This week's menu is short. I will be leaving town on Friday (at 4:30 in the morning) and hubby resists my attempts to plan and prepare meals ahead of time. I would prefer to plan and prep dinners for most of the 5 nights I will be in Phoenix, so that he only has to pull things out of the freezer or fridge and heat as instructed. He prefers to make a daily run to the store (or to the Chinese/Pizza/Sub/Fast Food restaurant, depending on what he and Tyson feel like. (Riley's requests are limited to the foods he can sign: milk, fruit, cereal, french fry, bread and cookie. BTW, the "fries" and "cookies" are almost always healthy versions of the classics. I try not to load my kids up with junk food most of the time.)
Matt & Tyson call this "batching it up," and I mostly try not to think about how my rules, plans and routines are thrown out the window in my absence. So, here is my menu plan for this short week:
Sunday
Breakfast - fruit, whole grain toast
Lunch - Culver's
Dinner - Grilled tilapia, green beans & potatoes, sweet potato biscuits
Monday
Dinner - "Brinner" (Breakfast+Dinner)
scrambled eggs with spinach, fruit smoothies
Tuesday
Dinner - BBQ chicken in the crockpot, baked beans, garden salad, sweet potato biscuits
Wednesday
Dinner - grilled hot dogs (turkey), ranch potatoes, green beans
Thursday
Dinner - Leftovers
Breakfast all week - yogurt with granola and fruit
Lunches all week - sushi, tuna salad, or turkey sandwiches; crackers; cherries or apple; pudding
For now, during the school year when we are all gone during the day, we just choose one meal for breakfast and lunches, and stick with that throughout the week. When the school year is done and the First SAHM Summer has begun I'm sure I will plan all three meals each day with a little more variety.
Have a great week!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
April Showers...
... really do bring May flowers!
I planted these last year... I think this is Sweet William, but I'm not sure. When I planted these last spring, they were all these scrawny little flowers that I had hoped would fill in by the end of summer. They sort of filled in, but I wasn't all that impressed; I decided to try something else this year. And then these pretty flowers came back. All by themselves. With a vengeance. Imagine my surprise since I had no idea they would come back! And they didn't just come back on their own; they are fuller, bigger and have about two hundred times more flowers on them! And seriously, I didn't do a thing. I didn't even cut them back last fall. That is so cool.
Also making a fabulous return this year are my irises. Yes. They are brown. Actually, if you really look closely, they are purple and yellow/orange, which apparently looks brown when mixed. I'm thinking of adding a few other colors to them next year.
And now, on to the veggies! The potatoes are doing very well. (Yes. they are in a pot. Yes. I know they will not likely grow any actual potatoes in a pot. But, I had to get them in some dirt and they are pretty and I still feel really successful because they are actually growing!)
The sweet peas are also doing really well. I have three pots of them, and these are the happiest. They are climbing up the remains of the hibiscus I killed last winter.
I love to see how they are attaching themselves to this dead tree.
And what about the garden in the back? The very big garden in the back yard? Well, my Dad gave me some peppers, which are growing pretty well. One of them looks like it's about to bloom!
And the rest of it? Well, not so much. I do have a few tomatoes (also contributed by my Dad) that were started indoors. Other than that, nothing is coming up so far. It's okay; it's only been a few days. I'm not worried yet. Really. It's gong to be fine. I'm not worried... why? do I sound like I'm worried that my husband put in a ton of work and I have made all these fabulous plans to grow enough produce to start my own farm and can enough veggies to get us mostly through the winter... but I'm not worried about the fact that I realized too late that the soil we filled the garden with was really just dirt and resembles something as hard as the salt flats when it's dry and I cannot imagine anything managing to force its way up through that concrete block I'm trying to call a garden... but I'm not worried.
And I am certainly not freaking out.
I planted these last year... I think this is Sweet William, but I'm not sure. When I planted these last spring, they were all these scrawny little flowers that I had hoped would fill in by the end of summer. They sort of filled in, but I wasn't all that impressed; I decided to try something else this year. And then these pretty flowers came back. All by themselves. With a vengeance. Imagine my surprise since I had no idea they would come back! And they didn't just come back on their own; they are fuller, bigger and have about two hundred times more flowers on them! And seriously, I didn't do a thing. I didn't even cut them back last fall. That is so cool.
