Mom, Whats For Dinner?

Take the guess work out of your daily dinner dilemma by  preparing a weekly menu.  I know, this sounds so drudging.  But when you plan your meals ahead of time you have time for other things in your life.  Start with tomorrow.  Write or type what you will have as your main dish and then your side dishes.  Now, plan your dinners for the rest of the week. Ask your kids for their input as well.  This will make grocery shopping much easier since you will only get the food that is on your menu for the next week.  This idea also eliminates the problem of what to have for dinner tonight.

By including the family on dinner decisions this assures that they will enjoy at least a few meals that week.  If your family is like mine, it is impossible to please every one's palate. Since the menu is posted on the refrigerator, it has eliminated the daily question:  "Mom, what's for dinner?"

Event Planning

Any event requires thoughtful preparations and organized planning to be successful. Think about the coming year, 2011; are there any milestone anniversaries or birthdays that may be a cause for celebration?  If so, it is not too soon to start planning.   If you are like me, I need to start months in advance just to be able to pay for it all.  Have a budget in mind and stick to it.  Using an Excel spreadsheet to track your expenses is an excellent way to monitor your spending. 

Start with the place where you want to have the event.  If it's at a rental hall, book now.  If you plan to have entertainment such as a DJ, that should also be secured six months in advance.  Perhaps you have some entertainer friends or family that can be considered. 

Now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, consider having a theme party.  Having a party with a theme may actually make decorating and planning much easier.  There are so many websites to assist you in planning a theme party.  The one that I like to use is party411.com. 

About a month prior to the event comprise the guest list.  From that list, order the food and start stocking up on the snacks and drinks you will have at the event. 

Whether you start planning your special event six months or six weeks in advance, It will be to your benefit and the benefit of your guests to have a thoughtful plan.  Guests can tell if you simply threw a party together with little thought and preparation.

If you would like some ideas for your next party or have some questions about planning a party, feel free to contact me on my blog.  I would love to hear from you!

Collector or Hoarder?

Books, sports memorabilia, figurines, purses.  All sound harmless enough; but where do we draw the line from collector to hoarder?  I have two friends who call themselves collectors; Sheila and Donna.  Sheila loves teapots.  She has about 35 teapots in her kitchen.  My other friend Donna, reads books.  Donna keeps all of her books.  One is a hoarder and the other is a collector.  Sheila displays her teapots above her kitchen cabinets and cleans them weekly.  Sheila is a collector.  Donna admits that her books are her friends and she can not get rid of them.  They have taken over her house.  Donna is a hoarder of books.   Her books have taken control of her judgment. 

When a collection has become so big that you can no longer display it in an organized way and it interferes with your personal space, it has crossed over to hording.