WIS, WWA | flying to pieces
What I Spent
If you get the "flying to pieces" reference, then you've probably read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as many times as I have. 😉
I spent:
- $26 at Sam's Club
- $29 at Lidl
- $20 on pizza
- $10 at Chick-fil-A
Sooo, $85, which is not too shabby for an end-of-semester week when I pressed the easy button a few times. 🙂
What We Ate
Saturday
Zoe and I shared some pizza. 🙂
Sunday
French toast with berries and whipped cream.
Monday
This was my last 12-hour clinical shift for the semester, and I remember that Zoe got home from her work shift at work at the same time as me.
I have no idea what we ate for dinner, though; it has completely slipped my mind!
Tuesday
I made some Aussie chicken, and we ate that with sauteed broccoli, plus some pretzel rolls from Lidl.
Wednesday
Zoe had leftovers from Tuesday, and I'd had a late lunch and wasn't super hungry so...I ate some cottage cheese and crackers. 🙂
Thursday
I had an ATI exam in the morning, and this is the type of exam where afterward, we have to go home and write three bullet points of information for each item that we got wrong.
People don't typically do super well on these exams (me included!) because they're basically assessing whether you'd pass the NCLEX. So, these tests cover stuff we've never heard of before.
I got a 77%, which is actually pretty good for an ATI exam, but that still meant I had to do 81 bullet points.
I decided to tackle them right away because I have another ATI exam Monday and that will come with yet more bullet points to do. Plus I had a zoom meeting with my group (we're presenting in front of the whole class tomorrow), and I had to finish the PowerPoint for the group.
Anyway. I skipped cooking dinner! I had a free birthday offer in my Chick-fil-A app so I only had to buy one meal.
And after dinner, I did get the last of my bullet points alllll done. But I was starting to feel like I was losing my mind, so I took a small break to walk around the block.
I always think Laura Ingalls Wilder said it best, as she described the tedium of hand-sewing buttonholes on shirts all day: "Laura felt as if she would fly to pieces."
That's how I feel when I do bullet points!
But at least I'm all done with them now, at least until after Monday's exam. 😉
Friday
I'm not sure yet because I know Zoe has some plans but I am not clear yet on whether or not they include dinner!
Thank you for putting the Laura Ingalls Wilder quotation in context because not recognizing it was driving me crazy. I have read those books 3 times out loud to my children, and I cannot remember how many times on my own. Isn't it funny how everybody notices different things? And each time I read them, I notice something I hadn't noticed before.
Hang in there; the semester's almost over! My May is crazy, and I'm very much looking forward to June.
The phrase is just such an apt description of what it feels like to do something tedious, such as ripping out seams with a manual seam ripper!
@Kristen, I tend to fly to pieces in the afternoons when I'm sitting at the table with a child, correcting math or grammar or whatever. I love homeschooling, but some parts are tedious.
@Jody S., Me too; I'm glad Kristen told us since it didn't come to my mind despite multiple readings! But it made me remember another quote I like from LIW, from her later years when she wrote for a farm paper. Her husband had surprised her with a new patent butter churn, and she tried it but hated it, so she told him it broke when "I dropped it - just as far as I could" (bounced it out the door and then followed it out and kicked it).
@Kristen,
And she also said she was grateful that her mother told her that the best way to deal with hated chores was to learn how to do it well and quickly.
@Jody S., correcting math and grammar were by far my least favorite parts about homeschooling!!
@Paula,
I can do hated chores well.....now I need to work on the quickly part! 🙂
@Paula, And she also said she was grateful that her mother told her that the best way to deal with hated chores was to l̵e̵a̵r̵n̵ ̵h̵o̵w̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵d̵o̵ ̵i̵t̵ ̵w̵e̵l̵l̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̵q̵u̵i̵c̵k̵l̵y̵.̵ force one of the children to do it.
FIFY
@Suz, And Almanzo was so sad because he couldn't use the parts for anything after she'd kicked the tar out of it! Just like my DH--even if something doesn't work quite right he likes to keep the parts "just in case."
@Paula, This is smart.
As soon as I read that, I thought about the buttonholes, so yes, I guess I have read it as many times as you have. In fact, our bedtime read-aloud right now is "Farmer Boy," which is agonizing for my always-hungry sons, and I bet you know why. 🙂
I'm right there with you flying to pieces right now (only 9 more days of school after this!), but dinner must go on . . .