Also making a fabulous return this year are my irises. Yes. They are brown. Actually, if you really look closely, they are purple and yellow/orange, which apparently looks brown when mixed. I'm thinking of adding a few other colors to them next year.
And now, on to the veggies! The potatoes are doing very well. (Yes. they are in a pot. Yes. I know they will not likely grow any actual potatoes in a pot. But, I had to get them in some dirt and they are pretty and I still feel really successful because they are actually growing!)
The sweet peas are also doing really well. I have three pots of them, and these are the happiest. They are climbing up the remains of the hibiscus I killed last winter.
I love to see how they are attaching themselves to this dead tree.
And what about the garden in the back? The very big garden in the back yard? Well, my Dad gave me some peppers, which are growing pretty well. One of them looks like it's about to bloom!
And the rest of it? Well, not so much. I do have a few tomatoes (also contributed by my Dad) that were started indoors. Other than that, nothing is coming up so far. It's okay; it's only been a few days. I'm not worried yet. Really. It's gong to be fine. I'm not worried... why? do I sound like I'm worried that my husband put in a ton of work and I have made all these fabulous plans to grow enough produce to start my own farm and can enough veggies to get us mostly through the winter... but I'm not worried about the fact that I realized too late that the soil we filled the garden with was really just dirt and resembles something as hard as the salt flats when it's dry and I cannot imagine anything managing to force its way up through that concrete block I'm trying to call a garden... but I'm not worried.
And I am certainly not freaking out.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Frugal Friday
I don't know if this actually qualifies as a "Frugal Friday" post. But I solved an organizational problem without running out to the store to buy a new 'widget.' Having been inspired by the many brilliant Frugal Friday contributors that I've read over the last couple of months, I looked around my house and used things I already had. In doing so, I also re-purposed two items that would have been trashed. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
So, here was my problem. I don't have a good place to keep bibs near our dining room table. They have cluttered kitchen counters, dining chairs, kitchen cabinets & drawers and multiple other places in our home. Always they are in the way.
My first reaction was to go to the office supply store (or Target or Lowe's) and buy something new that I could affix to the chair somehow. Instead, I descended into the depths of our basement and looked around.
These are the materials I found:
It took me a few minutes to make this, but probably no more than it would have taken me to drive to the store, look around and maybe buy something (or maybe drive to another store if I didn't find what I was looking for).
After some cutting, gluing and muttering to myself, I had finished it. It's not anything huge... not a cure for stupidity or anything, but it's a start. I had to trim the box and the bag quite a bit, and I even used the bag's handles to tie it to the back of the highchair.
It's working out really well. All the bibs fit, and when it's time to eat, we put him in the chair and just grab one from right behind him. They're right there... which means they're not cluttering up other areas of my house.
So, here was my problem. I don't have a good place to keep bibs near our dining room table. They have cluttered kitchen counters, dining chairs, kitchen cabinets & drawers and multiple other places in our home. Always they are in the way.
My first reaction was to go to the office supply store (or Target or Lowe's) and buy something new that I could affix to the chair somehow. Instead, I descended into the depths of our basement and looked around.These are the materials I found:
It took me a few minutes to make this, but probably no more than it would have taken me to drive to the store, look around and maybe buy something (or maybe drive to another store if I didn't find what I was looking for).After some cutting, gluing and muttering to myself, I had finished it. It's not anything huge... not a cure for stupidity or anything, but it's a start. I had to trim the box and the bag quite a bit, and I even used the bag's handles to tie it to the back of the highchair.
It's working out really well. All the bibs fit, and when it's time to eat, we put him in the chair and just grab one from right behind him. They're right there... which means they're not cluttering up other areas of my house.
Tidy Up Tuesday
Okay, so I know it's actually Thursday. I'm still figuring out how to do a day-of-the-week themed post... I think that if I'm going to do a Tidy Up Tuesday post each week, I should actually write it on Monday evening so I can post it on Tuesday morning... anyway, it's here now. Deal with it.
