Joys of the Week, Week 3

 Tempus fugit! We have just completed the third week, but it honestly feels to me like Thanksgiving was just a couple of weeks ago. At this rate in what feels like  a month I will be swimming on the 4th of July, wait a week or two then it will be time to buy Halloween candy, click my heels twice and I will be in full fledged holiday mode again.

I am keeping a list this year (so far) of things that bring me joy each day. My goal is to look back at the end of the year and read all the good things I have to be thankful for, and there are so many things! So here it my joyous things list for this week.

Jan 15. I know this sounds like a weird joy but I almost broke out in my happy dance when I saw this at Aldi. I am a member of the Aldi nerd group on facebook and everyone has been raving about the zero net carb bread. It has not been at any of the Aldi stores I frequent. Today I had a dentist appointment near Aldi so I ran by afterward. Since Keto is a grain free way of eating I only do a cursory look at the bread aisle. If there had not been a big sign saying "Limit 4, I might have never seen it. But as of this minute I am the owner of 4 loaves. I froze 3 and left one out. I tried one slice completely plain and it was not like real bread, but it was a wonderful alternative. I think I will slice it to make 2 very thin slices. I see a peanut butter and (sugar free) jelly sandwich with a glass of almond milk for lunch tomorrow.

Jan 16 Another day, another weird joy. After going to Mom's for the morning sitter gap, I came home and was able to stay at home all day. Whoo hoo! I had forgotten how easy it is get everything on the to-do list done when the day is not filled with interruptions! And because I got everything finished during the day and TheHub is out of town, I was able to spend some time learning to play my Christmas present, a ukulele.  I am playing a very lame version of "Havana". I have always heard that practice makes perfect, but does it apply only if you practice perfectly?

Jan 17 Spent about 45 minutes playing the uke. I am not sure I am necessarily getting better but the fingertips on my left hand are flatter and sore. 1 other specific joy happened today. Remember the skull plates I absolutely had to have, well I found 4 salad plates from the same set. I bought bowls with the dinner plates and knew their designs were different, but I am beyond thrilled with the one on the salad plates. I might like these even better.  Now I wonder what the cups and saucers might possibly look like.





Jan.18  Special joy is DIL1's birthday. I wish we could have been there to celebrate but had to settle for sending her love and a present. The second joy was about TheHub's travel home. He missed his flight out of Newark (no one to blame but himself for that) then was scheduled to fly standby on a much later flight when the snow storm hit. The later flight was delayed a little, but he did make it to Atlanta with about 30 minutes between flights. He made the second flight with a few minutes to spare (why are connecting flights always in a different terminal?) and made it home before 11.

Jan. 19  TheHub and I hung out at home most of the day. We did eat a leisurely breakfast ( I had enough pancakes left over to freeze for a few more meals) before getting dressed for the day. A stay in the pajamas, eat and have several cups of coffee type morning which rarely happens! After the Titans game we watched The Joker. I was indifferent about the movie as a whole but thought Joaquin Phoenix's performance was stellar.  Now we only need to see Parasite, Little Women and Jojo Rabbit

Jan. 20  This sounds like a rather silly joy but it really was something that pleased me tremendously. I was trying to come up a tablescape for the Poe dinner and decided I wanted the table to look a little creepy. Then I thought it would be nice to drip wax all over my silver candlesticks to look like Poe had been doing some serious writing by candlelight. But who want's to clean dripped wax off of them later? Not me!  Instead I covered some glass candlesticks with aluminum foil, then pounced some black paint on scattered areas, blotted it off and added a few strokes of gold and blotted it. The result looked like well tarnished silver candlesticks that I then dripped wax over to my hearts content.  The result it pretty cool and I only sacrificed some foil and one 25 cent candle.

