Perfecting Imperfection

I did do a menu this week.  In fact, I planned out the whole month of March!  I got the idea from my friend, Christine.  She got the idea from somewhere in the blogosphere.  I had a printout to use from my Organizing Life as Mom ebook.  So, I was good to go.  One thing that I really liked about it was that I was able to kind of use stuff I already had for this week and then buy what was on sale this week for weeks to come.  For example, whole roasting chickens were buy-one-get-one this week...so I bought 4 to use for recipes coming up and froze them!

Anyway - here is this week's menu:

Monday - Pasta in Olive Oil and Garlic w/Salad and Garlic Bread (book club ladies may want to sit at the other end of the table tonight!)


Tuesday - Pork Stir-Fry


Wednesday - Layered Mexican Chicken


Thursday - Nana's or Leftovers


Friday - Ham and Cheese Supper (in the slow cooker . . . this is a new one from my slow cooker cookbook) 


Saturday - Disney Princesses on Ice - so... we will probably be ordering something with my parents for dinner.


Sunday - Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes (or maybe twice baked if the kids cooperate!)


There you have it.

In other news - the boys are sick.  Danika is coughing.  No one is sleeping.  Everyone seems to be crying or at least someone is always crying.  It's been a rough weekend.  I'm so ready for spring.

This week I did something that has been bugging me for WEEKS!  I went through these boxes and reclaimed the space under my counter.


When Danika's birthday rolled around, we decided to have some family and their kids at the house and then have a party with my niece (because her birthday is the end of January, too) at my SIL's the next day.  We were all still getting over colds and I wasn't in the mood to really clean and organize everything to get ready for the party.  So, I threw all the random stuff laying around into these boxes and didn't touch them for over a month.  I wasn't able to put the normal stuff I store under this counter under it because the boxes were taking up all the space.  I finally got frustrated enough with my kitchen feeling even smaller than it is and decided it was time to purge the stuff in the boxes.  I contemplated just throwing them all away because I hadn't missed anything in them but I decided I had better just check in case there was something that found its way in there that was important.

The end result?  One box and everything else the way it belongs.


I feel a LOT better now that that is done.  I feel a lot less guilty about spending way too much time on my new project now - Project Life!

I thought I would share last week's page with you . . . it's the first page that is complete because I'm still waiting on my free pics from Snapfish for the other pages.

Here it is:



I also surprised myself with coming up with a way to be a little ahead in my journaling while I wait for the pictures to get here.  I printed out my "cart" from Snapfish and cut the little pictures, that are on their way, out.  Then I taped then into an extra calendar I had laying around!



Now, I can start writing out my journal entries before the pictures get here so that I can (hopefully) catch up soon!

I'm linking up over at orgjunkie.com - head on over for some awesome inspiring organization stories!  She also has a link for a free ebook on house cleaning to get you ready for that spring cleaning!!!  Even though we are still seeing the white stuff out there - spring is on it's way!

I stumbled across 750words.com from another blog that I was reading.  I can't really remember what blog it was, or I would totally give credit where credit is due.  I will say, though, that I've found it rather therapeutic for me.  You may wonder why I would want to write 750 words when I write on my blog, too.  The answer is that sometimes I write things that I don't want everyone to read.  When that happens - 750 Words is PERFECT.  Apparently, I have a lot more to get off my chest than I think I do!

Anyway, I thought I would share today's 750 Words entry with you - so I don't have to type a whole different blog post!  Yes, I will be cheating when appropriate!

Here it is - remember that there is no editing or anything, so I apologize in advance for funky punctuation or run-on sentences.


I'm really really tired today and slightly disappointed - again.  It seems like everything I have high hopes for or really expect to be awesome always has something happen that makes it less awesome than it is.  Like a little fold in a cover of a new book or a smudge on a picture or a snag in a new sweater or a unexpected expense (like new tires) when you get surprised with extra cash in your paycheck.  The funny thing is, I really don't feel like I should complain too much about these things.  I mean after all I have that book or picture or sweater or car - my life is good.


