Please make an appointment

Appointments are necessary; whether it be to see your doctor or dentist, your banker or lawyer, your boss or even your kids teacher. We make them, keep them, cancel them, re-schedule them but there is something to be said about writing that appointment in on our calendar. How we write it on our calendar says something about our commitment to the appointment. Which ones do you pencil in? Which do you use a pen for or even highlight? Do you even use a paper calendar? Perhaps you have an electronic organizer or use your smart phone or an app on your iTouch. Which appointments are significant enough to be marked as High on the importance option?

Personally, if I make an appointment I keep it (barring a sick child or something else beyond my control). I do not hesitate to write it in pen and even highlight it so that at a quick glance I know what type of events are coming up. The one thing I will not write in to my calendar, not even in pencil, is personal time.

As a wife, mom, daughter, sister, home business owner, consultant with an educational toy company, day home provider and administrator for my husbands company personal time is not something I have much opportunity for and perhaps this is the exact reason I should put it in pen. It is easy to ignore the fact that I have not enjoyed personal time when I do not see it written down.

So, here I am to plead with myself to please make an appointment with me. I need to start putting some personal time on the calendar in pen and making the same commitment to keeping that appointment as I would any other. Perhaps then I can use some of that time for this blog and actually live up to my own expectations of making consistent entries.

So...same time tomorrow...? I guess we will see if I get brave enough to put it in pen.

Menu Plan Monday

Week one was a success. It was nice not having that 4 o'clock panic about what was for dinner and because many of our dinners were of the heat and serve variety cooking and clean up were a breeze. We ended up swaping around a few of the breakfast ideas for convenience and preference but for the most part we followed the plan. So, here I am to set forth another week of meals and see if we can do it again. It is my hope that I can stick with this long enough for it to become a habit.

17th B:Toast and Eggs
        L: Roast Beef Sandwiches
        D: Soup from my mother-in-law, yummy :-)
18th B: Cinnamon buns with cheese
        L: Soup
        D: Pancit (a noodle dish also from my mother-in-law)
19th B: Cereal and fruit
        L: Noodles
        D: Beef and Potatoes
20th B: Beef Scramble
        L: Left overs
        D: Turkey Crepes (Using up last of turkey frozen from holidays)
21st B: Oatmeal Bake (this is becoming a favorite. a quick easy warm breakfast and the leftovers make a great snack)
        L: Left overs
        D: Left Overs or Spring Rolls?
22nd B: Pancakes and sausage
         L: ?
         D: Pizza and salad
23rd B: Eggs Toast Fruit
        L:?
        D: Pork and Tofu

If we stick to this plan, it looks like I will only need about $50 for groceries this week! Having a mother-in-law who loves you with food is pretty wonderful.

Children, Cakes, & Crochet

Life as it is at this moment is comprised of these three things.

In addition to my own three children, I have three others I watch at various times each week. This adds some interesting dynamics some days but we all learn from these interations. My coping mechanism when things get crazy in this area of life is to keep my sense of humor and look for the best moments of each day.

Cakes are something that have become a part of my life to build relationship with my sister. She does decorating but does not enjoy the baking part so I am doing that part for her. Last year I think we did 15 cakes and are already on our second one of 2011. The hard part is sometimes getting the cakes done at a reasonable hour while working around all of our family's activities.

This last year I started into a new hobby that I hope will return a profit. I took up crochet and am loving it. Most projects I am currently choosing to do dont take more than a couple of hours so there is a real sense of accomplishment. I like crochet better than some other things as it is fairly easy to pick up and put down as needed (such as if I am working on a project over nap time and somebody decides to wake up early).

Right now I would say these are some of my favorite things as they all fulfill me in different ways, teach me something new, and present unique challenges.

I love life!

Wordless Wednesday - Ordinary Moments

Menu Plan Monday

I am excited to share my first Menu Plan Monday Post. I am hoping that this will help me be accountable to actually get the planning done and therefore be more organized for the week (at least as far as meals are concerned). We had an overabundance of food with all the family gatherings over Christmas and so this week will be about using up the last of the leftovers that got stashed in the freezer. This means a whole week of easy prep meals which is just what I need as we jump full swing into all the activities once again.

MP:
01/10 B - Toast L - Sandwiches D - Ham, Fried Garlic Potatoes, Green Salad
01/11 B - Cream of Wheat L - Ham & Tomato Egg Scramble D - Crispy Pork, Rice, Seasame Bok Choy
01/12 B - Cereal, Fruit L - Spaghetti D - Turkey Stew, Dumplings
01/13 B - Baked Oatmeal L - Stew D - Spring Rolls, Rice, Grilled Eggplant
01/14 B - Toast L - Spring Rolls D - Fish, Rice, Steamed Mixed Veg
01/15 B - Cinnamon Buns, Cheese L&D we are away and being fed :-)
01/16 B - HB Eggs, Toast L - Pancakes, Bacon D - Beef Roast, Potatos, Green Salad

As I said this will be a simple week as mostly it is defrosting and reheating then adding the fresh veggies. I will add a comment with next week's post as to how well I followed this plan.

Here's to good eatting!
Amber

New Year - New Goals

The begining of the year is a wonderful time to start fresh, make plans, and get a jumpstart on a wonderful year. I am currently working on focusing those plans and goals and will check back in here soon to share. Until then, Happy New Years to all and good health to you and your family.