Jan. 21 The Edgar Allen Poe birthday celebration was a success and the table looked really good. We decided as a book club we would celebrate Shakespeare's birthday in April


Jan 15  Breakfast: coffee  Lunch: slice zero carb bread, sliced cheese, coffee Dinner: buffalo chicken dip with veggies and keto crackers Snack: blueberries

Jan 16  Breakfast; coffee, sausage. blueberries  Lunch: huge green salad  Dinner: Keto pbj, almond milk  Snack: olive tapenade, cream cheese

Jan 17  Breakfast: homemade keto bread, bacon  Lunch: coffee  Dinner: chicken veggie (very veggie dense) soup, Diet Coke, Snack: cheese slice, olive tapenade, blueberries

Jan 18  Breakfast: coffee  Lunch: broccoli salad, blueberries, chopped pecans, Dinner: cauliflower with shredded cheese, leftover chopped pork tenderloin with keto bbq sauce  Snack macadamia nuts

Jan 19: Breakfast: coffee, keto pancakes with sf syrup, bacon  Lunch: 5 strawberries  Dinner: Keto chili (veggie dense) over cauliflower, keto cornbread Snack: macadamia nuts

Jan.20 Breakfast: coffee, 1 egg omelet scramblet with onions, peppers and mushrooms, slice of bacon  Lunch: sugar free chocolate almond milk (not good), 4 quarter size keto almond cookies Dinner: baked chicken, broccoli  Snack: Cheese crisps, coffee with cream

Jan 21. Breakfast: coffee  Lunch: coffee (I knew I was going to eat at dinner) Snack: Diet Dr Pepper 
Dinner:   (The appetizers) smoked sausage with mustard dipping sauce, roasted red peppers with cream cheese and olive tapanade  (the meal) roasted chicken, mixed green salad with artichoke hearts, roasted brussels sprouts, cauli rice pilaf (the dessert) keto almond cinnamon cookies.

Plans vs. Reality

This was my meal plan for last week and what really happened. Rarely do I stick to a plan, but this week I came pretty dang close.

Planned:
1. Keto sloppy joe's, coleslaw
2. Buffalo chicken dip, veggies and  toast. tossed salad
3. Soup and keto crackers
4.Chicken salad "sandwich" (On one of those fake buns that are keto friendly)
5. Scallops, asparagus, alfredo over noodles or zoodles
6. Cheese sandwiches, soup
7. Leftover pork tenderloin, with cauliflower fake mac and cheese, green beans

Eaten:
Monday was the national championship college championship. We had planned a quick meal so we could watch all 4 hours (!?!?!) of the ball game without interruption
Sloppy Joe's on slider buns or keto roll, coleslaw

Tuesday I spent a good deal of time at Mom's. I came home late and just pulled our dinner  (made the day before) out of the fridge to warm up.
Chicken vegetable soup, tortilla chips or not  (if you are the keto one)

Wednesday TheHub went out of town  midday and I had a day away from the house starting with going to Mom's early to fill in the gap of time between sitters, my dentist appointment, Aldi quick shop, running by the house to  make sure TheHub took the things I wanted sent to Son 3 and DIl3 since he will see them Friday and Saturday to help TheHub pack,  3 hours at the cardiologist with Mom, 2 business errands for Mom, then My Beloved Sister and I met to look at nursing homes. I got home and did not want to do anything in the kitchen.
Buffalo chicken dip with veggies and keto crackers

Thursday TheHub was still out of town which meant I could get away with little or no cooking. Win! I bought some zero carb bread at Aldi. I toasted 2 slices, then sliced each of them into 2 very thin slices. (The bread is not exactly like real bread but is a decent substitute and much better toasted)
2 Peanut butter and sugar free added fiber jelly sandwiches, glass of almond milk

Friday I no longer remember what exactly happened on Friday, but it doesn't matter. The day came and went with no upsets so I am calling it a fine day.
Leftover chicken vegetable soup

Saturday TheHub was supposed to be at home in time for dinner, but a missed flight and bad weather changed all that. Instead of cooking I just pulled a couple of leftover things out of the fridge/freezer, zapped it and called it done.
Cauliflower, warmed with shredded cheese over it, leftover chopped pork tenderloin with keto bbq sauce

Sunday We socked in to watch the Titans play ball, watched a movie and then had a late dinner.
Chili with or without beans, (without beans served over cauliflower florets) keto cornbread

Keto crap I needed to make for the week
1. Keto dinner rolls ✔
2. Sun butter cookies (need and want are interchangeable here) ✔
3. Keto fake cinnamon toast crunch cereal
4. Keto soup (most likely chicken broth base with veggies) ✔

Additional keto crap I actually made
1. Curry dill dip
2. keto cornbread

 I am doing some meal planning again this week, which might or might not happen. I am pretty fickle when it comes to food and food prep. Right now I have a ton of fresh produce and a very well stocked pantry. I should have to go to the grocery store for very little, if anything this week. So rather than planning like I normally do based on the Wednesday grocery ads which I get every Monday morning for some weird reason, I am meal planning with what is on hand. As usual these meals are in no particular order and are interchangeable with the exception of Tuesday's meal. I am having bookclub for a belated Edgar Allen Poe birthday celebration to use my new dishes.

