Menu Plan Monday and Project Updates

Since I wrote about Menu Planning last week, I am committing now to post my weekly plans here on my blog. I'm doing this so that 1) I know that I will have them ready to go and 2) others may find some ideas too. I am also going to link to Orgjunkie's Menu-Plan Monday where more than 300 gals link to their menu-plans. There's lots of inspiration so no more excuses! Let's get going!

Here's this weeks plan:

Monday: Dijon Baked Chicken with Rice and Broccoli

Tuesday: Beef Taco Skillet

Wednesday: Planned Leftovers

Thursday: Cheesy Tortellini (frozen cheese tortellini with bottled Four Cheese Pasta sauce baked with shredded Mozza and Parmesan)

Friday: Pizza and Ceasar Salad

Saturday: BBQ Steaks with asparagus, mixed green salad and baked potatos

Sunday: Baked Ham with Schwartzie's Potato Casserole (I make a half recipe at a time), Peas & Carrots

Yummy! And it's so great to know what's for dinner each night and what I have to shop for. No guesswork and no stress! Love this!

As for my projects, I am happy to report that they are going well and are pretty much up to date!

Project 365: I missed one or two days taking photos but took fill-in photos of things that happened that day later on. My Project 365 album is current up to the middle of April and I just have to get photos from the last couple of weeks developed and added in. I LOVE THIS PROJECT and will enjoy looking back on it down the road!

Layout A Day (LOAD): I am only four days into the project but I am up to date! You can see all LO's here, but this is today's LO which I finished up this morning:

"Happy B-Day!" by Noreen Smith. 12 x 12 Digital Layout. Storybook Creator Plus Software and Best Buds Digi kit by CM.

The Creativity Project: Lisa Day says "...be creative with your thoughts and your actions. See everyday as a new adventure. Start each morning with the thought “what can I do that’s fun and creative today?” Totally uplifting! So for me this project is more about thinking about and focusing on creativity as opposed to making something every day. In this spirit, I have been revisiting some of the books I used when I taught art and journaling about creativity as much as I can.

My BPS Library of Memories Class continues for another few weeks, but I now have the past 8 years of photos sorted and stored in storage binders; favorite photos have been pulled, sorted and stored in category boxes and 4 out of 7 boxes of memorabilia have been sorted, purged and organized for use on upcoming layouts. Pretty good work if I do say so myself!

Finally, today is the first day of the Spring Cleaning Party over at Simple Mom. In just two weeks I will have this place overhauled and deep cleaned and ready for the spring and summer! We got a great start on the weekend by cleaning and organizing the garage - a much needed and long overdue task - so now I am in the zone to get the house done too. I will report progress in the next few days.

Alright already...enough blogging for today! Have a great one!

Happy Scrapping!

Noreen

Updating

It seems I am doing a lot of updating around here today... my blog and website, my flickr Project 365 gallery, the boys closets as they outgrow their clothes, my menu plans etc. I think I chose the word updating instead of organizing because I am merely going back to tweak a system or project I already have in place. Take my menu plans...I compiled and organized them about a year ago in preparation of having two kids around the house. Most worked, but some didn't and I wrote notes to that effect on the meal plans themselves. Now I find it quite easy to go back into my meal plan folder, update the menu, recipe or shopping list and print out a new copy. I like updating - you get the same feeling of accomplishment as a bigger organizing project but without as much work!

I found these super cute kitchen helpers


in the dollar section of Michael's the other day and they have cheered up my refrigerator door immensely - I love the bright citrus colors! The pic is not great, but there is a weekly menu planner notepad, a to-do list style of notepad and some great little glass magnets. And I also got a recipe box, recipe cards and a coupon organizer to match.


I really like things to match. Go ahead and call me anal, it's OK. Cute and cheap eh? A few bucks is all it takes to make my day!

I will be spending some time after lunch today "updating" my LOM system...I am still sorting and placing things into the category drawers that I set up last week. I love using this handy dandy portable office (AKA clipboard!) for my LOM lessons. Stacy sent it to all of us before class started and I altered it with some fun paper and rub-ons. It brightens my day and helps to keep me focused.



Since I am pulling and sorting some photos, I hope to also do a paper/printed photo layout later today...it's been too long!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Off the Wagon

I have a confession to make...I fell off the wagon.

