No more Sunday Confessionals

Life can change in an instance and sometimes it will never change.  I have discovered there is a lot more to me than I gave myself credit for.  For me I have been content and have decided it is time to shake things up for me a bit.  I think that everyone has midlife crisis (I am pretty mid, I must say) but more important studies show that you will change your profession more than three times in your life.  I have already changed twice.....what is once more, you know.  Don't wait until tomorrow to start living your life.  I have found something that I think I can do, realistically and enjoy myself doing it.  I must say I love Blogging, but I have found it hard to find the time or to open myself up as much as I should.  You know there is a difference between personal and private.  There will be more personal things going on on this blog.  I am a proud mom (my most important job) but I wear many hats, and now one more.  I am scared, excited and energized all at the same time.  Come join me on my journey!

Saturday Family Fun

Sometimes your family has to divide and conquer to have fun.  Today we split in two groups.  The older kids took off with my husband to enjoy all the city had to offer.  I, however decided to stay close to home, do some grocery shopping, purchasing a new router (boring) and such.  I spent the first few hours of Saturday cleaning house, now we can all relax tomorrow and watch the race.  It should be a great day!

Thursday - Featured site of the week - Evernote

I discovered this a while back, but over the past couple of weeks I have had plenty of time to play with it.  I LOVE IT!
It is just like one note, which I loved, but I could never get it to sync right and since I had the 2007 version I couldn't update it on the go.  Evernote solves it all!

I have an android phone, an ipad, and a laptop.  It has a version for each of my devices as well as a web based application and a desktop version for my PC.  I can sync this anywhere.  I can also share my notebooks with anyone I choose.  They can edit the notebooks or be granted read only access (with Premium membership).
Most people will be just fine with the regular free account, but since I use it for work as well I find the file attachments feature (any type with premium, pdf's and photos are allowed with free) invaluable.

Want to find out about it watch a great video here:

I have already started a Christmas notebook so when I see something I can take a picture and add a note (directly from my phone) and there is no guessing or trying to remember.  This is one of the best organizational tools that i have seen in a LONG time.

School starts Monday!

I created a menu to write my blog posts from, but honestly, sometimes I am not in the mood to write about what is on the menu.  Sometimes I do not feel like writing at all.

I promised my husband that I would not write specifics about my family.  So for the most part this blog has stayed pretty innocuous.  I have thought about writing about the struggles that my family has to maintain balance and sanity.  But for now I will just keep this kind of general.....This weekend I am working on a couple of things:
A. Relaxing, school starts on Monday and I need to be mentally and physically ready.
B.  Getting my ducks in a row.  I have four kids that I need to have on a schedule and things ready for the new school year.

So how do I do that?  Here you go:
First of all, our "chores" have changed because we have less time to get them done.  I have used program after program on my android and my ipad.  I still keep going back and forth to find a great option.  I had been using cozi.com but then I decided that I can't copy and paste an entire list to that.  So I am still working on which program I will use, but for now it will be home routines.  I downloaded this app over six months ago and even though I love my android because it is on me all of the time and I do not use my ipad as much, this is still hands down the best program I have found to manage my lists and my kids list.  I can email them to the kids and I can also get them to copy and paste the entire list in their home routines in just two steps.

Next thing is meal planning.  I have been using Plan To Eat for over a year now.  While I like it, I disliked the fact that I could not import recipes from blogs.  They have worked on it and it is better but still not great in my opinion.  It is time to renew my membership.  $40.00 is a big chunk for me, so I am wondering if I will renew or not.  I am going to do a test trial with Big Oven again.  I downloaded that program a few years ago.  Even though it is not as pretty as plan to eat, it is significantly cheaper.  I am also looking at Allrecipes.  I would really like to have nutritional information.  Big Oven automatically calculates the nutritional information.  Probably the only thing I really don't like about Plan to Eat.  Still thinking about this one.

