Weekly Meal Plan: Week 32

Weekly Meal Plan Week 32 – 10 great bloggers bringing you a full week of recipes including dinner, sides dishes, and desserts!

Another week has flown by. Honestly, as I get older I find myself saying that more and more. I’m becoming an old bitty. I talk about the good old days way too much. It’s so weird that time becomes so important, but it just does. Time just moves so fast. Blink and you miss it.

I think we all try to fit so much into our days that we miss all the little things these days. Everyone is so busy looking at their phones and capturing moments that they are forgetting to live in the moment. That makes me sad. I love living in the moment. It’s so important in life.

Personally I think we all need to slow down a bit. We need to remember what is important. To me that’s family. I never want to be the kind of person who is so busy snapping photos of everything going on around me that I forget to actually spend time with the people in those photos.

We tend to live in a photo free environment most days. We are the type of family that can go all day without taking a photo. We never feel the need to capture every second of our day on camera. My daughter is in her 20’s and doesn’t tweet, instagram or snapchat. I know right, shocking.

I have to admit I love her perspective though. She keeps me grounded and from becoming consumed with social media. She reminds me that spending time with her is far more important than snapping photos and pretending we’re one big, perfect family. We are happy but not perfect. No one is.

Don’t get me wrong, I love social media. It’s fun and a big part of my job. I just never want to become consumed by it. I never want to mislead my readers into thinking my life is perfect. I have no desire to construct some kind of fantasy world on social media. It’s not who I am. I like honesty, I like real people.

So much of what we see on social media is a big lie. Everyone is trying to sell a lifestyle. Eat what I eat for a perfect life. Work out like I do for a perfect body. Dress like I do for a perfect appearance so people will love you. Decorate your house like I do so you too can have a perfect life. Perfect house= perfect life, right?

NO! That’s bullshit.

Real life is far more interesting. I don’t look like a supermodel. My house is not a mansion. My kids are not perfect little angels. My hair is not always done, and my laundry is piled up to the ceiling. I have dirty dishes in my sink, and pet hair on my couch, and my clothes. Some days I have hubs pick up takeout instead of cooking.

Life is not a fairy tale. It’s not suppose to be “perfect”. Perfect does not equal happiness. A skinny body does not equal happiness. A big house does not equal happiness. Perfectly photogenic kids do not equal happiness. Losing weight will not magically make you happy. Neither will that mansion. Or that perfect outfit.

Here’s a little nugget of truth from this old broad. You ready for it? You sure? It’s groundbreaking. You might want to sit down.

You are responsible for your own happiness!

Whoa. Did you hear that?

Here’s another one for you.

Perfection is an illusion.

Built on lies.

You don’t want perfection. You want imperfection. That’s where joy is. Accepting yourself and everyone around you for who they truly are. Completely. Unconditionally. Love yourself. Love everyone around you. Without judgement!

I know right. It seems so simple. You can lead a happy life that isn’t perfect. OMG, mind blowing.

This week has been a rollercoaster ride. Weeks like this one are important, good or bad they give you perspective. They make you appreciate the little things in life. It’s all those little things that make memories that feed the soul.

So, let go of perfection, embrace your imperfect happiness and live your life! You deserve it!!

Chili with Beef and Bulgur – Lemons for Lulu

Simple 6 minute 6 ingredients Tomato Soup from Scratch – Foodie with Family

Coconut Crusted Chicken Tenders – Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

 

Hearty Italian Vegetable Beef Soup – Barefeet in the Kitchen

 

Kitchen is CLOSED – Enjoy a night off from cooking!

French Dip Sandwiches – Pass the Sushi

  

Spinach Feta Crock Pot Lasagna – Diethood

Parmesan Garlic Zucchini Fries – Sweet C’s Designs

  

Slow Cooker Creamy Hot Chocolate – Wishes and Dishes

 

Cherry Cobbler with Chocolate Chip Topping – Cravings of a Lunatic

 

Gooey Texas Sheet Cake Skillet – The Cookie Rookie

 

This week’s meal plan was brought you to by:

Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts| Barefeet in the Kitchen | Foodie with Family 

 Wishes and Dishes | Pass the Sushi| Lemons for Lulu | Sweet C’s Designs

 The Cookie Rookie | Cravings of a Lunatic | Diethood

Pin this to your meal planning board for easy access all week long!

Show some love to all the bloggers who participated in this week’s meal plan:

This is my last week participating in the weekly meal plan. I’ve enjoyed it so much and appreciate all the work the gals put into each week. I love meal planning and have been doing it since my kids were little. It’s a great way to plan ahead, plus save time and money.

I have realized my readers aren’t digging these posts at all. The response from readers when I asked how they were enjoying them was overwhelmingly “not so much”. The shares and comments have been dismal. So I’ve decided to refocus and go back to Slow Cooker Saturdays.

Thanks for hanging in there with me. As bloggers we always like to try new things to see what works and what doesn’t. Clearly meal plans don’t work for my readers. I always want to keep my readers in mind when choosing which types of things to share, and which not to.

So moving forward Saturdays will be reserved for Slow Cooker Recipes. The blog needs more of them so this will be a good thing. If you have any requests or suggestions for recipes let me know.

For those wondering how Dixon the Kitten is doing, he’s doing awesome and growing so fast. He’s such a little lovebug and I’m so happy we welcomed him into our family.

He is so high energy, he just runs non-stop. He’s obsessed with my daughter and cries when she’s not home. She’s in Toronto with friends this weekend and he’s been wailing at her door constantly. He misses her really bad.

Total cutie right. I know, he’s pretty darn adorable. Did you catch the imperfect photo I took of him and one of his brothers playing in the box fort I made them? I posted it on Instagram.

Hilarious right? We had so much fun that day. Two of the cats loved it, two did not. The dog is still deciding how she feels about it. We tested this out, now my daughter wants to build a big one for them. We’ll see how it goes.

If you’re made it this far, way to go! I ramble. *giggles*

Peace out. Have a kick ass weekend.

Toodles! xx