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...