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I guess this one is right up my alley. I'm mom of 4 sons though only one is still on the "payroll" though he's now off at college. Anyway there were a lot of years cooking for 6 and 5 of them were VERY hungry! I still use a plan though it's much looser and of course easier! Living 10 miles from a store and having a crowd to feed, I found doing a weekly menu saved me from living at the grocery store! I have a day that I go to the store and that day, I'll take stock of any items from the week before that I didn't use or any meals from the previous week that I never got around to cooking. Then I sit down with one or two cookbooks and start in. I jot down about 4 breakfasts and a few lunches if I think that people will be around (summer etc) but don't put a huge amount of thought into these two. I can always whip up a good breakfast with whats on hand for the most part. With kids around, plan on some nutritious snacks. For dinner, I plan out however many meals we'll need for the week. I usually figure that I'll have one meal where we either do leftovers or I defrost something from the freezer. We also usually eat out about once a week. So that leaves me with selecting 5 true menus. I do it all from veggies, salads, starch, bread and main dish. Be sure to make a note of the page in the cookbook for any new recipes. Look at your calendar for the week and be sure you have enough no brainers for the busy days. Cook extra chicken/meat and use it for a second meal turned into sandwiches, soup, or a casserole. Shopping for a week is easy and feasible. Do your meals that require the freshest produce at the beginning of your week and save the meatless/soup/pizza/sandwich meals for later in the week. Precook or freeze any meats that you'll be having at the end of the seven days. I'd usually need to pick up more milk midweek as my guys guzzled more than a gallon a day. I keep the menu paper on my island, and I feel free to substitute and change the meal or parts of the meal as needed swapping days etc. Remember nothing is written in stone!!! I think part of your "negative" slant on the menu planning may be that you don't want to be pinned down. Roll with the flow, change meals around.... it's only a guideline not military orders that you must follow to a T!!! Grace

rococogurl: "Seeing your photo, I'd ask if you have enough detergent in there. Almost no suds at all! " We tend to run three washes through the machine, with different settings, in a cycle: (1) underwear plus kitchen clean-up cloths and towels, (2) colored laundry, and (3) sheets, pillow cases, and bathroom towels. The wash that I photographed was the underwear/kitchen cycle, the only one of the three that washes in hot water; the other two (warm water) washes get the same borax, but do not get the oxygen bleach, and they produce no more suds than that one does. The Vaska dose was up to the bottom of, but not fully covering, the fill line in the cap of the Vaska jug. It has got our clothes fully clean in every wash cycle that we have put it through so far.

I was the one who didn't want kids, but here I am, w/ three little boys of my own. Dh wanted kids - has three grown that he had w/ the wrong woman; I raised my 3 Dear Nephews largely. Anyway, he wanted me more than more kids, I guess, and we wed - I was 33, he was 52. On our third anniversary, we brought home DS #1 - a second followed two years later and an unasked for blessing appeared 2 mos. after I turned 40. My point is that he may change his mind. For me, it was a change when I turned 35 and I saw the damage done to my skids by their BM, and I faced difficulties w/ my DNs as I was not the parent - paid for everything, but wasn't the parent and my hands were tied. My DNs opened up that unconditional love that kids do in a person, and as I got on in age, began to realize that I did want children in my future. Your age isn't on your side, but you've several good years left, so don't panic just yet. Anyway, if you really want a child, then there is a plan for you. This thing called motherhood is a selfless journey, but we need more women called to it rather than doing it for the wrong reasons. Do a little soul searching during this time alone. If you feel compelled to have a baby on your own, then do it. There may be a bigger, better plan for you right around the corner - someone waiting w/ your ideas, etc. Open yourself up to that. Frankly, I'd gladly go it alone rather than be w/ someone who didn't want what was so important to me. And, you are absolutely correct: you WOULD resent him in the future, no doubt. I applaud your courage for ending it rather than trapping this man or settling. For me, having the stepkids would never, ever be able to come close to having my own kids, though we didn't have a great start. My DNs, however, 100% could have fulfilled my motherly instincts. My skids were teens when we married and I came on the scene when my DNs were quite young, so maybe that's part of it. But...those newborn days are just priceless. That baby will be the only thing or person you will ever gladly lay down your life for before ever setting your eyes on him/her... All the best, Dana