Layout

Search This Blog

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Whazzup!


It's a rainy Thursday and I have plenty to do and very little inspiation to do it. I feel like I need a GPS to navigate my daily life. Most days I feel like I wander from room to room trying to figure out what I went in there for. It's probably the insomnia. I'm not one of those people who doesn't sleep at all. My body gives out eventually but I'm not getting a full night of sleep right now and I'm a bit loopy. I've got half a headache most of the time, I start a thought and get lost, I copy my algebra problems down wrong and then argue with the math program because I just know my answer is right and I bounce from one idea to the other without really getting anything done. I've done this pretty much all my life and it seems to be on some schedule. It's also self-perpetuating because I don't sleep enough so I caffeinate so I don't sleep enough so I caffeinate...I should probably see a doctor about it, but to tell the truth I've got friends who take sleep meds and I think that solution is worse than my problem. Those things have some funky side-effects!

I've been working on my game plan for Valentines Day weekend. I've picked a country as my theme and everything I've chosen to do can be tied back to that country (loosely). I started with a food choice which dictated the country and with a little wikipedia and a little google I found places to go, things to see, films to watch, things to read, a traditional game we can play and and even arts and crafts! I'm excited about it because I definately thought out of the box on this one and I hope that Big Daddy will enjoy it enough that this might turn into something we do from time to time. One of the neat things about living in a big city is that we have access to lots of resources and cultures and I don't take advantage of that nearly as much as I'd like to.

I got two more crockpot cookbooks and last night I made a chicken and green chili enchilada casserole (btw I used pepper jack cheese and halved the recipe) and it was KILLER. It didn't even turn out the way it was supposed to (which was my fault, not the recipe) and it was still tight. Word. (I just had a flashback of my dad trying to use the 80's lingo and making me cringe. Ah live and learn I tell ya.) So the new plug is for NOT YOUR MOTHER'S SLOW COOKER COOKBOOK.

And finally, my mom called and is planning a little program for her sorority based on the uses of vinegar. She wasn't sure where to start to find things on the internet (bless her heart, google baffles her) so I googled for her and man oh man there's a ton of info out there! Who knew!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Cha-Ching Shopping!


Boy has my world changed! I love Monday mornings. The alarm went off at seven and I sat in bed and drank coffee until almost nine. Then I started in on the Super Clean Plan. For those of you who don't know, the Super Clean Plan is something I found online that suggests that if you do seven simple things every day, you won't have to do the great overhaul mega-clean. Big Daddy and I did the SCP during the week between Christmas and New Years and it was really nice to spend maybe twenty minutes each morning doing chores and having the rest of the day to play. Like most things I did it just long enough to prove that it worked and then got lazy, but I'm back on the wagon today...

So what are the seven things? Well first I need to give credit where credit is due, this came from my crockpot hero Stephanie Dea who has another blog on top of crockpot365, called Totally Together Journal. There's some good stuff in there. Anyway, I've stalled long enough, here's the list:

Number 1: Make Beds Right Away


Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry

Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans

Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty

Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children (husband?) Do the Same

Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down

Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

I know that doesn't seem magical, and what the heck difference does it make if you empty the trash cans daily or as needed, and a couple of bowls in the sink isn't the end of civilization,and if I had time to do all this stuff my house wouldn't be out of control thank you very much...I know. I know. I know. I also know that the success of any methodical plan is not that each step is life altering, it's the discipline about doing things daily that makes the difference. My experience is that if I will make the bed the minute I get out of it, my day is off to a good start. There are lots of people who have always been bed-makers, and I salute you. I have resisted making my bed for four decades. I just didn't get it until I started doing it. A friend put it this way: messy bed=messy head. I know the two shouldn't be connected but I'm lazy and I collect clutter and I truly believe in my heart of hearts that most things are more important than housework, but I can't argue with the results. When I started making my bed and putting away my shoes, my life got better.

After I got the SCP started, then I checked my Grocery Game list to see if I need to go to Kroger today. If you have not heard of THE GROCERY GAME and you buy groceries on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, you really really really need to try it out. I am not even playing.

