Friday, June 19, 2015

And Life Goes On

Anyone know where June went?  I looked down and saw it's been 10 days since I last posted, but I'm sure it hasn't been that long.  :)

We thought we were done with our paperwork, but I got a call on Thursday that one of our notaries made a mistake on the notary seal.  So we get to fill out our financial paperwork again and get it notarized this weekend.

Besides that, we're really close to being out of the paper chase.  If I remember correctly, once we get logged into China, we have a great deal of twiddling our thumbs ahead of us.  But let me tell you, I'm having no trouble at all staying busy this time--three kids instead of two will do that for you!  I have a long list of projects for the summer too, most of which involve downsizing and simplifying.

First up was my bedroom.  I got rid of a bunch of clothes and set aside a few more that need something to complete the outfit (mostly skirts that need a matching top).  I know the whole 'capsule wardobe' thing is popular, but I'd rather just keep the clothes I like and make sure all my dress clothes are complete outfits instead of mix and match.  Sadly, this will involve some clothes shopping, which ranks far below visiting the dentist in my book.

The next project is a big one, and one that will require multiple weeks to complete:  food in our house.  I started with cataloging/organizing the pantry and freezer, and making a list of 'random things we should eat because I bought them over a year ago.'  Things like a quarter of a bag of orzo (probably from a random recipe) and Belgian Chocolate shells that I bought on super clearance without a purpose.  NEVER BY ANYTHING WITHOUT A PURPOSE!  That should be my new motto. 

At this point, I need to sit down and figure out how I'm going to approach meals right now.   David teases me about how I'm constantly trying to figure out an 'easier' way to do meals, yet I'm not willing to really commit to meal planning.  I want to be able to make whatever I feel like for dinner, but that's JUST NOT PRACTICAL with three little kids.  I think there must be a way to adapt a meal planning system to my tendencies, but at some point, I may have to give up on that dream and just commit.  And I really need to figure it out before Little Brother shows up!

(Also on my list: picking a name for Little Brother, so we can stop calling him Little Brother)

2 comments:

  1. You could plan three days a week and use them when you need to, leaving the other days to ad lib. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

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  2. I didn't start menu planning until my kids were a bit older, but it has worked really well for me. I make sure to plan something easy on days I know will be busy, and then it helps me power through to actually getting supper made even when I'm tired. As far as flexibility, just because you have something planned doesn't mean you can't switch days around or decide to completely skip a planned meal and do something different if that's how things work out. Another thing that has worked for us is to have a set meal for one night of the week. For us, Sunday night is always pizza night. I make the dough up Saturday night and then it's fairly straight forward on Sunday and everybody knows what's for dinner and likes it - always a bonus! There's still lots of time for different dishes and experimenting if I feel like it, but when I'm not so much feeling like cooking supper, it makes it a bit easier to have one less night to think about what to serve. Good luck!

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