Saturday: We spent the morning grinding more bull meat, so I made cheeseburgers with some of it and the buns I made while I was making bread. I also made the Big Mac sauce for them, much to my husband's delight. In addition, I made oven fries and . . . there were supposed to be peas, but I dumped them all over my oven when I was trying to remove the fries, so . . . the lettuce on the burgers was the vegetable. Ahem.
Sunday: Fish sandwiches using frozen fish fillets, baked beans from the freezer, carrot sticks, and chocolate ice cream.
Monday: Leftover lamb curry and rice for some, egg salad sandwiches for others, Great Value corn chips and radishes for all (not together), and yogurt with strawberry jam for those who were still hungry after dinner.
Tuesday: Marinated lamb steaks, bread and butter, frozen peas.
Wednesday: My husband ate the leftover lamb I had been planning on for dinner--I should post a menu on the refrigerator, because he does this a lot, not knowing the plan in my head for dinner--so I had to go with eggs when I got home from the last First Communion class at 5:45 p.m. I made meatless fried rice with the cooked rice I already had on hand. And then those who were still hungry had apples and peanut butter.
Thursday: Yes more lamb steaks, mashed potatoes, asparagus (I don't always list this, but we're eating it every day from the garden, yay!), cucumbers with salt and vinegar.
Today: Our stupid state education department--the same one that is trying to force us to go to a five-day school week--mandated more hours of instruction on our calendar this year. This resulted in a couple of Fridays of school added to our calendar, and today is one of them. So I'll be working. I have a couple of lamb steaks left. If I have the energy, I can make spaghetti with the last of the frozen pesto cubes and a green salad to go with the lamb. If I don't, it will be bread and butter and raw produce. I'm betting on the latter. I will probably allow everyone to have ice cream, too, as a treat on a day that no one is happy about. I am dragging these boys over the finish line with me, but man, they are heavy. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, I'm sorry to hear about the state education department. Small schools are wonderful and can better individualize the education of the students to benefit them. This is what I love about homeschooling--that I am at liberty to do what's best for each of my students. I hope your school system is able to retain some of its control to be able to assess and do what is best for the kids.
WIS: $36.30 at Wegmans and $11.40 at Tops. I continue to buy loss leaders at Tops, using my next-door neighbor's (NDN's) Tops card, when I take her shopping there. (I suppose I could get my own Tops card, but NDN likes to feel that she's doing me a favor with this arrangement, which she is.)
WIA: Another week of not very much exciting as I recover from my bronchitis. (The most exciting thing about the chicken drumsticks I found Reduced for Quick Sale at Tops was that they were 64 cents/lb.) But my Self-Perpetuating Cilantro Patch is starting to produce copiously just in time for Cinco de Mayo, so I'll probably make a salsa with some of the cilantro, some of my green onions, a cube or two of the Hatch canned chile peppers I froze recently, and a can of diced tomatoes. (I'll probably also pick up some tortilla chips to go with the salsa. Don't tell my PCP. 😀 )
@A. Marie,
Your secret is safe with us! 😉
@A. Marie, nothing wrong with tortilla chips. If you read the label carefully, you'll find corn chips are relatively healthy compare to a lot of other "food"/food you can buy. I was rather shocked to see how little sodium is in Fritos - who knew. I about fell over when I saw how much sodium is in a can of Spaghettio's w/"meatballs" - horrid for an adult and even more horrid for a growing child!
Even though my machine has an automatic buttonhole feature, I still dislike sewing them! Each one has to be perfectly aligned...
Monday: Hm, I know that cooked something, but I don't remember what.
Tuesday: Soy/ginger tilapia and rice, with cucumber salad.
Wednesday: I made baked chicken katsu, cucumber salad, and garlic bread.
Thursday: Mr. B made egg and vegetable sandwiches.
Friday: Mr. B made pizza dough yesterday, so I'll probably make pizza. I'll stop by the store and grab some last-chance vegetables.
@Meira @ meirathebear, Do a blind buttonhole. Much easier.
I always preferred patterns that didn't require buttonholes! lol
@Rose, what is a blind buttonhole? Is it like a hidden placket?
@Meira @ meirathebear, It's the one where you sew a patch on the right side, sew a rectangle, cut through the center and then push the patch to the wrong side.
