31 Days of Gratitude (Day 26 & 27): Meal Planning & Family Time

By bobbi
October 27, 2014
2 Comments

The 31 Days of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 26 – 27 of my 31 Days of Gratitude.

I’m crawling to the finish line of this 31 day challenge. This post is a twofer. 😉

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Yesterday I was really slacking in the cooking department. (Sandwiches for dinner anyone?) BUT I am feeling domestic today so I am making up for it. I’ve got a chicken in the slow cooker for dinner and granola in the oven for tomorrow’s breakfast. While those are cooking I’d thought I’d post my menu for the week and Link-up with Nell at Whole Parenting for Week Eats.

Monday

Slow Cooker Rotisserie-Style Chicken, Wild Rice & Green Beans.

Tuesday

Breakfast Dinner

Wednesday

Slow cooker Lentil and Kale Soup & Salad

Thursday

Leftovers (If there aren’t any leftovers, we’ll have a chef salad or grilled cheese.)

Friday

Chili Beans and Corn Bread

(After trick or treating a nice bowl of chili sounds cozy.)

Saturday

Homemade Pizza and Greek Salad

Sunday

Enchilada lasagna (I still need to post that recipe), pinto beans, veggies, salsa and guac.

I’ll be hosting dinner for my in-laws and, if all goes well, my parents too! They’ll hopefully be driving up from So Cal to spend a few days with us. This is my go-to company-is-coming meal.

Knowing that I will be getting a hug from my parents and spending time with them in just a few days, well, that makes me very, very grateful!

Thanks to Nell for hosting the link up!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. 😉

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For more 31 Days of Gratitude, visit the home page here.

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 17): Decorating Our Home for Fall

By bobbi
October 17, 2014
5 Comments

The 31 Days of Writing Challenge continues. It’s Day 17 of my 31 Days of Gratitude.

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After a long, hard week the kids are off school today and I have no appointments, meeting or errands so I get to stay in the house the whole day! I am sooo grateful for that because I need a day off.

Besides catching up on housework, I promised the kids they could help me decorate for Halloween/Autumn. We dug out the decor boxes in the shed and made the home look fall festive. After reading about Bonnie’s Autumn in the Home blog hop and reading Amanda’s A Glimpse into our Home: Fall Edition, I was inspired to get my butt in gear and not do what I usually do every year – wait so long to decorate that I give up trying since the season is over. I’m also linking up with The Fisk Files for her Fall Decor Link-up. (Well if I can get this post done in time. There is literally less than an hour until the link-up closes. It depends on how many interruptions I have. ;-))

The front door of our house gets our scarecrow family, pumpkins and the wreath we bought when we first moved into our house nearly ten years ago!

The front door opens up to our entryway and living room. I was unsure about hanging the plastic leaves garland but the kids loved it, so it stayed.

We bought the Mickey Mouse jack-o-lantern years ago at Disneyland. (It is next to a family photo of us in Disneyland.) It went well with our favorite Peanut characters in costume.

This is the top of our entryway shoe shelf. Technically the turkey is Thanksgiving but I thought it was appropriate since October is my 31 days of gratitude. 😉

Our pumpkin guys near the front door.

This is about as “spooky” as the little guys can stand. (Even thought they watch watch scenes with Darth Maul with no problem.)

Our indoor scarecrow.

To the left of the entryway is our library/front room/my desk area. Above our bookshelves I added a few leaves to the decor what was already there.

Our cross and Charles Dickens collection with random leaves.

To the right of the front door is our little prayer table. It pretty much stays the same year round (except for Christmas).

In the family room, next to the dining table, we have a second prayer spot. We decorate this one according to the season.

We first put up the card with the boys names for Lent but it worked out so well we kept it up. The name on top is our prayer leader of the day. This helps minimize the brawls over who gets to say their intentions or lead prayer first. 😉

In the kitchen, I put away the blue and light colored bowls and bring out the bowls and plates with reds and golds.

I got these cute little Fall plates for the kids.

These are small touches but it really made a difference and added a coziness to the house. All we need is the smell of pumpkin donuts in the kitchen and we will be set! I’m grateful for the free day that allowed me to spend time with the kids in our home. After the last few days of stress and busyness, it was a balm to my soul. For that, I am especially grateful.

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For more 31 Days of Gratitude, visit the home page here.

