Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail - Meal Planning for Type B People

I used to think that I was a Type A. Then I was a big firm lawyer for a few years. I quickly realized that I am just a relatively uptight and anxious Type B who likes to make lists. That said, I do like having a weekly agenda of meals. It makes me feel like I know what we are going to eat when, and it also forces me to use up the ingredients that I buy. Nothing annoys me more than wasting food.

I'm now starting to get into a rhythm for planning. Friday afternoon during K's nap is when I sit down with my recipe binder of all the recipes I've clipped from magazines, my laptop with Epicurious and my little meal planning notepad. I also have a cup of tea and cookies. I've decided that meal planning is the way that I'm going to try those recipes that I've always hung onto, but never made. When I sit down to go through the binder, I can scan exactly how long something will take, and can note whether I need to purchase anything different at the store.

I use the weekends to try stuff that is more time consuming, or that really requires my undivided attention. K and her dad have a lot of football to watch together, so they are pretty busy these days :). K and I go to the grocery store about once per week for a big stock up, and then we will walk to the farmers' market or to the grocery store a few other times to pick up the little incidentals and fresh produce as needed. So far, it's working! I am not really wasting food anymore, and I feel like we are benefiting from working some new recipes into the old standbys. How do you menu plan? Also, what is your pantry staple supper for the night when everything goes wrong, but you feel too cheap to spring for takeout?

To Do: Organization

I am on mission plough through my to do list and get organized. This involves lots of time thinking about routines and rearranging things. I've been poking around and found some helpful stuff to share with you all.

1. A great to do list template that makes printing your list and keeping it tidy a breeze located here

2. This blog provides lots of great ideas for household organizing. I love how she suggests some habits to develop to keep clutter in line. If only I could adopt them!

3. This blog makes getting organized seem so chic. I love their vision, and I also love that they provide an 8 week plan for better organization. The visuals remind me of my beloved and no longer in print Domino and Blueprint!

4. I heart this store and their adorable notepads. I've been sticking with meal planning much more consistently since I picked up a little notepad that lists my meals for the week and the ingredients I need. I feel like I could be even more organized with more adorable notebooks.

In non-organized fashion...for those that miss Gourmet Magazine, what do you think of the new Gourmet?

Taming the Chaos

When K first came home from the hospital, the only evidence of her presence outside of the nursery was a little stack of receiving blankets next to the couch, and a little canvas bin with diapers and such in our windowseat. Times have changed. Not only can she climb on almost all the living room furniture, it looks like her toys are reproducing each night. Our living room is blessed with high ceilings and abundant light, but cursed with absolutely no built in storage or closet to contain her mess.

Courtesy of the Container Store and Ballard Designs, there is a little more living in the living room, now that it looks a little nicer.

I've instituted a five bin rotation of toys. Each day, K gets an new bin filled with a variety of toys and books. It makes picking up after her so much easier, and she doesn't seem to notice that she's only playing with a fifth of her toys.

Now that she can touch everything, I've had to move books and remotes to a safe space. That's where the Ballard Designs shelves come in handy. I will post a picture, but they hang out right over one couch, and provide a safe space for the books I want to read - and another place to display photos of her. I'm ordering two more to be installed further down the wall. I shopped around for a while at Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and West Elm before going with Ballard. I loved that they don't charge tax if shipping to California, and thought they were the best value around.

How do you stay organized? Any other toy/clutter containment ideas? Her bedroom and bookshelves are a whole different story :)

projects

I feel that I'd be a lot more organized if I had a label maker. It's a round the clock clutter purge around here. I'm getting rid of stuff that I should have thrown away years ago, and starting to look at our place in a whole new light. I'd love to ask you how you all stay organized, and what your secrets are for purging your closets, kitchen and other places of all that clutter!

We had friends over for a big meal of spaghetti, salad and brownies on Saturday - it was great to catch up and enjoy some quality time. With this gloomy economy, and how much fun it is, I'm going to start having people over for dinner more often. This big Juliska platter caught my eye! Can't you just imagine it filled with pot roast or spaghetti and meatballs?

Grey. I am thinking about getting our living room and dining room repainted, and grey is my top color. I'm thinking a very pale, silvery blue grey. Any thoughts?

Belated Happy New Year

Hi,

We've been waylaid by colds, teething, holidays, fun outdoors and all sorts of things, but I wanted to get back to the blog!

