Monday Menu Plan: June 22 - June 28

Our little lettuce garden is still going like crazy, so we'll be having a few more nutritious salads. We have just one head of our homegrown broccoli left and Saige wants to use it up in her Alfredo recipe this week. An abundance of eggs & milk leads to lots of creamy yummy menu items! Also need to use up one of the last homegrown/home-butchered Turkeys from last fall and today being in the low 70's, I figured it was a great day to roast the bird from it's frozen state.

DINNER:

MONDAY- Roast Turkey, Baked Potatoes, homemade rolls, Green Beans

~pick meat off turkey & start broth in crockpot overnight.

TUESDAY- Turkey & Noodles, Salad, homemade Bread

~make more bread dough for fridge

WEDNESDAY-Turkey Alfredo w/Broccoli, homemade rolls

THURSDAY-Spinach Quiche, Salad, Bread

FRIDAY- Lentil Rice Tacos

SATURDAY-Hamburgers, Salad, Oven Fries

SUNDAY-Shared Meal @ Church. Bring: Tangy Tuna Mac, Glazed Carrots, homemade rolls, Blender Coconut Pie

BREAKFAST:

-Granola & Yogurt

-Toast & Eggs

-PB Toast & Kefir smoothies

-Pancakes, Bacon & Eggs

LUNCH:

-Tuna & Crackers

-Meat & Cheese Sandwiches

-Leftovers

-PBJ's

SNACK:

-Applesauce Muffins (homemade applesauce)

-Kefir Popsicles

-Popcorn

-Pudding pops (made w/homemade pudding)

Head over to Organizing Junkie to see other inspiring menus!

Birthday Trip

For my sister-in-law's birthday, we headed up to the hills for a scrumptious picnic lunch and the best ice cream cake I've ever had (and she made it herself!). We also celebrated Em's b-day since hers is in just a few days.

The Birthday Girls!

Daddy and his birthday girl!

The scrump-dilly-umptious, coffee-toffee-almond-chocolate ice cream cake that Tammy made!

Family photo time :) Me, my handsome hubby and our little ladies.

Menu Plan Monday 6/8 - 6/14

MONDAY: Brats & Rice, Salad.

TUESDAY: Crockpot Pizza, Salad.

WEDNESDAY: Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes, Green Beans, Bread.

THURSDAY: Bean, Rice & Cheese Burritos.

FRIDAY: Lentil Rice Tacos

SATURDAY: Spaghetti, Green Beans, Bread.

SUNDAY: Birthday Picnic w/Family.

BREAKFAST:

-Granola & Yogurt

-Peanut Butter Toast

-Kefir Smoothies & Toast

-Pancakes

LUNCH:

-Leftovers
-Meat & Cheese Sandwiches, apples

-PBJ's, carrots

-Nachos

Etsy Shop

It is RARE for me to post about a shop or a place to spend money on unnecessary items, but oh my goodness I cannot keep quiet about this Etsy Store I came upon.

BirdsNbeez has some of the most elegant and unique jewelery I have seen in my entire life. For what they are offering, the prices are incredibly affordable. Here are some of my favorites (hint, hint to anyone b-day shopping for me soon! ;):

Are they not beautiful? I'm not really "into" jewelery either, but I would definitely sport one of these amazing creations around!!

Why Am I Doing This?

As you can see, there hasn't been much of anything going on around here (my blog, that is). Why? Well for one, I was feeling pretty nasty there for a while. But that's not truly it. Am I so completely busy that I don't even have time for the internet? Nope.

So what's going on? Well, I guess God is working on me and making think long and hard about this "blogging" stuff. I could write it all out, but I just happened upon a blogger friend's blog this morning and she pretty much said exactly what's on my mind (apart from the tall, skinny girl stuff. 'Cuz we all know that ain't me ;).

There may be an announcement in the next little while...of me taking a Summer Sabbatical. Not saying for sure, but it's certainly a thought on the forefront right now.

Sick

So when life get's overwhelming, what should you do?

Get sick.

Sure! That'll give you time for rest and to stew ;)

My to-do list hasn't gotten any smaller :) No, in fact it's grown. But it'll all have to wait as I contracted some kind of something. Something that has me in bed, still in jammies and within .02 seconds from the restroom. Ick.

Time to lower my expectations and stop to smell the roses.

Whatever gets done today, gets done. Whatever doesn't, will wait. And for that I will thank my Heavenly Father.

Overwhelmed

Sorry I haven't been on a posting binge lately. I am overwhelmed....with life. My to-do lists are reaching to the floor and my home and family seems to be out of order, desperately needing some tending to. Things are going on all around me, but I am stuck in this bubble of....of....self-pity? despair? nah, those are too strong of words. I dunno, if you can think of a good word to define my blah and overwhelmed state...let me know ;).

Mother's Day was a wonderful day. Kevin and the girls took me to the mountains for a picnic by the creek. Afterward we had dinner with my mom and grandma. It was a refreshing time, just what I needed. If only every day could be like that....*sigh*.

Tah-tah for now, hope to be back posting regularly soon.

Food Waste Friday

Being in pantry-cleaning-out mode, I've been careful not to waste a thing lately. Well, nothing that is, except some poor little home-grown sprouts that were forgotten about. I shouldn't say forgotten about, I guess maybe I just couldn't come up with something to do with them. We hadn't eaten any salads this week...and usually we thrown heaps of sprouts on our salads, nor did we have any sandwiches. So um, I suppose I'd better come up with more ideas for my sprouts or start making a smaller amount of them.

They didn't become a complete waste....we added them to the compost bucket.

See the Frugal Girl for more Food Waste Fridays.

My How I Love You

I love these girls. They are so real, so loving, so forgiving. It humbles me that God chose me to be their mother. Wow. Thank you sweet Lord for my precious blessings.

Cheapo Jigglers

Jello Jigglers that is :) Up until now, my children didn't even know what Jello Jigglers were. Since Jello isn't something we usually ever buy, make or even eat...I can understand why this jiggly mass of fun was so foreign to them.

In the cupboard I keep a supply of unflavored gelatin packets, just in case I need them for....for....something. Well, there is definitely something to use them for now!

Cheapo Jigglers

Save juice from a can of pineapples, peaches, pears, cherries...etc. Here I saved the juice from a can of pineapples & maraschino cherries, leftover from Saige's birthday cake.

Mix the juice together with water until you have 2 cups. If the juice is very unsweetened, you can add 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar. The cherry juice was plenty sweet, so we didn't need sugar.

Put the juice in a saucepan and pour in 2 packets of unflavored gelatin. These come in boxes of 32 packets, for around 5-6 bucks. So each packet comes out .16-.19 each.

Heat the mixture until the gelatin has dissolved. It doesn't need to boil, just look in there when it gets all steamy and see if the gelatin granules are there anymore.

Pour the liquid into an 8x8 pan. Chill for 6-8 hours.

Cut out in fun shapes and let the children rejoice!