As I hung laundry on the line today, I was thinking about how much I enjoy hanging laundry outside to dry. I’m blessed to live in a rural area without neighborhood covenants. We get plenty of wind blowing across the open fields so things dry quickly and without very many wrinkles.

It seems like during the winter that laundry takes forever because I’m tied to the dryer. However in the summer once its on the line, I’m done until its time to bring it inside. I think its more fun to fold too because everything smells so good.

If you live in an area that doesn’t allow permanent clotheslines, how about the Frost drying rack from Ikea?

This could go easily on a deck or small porch. When its folded up, it takes up a mere 4 inches of space. The steel frame is powder coated so it won’t stain like the wood racks sometimes do. It also won’t get the funky mildew smell like the wood racks.

We got 170+ lbs of beef last week so thank goodness we can eat something other than chicken!

Monday: leftover Italian Pasta Bake from yesterday. My family usually eats the entire pan in one meal but I guess no one was very hungry yesterday. There is about half left.

Tuesday: ribeye steaks on the grill

Wednesday: marinated chicken on the grill. I’m on the last bottle of free marinade from last summer.

Thursday: Chuck Roast in foil (Joy of Cooking page 481).

Friday: hamburgers on the grill

Saturday: out to eat before Saturday night worship at church

Sunday: lunch will be a “whatever you can scrounge up” meal but we’ll have dinner at a church meeting that night (pizza!).

Lori asked in response to the previous post

How is this better enough than FlyLady to pay actual money for it?

I like a checklist. I get a lot of satisfaction seeing the check marks on my MM list. For instance today I feel like I’m really behind in the week. We’re still cleaning up after the bathroom remodel so some of my normal weekly cleaning has been put on the back burner. I looked at my MM list though and realized how much I’ve actually accomplished this week. Go me!

Despite using Flylady for several years, I found her system a little too loose. If you keep up with the day to day projects your house will stay relatively surface clean. However I don’t think the zone cleaning is quite enough. After several months of zone cleaning just as she suggests, I felt the cleanliness of my house was deteriorating rather than improving. I am admittedly a perfectionist and quite fastidious about housework.

Another issue I have with Flylady is that she seems to be spouting an increasingly humanistic point of view. I realize this has nothing to do with the functionality of her system but it does affect my ability to endorse her methods. I found the attitude especially prevalent in her podcasts. This isn’t a theological blog nor do I want to get into a theological discussion but as a Christian, I think she places too much emphasis on our own abilities.

The Motivated Mom system is a mere $8. With 264 days remaining in 2008, the MM list will cost you just 3 cents a day.

Here we are again! I stuck to the menu plan for the most part. Saturday and Sunday were the only days we got off track. We were really busy working on the bathroom remodel this weekend. We ate out twice and the rest of the meals were eaten whenever someone got hungry.

Here’s how our week looks:

Monday: chicken on the grill along with vegetables from the freezer, canned fruit and some Sister Shubert’s rolls-absolutely amazing rolls if you’ve never tried them before.

Tuesday: hamburgers on the grill with chips and sliced apples.

Wednesday: something I call Sherilyn’s chicken-Sherilyn is a family friend. Dump one can of cream of chicken soup over top of chicken breasts. Don’t dilute the soup. Just spread it straight out of the can. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle some cheese over the top. I believe the original recipe called for mozzarella but I use whatever is handy. No one has complained yet. I have a bag of Kraft Colby, Monterey jack and cheddar cheese crumbles I want to use up so that’s what I’ll use. The cream of chicken soup makes a nice gravy that I like over brown rice. Serve along with a nice green salad.

Thursday: soup and sandwiches. I have class at 7 p.m. so Thursday nights for the next 12 weeks need to be fast.

Friday: our usual…pizza

Saturday: we’ll likely attend the Saturday night worship service and then go out to eat.

Sunday: its a “get whatever you want” sort of day. We have some home improvement projects planned for next weekend too so we’ll be busy.

For more Menu Plan Monday, go visit Laura!

A couple weeks ago, Julie had a post about the checklist system from MotivatedMoms.com

I love checklists! I love lists! I even like being told what to do (it means I don’t have to think)! At a mere $8 for the download, I knew I must have this product. A few minutes later my printer was humming away. I bought the planner with scheduled Bible readings.

I’ve been using the system for a couple weeks now and I love everything about it. I used to keep a general idea in my head of what needs to be done around the house. As my life has gotten busier, I find the general idea has morphed into a fuzzy idea…a very fuzzy idea. My house is generally surface clean but I rarely find motivation to delve into the dark corners. The MM checklist eliminates the need to remember your to-do list. In the mornings I just start at the top of the page and tick ‘em off. I’m getting things done that I would have never remembered on my own.