So here's the dealio: The Grocery Game works on the principle that you should buy groceries when they are at the best value and stockpile them instead of buying things when you need them and paying whatever the store decides it costs. Now obviously you can't stockpile produce but the list does lead you toward items that are the best value so that you buy oranges when they're marked down fifty percent instead of the apples at full price. I subscribe to the list for Kroger because that's the store I'm most comfortable with, but they have lists for Albertsons, Tom Thumb and Walmart. To get maximum value, you need to use coupons, and the key is to use the right coupon at the right time. I know you're thinking and I've got time to deal with coupons? Is she crazy? It's easier than it sounds and it can make a HUGE difference in your grocery bill. Let's say it takes you an hour to clip coupons and plan the list, but you wind up saving 40% on your grocery bill. If you save 40% on a $100 grocery bill, you just got paid $40 an hour. Hmmm not bad eh? The way I do it, is I have the Sunday paper delivered to my house. I don't get the daily paper, just Sunday. I pull out the coupons (RedPlum, SmartSource and Proctor and Gamble put out coupons regularly), I write the date on the front of the first page of the coupon book in sharpie so I can see it easily and stuff it in the front of an expandable file. I do not clip anything until the grocery game tells me to and I purge old coupons when my expandable file gets full (it's rare to need a coupon that's more than a couple of months old because they expire and put out new ones every few months). The Grocery Game List comes out on Sunday and is good through Tuesday, so I check the list on Sundays or Mondays. The list has the item that's on sale, the coupon to clip (listed by date and section, for example if the list says .50 (s 1/24), that means it's a fifty cent coupon from the SmartSource section from January 24) If there's some really good deals I print the list and clip my coupons, if not, I don't. Some weeks if it doesn't seem worth the effort I just go to Sprouts on Wednesdays and buy meat, veggies and dairy and skip Kroger all together. Here are some examples from my list this week: Hormel Pepperoni is on sale at Kroger and if you use the coupon from yesterday's paper, it's free. How about bottled water at 70% off or Dry Roast Peanuts at 72% off. This isn't even a great week but by using the color coded list (green is free, blue is a good value and black are things your should buy only if you need to) and stockpiling so that you buy green and blue items because you have a stocked pantry, you can save a fortune! I can't imagine having kids and not taking the time to save money, if you're paying full price for cereal or fruit snacks or yogurt or toothpaste you really need to give this a one month free trial. I'd suggest having a couple of weeks of coupons saved before you do the trial, and hey, tell them jenhud13atyahoodotcom sent you!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Aren't-aren't I going to be me?



Jenny: Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you're going to be?
Forrest: Who I'm going to be?
Jenny: Yeah.
Forrest: Aren't-aren't I going to be me?

My sweet husband cannot flip channels and see FORREST GUMP and not watch a snippet. He quotes the movie often. Apparently Big Daddy feels some connection to a huge-hearted man who can't stop thinking about a flaky broken girl named Jenny. I have no idea what that's all about. It's one of those little things that he does that just melts my heart. He's sweet that way.

This weekend I was reminded of why I married Big Daddy. We didn't do anything amazing, but we did ordinary things with a lot of love. The nicest thing about our weekend was that everytime there was a pause Big Daddy would ask what else I'd like to do. Let me tell you about the big romantical events: we went and got my car inspected and we listened to comedy clips on my mp3 player together and laughed hysterically as this kid stared at us wondering what the heck was so funny. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond for a Turbo Snake because someone keeps clogging the bathroom sink with hair. I don't know who she is, but she's driving us crazy with the hair balls. Then Big Daddy went to Barnes and Noble while I checked out the Dollar Days sale at Michaels. We had lunch at El Fenix (Big Daddy had never been there! How do you live in DFW for years and miss El Fenix???) and did a little shopping at a store a couple of doors down. I am being vague about it, but if you live in P-town I'll let you figure it out that part of the field trip. Then we came home and watched Sunshine Cleaning and ordered Chinese. We talked a lot. We laughed often. We hugged and kissed and enjoyed each other. I'm new at this married thing but I've been married long enough to realize that it's easy to get busy with work, school, chores and facebook and forget to really talk and really listen. It's good to slow down and enjoy each other's company.