My goal for my first SAHM Summer is to systematically go through our entire house to clean and organize it. I hope that if I can do this over the summer, the school year will go a little better.
I'm getting a jump on the project because I need things to be organized now. I started with one of the areas that's a little more difficult for me. One of the kitchen cabinets. It's the one where we store all the baby bottles and other baby equipment. This one was a little challenging for me because the baby isn't a baby anymore, and it was time to get rid of his baby stuff. But getting rid of the baby stuff means that it's real and my baby really isn't a baby anymore.
This is what it looked like before:
That white box was full of bottles, nipples and collars, but many of them fell on my head in an avalanche when I opened the door.
I began by removing everything from the bottom shelf, and this was all the stuff I found:
And this was some of the stuff I threw out:
Before you recyclers out there get upset, let me clarify. I identified two crates like this full of stuff that could no longer live in that cabinet. Much of it went into the sand table and toy boxes for the boys to play with. A lot of it did get thrown in the trash because it had been saved from Tyson six years ago and was damaged. Many of the bowls had been microwaved to within an inch of their lives. And yes, anything that could be put into the recycle bin was put there.
Once the crate was empty, I used it to corral all of Riley's dishes. Is it just me, or are the baby bowls, cups, plates, etc. the worst things to try & store? They're all funny shapes and sizes and nothing really stacks together very well.
And here's how it looked when I was done. No more avalanches of plasticware. No more throwing things on top of the pile and slamming the door shut before it all cascades out onto my head.
There are a few bottles left. Those are what I use to send Riley's whole milk to school each day (the school uses 2%, but his Dr. wants him on whole). I also find that they're really useful for storing other things as well.
I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next. There are other kitchen cabinets to be organized & purged, so I'll probably just keep going on that. I think it would be best to just stick with a room until it's completely done before moving on to the next room.
This project will also include redecorating Ty's room, as well as decorating our bedroom and Riley's room. (I say "decorate" those last two rooms because the truth is that, despite living in this house for 8 years, I've never gotten around to doing anything to most of its rooms.) But I'll go more into that later.
My goal for my first SAHM Summer is to systematically go through our entire house to clean and organize it. I hope that if I can do this over the summer, the school year will go a little better.
I'm getting a jump on the project because I need things to be organized now. I started with one of the areas that's a little more difficult for me. One of the kitchen cabinets. It's the one where we store all the baby bottles and other baby equipment. This one was a little challenging for me because the baby isn't a baby anymore, and it was time to get rid of his baby stuff. But getting rid of the baby stuff means that it's real and my baby really isn't a baby anymore.
This is what it looked like before:
That white box was full of bottles, nipples and collars, but many of them fell on my head in an avalanche when I opened the door.I began by removing everything from the bottom shelf, and this was all the stuff I found:
And this was some of the stuff I threw out:
Before you recyclers out there get upset, let me clarify. I identified two crates like this full of stuff that could no longer live in that cabinet. Much of it went into the sand table and toy boxes for the boys to play with. A lot of it did get thrown in the trash because it had been saved from Tyson six years ago and was damaged. Many of the bowls had been microwaved to within an inch of their lives. And yes, anything that could be put into the recycle bin was put there.
Once the crate was empty, I used it to corral all of Riley's dishes. Is it just me, or are the baby bowls, cups, plates, etc. the worst things to try & store? They're all funny shapes and sizes and nothing really stacks together very well.
And here's how it looked when I was done. No more avalanches of plasticware. No more throwing things on top of the pile and slamming the door shut before it all cascades out onto my head.
There are a few bottles left. Those are what I use to send Riley's whole milk to school each day (the school uses 2%, but his Dr. wants him on whole). I also find that they're really useful for storing other things as well.I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next. There are other kitchen cabinets to be organized & purged, so I'll probably just keep going on that. I think it would be best to just stick with a room until it's completely done before moving on to the next room.