The Little House books are some of my favorites. I think I've read them at least ten times, but I didn't remember the flying to pieces quote. Maybe it's time for another read through.
WIS: Well, it was supposed to be an off grocery week, but we did spend 104.92 for lunch @our family's favorite local restaurant to celebrate a successful homeschool review, 166.02 on mail order protein powder (for my husband), and 20.08 on emergency seltzer and gift chocolates (for me and coworkers) @Aldi for a total of 291.02 this week.
WWA:
Fri: salad (spinach, sliced strawberries, walnuts, strawberry mootube drizzle and poppy seeds), sourdough focaccia topped with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and turkey bacon.
Sat: salad (mixed greens, diced avocado, pepitas, spray dressing), watermelon, leftover focaccia, and pesto pasta using cavatappi pasta which is a really fun shape.
Sun: salad (mixed greens, purple carrot slices, cucumber slices, feta, craisins, spray dressing), leftover pesto pasta, peppers and eggs with diced turkey bacon on top.
Mon: It was so hot that we decided to have cold leftovers for dinner: salad (mixed greens and spray dressing), watermelon, jasmine rice mixed with spicy guacamole, peppers and eggs with turkey bacon and pesto pasta. Vanilla ice cream cones for dessert.b
Tue: chicken and cheese quesadillas on a bed of mixed greens and topped with salsa and plain yogurt instead of sour cream. We also had little guacamole cups on the side for dipping.
Wed: This was the day we went out to eat, but we went at lunch time which meant it was less crowded. For dinner, we had salad (artisan lettuce, celery, strawberries and avocado, plus salt, pepper and spray dressing), my version of Mexican street corn (I use frozen corn. This time I used up half a bag of leftover fire roasted corn that I had got with my giftcard at Whole Foods, but usually I just use the cheap bags from Aldi. I microwave the corn, then add about two ounces of crumbled feta, a tablespoon of butter, salt, pepper, gochujang spice and tajin. It's seriously so delicious and so fast.), turkey hotdogs on the Foreman grill, shredded cheddar cheese and spiced pinto beans and onions to top the dogs, and brioche buns to put them in. We also had vanilla ice cream cones for dessert this night.
Thu: It was too hot to cook again, so we took inspiration from the Cobb salad I had at the restaurant, and made what I'm calling Mexican Cobb salads for dinner. This was a base of artisan lettuce on each plate and then artfully topped with leftover street corn, leftover pinto beans (with sliced leftover hotdogs mixed in), leftover shredded cheddar, and halved hardboiled eggs. I also added sliced red peppers, chopped celery, sliced avocado, sliced tomato and sliced strawberries. I sprinkled salt and pepper and spray dressing on top. We all agreed that this was a really delightful way to eat up leftovers in the summer, so I think we'll do this again. Then we had frozen peaches for dessert.
Tonight: salad and focaccia, but we don't have any cherry tomatoes, so maybe we'll have sauce instead.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
You're semester is almost over, Kristen. Keep up the amazing job!!
Our dinners this week included:
1. Salmon, rice, salad
2. Chicken burgers, salad
3&4. Baked chicken, couscous, salad (2 times)
5. Lettuce wraps with ground turkey (w/teriyaki like sauce), rice
6. Lettuce wraps with ham, cheese, quiche, salad
7. Tonight will be a clean out the fridge kind of night-so some variation of whatever is leftover from the week.
That ecard picture is so funny!!
This is Show Week for my theater kid, so there's been more on the calendar, but also one less mouth to feed most nights. It's been mostly quick meals, which I think will become more regular in our house as our kids get older.
Saturday: Leftover pizza that my husband brought home from an event at work. We finished watching Mary Poppins Returns for a pizza and movie night.
Sunday: Grilled chicken tenders, peas, and fries
Monday: Kristen's Orzo with Sausage and Asparagus
Tuesday: Burgers, some leftover fries from Sunday, some fresh sweet potato fries, and (I think) skillet corn
Wednesday: Everybody was home! We had steak fajitas, strawberries, and oranges
Thursday: Kristen's enchiladas and strawberries. The enchiladas ended up going with the idea of "it all ends up in the same place, right?" My mind was running with a number of opening night thoughts and interrupted with lots of questions from my 2 kiddos at home and I mixed all of the sauce and all of the chicken together. So there was no sauce on the bottom or top, but it turned out fine. And my theater kid was DELIGHTED to have a leftover enchilada at 10:15 last night when she got home. I will probably reheat another one for her for an after-school/pre-show snack tonight.