Today Big Daddy did some work and I started my algebra homework. I discovered that after several years my recall of pre-algebra II is hazy at best. I got a bit overwhelmed when it took me over an hour to do five problems. I had to pause and pray because I was freaking out wondering how in the heck I'm going to eat this elephant sandwich. Once I got my anxiety down, I realized that the challenge is that I'm going to have to practice and learn and I will get better and I will get faster if I just take the time and do it step by step, one problem at a time. One of  the things I struggle most with is my instinct to quit when things don't come easy for me. I also have trouble with asking questions, simple questions, because that mean girl in my brain likes to bully me about looking dumb and embarassing myself. I'm beginning to think that the most important thing I can learn this semmester is that the mean girl in my brain has no idea what she's talking about.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Back to School Fun


I started back at community college today and I pulled a classic blooper. I looked everything up about my class: building, room, prof and time I just forgot to look up um....where the school is. So I was twenty minutes late to class. No big deal. I also asked for directions to the building which may not seem like an accomplishment to some, but I have a hard time asking for directions, obviously. It helped a lot that they were giving away free stuff at the information table. I got a pencil, a highlighter, a calendar and a donut (no time for coffee). I LOVE free stuff. Then after class I headed to the campus bookstore to get my Spanish book and supercode and the line was waaaaay out the door and I decided I could wait. On the drive home I decided to stop by Half Price Books and on a whim I looked to see if they might have my Spanish book there and would you believe it, they did and it was the right edition and the CD and supercode was in the book. On campus the book was $110. I got it for (drum roll please) $9.98!!! I was so excited I went to Office Max and bought new highlighters and three notebooks and some mechanical pencils off the clearance rack. I may have to pay for a new supercode but even if I do it's still half the price of the cheapest used book I could find online without the code included. This seems like a very lucky day for me and I'm going to ride the wave of enthusiasm and print off my syllabi and put all my due dates in my new free calendar. Yippeeeeeee!

I have begun mapping out my Valentines Day surprises for Big Daddy and I've decided to start with a theme for all the activities. I'm keeping the budget low and the creativity high. I've got two meals planned, a game, an arts and crafts project (I've got two ideas and I don't think he'd hate either one!), an activity, two movie choices (although I'm still researching on that) and a gift idea. I'm also working on decorations and a creative way to share our itinerary. I found some pretty fun date ideas here if you're looking for some inspiration. The nice thing is that date ideas can easily be modified to include friends and/or kids. I decided to eat out for lunch and eat in for dinner. There are three benefits to this idea: 1. Lunch is less expensive than dinner 2. We can avoid the crowds and a potential wait and 3. If we find ourselves feeling a bit romantic...well you know....

I'm off to start my homework!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sleepless in South Padre


Big Daddy and I came to South Padre Island for the weekend and it's definately been a weekend of ups and downs. Friday we had a great day and really enjoyed the conference and each other. Saturday was a different story with a computer screw up I got obsessed about and "I don't know what do you want to do?" dead time with no way to really get anywhere. It was supposed to rain all weekend so we weren't expecting to be outside and we didn't really pack for for beachcombing. I spent hours trying to make my netbook interface with my Rhapsody account (including forty-five minutes on the phone with a lovely Indian gal doing tech support where at the end of the process we were at exactly the same spot as I was in before I called tech support) while Big Daddy played channel pong among the Saints game and various Cartoon Network shows and some realllllllllly painful action hero movies. Well, believe it or not, I got myself all in an emotional lather and had a mini-meltdown over something that made me very weepy and indignant. I never actually identified the root cause of the weepiness or the indignance but I did share about the feelings. Poor poor poor Big Daddy. People kept coming up to him telling him what a lucky guy he is to have snagged such an adorable bride and I'd literally just released him from room 306 in Hotel Hell. He's a very gracious man.

We wound up ordering a late night pizza and we had a picnic in our hotel room and we had a good talk before Big Daddy headed off to sleepyland, solo. I've been doing my insomnia routine lately and it's no fun for anyone involved. I didn't bring a sleep aid on this trip so I'm watching reruns and listening to my sweet sleepy spouse saw the proverbial log. There's a point when I'm too tired for Sudoku or Scrabble but not tired enough for actual sleep, and that my friends, is the dark night of the spirit. In the past I've used my insomnia runs as an opportunity to work on my writing but since we're in a hotel room and I like to hand write my first drafts I'm a little stuck tonight due to lighting conditions unless I'm willing to sequester myself in the bathroom.

