7 quick takes.

Thanks so much to Jennifer for hosting 7 quick takes each week.

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I thought I would post a bit about making my life more simple for 7 quick takes. Our household is very obviously busy with 9 people living in this house and at times to have a simple life can just about seem impossible for us. It isn't though. It just takes a lot of planning and scheduling. 

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With that in mind, I am going to schedule everything this year. Fly lady tells us it take 23 days to make something a routine. I am going to focus on this at the beginning of term. 

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Before school goes back, I am going to start off making menu plans, Religious Ed plans and home school plans. I am also going to get into a good routine with my prayer time. 

-4-

This year, I want to have more focus on my own personal prayer time. I have been praying much more the last couple of weeks and realise just what a difference it makes to my day. 

Steve and I have been getting to mass everyday and often go in early to pray. I have stayed on my own a couple of times after mass too. 

When School goes back, I am hoping I will be able to go in early for prayer time before mass each day too. It will mean leaving for school by 8.10. I have already told the children that if they want a lift to school, they will have to be ready by then. 

-5-

I found some great idea's for menu planning via pinterest. 

From Mama and Baby love, freezer cooking for the slow cooker. 

This week we are going to try the BBQ chicken casserole. 

I am going to do a mixture of baked ahead meals and meal preparations. . 

-6-

One of the biggest things I really need to get more organised with is carbohydrate counting for Tom and Christopher. I know the carb ratio for most fruits and vegetables but when it comes to home cooked meals, I spend a lot of time weighing food and working out what % is carbohydrate. 

I am going to get a food diary to help with this. I am going to write all our main meals carb ratio for different meals and refer back to. I also want to get better and guessing the weight of different foods by looking at portion size. Sometimes we don't have scales available to work these things out and I need to be a bit more confident at guessing them. 

-7-

For Religious Ed, I have lots of plans for this year. 

Tom will be confirmed this year so I am going to find a program for him to work through at home. 

I am going to focus on the liturgical year more and try teaching our children what the different times in the church year are all about. There are so many good resources online to help with this.