Miscellaneous on Saturday

I find that keeping track of shoes for little people who cannot keep track of shoes themselves to be tedious and frustrating. How many times am I walking out the door, trying to shod their little feet, nobody can find the shoes they want, they're running all over the house, looking here, looking there? (This partially accounts for my living in a Bermuda Triangle of Lost Time.) So, I set up a Shoe Area in the garage a couple of months ago, then reorganized it this weekend. Now all family members' shoes are in one place, and I even placed a bin of the big kids' socks in there after several months of knowing where our shoes were but having to send the kids running back upstairs to retrieve socks. Having a shoe area reduces dirt and germs in the house where the baby crawls on the floor. Chris and I each have a pair of Indoor Only Shoes that we wear inside. The Shoe Area used shelving we already had and repurposed, an old chair I wasn't using, a bench I am borrowing from the kids' cute little picnic bench, and an old indoor/outdoor rug so that our feet aren't cold on the cement.

When John found out that Mary got to polish silver (while he and Daddy were gone), he desperately wanted to do it himself. He asked me all day, such that I actually got out all the supplies late in the evening before bedtime just to satisfy him. This time, instead of using the chemically treated polishing cloths, we used a paste of baking soda and water: it worked very well! The pieces (not previously cleaned) polished up almost to a mirror shine! The Montessori method of polishing calls for using a Q-tip and I thought the children would not have the fine motor skills or patience necessary, but I think it was the very smallness of the Q-tip that caused them to furrow their little brows and concentrate quietly. It was amazing!

When I checked in on the kids tonight, I saw John sleeping in his bed but Mary's bed empty. I asked Chris where Mary was: "She's not in her bed?!" I went back and, no, she was not in her bed. That's when I looked closer at John and saw that Mary was snuggled between him and the wall, both children asleep. This mama's heart melted into a puddle! Those two really are best pals. (Note how John sleeps the first half of each night with his knees up. Isn't that funny?)

New Meal Planning Idea: I am inspired by another mama (and, really, I've heard this suggestion from numerous mamas) to try grocery shopping every two weeks, instead of every week (or, even, multiple times of week like I used to do!). I can waste money on spontaneous purchases only if I step foot into a store (literally or figuratively by shopping online). Don't step into the store, and wasteful spending should go down. Here is my new plan: 1. Continue to receive fresh dairy weekly from milk man. 2. Shop at Costco once monthly. 3. Shop at grocery store every two weeks. Focus on fresh produce the first week of meals, focus on frozen produce the second week.

Obviously, shopping two weeks at a time necessitates meal planning two weeks at a time. I truly hate the chore of meal planning, so perhaps doing it two weeks at a time will be better because I will have to do it less often.

While hunting online for suggestions about meal planning for two weeks at a time, I found a fantastic blog post with some other ideas I am going to try! This mother uses her Gmail calendar for her meal planning! Ingenious, I tell you!

This is what I am trying: I created a Meal Planning sub-calendar in my Gmail calendar. For each evening, I create an event that is my meal plan. In the notes section, I can even paste in the link to an online recipe. I will have a reminder emailed to myself each morning. If I wanted, I could set a meal to repeat (e.g., pizza every Friday night).

I hope that these experiments will continue to improve my meal planning (too bad it doesn't improve my cooking) as well as reduce grocery costs!