Friday: Tortellini and probably some sort of vegetable. Maybe asparagus. It's gotta be quick with minimal dishes because we need to get the show early tonight!
@Ruth T,
I've never read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I kinda skipped children's books. Besides, I associated it with the dreary looking TV show and I didn't care about pioneers. Now, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn I adored.
Sunday: Cock a leekie soup
Monday: More soup
Tuesday: Chicken pot pie! This time it had capers in it and the rest of the leeks.
Wednesday: Swedish meatballs with noodles, peas, cranberry sauce (good sub for lingonberries)
Thursday: Baked ziti that wound up with so much cheese, it was more like lasagna with ziti. Boy, I hate it when people refer to pasta as noodles. Spaghetti noodles etc. Marone!
I strongly dislike the TV show, actually! It doesn't give me at all the same vibes as the books did.
@Kristen, A told a friend of mine I'd never read the books and she said the show was really eh but the books are good. Maybe I'll read one one a dese days.
I've only watched a few episodes, but they made me upset because they were so not faithful to the books!
I know some people love the show, but I am a hardcore books-only person when it comes to this series.
Although I am finally getting to the point in my life where I'm comfortable saying, "Guess I'll never do that." I was watching TV with my son where someone was chopping an onion like a blur. I said, "I've never been able to do that." My son said, "So practice." I replied, "I've been cooking pretty much every day for forty years now. I'm OK with having poor knife skills. I got better things to do."
@Kristen, Book-only is exactly how I feel about The Princess Bride, the movie of which everyone but me likes because the book is 500 times better. I read it often as a kid.
@Rose, Princess Bride is unbelievably good as a book. Twelve stars, very good. Little House, similar. But while I also really like the Princess Bride movie — kind of in the way I like both Pepsi and Diet Pepsi because they are totally separate beverages with a similar name — I cannot bear the Little House series; it's just all wrong. But Suz above mentioned her farm columns ("Little House in the Ozarks") which, if you want to avoid the children's books, are also a great read.
@Kristen, I remember watching an episode when I was home sick from school one day and the Ingalls family was going to "the big town of Mankato" and suddenly there were snow capped mountains in the background. I have family that lives right outside of Mankato and I have never once seen a snow capped mountain in southern Minnesota. Completely turned me off and I never watched another episode again.
@Rose,
OOOh i dont recall how i happened upon that gem_ a food website talking about books about food idk_but i do know my copy was read & re read. i did send a copy to my mom whose childhood seemed reflected somewhat in this young girls story. definately due for a re-read
@melissap, My dad was playing poker with his friends once and someone said something about A Tree Grows in Brookly by--I can't remember what author it was, maybe Mary McCarthy?--and my dad said, "She didn't write it. ROSE! Who wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?" I piped up, "Betty Smith!"
Knowitall from the start.
@Geneva, I feel this way about almost every single show centered in Alaska. I end up shouting at the screen.
@Kristen,
Yes! the show was lame. The books are great. I read the whole series several times when I was a kid.
@Rose,
OMG, yes on calling pasta "noodles"! Spaghetti is *spaghetti*, plain and simple.
@Lindsey,
Lol! Does Northern Exposure get yelled at? 😉
@Rose, I used that book in a composition class I taught in grad school, Folklore and Fairy Tales. Most of my students were well aware of (and loved) the movie, but they were astonished to find it was a book! They enjoyed it immensely, though several students pointed out that in the book Buttercup came off as a real dumb bunny. 😉 One of my students had never seen the movie, nor read the book, and the whole class vowed to not spoil anything for her.
Well. *SPOILER ALERT FOR THE RARE INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS NOT SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOK*
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She came in to class one day *steaming mad* and yelled at me: "How could you make me read this??!"
I had a hunch as to what she was upset about, but asked anyway, and she nearly wept as she yelled, "WESTLEY DIES!!!"
We all made a heroic effort not to laugh and I gently asked if she'd read beyond that chapter and she said, "No, I was SO MAD I threw the book across the room and swore I wouldn't read any more of it!" I said she should keep reading, and she fumed, but the next class she came up to me and said that her son, who was reading it with her, urged her to keep going, and she was so happy to meet Miracle Max that she (I think) forgave me for the emotional trauma I put her through.