I loved Motivated Moms so much, I became an affiliate. You can download your very own copy of MM by clicking the banner in the sidebar.

While I love the final results of a home improvement project, I hate the mess. Even when doing a simple project like painting, I’m anxious to get everything cleaned up and moved back into place.

I told myself at the start of our master bath update that I wouldn’t let the mess get to me. Afterall there’s no choice in the matter. It has to be done. Four days into it and folks I’m starting to crack around the edges. Here’s the view from the door

The white cabinet next to the armoire sits in the bathroom and holds extra towels and TP. The vanity contents are on top because my husband had to cut larger holes around the plumbing fixtures when he pulled it out from the wall. I haven’t had time (or desire) to clean up the interior of the cabinet to put the stuff away. Also in the back of my mind, I wonder “why bother?” because we’ll have to unload the cabinet again to put it back in place.

The other stuff goes in our walk in closet. I store my shoes in the three door cabinet, the green laundry basket also goes in the closet along with my yarn swift and knitting bag. My camera malfuctioned but on the opposite wall is the actual bathroom door (off its hinges) and all the trim pieces.  The mess is the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing at night.

I’ve decided that our bed is my shiny sink. No matter what, the bed will be completely clear because otherwise we have no place to sleep! Right now there is a basket of clean laundry on the bed. I guess I better go take care of that.

I came down with stomach flu last Monday evening.  Later on in the week, we had to deal with a broken sump pump and problematic septic system. This weekend we found ourselves knee deep in a impromptu bathroom remodel due to water damage. Consequently the menu plan went out the window!  Here’s hoping that this upcoming week will be peaceful.

This week is heavy on chicken because I have just one pound of hamburger left in the freezer. I’m trying to avoid buying beef knowing the 1/4 cow should be here within a couple weeks or less.

Monday: Sticky Chicken: this was one of the meals that got pushed to the back burner last week.

Tuesday: soup and sandwiches: I work at a homeschool enrichment program on Tuesdays. After school I sometimes stay late and knit with a group of mothers and teenage girls.

Wednesday: chicken fajitas: I don’t really have a recipe for this. I have some marinade in the pantry that I free last summer by combining sales and a coupon. I want to clear the bottles out of the pantry before these deals start coming around again. I’ll slice up the raw chicken and cook it in a little olive oil. Once its almost done, I’ll throw in some frozen onion and green pepper from my garden last summer. We’ll have the fajitas in some flour tortillas from the freezer.

Thursday: barbecued chicken: Like the marinade, we have tons of  free barbecue sauce from last summer.  Hopefully it will be nice enough to put on the grill. If not, I bake the chicken in the oven and dump sauce over it during the last couple minutes of cooking.

Friday: pizza

Saturday: garlic lime chicken: this one comes from Leanne Ely at Flylady. My daughter thinks this is a little too spicy but the rest of us love it. The fat content in this dish is extremely high IMO despite being the good sort of fats. When I fix this dish, I cut the fat in half and the taste isn’t compromised at all.

Sunday: we’ll go out to eat after church

Reluctant Entertainer recently wrote about the balancing act we all do. Good stuff!

HT to Laura.

While on vacation, I picked up the latest issue of Organize magazine to read on the trip home. The magazine is fantastic! Look for a post next week about some of my favorite articles in the issue. What I wanted to blog about today was the article entitled “I’d love to, but I don’t have time” by Sue Brenner.

I often remark to my husband that within the last two years, it seems like our life went from a normal sort of busy to frantic. I’ve decided its just the stage of life we’re in with a grade school child and teenager. Neither are heavily involved in outside activities but we do have the typical doctor/dentist appointments, friends calling, school commitments, etc. There are some weeks where I find myself feeling angry at being pulled in so many directions.

Sue’s article really spoke to me. My favorite suggestion was #2: Put a cap on the favors you do each week. Too often I find myself agreeing to go/do something I really don’t want to do. As I’m saying yes, I know in my head that what I’m agreeing to is going to overly stress my time for that day or week.

After reading Sue’s article, I have decided for myself that I can do two favors each week in addition to our normal weekly commitments. The first one will be walking dogs at our local no kill shelter. My son loves to do this but many times I’m so tired by Saturday that I tell him no. That’s not good. My son is 14 and let’s face it not many kids that age want to spend time with Mom. The second one will be for one other thing that pops up. No matter how good #3 or #4 thing sound, I’m going to say no.

Despite having posts for the week already lined up in my head, I’m not going to get to them until maybe tomorrow or Friday.

Here’s the reason why.