So it's been fun Port Isabel, but I'm heading home in the morning. It's been real and and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. I'm looking forward to a quiet afternoon nodding in and out on my couch while Big Daddy *quietly* cheers his Cowboys to victory. Sweet dreams my non-sleep deprived friends, I'll see you after I've had a few more winks.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Yam-tastic!



Okay before I start any other blather, I really have to tell you about the sweet potatoes I made last night because they were killer. All I did was take two sweet potatoes and scrub them well. Then I took some butter and gave the sweet potatoes a massage. Then I mixed together 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of sea salt (or kosher salt or what ever kind of cheffy kind of salt we have) and then I cover the sweet potatoes in the spicy stuff. Then I wrap them in waxed paper and nuked them for about eight or nine minutes (until I could squeeze them and feel the give). I cut those bad boys open and broke up the insides a bit with a fork and then I put lime juice inside. No butter, no fat grams, just lime juice. I really expected Big Daddy to give me a pat on the head for busting out the spices and getting an inch or two out of my comfort zone, but what I didn't expect was how freaking good it was going to be. Chef ate it skin and all while I just sort dragged each fork-ful through the chili seasoning. The lime juice just gave it this extra zing but you really don't notice that it's lime juice. It made the sweet potato sweet potato-ier. I busted out a little pork loin action and the daily tossed salad and doooood, when Big Daddy looked at me and said that was deeeeelish, I looked right back at him and said "I know."

For anyone who may not know, Big Daddy is a chef and while he will sputter and hem and haw about what he does right now and where he does it, make no mistake--from the tippy top of his big old mellon head to his tore up from the floor up feet, that man is a chef. Now a lot of people think that makes him a prissy eater or a kitchen snob--he is neither. He likes whatever he doesn't have to cook and we've got the same folgers coffee and uncle ben's rice mix that everyone else does. We shop at Kroger and Sprouts and occasionally very occasionally we go to Whole Foods and Market Street for something special because it's just too painful to spend two weeks in grocery bills on one meal. I can't remember anything I've made that he has not been kind about but cooking every day is a lot of pressure! I have trouble getting everything done at the same time or I get a little too ambitious and I wind up multitasking and over cooking a thing or two. There are LOTS of times when I'm completely uninspired and if I don't pay attention we'll eat pork four nights in a row or I'll do something mexican flavored for days and days and days. Then there's the battle with left-overs, I say it's a bonus if you eat stuff more than once, but Chef has a really hard time watching food go in the disposal. It causes him physical pain. All this to say that I feel inadequate in the kitchen often and I face that inadequacy five days a week. That is what I choose to do because I want to be a killer cook and the only way to become a killer cook is to practice practice practice.

I was never the house wifey type. I never made beds or stayed on top of the laundry. I cleaned when I felt like I had to and any request by a potential house guest was met with a very hesitant, "Well, I guess so." So this married thing and this stay at home thing is a completely new planet for me. For the first year and a half we were together, Big Daddy and I played show and tell as we got to know each other, but I already knew the things I was showing and telling. These days, I'm finding there are things I didn't know about myself that are being reveled through our relationship. It's a little alarming at times to realize that I am completely exposed with him and while I've always been a fairly open book, I've never been this open. I was talking to a girlfriend about it today and she said, "Oh yeah, you'll be learning tons of things you didn't know about yourself and each other for years (and years and years and years)." All I could think was, God I hope so.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Some days are like that...even in Australia


I don't know if you're familiar with ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY but it's a great kid's book that I think about often when things get off track. The first line of the story is, "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair."