@Karen A.,
Hahaha! Doesn't Fred Savage have a similar reaction in the movie?
Saturday: cheese and crackers
Sunday: burritos
Monday: sausage broccoli pasta
Tuesday: leftovers maybe?
Wednesday: chili
Thursday: fried fish filets
Friday: who knows
Just popping in to say the photo of the azaleas is beautiful. Ours finished blooming the end of March, but they are always a favorite. I can’t remember what I ate this week. Life is really busy right now, so I have been opening the refrigerator and eating whatever is on hand. Sometimes life is that way.
Man, it HAS been a long week! I think the weather is not helping with the dreary skies. The upside is that my plans to mow the yards will just have to wait until next week. (: This week I fixed:
Monday - kitchen closed (I had Chik-Fil-A which is becoming my regular thing)
Tuesday - (crockpot) Caribbean Jerk Chicken, butter rice, chopped salad
Wednesday - Pulled Pork Baked Sweet Potato, yellow squash
Thursday - Bacon and Rosemary Chicken Pasta, brussels sprouts
Tonight - Beef Taco Salads
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed
I think my grocery bill was fairly high, and that's because I shopped in person instead of using curbside.
Kristen, after years of reading your blog I'm just noticing you never include snacks in your what we ate posts. Is that for the sake of ease, or are you guys not big snack eaters?
Kristen, I’m so happy for you that the semester end is on your horizon!
Monday- honey baked chicken, roasted potatoes, coleslaw
Tuesday and Wednesday- leftovers from Monday
Thursday- pizza and salad at a friend’s house
Tonight- salad… we dance tonight so we don’t want anything too heavy. Sometimes when we have salad as our main dish, we enjoy having hot sourdough bread with dipping oil/ herbs. But that’s not for a dance night.
Had a big week here too. WWA:
Saturday - baked lamb koftas (bought premade from a specialty butcher), naan brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried oregano then “grilled” in a non-stick pan, store-bought tzatziki, Greek village salad
Sunday - slow cooker beef stew, sourdough bread, forgotten plum pudding (originally bought for Christmas that needed to be eaten)
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - DH made grilled cheese and raw veggies - was the last day in the office for a dear friend I have worked with for 25+ years and I was feeling too un-hungry to cook
Wednesday - pizza with everyone helping DD and her long-term boyfriend (who have both just graduated from university) move into their first apartment - all 4 children are now officially launched
Thursday - sheet pan chicken and veggie fajitas
Friday - a take away or something pre-made from this afternoon’s trip to Costco
Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend
Saturday - my son’s birthday party was in the morning, it was early morning (9am), so I got bagels and donuts for the party. My son was disappointed because he had wanted pizza (I guess pizza is birthday party food to him, no matter what time of day your party is) so we got pizza for dinner that night which appeased him.
Sunday - Trader Joe’s orange chicken and steamed broccoli
Monday - salad topped with chicken, (deconstructed salad for the kids, which is just the various ingredients put in separate piles on a plate, at least they eat a ton of veggies that way!) and crescent rolls
Tuesday - BBQ chicken, pearl couscous, steamed broccoli, corn
Wednesday - chicken and rice salad
Thursday - penne alla vodka
Friday - I have a friend meet up that will include wine and cheese for my dinner so I’ll just make something easy for the kids like corn dogs or Mac n cheese.
I recognized the phrase but couldn't think of the context. I've read the series numerous times, but that isn't what stood out to me. It's funny what we remember out of books.
I spent about $20-$25 picking up a few things for my sister's visit (some stuff she likes that I don't normally have), but that's it. Today is my every-two-week shopping day.
WIA:
A meal of marinated chicken at my daughter's house, which she cooked on her outdoor grill, plus yummy sides I can't quite remember, and homemade peach cobbler with ice cream, which I certainly remember. It was all utterly delicious.
The other daughter provided us with lunch of home-steamed shrimp, a large salad, rolls (GF for me) and a dessert of blackberries, strawberries and whipped cream. Also delicious. I don't normally list lunches, but this was a special one.
I made the AIP version of white chicken chili because my sister wanted to try it. She really enjoyed it. That was eaten twice, with the rest going in work lunches.
Seasoned pork ribs, fried okra and cranberry sauce.
