It's back to school time here! I am so excited for my oldest; she seemed to be comfortable when we took her to open house to meet her teacher. But back-to-school also means back to routine. I know that this summer I've been a little bit off my usual routine, but I'm looking forward to fall & more amazing stuff here at Architecture of a Mom. But now, it's time for another routine - meal planning!!

Two years ago, I rescued a pallet from the trash at my kids' daycare. My husband and I disassembled it, and I first used it in my fall mantel. I wanted to make it into an art piece, but wasn't inspired as far as what I wanted to make out of it, so it sat on my mantel, off and on...for two years. Then as part of my ongoing remake of my living room and kitchen, I got inspired. It seems that the pineapple is having its day as a decor item, and since traditionally in the south the pineapple is a sign of hospitality, I just knew that a pineapple welcome sign would be perfect for my new look...and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make!!

Hi folks!! How's your week been? Mine has been a bit crazy. My husband has worked around 70 hours this week, so I've been in survival mode around the house. I'm so glad that his deadline is tomorrow - I want my husband back, and my kids really need daddy. I've got some goals done, but not as much as I wanted. It's hard to sort through who has outgrown what for next season when the children are killing each other - or at least it sounds like it. So for that reason, my menu plan did not get followed much last week. And my blog posts did not get back on schedule as promised. But my new newsletters have gone out! Yay for a goal being met! Are you a subscriber? If not, you can sign up here.

I'm pretty excited about cooking this week. Not only will my husband will be back eating with us, but I checked some cookbooks out of the library for inspiration.

Hey folks!! It's menu planning time, but first, a quick update for all of ya'll: I'm starting to do some updates to Architecture of a Mom. It's nothing huge, but it involves several small updates that will change the way things look, and there may be a couple of brief windows of time over then next couple of weeks when the blog may be down or look wonky. Please don't hold it against me, ok? Also, I'm changing how I'm sending out email subscriptions, so if something isn't working quite right, please, please let me know, ok? And if you want to get emails in your inbox from Architecture of a Mom, please just click the link in the sidebar! Thanks a bunch. And now, back to your regularly scheduled menu plan for the week!