Saturday, March 27, 2010

2010 Youth Fair - Days 1 and 2

On our way to the youth fair. Kaity and I trying out the new camera.


Rabbit show.


Creative cash keepers contest. Spongebob piggy bank made out of an OJ carton.

Candy Creations contest. Kaity got to participate in this one and got her first fair ribbon.



Small pet show contest. Kaity helping Will keep April on the table.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I've done pretty good with staying on track with our menu this last week with a few hiccups.
  • Tuesday night, we didn't eat pork chops because of the amount of leftovers we had. Which is actually a good excuse for not making it. Plus, pork chops freeze great.
  • Wednesday night I had already planned to rearrange for. We were supposed to go to the UF Baseball game for dollar night and have hot dogs, so I had already moved chicken & dumplings to Thursday. (Who wants pigs in a blanket really? Well, besides the kiddos.) John, unfortantely, was sick so we didn't make the game and didn't have dinner ready - cereals and hot dogs instead.
  • Saturday - I honestly can't remember what we did for dinner, but it wasn't hamburgers as planned.
  • Sunday we ended up having the hamburgers. But since Sunday was supposed to be stuffed shells and that's perishable, pot roast is getting kicked off this week so I can make the perishable dish.
  • Yesterday was the county cattlemen's quarterly meeting which is a free meal so that was an easy decision. We had that instead of cooking. And, apparently the chicken picata I made Monday was amazing because I cooked it in butter instead of olive oil like a normally do.
Here's a picture of Luna kitty. We're finally letting her go outside some, which she thinks is fantastic. I keep a pretty close eye on her since she doesn't have her rabies shot yet.


Will worked on his 4-H poster projects for the fair this past week. Saturday, he went up to the extension office to present his stuff. One of his posters is on arrowheads which he's been doing a lot of hunting for with Nana. And, he learned to drive the 4-wheeler (with his helmet, of course!) so that he could go out back with her.





As of the last post, I still had five chicks. Not so much the case anymore. We lost one of natural causes and then two become coon hors devours. So, we were down to two. John and I finished the outdoor brooder finally. So, I've ended up getting ten more little chickies. They are very cute and so far not "coonified." Hopefully, I'll get some pictures of them this week.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Mini Menu Update

Many people know that I'm terrible housewife. I'm a great wife, mother, friend, and employee, but a terrible housewife. John probably does more of the cooking and cleaning than I do, but I do most of the kid stuff. But, this week since we've had the menu in place, I haven't had to think about what's for dinner (which typically happens when we get home at 5:30) or scrounge the cabinets to see what ingredients we have (since I did all the grocery shopping ahead of time.) Which means we've had more time to stay on track with laundry, dishes, and general clean up. Last Saturday, I think we did close to 15 loads of laundry, folded them and almost put them all away. Going in to this Saturday, I'm all caught up on laundry except for folding and putting away two loads.

So far this week, we've managed to really stay on track with our menu plans. Now, it's only the 5th and who knows how the rest of the month will go. We used the crockpot twice this week. And, even though I didn't feel like cooking on Thursday, I still did it. It wasn't one of our favorite meals (chicken pot pie) and we gave the leftovers to granny and grandaddy. It's a very pretty dish, but one that John and I both think is so-so and the kids wouldn't touch it. So, I'll probably cross that one off the regular list.

Other Updates
  • I got my first massage at the student clinic of the Florida School of Massage. It was great, but chaotic! There were people everywhere. I'll most likely go back since my shoulder, neck and back muscles constantly hurt. It's only $30/hour for the student clinic - definitely worth it!
  • Will signed up for tap classes this week. Most people who know him know how much he likes to dance. He wavered for awhile on this, but finally sat in on a class on Wednesday. And, once I explained that he would wear pants and a t-shirt (and not a leotard) then he was cool with it. The hardest part has been finding him inexpensive boys tap shoes. Apparently that's not something that's commonly carried. His dance instructor is going to order some wholesale for him and hopefully they are in before his first class next week. So, on Wednesdays now, Will has tap at 3:30 and Kaity has ballet at 4:30. I always have plenty of editing to do and I've got my blackberry so I'll just work from the dance studio on Wednesday afternoons. And, if they have wi-fi that would be even better!
  • Kaity and I worked cows this afternoon with John, Kathleen, and Denise. It was the first nice day we've had in awhile and Kaity did really well carrying syringes back and forth between Kathleen, who was sticking the cows, to me so that I could fill them up. Kathleen was going to pay her $1, but she didn't want that. Instead, she'd like to be paid in happy meals.
  • The youth fair is at the end of the month and we've got to finish Will's posters by next Friday since they're due on Saturday. This year he wanted to do posters on arrowheads and cow skulls. We've got lots of picture taking to do.
  • Tomorrow, we're going to help install landscaping at our new church building. Most of our friends know that we've been attending the same church since John and I started dating. Most people don't realize that we've been meeting in a high school auditorium all that time (11 years). We've been fundraising and building a church for the last several years and now we're in the final stages before we move in which will hopefully happen in the next two months!
  • The five chicks are still alive and they all have pin feathers. They've been living in the kids' bathroom at night and on the porch during the day. We're hoping to permanently move them outside Monday when the night time temperatures should start staying in the 40s.
  • While I'm writing this, John and Will are playing Star Wars Wii AGAIN! Thanks Aunt Alli...

