Motivated Monday :)

I'm in one of those *motivated moods* right now...and I'm trying to really run with that this week! As I mentioned in my "Of Schedules and Plans..." post earlier this morning, I'm in serious planning mode at the moment, so my Monday Meanderings will probably reflect some of that. My weeks have been getting away from me lately, and although we have been accomplishing a lot that needs to be accomplished...we haven't necessarily been accomplishing what I have *planned* to accomplish. So...I'm working on actually *working the plan* this week and getting caught up on some things.

Bible Study

I'm continuing my study on suffering and the book of Job. Also continuing 31 Days of Praying for your Children, and starting a similar prayer list of 31 Days of Praying for Your Husband. (Both can be found at Revive Our Hearts, along with some other great downloads. ) This week I'm also doing A Week of Thanksgiving. I'm doing this on my own this week, as well as with the kids as part of our Gratefulness Study.

Must Do

I have not been doing well with completing my "Must Do"s lately...I am *really* going to work on that this week. Like I say...we are accomplishing things that need to be accomplished...just not the ones on our list! This week I'm trying to *really* focus on a few areas...

*Home Blessing (see this week's plan of attack below)
*Holiday Planning--Come to a firm decision with my mom about Thanksgiving plans
Catch up on Christmas planning
Paper Chain made with kids for paper chain countdown (can't seem to find
the link to this idea at the moment...I'll post more later when I find it)
Thanksgiving/gratefulness study with children
*School--We did well last week with keeping up...we need to keep up that momentum this week.
*Make goodies to take to neighbor who helped Billy work on the van

Home Blessing

Several areas of my house need some specific, intensive work this week. Since we plan to be home this week except for regular church activities, I'm assigning each area to a day to *blitz* those specific chores:

Monday--Dining/School Room
Tuesday--Kitchen
Wednesday--Entry/Living Room
Thursday--Bathroom/Back Hall
Friday--Playroom/Finish putting up summer clothes (we have the fall clothes *out*, but due to warm weather hanging on here, haven't put the summer clothes *up*....NOT a good combination, as we are drowning in clothes!! )
Saturday--Middle Hall

I haven't made as much progress in the past couple of weeks as I had planned in decluttering...as we go through this *blitz* this week, hopefully that will change!

Train Them Up

We've done really well with our sibling study (from Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by the Mally's), but haven't gotten far with our gratefulness study. We are going to continue with both of these this week.

Menu Plan Monday

Not sure what will happen on what days, but here are our menu plans for the week (our menu was heavily influenced this week by specific requests from Billy...work, etc. have been rough and he's been working extra hard at work *and* after work lately, so I'm trying to brighten his week this week with a few of his *comfort foods*.)

*Breakfast for Supper
*Chicken Strips, Mac and Cheese, Green Peas
*Meat Gravy over Biscuits, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
*Peppercorn Chicken, Corn Casserole, Carrots
*Bruschetta Chicken Bake (I ran across this on Tiany's MPM post and thought it looked good...and realized I happened to have the ingredients for it on hand. :) It will be our *new recipe* for the week.)

Breakfasts--English muffins, Pancakes, Toast/Eggs
Lunches--Chimichangas and Rice, Frozen Pizza, Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup, PB&J and Mac&Cheese, leftovers
Snacks--Parmesan Cheese Crisps, Confetti Brownies, Pumpkin Bars

For more menu ideas, visit Laura at the new Orgjunkie site. Find more Monday Meanderings here.