Sometimes I’m so organized I even impress myself.

My resolution for this month was to plan my dinner meals for September, purchase what I could, pre-prep what I could, and make grocery lists for fresh ingredients needed each week. I need to go to the store one more time and spend a few more hours in the kitchen, but for the most part, I’ve accomplished said task. I won’t pretend that it wasn’t tedious, but I did keep all my scribbles and lists and perhaps next month will be easier.

However, the very last day of the month is our third annual Oktoberfest. It’s my annual vanity fair; I freely admit that I’m groveling for compliments over my cooking. Last year’s best ego boost was, “You made this? I thought it was catered!” And the best part is that I’ve selected recipes that taste good reheated, so most of the cooking is done weeks before and frozen until the day before the party. That frees me to focus on cleaning the bathrooms and shoveling toys into closets on the day of the party.

But to be true to my resolution, I needed to do some list making and shopping at the least. Fortunately, when I went through the process last year, I put it all on the computer with a shopping list sorted by category too! Now I just need to compare the list with ingredients I have on hand (like caraway seed), adjust some quantities (ran out of Sauerbraten last year), and add that list to my other one. Party planning made easy!

Now, on to cleaning off my desk. We all have our organizational limits.