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Monday, July 30, 2007

Menu - week of July 29, 2007


Running pretty late with the menu this week, but I have one. It's very simple, primarily because I'll be crazy-busy this week and stopping to cook when I'm that busy isn't my idea of fun. Also, it's entirely too hot for me to spend time hovering about in the kitchen cooking, yet I still need to feed my piranhas or they get cranky.

A. is home again. K. is growing and needs clothes appropriate for school. I am busy, motivated, and hopeful. That about sums things up in our world.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.




Sunday
lunch: pancakes
dinner: Wendy's

Monday
lunch: pizza hoagies (or chicken and tuna patties)
dinner: breaded cod, mac&cheese, peas, broccoli

Tuesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: pasta
extra cooking: spaghetti/pizza sauce (x2)

Wednesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: stir fried pork w/ramen noodles, various recaptured veggies

Thursday (grocery day)
lunch: ??
dinner: pot roast, baked potatoes, lima beans, broccoli

Friday (grocery day)
lunch: ??
dinner: breakfast (oatmeal, pancakes, grits, eggs, cereal, whatever)
extra cooking: boiled chicken, red beans

Saturday
lunch: chicken salad sandwiches
dinner: rice, beans, chicken, salad


Monday, July 23, 2007

Menu - week of July 22, 2007


Running a bit late with the menu this week, but it's done. In pencil, but it's done.

I'm starting something new this week. Well, I sort of did it last week, but this week it's planned. One of our trends is being out doing stuff on the weekends and getting so rushed for time that we end up eating out (or getting fast food and bringing it home). This week I'm going to cook a couple of meals on Friday, stash them in the refrigerator and ta-da! Food is cooked for the weekend! All we have to do is be home (or, you know, come home) when we're hungry and heat stuff up in the microwave. Ta-da! Yeah, we'll see how it goes.

Last week was a bit on the chaotic side, but I'm starting to think that might be normal for this household. Mercy, I hope not. Just some of the chaos came in the form of a dental bill that was estimated at $200 but came up to just under $1000, some killer headaches, me sending some of my fictional writing to a published author who offered to critique it and give me some advice, and the usual general craziness.

The plans for this week include mostly clutter purging, doing some inventorying before school starts in three(ish) weeks, maybe doing a bit of shopping for both school supplies and clothes, and maybe making some jewelry. With A. out of town, K. and I also plan on sprawling in the evenings to read. We like to read. There may even be nights when I get to write while she reads.

Yes, A. is out of town again. He left yesterday afternoon. He'll be back a little on the late side Friday night. It makes menu planning for this week easy. K. and I can eat the same two or three things all week and not get bored with it.

Not much else to say. Weather has been Florida summer weather: hot, and when it's not hot, wet. We've desperately needed the rain, though, so I've growled at anyone complaining about it. Beyond that, it's just life.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.





Sunday
lunch: pancakes
dinner: chicken salad

Monday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: pizza hoagies
extra cooking: spaghetti/pizza sauce (x2), tuna patties, chicken patties (tuna patties recipe made with chicken I boiled last night)

Tuesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: rice with chicken, green peas

Wednesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: spiced boca "meat", rice, veggies of a green nature

Thursday
lunch: leftovers / pizza hoagies
dinner: leftovers

Friday
lunch: chicken salad
dinner: clean out refrigerator buffet
extra cooking: spiced ground beef, pot roast, possibly tortillas if time and weather permits

Saturday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: leftovers (or pasta)


Friday, July 20, 2007

Just in case...

My longer posts have a tendency to not go out to the mail subscribers, whether it be on blogger's side or on the feedblitz side.

Just in case it happens again, there was a post this morning called "Wake-up call # 84351" here: http://asimplewife.blogspot.com/2007/07/wake-up-call-84351.html

If you read my blog through the mail and did not get that post, I'm sorry. I really don't know why that happens. There's the link, however, so have at it.

