I think this is a small miracle and shows how if I FOCUS on one goal I can actually DO IT!

I am SO excited and proud of myself.

• I made a menu plan!
• I cooked dinner for the family 5 times last week.  🙂
• We ate as a family (DH was there too), at the table with lit candles 4 times.

The thing that made it work was doing a lot of the prep earlier in the day.  Also I ended up not following the meal plan exactly, I changed the days up a bit, but I had all the ingredients so it worked out great!

I am continuing the challenge this week.

I have my meal plan –

• Monday – Pasta Shells
• Tuesday – Chicken Tacos
• Wednesday – Chicken Quesadillas
• Thursday – Tuna Casserole
• Friday – Taco Casserole
• Saturday – Pizza Night
• Sunday – Lasagna

Ingredients are all in the house.  I will do prep work in morning or early afternoon (this seems to be the key to my success).

Pictures to help me tame the beast

Also I will be taking a picture of our table every morning and night as I try to conquer our monstrosity of a table.

Thanks for all the tips – regarding my DH’s special piles.  Here are the things I have tried so far in the last year –

• Putting his things in a basket – *they end up staying there for weeks or months and he can’t find things he needs
• Putting his things on desk in office – see above*
• Putting his things on table in garage – see above* though they stay there months/years
• Bought organizer and have space for his things in hutch – this has helped somewhat.  But he has some empty drawers and when he does put things away it isn’t always organized so he can’t find things he needs.

I am not blameless and I certainly have more time to put my things away then he does.  But I am just saying I have tried most of the suggestions.  We will keep pressing forward.  Maybe by the end of this week we will have it all figured out.  🙂

Overall I am just thrilled we did dinners last week, I think I would give myself an A for the week.