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Monday, November 15, 2021

Gathering the Fragments

I know I am pretty bad about sticking to a planned menu, but most days life interferes with whatever I thought I was going to do that day, so why should meals be any different than the rest of the time?  When things go as planned, so do meals. And when they don't, well, it's anybody's guess.

What I planned:
1. Keto chicken spaghetti, tossed salad
2. Salmon croquettes, brussels sprouts, potatoes of some kind (or none)
3. Taco salad
4. Veggie meal TBD later but possibly black eyed peas, turnip greens and cornbread
5. Kraut and sausage, green beans, carrot and raisin salad (?)
6. Take out
7. Something else with chicken, just don't know what

What really happened:
Monday: Keto chicken spaghetti, tossed salad
Tuesday: Taco salad, toast or corn chips
Wednesday: Sausage and kraut, green beans, toast
Thursday: Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup or beef broth
Friday: Full Moon BBQ take out
Saturday: Hamburger patty with onions and gravy, hash brown, tossed salad
Sunday: Homemade vegetable beef soup

Used from the freezer:
1 pack chicken
1 pack spaghetti squash
1 pack taco seasoned ground chuck
1 pack Conecuh sausage 
1 pack green beans
2 hamburger patties
2 hash brown patties
1 pack chicken broth

Put into the freezer:
Nothing!!!!!!!


What's next:
I am making no meal plans for this week. We will be in town until Friday afternoon so our meals are going to be a mishmash of any odds and ends we have around the house. Some things will be from the freezer and I have no idea what else we will be eating. I don't really care either.  All I know for sure is that after breakfast Friday,  I don't have to do any meal planning for 10 blissful (?) days.

I had bought tickets for the Van Gogh immersive show the day they went on sale. Little did I know a couple of weeks later we would be leaving for  our trip that same day. 

Originally we planned to rent a car and drive to Portland. (Our goal was to take things inherited from Mom that we could/would not ship to Son1's family)  Then we would fly home. About as soon as we made our return flights TheHub started complaining about how long the drive would be and how tired he would be, so he started changing our plans.



Now we are leaving the Van Gogh exhibit, renting a car and driving to Chicago where we will board the train for 45 hours. The train does allow much more baggage than a plane does, so we can pack most of the things we were taking by car and store them in the baggage car (the exception being two art pieces that we will have to ship now). 

There was an agreement struck before I would agree to the train trip. One of the items they inherited was Mom's sterling flatware service for twelve. (One of the main reasons for the hand delivery is because I will not ship it or fly with it in checked luggage at the airport.) Because our sleeper room will only lock when we are inside it, TheHub had to agree to lug every bit of the silver with him any time he leaves the room.  Petty? Maybe but this silver has been around and in use since the early 1950's. Mom wanted them to have it and pass it down eventually to Pip. I am not going to let anything happen to it if I can help it.

So if you are traveling westbound on the Empire Builder and see a dude with a heavy backpack every time he walks through the train, it might possibly be TheHub!


Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all

 


35 comments:

  1. The Van Gogh immersive exhibition is coming here too - and we are really, really looking forward to it.
    Have a truly wonderful trip. And yes, I am smiling at your hubster carrying the silverware (which is no doubt heavy) everywhere he goes.

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  2. Fair trade in my mind. He'll probably be grumbling by the time you get to Portland but I'm sure you'll remind him of the deal.

    I've never travelled by train, but the last time my brother and his wife did, they both found it very cold. Remember we're from the frozen north so you may want to ensure you've got some warm clothing just in case.

    Have a great week!

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    1. I have packed a jacket to keep on the train with me, just in case. This train travels much further north than my southern blood is used to.

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  3. I've had several friends visit the Van Gogh exhibit, along with my daughter's art teacher, and everyone said it's incredible. I hope you enjoy it and that you have a wonderful trip!

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    1. Everything I have heard about the exhibit is stellar!

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  4. I think you'll love the Van Gogh exhibit! My son and daughter took the empire line from Minnesota to Milwaukee. You'll go right by me-I'll wave!

