Menu Plan Monday: Back on Track

After a couple of weeks of special menu plans based on the fact that I didn't really have access to my kitchen, I am finally getting back on track.  I finished my kitchen floor...

Finally finished!!!!

...and won't be starting on the next step of my makeover until later this week.  Even then, I will only lose access to my counter and can just do all my prep work on the kitchen table. 

A Homemaker's (Not Handyman's ) Guide to Preparing for a Kitchen Floor Project

I can't believe it has been a whole week since I last posted!  Time sure flies when you are having fun!  Even though it is really hard work, I am having a blast working with my dad on my kitchen makeover.

I spent last week patching walls and getting things ready for the floor to go down.  My Hubby also put up my new light fixture (electrical work makes me a little nervous).  What a difference!  I'll actually be able to see my food when I cook, now.  With the old light, it is truly a miracle I've never given my family food poisoning! 

Before: An ugly, plastic, florescent light.

After:  A pretty light fixture with a brushed nickle finish

Then, on Saturday my dad and I started peeling off the sticky vinyl tiles only to discover what we thought were ceramic tiles underneath.  Turns out it was actually two layers of Formica tiles.  After talking to some people with more experience, we decided it would be best to pull them up and start with the sub-floor.

The blue layer is the peel-and-stick and the one with the design is the top layer of Formica.  You can kind of see the speckled, bottom layer of Formica peeking out.  The black is the adhesive on the sub-floor

My dad, hard at work.

Finally finished!

It wasn't easy, but I think we made a good choice.  The last thing we want is to do all the work of laying tile only to have problems with it in a couple of years because we were in a hurry.  Better to do it right the first time!

After getting down to the sub-floor, we needed to lay concrete backer board.  We started that step on Tuesday.  First we had to patch the hole where the vent was, then we had to move the water line for the refrigerator.  Next, we cut out the backer board and laid it down to make sure it fit before setting it with thin-set and screwing it down.

I only got to work for about 45 minutes on Tuesday, but my dad decided to plow ahead and work without me.  This is what I came home to when I had a hour between my kids' gym class and when I had to leave for work.  My dad is just awesome!

Spreading the thin-set.

Laying the backer-board

Yesterday we laid the tile and tomorrow we will grout it.  I am so happy with how it looks!  Here is the difference so far:

Before                                                                     After

All this waiting between steps means I will be without a kitchen for about a week!  No easy task, but well worth it.

My kitchen stuff is taking over my dining room!

I did lots of thinking about how to prepare for this kitchen-less week and here is my to do list to help it go as smoothly as possible:

A Homemaker's (Not Handyman's ) Guide to Preparing for a Kitchen Floor Project

1) Decide what can be moved.  If you are putting down a new floor, big items like your refrigerator may need to be moved anyway.  Can it be moved somewhere you can still access it (mine is in my dining room)?  Don't forget the small appliances!  If you have a toaster oven or crock-pot, they greatly increases your cooking options.

2) Plan your menu!  Now that you know what tools you will have access to, you can choose foods that can be prepared outside you kitchen.  Remember to plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Meals like sandwiches that don't require cooking are great.   But the crock-pot and toaster oven can really increase your choices.  You may also want to make a few things ahead of time that can just be heated up.

3) Make clean-up easier!  While you can do dishes in the bathroom sink or tub if needed, it isn't always the best plan.  Instead, buy some disposable dishes.  Make sure you get plates, bowls, utensils, cups, and napkins.  If you plan on using the crock-pot, invest in some crock-pot liners.  They really speed up the clean-up process!  For the toaster oven, make sure to line your cooking sheet with foil so you can just toss that in the garbage.

4) Don't forget the serving-ware.   Think about what types of big spoons, spatulas, and other serving utensils you will need out of the kitchen.  Trying to dish out servings of your yummy crock-pot stew with a disposable, plastic spoon won't be fun!

5) Grab the garbage bags.  If you keep your garbage bags in the kitchen, make sure to grab them before you begin your project.  You'll need a place for all those disposable dishes!

6) Remember your medication.  We keep a lot of our medication in a box in our kitchen.  This includes vitamins and supplements, but also things like ibuprofen that we may need after all the noise from the project!

7) Focus on the results!  With the kitchen taking over the rest of the house and your family eating off paper plates like every day is a picnic, it can be easy to become annoyed or overwhelmed.  But, keep reminding yourself of why you are doing this and how great the finished project is going to be!