1. Scallops, broccoli, mashed potatoes or caulimash
2. Tell tale hearts of artichoke salad,  roast chicken (masking as a raven), roasted, shredded brussels sprouts, blood splattered rice pilaf, almond(illado) desserts
3.  Hamburger patty, keto wild rice pilaf, coleslaw
4, Keto bean soup (which has no beans at all), keto cornbread chaffle
5. Leftover chili over leftover rice pilaf or cauliflower, crackers for the non keto, coleslaw
6. Some Asian chicken stir fry or curry (unsure yet) over rice or cauli rice
7. Spaghetti or zoodles with meat sauce, tossed salad

Keto crap I need to make for the week
1. Keto granola
2. Coconut flour chocolate chip cookies (for the freezer)
3. keto dinner rolls (I still have several in the freezer but am making a fresh batch for book club. 3 people are doing keto so I am making it for them. (I will freeze any leftovers)
4. Almond cinnamon cookies (again for bookclub and leftovers will be frozen)

Week 2: The Joy's

In addition to my weekly joys,  I have decided I am also going to post my meals for the week. Since this joy list is a yearly diary for me I thought I might as well keep a food diary too. Since I just thought of it, I am starting Jan 12, I know we ate other days but I can't remember what I had. Feel free to ignore any part of all of these posts. It really is for me to look back on the year and see what I enjoyed and what I ate. (Additionally, posting this might keep me strictly keto. I doubt it but hope springs eternal does't it?)

Jan. 8  I had been watching a facebook trade sight for 4 days since I am somewhat (understatement) obsessed with dishes. I know I have at least nine sets, possibly more that I have stashed somewhere and forgotten about.  When these wonderful plates and bowls appeared I lusted for them. I have never owned dishes with skulls or skeletons on them, and these had incredibly cool artwork on them. After messaging the lister and telling him I hoped they had sold so I could quit thinking about them, we had several back and forth texts until he messaged me that he dropped the asking price substantially. I decided they were meant to come home with me. Since there are limited occasions to use skull plates I am thankful I have them in time to celebrate Edgar Allen Poe's birthday. "Tell Tell Hearts" of palm salad, anyone?  Now I have to plan a dinner party I had not planned on having.(Not a good picture but you get the gist of what they look like. I am insanely happy, or perhaps just insane for buying these?)

Jan.9 The day was filled with Mom tasks, but finally, at about 3, I was finished with her for the day. Finished except for the nightly phone call about things she has confused, but is certain they happened the way her brain tells her. (No, she did not take her car out to let someone look at it and leave it on a busy street. She has not driven anywhere in just under a year) Still there are joys. Joy one, I had enough leftovers so all I had to do for dinner was warm and serve. Joy two, we decided to go see 1917.

Jan.10 Interesting day which started at Mom's (as usual) them morphed into a holding game waiting for PT to show up. (3 hours beyond the scheduled time)  By late afternoon I was just a crabby, pissy human. Then I got a text from TheHub (he had already spoken to me and was aware of my less than pleasant demeanor)  wanting to go out to eat. (See, I have said a few times before he would go out to eat every single night if I would.)  So my joy was a bunless mushroom burger and broccoli then a quick side trip tp Aldi.

Jan.11 This is a weird joyful moment and I know it is, but I woke and got dressed early so I could go see Mom. It did not matter since she had just gone to sleep for the night at 8:00 am. It seems she worried about her job (she never worked after Dad and she were married) and finding the photographer to take her picture with the children. When her sitter asked what children she was talking about, she told her it was the children at school. For someone who was not terribly creative with her ideas  (life was always black or white to her) this foray into dementia is truly fascinating. But I just seriously digressed.
Because she had just gone to sleep I was not able to visit with her. Instead I managed to look over her business, run to her bank, and buy her groceries, getting home before high winds and a deluge hit. If she had been awake I would have been drenched several times before geting everything done.