Here's what I'm working on this week:

Uncluttering my home office - I just love the blog "Unclutterer.com"

Figuring out how to digitally store all the old photo negatives - scanning them to CD perhaps?

Putting the childproof latches on our cabinets - someone is starting to figure out how to open them!

In terms of cooking, check out this fantastic cookbook - Chocolate and Zucchini - I was absolutely blown away by the chocolate caramel tarte!

To Do List Progress

I've made some headway:

1. Scheduled meeting with pediatrician within walking distance of our place for two weeks from now.

2. Cleared a lot of junk out of Baby Icing's room.

3. Scheduled a breastfeeding seminar at UCLA Santa Monica (apparently it is NOT easy to learn at all!).

4. Ordered the first batch of nursery essentials from Diapers.com - check out MMM's blog for a review and discount!

5. Taken my pretty Bold and Noble poster for an expensive but very attractive framing! I can't wait to see it hung up!

6. Confirmed that the remaining parts of the Pottery Barn Kids order are still coming - I was getting nervous, but it looks like delivery should be coming around this week or next!

7. Provided my certification to my office confirming my last day of work is April 1. I can't believe it!

Things to Do

As I mentioned yesterday, I am about 8 weeks from Baby Icing arriving and changing the ENTIRE WOLRD AS I KNOW IT. So, I really want to check some things off the to do list that may languish for years (like until Baby Icing goes to college) in these last few weeks. And, I'm telling you, kind readers, so that I feel responsible. (Thanks to Lauren for doing a similar post this week that got me motivated!)



So, here goes:

1. Roll over the 401k from my old job so that it's easy to keep track of it (and watch it lose money). Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't rush this one?


2. Change all accounts to my married name. I had a period of time where my state bar registration was still in my maiden name, but now that is fixed, there is no excuse, and since I USE my married name professionally and socially, it should all match.


3. Find an appropriate pull out couch/sleeper option to use in our loft/home office/de facto new guest bedroom.


4. Clean out the closets. Specifically, reorganize them to allow all the stuff we have to be stored efficiently. (Note to self - do not start this project if I suspect labor is about to start, as I don't want this unfinished when Baby Icing arrives!
   
5. Have my car completely serviced, including the "love tap" on the rear bumper.
6. Research "mommy and me" type groups so that I'll have a list. I'm in the weird stage of having only a couple friends with children, and I think it would be great to have some other mum friends in the neighborhood.
7. GOODWILL donation - books and clothes. There are some books that I've read once and they take up a lot of space!
8. Organize my address list for the birth announcements. I may be lazy and have a calligrapher do them, and for that, they need to be in one central word document.
9. Find a pediatrician!!!!! This is a priority! (I also need an internist for myself, but that's another story).
10. Schedule baby CPR. We will need to take this class after Baby Icing arrives, because we can't seem to find an open class between now and April!
11. Buy Mr. Icing a very nice birthday present, as his birthday is going to be pretty close to Baby's - I'm thinking he may need a nice bottle of scotch with all these changes going on!
12. Finish up and prettify my new little home office closet - so that I actually enjoy doing paperwork there!
13. Learn how to use the slow cooker. I'm going to be returning to work, and this seems like a nice way to make some tasty weeknight dinners!
14. Research childcare options. Due to our schedules and office locations, we most likely need someone to come to our house, and I need to know the going rate, what is included, all that good stuff.
15. Finish up a photo album of Mr. Icing and I that predates our wedding. We'll be married four years this July, just to give you an idea...it has been a while.

So, what do you have on your list? Realistically, I won't get all of this done, but it's good to have goals, right?

Also, how do I "follow" blogs? I'd love to follow all you readers and commenters, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the most tech savvy person out there!

The Answer to My Prayers?

I'm not very organized in my private life. In my work life, I am an attorney, so organization is REQUIRED. My office is pretty neat, I calendar everything, and I'm a compulsive double checker. Unfortunately, that seems to consume all my organizational abilities, leaving VERY limited quantities for my private life. But, since being pregnant, I've gotten gradually more interested in ways of tracking and sorting. Check out http://www.seejanework.com/ for great options - this brand also makes binders for life in general. I also found some other adorable stuff that seems like it would really help me stay organized! The Kate Spade organizer I own in green and LOVE it. It holds up really well to being jounced around in purses all the time.

I think I'm getting the medical book to track Baby's appointments/shots, etc, and I should probably do the same for myself and DH. Who knows...baby will either push me over the edge into total chaos, or help me shape up.