Here's my version: I had trouble sleeping last night and I hadn't had a latte so it was just my brain chewing on my face. I woke up late which makes me feel guilty because Big Daddy goes to work at five in the morning and the fact that I slept five hours after he left the house makes me feel like a jerk. I was supposed to hang out with my friend Suzie today but by the time she called I was feeling guilty about sleeping late and the fact that I've been procrastinating on fixing my messed up schedule for school and if I don't make myself do it today, I may leave it all screwed up and then feel sorry for myself. Then I started working on fixing my schedule and finding my books for next week and for some reason that whole process just sends me into a giant emotional twist. I LIKE being in school, but getting in school is a whippy-doodle! It feels like I'm in a giant maze and there are information desks all over the place but the people at the information desks may or may not actually know more than you do. So at one point I have six websites open trying to accomplish one task and then I realize that I have the screen on my netbook set too large to see the button I have to hit to approve the program that will show me the document I need. So I change the settings on the netbook but I have to reboot for the settings to take effect which means I've got to get out of and get back into the six sites all over again. This process continues and then I start pricing the text books, and don't even get me started on that! Wow. So by the time I get all that done, Big Daddy calls and I'm weeping. Poor man. He really doesn't understand why I cry after everything is okay and I don't have any good explanation for that either so we just wind up with him slowly explaining to me that there's nothing to cry about and I let him know that I KNOW everything is okay but I'm still having feelings. I know he thinks I'm crazy and I'm not entirely sure he's wrong.

So now it's almost three o'clock and I feel like I'm just starting the day. The kitchen needs cleaning and there's laundry in the washer and dryer. I planned menues for two weeks and I really want to make dinner but I don't have any idea if I can get the meat cooked in time if I start it now. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Big Daddy would be happy with sandwiches tonight but I have this recipe for sweet potatoes with chili cumin and lime that I really want to try but the pork is frozen and I'm still sitting on the couch!

Perhaps it would be a good idea if I reboot as well. I should probably completely shut down, say a prayer, and start again with that happy little windows da-da-da-ding! I'll try it and let you know how it goes...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Eat, Play & Love

Tonight I'm making three-cheese broccoli soup from my new favorite cookbook, MAKE IT FAST, COOK IT SLOW. The only problem with it is that I could smell the broccoli cooking from the garage so our house smells a little like dirty socks. Good thing I've got my LA-TEE-DA! I've just been raving about how easy this crockpot cooking is although there are several dishes that I will alter a little when I make them again. Stephanie warns that every crockpot is a little different and you have to get to know how yours works. I also tend to try to make smaller versions of the recipes since I'm cooking for two (and we have a tendency to eat for six if we're not careful) and I'm sure that makes a difference in cooking times. I'm looking forward to the soup. I got a couple of round bread loaves on clearance at Kroger today so I'm going to try to make bread bowls (does anyone else see a giant mess in my future?) to make it look a bit more like dinner. That being said, you should really try out some of the recipes on the blog or buy the cookbook. It really is a super easy way to make a dinner that tastes like it took more effort than it does!

I meant to get into my craft room and start working on my mantle today. I am a crafty girl and I change out the display on my mantle every six weeks or so in celebration of various holidays and seasons. I have three 12X12" frames that I put scrapbook pages or scrappy type decorations in. I change out the nick-nacks and I hang a banner beneath the mantle. The only problem is that I didn't get my New Years stuff made in time and I think I'm a little early for Valentines Day, so I'm thinking maybe just a Warm Winter Wishes kinda thing...I'll post a pic when I decide. Since I didn't get to make any crafty stuff today, I'll share my new favorite videos--I just love these, they completely crack me up. These are definately my homies. Word.

Big Daddy was smoov trippin when I was checking these out Saturday morning. I pulled a little knitta pleeeease on him and he be all up in my bead box, yo. ;) If this made you laugh, go here and watch the third video on the page, I'm sorry but Old Dirty Crafta is just too funny.

Speaking of videos, we're watching THE WIRE on Netflicks and while it took me awhile to get sucked in, I'm totally hooked and really wish I'd gotten the DVD in the mailbox before the mailman came today instead of after. I'm reading OLIVE KITTERIDGE right now (it won the Pulitzer this year) and it's really a good read. It's a series of connected short stories (which is cooincidentally what I always said I'd have to do to trick myself into writing a novel) and the writing is delicious. It's the kind of book that makes me ache to be a serious writer and makes me sad because I'm just not that good. Sigh. Other than that I'm just doing the housewifey thang which I never thought I'd love, and getting ready for my fifty-seventh first day of school. I really must be setting a record for the longest stint in community college without actually completing even an Associates. Time to talk back to the voices in my head: I love to learn and I'm excited to have an opportunity to do things differently. I love to learn and I'm excited to have an opportunity to do things differently. I love to learn and I'm excited to have an opportunity to do things differently...

