonderful it would be if there was a restaurant business that would mail us a list of their monthly menu choices, two choices per day for the evening meal. We could select and pay for which of the two choices we would like for each night, so our weekly menu might look like this: Monday: Cheese stuffed meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli, whole wheat rolls, fruit salad; Tuesday: Chicken cacciatore, pasta, tossed salad, garlic toast, peaches; Wednesday: Chicken fried steak, scalloped potatoes, green beans, waldorf salad; Thursday: Baked chicken, baked beans, potato salad, jello fruit salad; Friday: Baked fish, baked potatoes, cole slaw, corn casserole, peach pie.

We would also choose a time for our evening meal…say, seven, after basketball practice was over for our oldest. Our family would meet at the restaurant at our designated time and go to our designated table (which would be the same table each evening) and we would be served on real dishes. We would eat and enjoy one another’s company and talk about our day and then get up and go home.

To solve the laundry problem the restaurant would have a laundry facility next door. Before we entered the restaurant, we would drop off our laundry, expecting it to be washed, dried, and folded into a bundle for each family member to pick up and put away the next evening.

Now that I am older I see that this restaurant business would appeal to seniors as well. It is difficult to cook nutritious and interesting meals for just one person, or even for two. People over a certain age are known to be deficient in calories and vitamins because they no longer desire to and/or can cook.

I have not costed it out, but seemingly, the restaurant would be able to offer meals at a reduced price because customers would pre-pay, eliminating waste and excess storage space. They would also be able to take advantage of seasonal foods, which are less expensive, incorporating them into their menu offerings.

Also, if a senior did not show up for his or her pre-paid meal, the restaurant staff could call and make sure they were okay.

Can someone open a restaurant like this on the north west side of town, please? Soon? I wish I could but I have my hands full for now!