The Project 365 Wagon that is. Back in January I joined 1000's of scrappers who are trying to document the everyday extraordinary in their lives on a daily basis by taking at least one photo per day. I tried my best and was getting along very well, but then I missed three days this past week. Why? I don't know what it was - my camera wasn't easily accessible? I was too busy? Too tired? Perhaps...but I think it boils down to lack of motivation since I STILL haven't got my Project 365 kit from CK media. I think if I had it in my hot little hands I would be getting my weekly layouts done and having it at the forefront of my mind. But I don't, and it's not, and I am a little disappointed.

BUT...I will sally forth. I dug the camera out of my bag and made sure I got a couple of shots today. And for the days I missed I am going to use the portraits that were taken recently of each of the boys. I caught up on my journaling, so I am good to go again. And I am re-pledging to get back on the daily photo wagon!

I have also been busy with the Library of Memories class over at BPS. It has been a lot harder than I imagined. I have managed to sort through printed photos from 1984 to 2009 and am now in the process of getting the past five years worth into easily accessible storage albums.



The next step will be to triage them into category drawers which I think will be the key to making some connections and creating some meaningful layouts. That is upcoming in LOM...for now, we sort! (Digital photos are next!)

During this process I have also done some physical organizing around my scrap space...my new photo storage albums have a new home on the bottom of my reference shelves -



- and a new bookcase purchase from IKEA now holds all my Library of Memories scrapbook albums as well as bins full of my manufacturers page kits, my photo printer, Cricut, Cuttlebug and accessories.





I have some new cube storage pieces as well...a four drawer cube for my category drawers and a three drawer cube for enlargements and memorabilia. I think the system will work well. My scrap space still won't look like some cool designer room, but I love the fact that it is in the midst of our family's space where the boys can play, we can watch a movie, or just be in the space and enjoy it together.

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

How do you Scrap? GIVEAWAY!

It feels so good to work with and help others that love to scrap as much as I do. I had a great day hosting a workshop for 7 lovely ladies who created an average of 5 scrapbook pages each today! And we had one gal who was brand new and created her very first layout ever about her sweet son. (And so another unsuspecting soul was introduced to this sweet addiction known as scrapbooking...!)

A lot of the discussion today was around the idea of being "caught up" and the organization of albums, and whether you scrap chronological, event-based layouts or "just because" layouts. I for one am in the middle of transition from scrapping chronologically to a more open style. I am hoping to really grasp the philosophy behind this style of scrapping when I take Stacy Julian's Libray of Memories class that starts in February. I am so excited! It feels like a whole new take on scrapbooking for me and I am looking forward to embracing it. I have set up my new albums that are divided into four categories that really make sense to me: All About Us, People We Love, Things We Do and Places We Go. Any layout I create could easily fit into one (or more) of these categories. Here is a shot of my album shelf with my new albums all labeled and ready to go:

I am using the same albums I have been using since I started scrapbooking - Creative Memories 12 x 12 Strap Hinge Style Album in four different colors - Green, Cobalt, Ruby and Chocolate. When you use this type of album you would normally work right on the page and that really supported the chronological style of scrapping I used to do. But with the introduction of these cool side loading page protector sleeves, I can now scrap on whatever type of 12 x 12 paper I want, slip it into my album and rearrange at will. I am so happy about this because I think CM albums are one of the best quality albums out there and they have a lifetime guarantee. That's important to me because if I am going to put all this work into preserving and sharing my family's story, I want to know that my album is going to last for a LONG time! I am one happy scrapper because now I get the best of both worlds.

Now for a GIVEAWAY!!!!! This is the first time I have given away anything on my blog and I am excited! I realized the other day that I have had this blog for a year now and have really enjoyed it. I know I get quite a few hits each day, but my readers must be shy because they don't leave many comments, and I would really love to hear from you! SO...I'm giving away a Creative Memories page kit to TWO lucky reader who leave a comment! If you live in Canada, leave a comment to this post about the questions below by next Saturday, January 31st and I will draw for a winner on Sunday February 1st.

So, here's the questions for you about how YOU scrap.

• Are you a chronological scrapper?
• Do you make pages about special days and events?
• Do you scrapbook the everyday moments?
• How do you organize your albums/pages?

I can't wait to hear your answers!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen