Meal planning made such a difference in our finances when I was a single mom, and continues to as a family of four adults. It has eliminated much of the overwhelm that can come with needing to feed everyone, and we eat much healthier when there is a plan.
Here are some resources that I have found tremendously helpful in my meal planning journey.
DANIELLE WALKER COOKBOOKS - I love her cookbooks. All of her recipes that I have tried are delicious and healthy. She is a paleo cook, so each recipe is free of gluten, grains, dairy, legumes, and processed sugar (she uses maple syrup, coconut sugar and honey on occasion). I have never been disappointed in any of the recipes I have tried. I have 4 of her cookbooks, and I have linked my favorite one above. She is so gifted at creating delicious meals, and I know you’re going to love them!
These NOTEBOOKS are my go-to for my meal planning and grocery list. I am still old-school and prefer handwriting my lists. My grocery list goes on one page, and the meal plan is the following page, so I can keep it all together.
I can’t tell you exactly how it all occurred, or when we became interested in each other, but we did. I knew Heath from church. We were both involved in the music at church, so we would see each other pretty regularly at rehearsals. We would talk at rehearsal and at church on Sunday mornings and once in a while we would chat on social media. The more we talked, the more I liked him.
And then it happened.
On Valentine’s Day, 2016, Heath asked me for my phone number. He called me a couple days later and asked me out on a date. My first date since Jon had passed. My stomach did flip flops, but of course I said yes!
I was feeling ALL the feelings. Excited, nervous, unsure, happy...it was overwhelming. I tried not to get too far ahead of myself, but I wondered what God was up to. When I told my kids that I had a date, Jillian said, “Is Mr. Bailey going to be our new Dad?” I explained to her that it didn’t quite work that way - it takes time and many dates before deciding on a big commitment like that.
When I first became a widow, I never thought I would remarry. Falling in love and getting married again was something I was very opposed to. But God had other plans.
Shortly after Jon passed in July of 2009, Jillian, who was 7 at the time asked me, “Are we going to get a new Daddy?” I was completely surprised by this question and wasn’t sure how to respond. It had literally only been a few weeks since Jon passed, and I wasn’t ready to even begin to think about anything like that.
Of course, in her mind, it was the most logical thing in the world. It just made sense that a family had a mommy AND a daddy. So I told her the only thing I could, and that was for her to pray about it.
Read more...Small habits have made a big difference in my life. Choosing to set small, measurable goals instead of big, lofty ones have helped me be more successful in bringing order and simplicity to my life. As a widow with young kids, this also helped keep me from feeling overwhelmed as I tried to navigate being a single Mom. I couldn’t even fathom trying to accomplish a big change, but little tweaks and creating systems around what I was already doing was sustainable and saved my sanity.
I didn’t start all of these small habits at once. They came about over many years as a need arose, a stress point became frustrating, or as I saw something I wanted to change or add into my routine. I didn’t realize how life-changing these small habits would be and how they would free up so much time and mental clutter.
Read more...In October and November, 2023, I began experiencing pain in my right arm and shoulder. I could still use it for the most part, but it was steadily getting worse, even with rest. In January, I decided to get it checked out and was referred to Physical Therapy. At first they thought it was a rotator cuff strain, but it quickly became clear it was a frozen shoulder when I began losing range of motion. This was very unexpected, very painful and certainly not something I would have chosen.
Frozen shoulder is most common in women ages 40-65 with no injury. It occurs because estrogen, which is a vital anti-inflammitory, is decreasing. Lucky me!!! I fit right into that category!
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