Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on May 20th, 2013%

This is what I feel about the next 8 weeks. “And so it begins.” A very busy time for a gal whose life is generally quiet and always the same. But, you eat the elephant one bite at a time and I’m working on the coming bridal shower of my daughter with our church family. Low key, 2 dear sweet friends are helping and we are just wanting to celebrate together as Hannah moves off permanently from her church family on to her new life with Jacob.

Here is my menu for the week. Very easy (many things are already in my freezer) and very quick. Granted, it is slightly boring, but I can use a bit of boring right about now!

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, Walking Redeemed, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

A wedding coming soon

By Kate, on May 14th, 2013%

These past few weeks have been busy for me but the next 2 months will be even more so. My 5th child is graduating from homeschool and my eldest daughter is getting married. *sigh* I am excited for them both but there also comes a mixed bag of emotions.

As my daughter prepares to be mistress of her own home with her future husband it has made me mindful of something that I’ve always wanted to do for my children: prepare a cookbook of the special recipes I’ve used over the years.

Now, I’m not a great cook. But we do have special foods that the children love and recipes that they favor. So I’m going to pull together a short book (there are not that many) of my recipes. For my children I’m going to print it out and put in a binder with sheet protectors. But I will also make it available here as a free download. It’s one piece of HOME that my children can take with them when they leave.

GREAT! Now I’m crying as I think about them leaving!!

What are the special legacies you want to leave for your children?

Loading InLinkz …

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on May 13th, 2013%

Well, I am sure hoping that my week is a quiet one! The last several weeks have been hectic for me, and not always with fun. We are back to school this week, our company is gone, our basement is almost put back together BETTER than before and now I begin preparations for planning a graduation party, a shower and eventually help with a wedding. Wait… in 4 seconds of writing my quiet week has flown the coop!! And I’m SO NOT an organized, creative person! *sigh*

Anyway, as I looked at my URL for this post, I am writing my 107th Menu Planning Monday post! Now, in the beginning I didn’t always post my menus, but this is more than 2 years of menu posting. Neat. This week is pretty boring (and inexpensive) but it is also a week of training my daughters to take over the grocery shopping. Not that they’ll actually take it over (but I wouldn’t complain if they did), I just want to make sure that they are fully trained to do it on their own.

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

Organizing spices

By Kate, on May 7th, 2013%

I love to bake. I love trying new recipes. I’m not so thrilled about cleaning, but I do love to be in the kitchen providing fun new things for my family to eat.

BUT I really struggle with the disorder that comes with many spices in my cabinet. I am a very short person (under 5 foot tall) and can only reach the front of my upper cabinets. So when I have many different spices tossed into a cabinet I often end up buying duplicates simply because I cannot find the ones I already have.

I’ve looked into various ways of organizing:

in drawer storage
attached to cabinet doors
spinning/rotating countertop do-hickies

None of these would work for me because of my very limited cabinet/drawer/countertop space or because of my height (or lack thereof). But FINALLY I found something that works for me!!

We don’t have cable and I have never seen a home shopping channel, but in my internet search, I found something on QVC that I really love.

3 drawers with 2 rows per drawer and labels to easily find the spice you need

drawer pulls out and drops down to reveal spices

all 3 drawers pull out and drop down, holding many different size containers with 2 rows per drawer

Now, this spice organizer does take up most of the cabinet so it can no longer hold my larger items I use every day. Since it was never easy for me to reach them anyway, I took the tiered rack I had previously purchased (in the hopes that it would help) and put that on my counter next to my stove.

my everyday cooking/baking items right next to my stove

Now it is MUCH easier for me to keep organized and reach all of my spices and items for cooking or baking. I’m a very happy camper. Now, if only things would STAY this well ordered!

Loading InLinkz …

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on May 6th, 2013%

Well, what a week this has been and so much to share! A few weeks ago we had a basement flood (and were ill prepared, so it took us a few days to pump it all out). Then this last week we had a sewage back-up in the basement. What a learning experience!! But now I know what to do. And our sewer line is clean as a whistle, so we should be good for a while.

But this coming week will be a real joy – the New Life Drama team will be here, and that means BETHANY IS COMING HOME!!! Granted, she’ll only be here for 4 days, but I will GLADLY take it!!

This also means, feeding 5 extra adults for those 4 days. I’ve chosen meals that will allow me to use from what we have so I don’t have to purchase too much extra. But I also want to add favorites for Bethany while she’s home. What a balancing act!

I have also been blessed to join a new Farm Share! And we got our first batch of produce yesterday. For the 2nd of May I was very pleased with my bounty.

white radishes, scallions, large bag of spinach, lettuce

Download my FREE Menu Planner to help you in your own meal planning. Breakfasts offer fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salad.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Mommy Mondays, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, A Wise Woman Builds Her House, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on April 29th, 2013%

Well, this past week was my birthday. And while the wrinkles on my body are not what I long for, I DO love growing older with the Lord AND with my husband. And ALL of my children are wonderful! So I’m delighted in this journey the Lord has me on.

So another week of menus! Nothing new this week, we are still working through what is in our basement to see what needs to be tossed and what can be kept from our recent flooding. I had spent all week organizing and pricing all of my homeschool material for a local used book sale. But, as ALWAYS happens with sales I do, I sold very little. I’m looking for other avenues to sell my seriously used, but very inexpensive, materials. Ideas?

Download my FREE menu planner page and please check out my e-book listed at the bottom of this post. Breakfasts have fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salads.

