Organize Me 1

On Monday, my church hosted their monthly Girl's Night Out event. This month it was called ORGANIZE ME and along with enjoying a dinner with our fellow Sunday School classmates, we had a professional organizer, Sandy Wright speak.

Although I consider myself a pretty organized, task oriented, to do list type personality, I can definitely use some hints about organization. Mr. McGoo and I lead a busy life, and unfortunately when busy becomes a bit overwhelming the household can become a bit of a chaotic place: leave a pile here, put a stack of clothes there, you know the routine?!

Ps. I was informed at this event that CHOAS stands for:  

Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome

So Mrs. Wright was definitely speaking to me that night. She used Romans 12:12-14 as the basis of her discussion:

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 

She pulled five specific points from this verse, calling us to be:

1. joyful in hope
2. patient in affliction
3. faithful in prayer
4. share with people who are in need
5. practice hospitality

What a great reminder... we are called to be hospitable, we are called to have people over to our homes and if we are organized it will not stress us. If we have our homes in order with a system that works (file papers here, put clothes there, make bed, etc), then when an opportunity arises to invite someone over we will no longer fret or not invite due to the state of our homes. No more panicked worry about the state of our homes getting in the way.

I have more tidbits to share from the talk, and some things really resonated with me... but for now, I'll share how this reminder of things I know but do not always put into action encouraged me to get back on the horse and get the job done. Over the past few days I have re-worked our budget and put it back into play (we've slacked a bit over the past few months - NO MORE!), I meal planned for numerous meals (2 weeks+), cut coupons, took the time to get e-coupons (if you shop at Kroger - do NOT miss this easy extra savings - today alone it gave me an additional $5 off in 7 e-coupons), grocery shopped with my hubby, and reorganized a couple of the cabinets that hold our groceries (we do not have a pantry, how dreamy that would be one day).

So without further ado, because I know some folks are curious, here are the meals (dinners) I'm ready to do over the next few weeks, plus of course snacks, lunches, and sides we have readily available:

• McGoo style chili
• taco soup
• potato soup - mix kind
• potato soup - homemade kind
• cheeseburger soup
• tacos
• chicken divan
• grilled chicken salad
• salmon
• spinach chicken alfredo
• creamy chicken and rice
• BLT's
• italian chicken
• tilapia
• breakfast - dinner of champions

Moving in the right direction. One thing at a time, right? Now to tackle that office/paperwork area I set as a goal to the ladies sitting near me on Monday night... hmm.....

Central's Girl's Night Out: "Organize Me" - Karli, Erica, and Me