November Meal Plan

Meal plans are something that have historically had a big presence on this blog. Not so much in recent years. Well, actually not very much has had much of a presence on this blog in recent years. But I digress.

Meal plans were big back in the day, because the overarching focus of this blog (and my life) at that time was homemaking and all that that entailed. Planning meals was an essential part of that.

Unfortunately, my kids were ungracious enough to grow up and I had to grown up with them and get a job, and thus, my focus has hence become divided.

That is not to say that I don’t still have to perform all of those homemaking tasks which, at the time, dominated the bulk of my focus and energy (and all that fun stuff like changing diapers and bathing children and dealing with fevers and runny noses and fighting with the never-ending onslaught of excessive toys), they just get shunted onto the back burner of my time and energy where they continue to taunt me with the guilt of having not been done well, properly, on time, or at all...

but again, I digress.

The importance of meal planning has become no less necessary in recent years. In fact, it has probably become even MORE necessary as we have all become busier. I used to always plan a week at a time, and then do my shopping accordingly. Lately, I’ve taken to planning a month at a time, and I completely LOVE it. I still do the shopping weekly, but knowing a whole month just became brainless relieves a lot of stress. I have done it list style, and like this:

I probably prefer the calendar lay out. It enables me to see what day is what, without having to figure it out based on disembodied dates. To further make things brainless (this is a big thing lately - apparently my brain function is limited and I don’t like to use it more than I must) I have several days of the week that fall into categories. Pizza happens once a week. It has been on Wednesdays, but I think we’re moving it back to Fridays. Sunday is always breakfast for dinner. Tuesday is some version of Taco Tuesday. Monday is generally something quick or something Dave can make without needing to wait for me to come home with ingredients, since I do the shopping on Mondays. And we clean out the fridge on Saturdays.

It’s fantastic every Sunday when I check the menu for the coming week and make my shopping list. Sometimes coming up with 7 meals every week seems overwhelming and repetitive. If I have a whole month in between having to do it, I find it much less tedious.

Comments

yet another sign. it's a good one!

i know that at least mary and christie will appreciate this one... it's the famous toilet-paper-tube-soldier ornament! yup, that's a toilet paper tube, a styrofoam ball, some felt and some sequins and trust me , it would not be christmas without this ornament. i made sure to hang it out of micah's reach since it could easily be destroyed by monkey-boy and dave would be devastated should anything ever happen to it. these are they type of things that let you know that christmas is a family celebration, not something to be copied from a magazine. gotta love it! what ornaments do YOU have that fall into this category???

i love bees!

so, i took pictures for this post yesterday and then, upon checking some other favorite blogs, i discovered this on angie’s blog. she totally beat me to it! oh well, i guess it’s a common thing right now. but not to be outdone, here is my post: the bees are just crazy right now. especially on the raspberries, which makes me super duper happy because it means we’ll have a TON of wonderful raspberries this year! as you can see, we have a LOT of them… my patch keeps on growing! and the whole thing is literally alive with bees. you can watch it and it’s constantly moving and buzzing… just a whir of activity! it’s really something to see! i just love bumblebees! i always say i want them for pets. maybe it’s because they’re so fuzzy! i could watch them for hours. my rhodies are finally blooming! i love that purple one.

My favorite holiday

Back in the spring, I posted something somewhere about "clothesline day" being my favorite "holiday". In fact, here's a picture of me on Easter a few years ago, celebrating clothesline day (yes, with a mimosa - it was Easter). Basically, clothesline day is whatever day of the year happens to be the first day that the weather is warm, dry, and breezy enough to allow me to hang out my inaugural load of laundry. It makes me very happy, since, if you have read even a few posts on this blog you know that I am pretty well bonkers about line-dried laundry. I do, very much, love clothesline day. But it's not exactly a REAL holiday. And if I'm honest, I can't really even say that it's my favorite day of the year. That is something totally different: The Day After Thanksgiving. Some would call this day "Black Friday". Not me. Black Friday implies that I like the day because I enjoy getting up at ungodly hours of the night to stand in long lines i...

just some old randomness…

i’ve not got much to write about right now. i’m fighting nature with my garden and for every victory on my part, some slug or rabbit thumbs their nose at me and i feel defeated once again. but i fight on. micah is getting 3 of his ‘fangs’ right now. i discovered this this morning when i became suspicious after he woke up screaming twice last night. tonight he went to bed doped up on tylenol and we’ll hope for a better night. so i thought this lack of anything exciting would be a good excuse to post some pictures i’ve been hanging onto for a while. this is an example of just how ODD my children are. this is the sort of thing they come up with to entertain themselves. yes, it’s probably dangerous, but they survived (as did all equipment used) and as you can see, they were having a great time. in case you can’t quite make it out, that’s shane, riding layla’s teeny, plastic tricycle. he’s got a skateboard laid across the seat of the tricycle,...

a tribute to layla

i love my daughter. i really do. if i had only 3 words with which to describe her, it would be “full of life”. and she really, really is. she is someone who wants to experience all that life has to offer. i love the age she is too. her excitement about things is always contagious and her ideas hilarious and creative. she’s one of those kids who can’t just paint the paper, and whatever the rules for the game happen to be, they’re too boring and she’s going to play it her own way, darnit! there are a few things that come with this fabulous age, however, that i could easily do without. the screaming fit she had today, for example, over a graham cracker. she had the intention of giving it to micah, and broke it in half, even though, the whole time she was doing it, i was telling her NOT to give one to micah because he was having his lunch. i...

rachel's continued ramblings

Search This Blog