New Year's Resolution #3: To plan better Meals

I used to be so good at planning out my meals, and grocery shopping with my planned out meals. We would eat well balanced foods in abundance that my hubby would take to work for lunch the next day. Then my kids got older, and pickier, my hubby started going to school at night and I started making lots of Mac and Cheese and Chicken Nuggets (no one wants to bring those leftovers to work, ha).  But to show you I had good intentions, When we moved to this house i made this chalkboard to go in the biggest wall in the kitchen.  I was really wanting something on that space, knowing it would be near the table where little {most likely, messy} hands would be touching whatever was there, that was durable, cute and would take up a lot of space, and of course (it should go without saying) cheap.  My oldest sister has a chalkboard in her family room that looks great and seems so useful, so I thought a chalkboard would be perfect.  I imagined myself writing out the menu for the day all cute, like a cafe, and I would remember to add sides to the meals like vegetables or bread. . .

Alas, soon after we moved i found out i was pregnant and all that energy for making meals went right out the window.  So i used the chalkboard for writing cute quotes, and drawings for holidays, and i have loved it for that too.  We have even used it to draw out stories we are talking about, or teach the kids letters and numbers.  It has been such a functional piece and i am always asked where i got it.  Truth is, it is just chalboard paint with trim (chair rail) boarding it (which we already had in abundance), that i painted a rusty orange, nailed to the wall with a finishing gun.  It cost me $10 and that was it.  I had plenty of paint leftover for a kids chalkboard in our basement, and for a friend to use for a kitchen chalkboard of her own.  I wondered if the paint would wear out, but its been there over 2 years, and through plenty of cleanings and it hasn't chipped once.  There are so many uses for it, but for now, since there are no major holidays on the horizon, we are going to go back to the meals and see if i can keep it up!

(don't mind my creepy french chef, or crooked pot of boiling water)