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

Blogs I might be linking to:
Menu Planning Monday, On The Menu Monday, Erin Branscoms, Marital Oneness, The Better Mom, Multitudes on Monday, Hear it On Sunday, Sharing His Bounty, What Joy Is Mine, Playdates at the Well, Domestically Divine Tuesdays, Time Warp Wife, Funky Planet Frequent Flier Club, Encourage One Another, The Welcoming House, Legacy Leaver Thursday, What’s Up Wednesday, Thought Provoking Thursday, Hearts 4 Home, Thankful Thursday, Thankful Thursdays, Thankful, Thankful Thursday Brown-eyed Bell(e), Big Family Fridays, Faith Filled Fridays, Feasting In Fellowship Friday, Fellowship Friday, Homemaking Link-up Week-end, A Little R&R, Pieces of Amy, Homeschool Mother’s Journal

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on April 22nd, 2013%

What a week last week! Flooding, pumping, drying, sorting, blanketing. Our basement flooded with the torrential rains and we were ill prepared (having never had the drain in our basement not drain before). We are still working on getting it cleaned out and sorted between what is salvageable and what needs to be tossed while working to quickly dry out all the rest of the floor.

This week, my menu is simple, fast and CHEAP! What I had hoped would be a car fund (we are limited to just our 15 passenger van, not really economical as an every day car) has now turned into a furnace fund (since ours was destroyed in the flood). So, I’ll be trying to cut corners wherever possible to help with this journey. In the meanwhile, we are using several space heaters to take the edge off the constant chill and loving our blankets!!

Please download my Menu Planner page for your own meal planning. You will find that planning is the KEY to staying within a budget, and I talk of this and teach how to do it in my e-book “Cut It Out!” linked below.

As always, breakfasts have fruit, lunches have raw veggies and suppers have cooked veggies or salads. Have a blessed and wonderful week!

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“.

It's time for some Martha!

By Kate, on April 19th, 2013%

Spring has come in light a LION!! Rain, rain and more rain. And I’m feeling the longing to get some organization done, time to put some Martha on!

As many of you know, I am NOT an organized person by nature. But I’m delighted to know that God works with who we are to re-create us into who He WANTS us to be! And for me, that is more organized. It is easy for me to live like Mary, but I need to FOCUS to grow into the diligence of Martha.

Our school books have run amok! 23 years of schooling has certainly piled up a HUGE inventory. And since I’ve only got 6 years more to go with schooling, I think it is time to prune and weed the textbook garden. Fortunately for me, our local homeschool group is having a used book sale at the end of the month. This week has been a time of pulling together ALL the books – from basement, bookshelves and china closet (yes, I used our china closet for school books… does that tell you how many we’ve got?)

My china closet is being re-purposed – not for china yet – for my candle making supplies and my vanilla supplies. One day I’ll use it for china, but I’ll have to wait for children to leave before I have more room throughout the house for storage. I do have to find someone who can do repairs on the china closet, but I’m afraid that won’t be this year.

The entire quadrant of the kitchen where the china closet is is being de-cluttered, re-organized and re-purposed.

When that is done, next week I can get down to brass tacks in getting the rest of the kitchen deep cleaned and organized. Anyone with GREAT ideas on organizing spices, write it in the comments section. Over the door racks will not work for me as I’m too short and can barely reach the upper doors. Drawer racks won’t work because I only have 3 working drawers in the kitchen and they are packed (and falling apart). Our counter space is very small but usable. If anyone wants to buy us new kitchen cabinets, let’s just say I wouldn’t complain!!

Feeling much better with the road to organization being traveled this week!

P.S. There was a hiccup along the path yesterday. We ended up with almost a foot of water in our basement. We’ve never had flooding before so were COMPLETELY unprepared. A friend bought us a pump, but alas, it is very small for the gargantuan task (there were NO sump pumps anywhere in the tri-city area – no I am NOT Doofenschmirtz). So we worked round the clock with the pumping and giving the pump a rest. I’ll see in the morning how far down we’ve come.

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on April 15th, 2013%

I had a very refreshing break last week. This week I’m ready to JUMP back into school and ministry. God revealed some things to me that I need to adjust as I continue on in my marathon of homeschooling. As my responsibilities have changed and grown (adding blogging, ministry and Virtual Assistant work), I have come to realize that I need to set specific office hours.

I found myself feeling out of balance on time I was spending online, and it was taking a large emotional (and physical) toll on me. So, now I can designate certain hours during the day for online work. I will actually set a timer (I so easily lose track of time, with this aging mind). I can’t over schedule my life because I won’t follow it. I’m NOT a List Person – I’m more a Gumby: flexible and spontaneous. BUT all the more reason that I need to set some boundaries and time constraints. Because without them, I’ll fly too much by the seat of my ~~skirt~~ pants and miss out on the IMPORTANT things that need my regular attention.

I’m feeling very restful in the plan ahead. But at my next break, Kevin and I will evaluate together to see if it is really working.

Here’s the weekly menu. Breakfasts have fruit, lunches, raw veggies and suppers cooked veggies or salad. Download my FREE menu planner for your own meal planning!

Purchase my e-book
“Cut It Out! How I Feed My Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons“

Menu Planning Monday

By Kate, on April 8th, 2013%

Another week off from school for us and do I need it! I have been dealing with some small trials, but they seem to be sapping my energy. So this week, I’m going to do a LOT of relaxing and refreshing things, spend a LOT of time in the scriptures to fill up my spirit, do some outside fun stuff (weather permitting) and just enjoy my family and the life the Lord has blessed me with!

I’ll be getting back to a regular bake day, this week with bread and tortillas, and I’m really looking forward to that. As always, breakfasts have fruit, lunches have raw veggies, suppers have cooked veggies or salad available. Download my FREE menu planner for your own weekly menus.