Menus

It is no secret that I am not very organized, especially when it comes to cooking and menu planning. I have a desire to and I've heard it said that the state of your home, organized or not, is a reflection of the state of your soul. That freaks me out because I desire for my soul to NOT be in utter chaos!
That being said, I work daily on the state of my house. Decluttering and trying to make some semblance of organized routine, of any kind. My mom recently discovered a new website network called Pinterest. I haven't been able to explore it much because you have to be a member to explore it too much and you can't join without being invited. But it looks like an online bulletin board of sorts where you can share ideas. Anyway, she found this very cool idea for menu planning and sent me a picture of it. I immediately fell in love with it and today I created my own version.
I had an OLD tea tray hanging around that used to be my grandmothers and I always said I wanted to do something with it. So I thought it very fitting to use as my frame for my menu board.
Here is a picture...
Along the left there is a column of clothes pins marked with S, M, T, W, T, F, S for the days of the week. The black squares are pockets that will hold menu cards. I do want to put labels on my pockets, one for fasting meals and one for non-fasting meals. In the original post the gal had a stack of meal cards in one pocket. As she used them she moved them to the other pocket so as not to use the same meal in a certain length of time (as many cards as she had). But I don't mind if we have the same meal each week if we feel like it. So I'll have the 2 pockets for the 2 different kinds of meals since we need fasting meals every Wednesday and Friday at minimum.
In the original post, the gal used an 11x7 wooden frame for hers. She attached the clothespins to the frame along the long side, the frame was in the portrait position.
I'm very excited about this. It will make menu planning SO easy!!! I can even have the kids help.
On another note...I WAS hoping to sign up with Pinterest. I thought it looked so cool. So I had my mom invite me. Boy was I disappointed to learn that I need to be part of the passion pit (aka Facebook) in order to join. Bummer. Looks cool.

Chores

Chores are never very fun, but they are a necessity in life. Work is inevitable regardless of whether or not it is at home or away.
I do not believe I grew up learning very good self-discipline. I find myself struggling with "chores" all the time...household and organization. I also find it easier to just do the jobs myself rather than have the children do them. I wonder if it is because of my perfectionist attitude and that I want it done right. But what I am finding is that the workload is becoming unbearable and stacking up, the clutter is overwhelming and my kids are becoming me (undisciplined). Blech!
Oh, I've read books and blogs and stories. I KNOW I ought to be teaching them to do it themselves, consistently on a daily basis. I KNOW! So why don't I do it?
Because I am undisciplined! Okay, so I've developed this incredible vicious circle that goes around and around and doesn't get anywhere.
I've discovered for sanity's sake I NEED to learn how to break free of this circle and begin moving forward. One of my deepest desires is to teach my children to become disciplined in their every day tasks so that they too, won't spend their days overwhelmed.

Wisdom of Sirach:
22:1-3 A lazy man may be compared to a filthy stone, And everyone hisses at his dishonor. A lazy man may be compared to the filth of manure; Everyone who picks it up will shake it off his hand. The disgrace of a father is begetting an undisciplined son, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss.
26:16 Like the sun rising in the Lord's heaven is the beauty of a good wife in the ordering of her house.
Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.

How have you broken free from this vicious cycle, if you were trapped in one? How have you endeavored to teach your children to be orderly and disciplined? Do you have any favorite scriptures that have encouraged you through this process?
I know I do not have a huge audience on here (maybe only get 3-4 hits a day), but I'd love to hear from you. You could even ask around and see what answers you may get.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Clean Week cleaning.

Emma over at Charming the Birds from the Trees posted her "Lenten Cleaning List". She asked for others to share so I thought I'd share what I was doing. I don't have a Lenten cleaning List but rather a "Clean Week Cleaning List".
I decided for this week we would take the week off from school and focus on Church and cleaning. To start Lent off with a clean and organized home my hope is to being to then focus the rest of Lent of prayer, fasting and alms-giving.
During the time that we would normally be doing school we'll work together to clean and each day we will cover a different room. In each room I hope to deep clean by cleaning off shelves, culling unneeded items (next Wednesday Northwest Center will come through the neighborhood), washing windows and scrubbing floors and moldings, etc. Here is my list:

Monday: Livingroom
Tuesday: Kitchen/Diningroom
Wednesday: Laundry room (Presanctified Liturgy in the morning will shorten our cleaning for this day)
Thursday: Girls Bedroom and downstairs bathroom and downstairs hallway.
Friday: Master Bedroom and Boys Bedroom
Saturday: Cabin

Have a blessed Clean Week and a fruitful Lent!

My Job and goals!

Early on in the year I decided that my goal for this upcoming year was to become more organized and purposeful in my daily life. It is evident that I have a lot on my plate and at times it is overwhelming! But I believe it is overwhelming only because I typically go about the day very unorganized and without a plan. Things have been going well as I work on created cleaning schedules (I'm tired of power cleaning every time I know someone is to visit-I just want it presentable all the time--power cleans are stressful for me.) and school routines.
The last week I've been discouraged a little and so last night as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep I began to pray that God clear my mind and help to keep my goals alive. That He give me wisdom and courage to keep moving forward. But most of all I wanted Him to show me clearly again what my vocation and goals ought to be.

As I lay there praying, a little boy came slowly into the room and whispered to me that he was having bad thoughts and couldn't sleep. I cuddled with him for a brief moment and then lead him back to his room. Taking an icon of the Theotokos off the dresser for him, we prayed and talked about the best "Mommy" in the world being with him, and his angel and St. Joseph and Jesus. I kissed him and said good-night and went back to bed.
As I lay there I thanked God for reminding me what my true goal is as a mother, the job He has given me....to show Him to my children! Every day with LOVE, compassion and meekness, to show my children God and His Love for them.

"A Mother's Rule of Life" revisited

It has been almost 3 years since I first read "A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul" by Holly Pierlot. I blogged about in February and March of 2006! Wow! Where on earth does the time go? When I read the book back then I REALLY needed it. I was looking for something to help me "bring order" to my home and life. It didn't stick. I raved about the book. I thought it was the "cure". Well, things didn't go the way I had hoped. But the I think the problem was that I was looking for a "cure", a quick fix, a magic pill. But really there is NEVER such a thing.

As life goes now I feel I never read the book. I'm back where I was 3 years ago. So I've dusted it off and I am starting over. This time I have a little bit more determination, a tiny bit more mature, maybe. It really is a little difficult to explain, but I feel that I've come to a place where I can see that this is really the only answer to what I am looking for. I feel that I've been searching for something over the years, something to "fix" my hurdles I face each day. Well, I'm finally seeing that what is going to "fix" it all is ME. It will take work, but I'm the only one who can change what needs to be different and only with God's help!! His Grace and His Mercy! His Guidance and Love!
So with a new determination, a new focus (GOD), I move forward to create my "Rule of Life" based on the vocation God has given me.