Cooked chicken pulled from the freezer served with peas and cranberry sauce.
Chicken sandwich on GF toast with mayo and bread n' butter pickles, vegan cole slaw on the side and cut up carrots from the garden. I had that twice, as I had some nights with a lot to get done.
Tonight: TBD
WIS: $116, which included cat food and cleaning products because I threw out the receipts and can't break it down better. Shopping locales were Food Lion, Aldi, and Walmart Market.
WWA: Garlic pork roast with root veggies and homemade flatbread. Made-from-scratch marinara sauce jazzed up with sweet peppers and Italian sausage that was served over whole wheat pasta. Garden veggie burgers, sliced oranges, grapes, protein shakes, nuts, tangerines, and peanut butter and jelly on Wasa multigrain crackers. A couple of Atkins frozen pizzas that were on clearance and not particularly to my liking.
Okay, I will play... 🙂
Sunday: hello fresh meal - salmon with wild rice and roasted broccoli
Monday: hello fresh meal - pasta with lemon cream sauce and chicken (my daughter really liked this recipe)
Tuesday: don't remember
Wednesday: salad and random leftovers
Thursday: I got home late after being at a work conference in the big city all day and my daughter made tomato soup with grilled cheese for us.
Friday: always pizza night at our house because by the end of the week I am out of dinner ideas.
The hello fresh meals are a little pricier than other meal services but I like their recipes and the quality is good. I usually order 2 boxes a month to give myself a break from having to think about dinner for a weekend. If you know someone experiencing hard times, a gift card for a meal delivery service is a nice idea. It can relieve some of their mental burden. Cooking dinner was really hard after my husband's death, it was an adjustment to cook for only two, plus I was exhausted. My coworkers gave me hello fresh gift cards. We tried new recipes and it was nice just to follow the directions to make dinner and not have to think about buying ingredients.
Breakfast was served for dinner several times this week.
* Pizza and snacks when our niece and nephew were over
* Oatmeal with slivered almonds and raisins
* Scrambled eggs and roasted asparagus
* Salad with bleu cheese crumbles, black beans, walnuts, avocado and a spritz of olive oil and rice vinegar
* Spaghetti squash with marinara sauce
* Roasted veggies with fried eggs on top
* Blueberry pancakes
Friday: Lasagna, salad, garlic bead. We attended a celebratory dinner for my husband’s students. He leads a clinic that matches law students with people in the community that normally wouldn’t be able to afford an attorney. The students get the experience and the clients get representation, it’s an amazing opportunity for all involved.
Saturday: Duck breast, potato rosti, braised cabbage. We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and the husband is an incredible chef!
Sunday: Brisket, mashed potatoes, green beans – our first time using the sous vide for brisket and it turned out really well!
Monday: Power Salad (spinach, chicken, feta, cranberries, almonds)
Tuesday: Chicken Gnocchi Soup (slow cooker) – new recipe that my husband wanted to try out and it was really good
Wednesday: Home alone for the evening so I ordered take out from Naf Naf Grill
Thursday: Beef and Orange Stir Fry over brown rice
I have read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books multiple times ....as a child and as a an adult. I understand how Laura and you felt/feel.
This week was pure chaos with a super sick kiddo
Saturday - salmon, rice or couscous, roasted veggies, other fixins
Sunday - turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, roasted veggies
Monday - frozen pizza for the grownups. Whatever the preschooler could keep down 🙁
Tuesday - Vietnamese take out (no regrets) featuring pho for the kiddo (it has medicinal properties, I swear)
Wednesday - rice, beans, salad, avocado, choice of meat serving from freezer (I chose none, husband chose taco meat, kiddo chose bbq), etc
Thursday - chicken noodle skillet. My toddler declared thumbs down and asked for a cucumber for dinner instead. Can’t win ‘em all
Friday - probably takeout because some weeks are just for getting through
We had a crazy week as well (not as crazy as end of semester nursing school, but still busy)!
I spent about $65
Going to try to remember what we ate:
Saturday: we went out. I came home late from my parents' home that day so DH and I ran to a local pub. We ate poutine and shared a brisket sandwich.
Sunday: I made tots in the air fryer and warmed up pulled pork from the freezer to put over the tots with bbq sauce and cheese. Also had a salad
Monday: we got home late after being out of town all day so we warmed up the rest of the bbq on a bun and had asparagus in the air fryer and a sweet potato in the microwave.
