A Resurrection of Sorts

I knew I had let my blog languish for a few months and when I checked, yep...September was the last time I posted anything.

With that discovered, one of my challenges this year as it has been in the years since I retired from my U.S. Court career is to have more of a routine through out my week, so I'm going to add posting to my blog on my "Things to make a habit" list.   I am a creature of routine and habit.

I like being a bit accountable to it, I like sharing things I'm doing and even if nobody reads it, I feel like I'm leaving a living, breathing diary/journal for our son and any future grandchildren I may have after I'm gone. 

I'm not big on starting new things at New Year's, to me it's a little cliche but probably more about the fact I'm never mentally prepared at the first of the year to make changes. 

Some of the things I'm challenging myself to incorporate into my weekly routine and make a habit are:

• Yoga
• Blogging
• Crafting
• Reading
• Meditation
• Walking or biking (once I get permission from my foot doctor)

I need to incorporate each of those things several times during my week.  I always read at bed time but depending on how tired I am, I might only read one or two chapters before I get sleepy.  I'd like to increase the time I reach for a book.  I enjoy my time online but it needs to be balanced more with the things I enjoy in real life.  Gardening will be added to that list once our gardening season is here.

I got creative and made myself a "cheat sheet" that I laminated and can slide in my planner to act as a reminder and my cheat sheet coordinates with my journal I'm keeping to track my progress.  More on that journal in future posts.

Last October, I also took a part time job as a sales associate for Le Creuset at the new outlet mall in my burb, it's only 10-15  hours a week, so I have plenty of time to do the other things I enjoy.  The part time job adds some routine that I clearly crave PLUS a very generous employee discount to enjoy on their brand of products and a little extra money every week.

I'm also going to be redoing my blog so I can incorporate my small home based art and crafts business Serendipity Home Art & Crafts.  It a fun project of mine that allows me to be creative and make a little bit of money.  You can find my Facebook page here and I'll be updating it soon with some new stuff.

So, welcome to my blog if you've made it this far and I hope you'll visit again.

Planner Supply Organization

I've been trying to get organized with my planner supplies and this week I dumped all of my supplies on my work table to see what I had so I could come up with a organization system that works for me.

Currently I have a decorative box that I was keeping the things I was using in but I found that the smaller items got lost in the big box, so I needed to find something that could hold those smaller items but I could see at a glance.

I went looking online for organizers but everyone wanted more money than I was willing to pay,  so I had to come up with something else.  Looking at other options, I decided to go on the hunt for those cheap plastic photo albums that I see everywhere and I found them at Michael and on sale.....buy one, get one 1/2 off and there were only $1.99 a piece anyway....cheap score!

I found a couple of cute ones!

Now I just needed to decide how to organize the supplies themselves.  I decided to keep the items from each designer together.  I've found lots of freebies to print online and even discovered a couple of etsy stores that are favorites. 

I had to cut some of the sheets up to fit in the page sleeves but once I was done, I was pleased with how much they hold and how economical they were.

If you enjoy the whole "decorate your planner" craze like I do and need a cheap way to organize your stash, try those small photo albums.

"What's For Dinner?"

I'm so darn tired of trying to figure out what to plan for dinner for the myself and the spouse.  I'm married to a man who likes to know "what's for dinner" and the young adult in the house is rarely around at dinner time so we don't worry about him, but funny how, when I'm making a favorite of his....pasta, burgers....he seems to be hanging out. 

I started thinking about making it easier on myself last fall and scoured the Internet for ideas, so my idea is bits of pieces of the information I did find, but with my own twist on it.  Some meal planning is by day....Monday's are meatless, Tuesday is chicken, Wednesday is pork, well, you get the idea.

My idea is super simple and involves your favorite meals, so the first and most important step is to get a pad of paper or open a word processor program, sit down with whomever it is that you are eating with (your family, your spouse, your parents, etc.) and list 30-35 of your favorite meals.  List all those meals that your family asks you to make and jot down your favorite sides that go with the main meal.  

The philosophy behind this is you'll have 30-35 of your favorite meals right at your fingertips. 

Once you have your list of favorites ready, you'll want to make a meal card for each meal.  It's completely up to you....hand write them on index cards, print them on index cards or cardstock.  I was having issues printing directly on to the index cards, so I did it the hard way and created a word document and listed our meals in that, printed, cut them out and glued them to the index cards.  Printing directly on index cards or cardstock would definitely be easier. 

Of course, I'm going to embellish my meal cards....that's the fun part!  I just took some of my many markers out and while watching that three OT college men's basketball game between Kansas and Oklahoma the other night, I doodled on all of the cards.  I used a simple line and dots but it jazzed them up a bit. 

I also like to look at the meal plan cards as a prompt too....maybe seeing it will remind me of a recipe we liked.  I was somewhat vague on several of the cards (like the photo below) so that you have some flexibility in the plan.

"Chef's Choice" when mentioned on the cards is a favorite recipe for that food.  I also made room for any notes that I might want to jot down when using that card.

If your family is like mind, we don't cook all seven nights of the week.  There is usually a leftover night in there and there is usually a night where one of us isn't that hungry so we "fend for ourselves".  Currently, we also have a surplus of make ahead freezer meals, so I doubt I'll use seven of my cards a week.

I decided that I didn't need a box to store these.....I think I ended up with 35 cards and that's not enough to use a box, so instead I embellished up a chipboard envelope that I re-sized with some minions paper (I LOVE minions) which works perfect with my meal planning/coupon basket.

What? you say a meal planning/coupon basket?  Yep.....I've been using this basket for at least 15 years to stash my coupons, my grocery ads, my freezer inventory sheet and clippings of recipes we want to try.   It's 10x14, it's slim and it fits inside a drawer or cabinet easily...it's Longaberger too..

My meal planning routine happens on Sundays...usually in the evening....it's multi-taking at it's finest.   Meal plan, clip coupons, look at grocery ads all while watching the latest movie DVD we've rented or while watching Netflix......then I'm all ready for my Monday grocery shopping and around here, Monday morning at the grocery store will make you feel like you own the place.

So...when you're racking your brain trying to come up with ideas for meals, you'll have an envelope full of ideas to choose from!

I hope sharing my "30Plan" with help all of you with your meal planning.  Enjoy!

Uh Oh...I've discovered decorating planners :)

I've always had a planner....way back in the days of Franklin Covey and Day Timer, I tried those and even today I use the system that Staples carries, the ARC System.  I also knew that there was a cult following of several newer planner systems, such as Erin Condren, Moleskine, The Happy Planner, etc., but I had NO idea the creativity that is out there in regards to dressing up aka decorating your planner.

I made the "mistake" of checking out Pinterest and etsy to see what others were doing to their planners and I was immediately hooked....played right into my love of paper crafts.

Rather than buy new when there really wasn't anything wrong with the one I have seemed silly especially for a retiree (there are other things I'd rather spend that money on) so after considering several, I stuck with what I have and what has worked for me for several years. 

I just need to get creative with it!

I used the 8 x 5 size of planner and a horizontal weekly calendar.  I use my planner not only to schedule my time but to plan my projects, keep to-do lists and goal lists, keep business cards organized,  and hold store coupons.

Here's the cover of my pink planner and of course, it needs to include a Iowa Hawkeyes Tiger hawk sticker.  :)
 

 

Before I got crazy buying stickers and things from etsy and other sources, I knew I needed to look no further than my own craft room and I was right, I found TONS of stuff that I can use in my planner.

I have tons of washi tape and found a couple miniature stamps that will work perfect in planner decoration.

 

 

I did find these Halloween themed packages of washi tape at the Dollar Tree store when I was there for something else.  SCORE!

 

I also have tons of pens that can be put to good use for decorating and doodling.

 

Found all of these sticky notes and flags in a drawer.

This is just a small sampling of what I found in my craft room.  I also found tons of sites that have FREE planner printables too! 

 

I did decide to spend the money of a special punch that Staples sells to punch paper and such to fit the Arc planners.  It was a bit pricey but I got in on a sale, had some Staples rewards to spend and I won't need to buy the calendar refills anymore so I bit the bullet and purchased the punch.

 

 

I also decided to make a couple more divider for my planner.  I have tons of chipboard so using one of the purchased planner dividers I already had as a template, I cut out a few other dividers and using scrapbook paper covered them in coordinating colors.

 

I found a few really cute free planner printables and using one of my circle punches and a pair of scissors.....presto.....free planner embellishments!  There is a gazillion out there!

I also found skinny elastic hair bands at the Dollar Tree that I've wrapped around my planner and I can slide things under if needed.

The tabbed dividers that I purchased with the planner years ago are plain black poly and I decorated the divider for my calendar in washi tape and border stickers.

 

I also found a bunch of embellished paper clips in my craft room and picked out a few to use.

 

I've got a couple plastic pocket pages inside that hold things I want to keep for reference.

 

 

I also have a few poly pocket dividers that I use to hold coupons, receipts I need to hold on to and stuff I clip off of newspaper, magazines, etc. that I want to check out further.

 

 

Here's my first attempt at decorating my weekly calendar.  I'm sure my "style" will evolve over time as did my scrapbook style, but it sure is fun to do.  I'm not sure it's helping to get me get projects and to-do's done any faster, but the pages and lists are fun to look at.  :)

 

I also re-purposed a box I had hanging out in a closet that I've dedicated to storing things I've specifically identified I'll be using for my planner.

It's a fun extension of my scrapbooking hobby that I still love to spend time doing, so I call that "a good thing and one, if enjoyed is never a waste of time".

Thanks for stopping in!