This project will also include redecorating Ty's room, as well as decorating our bedroom and Riley's room. (I say "decorate" those last two rooms because the truth is that, despite living in this house for 8 years, I've never gotten around to doing anything to most of its rooms.) But I'll go more into that later.
3-2-1...
Yesterday was the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis! And because we are sort of a family of nerds (cool nerds, but still), we celebrated. When Tyson got home from school, we read through all the information that his Aunt Heather (who works for NASA) sent him a few weeks ago. In anticipation of this launch, I saved the big envelope of stuff until yesterday. We learned a lot about the shuttle, its missions, and about baseball in space.
After that, we turned on "NASA on HDNet," which we recorded (thank goodness for the DVR!). We watched all the pre-launch coverage while we built the Space Shuttle Discovery glider:
We decided that since it is glued together, this particular glider will actually have her maiden voyage this afternoon. It was determined that the wet Elmer's glue made the hull structurally unsound and we felt that to attempt to fly it before a thorough drying period would result in a mini-disaster.We completed the glider with about 4 minutes to spare, so we snuggled up on the couch and watched the launch:
Tyson was really excited about the whole thing. We will be following this mission... Ty is especially interested in the space walks the crew will be doing. I'm so happy he's finally old enough to understand and be interested in this kind of thing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And on the knitting front, I spent a few minutes over the weekend winding this lovely fiber:
For this lovely project:
I actually had to frog this bit of progress, but I cast on again and have actually done two additional pattern repeats. I think I'm doing it right, though it's hard to tell because when I'm working on it... well, it resembles a big knot of yarn. I dry blocked it briefly yesterday, and it does look like the picture, so I'd say I'm on track.This will be my airplane project for my upcoming trip to Phoenix, so I need to learn the pattern well enough to do it while listening to an audiobook and praying in a state of panic from having to fly. I'm hoping that knitting on a project I actually have to pay attention to will help my cognitive brain take over a little and distract me from the paralyzing fear my irrational brain will be experiencing. Well, we can hope, anyway.
I've got three or four additional posts on deck for this week, so check back often!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Space. The Final Frontier...
Yep. I saw this movie tonight.
And holy cow, it was quitepossiblythebestmovie. Ever!
Seriously, the story was excellent; it had action; I laughed, I cried; and it answered a few questions I had about the characters & their relationships.
The cast was excellent, and really captured the essence of the original. The mannerisms and catch phrases were all there.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who even caught a glimpse of the old Star Trek. And honestly, even if you spent the better portion of the sixties through the nineties with your head in a bucket, this movie could really stand on its own two feet. If you like action/scifi, you have got to see this movie.
I might just go back & see it again. Tyson didn't go with us tonight, and I know he'll love it. He'll probably come out of the theater telling me that when he grows up he wants to be a StarFleet captain... but heck, when I walked out of the theater tonight I said that when I grow up, I want to be a Star Fleet captain!
And holy cow, it was quitepossiblythebestmovie. Ever!Seriously, the story was excellent; it had action; I laughed, I cried; and it answered a few questions I had about the characters & their relationships.
The cast was excellent, and really captured the essence of the original. The mannerisms and catch phrases were all there.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who even caught a glimpse of the old Star Trek. And honestly, even if you spent the better portion of the sixties through the nineties with your head in a bucket, this movie could really stand on its own two feet. If you like action/scifi, you have got to see this movie.
I might just go back & see it again. Tyson didn't go with us tonight, and I know he'll love it. He'll probably come out of the theater telling me that when he grows up he wants to be a StarFleet captain... but heck, when I walked out of the theater tonight I said that when I grow up, I want to be a Star Fleet captain!
Friday, May 1, 2009
T2 - COMPLETE.
I have an FO! It's the baby blanket I've called T2. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.
First thing tomorrow morning I will be washing and blocking it. Here are the project specs:
- Pattern: Trinity Log Cabin Triangle from Indigo Muse Knits
- Needles: Size 11 Straights
- Yarn: TLC Baby Amore in light blue, rose, orchid, yellow and white
- Knitted For: I can't say. It's a gift for friends who might stumble across this post.
