It's going to be one of those crazy busy weeks here - two afternoons of teaching piano, one day of co-op, another morning where the children will play piano and read to classes at our former preschool, preparing dinner for a family in need, AND preparing for the Homeschool Literature Fair on Friday! Oh, and somewhere in there I need to get some serious piano practice in because I will be subbing for our church pianist next Sunday!
Our weeks are not usually this busy, and it got me to thinking about the importance of PLANNING.
I wanted to share a planning tool I'm using to make the week run more smoothly:
I spend time each Saturday or Sunday getting my menu plan set with Plan to Eat and importing my recipes for the week. {Plan to Eat has revolutionized my life and I'm not kidding. You can try it for a month for free! and if you use the link I gave I will get a small credit on my account!}
Basically, you can add your own recipes to Plan to Eat, or you can import recipes from almost any website with their nifty little button on your toolbar. Those recipes go into your recipe box and you can then click and drag them onto the calendar for the week. My husband can log into Plan To Eat and know what we're having for dinner (so he doesn't have pizza for lunch and then pizza for dinner!). You can also keep a shopping list on Plan to Eat (more about that later).
I am using my Pinterest Yummy Goodness board and adding those recipes into Plan to Eat; I can then add them to my planner for this week and it AUTOMATICALLY CREATES MY SHOPPING LIST. I love this! I also have a few friends who use Plan to Eat now - I can view their recipes and add them to my queue if I wish.
I do think it's worth your time to investigate Plan to Eat - it is just $4.99/month (even less than that if you pay for the whole year). It saves me in time and I always have what I need for my recipes!
I also want to celebrate Valentine's Day with my children.
Once again, Pinterest to the rescue!! I've found a few cute ideas (you can see all my pins for Valentine's Day here) that we'll definitely be doing:
Morning Read-Aloud Time: How about some Cinnamon Cider and Valentine themed read-alouds?
Valentine Math: I think we will play Valentine Yahtzee!
Of course my children will LOVE BEING BOOKWORMS on Valentine's Day, too!
Dinner: I needed something quick because I teach piano on Tuesday afternoons/evenings. I found a recipe for Tuscan Pasta With Tomato Basil Cream; this along with a nice bottle of wine... followed by a make your own Sundae Bar.
