Motivation Monday - Busy Times, Balance, and Slow Cooker Recipes

Yesterday over at MM's Missions I posted a busy times update to go with my menu plans. When I was all finished I realized it would be a great post to repeat for the most part here at Motivation Monday...

My life has been so hectic lately and this month it will get even worse. It's the last month of school which means the boys will have a ton of performances, projects, dances, a prom and parties. There will be a graduation for one, and the other has a big trip to New York City to prepare for. Things will be very busy at work for me as well. I've decided I'm giving up on all my renovation and organizing projects for the month of May, things have been at a standstill due to other issues anyway.

There are only a couple things I can do right now to try to keep myself sane during this busy month - keep up with daily routines, make sure I get in 7-8 hours of sleep each night, keep up with some kind of exercise even if it's just a little for now, and make sure I do my menu plans. The last thing I need is to come home late during these busy times and have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner.

To help myself along a bit yesterday I made a big pot of fresh pasta sauce today along with 6 pounds of meatballs and a couple pounds of Italian sausage. I froze it in family size containers so we'll have one or two meals a week just about ready to go, I'll just have to boil pasta and make a salad.

I'm also planning to pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens at Sam's Club each week - can't beat them for quick meals at only $5 apiece. We will have a pizza night each week as usual, but probably switching from homemade pizza to our local pizza place that offers large pizzas on Wednesdays for $4.99 - Wacky Wednesday. Breakfast for dinner once a week will fill in another night, maybe a main dish salad night here and there, and I plan on experimenting a lot more with my slow cooker this month too.

This will be tonight's dinner - slow cooker chicken breasts with tomatoes, whole garlic cloves, a variety of peppers, and fresh Italian herbs served over pasta. It will be so nice having dinner ready when I get home from work! If you are interested you can see my menu plan for the week over at MM's Missions.

Help save my sanity by helping to build a nice Slow Cooker Recipe Index. The posts you link up don't have to be new posts, you don't have to link back to TMS, and no limit to the amount of links - the more the merrier! I think it will be great for all of us to have a nice collection of slow cooker recipes at a glance to choose from during busy times. The linky will remain open all month.

Thanks in advance for linking your recipes. Wishing you a Motivated Monday!