- Interesting Facts: I just spent the better part of 2 hours weaving in 38 ends because I decided to leave that part until the end; this blanket has approximately 3,820 stitches in it; every one of those was a knit stitch; I am now entirely sick of knit stitches.
I can't wait to gift this knit. Now I'm planning to take a small break from baby knits, and then I'll need to jump right back in to start another knit for another baby. No, silly. It's not my baby. But it will be my little niece or nephew! Matt's brother & his wife are expecting their first baby in December. My MIL, Marci (the mommy-to-be) and I are all knitters, so this kid is probably going to have a complete knitted wardrobe be July!
~~~~~~~~~
I went to the bank the other day. You might be wondering why this is noteworthy. It was a bank I've never been to before. Well, I've used the ATM, but this time I had to actually talk to a person. So, I was a little surprised when I pulled up and saw this instead of a window:
I have no idea why I was a bit taken aback, because I know this is the current trend in bank teller safety. But for some reason, though, I felt like I was in an episode of the original Dr. Who. Weird.
And in other news, meal times at our house are such eventful times... the boys never cease to amaze and amuse me. Sometimes Tyson is more than happy to ham it up for the camera, making silly faces or goofing with his food. Tonight I got the old, "Not now, mom. I'm trying to eat" brush-off:
Riley was, as always, in need of a complete hose down after he finished eating his pizza. Did I mention that he loves pizza? Okay, I should clarify: he loves fast food pizza. He only likes my wholesome, veggie-packed (sweet potato crust, carrot puree-infused sauce, fresh veggie-topped), whole grain, preservative/sugar free, low fat version of pizza, despite the fact that it is really and truly tasty. Seriously. Stop wrinkling your nose like that. I'm a super picky eater with the pallet of a four year old, and I love it! I'm afraid he has inherited my preference for processed junk food. Nevertheless, he is adorable:
Have a Happy Week!!!
First thing tomorrow morning I will be washing and blocking it. Here are the project specs:- Pattern: Trinity Log Cabin Triangle from Indigo Muse Knits
- Needles: Size 11 Straights
- Yarn: TLC Baby Amore in light blue, rose, orchid, yellow and white
- Knitted For: I can't say. It's a gift for friends who might stumble across this post.
- Interesting Facts: I just spent the better part of 2 hours weaving in 38 ends because I decided to leave that part until the end; this blanket has approximately 3,820 stitches in it; every one of those was a knit stitch; I am now entirely sick of knit stitches.
I can't wait to gift this knit. Now I'm planning to take a small break from baby knits, and then I'll need to jump right back in to start another knit for another baby. No, silly. It's not my baby. But it will be my little niece or nephew! Matt's brother & his wife are expecting their first baby in December. My MIL, Marci (the mommy-to-be) and I are all knitters, so this kid is probably going to have a complete knitted wardrobe be July!
~~~~~~~~~
I went to the bank the other day. You might be wondering why this is noteworthy. It was a bank I've never been to before. Well, I've used the ATM, but this time I had to actually talk to a person. So, I was a little surprised when I pulled up and saw this instead of a window:
I have no idea why I was a bit taken aback, because I know this is the current trend in bank teller safety. But for some reason, though, I felt like I was in an episode of the original Dr. Who. Weird.And in other news, meal times at our house are such eventful times... the boys never cease to amaze and amuse me. Sometimes Tyson is more than happy to ham it up for the camera, making silly faces or goofing with his food. Tonight I got the old, "Not now, mom. I'm trying to eat" brush-off:
Riley was, as always, in need of a complete hose down after he finished eating his pizza. Did I mention that he loves pizza? Okay, I should clarify: he loves fast food pizza. He only likes my wholesome, veggie-packed (sweet potato crust, carrot puree-infused sauce, fresh veggie-topped), whole grain, preservative/sugar free, low fat version of pizza, despite the fact that it is really and truly tasty. Seriously. Stop wrinkling your nose like that. I'm a super picky eater with the pallet of a four year old, and I love it! I'm afraid he has inherited my preference for processed junk food. Nevertheless, he is adorable:
Have a Happy Week!!!
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