And thanks again to those of you who have subscribed.


Wake-up call #84351

Like many people, I check my horoscope. I don't always check it daily, and I usually check it at night so that I can reflect on how my day went then decide how close the horoscope was. Most days it ranges from "close" to "dead spot on". A lot of days it makes me giggle with how close it comes and sometimes I wonder if my day would have gone any better (or if/how it would have been different) had I read the email that delivers my horoscope earlier in the day.

I opened that email this morning because yesterday just sucked and shattered a whole lot of eggs in my various baskets. After checking yesterday's email this morning I decided I needed to know what today's said, because had I read yesterday's email yesterday morning I would have been better prepared and then my brain wouldn't have exploded quite so much yesterday afternoon. (*deep breath*)

The horoscope comes with a general look at the day and then the more traditional sun sign reading.

Today's Outlook: The Moon in peaceful Libra today helps us smooth over the rough edges as we strive for harmony, especially after the challenges we faced yesterday. Fortunately, we get some common sense from energetic Mars, now stabilized in practical Taurus. But Mars forms a dynamic sextile with crazy Uranus, adding fuel to the determined engine of progress. Although we may be very unconventional, we can be brilliant as innovative breakthroughs come easily.

Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21):You might be very optimistic, believing that anything is possible. Still, you must remember that the real world does have practical limitations based upon immutable physical laws. Nevertheless, you can pull off some amazing stunts by bending the rules. Pushing the limits can help you to achieve the maximum effect.

So, yeah. Sort of a little nudge from the Universe that reinforces the idea that we'll be ok. Just what I needed this morning.

So yesterday? Yeah. A. went to the dentist yesterday. Wait, back track a bit. A. went to the dentist Wednesday afternoon. Not having been in a while, he needed to have some deep cleaning done. That is, he needed to have that scraping/scaling thing done where they dig under the gum line and scraaaaaaape gunk off the lower parts of the teeth. He was given an estimate/price sheet sort of paper that put the insurance adjusted prices at not quite $200. No biggie. That's why I have a dental fund going, right?

He set the appointment for that for yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. From what he said, he's sitting in the chair with "bamboo shoots under [his] gums" and they hand him the new estimate/price sheet... with a whopping grand total of $971.89.

That doesn't even touch the crown work he needs done.

Apparently he had some pretty deep pockets (what is he? a chipmunk??) and they decided they needed to pack those pockets with antibiotics... at $89 per pocket.

He did manage to talk them into delaying a couple of the things they wanted to do to him, so the bill yesterday was for $611.93... but he has to go back in 4 - 6 weeks to get the rest done, and there's still crown work looming in the future.

Needless to say, my brain went *pop* when he got home. Had it been me, I'd have left the pockets antibiotic free, paid the $200ish dollars out of the dental fund and since we put $100 each month into the dental fund, just gone back once a month to get another one done. Or, more likely, just avoided the dentist again until I had the money saved up. But that's me, and I'm the idiot with a temporary crown that's just about 6 years old (it was put in at the beginning of August 2001; company I was working for sold the division I was in right after 9/11, only the new owner(s) didn't want to keep the employees so I lost my job and I lost my dental insurance. I had to cancel the appointment I had in November to have the crown put in and I've not been in a position since that time to get it taken care of).

So yesterday afternoon my brain was going 'splodey. In a bad way. I sent him to buy his lottery tickets and a pack of cigarettes for me, even though I stopped smoking almost two years ago.

Four chain-smoked cigarettes later I was ok again. Yes, this is a bad hit for us financially. No, this isn't the best time ever for it to hit. Yes, it could have come at a much worse time. Yes, it completely zeroes out the dental fund I'd been building - the bulk of which was earmarked for K.'s braces. And yes, it either completely zeroes out our emergency fund or the money we've been putting aside for the last few months for a down payment on a house. And yes, there's still the roughly $500 more we have to come up with in 4 - 6 weeks, and then the additional $750 or so for the crown work that really should be taken care of as soon as possible.

