Crash and Burn!

If there's one thing I've learned from FlyLady it's this: the biggest problem is our tenancy to crash and burn.

We "build up speed and crash right through" our mountain of work. The last task is finished just as the houseguests knock on the door for the third time.

And? We are sick of housecleaning; it takes 2 weeks to recover. In plain words, we are burned-out.

Of course, two weeks later we have another huge wreck! The cycle continues.

This is what I did with my Cooking Day. I love the idea of making a whole week of meals (12 meals) in one day. And it is do-able. If only I would have stopped at 2.5 hours instead of continuing to the point of exhaustion at 3.5 hours. Maybe then I would look forward to my Cooking Day instead of dreading it (and procrastinating for weeks on end).

Yep, I definately have a "crash and burn" tendency!

FlyLady's cure:
1) Do your routine every day. This keeps the essentials from piling up.
2) Only work on Huge Project for a reasonable amount of time (Fly Lady suggests 15 minutes) and then stop until tomorrow.

Let's stop Crash -n- Burn!

Wheat Free Challenge

I took a break from blogging about meal plans this week... I am taking each day at a time right now.

And I don't like it, but so it goes.

I have just discovered a wheat allergy in our family and am experimenting to see if it is only wheat or all gluten.

Thankfully, I have discovered the world of blog to help me out in this transition - I'd despair if it weren't for all the gluten-free blogs that I have run across lately.

Of course, experimenting takes time (I have to come up with all kinds if new ingredients as well as purging out the old...

And to top it off, I'm exhausted these days. I must be working my brain too hard.

If I run out of time and energy, blogging will have to take a backseat. I love to blog, and hopefully will be able to do so periodically. Time will tell.

Paige

Ps 77... Remember God's Works.

Last week I spent some enjoyable time in Psalms 77. Here are some of my notes:

One of the most powerful ways to pass on the faith to children is to tell them true stories that show God at work, not only in Bible times, but also in your lifetime. Probably, the most potent stories are the ones that they see happen. It is important for me as a mother to notice God's handiwork and then point it out as such to my young ones:

The sun rising in the morning.
The way our bodies work.
Their friend who logically "should" have died, but lived.
The cycle of life (water cycle, plant cycle, the way the planets orbit, etc)



Making a list of God's work in my life also increases my own trust in God:

The story of how my husband and I "met."
The times I've been in crashes and survived.
The way God has led me to mature forgive in personal relationships.
The circumstances He has put me in for the purpose of teaching me how to cope with that particular situation.

Truly, God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform!

Import Recipes From Anywhere For Free!

I am singing about this one! Import recipes from blogs or anywhere else on the web? Have them in one place? For free? Yes!!

Cozi offers this! And that's not all. You can easily drag recipes from your list, drop them into the calendar and Viola! A menu plan AND a shopping list to print or sync with your smartphone! It doesn't get easier!

The one downside is that their website is not designed to use with a smartphone. They do have an app, but it does not support the recipe function.

Therefore, I have not used this import very often. I am assuming that it works as advertised. Be sure to check it out and let me know.

For those of you who work from your Android smartphones: ChefTap is for you! They are still in beta, so the cool features haven't been released yet (soon), but it does import recipes from anywhere! I use it every day! No more bookmarking web pages!

Let me know how these cool imports work for you! You are going to try it, aren't you??

Menu Plan Mar 12

Another day of mega cooking! Four recipes x4 = 16 meals. 4 to eat this week; 12 of them in the freezer. That equals a whole week worth of food in the freezer. Yea! I love a stocked freezer!

The four meals were:
Taco Soup

Pam n Peggy's Crisis Casserole

Beef Nacho Casserole
This was really good; I love nachos, why not in a casserole? :)

1 Dish Taco Bake

A little dry; we like to eat it with leftover Taco Soup!

Prep (the evening before): 35 minutes. Hey, not bad! I set out ingredients to thaw, dishes, and other ingredients (tin cans, seasonings, flour, etc.). I even measured rice and water so it would be all ready to cook in the morning.

The big day: 1 hour, 48 minutes. I rinsed dishes as I emptied them.

Clean up: 22 minutes

Total: 16 meals in 2 hours, 45 minutes!! It actually took from 9-2 ... because of childcare and lunch. But, hey! That's the only major thing that I planned to do today, so this is great! I still have time to pick up the house and wash my hair!

This week we also had:

Broccoli Soup

Chicken Taqitos

Mexican Chicken

I overdid the cayenne pepper on the Mexican Chicken. It was edible, but very hot. I said, to no one in particular, "This is hot!" My husband looked up in surprise, "This is good!" I frowned, "you serious?" "Yeah, this is really good!"
Oh! No wonder he isn't crazy about my cooking- I don't usually spice things up this much. :) Live and learn!

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday and Susie QT Pie meal planning .

Paige

How To Clean Flower Vases

Do you have a drinking straw or a small-neck vase? How do you clean them?


Quick Tip: Put dry rice and hot soapy water inside and then shake and shake and shake till it's clean!


Paige

Menu plan... and How to have a clean fridge

I found the key for loving my weekly routine ! Now I tell myself, My routine is not a to-do list, it is just my focus for the day. If something doesn't get done on Friday, no stressing out. I'll just make it a priority when next Friday comes around. Honestly, I love having a weekly routine!!

On to menu planning. Here is what we enjoyed this week....

Tex Mex Chicken
This was good! I will probably use my own rice and spagetti noodles next time just so I don't spend money on prepackaged food. Hope I can make it just as good. :)


Crockpot Salsa Chicken
I shredded the chicken, stirred in sour cream and salsa. We ate it as a dip with tortilla chips. Yum! Any hot chicken would work for this delicious dip. Go ahead and use your favorite marinade.

Cheesy Garlic Pizza

This was good! We dipped the slices in spagetti sauce to compensate for the dryness. And we all wanted the leftovers the next day.

Chicken Bundles
Best chicken spread I've ever had! Super easy, too!

Cheesy Chicken Ranch Casserole
Yum! The ranch dressing mix took it up another notch!

This week's focus... I read a cleaning tip this week: "wash out your fridge each time you go shopping, before putting items away." I thought about that. Sounds like a good idea! But my fridge is filthy. And right after I get home from shopping isn't a good time; I'm exhausted... baby's crying... it's time to eat... Something is sure to keep me from following thru on this one.

I could wash it out before I leave for town. It would take less then 5 minutes (after a really good cleaning!). But that doesn't strike me either. Maybe someday I'll adopt that habit and add it to Monday's weekly routine. But for now, I found a method I like better. Especially, considering the deplorable state of my fridge.

So, my new habit for this week is to clean part of the fridge every day. Whichever part I feel like. At least half a shelf. I'll also reorganize, in hopes of finding a better system...

BTW, can anyone tell me how to keep these pictures from getting too big??

I'll be linking up to Menu Plan Monday and Susie QT Pie meal planning .

Paige