It's Monday... again!

Didn't we just have a Monday? Sheesh. I feel like the weeks are going by faster and faster. My baby is about to turn two!! Waaah. We are at the Franklin Park Zoo today, so I'm sure I'll have some great pictures for Wordless Wednesday.

My nephew got baptised on Saturday. I am proud to be little Caleb's godmother. He slept through the entire ceremony. Such a little stinkbug. CJ was excited to go to church because I told him he could go and say prayers. He said his prayers like a good boy, but then he wanted to run around the whole church. I am not ashamed to say I bribed him with animal crackers and my necklace. A mom's got to do what a mom's got to do.

So what are you all reading? I am in the middle of a great YA book, The Darkening Dream. I'm also finishing up The Bloggess' book. I haven't had a ton of time to read lately, so it is taking me longer to finish reading than usual. 



Menu Plan
Monday - falafel, hummus, and tabouleh
Tuesday - Stuffed Green Peppers
Wednesday - Crispy Honey Mustard Chicken
Thursday - Egg Bake
Friday - Sloppy Joe Shepard's Pie
Pin It

Monday Monday Monday

Remember that fantabulous to-do list I made myself last week? Guess how much of it I did. Out of thirty things to do, I did... 0 things. Well, I did kind of start CJ's fairy garden. And I did keep emptying boxes out of the dining room. And I did start planning CJ's birthday party. But nothing concrete really got done. Boo me. CJ and I did spend a lot of time coloring due to the rainy weather. But I've decided instead it is going to be month of June to-do list.

Source: karaspartyideas.com via Lindsey on Pinterest

I also have to add a bunch of stuff to it. I have to plan CJ's birthday party and make a bunch of stuff for that. I've decided on a dinosaur theme, with the colors green, brown, and blue. I have to find a recipe for a dairy-free, gluten-free cake. (Dairy-free for CJ, gluten-free for his uncle.) I know what I'm basing the cake on, here's a pic. I already ordered some dinosaurs to decorate with. It should be tons of fun. I will definitely share when all is said and done.

I haven't done the menu plan for the whole month because you just never know what is going to happen around here. Such as our car dying and us being completely without a vehicle. Because that happened. But here is our plan for the week.

Menu Plan Monday
Monday - Burgers and baked potatoes
Tuesday - Hummus, tabouleh, and falafel
Wednesday - Crock pot roasted chicken
Thursday - Paula Deen Egg Sandwiches
Friday - Spaghetti with Chicken
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - ???

I made these yesterday. They were amaze-balls. Literally. No baking at all. CJ was busy hanging out with his uncle or he would have helped. You just roll up all the ingredients into balls and then roll them into coconut.

Coconut Peanut Butter Balls. I got the recipe here. Check it out.

Pin It

Gatsby & Menu Plan

Have you seen the preview for the new Great Gatsby movie? The book is in my top five favorite books of all time and the movie with Robert Redford is one of my top five favorite movies. So I'm not impressed so far with this preview. I don't see the point in messing with perfection. It has a lot more glitz and glamour than the book evokes. And I am not really impressed with DiCaprio anymore. His facial expressions don't change no matter what emotion he is trying to evoke. It always looks like he's trying to poop. The only good thing I can say is that the movie will hopefully inspire more people to read the book. I'll probably wait until this comes out on DVD and then rent or netflix it, but we'll see. My curiosity and book nerdery might get the best of me. Check it out.




Here's what we are going to eat this week.

Monday - Hummus, tabouleh, falafel
Tuesday - Black bean and quinoa salad
Wednesday - Pot roast
Thursday - Leftover pot roast
Friday - Baked chicken
Saturday - Some sort of bbq because Craig got a new fancy grill
Sunday - Not sure yet. Pin It

Menu Plan Monday & Busy-ness

So this month is crazy busy, but all in a good way. We went to a baby shower on Sunday for one of our college classmates. This weekend we are going up to Vermont for the wedding of another classmate. Life changes all around! We are also still settling into the house. CJ lets me empty out about one box a day. Other than that he needs my attention 24/7. The hubby is working 12 days in a row. IN A ROW. So we haven't seen much of him. I'm excited to spend the weekend as a family up in Vermont. It should be beautiful out. If you've never been to Vermont in the Spring, it is gorgeous.