Progress in the Kitchen

Ok, so I didn't post my menu plan yesterday.  But, I have a good excuse!  I was hard at work on my kitchen walls.  I took all the food off my shelves and moved them...

...and this is the nastiness that was hiding underneath and behind them.  This was after I swept up all the moldy cat food that had found its way under there and was impossible to reach (the shelves went completely to the floor).

Yuck!!!!  I hadn't been able to clean back here for about six years!

 This vent, which was always covered up by the shelves and therefore never did anything anyway, was the first thing to be removed.  Followed quickly by the rubber "baseboard" that was impossible to clean.  Whatever glue they used to install them was seeping out the tops and collected dirt.  Gross!

After that was all done, I started patching all the holes in the walls.  The people who lived here before us left holes everywhere!

You can see what a big difference there is between what this corner looked like this weekend (on the left) and how it looks now (on the right)!  There is still lots of work to be done, but I'm making progress!

Menu Plan Monday: The Ultimate Grocery Shopping List

I'm late getting this up today.  I normally write out Monday's post on Sunday.  But, we were busy finishing the kids' Halloween costumes and also went to my in-laws' for my father-in-law's birthday dinner.  No time for writing a blog post!

Today, I wanted to share a look at my "Ultimate Grocery Shopping List."

My shopping list has gone through a lot of changes over the years.  Everything from a simple scribble on scrap paper to the picture you see above.  It looks complicated, but after getting it set up, it make things so simple!

Kids and Chores

Sis sweeping the floor

A couple weeks ago a friend asked me what kinds of chores my kids do.  Even though I'm really quite horrible at housekeeping, I have always made it a point to teach my kids how to do things around the house and work with them on developing good habits.  Honestly, they are much better at it than I am!

As a kid I never really cleaned much.  I think it was just easier for my mom (whom I get my perfectionist tendencies from) to just do it herself rather than try to teach me.  It all came naturally to her and I don't think she ever really understood (still to this day) why it isn't that way for me.

So, I've had to teach myself how to clean.  And, since it really doesn't come naturally for me, cleaning lessons have been hard lessons over the years.  I knew I didn't want my kids to have the same struggles over housework that I have.  I honestly believe it is just as important for me to teach my kids how to care for a house as it is for me to teach them math!  So, I started early with teaching them to do some small chores.

I'm So Excited, I Just Had to Share!

This isn't directly related to my Financial Life or Mental Life categories (although, it is indirectly related).  But, I just couldn't wait to share my exciting news!

I'm getting a NEW KITCHEN!

Well, kinda. ;)  You see, the other day my mom asked me if I would like for her and my dad to buy me new flooring for my kitchen (my dad would install it) and to paint my cabinets as my Christmas present.  Of course, I said "YES!" 

The more we talked, the more the plans grew.  Some of it is stuff that my hubby and I will pay for and my dad and I will build.  Some of it is simply moving things around.  Some of it is using materials we already have on hand.

In the end, I am going to end up with what looks like a completely re-done kitchen for very little money and lots of sweat equity!  I am so excited!  I have done very little to this house since we moved in 7 years ago.  I was pregnant with the twins when we bought the house and I was put on bed-rest just two days after moving in.  Then, after they were born, I was busy learning to be a mommy.  By the time I really had time to do any work, we were struggling with debt.  Now that we are doing so much better with our money management, we are able to find a little bit of room in the budget for small, frugal projects.

Independent Learning Days

I know many a homeschooling family who use a non-traditional school schedule.  One does school for three weeks and takes a week off, year-round.  Another doesn't do school on Mondays and uses that day for field trips (which really is school, just not classroom work).  And I know many who don't do school on Fridays.

The great part of these days off is that it gives you a chance to get things done that you have no time for otherwise, like grocery shopping and other errands, special projects around the house, and paying bills.

But, my state requires a specific number of school days each year and schooling year-round isn't something my Hubby and I want to do.  So, until this year, I thought the alternative schedules were out of the question for us.

That is, until I had the idea of "Independent Learning Days."

The Right Tool for the Job

I am going to publish this post after the sun comes up (whenever I wake up), but it is actually 1:45 am as I start to write this.  I am having trouble falling asleep.  Thankfully, I don't have to be awake early tomorrow since my dad took the kids camping tonight and they won't be home until tomorrow afternoon.  Since I was awake anyway, I thought I'd get a jump on tomorrow's today's post.