Pinterest Party & Link-Up (vol 29): My Powersheets Vision Board

By bobbi
September 9, 2014
3 Comments

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

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The inspiration for this post…

Photo Credit – Lara Casey Shop.com

You can find me on Pinterest here – http://www.pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/.

The pin for this post is here.

If you’ve been reading my last few posts, you know I have been working on Lara Casey’s Powersheets. They are basically a series of worksheets that help you to focus on what is most important to you in life and what you would like to accomplish. They gives you the tools you need to draw up a plan and follow through on making those things happen.There is nothing “magical” about Powersheets; the same way there is nothing “magical” about a StairMaster. Both can sit in the corner and gather dust. However, if you get off your butt and workout on either, transformation is inevitable. 🙂

This kind of set up is perfect for me because I am scattered and unorganized and always doing too many things at once and seemingly never accomplishing anything. The powersheets have helped me to focus on what matters most in my life. It has also motivated me to dig deeper and look into myself. One sheet had me listing my fears and it was a fear in itself to voice those things, let alone document them on paper. But it has been a productive process and I am already feeling at peace. Life is still crazy and hectic but at least I feel like I am making baby steps towards handling it better and bringing some much needed order into my life and our home.

One of my favorite steps in the process was putting together a Vision Board of the things that motivate me and fill me with joy. It was recommended that we make a Pinterest Board to add things that inspire us. I started one this week here. I also wanted to create my own board with photos I’ve taken that I could print off and hang up by my desk or in the kitchen. This is what it looks like.

The photos remind me of the things that inspire me – Faith, Love, Family, Home, Nature, and Creativity.

What kind of things inspire you? Do you have an inspirational board on Pinterest? Leave the link in the comments so I can check it out. 🙂

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Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol. 28): Daily Planner Goal Sheet (Free Printable)

By bobbi
August 26, 2014
6 Comments

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for 10 days so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

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The link for the pin to this post is here.

You can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

Lately for the Pinterest Parties I’ve been doing recipes but today I am doing something a little different. It’s the kids’ first day of school and we have been busy preparing uniforms, picking out new lunch boxes and buying school supplies. The air is filled with anticipation and the aroma of “bouquets of sharpened pencils.” (Name that classic rom-com!) Ever since I was a kid, this time of year has always been my favorite. Even as an adult, I still get giddy as I walk through Staples and chose a new notebook or planner and matching accessories. Yeah, I know. Nerd. But I can’t help it.

The new school year is also when I review over my current planner and try something new. This is especially important to me since I have been working so hard to accomplish my August 2014 Goals. I love my 2014 planner and it has served me well. However, the one draw back is that it is too big and bulky to carry around in my purse. That was fine when I spent most of my days home but now that the kids are all in school and I will be busy with upcoming school fundraisers and helping Andrew’s class as a room mom, I need to carry my planner with me. So while I am still in the process of changing over to something new (more of that in another post) the one constant I have been using with my weekly planner is a separate daily sheet of the day’s goals. I searched all over for one that was perfect for me and couldn’t quite find it so I finally just created one myself using Word. It is simple but it has the info I want and it is colorful enough to keep my attention. 😉

Ideally, I get up early enough to say morning prayer before the munchkins are up. Sometimes it’s 15 minutes quietly on the couch and sometimes it’s two minutes as I’m late jumping in the shower. Either way, I read over and think about the day’s prayer/reflection. Then I chose a concrete act I can do to put into practice my spiritual resolution of the day.

The time and effort you put into this will vary, depending on your season of life. There were many days when my resolution daily resolution was to try and take a 3 minute shower before Brian got home. You know what your life looks like right now. Challenge yourself but be realistic. God knows where your heart is and the crosses you are bearing right now. For a mom with a newborn her goal may be to stay in bed a few minutes longer and catch some ZZZ’s to make up for a sleepless night. My goal would be the opposite right now. Get my butt out of bed and stop lingering on my pillow. 😉

Next I review over my weekly planner and fill in the places I need to be and people I need to contact. Then I see what items I simply MUST do that day – ie. Pay the electricity before they shut off the lights or fill out that permission slip before my kid is banned from the field trip. This also includes household things I need to get done – ie. Get a load of whites done because no one has any underwear left or clean out the fish tank because the water is so mucky I can’t see Anakin Fishwalker in the tank. If I finish all my “must do’s” then I can tackle some of the “should do’s” next. (Although I have yet to actually have that happen.) 😉

I also included on my sheet my a food/exercise/water/vitamin journal, even though I am terrible at keeping track, a prayer section to remind me to make sure I slow down and reconnect with God (instead of browsing Facebook) and my notes section.