Here is our menu plan for this week. Since we are going to be busy, I'm planning some quick and easy dinners. I'm going to get a rotisserie chicken and use that in a couple of meals. But anywho, here's the plan, along with links to where I got the recipes. Thank you Pinterest. 

Monday - I ordered subs. 

Tuesday - Sloppy Joe's.

Wednesday - Chicken Caprese.

Thursday - Pepperoncini & Chicken Salad.

Friday - Quinoa & Black Bean Salad. 

Oh, I also wanted to mention that there was a turkey in our yard today. A wild freaking turkey. It just strolled right on up the drive into the woods like it owned the joint. It saw me and slowed down just strutting its turkey self. I will eat you turkey. I will cook you in the oven. I don't like birds in case anyone was wondering. The first thing I saw was its leg go behind Craig's car and my first instinct was OMG THERE'S A VELOCIRAPTOR IN THE DRIVEWAY! Completely normal reaction right? But no, it was just a stupid wild turkey.

Pin It

I'm famous! Plus Menu Plan Monday & Reading Check-In

 Have you seen the latest issue of Parents Magazine? This one here:

I'm in it! For reals. I'm kind of a big deal now.

Ok not really. Last month a reader asked one of the writers a question. She said her husband was deployed and her daughter didn't want to go on Skype and talk to him, so she wondered what to do. The writer said not to force the issue and that the child would be reacquainted when the parent returned. When I was in the Army, I was a Mental Health Specialist. Two of the most common issues were homesickness and the shock of coming back home to a family that you are basically a stranger to. So I wrote a letter to the editor and said this:

I just think it is really important to make every effort to keep the channels of communication open. One of the best ways of doing that nowadays is Skype. Skype is really a Godsend. A child of any age can see their parent through the camera and recognize them. It is so important for the morale of the deployed soldier to see their family. Obviously I am no expert, but this is just based on what I saw for myself.

So I thought that was pretty cool. I actually had no idea it was in there. One of my old bosses messaged me on facebook to let me know. Someone saw that it said I was a Mental Health Specialist so they brought it to show him and he was surprised to see my name. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. All right, I'm done tooting my own horn. I'll be back tomorrow with an awesome historical fiction book review.

Menu Plan Monday
Here's the noms we are making this week.

Monday - Italian Pot Pie
Tuesday - Baked Chicken (most likely more Honey Mustard Chicken, that was a hit last week.)
Wednesday - Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread
Thursday - Egg Boat Sandwiches
Friday - Beef and Bean Burritos
Saturday - Eating out
Sunday - Hmm.... I don't know yet.

So what am I reading these days? Well I finally took The Invention of Hugo Cabret off the shelf. I've been really intimidated by its ginormous size. Did you know that the book is illustrated so half the book is actually the illustrations?! Well, now you do, and you don't have to be intimidated anymore. I just finished part 1, and I can't wait to get to my bed tonight to read part 2. I think I should be able to finish it today, making it just a 2 day book. Love those. This will count towards my Off the Shelf 2012 challenge too. Woohoo. Reading a couple of books for review, including these adorable BabyLit Board Book primers based on classic novels like Pride & Prejudice, Romeo & Juliet, Jane Eyre, and Alice in Wonderland. They're freaking adorable!

So what are you reading and eating this week? Let me know! Pin It

Menu Plan, Etcetera

Hey everyone! I will come back to write a proper post after CJ's nap, but I just wanted to get down our menu plan. I tried to come up with a plan for the whole month. It seems to save us money to plan it out this way. Everything is of course subject to change based on sales and things just happening in life. But here is our tentative menu plan for the week.

Menu Plan
Monday - Falafel, hummus, and tabouleh (This is a family favorite, we have it probably once a week. It's just easy, quick, and delicious.)

Tuesday - Baked Crusted Honey-Mustard Chicken - I saw this somewhere, and it just sounded really yummy, so we are going to give a it a try.

