Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things

Now that morning sickness is over (thank goodness!!) and I'm feeling more myself again - or at least the "new" myself, naps included - I have no excuse for not getting back on track with everything.

Everything from menu-planning, daily to-do lists, keeping up with the laundry, getting our grocery budget back down to where it belongs, and all that goes along with.

Now that I feel like cooking and eating again, I am really feeling the pain from not having a menu plan. As the day goes on I wonder what should I make for supper? Then late afternoon arrives and I realize I really do need to decide and get it started. So I decide on one thing and end up not having everything I need, or the dish will take too long to prepare, etc. Flying by the seat of my pants is wearing them thin. Not to mention the times that "going out instead would be easier" has crossed my mind. That's a true indication that I just need to DO IT. Menu plan, not go out to eat. We do enjoy going out to eat, and even though we don't pick the high-end restaurants (our fav. place - at least mine - to frequent is a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place where we can both eat for about $15), it's not something that we can do often without breaking the bank.

The daily t0-do lists, you all know I love them. I really do. The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction I have at the end of the day when I know and can see that I've gotten everything done and crossed off is wonderful. I'm also the kind of person that if my day doesn't get started off well, the whole thing goes down the drain. Well, it doesn't have to, but it ends up that way. So, my goal these past couple nights has been to be IN BED by 10:30, no later than 11 o'clock. That's a whole hour, hour and a half earlier than we will so easily stay up if we aren't careful. And since I have a little person drawing energy from myself, if I do stay up till midnight, I end up feeling like a drowned cat in the morning and crawl back in bed for a while. Yeah, that really helps the morning get off to a good start. Not.

So... what am I gonna do? This weekend I am going to menu plan next week's meals. By Sunday night I will have the menu planned out, and in my planner I will have filled out the to-do list for each day. My new bed-time will be 10:30 (or earlier!) so that I'm well rested when I wake up, and my nap will happen in the afternoon... not the morning and afternoon. As Mom used to say, "No if's, and's or but's about it."

And to get a jump-start on it all, I'm going to make a list for today of what all I need to get done today, so that next week will get off to a good start.