Tuesday: my first complete failure in the air fryer. I made homemade chicken tenders and they just were horrible. I can only think of 3 times DH hasn't eaten what I've cooked and bless his heart he was eating this, but I finally convinced him to throw it away ( I took one bite and tossed mine). I don't know what happened, but I also made rice and broccoli that night and it was alllll bad. We ate a sandwich and moved on. My mojo was broke that day or something.
Wednesday: sausage/cheese raviolis with italian bread and a salad (I breaded the leftover raviolis the next day with panko and some parmesan and put them in the air fryer...yum!)
Thursday: carnitas /spanish rice/refried beans
Tonight...I haven't figured that one out yet.
I was mostly in Sedona on a hiking trip with my mom, where we ate lots of delicious TexMex food.
-Fish sticks & champagne, on my last "official" day of working. I've been laid off, but we get 8 weeks of paid time with the company. The fish sticks have been on my "use it up" list forever, & I thought DS18 was also going to be home. Nope. I did make my own tartar sauce to make my ridiculous combination of a dinner more appealing. 😉
-In Sedona with my mom - we had an appetizer sampler: chips & guac, sliders & three different types of bruschetta
-In Sedona - we had chicken fajitas & a delicious Mexican style cobb salad.
-In Sedona - pork carnitas street tacos, salad
-In Sedona - more street tacos & Cobb salad
-Last night, after getting home & being exhausted, we ordered Greek takeout
I still need to figure out dinner for whomever will be home tonight, but it's definitely going to be something easy!
I am in May. And things are crazy. We got fed. Only ate out once. No idea what I spent. Survival mode.
Things we ate:
Salads with bacon and cottage cheese
Lunchmeat wraps with chips
Shrimp and rice
Out for burgers and shakes
Quesadillas and fruit
Frozen pizza
No real cooking! WAH!
WWA, Back At the $#@! Hospital Again Edition:
WWS: No idea, we've been going every day to just get what we need for that day. Just like Europeans! 😛
Saturday/Sunday: DS#1 still in the hospital after second surgery. Made homemade pizzas for the kids at home each night before visiting DS#1.
Monday: Baked chicken, roasted veggies to salvage half of a sad cauliflower I bought in more optimistic meal planning times, rice.
Tuesday: I think I made burgers? And we had leftovers too.
Wednesday: DS comes home! Triumphant jubilation! We got Chick Fil A for him and the other kids, and he scarfed it down. Then he slept for 12 hours, his first solid sleep in weeks (medical saga having begun two weeks prior).
Thursday: Changed DS's dressing (for the nurses here, the incision was left to heal with secondary intention, i.e. a packed wound), noticed foul smelling discharge, and his JP drain was not draining well, and what there was in there smelled bad and was grey. Reluctantly he agreed to go back to the ER to get checked out. DH made fish burgers and luckily finished them up before he had to drive to the hospital.
DS is readmitted after CT scan finds a pocket of infection and possible fistula.
Aaaannd....we've just been told he needs to stay in the hospital over the weekend to get the infection under control. SIIIGGGHHHHH. Staying home with the younger kids and DS#3 will make tacos tonight while DH goes and stays with DS#1.
@Karen A., I'm so sorry he had to go back to the hospital! I'm sure his brief visit home and 12 hours of sleep were a great boost. I surely hope he comes back home quickly and finally, with no more setbacks.
@Karen A., Aw, jeez, I am so sorry about your boy.
@Karen A.,
Ohhhh nooooo.......ugh, so sorry your DS#1 had to go back to the hospital. Hoping they get that infection under control, and he can come back home soon.
@Karen A., ugh, this whole cycle has been a nightmare. Keeping my fingers crossed that it ends soon and well.
@Karen A., OMG. All of you must be absolutely exhausted. So, so sorry this keeps happening.
Oh my gracious I'm so sorry he's back in the hospital! I hope the next time he comes home it's for good.
And yep, I know about secondary intention and JP drains. 🙂
@Kristen, I am learning way more than I ever intended to learn about wound care and granulation tissue. That said, the hospital was very lax and didn't send us with any good instruction on how to care for his wound, or even show us really how to do it. I think this time they are wanting to send a home care nurse to our house to change his dressing.
