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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Crazy, crazy week.

Wow, this is shaping up to be a crazy, crazy week. It's only Tuesday and already I've had to juggle the menu for this week around a bit. Instead of having tuna and an orange yesterday for lunch, I had leftovers. I had to push off the flat-bread making until today... and that's having to be pushed off again. I think. Probably, since today is bordering on being "one of those days", it's 2pm and I'm only just now sitting down to eat lunch.

Amidst all of the craziness of the day so far (note to self: please unbraid and brush hair before going out this evening) I discovered the folks that provided my music widget have more or less vanished. They've shut down. This makes me sad-faced. I enjoyed the song that I had playing, that's why it was there. I'll have to spend some time soon (when???) looking for a suitable replacement until they return.

So! The crazy week is becoming a crazy, crazy week with each day holding it's own share of craziness and surprises. Wee.

Guess I need to hustle and catch up on some of the day's chores. Hopefully I'll have time to make the cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast, too. I know I won't have time in the morning before my mother picks me up to go shopping. If I don't manage to get them done tonight then we'll have to rearrange breakfast for tomorrow.

Blue skies, world.

Monday, May 12, 2008

I fail at hooping, but I'm growing two little tomatoes!

So I got up this morning, donned one of the ugliest pairs of sneakers ever made and headed out to walk. There's something wrong about it being 73F degrees with a heat index of 77F at 6am but it's better than what it will be in a few hours so... I walked. Because of the last five days of laziness (combined with the humidity, ugh!) I only walked the 0.4 mile instead of the 0.5 mile. Still, I walked.

Got back, grabbed my only half-wrapped hoop and wandered out back (since I'm not allowed to play with it inside). I suppose the hoop going around once or twice before hitting the ground then me having to bend over and pick it up so I can repeat the process is some form of exercise, right? A. says it is. Either way, I think I sweated more while trying to hoop than I did while walking. I know I was humiliated more. I know there was a time I could make the hoop go all the way around me and keep it going for like... a while. Of course, I was K.'s age...

After I decided I'd had enough hoop humiliation for a few hours, I looked at my little plants and watered them and noticed that one of the tomato plants has two little green balls on it. I'm growing tomatoes!! Hopefully they'll get bigger and redder, and the birds won't get them.

It's pushing 7am so I need to clear the table and get breakfast started.

Blue skies and rainbows,

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Menu - May 11 - 17, 2008


Mercy. Making this week's menu was tough. A.'s birthday is Tuesday. I'm supposed to go shopping with my mother on Wednesday and A. may have some big two-hour test to deal with in the evening. On Thursday evening K. has an orchestra concert to perform in which really messes with that night because she has to be back at school one hour after she gets home. Saturday we're going out of town to a sort of baby shower bar-b-que thing for one of my cousins and I have no clue when we'll get home.

In other news, K. and I have caught the hooping bug. We spent part of this weekend hunting down materials and having A. make us hoops. Mine is too large to use inside the apartment but I'm not sure about K.'s. I'll probably try it out one morning after they leave.

We also scored me some of the ugliest sneakers ever made. Ugly, but pretty comfortable. There's no way I'll EVER confuse them with my everyday wear shoes... which I also need a new pair of. Now if I can just find clothes...

Anyway, I need to be getting to bed so that I can get up at 5am to go walk in those ugly shoes. It'll still be dark at 6am so it really won't matter. No one will see them because there will be no one around, and if there does happen to be someone around, it'll be too dark for them to see the ugly shoes.

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


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Sunday
breakfast: french toast
lunch: leftovers
dinner: foraging

Monday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns
lunch: tuna, orange
dinner: stir-fried round steak, baked potatoes, green peas
extra cooking: flat-bread

Tuesday
breakfast: cereal, toast, OJ
lunch: leftovers
dinner: pot roast (crock pot), broccoli

Wednesday
breakfast: quick cinnamon rolls
lunch: ?? shopping with mom
dinner: pasta

Thursday
breakfast: french toast
lunch: chicken patties (this recipe made with chicken), orange
dinner: fast food after orchestra concert

Friday
breakfast: eggs, grits, hashbrowns, toast
lunch: ???
dinner: sheppard's pie

Saturday
breakfast: waffles
lunch: --- BABY BBQ ---
dinner: foraging on leftovers


Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Huh.

Browsing through news articles shoved at me by msn.com this morning, I came across one called How to Build Your First Budget (here). Having taught myself how to budget and always feeling like I'm forgetting or missing something, I skim through such articles for tips on ways to improve upon what I do, so... "click". Blahblahblah, know that, yup, check, get to the second page and woah.