Sunday, February 28, 2010

March Menu

This month I'm determined to do a better job with our eating habits. February was crazy for us with all the birthday parties and everything. I hate to admit it but we ate a lot of McD's and Little Ceasars pizza (Little Ceasars just opened in our Publix shopping center so it's still a novelty.) But, John and I are tired of eating kid food! Plus we're gearing up with kids activities this time of year. Kaity is currently taking ballet on Wednesday evenings. Will is thinking about tap dancing classes. He loves to dance and I think this would be a great outlet for him. And, he wants to do swimming which would be two days a week. We'll wait on swimming till after the youth fair is over, but that's the end of March! He's decided not to play t-ball or soccer this spring even though all of his classmates are playing. However, last Friday he told me he wanted to play soccer because Dalton was playing. I think this is probably a no for him only because John and I value our Saturdays in the spring. So, with all that in mind, I sat down last night and created a menu for the whole month of March. I've already grocery shopped for the first week so we're at least committed to that.

A couple things - Friday nights I've just declared breakfast night, so you'll see a theme. Whatever we're having on Monday, I'm going to try to prepare it (or some of it) on Sunday. More intensive meals are saved for the weekends. And, I'm trying to use my crockpot at least on Wednesdays.

*I marked which dishes are new for us.
**Added the sides in just for Erin.

  1. Monday (4-H meeting) - bean soup (crockpot) and bread
  2. Tuesday - tacos
  3. Wednesday (ballet) - chili (crockpot)
  4. Thursday - chicken pot pie*
  5. Friday - pancakes and sausage links
  6. Saturday - ham & macaroni and cheese and green beans
  7. Sunday - stroganoff and salad
  8. Monday (Kaity late dentist appt.) - sausage spinach casserole
  9. Tuesday - pork chops, au gratin potatoes, green beans
  10. Wednesday (ballet) - chicken & dumplings (crockpot)
  11. Thursday - pigs in a blanket, chips
  12. Friday - sausage gravy and biscuits
  13. Saturday - hamburgers, chips, baked beans
  14. Sunday - stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread
  15. Monday - chicken picata
  16. Tuesday - A1 and dijon steak* (crockpot), rice pilaf, broccoli
  17. Wednesday (ballet) - broccoli and cheese soup* (crockpot) and bread
  18. Thursday (fair board mtg) - pot roast (crockpot), carrots, potatoes
  19. Friday - waffles, bacon, fruit
  20. Saturday - BBQ pork, corn pudding, salad
  21. Sunday - steak, squash, salad
  22. Monday - Cuban pork roast*, plantains, rice, black beans
  23. Tuesday - chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans
  24. Wednesday - meatloaf (crockpot), mashed potatoes, green beans (sides leftover from Tuesday)
  25. Thursday - corn chowder*, bread
  26. Friday (youth fair) - no meals at home
  27. Saturday (youth fair)
  28. Sunday (youth fair)
  29. Monday (youth fair, quick dinner) - BLTs, french fries
  30. Tuesday - spaghetti, garlic bread, green beans
  31. Wednesday (ballet) - fried orange shrimp*, rice, plantains
Please ask us how we're doing on this. We're going to try to stick to it this month, but something always comes up. Plus I'm sure I'm missing some calendar items that will interfere with the menu. Hopefully, it will force us to take our lunch more rather than eating hot dogs for dinner and then having nothing for lunch.
 

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