I feel the same way about my children sometimes.  I think about people who can't have children or who have tragically lost their child/children and I remind myself that I can handle the little things like cartoons on tv all day or peanut butter on my front door or a baby that isn't happy unless he is in my lap.  I think about these things and remember that life isn't about things being exactly the way that you think they should be.  Life is about you learning to want things exactly the way they are right now.  I know that I spend a lot of time wishing for things.  I wish I had a bigger house.  I wish the kids were just a little bit older and a little bit more independent.  I wish that we had a little more money to do things.  I wish I was thinner.  I wish I had better style and nicer clothes.  I wish for a lot of things but I always seem to include a tag line - like, "I wish I had a bigger house but am so grateful for the one I have."  "I wish the kids were a just a little bit older and a little bit more independent but I know that I will miss these days soon enough."  "I wish we had a little more money to do things but I am so glad that I have the job I do and can stay home with my babies as much as I do."  "I wish I was thinner but I'm so grateful we have food to eat."  "I wish I had better style and nicer clothes but at least my kids always look cute - I really think people stopped looking at me after they were born anyway!"


I sound like I'm complaining.  I'm not.  Really.  I just always feel like I have to make sure that the powers that be realize I don't want any more problems than I already have - in fact, I don't want any problems because I don't feel I have any that I can't handle right now.  I guess it goes back to the whole reason you shouldn't ask God for patience...


All that being said, there are some things I just wouldn't change for anything.  I wouldn't change the fact that my 5 year old is sneaking down the steps right now and will probably be peaking his head around the corner - even though I put him to bed about 10 minutes ago.  I also wouldn't change the fact that he will stumble into my bed at some point tonight and I will be so sound asleep that I won't realize he is there and then I will wake up with him snuggled up against my back and my daughter in front of me spooning up against me.  I know that Jerry and I complain about it being crowded - because it is - but I also know that someday they will close their bedroom door and not come out for 12 hours or so...I will start to wonder if they are even in there!


I don't want to miss all this.  I don't want to look back and say, "Where did it go?"  I don't think that it is possible to live a life with children and not do that but I am doing my best to try and pay attention.  I want to be able to remember the little things and remind myself of how good I had it - even if I was always wishing for more or wanting more or dreaming of a bigger and therefore, better, life.  I know in my heart that it doesn't really get any better than this.  It's not about the house or my clothes but the number of kisses I get before bedtime.


There you have it.  I'm off to fill in my Project Life with some picture I picked up today at Walgreens!  I'm really excited - Life is Good!

I had a REALLY hard time waiting until I had time to open the box and go through it.  I was planning on vlogging about it (I've never done one and I thought this would be an easy way to give it a shot - lots of things to talk about) but Danika insisted on holding the camera and when I would show her something from the box - wanting her to record it - she would move the camera to the side so she could look at it while I talked.  The footage is definitely keep worthy for entertainment value - but not vlog worthy.

So ~ you will have to see the contents of my box in step by step pictures.

The box - of course - which is actually going to be a nice box to keep all my materials in and away from little hands.

Right inside the box is a sheet that tells you what should be in your box, some tips and ideas on getting started and sticking to it, as well as a little note from Becky.  I love that she says that Project Life will not only help you preserve your memories but it will also help you, "...become more keenly aware of the blessings in your life."

Then we have the binder!  I decided on the Turquoise Edition because it seemed more my style - I'm not a flowery person and the Amber Edition was kind of flowery.

Then came the little boxes - which really are made well - with the cards.  There are Larger Date cards, filler cards and journaling cards.  There are also cards for the first and last page of your project.

Here's all the contents of the box.  You will see the photo pocket pages and monthly bookmarks on the right and the extra cardstock for whatever you want to use it for spread out on the left.  I also forgot to take a picture or mention the date stamp and date stickers that are in the bigger little box.

This was the first problem I noticed with my kit.  There are protective covers on these bookmarks - but mine was actually scratched on the other side.  I'm not super upset about it, though.  It isn't that noticeable.

There were 2 photo pocket pages that had the hole punch in the wrong place.  Can you see how much it hangs over?  I'm going to try to make it work somehow or maybe I'll just order an extra set of the photo pocket pages.

Other than those two minor things, the kit is pretty awesome.  It is going to take a while for me to get use to moving the pages a few at a time.  If I try to move them all at once, the bottom binder ring lets a few slip out - it's kind of a pain to fight to get them back on but I think turning one or three pages at a time will make it happen less often.

First page in the book - all put together

Last page in the book - all put together

Here are all the cards I stuck in the book already.  I figured if I have these in already, then I only have to add the pictures and little journal cards.  The rest will already be done.  One less thing to do later!

Now I just have to wait for the pictures I sent to Snapfish to show up!