Jan.12  We have had season tickets to our local Broadway shows for years. Some years the plays are either repeats or something we are not really looking forward to seeing, but we keep them because we have finally gotten perfect seats. We are on the 9th row up and center stage. If we don't renew yearly we would lose our near perfect seats and have to start the game of take what is available then start the upgrade process all over. Today's performance was Les Mis which was very good, particularly the actor playing Javert. His voice was outstanding.  After the play we ran home for a quick bite  to eat before heading back downtown to see Branford Marsalis. Son2 and DIL2 had given us tickets to the performance for Christmas. I cannot tell you how much we appreciated the thought since they know we love jazz, and neither of us needed any "thing". It was a great night. If you get a chance to see his quartet do go. They are very entertaining both playing and with their banter.

Jan.13  TheHub and I had an agreed on date to watch the NCAA football championship, so we had a quick supper then watched LSU win. Though I am not an LSU fan I really do like their coach and love his voice. It is a deep, gravelly Cajun voice and is so unusual that it is lots of fun to listen to. And just this one time,  Geaux Tigers!

Jan.14 Completed a word prompt writing challenge filled with very incompatible words done and had a very good time doing it. Pop over to Elephant's Child and join in the fun.

And the food:
Jan.12 Breakfast: coffee  Lunch:hamburger patty with mushrooms and onions and coleslaw  Dinner: chicken salad over lettuce shreds for dinner Snack: blueberries with cheese .

Jan.13 Brunch: sautéed kale with sausage, 4 cups coffee, keto roll with butter, Snack: handful of peanuts,  Dinner: Sloppy Joe on keto roll, coleslaw, 2 small sun butter cookies, 1/3 cup Rebel ice cream, cup of coffee.

Jan.14 Breakfast: coffee  Lunch: curry dill dip and coffee Dinner: chicken vegetable soup  Snack: vinegar and salt almonds

Whats Going Into the Mouth Around Here This Week

Once again I am going to try and plan a menu for our dinner meals for the week. This week TheHub is going to be out of town a good bit so I will eat whatever is easy to make and requires little prep time since I plan on a lot of night time reading.  These meals are in no particular order and will probably not be the actual meals we/I have, but they are a starting point at least.

1. Keto sloppy joe's, coleslaw
2. Buffalo chicken dip, veggies and  toast. tossed salad
3. Soup and keto crackers
4.Chicken salad "sandwich" (On one of those fake buns that are keto friendly)
5. Scallops, asparagus, alfredo over noodles or zoodles
6. Cheese sandwiches, soup
7. Leftover pork tenderloin, with cauliflower fake mac and cheese, green beans

Keto crap I need to make for the week
1. Keto dinner rolls
2. Sun butter cookies (need and want are interchangeable here)
3. Keto fake cinnamon toast crunch cereal
4. Keto soup (most likely chicken broth base with veggies)

One good thing about this menu is unless there are some terrific stock up deals at the store, I will not need to buy a thing at the grocery store. I would say I won't have to go to the store all week but that would be lying. Mom needs something else the minute I bring her groceries through the door, so I seem to shop for her at least every other day. I secretly think we are feeding her sitters well.

20 Questions

I saw this on Bless @ My 2 Cents, so I thought I would play along. I did change question number 2 slightly, just because I could.
Join and and let us get a little bit of non invasive info about you, if you would like


1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?  Coffee
2. Pajamas or gown? Gown
3. Worst physical pain you ever been in? Childbirth. I opted to forego meds during birth and labor, but felt great immediately afterward.
4. Favorite place you’ve ever been? Not sure about this one. I love the gulf beaches, love Vancouver, love NYC, but now my favorite place is wherever Pip is
5. How late did you stay up last night? 12:30
6. If you could move somewhere else, where would you move to? A one level house
7.  Christmas or New Year? Christmas, I am not a big celebrant of NYE
8.  When was the last time you cried? I am not a crier and I really don't remember
9. What's the last photo on your phone? Picture of an American Girl knock off doll I sent to Pip
10. Two of your favorite movies? Shallow Grave and Madame X
11. What's your favorite season? Fall
12. Which famous person would you like to meet? Leonardo da Vinci
13. If you could talk to ANYONE right now, who would it be? Dad for some insight into how to handle Mom
14. Are you a good influence? Probably not, but I am not a bad influence either
15. Does pineapple belong on a pizza? Never
16.  You have the remote, what show would you be watching right now? It is the middle of the day and I don't watch daytime tv so I flipped through the stations and saw Bonanza was on so I stopped and watched a couple of minutes of it. It is not as good as I remembered
17. Three people who you think will play along? No idea, but play if you would like. If Bless had not said she thought I might I never would have!
18. First concert? My family went to the Pops in the Park series for as long as I can remember,  and I always went to the Symphony Junior Concerts as a school kid. The first concert I went to  as a teen was Steppenwolf
19. Favorite food? Anything chocolate
20. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?  Newspaper reporter

