First Day of School: Getting Organized

When I was going to school I loved the first day of school and was always so excited about the prospect of starting fresh. I loved having all my books and supplies, so clean and new...each new year I would make my usual goals...I will be more organized...I won't doodle on my binders....I will study this many hours every night and keep up with all my readings...and on and on and on...I guess being married to a teacher helps keep that excitement of a new year alive. And since I don't have a pencil case to organize anymore, I have been busy these past couple days trying to get more organized in other areas of my life.

Here is what I have been up to....

I love Gail Vaz-Oxlade

I am addicted to her show...when the kids are asleep I watch an episode or two (you can watch them online) and get all excited about budgeting, saving money and paying off debt. Seriously you should check it out...I have been telling everyone about her lately...I am a bit obsessed. It is fascinating to me that no matter what your income...be it big or small, she always manages to get people saving more, or paying off more debt. ...Seriously, you should check her out...you will be hooked!!! (click on "Full Episodes" at the top just above the black screen, and scroll down till you find the yellow "Til Debt do us part" box (there are three seasons of it)...Click on "See more" and then the episode you would like to watch).

On one of her episodes there was a family that was spending way too much $$ on Restaurants because they didn't like to cook...She sent them to a place where they were able to make a bunch of meals to have in their freezer so that they didn't feel like they needed to go out to eat (saving time and money). This sounded like a brilliant plan to me...We never go out to eat and I am not a huge fan of cooking/planning what to have for dinner, so making dinner is always a bit of a whirlwind (last minute trips to the store, kids at my feet, little time to do it in, and a big mess at the end).

Enter: Once A Month Cooking: A Proven System For Spending Less Time In The Kitchen. Revised (Paperback) by Mary Beth Lagerborg (Author), Mimi Wilson (Author) "This cooking method enables you to prepare either a month or two week's main dishes at once and freeze them." ( I found it at the Library). And so, last night, after the boys went to sleep I stayed up till 3:30 am and started cooking....It was crazy but so far has been well worth it as today I knew exactly what I was doing for dinner...I didn't have to run to the store, it was already, and there wasn't a big mess in my kitchen to clean up after supper...instead, we went to the lake and played at the park.

Here are a few pics from my crazy night.....

The Prep work---came to appreciate my Bosh.


assembling the recipes

Before: Frozen

After: Voila, dinner is served.


On a scale of 1-5, Jeremy rated this meal as a 3..."a good 3", he said (whatever that means). Anyway, I loved not having to spend my evening in the kitchen (making the meal and then cleaning up from it). I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers.