Writer's block, Paperwork and Pretty things

This year  for Christmas I printed the past three years (haven't done 2011 yet) of blogs into books.  We love them!  It's so awesome to find the kids looking back and laughing at the books all the time.  It's fun to look back at past pictures and remember things we had forgotten...

There's just one problem--I am now suffering from the biggest writer's block I've ever had.

Why?

 I think it's because I feel so much pressure to blog about everything.  I keep thinking of all the things I should have written about that I haven't so I tell myself that I will go back and write about things that happened and add them to the blog and edit all the photos so they are bright and vibrant and suddenly I have a huge unfinished project looking at me every time I turn on the computer...

The longer I wait to write, the more things I miss and the cycle continues.  So for now I am just going to write about today and worry about the rest later.

Speaking of procrastinating, I have a pile of gorgeous fabrics that I fully intended to make into gorgeous pillows-

Isn't this red paisley pattern beautiful?!

I was also inspired by these awesome organizing containers from Pottery Barn Kids.

 I totally intended to head over to the wood shop and build a bigger version of the cubbies to organize all the kids' papers--kind of like this--

Then I was browsing on Pinterest (oh how I love Pinterest!) and I saw this--a cereal box covered with patterned paper.

I decided to combine all my unfinished projects and clean off the side of the fridge at the same time!

And now I have this-

I'm not sure I love the blue fabric mixed with the red but it is very colorful and fun and I LOVE having a place to put all the paperwork--lunch menus ball game schedules etc.

And best of all--I finished a project.

Project organization: menus

As the kids head back to school I am ready to get serious about organizing my life. 

Organization isn't really my strong point but I am determined to have my weak things become my strengths...

Here's something I've been trying for a month or so now--

I write our menu on the front of the fridge where everyone can see what's coming up and I can plan ahead before it is 5 pm and everyone is starving.

I love the   Crayola dry erase crayons.  They come in lots of colors and the writing doesn't just brush off if someone bumps the fridge.  They wipe off really easily with water.  Awesome.

Before I can actually write the meals down I have to plan them.  I hate thinking of things to eat.  Isn't thinking of meals the worst?

To begin making things easier I went to my favorite food planning site at food storage made easy.net.

The site has lots of interesting food storage ideas but my favorite is the excel spreadsheet.  It is programmed to calculate how much food is needed to have a one or three month storage of regular meals that we eat all the time.
I love it.
I went in and put in all the meals I could think of right off the top of my head and I had 30 meals before I knew it.  I change some meals according to the seasons {in the summer we grill pizza outside...} but I still use pretty much the same ingredients.

I took the list of meals from  the spreadsheet and printed them off on the computer and stuck them to some cute paper...

Whoever is helping me with dinner for the week can choose from the pile of meals and I know I have the ingredients for that meal.
Some meals are in more than once--we eat pizza at least twice a month so I entered pizza twice in the meal planner spreadsheet and I put two pizza strips in the pile.  When we finish the pile then we can start over and I know I need to stock up on another month of food.

So far it works really well.  I especially like having the plan in front of me so I can remember to get the chicken out of the freezer ahead of time.  

Okay really---we don't always eat all the meals like I plan. Sometimes I just don't get it all done so I have a few easy meals in the freezer. 

Sometimes I bring home roasted chicken when I go to the store.  Actually we are a two chicken family these days and I suspect we are well on the way to becoming a three chicken family...

.

Sometimes I buy pizza instead of making it {we are now a three pizza family too!}.

Sometimes we just eat eggs and toast.

  

I tell myself that when I don't have a baby nursing 6-8 times a day I will have more time but I know it's not true.  I never have more time.  Something always comes up. 

But having a plan always helps! 

Next up in my organization plan--school stuff.