Monday, January 11, 2010

How to Heart a Husband???


This morning I nuked the leftovers from yesterday's coffee and sat on the couch to google Valentines Day ideas for Big Daddy. This is our first married Valentines Day and I really want to do something special without blowing the bank because there's really no bank to blow. While I'm a pretty creative person, I rarely come up with an original idea. Nine times out of ten I borrow inspiration and tweak it to fit my taste and my style but this morning I found myself getting frustrated with the same old ideas I've seen hundreds of times: chocolate covered strawberries, rose petals on the bed, candle lit dinners and the ever popular do-it-yourself massage. I'm not saying those things don't have merit, I'm just saying that none of that seems like something Big Daddy is going to do backflips over. I just don't know many men who wish their gals were sending them flowers more often. Romance is something women crave. Guys like fun. Right? So what's something Big Daddy would really enjoy doing that wouldn't involve plane tickets or a second mortgage on a house we don't even own?

So here my guidelines for planning a special day for Big Daddy:

1. As simple as it sounds, I want to do something that is all about HIM. At Christmas I noticed that almost all of his gifts were things he needed and would use but there just wasn't a whole lot of fun in those packages. I am probably the worst about deciding what he ought to want (like nicer clothes and better shoes) instead of really considering what he would truly enjoy.

2. I want to plan something we haven't done. When Big Daddy and I were dating we went on lots of fieldtrips we enjoyed. I know he likes going to museums and great restaurants. (No REALLY, he does!) I think it's cheating to revisit those same places for Valentines Day.

3. We need to stay out of the way of the hot spots that will be over-crowded and over-priced because it's a holiday. If I were Oprah Winfrey I'd be buying All Star Game tickets and booking my table at 560. The limo would be a given and Big Daddy would be grinning from ear to ear without any worries about how much I spent but I don't live on that planet.

4. I know it's cliche, but it IS the thought that counts. I don't have a lot of money but I do have time to plan something that will let him know how much I care about him. Sometimes big "I love yous" come in a lot of little packages.

5. Consider the "WOW value." When I was younger and broke, I subscribed to a newsletter called "The Tightwad Gazette." I learned a lot about how to save money on the small things so that I had the money for big things. One of the most important ideas the newsletter taught me was about "wow value," and how that value is different for different people. If carrots taste the same whether I buy them at Whole Foods, Kroger, or Sprouts, why would I buy my carrots at Whole foods when they are on sale at Kroger? If I save twelve dollars shopping at Kroger for most of our food, I don't get in a twist when Big Daddy wants to spend twelve dollars on pate at Market Street. Along those same lines, if the pate from Market Street makes him happy why go to a restaurant and pay twice as much for half as much pate unless the ambiance and service is worth the pricetag? If I save money on one or two ideas that are still thoughtful and fun, I can indulge a little more on a gift that he'll really appreciate. The other thing I learned about frugality is that being careful with how money is spent doesn't make one endlessly cheap, it provides opportunities to be more generous!

6. Get personal. The most important thing I need to do really think about MY man and really think about what would make him feel spoiled rotten. As I've been writing this I've been thinking about ideas he's run up the flagpole that I've never saluted. I need to remember that romance is showing him that I hear him, I know him and I love HIM. I need to take some time to think about the things he loves and incorporate those things into my master plan. Perhaps it's time I explore sushi and anime or consider bowling and baby backs because romance isn't just leather or lace, flowers and candles, or chocolate and wine--it's learning a new language and finding a new way to both show him and tell him that HE is the man I love.

I don't have a master plan yet, but I think I'm on the right track. The first thing I need to do is make sure that my plans don't interfere with any plans he will be making. The good news is that this year Valentines Day falls on a Sunday so if we need to, we can do a his and hers days without a problem. If you have any great ideas to share PLEASE leave a comment!