There you have it. I know there are many people who hate TO DO lists but I am too scatterbrained not to write it all down. Plus I have a tendency to be a little ADD and doing five things at once but never completing anything. This helps me to stay focused and finish the task at hand before starting something new. My goal sheet may change as I continue to work through the introductory pages of Lara Casy’s Powersheets (another future post!) but for now, it works well.

If you’d like to download a copy of my goal sheet, please feel free to do so! I have two PDFs for you.

This is Goal Sheet 1 with the bird and blue writing. Download it from Google Drive here.

This is Goal Sheet 2, which is the rainbow chevron version. Download it from Google Drive here.

Well, that is my creative share for this week! What have you been up to? Add your link or if you don’t blog, share in the comment box! 🙂

POSTSCRIPT – Of course on the day that I post all about how I am following my daily plan, I happen to sleep through my alarm (darn cold medicine!), I skip my morning prayer (other than a few desperate invocations), I barely get the kids to school before the gate is locked, my breakfast is logged in as “a cold chicken nugget and half eaten piece of toast left on the table,” I have a load of errands that keeps me out of the house until the afternoon and when I finally do get around to looking at my goal sheet I see a munchkin drew all over it before he spilled his juice on it. God likes to keep it real, people. So when you feel like nothing is going according to plan, don’t sweat it. That’s life. Work with what you can and work around what you can’t. 😉

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)

By bobbi
May 27, 2014
2 Comments

It’s a two for one post today. I still get a number of hits for the post I wrote three years ago – Operation Clean & Organize: Vol 2 – Weekly Menu Board but I have since updated my menu board so I thought I’d update the post as well.

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AND

Taming the procrastinating, ADD, mess cat within me.

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Back in August of 2011, I was looking for a weekly menu board to use in our kitchen. Thanks to Pinterest I finally found this one.

source

I liked it but it was too big and I wanted it to be weekly not a monthly menu so I decided to make my own smaller magnetic weekly menu. I spent a total of about $20 for a Board Dudes magnetic board the right size to fit on my fridge, a pack of Avery Printable Magnetic Sheets, and “Days of the Week” magnets that I found at Target in the Back to School seasonal section. (You can find similar products at Amazon – Board Dudes Magnetic Board, Board Dudes Days of the Week Magnets and Avery Magnet Sheets.)

Next I sat down and made a master list of all the meals, side dishes and veggies I normally cook. In a Word document I made four columns of labels and typed up the list of foods. I color coded the labels: main dish – blue, sides – orange, veggies – green, appointments – purple, and school lunches – red. I made sure to have a number of blank labels to fill in later as I tried new recipes. Next, I printed and cut out the labels. Lastly, I arranged the meals on my board along with a shrunken down copy of Bella’s school lunch menu.

Here’s what it looked like then.

It looked great and worked well for awhile but fast forward three years (and two more kids) later. I still have the same magnetic board BUT the whole magnetic food items were just too time consuming. First, we changed our diet and I had to update or delete old meals. Plus, I was often trying new recipes, which meant I had to make a new label each time. The whole thing was fun while it lasted but not realistic.

I finally got rid of the food labels and just wrote straight on the board with a dry erase marker.

Now it works perfectly. I still have my shopping list next to the board and I still keep a shrunken version of the kids’ school hot lunch menu there and make note of evenings when we have something planned. If there is a last minute change in the menu I can change it with a quick swish of my finger. (And write in “Chipotles burrito bowls.”) 😉

It may not be as pin-worthy as my previous version and perhaps when all the kids are in school and I have more free time I can go back to using the labels but for now, it’s not realistic. Plain and simple yet functional will have to do. 😉

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: homemaking

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 26 & 27): Meal Planning & Family Time

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

31 Days of Gratitude (Day 17): Decorating Our Home for Fall

Pinterest Party & Link-Up (vol 29): My Powersheets Vision Board

The inspiration for this post…

Pinterest Party & Link-up (vol. 28): Daily Planner Goal Sheet (Free Printable)

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 23) and Operation Clean & Organize (vol 19): Weekly Menu Board (Revised)