Books
Grandma Ruthie got me this book for Christmas after I’d heard about it on Focus on the Family. We don’t have the freezer space for me to cook only once a month, but the book actually has a few two-week plans, also. I’m really enjoying using it. At first, I read through it, but didn’t try any of the recipes b/c I needed to use up a bunch of meat I had in the freezer already. It did, however, inspire me to do certain stuff to pre-prepare things to make life easier. Yesterday, I spent just a couple of afternoon hours in the kitchen and ended up with having four pork loin dishes, three chicken dishes, a beef pot roast, and three other beef dishes in the freezer ready to go. Some need to be thawed then thrown into the Crock Pot. Some are already cooked and just need to be thawed and reheated. This month is the first time I’ve ever really planned our meals in advance. I know, pretty bad, considering I’ve been a full-time mom since August 1998, but at least I’m doing it now. Having things planned even made it easier for me to help someone out — one of the little old ladies at church is dying of cancer, and when the call went out for meals for her & her son, it was really easy for me to say “Sure! I know exactly what I can take.”
This also goes along with January organizing. Before I was able to do the first batch of planning two weeks ago, I had to clean out & organize my pantry so I knew what I had already. Too bad I hadn’t done this before — turns out I already had mustard and didn’t need to buy some when Grandma & Grandpa were here. Oh, well. It’s REALLY nice to be able to look in there and see everything. Now, the upshot of this is that when Thing Two helps me put away the groceries (a chore she actually enjoys), I need to make sure she puts things in the right place instead of just letting her put things wherever she feels like putting them. That’s OK, though. I also cleaned out my dresser and my side of the closet just over a week ago. It’s really nice to be able to walk in there and not have a ton of stuff lying on top of the closet bar, etc., etc. I didn’t dare do Hubby’s side, though; I’m sure I’d get rid of the wrong stuff. One of the local charities came by on Tuesday, so I was able to donate a bunch of clothes, too. It was hard to let go of some of the “skinny clothes”, but I had to realize that by the time they fit me, they won’t be close to in style any more. Next up in the organizing: the linen closet and the coat closet.
Um. OK. This is rather awkward, but I’ll ask anyway. This book was on my wish list, then it showed up as purchased. Um. Here’s the awkward part. If you bought this for me, you should know that it never arrived. If you started to buy it, but then cancelled the order, please let me know so that I can change it to unpurchased.