Daily Good Things__Week One

This year my focus is two fold. I am adopting two words to be my guide through the year: Joy and Finish. I have some slight ADD tendencies and will start one thing, see something shiny and move to the next without completing what I began. It really does not matter what I am doing. So for the year I want to truly concentrate on beginning and ending things before moving on to something else. (Unless it is something I truly hate, like ironing, and I will give myself permission to stop as often as I like, or continue with my only iron on demand as needed. And just ask me about a clever way to disguise un-ironed napkins for dinner guests.)

Joy is an interesting term. I do not even begin to think I will be joyous all of the time. I am way to much of a smart ass for that. But I do want to look for joy with intent. Every single day there is at least one joyful moment, and I want to end each week of the year  recounting the best thing that happened each day to bring me joy. Then at the end of the year I can look backward and see how even on dark, depressing days, there is a glimmer of joy.

This is for me mainly, but you are welcome to come along for the ride, and if you feel like adding some unexpected joy in your life for the week, well, the more the merrier!


Jan. 1  Alabama won the Citrus Bowl which we watched with Son2 and DIL2 followed by NYD traditional "lucky" meal.
Jan. 2  Miserable weather day, but after getting soaked 4 times running about getting things for Mom I came home took a hot shower and put on sweats. Who knew something so simple could be so wonderful?
Jan. 3 Rainy again so we ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup at home instead of going on our planned dinner out.  We ended the night with some movie watching.
Jan. 4 Fun phone call with Pip then dinner at Bellini's with Son2 and DIL2
Jan. 5 Lovely guests spent the night (Really enjoyed the visit Sluggy and Mr.Slug!)
Jan. 6  Enjoyed morning coffee  and conversation with Sluggy and Mr.Slug. Pretty sure the day went downhill after they left, not only because of they left, but the first of several Mom issues happened.
Jan. 7  I woke with a screaming headache but still had to be at Mom's dressed and ready for the day, before the gap time with her sitters, since I had to take her to a dr.'s appointment. The last thing I wanted to do was feel like crap and sit in the waiting room. Luckily her wonderful daytime care giver offered to go into the office in my place.  I was able to only have to drive them and help with loading and unloading Mom at the door of the professional practice building attached to the hospital. Then I drove 2 blocks from the hospital to an office building and parked in their almost empty parking lot. I had a sunny spot to sit (eyes closed) and wait for "T" to give me a call when they were done. Thank you "T" for this incredible gift.

Cruelty to Fellow Blogger

You know how sometimes you can be cruel to someone without meaning to. I found myself in that same position yesterday. It seems I have a collection of iron banks on a book shelf in my guest room. I knew I had the banks, for goodness sake, I put them there. Unintentionally (or maybe even intentionally long ago and I forgot about it) one of the banks was loaded.

Some of you may know that a couple of our blog friends pick up all the coins they find on the streets, at stores, or even beneath a fast food drive in window, then post the totals weekly, monthly and/or yearly. Try to imagine how painful it was for one of those bloggers to see this and have to resist the urge to claim it as found money.

To be perfectly honest I had no idea it was even there and would never have noticed it was gone, but evidently her husband, who is not infected with the coin finding obsession, issued an edict declaring said quarter safe from all hunting.

Just hearing them talk about it made me laugh, but I would have laughed even harder if they had told me about her resisting the urge to "find" it, then I had gone into the guest room and found it had disappeared. The little things in life give me the most pleasure and I can be so easily amused.

Next time they come through town I will seed the driveway with pennies and an occasional silver colored coin!