I've shared pictures of the disaster that is my desk in the past.  Sadly, it hasn't improved since then.  I clean it off and it stays that way for about a day.  But, slowly, items without a real home or stuff that I use so often I hate to put it away (only to get it right back out - ie. my camera and a couple school books) start to make it back to the top of my desk.  Before you know it, the desk is covered in junk.

Unfortunately, the area under my desk isn't much better.  I have a shredder and a pretty, wicker, waste basket that I keep under there to toss all the junk mail until I take it to the recycling.  But, as you can see from the picture below, it always seems to be overflowing.

The mess under the desk.

My Afternoon Experiment

It always sounds, even to my ears, like nothing but excuses when I say that I have trouble doing my daily Bible reading.   But, in the mornings, my brain isn't even working and I forget everything I've ready and studied by noon.   In the evenings, I'm often at work or spending rare time with my hubby.   Then, in the afternoons, when my brain is fully functional, I have kids that I need to concentrate on and a house I have to clean.  For years, I've tried various times and places for my daily time with God.  But, I just couldn't find something that worked.  This often left me spiritually dry and in need of Him.

How I am finding time to spend in God's Word in the midst of my busy life...

However, I think I may finally have found a solution.  I'm calling it my "Afternoon Experiment" because, I can't honestly call it a success after so short a time.  Hopefully, it will soon become routine and will allow me to spend more time reading the Word of God and learning about Him.

This new routine involves two things: A time of concentrated cleaning and an afternoon quiet time.

The Half-Made Bed

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start from scratch with trying to develop habits to help me with my housekeeping. I chose cleaning off the counter every day as my first habit. I’m doing better than I was, but it definitely isn’t a habit, yet. So, I’m still plugging away at it.

Not the prettiest bed, but nice and neat.

Even though I was choosing to focus on one new habit, I wasn’t going to stop doing the things that have already become a natural part of my routine – not that there were many things which had! One of those few habits I had already developed was making the bed every morning. I think this was an easy habit to form because it takes merely seconds (I’m not picky about how great it looks – just pull up the covers and go!) and it makes me so much more comfy at night! If I make the bed every day, my blankets get much less tangled at night. Plus, since my bed takes up almost my entire bedroom, when it isn’t made, the room looks like a disaster! When it is made, it doesn’t matter how bad the rest of the room is, it still looks relatively neat.

Menu Plan Monday: What a Week!

Wow!  This past week has been crazy!  First, I was scheduled to work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings.  Then, the kids got a cold.  Finally, on Friday, that cold caught up with me and I was sick until yesterday.  I even had to call off work on Friday!

With all of this craziness, I haven't posted anything in a week!  Things have been hit-and-miss for the last couple of weeks and just completely "miss" this past week.  But, I promise I'm not going anywhere.  This post is going to be a bit of a catch-up post as well as my weekly menu plan.

I have been working on some new routines.  Not cleaning habits.  I'm still stuck on the first cleaning habit I've been working on since August.  (Oh, my!  I was shocked when I went to look for that post and found that I started that in August!  Where is the blushing emoticon when you need it?  I am so embarrassed that I am having such a hard time with such a simple concept like cleaning off my kitchen counter every day!)  Rather, these are routine changes.  I'm trying to implement an afternoon routine that includes cleaning and my quiet time.  I started it last week and liked the results - until I got sick.  Not only was I able to get a lot done around the house.  But, I think I may have figured out how to ensure that I get to spend time in God's Word everyday.  I'll talk more about that, later!

I've also updated my weight loss chart.  I'm losing weight slowly, but surely.  I'm happy with the progress Ive made in the midst of such stress, craziness, and sickness.  But, I need to step it up.  I'll be writing more about that later, too.

Finally, for the task of the day - my menu plan.  This is the simple part since I already had it planned out!  I'm loving my rotating menu plans.   It took a lot of work to set up, but is going to save me a ton of time from now on.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Desert	Ricky's Lunch
Mon	Waffles	Grilled Cheese	Crockpot chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls	Sugar Cookies	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Tue	Scrambled eggs, Toast	Corn dogs, veggies	Tacos, re-fried beans	Cinnamon Tortillas	Lean Cuisine Pizza, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Wed	Strawberry Smoothie	English muffin pizza	Chicken casserole, bread	Sugar Cookies
Thu	Homemade donuts	Quesadillas/salad, potato	Sausage, shells & Cheese, Mashed potatoes, bread	Peanut butter pie	Healthy Choice?, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Fri	Cereal	Peanut butter sandwiches/leftovers	Spaghetti & Meatballs, Salad, Garlic bread	Sugar Cookies	Tuna Salad, Toast
Sat	Oatmeal/Strawberry Smoothie	Spaghetti O’s/Ravioli	Chicken noodle soup, bread	Peanut butter pie	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Sun	Sausage Biscuits	Popcorn chicken, veggies, french fries	Breakfast: Sausage links, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, toast	Cinnamon crescent rolls