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  5. I don't blame you for protecting the silver, but what a fun experience to ride a train like that.

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    1. The silver was the main reason we were going to drive. Personally I had rather drive than ride the train, but I'll cash this concession in some other time.

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  6. What a fun trip, heavy silverware or not! I love travelling by train, although I haven't done much of it, at least not in the past 30 years or so! Hope you have a safe journey there and back!

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  7. Have a wonderful trip. It sounds exhausting -- and fun.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. I hope it will be fun. I am not looking forward to that long on a train.

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  8. Too funny about the backpack full of silverware. I'm looking forward to hearing about your train trip! Sounds so exciting to me, and I want to hear all about the sleeper car. Does it have its own bathroom? Sleeps 2 or 4? We rode coach from VA/NC to Orlando-Disneyworld a couple of times when the kids were little. The train was cold one night and we were stuck on the tracks for over 4 hours, and I can't sleep at all on trains or planes so a long trip.

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    1. The sleeper car does have a bathroom/shower all in one unit. The pictures look very, very small. The sleeper sleeps 2 but they do have family bedrooms that are supposed to sleep 4. The family bedrooms have no room bath but have hall shared bathrooms and a shower room

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  9. I agree with you on keeping the flatware with you at all times. Have a wonderful trip. The train ride sounds like fun. I did a train ride by myself at 13 years old from Chicago to California.

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    1. You were one brave 13 year old, though I would have done it if I had been given a chance.

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  10. Have a great trip. You'll go right through my town. I've taken this train to-from Chicago several times. I'll wave as you pass by! I suggest you bring a coat with you! Have fun, Celie

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    1. I am bringing a coat because it looks like a lot off the "fresh air breaks" happen in the far north.

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  11. I'd love to take a long train trip next summer (california north to Seattle then across Montana and so on to Chicago). I'd just have to figure what I was doing from there since I don't fly. Rent a car to get home? Train some more/

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    1. We are renting a car to drive to Chicago. We actually could go from. Birmingham but it would add an additional 2 days on the trip then we would have several hours between the train from DC and the train to the PNW

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  12. I really want to go to the Van Gogh exhibit, but I cannot walk it and I doubt they have electric scooters.

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    1. You might want to call BJCC and see if they are available.

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  13. I think your hubs is probably right. While it'll still be a long journey it's also kinda exciting getting to cross the US by train right? I'm sure it'll be wonderful!

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    1. I think it will be fun (but I am not telling TheHUb that)

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  14. My husband wants to take a big train trip, but I'm not interested. We rode many different kinds of trains when we visited in Japan and I got motion sickness on all of them. However, if we were planning a trip across the country, I might reconsider. Good luck.

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    1. If we really enjoy it, we are thinking of doing a similar trip possibly during the summer. They have some 2 week plan where you pay for the full cross country trip but you can hop off and on at various cities so it is not one continuous trip.

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  15. I gave my daughter my great grandmother's silver service from 1900's. Gorham Sterling. I also gave her my grandmother's huge, heavy Persian rug. Her "hubs" has complained about both with their every move but she hangs on to them with all her might for her daughter.

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    Replies
    1. Good for your daughter! Things like that are not replaceable (at least not with the same sentiment)

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  16. What a fab Friday you've planned! I'm so excited to hear about your train ride --and more than a bit envious. Will you be blogging via the rails?

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  17. I've seen a number of people write about attending the van Gogh immersive exhibit. Everyone loves it and I'm sure you will, too. Happy training!

    Love,
    Janie

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  18. I must be the only person who has never had sauerkrat. I do eat cabbage, but isauerkrat is not something that was common to me. I guess I have to try it sometime.

    I didn't realise that your trip is coming up so soon. I'm so far behind with reading blogs. Wish you & your hubby safe travels. Have a great time visiting your family.

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  19. I have traveled across country by train several times. I love it! Have fun! Cindy in the South

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  20. We saw the Van Gogh exhibit -- fun! Have a terrific trip!

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