"Food: Basic groceries should cost a single person about $150 a month. You'll spend a lot more if you eat out frequently, however, or if you buy lots of processed foods, frozen dinners and gourmet stuff. Cut your food costs by bringing lunches and snacks from home. Substitute potlucks or picnics for expensive socializing at restaurants."

Um, $150 for one person for a month? That seemed a wee bit on the low side to even me, and after A. agreed with me, I dug into what the government had to say. According to the USDA's report the cost of food at home, the average cost to feed one male (age 19-50) in March 2008 was $162.50 on the thrifty plan. On the lost cost plan, it was $209.10. For the moderate cost plan it was $260. The liberal plan was $316.40. For females of the same age group, the numbers were lower: $145.80 for the thrifty, $182.70 for the low cost, $222.40 for the moderate cost, and $287 for the liberal. As far as I know, these numbers are JUST for food items, no toiletries, paper or pet products. The numbers for April 2008 haven't come out yet.

Ok, so maybe not so low, considering they did say about $150.

Still, the numbers for March looked... off... from what I based my last budget review on, so I pulled out the January 2008 numbers to compare. Despite the rising cost in everything but wages over the last five months, the USDA has determined that the average cost of food at home has gone down. Yes. DOWN. By $1-3 in most cases, between the months of January 2008 and March 2008.

Hmmm. The numbers go up between December 2007 and January 2008, and then they start falling. I have to wonder if that's because some people just aren't able to afford to eat any longer.

Needless to say, the geek in me is eager for April's numbers to come out. I'm curious to see if the average price goes up or down. Based on my budget, they should be going up because for the third month in a row I've gone over budget. (I currently budget $480 a month for two adults, one child (girl, age 11), two felines, and that $480 includes all pet food and supplies, personal grooming, toiletries, cleaning, and paper products the household may need, as well as AC filters.)

Also needless to say, I think maybe I need a hobby I can afford to actually do because I'm enjoying comparing the monthly numbers waaaay too much. (LOL)

In other news, I went walking again this morning and determined that I like the earlier (6am) start time rather than the later (almost 630am) start time of today. While it was lighter outside (meaning I didn't have to carry a flashlight), there were more cars leaving the complex and spewing noxious exhaust at me as they passed. Yuck. So we'll get up a little earlier and be out the door by no later than 610am.

I also have my car today! This means that I can go pay for the Angel Food boxes today. Assuming someone is there to take the money.

Even though I have the car today, I'm not going shopping for the baby present(s) I need to get before next weekend. I'll save that for another day. I do need to go to the library though. Apparently, when you turn dvd cases back in, they like the dvds to be in them.

After watching the plants yesterday to see how much sun they actually got all day long, I'm more convinced than ever that they need to be in a wagon (or something) so that I can roll them around to the front of the building on days when I'm home. Of course, after reading more about the types of plants that were brought home, I'm also convinced that the lady at the garden center was a wee bit delusional when she told us that the size pots we got would be fine until the very end of the growing season because all my plants need to be in bigger pots. Much bigger pots. The recommended size is "no smaller than a 5-gallon bucket". Oh, sure, they can be potted in smaller, but they won't grow well because of a confined root system. And while I would have preferred to know that before hand, the little plants can sit in the little pots for another few weeks (though that one tomato plant might need to be replanted this weekend, and much deeper). By then it'll be obvious whether or not I'm killing them, and if they're dying, then there's no reason to repot them.

And I'm off to run what errands I can before it gets ghastly hot.



Sunday, May 4, 2008

Menu - May 4 - 10, 2008


Wow. I'm amazed that I have the menu for this week ready. The last few days have been insanely busy. A lot of shopping going on to get K. ready for an orchestra concert coming up.

Mercy, how I hate shopping. And unfortunately, the shopping isn't done.

Also, there's been some shopping for veggie plants. A. is humoring me and today we brought home two cherry tomato plants, one orange sweet pepper plant, one red sweet pepper plant, and one yellow sweet pepper plant. He put them in pots while I cooked dinner and now I just have to not kill them. He's planning on making me a sort of plant table out back in coming weeks so that I can keep the pots off the ground and so (hopefully) the yard people will keep their machines off my little plants.

And now I need to head to bed. For some silly reason (not being able to find a bra in my size without having to special order it) I've decided that I'm going to get up earlier every morning and go walking at 6am. In a similar fit of insanity, A. and K. have decided to jogging at the same time. I'm not sure how long this will last. It should be interesting.

