Thursday, December 1, 2016

Dec 1 Flylady update

So, It's Day 4 of Flylady, and the first day of December, so we are heading off to The Entrance, Front Door and Dining Room. According to the schedule I am supposed to find my FlySpot and hope it is something good. My FLyspot (the first thing you notice when you walk in the room) is a pile of unfiled papers. So, I spent 15 minutes filing, and didn't make a perceivable dent. So, I'll do another 15 minutes on that one tomorrow.

My ace of this month's Flylady is that the Monthly Challenge, which is meal planning, and I already do that, since I cook for 5, and I HATE SHOPPING. yes, I hate all types of shopping, unless there is fibre (re: fabric, yarn, etc) involved. And with 5 people and crazy schedules, planning is key. I usually do a couple of crock pot meals a week (for nights when I will get home late or not be home at all), and we always have at least one leftover night. Other than that it's really about ensuring that everyone gets one of their favorites each week, and that we don't copy too many things too often. For example, this week we had the following :

Monday : Spaghetti with Sausage - favorite
Tuesday: Mandarin Chicken - new recipe
Wednesday: Taco Salad - favorite, tweaked recipe
Thursday: Potato Soup and Grilled Cheese - new recipe
Friday : Leftovers Night - obvious
Saturday : Crockpot Beef and Broccoli - favorite
Sunday: Crockpot Chili - new recipe

I have about a dozen regular dishes that are favorites that I try to have once a month, plus a left over night each week, leaves 14ish days of trying something new each month. Sometimes those are good (or even great), and sometimes, we all agree that they are destined to never be repeated. Thank goodness we don't have a lot of things that only 1 or 2 people like (or love) so I am not stuck appeasing or cooking multiple dinners. If we like the dish, I'll put it in a special folder in my Pinterest , so that we can repeat it (like the pork and pears we had last week) to verify results, and then if we like it twice we will rate it and add it to a remakes list. I have about 50 items that are in the remakes, but not in favorites. Remakes are constantly under revamping. I am constantly tweaking/changing/adjusting until it ends up in favorites. I Pin recipes all the time, and we generally try something new two or three times a week, for example, the chili recipe this week is a white chili that I've never made before, and the taco salad was made with homemade taco seasoning mix, so even things on the favorites list occasionally get revamped, even if all we do is prove that our existing menus are still our favorites. Of course, I also have some seasonal recipes, like carrot and cardamon soup or mandarin chicken salad. I don't make much soup in the summer, and I don't eat many salads in winter.  Next week's menu is going to be full of new stuff, as we tend to try more new stuff in the winter than the summer. I think that is mainly because I am home earlier. With it getting dark so early, there is no evening dog park visit or long walks after dark. We do them early am, or immediately upon getting home, so I am literally in the house more, and my favorite room is the kitchen. So, next week is full of new stuff...as we are testing some recipes with some friends...

Monday - Baked Salmon with lemon and dill (new recipe, generally a new food, not big on fish)
Tuesday - Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Wednesday - Chicken and Orchetti soup (fancy chicken minestrone)
Thursday - Crescent Ham Slice
Friday - Mississippi CrockPot Roast
Saturday - Make your own pizza night (friends with kids over)
Sunday - Meatloaf

I will finish planning out the rest of the month tomorrow, as it's clean out the freezer night. when I literally go through the freezer and inventory all the weird things we collect. Like waffles. Seriously, I don't know who buys all the frozen waffles, but they seem to multiple in the freezer.

Tomorrow's daily challenge is to repeat the FlySpot challenge, and I will have a couple of extra minutes, so I might do a 27 Fling Boogie in the dining room. I will have to take some time to pack for the weekend, and get everything ready to be away for the weekend (sort out the dog, pay the bills, etc, etc, etc).

I have found the last couple of days of working on FLyLady to be really productive. There is something about coming home and working on things while you watch TV, or while you wait for something that makes it more exciting. As a result, I felt inspired to get into the sewing room. I  managed to get some sewing done today, not a lot, but enough that I feel like I am making progress on my placemats. I'm ready for final assembly, but I wanted to test the layout in good lighting, so I will finish that in the morning and then sew them tomorrow evening, right after I do my Flylady chores.

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