Menu Plan Monday: July 13-19, 2009

After a month and a half of being insanely busy, we are finally being treated to a calm, relatively uneventful week.  Please excuse me, I just need to revel in that for a moment…

Ahhhh, that feels soooo good!

This week I’m planning my meals with a focus on ingredients that I already have on hand.  My freezer is packed and I need to use some of the stuff that’s in there.  Here’s what I’m cooking:

Monday – We missed family movie night the last few Fridays so we will have a special Monday edition of Family Movie Night this week.  Make your own pizzas will be the dinner and “Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front” will be the movie.

Tuesday – I’m going to thaw out some pork chops that I cooked and put in the freezer.  Serving with au gratin potatoes and succotash.

Wednesday – Sophia has VBS this evening, so dinner will be simple — chicken sandwiches and crispy ranch fries (recipe from the latest Paula Deen magazine) along with fresh fruit.

Thursday – Sophia has requested chicken enchiladas.  I still haven’t found a recipe that I love, so I’m trying another new one:  this one.  Serving with salad.

Friday – ham, pierogies, mixed vegetables

Saturday – fixing sour cream bacon chicken in the crockpot.  Serving with rice and broccoli.  Will probably halve the recipe as we don’t need 8 servings.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking.

Sugar Gliders: A PSA

On a recent, rare trip to the mall, I was stunned to see a group of khaki-clad men and women set up in the space that is reserved for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  They were promoting (and selling) “pocket pets.”

Curious, we stopped and looked.  The pets were sugar gliders… something I’d never heard of before.  They were adorable — imagine a cross between a  chipmunk and King Julian from Madagascar — and, yes, they were small enough to fit in a pocket.  The kids and I listed to the woman who was talking about what awesome pets they are, petted one, and then moved on.

Something made me incredibly uneasy about the operation, and I still can’t tell you what exactly that something was.  Maybe it was the feeling of being witness to a live infomercial where the “product” was a cute little animal.   Maybe it was the fact that each pet came with a “starter kit.”  Maybe it’s that they were in a wide open space with no sort of restraint/barrier to prevent them from running out into the mall.  I’m not sure.  But the whole operation just made me feel sort of sick.

If you happen to run across this sort of thing at your local mall (or elsewhere) and you think it might be a good idea to have one of these critters for a pet, please view this video:

Booking Through Thursday: UNREAD

“So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “

1. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King (in progress but I’m having a hard time getting through it)
2. On Top of Everything by Sarah-Kate Lynch
3. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
4. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
5. The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
6. A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E L Konigsberg
7. Acts of Love by Judith Michael
8. Some Nerve by Jane Heller
9. In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant
10. Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
11. A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist
12. Confessions of Super Mom by Melanie Lynne Hauser
13. Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding

Unlucky thirteen… does that mean I will never get caught up on my reading?

See other Booking Through Thursday links here!

Morbid Amusement

While on vacation, Noodle’s husband Skeeter was talking about his “dead pool list.”  Apparently he and some of his acquaintances draw up a list of ten famous people that they believe will die each year.  Skeeter has done well with his list so far, as Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Ed McMahon were all on his list and had all recently passed away.

So over lunch one day we all came up with our own lists.  Mine is:

1. Keith Richards
2. Nancy Reagan
3. Kim Jong-il
4. Barbara Walters
5. Patrick Swayze
6. Mickey Rooney
7. Priscilla Presley
8. Jimmy Carter
9. Leonard Nimoy
10. Bob Dole

Dan’s list was:

1. Peter Falk
2. Billy Graham
3. Leonard Nimoy
4. Owen Wilson
5. Loni Anderson
6. Burt Reynolds
7. Fidel Castro
8. Cher
9. Don Imus
10. Gordon Liddy

And Skeeter came up with a new list for our little group:

1. Dan Rather
2. Eddie Van Halen
3. Betty Ford
4. Ted Kennedy
5. Patrick Swayze
6. Billy Graham
7. Elizabeth Taylor
8. Steve Jobs
9. Margaret Thatcher
10. Walter Cronkite

So, we’ll see who has the most correct guessed by this time next year… are there any you would bet on?

Menu Plan Monday: July 6-12, 2009

I’m not even going to bother with comments on the last menu plan I did because it was so long ago I don’t even remember. So, plunging headfirst into this week…

Monday – Dan’s birthday.  He hasn’t been very forthcoming with the details about what he would like to do, but I’m guessing that we will eat out somewhere.