But things could be worse. They could be much, much worse. And this morning I've been reminded that God doesn't allow us to be burdened with more than we can carry and he made me the way I am for a reason.

I can't fix this situation, but I can make sure we get through it.

Yes, things will be tight - almost painfully tight - for the next few months, maybe even the next year and my family may actually have to watch some of the nearly 400 movies/seasons of television shows we own rather than going to the movies or picking up stuff from BlockBuster. No, we may not actually be able to swing a house at the end of the new lease (July 2008) like we had planned. Yes, I will have to put off the dental work that I need done. Yes, I may even have to delay K.'s dental visit for a few months. No, I have no idea how I'll deal with her birthday since all the "extra" money I was setting aside will vanish for a while. And no, I don't even know how I'll deal with christmas. Yet.

But things could have been worse. Much, much worse. We've crawled out from bigger hits than this intact. And really, when I step back and look at the whole big picture, I needed this to happen. I've been lax with the budgeting in the last two months. We've been very indulgent with whims and desires lately, partly to make up for last decade. This little incident is the Universe's way of telling me "Ok, kitten, play time is over. Get back to work, get back on track. Find the balance."

So, yeah, things will be tough for a while again, but because of this situation I've realized where some holes in my budget are, and I've realized that we have more "extra" money than I thought, and if I can caress the budget just right, we may just end up better off by the time this ordeal is over.

And those cigarettes I sent him after last night? They're gone. I don't need them today. I haven't needed them since the end of the fourth one last night.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Menu - week of July 15, 2007


I didn't do a menu last week at all and my world sucked all week. I don't think I'll be doing that again for a while.

A. is leaving town Monday afternoon and coming back Tuesday night. It's just a short one night trip this time, but it gives me two days of not having to plan food for him.

K. and I haven't really made any plans for this week beyond (possibly) the free movies on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. A. recently installed some old games on the computer my mom gave her and she's been pretty absorbed by them. I might get some cleaning out of her this week, though (if I can get her to stop playing Warlords, that is). She wants the wooden cd crate I pulled off the top of my desk the other day and I'm using it as a bargaining chip. I've been rearranging things around here and getting a little crazy with it. I'm not done yet but hopefully the dust will settle quickly (I'm tired of sneezing) and life can get back to my version of "normal".

On a completely random note, I picked up a new alarm clock this weekend and gave K. the one from our room. It was a great little alarm clock, but a month after we got it, the display for the second alarm stopped working so I could never tell when my alarm was set. It's been driving me batty for a year or so, and it was just time to get another one. Also, the timing was right because K. needs to learn to wake up to an alarm and she won't really need a clock with two alarms. It seemed more logical to slide our old one to her and replace the one that's been driving me batty for so long than to go out and buy her one.

I'm leaving Friday and dinner Saturday unplanned for now. Grocery sales start mid-week so I'll plan something after I (a) see the ads on Wednesday and Thursday and (b) figure out what we're doing next weekend (there may be some construction-like projects going on).

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.





Sunday
lunch: Subway
dinner: forage night - everyone fends for themselves

Monday
lunch: tuna patties, mac & cheese
dinner: leftovers
extra cooking: spaghetti/pizza sauce (x2),

Tuesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: beans, rice, salad

Wednesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: pot roast, veggies (whatever jumps out of the freezer when I open the door)

Thursday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit
dinner: leftovers (or possibly pasta)

Friday
lunch: ??
dinner: ??

Saturday
lunch: pizza hoagies
dinner: ??


Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Jewelry for the girl child.

I made K. some jewelry today.



And a bookmark to match.