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


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Sunday
breakfast: quick cinnamon rolls
lunch: munchies on the go
dinner: meatball stroganoff

Monday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns (cereal and grits for K.)
lunch: boca meat stuffed baked potato, fruit
dinner: baked chicken with pasta sauce (over rice instead of pasta), broccoli, salad

Tuesday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: boca meat stuffed baked potato, fruit
dinner: round steak (how??), baked potatoes, (veggies??)

Wednesday
breakfast: pancakes
lunch: boca meat stuffed baked potato, fruit
dinner: fish (salmon for me, parmesan tilapia for them), baked potatoes, green beans

Thursday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, grits, hash browns
lunch: boca meat stuffed baked potato, fruit
dinner: chicken patties (this recipe made with chicken), hoe cakes, lima beans

Friday
breakfast: cereal, OJ
lunch: boca meat stuffed baked potato, fruit
dinner: foraging / grazing

Saturday
breakfast: french toast
lunch: ???
dinner: ??


Thursday, May 1, 2008

Did I die? aka Ramblings of the Infirmed.

Ugh. So blogspot is being a brat today.

I went grocery shopping with my mom yesterday. I still haven't tallied up the damages yet. That will be the next task I undertake, if I can manage it. I'm not feeling up to do much today.

Yesterday I was fine. A little tired, but fine. Mom had me home in time for a late lunch, which I happily ate even though it wasn't McDonald's. I'm thinking that's where I went wrong. I think some part of the leftovers I foraged out of the refrigerator didn't settle well in my stomach. Or maybe it was being so hot outside then getting so chilled under the AC while I ate, but I still think it was something I ate. Either way, not long after lunch I got incredibly sick. My stomach was tied in knots, my head throbbed, I was alternately freezing and unbearably hot, and there was more than a few times when I wanted to curl up around the base of the toilet. Luckily, A. was able to manage dinner without my help.

This morning I woke up feeling like I'd been kicked in the stomach. My stomach doesn't feel quite as bad at the moment but now my head feels like I've had it kicked in and one minute I'm shivering violently because I'm so cold and five minutes later I'm sweating buckets and wondering why I have to wear clothes when I'm home alone, only to be wondering five minutes later how many layers of clothes I can possibly wear at one time. And forget about moving around because the throbbing inside my skull causes quite the wave of nauseousness whenever I attempt moving.

So I did what any reasonable mom would do: I made myself a little nest on couch with nearly everything I could possibly need for the day. Or at least until either A. or K. gets home. Unfortunately I can't manage to sleep, which in the long run is probably for the best because while sleeping would be great, the not sleeping later tonight would really suck. Even if my eyes do feel like they have sand in them and like they're about to bleed at any moment.

You know, except for some hot tea. I don't have any tea. Not having a tea pot and warmer, I can't have a cup of freshly brewed cup of tea without getting up and padding into the kitchen to make it, and I'd love some right now. A nice toasty cup of ginger tea would be wonderful.

Anyway...

I've been spending some of my more lucid moments today with the laptop balanced against my legs and researching container growing. I'm wanting to grow some tomatoes and possibly carrots and lettuce in some containers in the back "yard" area of this apartment unit, but, um, I'm a more than a little worried.

I heard it said long ago that you could tell how good of a mother a girl will be by how well she kept her plants. Well, I guess it's a minor miracle that my cats and child have lived as long as they have. I used to keep plants right after I got married. Or rather, I used to TRY to keep plants. I got a philodendron right after we moved into our first apartment together. I killed it. Three of them, actually. Then I tried to grow this decorative little moss thing that was popular way back when. It was... moss. On a rock. You were supposed to keep in the bathroom. I killed it, too. The Wandering Jew? Dead. The half a dozen aloe plants? Dead. The cactus garden in a pot? Dead. The little palm trees... well, one of the cats at them, so technically that one wasn't my fault, but still. Dead. You know that "science experiment" that almost every kid has done at some point in their youth where you take a piece of potato with an eye in it and sprout it in some water in the kitchen? I've never gotten it to sprout. Ever.

And here I am again, wanting to grow some sort of plant. Not just any sort of plant, mind you, but food bearing plants. I must be insane.

Besides not even being able to grow mold properly, I live in an apartment. An apartment with north- and south-facing windows, no less. What areas I do have outside - the front porch, back porch, and back "yard" - are shaded most of the time. Most of the time, but not all. And then there's the careless yard crew that's hired by the apartment complex and known far and wide for tearing up plants that the tenants put out.

Still, freshly grown tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce would be wonderful.

I think I'm rambling so I'll close this and think about logging the purchases from yesterday.