My Plan Monday

Well, here we are and it's Monday again.  And, we're getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving!  I just can't believe that!  Have you started planning your Thanksgiving Dinner yet?  I haven't!  And, I'm not quite sure what to do either.  My son is working all that week, including Thanksgiving Day, he has a steady girlfriend and I'm not sure if she's going to make it over at all, my mom isn't going to be able to come up this year, so it's just us.  My oldest daughter will not be joining us because of the horrible conflict she insists on bringing into our house, which is sad but necessary.  I will probably make what I always make, and those things all make copious amounts, so we will be able to live off of left-overs for at least a week after our big dinner.  lol

We ended up having a very busy weekend.  Friday night we were hit with our first Winter Storm Watch.  My husband and I decided to get carry-out from our favorite Indian restaurant, opened up the garage door to run and get our food and everything was completely covered in at least an inch of snow!  It was pretty icky driving, but that didn't stop us from getting that food. lol  I adore Indian food and that warm, spicy dinner was just the right thing on a snowy, cold night.

We did all sorts of running around with errands on Saturday and Sunday.  Which was good, because we got a lot done, but bad, because we didn't really plan meals too well, so we went to the grocery store both of those evenings to buy things for dinner that night.  I'm really not quite sure why, but if I had planned those two meals and bought the food with our weekly groceries, we would have been fine with our budgeted money for that week.  But for some reason, after getting our grocery money on Friday, getting carry-out on Friday and then shopping Saturday and Sunday for meals, we have about $40 left for groceries until next Friday!  So, needless to say, there won't be a nice menu plan for this week for me to share.  It's going to be "scavenging in the kitchen" menu week. lol  Which is probably good, because I do have things for meals that will last us through till Friday and no matter what, we are determined to stick to our "cash only" budget.

So, just sitting here and thinking about what I have on hand in the kitchen that I can make for dinner the next few days, I can sketch out this meal plan:

Monday- spaghetti and sauce, veggie from freezer, french bread
Tuesday- oven BBQ chicken, oven fried potatoes, biscuits
Wednesday- tuna patties, rice, fruit salad
Thursday- pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit
Friday- Yeah!  Time to run to the store!  We did it, back to real menu planning and sticking to it!

Going through weeks like this really helps me see how important menu planning is for us to stick to our grocery budget each week and to just keep me sane.  It's just too stressful for me to wake up in the morning and think, um....what should we have for dinner tonight?  If I have it all planned out ahead of time, I wake up, look at my paper on the fridge and it says, "You're making this today for dinner!" and I say, "Great! Guess I'm making that for dinner tonight!  No worries!" lol

As for things on my "To-Do" list......well, I'm still working on that one quilt that I shared a little peek of on Friday.  This morning I pinned the binding strips together and as soon as my little one wakes up, I will sew them together.  I just don't have a place where I can go sew quietly.  Not that my machine is loud, but I want her to sleep as long as she can!  So, my goal is to get that binding on completely today and it's finished.  Right now it's sitting on a kitchen chair all folded up and it looks so neat.  I really need to stack up the few quilts that I have here that I've made and kept and get a picture.  I absolutely love the pictures I see on other quilter's blogs of stacks of folded quilts!

Then, it's time to start working on the Christmas table topper quilt.  I have the charm packs cut out and waiting.  I just need to cut out the white pieces of fabric and I can start sewing the blocks together.  This is a new block for me to try and a little more involved.  I'm moving into working with a new shape, triangles!  So, I'm going to take it slow and do my best to keep my seams all nice and happy.  

In our running around over the weekend, we stopped by Borders and I had to buy another sewing book, of course.  It's turned into an addiction!  But, I had $10 in Borders Bucks and a 33% off coupon.  I had to use that $10, right? lol  So, I picked up "Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed and Organic Materials" by Betz White.   I've picked this one up several times, but always ended up buying something else instead.  I'm so glad I got it!  It has some great projects in it and I can't wait to start sewing some of them up!  I also got the Winter 2010 issue of Quilts and More.  I absolutely love this magazine and I sure wish that I was published more then 4 times a year.  It's always fun of a great variety of projects.  I'm so excited, because I found a quilt in it that I am so excited to make!  It's actually the quilt on the cover.....the version of the quilt that's inside the magazine is what sold me on the pattern.  I'm pretty sure it's the colors that sold me on it, too. lol   I have been eying the Bliss jelly roll for awhile and this is the quilt I'm going to make with it!  I think it will look great in our living room!

Well, I've rambled on quite a bit this morning and not my little one is awake, so I had better go and start my day!  I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and are able to spend some time today doing something crafty!

God Bless!
di