By unpopular demand....

Oh man! It has been a long time since I logged into blogger.  I thought I might have forgotten my password.

I needed a break from the blog. I had too many commitments and I was failing to do anything with much accuracy. Today I had a couple of friends ask for a blog post. I dismissed it for a half the day. I just didn't know if I wanted to be saddled with writing every day again. I am tired.

Here I am anyway.

While I was gone:

1) Ellie had a birthday.

2) I worked too hard.

3) I realized wine and late nights don't agree with me anymore.

4) Grew a lovely garden.

5) Made this delightful squash casserole (without all that butter).

6) Fell in love with this sweet, sweet song. Please listen...

7) Read this book. Fever 1793


I'll be back with more shizzle later!

Bumpy vs. Smooth

This weekend was a rough one behaviorally at my house. Milo was having an very rough Saturday. My behavior was not much better. I just was not handling him the way I should. I had a particularly rough week at school and it set us up for Saturday failure.

I decided that Sunday would be Funday no matter what! Milo, Ellie, and I went to one of my favorite parks. It has a small playground and lots of wide open spaces. Milo had to accessorize for the trip, of course.

We had been talking about the texture of common items. We were working on identifying things as bumpy or smooth. Milo looked so cute carrying around his basket. Until he refused and I had to carry it. Sigh. Kids will be kids. Here is an instragram photo of our basket.

It was a pretty cool day! What did you do this weekend?

Meal Plan and More!

Milo was super nuts yesterday! Maybe the residual effects of the full moon? He snapped lots and lots of photos of himself. He was playing with my Pudding Camera and added a filter to a shot. It amazes me how "techie" little kids become!

Please don't judge me for having these thoughts, but next week I think I am going to have to try the Cardiac Diet. I have been doing Weight Watchers and I have seen slow and steady progress. That is wonderful, but I can't help feeling like I need to do more. I know that fad diets don't work and all that. I just feel COMPELLED to try it. It can't hurt me right? Plus it is only for three days. I promise to update you daily if you don't give me a hard time.

I was awake thinking about dieting last night and I got up with a hungry tummy! That is so not fair.

I made a regular meal plan this week. Next week get ready for cardiac meal strangeness 3 out of 7 nights!

Monday: Beef Enchiladas and salad
Tuesday: Spicy Southern-Style BBQ Chicken, Bean and Bacon Salad
Wednesday: Truck-Stop Pancakes, veggie sausage, and fruit
Thursday: Crustless Spinach Quiche, turkey bacon
Friday: Spring New Potato and Garlic Soup and salad
Saturday: Thai Beef Salad with Crispy Noodles
Sunday: Chicken Tortellini Soup, salad, and rolls

More meal plans here.

Garden Update

I made a cute little garden and I have enjoyed watching it grow. I did not have very high expectations for myself since this is my first time. I am proud of how well it is doing!  I am shocked how exciting it is to go out each day and evaluate the progress it has made. Milo loves the garden and can't wait to eat a fresh tomato. He also enjoys playing in the water. In all honesty, this has been one of the best mom/son bonding experiences we have ever had! Here are some pictures for you! They are the best quality because I took them with my phone at dusk while fighting off mosquitos.

My tomatoes in their colorful cages

Browsing

I have been browsing online like I have money. It is what I do when I am bored. I find all this junk that I want and bookmark it. I never have buy any of it, but I still keep adding to the list. It is a strange compulsion.

We have gone over budget for the last few months. It is really stressing my husband out. I am trying to be good! I thought I might sure with you what I would buy if I had money. That way it is kind of like having it and showing it off.

Organic Romper-on sale for $15.00

Aaron and I have a joke about squirrel shirts from a reality show we watched one time. It was a show we only watched once, but it was super unintentionally funny. I think that this the way with most reality shows.

For my husband

I may have to buy this for real. It would look great in Ellie's room

For Milo's room where work has stalled.

What would you buy if you had some cash?

Babes At The Park

Florida is so stinking hot. Ohhhh man, it was so gross outside this weekend. I took the kiddos to the park on Sunday at 10:00. It was already unbearably hot by 11:00. It is going to be a long, hot summer. Sweet baby Ellie was rocking another vintage outfit! She looked so cute and she had a blast on the swings.

The snap on the bottom right leg in this picture has come off. Anyone know anything about fixing that? I am sewing challenged. In fact, I want to take a sewing class this summer. Nothing like a little self improvement, right?

Milo was not feeling the same excitement about the swings. He begged to swing in the baby swings. I told him that he was too big, but he wasn't having any of it! I let him get in and he was Captain Bad Mood!

He couldn't get out of the swing either. A nice gentleman had to help me because his big old hoof got stuck. That was his last ride in a baby swing, for sure!

Back On A Budget Meal Plan

Mondays are the pits! I just want to go back to sleep. I try to tell myself that I can sleep in on the weekends, but it never happens! For some reason, I am always awake at 6:00 and I can't go back to sleep. When the week starts, I am always mad that I didn't get more snooze time. We have one more month of school and then I can really get some sleep. Maybe!

My meal plan this week came about because we have gone over budget every month for about six months. My husband is extremely stressed about it. I need to do my part to help him relax. This meal plan also has quite a few low fat and healthy options. I also appreciate that none of the recipes are labor intensive. That really help when facing the five o'clock scramble.

I really want to know what you eat for breakfast! I have the hardest time finding anything I like. This is what I ate this morning:

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I originally purchased these things to make Milo some S'mores trail mix. We had tons of mini marshmallows left from his cereal party. I feel compelled to use up the crappiest of ingredients. Milo ate the whole bowl, but he complained about how yucky the chips tasted and that he didn't like the marshmallows. Bummer! It happens every time I make something special for him. 

Monday: Vegetarian Taco Salad
Tuesday: Tuna Broccoli Casserole and rice
Wednesday: Crunchy Tuna Wraps and baked beans from the deli
Thursday: Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake and salad
Friday: Dilly Tomato Soup and Grandma's Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Saturday: Seven Layer Tostada
Sunday: Diet Coke Sloppy Joes, corn, and green peas

See more meal plans here.