Organizing - Cleaning Up

Nine days home and I think we are over the jet lag. Most everything we brought back with us has found a new home here, and I have successful re-organized some really disorganized spaces in our house. Mine and my husband’s clothes were in desperate need of sorting and purging, so we were able to bless others with clothes that still had plenty of good wear left.

Before furlough I had wanted to clean up my school room, but instead I left it for our return. So this past week, I went through old notebooks, folders, old papers, and took books off my shelf we wouldn’t be using anymore. It feels so good to unload old things to make space for new, or to just have more uncluttered space.

I am still waiting for some of our school material to clear customs, but we aim to be back to school this Monday---beginning with a lighter schedule, until everything is here, but I think it will make for a nice “ease in” to this shift.

The kids and I have been out shopping, checking out the stores to see if there are any new products available here. There were a few… but I don’t know if we will be buying sunflower seeds or “spitz” as we call them in Canada, for 45,000 ariary per smallish bag. That translates to $18.47CDN. Yeah…. I don’t like spitz that much. Skittles are here now too, something we hadn’t seen in Madagascar before.

It's amazing how strange it feels getting back into meal planning, list making, and even cooking! I have changed some things around for our family. Typically I used to shop on Mondays, and my meal plan would be built around a Monday-Friday schedule. But now we are going to go Thursday-Wednesday, with my shopping day on Thursday. This way our cupboards aren't bare when school starts on Mondays, and I don't have to go out at the beginning of our week. I also like the idea of having a few more options in the house for our weekends. I am using Saturdays to make a big pot of soup for lunches through the week, and muffins and another treat for our week ahead as well. I tend to make bread throughout the week, so we can have fresh bread most days. Changing this around and making new habits is getting me excited to try some new recipes and introduce new ingredients to my family.

This Week:
Banana Coconut Muffins
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Strawberry Gummy Snacks
Split Pea Soup