My in-laws are in town for 10 days. Nora is changing so much, it's good for them to spend time with her.

But somehow during the excitement before their arrival and the busyness the first couple of days after their arrival (or perhaps a result of some sort of rebellion or laziness on my part), I failed to compile a menu for the week of their visit. This resulted in no less than 5 trips to the grocery store during their visit, four meals of pasta, a dumbfounded look on my face one hour before any meal needed to be served, and the realization that I was about to lose some broccoli in the fridge. The fridge and freezer are so full of items, I'm not really positive what's in there.

Now to be fair, we've been through a lot of fruit. One pear crisp and one peach pie make quick work of fruit. And bananas don't last more than about there days in our house. Then, there was the idea for a Saturday afternoon picnic at the beach after church which required a different menu plan than I likely would have put together. Granted, I enjoy shopping with my mother-in-law and sharing ideas. She was excited about some BOGOs at Publix and the great prices at Aldi since neither store has real estate in Mississippi. But still, I could have been more creative than pasta. And I sure could have done without the stress of complete lack of preparedness every time a meal rolled around. Eventually, we'll get through the food in the fridge. And I might be lucky enough to escape a grocery trip at all next week. But there's just something that happens in your heart when you realize that life really is nicer when you take the time to organize.

I hope I'll never make this poor choice again. Even if we're busy, I'm gonna have that menu plan set ahead of time. I don't plan to be caught like this ever again.

Do you have a story of failure to plan a menu that you want to share? Or perhaps to make this a more positive story, do you have a special story about the success of planning a men? I'd love to hear your thoughts. It will be additional encouragement for putting one together in the future.