He has three drains now and they aspirated a lot (according to my IRL nurse friend, who I've been texting nonstop) of nasty fluid. He ate a hearty Chick Fil A meal and then was astonished at how tired he suddenly was. We are worried about his hemoglobin, which is low, but at this point I'm just glad he CAN sleep, as previously his back hurt so much (most likely from the brewing infection) that he couldn't sleep without a heating pad. Now, he says, his back feels fine. Sigh. One day at a time, or rather, sometimes, as it feels, one hour at a time.
Hi, can you share the Aussie chicken recipe? I’m sure it’s been on before, but I don’t remember.
I'm with Rose, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was a yearly reader for me. My mom shared the "Boxcar Children" series love when I was a child. My Grandma bought me a set of the Little House books, however, after I read them once she donated them to the teeny tiny library in her hometown. I read the series to my daughter. I still have a true love of the Anne of Green Gables series.
So many projects on the ranch right now and I worked an extra shift (my hospital is a 2 hr commute, 4 hrs/day).
Monday - Family Fish Fry - oodles of ling cod, coleslaw, oven roasted asparagus, creamy slab cheesecake with citrus salad.
Tuesday - work. Fish tacos
W - Breakfast for Dinner - waffles, bacon, eggs & fruit salad
Th - BBQ chicken, green salad, asparagus & corn
F - shredded bbq chicken sandwiches, broccoli salad
Sat & Sun work - taco salads fixings, refrigerator rise pizzas & green salad
Mon - My sweet Mama is turning 78. Will spend the day on the road visiting all of her favorite family members. I coordinated the visits and it will be like a progressive lunch with birthday cake & coffee w/her favorite cousins, afternoon tea w/her brother, a stop off at the cemetery to put lilacs on my dad, husband and brother's memorials, Dinner will be at home with her favorite dinner of baby greens salad with citrus dressing, grilled elk steaks & homemade bread. So fun!
I'm with Laura, a seamstress I'm not....board games and puzzles make me grind my teeth to.
This week we ate:
Monday - Sheet pan perogies with peppers topped with sour cream, mixed greens salad to go with ( I cheated and got a bin of the ready to go salad from Safeway due to it being a freebie reward so I don't feel to bad)
Tuesday - Pancakes, scrambled eggs with onions and peppers.
Wendsday - Random veggie and chicken ramen bowls.
Thursday - Neighbor keeps chickens and geese so he occasionally brings us eggs. So, of course I took a few of the platinum plated buggers and made a quiche with ham, cheese, and green onions (I cheated yet again with a premade pie crust, the Marie Collenders one that actually tastes ok and can be a lifesaver when dinner time rolls around and your brain is just so over being chained to the stove) Salad to go with.
Friday - It's been a busy week (hence the super simple suppers) and my brain is tired so I'll probably just throw together some leftover ham, chicken and cheese sandwiches, roast spuds to go with.
Happy weekend everyone!
WIS: nothing yet, but I'm planning to get groceries from Kroger this weekend because they have a few good deals in this week's ad. I won't buy much, though, so probably won't spend more than $40 or so.
WIA:
Sunday - family get together for my birthday with hot dogs and hamburgers, french fries, and pickles. Flourless chocolate cake with coconut whipped topping.
Monday - beef and vegetable soup with gluten free bread and margarine on the side
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - homemade refried beans on corn tortillas with dairy free "cheese"
Thursday - needed something easy, so I just made an almond butter sandwich
Friday - I'm not sure, but I think it will involve eggs somehow
@Elizabeth M, Happy Belated Birthday!
@JDinNM, Thank you!
I’m intrigued by what Aussie chicken is (since I’m Aussie!)
WIS: $211 at various supermarkets (including Aldi - our food is expensive in Australia)
WIA:
Sunday: spinach and cheese Spanakopita from Aldi
Monday: Sausage & tomato pasta with garlic Bread
Tuesday: Baked fish (kids had fish fingers) sweet potato and broccoli
Wednesday: Leftover pasta from Monday
Thursday: Could not be bothered so baked leftover fish fingers, chicken nuggets and made toast
Friday: Homemade pizza at a friends house
Saturday: Beef tacos with salad, cheese and sour cream
Curious about your desk in the office…is it an adjustable sit/stand desk? If so, what brand and how do you like it?
It's the inside out pants that got me. LOL
Haha, I think I was changing into leggings and I just left the pants lying there.