Monday Madness

It's Monday. It's crisp outside; the sun is sparkling; the sky is a bright blue and clear, with just a few wispy white clouds; the air smells clean and "fallish"; and I'm ready to loose my mind because I have too many pots on the stove!!

About 7 years ago (more or less), I injured my back severely. Actually, it may have already been injured and I just "enhanced" the injury by helping my sister-in-law push my husband (while in a truck) out of the driveway (he had to go to work) during a huge snow storm. I should have stopped there, but no ... I just had to help my SIL shovel the snow from our driveway, too. Yeah. I'm not real bright sometimes. I think we got almost 2 feet of snow that weekend. And in return for the beautiful snow, I spent about a month off work, and in bed or out getting therapy. Three bulging disks went a long way to slow me down, and for the most part, I only have some bearable and lingering daily pain, but I can usually work through it.

That is ... Until I started to organize my home, do some fall cleaning, and get ready for my son's first birthday party. My eyes and mind are usually much bigger than my actual ability to "maintain" on course (my stamina). For instance ... I have many, MANY ideas for the Homemade Christmas Gift Idea Exchange, but my stupid back will only allow me to function for a small amount of time before having to take a muscle relaxer, pain killer, anti-inflammatory, etc. Which, in turn, puts me to sleep. GREAT! How am I supposed to get anything done? Full time job, church functions, homemade gift examples, laundry, house cleaning, cooking, organizing, caring for my child (as in -- making sure he doesn't burn himself on the oven or fall on his head while I'm zipping around the kitchen) ... and, yes ... my husband DOES help, but he has chores too ... cutting grass, yard work, trash detail, giving Hunter a bath, helping feed and care for him, etc. I know everyone deals with this, so if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears!

Maybe it's the Lord gently nudging me, reminding me to slow down. Possibly, it's a reminder to not take on too much at one time. Or maybe, I need to remember that I'm not superwoman, and can't take the whole world on in one day! Who would have thunk?!?

All this to say ... that instead of the original 3000 gift ideas I had, I'm having to pare down my preparations, and narrow it down to my best handful that I can prepare and show you pictures of. I will have ideas sorted into categories which I will present later on in the week. Also, I absolutely LOVE making themed gift baskets (or container gifts), and while they are not "homemade" ... they are "put together in my home," so I'll share some of those, too.

All right ... enough complaining about my back, my duties as a momma and wife, and my life in general ... here's my Menu Plan Monday:







Monday: Sweet & Sour Chicken over white rice with sugar snap peas
Tuesday: Oven Fried Chicken with sweet peas and oven roasted potatoes
Wednesday: Oriental Beef over pasta
Thursday: Spaghetti Bolognese with salad
Friday: Homemade Pizza or Leftovers
Saturday: Slow cooked Apple Pork Chops with homemade scalloped potatoes
Sunday: Cream of Chicken Potato Soup, homemade bread

Scoot on over to I'm an Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday ideas!

What are you waiting for??? Oh, and ... thanks for letting me whine!