The treats, the dinners, the time with family, the warm glow of the Christmas tree... I'm not ready for it all to be done. I COULD stand to go without treats for a while, however.
When all the anticipation of Christmas is over, what do you do with all that pent up anticipation that now has no focus? If you're me, you obsess over goals for January 2010. And that's what I've done. I have a list of specific things to accomplish (about 40 of them), as well as an overview for the month (things like how many times per week I'll exercise and how faithful I'll be in tracking my points on WW).
One of the planning tools that I came up with the other day is a weekly dinner planner. There's a spot to write in the menu for each day of the week, complete with a line for appetizers, main course, sides and desserts (as if ANY meal I ever make actually has all four items planned and prepared and all).
My favorite part is the grocery list on the side. As I'm writing down the meal I'll make and from which recipe book and page it is, I can write down the ingredients that I will need to buy in preparation for the week. When I'm ready to go to the store, I slice off the grocery list and shop away.
So this is my first week using the weekly dinner planner, but so far I'm loving it. I planned on Saturday, went shopping on Monday, and here we are. Yesterday, since I knew what we were going to have for dinner, I was so excited for it and looked forward to dinner all day, even purposely not eating treats beforehand so I could really enjoy the ñoqui (or gnocchi) and marinara sauce. Being excited about dinner really worked for me yesterday. That's not to say that it will work again today... But I AM pretty excited about the bean and rice burritos on a whole wheat wrap that we are having tonight.
The results of pent up anticipation lead me to fruitful things this week. Keep it up, I say to myself.
Gotta stretch my arm now. Sometimes it gets all cramped up from patting myself on the back so much.
P.S. if you're interested in having a pdf of the menu planner, e-mail me or leave a comment or whatever.
You're gorgeous! And crafty!
ReplyDeletehey how about you give your wonderful dinner ideas out. i NEED some ideas:) oh and all other areas like breakfast, lunch, snacks 1, 2, and 3...
ReplyDeletePlease pick me! Oh, you can send the pdf to more than one person? Then, yes, I would LOVE a copy, please.
ReplyDeleteI love your title! I started eating "healthy" in October. It was awful at first, but I could see it was better after a while. I even threw out all my regular cookbooks because I knew I'd never go back.
ReplyDeleteIn December I lost my way. And now I'm feeling blah and blimpish. Your post has inspired me to get back on the healthy track. A whole wheat wrap sounds almost as good as the sugar cookies sitting on my counter (well, not quite.)
Thanks for your encouraging comment on my blog. I needed a shot in the arm!
Love it!
ReplyDeleteChristmas is over, and I'm REALLY fat.
I'd like the recipe for your bean and rice burritos... They sound yummy!
ReplyDeleteShare all the WW recipes you feel like too - we need as many as we can get around here!