Journal of a Busy Mom

living one day at a time

Early To Rise

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Earlier this month I read a post from Money Saving Mom called the Early to Rise Challenge. She challenged her readers to rise early every day for the month of March. It was April and I missed the daily posts and encouragement, but I was inspired to rise earlier. I was further inspired by an e-book I read 4:00 A.M. A Productivity Argument. This little ebook really encouraged me to make that commitment to rise earlier at least Monday-Friday. I’ve always wanted to be an early riser. I like my quiet time and the ability to get things done before my children get up and my chaos starts. I decided that I would wake up at 5:00 AM. It was madness to consider 4:00 AM.
Today was my second week of waking up at 5:00 AM. It actually hasn’t been that difficult. I think it has to do with the fact that I have a purpose. I am not getting up and just “hanging out”. I have a list:

1. Quiet time- I spend the first 45-1hour with God reading his word, praying, and meditating.

2. Blogging- I spend the next 45 minutes or so writing, thinking, and planning.

3. Computer fun- yes that’s facebook, emails etc

I really wish I would have done this before. On Thursday Money Saving Mom had a new post called Help! I want to get up early but I don’t have any motivation. I would encourage you to read it too if you are wanting to Rise to the Challange and Rise Early.

Ligia

Cooking with My Kids

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I feel like I have done my children a disservice by not including them more in the kitchen. I guess it’s always been easier to do it myself. That is true with cleaning and with cooking. I read an e-book recently called Back to Basics: Raising Self-Sufficient Children which made me really reconsider the importance of teaching my children to cook. I’ve started and stopped several attempts to include them, usually I get frustrated and just want to do it myself, so I’ve decided that I need to look at cooking as an on-going course, just like any of the homeschool course I have to teach.

Here is what I’ve decided to do:

1. Each week my kids will take turn in helping me with cooking. I am writing a sticky note on each of my recipes and writing what my kids could do to help me. I think that will be a good first start.

2. We are going to make simple recipes from start to finish together once a week as part of our school day. I’m sure they would willingly give up an academic subjects to spend time in the kitchen.

3. Once a month I am going to challenge my tween to pick a recipe, shop for the ingredients, and cook the meal for us. In fact I found a cool website that we are going to use called It’s My Turn to Cook Tonight.The author, a young gal, is having a cooking program the 22 and 23rd of this Month.

These are my first step. My Cooking with Kids 101. I think it sounds good for a book title.

Ligia

Recipe Binder Makeover

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I’ve been unhappy with my recipe binder for a while. What bothers me the most is I have hundreds of recipes in it, but most of them I haven’t tried and some my family don’t even like anymore. Each week, when menu planning rolls around, I am annoyed. With this in mind, I decided to re-do my recipe binder.

  1. I took it apart. Literally. I pulled out all the recipes and went through them one by one. I sorted them into these piles- freezer cooking, crockpot cooking, recipes we use, and recipes we haven’t tried. As I went through my recipe binder I chucked the recipes that we’ve tried and didn’t love or even some that I know I’ll never make. 
  2. I ordered Avery Big Tab Two-Pocket Insertable Plastic Dividers on Amazon.com. I picked these because they are plastic (easy to wipe) and each divider has a pocket.. My thought is that I can put new recipes I want to try into the pockets and as I try them move them into a permenant spot in my binder.

When I get my dividers in, I will reassemble my recipe binder but only with current family recipes we have tried and like. For now I will plan my menus around those recipes. Then I will slowly add the recipes that I want to try one at a time. I will post a picture of my recipe binder when I’m done.

I do want to share some of the wonderful blogs I visited to get inspiration:

My Recipe Binder Got a Makeover

Refrigerator Magnet Menu Planner 

Menu Mom: Menu Planning Central

Ligia