Yes. It was a most productive day.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

100 words - July 7

7
I looked out the window at the clear blue sky and sighed. It was such a miserably hot day. Heat waves rolled up off the road and made the view ahead of me shimmer. Stretching my arm out the window brought some of the passing air into the hot car, but it brought no real relief against the heat. “Even the wind is hot…” I murmured and cranked the volume on the radio to deafening levels when Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf started to play. The wind was hot, too, like the desert wind blowing across a dried out world.



100 words x 2 (July 5 - 6)

5
I’ve been toying with copper wire again. It’s so easy to practice wrapping all sorts of things with copper, assuming you can get it in the right gauge.

I’ve been working with 18 gauge copper (round and half-hard) lately because that’s all I’ve had. I’m in the market to find some 20 gauge. I’ll have to do that over the internet, which really sucks because I’ve been trying to curb my internet purchases this year.

Oh, wait, that 20 gauge copper wire is not all I have. I forgot that I do have some 16 gauge soft brass wire, too.

6
I don’t like the 16 gauge soft brass wire. Maybe it’s my lack of hand strength or maybe just the way the wire feels. I don’t suppose it really matters. I just don’t like working with it as much as I like the 18 gauge copper wire. I’m hoping the 20 gauge copper wire will be as wonderful to play with. I know that it will give a whole new dimension to the bookmarks and other things I create.

And eventually I’ll get around to silver and gold and doing actual jewelry but for now, I’m enjoying my copper designs.


Thursday, July 5, 2007

100 words - July 4

4
In the past I’ve noticed that most everything I write emerges in a passive voice. Recently, I’ve been working on amending that, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s harder than it sounds. My brain just doesn’t want to think in an active voice.

This has me wondering if I should continue trying to adjust my way of thinking so that I can write in the active voice from the start or if I should just slam out the words in a passive voice so that I can finish the story then edit it to make it more active.


Tuesday, July 3, 2007

100 words... times 3

1
So tired. The headache lurking around the edges of my brain all week threatening to become a migraine has taken a step closer to that goal.

A. has my car today which means my plans for the post office are pushed back until tomorrow. It also means I won't die in a horribly fatal and flaming car crash like so many of my dreams have indicated over the past week or so.

I overslept again today by 2 hours. Not a big deal for a housewife, some might think, but it’s killing me in ways I can't begin to describe.

2
“It’s dark outside.”

A voice comes from inside my head and sounds as if there should be a smirk attached. “Of course it’s dark outside, it’s the middle of the night.”

I ignore the voice and start again. “It’s dark outside. I can hear the patter of the rain against the roof. Every now and again I hear the rolling rumble of thunder and…”

The voice scoffs. “Rolling rumble of thunder? You can’t be serious.”

I very nearly shout as I continue on. “…and see brilliant flashes of lightning through the space where the curtains don’t quite meet the walls.”

3
I’m supposed to write another 100 words today, and I’m drawing a complete blank. There’s nothing lurking in the dusty, cob-web covered corners of my mind wanting to be written. I’m just… blank.

I sit here in front of my computer, my iPod shuffle pumping Metallica playing with an orchestra into my skull at rather high volumes and even that’s not shaking any ideas loose. Behind me, my husband sprawls on the couch watching something or another on Nova. The daughter is… I don’t know where she is, exactly, but probably in her room reading again.

Hey look, 100 words…

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Menu - week of July 1, 2007


Not much to say tonight. So very tired. I'll probably post something tomorrow night, weather permitting.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.




Sunday
lunch: tuna patties, mac & cheese
dinner: orange barbecue chicken, rice, baked beans, salad

Monday
lunch: left overs
dinner: beans, rice, salad
extra cooking: spaghetti/pizza sauce (x2), tortillas (?)

Tuesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: sloppy joes, potato skins

Wednesday
lunch: movie munchies / salad
dinner: pasta, salad, garlic bread

Thursday
lunch: pizzas on wheat hoagie bread
dinner: leftovers

Friday
lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches
dinner: breakfast (pancakes, grits, eggs, cereal)

Saturday
lunch: ??
dinner: homemade pizza, salad