Wednesday - Tacos or something similar.

Thursday - Chicken and Spaghetti

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - We have a birthday party for little Liam!

Sunday - Jambalaya - I've never made this before, but I'm going to give it a try.

So what about you? What are you making this week? Any tips on keeping food yummy, easy, and cheap?

ETCETERA
Blogger is trying to tell me that etcetera isn't a word. WHO HAS THE ENGLISH DEGREE BLOGGER?! Me or you?!

So remember last week when I told you that my dog had a tick for the first time in her entire 5 years of existence? Well she got Lyme disease. How does that even happen? Luckily, it is very faint, so she's going to be on daily antibiotics for 4 weeks, and then she'll get a vaccine with a couple of boosters. I ordered some flea and tick preventative medicine. If we are going to be moving to the woods in New Hampshire, she's going to need it. She hasn't shown any symptoms, so hopefully the antibiotics will get it before she does.

Sad dog

How was everyone's Easter? Ours was great. We went to the hubby's grandparent's house for lunch and then to his mother's house for dinner. Got to see most of the clan on the hubby's side. CJ loved seeing his grampy and his uncle "Ga". CJ calls his uncle Casey "Ga" because he plays the guitar, which CJ also calls a "ga". CJ is a heavy metal fanatic. I got some hilarious video this weekend of him headbanging. Such a nut.

Well, I hope you had a great Easter weekend. We are a couple steps closer to getting that house in NH, so hopefully there will be more to come on that front. Thanks for stopping by! Pin It

Menu Plan Monday

It's that time again. Everything we made for dinner last week was freaking delicious. I mean really. The beef stew was to die for. I even liked Craig's split-pea soup. He made it a little spicy and it made it yummy. I had it with a grilled cheese sandwich. There's still some in the fridge if you'd like to come over for lunch. :)

So this week, we are keeping it simple. Lots of leftovers. Craig made a big turkey dinner this weekend, so we will be having turkey sandwiches quite a bit. I'm ok with it. Turkey is yummy. I'll also be using the turkey to make Pumpkin Turkey Chili. My friend made it and she said it was delicious. So here's our plan...

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Tuesday - Leftover Chili
Wednesday - Crock Pot BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Thursday - Leftover BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Friday - Spaghetti
Saturday - Mark and Sara-Marie's wedding!!!
Sunday - Craigy steaks and salad

So what are you cooking up this week? Pin It

Menu Plan Monday

Planning our menu worked out great for us last week, definitely going to continue this. So here's this week's yum yums. It is really cold out (9 degrees) so we are having a lot of stew and soup this week.

Monday - Crock Pot Beef Stew (in the crock pot now!)

Tuesday - Leftover crock pot beef stew

Wednesday - Spinach, tortellini, and grilled chicken salad

Thursday - Split Pea soup (we have a ham bone to use)

Friday - Burgers and Fries

Saturday - Dada is making steaks! Yum!

Sunday - Maybe a date night. 

Last week's hits were the sun-dried tomato penne and Paula Deen's avocado, egg, bacon, and cheese sandwiches. If you've got any great quick, easy, and yummy (preferably dairy-free) recipes to share, let me know! I'm learning to cook so I'm down for trying anything!

Pin It

Menu Plan Monday

I just last week started making a menu plan for the week. I just couldn't stand waiting til 4pm every night to try to figure out what to make to eat. So now I plan it all out and get all the ingredients ahead of time. So now after CJ's nap, I get right to cooking.

Well here's what I have planned for this week.

Monday - Sun-dried tomato penne
Tuesday - Sloppy Joes
Wendesday - Tex Mex Crock Pot Chicken
Thursday - Leftover Chicken + Rice
Friday - Paula Deen's Egg, Avocado, Bacon, and Cheese Sandwich

Anything that has cheese in it, we just do the cheese on the side so that CJ can have it. If it calls for milk, we use soy milk.

Craig is off on the weekends, so he either cooks or we go out or we go to his mom's for dinner. So we plan that then. I'm just starting to learn to cook proper meals, so I'm excited. :) Pin It