Tuesday – I’ll be fixing Priest Chicken and serving it with rice and broccoli.

Wednesday – cell group/VBS night.  We will have pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, and baked beans before we dash out the door.

Thursday — Tater Taco Casserole served with green beans.

Friday –  I’m scrapbooking tonight.  Dan and the kids are on their own.

Saturday – I’ll use the leftover pork to make Loaded BBQ Potato Casserole. After dinner, we have a cell group activity to attend.

Sunday – leftovers or snacking.

Jiggedy Jig

I’m back from vacation.  Yay!  It was quite a trip — very busy but lots of fun.  I’ll recap the highlights later… and be sure to check my photo blog for some of my photographic souvenirs!

My Great Big File of Fun (A Post for Noodle’s Amusement)

So, we have this vacation coming up.  A vacation which I have very much earned, I might add.  It is also a vacation that we are taking with my friend Noodle and her family.  Noodle has graciously allowed me to do all the plannig for this trip.

Therefore, allow me to introduce you to Julie’s Great Big File of Fun:

Oh, I know it looks like an ordinary file folder.  But trust me… inside its manila covers is a wealth of information to help us make the most of our trip.

First, I’ve made a packet of papers for each day of our trip:

Each day packet has receipts for tickets we’ve purchased in advance:

maps of the areas we’ll be visiting:

And last but not least, because we are nothing if not a pair of thrifty chicks, it includes coupons:

And just in case you’re wondering… I did leave one day open and unplanned.  Mainly for Noodle’s sake. 

Thursday 13: The last thirteen days, or why I’m on the verge

1. June 5 – I take Daisy to the vet to have pre-surgical blood work done because after being on this earth nearly 10 years, I have finally decided to bite the bullet and get her teeth cleaned.  I nearly faint when they tell me that the charge for bloodwork is just over $100.  In the evening, we attend Sophia’s school carnival, which is held indoors due to rain.  There’s nothing like being in a school gymnasium filled with two large inflatable amusements and about 100 yelling, squealing children.  I leave with a headache.  Back at home,  I totally lose my cool when I receive an email from MIL stating that she is “disappointed” that I haven’t provided her with turn-by-turn directions to the location of Sophia’s birthday party.  She says she will just have to drive from one end of the road to the other.  I say that there’s a great direction-finding tool that is free and available to everyone called Google.  Perhaps you’ve heard of it? I inquire with snarky anger.
2. June 6 – Sophia’s birthday party at a local farm.  I forget to bring my checkbook, so I can’t pay the lady who hosted the party.  Fortunately, one of my friends offers to pay for it and let me give her a check to reimburse her.
3. June 7 – I’m hosting a Chinese theme party for our church cell group and other friends.  Clean the house, decorate, and fix crab rangoon, which I have never made before.
4. June 8 – Kept nodding off while at work.  Fortunately, no one caught me.  In the evening, just when it looked as if we are going to have a normal night and everyone would be going to bed on time, we have the bunny incident.
5. June  9 – I leave work for about an hour to attend the first grade awards ceremony at Sophia’s school.  Arrive wet due to the torrential downpour we seem to be experiencing EVERY. OTHER. DAY.  Bummed that Sophia wasn’t chosen as best reader in her grade because I can’t believe anyone is a better reader than her.  (Hey, I’m the first to admit I’m biased.)  In the evening, there is a Girl Scout meeting.
6. June 10 – Sneak out of work a few minutes early to rush over to my dad’s appt with his radiologist.  (His appt time was 2:30; I don’t get off work until 3:00.)  I arrive just as he is walking out.  Good news is that swelling around his brain tumor has gone down.  Bad news is that the tumor itself hasn’t really gotten smaller and probably won’t.  In the evening, we attend a VBS kickoff celebration at our church.
7. June 11 – Drop off Daisy at the vet at 7:30 AM for her dental cleaning.  It’s the last day of school.  I take the kids to see “UP” to celebrate.  Then we pick up Daisy, who has lost her meow as a result of surgery, but no longer has breath that could knock you out from six feet away.  Dinner out with grandparents to celebrate Trevor’s birthday.  MIL manages to find the restuarant without any difficulty.  I resist the urge to give her a standing ovation.
8. June 12 – Trevor’s birthday — he’s 15.   He has invited friends over for a party.  I shop for 15 hungry teenage boys.  Three show up.  I decide that the RSVP is officially a thing of the past.
9. June 13 -  I spend 2 hours working on year-end paperwork for Girl Scouts.  It was due May 1.  I still haven’t turned it in.  I also spend a few hours trying to figure out why a check bounced when Quicken says I have money in my account.  Finally determined that there was a $1200 deposit entered in Quicken that never took place in real life.  Oooops.
10. June 14 – Girl Scouts bridging ceremony.  Our Daisies are becoming Brownies — yay!  I am one of the last people to arrive, which really isn’t good because I am the troop leader.  Yikes.
11. June 15 – First day at work since school got out.  Sophia gives me a bedtime guilt trip… “Why do you have to go to work, Mommy?   Why can’t you just stay home with me?  We never get to do anything fun any more.“  Et cetera.
12. June 16 – stayed up late to finish watching a Clive Owen movie (The International), which I did not even like!
13. June 17 – yard work in the morning since it’s unseasonably cool.  I still sweat profusely while yanking up ivy and chopping down shrubbery at one end of our house.  Then it’s off to an appointment for Trevor to get an impression for his FIFTH retainer, because he lost his FOURTH one.  Take kids to the park, where an unfortunate swing accident leaves me with a skinned knee for the first time in 30-odd years.  Also, in the evening, a quarterly business meeting at church.