I have established google calendars for all of the kids.  At the beginning of the week I print out a calendar for each one of them so they know what they have to do each week.  Then I put the information on the large calendar in the kitchen.  We have a wonderful calendar that I purchase each year from More Times Moms.  They have great customer service.  One year they changed where they put the holes for the calendar and I called them, they refunded my purchase price.  This will be the fourth year I have purchased a calendar from them.  I love it!

Ok so that is what I have started so far, I will finish up the laundry this weekend and will be ready to start school on Monday!

Monday Menu Plan - Whoops

Well, I have had a rough week, health issues and other things have kept me from blogging.  But I was so excited about my new e-mealz.com plan that I wasn't worried, BUT......
When I downloaded the new menu plan this week I realized my family wouldn't eat a single meal on the plan.  I started with the Publix meal plan on Wednesday and I said, nope nothing on there, so I will wait for the Kroger plan on Sunday, and it was very similar (which tells me at this point I won't need both).  So there I was on Sunday with no plan.... :(

So we have been winging it....

Monday - Spaghetti, Texas Toast

Tuesday - BBQ Chicken, Beans, Mac n Cheese and Garden Salad

Wednesday - Stuffed Shells with Sauce, Caesar Salad

Thursday - Slow Cooker Dump and Go Cheesy Chicken, Rice and Green Beans

Friday - Pizza Night

Saturday - Taco Twist Bake, Salad

Sunday - A1 Pork Chops, Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes

Find this plan over on Orgjunkie.com

Thursday - Featured site of the Week E-mealz.com

Blogging is supposed to be a release for me.  This week has been less than stellar for me in some ways and really good in other ways.

I have been conducting a little experiment this week with e-mealz.com.  So far so good.  The dish I made the last night was another big hit.  So not only is it easy to follow but it is also good.

So here is my break down so far:

Pros-
Easy to read and follow recipes (the entire weeks recipes are on one page!)
So far everyone likes everything on the menu
It made my shopping trip quick and easy
You can search on the internet for a coupon code to get a discount on your meal plan!

Cons-
The portions are not big enough for my family, so I have to adjust
Condiments are not included in the shopping list and some of the things they consider condiments I would not (i.e. hamburger buns)
I have to substitute healthier items (low sodium broths and soups, etc), I know that they do this to keep the price down, so I choose to use the more expensive item to be a bit healthier.


All in all I really like this site.  Because I have two stores I shop at I now have 14 meals to choose from for my family, the shopping lists are ready to go, I just take my coupon binder and hit the road!

e-mealz.com

Tuesday - Random Acts of Kindness / Gratitude

Well I am trying to get back into a rhythm again.  I am not sure I can get back to blogging every day but I will try.   My husband asked me what would make me happy.  I said, I wasn't aware that I was unhappy.  I feel that I am generally content.  Sure would I like to have more money and not be in debt, you bet.  Could I stand to lose some weight and get healthier, absolutely!  But that is not my primary focus.  I would have to say for now my family is.  Now when my kids are gone and grown, who knows, my tastes and goals may change.

We are working on changing our world a little at a time.  My children are each picking a project that we will engage in as a family.  Each child picks one month.  Last month we worked on the tornado relief in Joplin.  We have friends and family there so it was an obvious choice that was close to our hearts. Our daughter spearheaded a drive at her school and then took the supplies to Joplin.  This month our son has chosen to help package meals for delivery to terminally ill patients.  Next week we will load up in our van and set out to package meals for three hours.  He picked it on his own.  Next month another son wants to help our local animal shelter out by getting donations from his classroom.  We have to run that by the school administration but I am sure that they will allow it.  Even if he just gets his friends to participate and bring in old towels it will help a few dogs that otherwise would not have any bedding.  We also found a great doggie biscuit recipe that we will make at home.

As I have mentioned before I love the site Pebble Tossers.  They log in and they look for their own project.  We talk about it and then we schedule it.  It creates a ripple, hopefully our children will continue to carry this on long after they move out.

pebbletossers.org

So how are YOU going to create a small ripple today?