I went on my Aldi shopping trip yesterday and was horrified to find that they had moved everything around on me!  It's all still there, but it took a lot longer to find the things I needed.  Change is so hard!  But, I'll get used to it.

I'm linking up again over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for this week's Menu Plan Monday.

Not a Habit,Yet

I talked last week about starting over from scratch with just one daily habit.  That habit is cleaning off my one kitchen counter every day. 

The first few days I did great.  But, there came a night when I had been grocery shopping and had cleaned out my pantry and the counter was a disaster.  By the time I finish dinner, I was exhausted.  It had been a long day!  I went to sit down and honestly didn't give the kitchen another thought. 

In the past this might have been when I decided to give up.  Obviously, I'm not even capable of making it a whole week before I forget or just choose not to do it.  But, instead, I decided to pick myself back up and try again.  So, once again, my counters are clean and kitchen looks much better.  Not perfect, but better.

Cleaning the counters daily is nowhere near being a habit, yet.  It is a long way from it!  But, I am noticing a difference and making an effort to stick with it.  I'm not ready to add any more tasks to my daily cleaning list, yet.  When keeping the counters clean feels like second nature, I'll do it.  Or at least when I start to be bothered by the mess.  Unlike naturally neat people, it takes a lot of mess to actually bother me!

This week is going to be full of cleaning.  We are having the kids' birthday party here on Sunday.  Even though I really hope we can be outside, people will still have to walk through the house to get to the bathroom.  And if it rains....the house will have to be as clean as possible to squeeze about 50 people in!  (I know that seems like a lot of people, but it is mostly family.)

Menu Plan Monday: Recoving from the Weekend

We grilled out at my parent's house last night and played Apples to Apples.  We had a blast and everyone ended up laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.  But, that also meant not so healthy food.  Now that I am working hard to lose weight, that actually matters to me.  Thankfully, Weight Watchers allows you to eat anything you want...as long as you plan for it.

I did end up going over my daily points and using some weekly points.  So, I'm going to have to be a bit more careful the rest of the week.  Menu planning really comes in handy here!

I'm also making my kids' birthday cake this week, so that will be an added challenge.  I've yet to make a cake where I didn't end up eating a lot of icing.  But, at least the party will be after my weekly weigh-in and my points will have started over.

I'm also going to gym with my aunt on a guest-pass tonight.  So, that will help, too.  I know with careful planning, I'll be able to stay away from going over my points.  This flexibility is one of my favorite things about Weight Watchers!

This week I am starting something new.  I'm going to post my complete menu plan.  This included breakfast, lunch for the kids and I, lunch that my hubby takes to work, dinner, and desert.  Next week I am going to work on including points.  Next week I am also going to start adding some recipes.  I need to wait until I actually make them and get some pictures first, though.

I'm linking this up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Desert	Hubby’s Lunch
Mon	Waffles	Grilled Cheese	Baked Chicken in the Crock-pot, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes	Ice cream	Ham & Cheese Sliders
Tue	Scrambled Eggs, Toast	Corn dogs, veggies	Hamburger Macaroni Bake	Butterfinger Pie	Lean Cuisine Pizza, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Wed	Breakfast Casserole	English muffin pizza	Chicken Noodle Casserole	Sugar Cookies	Doesn’t work
Thu	French Toast	Quesadillas/salad, potato	Green Beans & Ham	Butterfinger Pie	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Fri	Cereal	Leftover Chicken & Dumplings	Taco Soup	Sugar Cookies	Lean Cuisine Chicken Club Panini, Chips, Yogurt, Fiber Bar
Sat	Oatmeal/ Strawberry Smoothie	Spaghetti O’s/Ravioli	Meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, Green Beans	Peanut butter pie	Healthy Choice?, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Sun	Sausage Biscuits	Popcorn Chicken, Veggies, French Fries	Stir-fry Chicken	Sugar Cookies	Doesn’t work