Perfect Conditions

"You can't sit around waiting for perfect conditions, or you'll never get anything done."

I'm sure we've all heard it a thousand times. And on some level, I'm sure we all believe it too. But still, we make excuses.

"After the baby is born, I'll have more time."

"Once I graduate, I'll focus on my family."

"The next promotion will mean enough money to get started."

"When the kids are older..."

"When I quit my job..."

"Next year it will happen."

"Next week will be better."

"I'll start tomorrow."

But guess what?  Each time one of these creeps up on us, it's met with a new stipulation.  And somehow years have passed, and we haven't accomplished our goals.  Tomorrow never came.

Life is finite, and not only is it finite, it's short.  Really, really short. But we piddle away the minutes on mindless games and wasted what ifs.

I'm ready to change that.

Not because conditions are perfect.  Not even because one of my stipulations has been met.  But because I deserve it, my family - my husband, my kids - we all deserve it.  What is this "it" I am so sure we deserve?  It's not perfection, but it's the closest I can provide.

We deserve healthy, home-cooked meals.  We deserve fit bodies that can carry us through however many years we have left.  I deserve a chance to be me and not just my husband's wife and my sons' mom.  They deserve a mom and wife who's happy and not as stressed as the one they have now.

Striving for perfection - that's stressful.  If you're anything like me, the thought of it shuts you down.  So I won't strive to be perfect, but I will promise to do the best I can every moment of every day.  I will promise to go easy on myself and stop beating myself up when my best is not as good as I think it should be and when it's not 100% of my resources.  Because sometimes to be the best I can for them means saving a little piece for me.

So I'm replacing my "what ifs", my "when conditions are perfects", and my "if I can't do it perfectly, I might as well quits" with this new daily mantra.

Today I will wake up and be ready to give it my all.

Today I will give my husband and children the attention and love they deserve.

Today I will work hard to make our house a home.

Today I will exercise and nourish my body with healthy food.

Today I will strive for excellence in everything I do.

Today I will prepare for tomorrow.

Today I will take the steps necessary to meet my goals.

Today I will forgive myself for my shortcomings.

Today I will not let my guilt and fear of failure hold me back.

Today I will love me."

So there it is in black and white - the promise I make to myself every morning when I wake up.  I encourage all of you to create your own daily mantra.  Positive thoughts lead to positive actions.  When we let go of fear, guilt, and regret, we are able to move forward and make the most of this finite life we've been given.

7 Week Meal Plan

How many of you meal plan?  I have been a "meal planner" for quite some time now, but I kept finding that I was spending hours each week planning and making grocery lists.  In fact, I often spent so long doing that part of it that we never got around to eating the things I'd planned!  It was ridiculous.  So I decided this year to plan the entire year, complete with grocery lists, so that I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.  I planned January, and gave up.  It was too much!

Then I had a new idea - make a few weeks of meals and rotate them throughout the year!  It turned into 7 weeks of meals, complete with grocery lists.  I started by making theme nights.
My themes are:
Sunday - Mexican
Monday - Vegetarian
Tuesday - Italian
Wednesday - Vegetarian
Thursday - Miscellaneous
Friday - Grill Night
Saturday - Open

I left Saturdays open so that if we had a night out or something came up we could switch things around without needing to rewrite the grocery list.  I also left it open in case I wanted to try a new recipe.

We are in our 2nd 7 week rotation now, and I am loving it!  It is so nice to have all of my meals planned and lists written so that I don't even have to think about it.  I put my weekly planner and grocery list back to back in a sheet protector.  Then I take the page protector out of my binder when I am ready to go to the store.  I use a wet erase marker to mark things off that I already have at home (I prefer these to dry erase because they don't just wipe off), and then I use it to mark things off while I shop.  When I get home, the meal plan goes on the fridge for the week.  Between these two sheets I have all of the recipes I need that week.  It saves me tons of time and paper because now I print it once, and have it for the entire year (or however long I keep this up).

Do you meal plan?  What's your planning method?