Retirement Planning, My Way

So, last week in the midst of all the chaos, I received one of those get-to-know-your-friends-better-by-answering-random-questions emails from an unexpected source:  the 70+ year old woman in my Bible study group.

I was so blown away that she was participating — let alone propagating — such a thing, I just had to respond.  I sent her my responses, and also sent it on to my two dearest friends — Noodle and Suzanne.  I’m sure that they are as sick as I am of receiving those questionnaires, but we always seem to complete them anyway.

One of the questions was, “Where would you like to retire?”  I hesitated about  one whole nanosecond before I typed in my answer:  England.

When Noodle sent me her responses, she had also put England.  (We’re hopeless Anglophiles, she and I.)

So I dashed off a quick email and said, “Hey, if our husbands predecease us, how about we buy a cottage in the English countryside and retire together there?”

And she agreed.

Now, I don’t know if she knew just how serious I was… but I was totally serious.  I’m thinking somewhere like that adorable place that Cameron Diaz stayed at in the movie “The Holiday:”

We’ll have a small room overflowing with our favorite books, an herb garden, brass pots hanging in the kitchen, a rustic stone fireplace, and a pet or two to keep us company. We’ll keep our Wellingtons by the door and drink hot tea every afternoon.

After a few years we will lose our respective twangs and begin speaking a sort of Americanized British… like Madonna, although less pretentious. We will eagerly use words like flat instead of apartment, lift instead of elevator, and queue instead of line.   Although I doubt that either of us would stop saying, “Hey!” or “y’all,” no matter how long we lived there.

*sigh*   Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Menu Plan Monday: June 15-21, 2009

Comments on last week’s menu: I didn’t cook much last week, and I didn’t even fix the Chicken Chesapeake.  This week, meals at home will be a little more prominent, thank goodness.

Monday – setting up the crock pot with Italian sausages, which we will have with ravioli.  Also serving Caesar salad and garlic bread.

Tuesday – New recipe tonight!  Garlic Chicken with a Potato Chip-Basil Crust.  Serving it with green beans and rice.

Wednesday – cell group & VBS this evening.  Since my last few attempts at fixing a quick & simple meal at home have made us run late, we’ll just grab a bite to eat at a restaurant.

Thursday – I’m supposed to go to our church’s Girl’s Night Out dinner tonight, but I might skip it.  We’ve just had too much going on lately and as I type this, I’m feeling the urge to stay at home.  Whatever I choose to do, I’ll fix chicken cordon bleu casserole, served with broccoli and rice.

Friday – Sophia and I are going to an overnight camp out at the local baseball stadium.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I will be camping. Worse yet, I will have to pretend to like it for all the little Girl Scouts that will be there with me.  There will be plenty of leftovers in the fridge for Dan & Trevor.

Saturday – Something simple tonight.  Chicken sandwiches, baked beans, mac & cheese.

Sunday – Father’s Day!  Dan decides the dinner plan.