this week

Wow! This week is completely different from last week when the weather was cold and made me crabby. Today the sun is shining, the weather is warm, and there is a slight breeze.  I have the screened porch door opened to let in fresh air.

Speaking of air, to me a day without music is like a day without air.

This is not my favorite Bach piece, but I do love listening to it.

What was planned:

Beef stew, coleslaw, french bread

Chicken divan, cooked carrots, tossed salad

Soup, cornbread

Out to eat

Chili, coleslaw, cornbread

Taco salad or tacos TBD later

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, some green veggie TBD

Joys and what we really ate:

 Monday joy: TheHub and I hung around the house getting  a few things that needed to be done, done. It was not a glamorous day, but interior progress is still progress I guess.

Monday dinner: Some rescued broccoli from the crisper and a bag of cooked frozen chicken were the inspiration (or lack thereof) for this meal

Chicken divan coleslaw

Tuesday joy: Tuesday was supposed to be the best day of the week according to the week's forecast, so we decided we would have a little adventure and go somewhere we had never been before. About an hour and a half north/northwest of us in the very tiny town (hamlet?) of Oakville, Alabama is a museum dedicated to Jesse Owens, who lived on/adjacent to (not sure which) the property the museum sits on. I will admit I went silently thinking it was no where I wanted to go. Some of the best things happen when I am dragging my heels. The museum was a small place, but filled with history, especially about the 1936 Olympics. 

They were held in Berlin and Hitler was planning to use them as a visible validation of his Aryan race superiority policy. Didn't quite work out that way when Jesse Owens not only won 4 gold medals, but also set a new Olympic record. 

The museum had a 40 minute film narrated by Jesse himself with film from the Olympics including a lot of the Leni Riefenstahl's footage of Hitler with Goering, Himmler and other inner circle Nazi's. 

Once we had learned all we could want to know about Jesse and his life, we headed  out to eat. The place was cute, the food lackluster, and everything was fried. Oh well, you live and learn.

After lunch we headed east and stopped at the Dutch Oven Bakery, a Mennonite haven of deliciousness. They had baked goods, breads, and all sorts of other things, including a small section of the store devoted to pickles, relishes, jams and jellies, and an entire wall filled with Melissa and Doug toys.

I had never been before but it will not be long until I go back. They had the best sourdough loaf I have ever eaten in my life and a full size tube pan pound cake for just $7 bucks. Unreal!

Tuesday dinner: I was not hungry and didn't eat. TheHub made his own dinner

Campbells soup ( no idea what kind he ate)

Wednesday joy: I had class and enjoyed it, came home and right as I walked in the door TheHub told me his lunch plans had been cancelled, so what did I plan on having for lunch. I thought he was meeting a friend yet I was supposed to plan a lunch anyway. Uh, no!

Wednesday dinner: I had made this in advance to have Tuesday night but we were not hungry then so it became Wednesday's meal.

Beef stew, sourdough toast, coleslaw

Thursday joy: TheHub went out to lunch with his friend and I had a couple of hours to myself. While I was enjoying my time  and eating a bowl of 15 bean soup (not a planned lunch but something languishing in the fridge)  I called and talked with Sluggy. TheHub was not the only one who had lunch with a friend!

We went somewhere after TheHub got home but I don't remember where. All I know is I had on makeup and I do not wear it unless I am going somewhere. TheHub has known me forever and he knows what I look like, so the unadorned me does not scare him. Small children and dogs? well that is an entirely different scenario. 

Thursday dinner: TheHub had a big lunch out and I was not particularly hungry. When life rolls like that I am always going to take the path of least resistance when it comes to making dinner

Veggie soup, toasted english muffin

Friday joy: The day came, it was gorgeous outside, my plants were happy to be back on the deck and there were two hibiscus blooms on one of them.  Along with the day, came the bug man. It was time to renew our termite bond. It is not a big deal but it does take us being home so he can examine the wood in the basement. No signs of termites and the termite baits around the perimeter of the house were all untouched, except one bait trap on one corner of the house. It is where I usually find tiny little sugar ants and I have seen none this year. The bug man added that bait last year and he is pretty sure the ants were the ones who got into it.  Whoo hoo, inspection and I only had to pay to refill the single trap. 

Unfortunately for me he does not trap groundhogs! My nemesis had been up and around during the warming spell. Jokes on him though, I have no foods planted right now.

Friday dinner: We had a food minimum that needed to be used in January. It was a takeout kind of night.

Either grilled snapper over orzo and spinach with a chickpea sweet potato salad (I had a bite  of the salad and agreed with TheHub, it was gross) or shrimp and grits with tortilla soup (weird combo so I saved the soup for later and added some sliced cucumbers to my plate)

Saturday joy: TheHub was invited to go to Tuscaloosa for the basketball game followed by a dinner fundraiser  for Bama baseball.  This meant he had to leave the house midday and I had to be at home all by myself until about 9 pm.😁

While he was gone I did a little laundry, had phone calls with both my cousin and my beloved sister, had control of the remote, was able to read uninterrupted, and did whatever I wanted. It was a great day

Saturday dinner: Since TheHub was not home all bets were off

Breakfast pork chop, raw cauliflower

Sunday joy: We did not do the church thing Sunday. Instead our Sunday school class provided and served lunch to those at The Church of the Reconciler. It is an inner city church that caters to Birmingham’s homeless population. We have done it for quite a few years now and is a good way to meet and interact with people we might not meet otherwise.

After we were through serving and cleaning the kitchen, we left and as a group went out to eat. It was great to have that fellowship.

Once we were through with our meal we ran by Publix to do a little cherry picking, then headed home.  Whatever we did, we were in different rooms doing whatever we wanted to do. TheHub messed around setting up his new phone and I read your blogs.  Even if I did not comment on them, I read them all. Thank you arthritis!

Sunday dinner: We both had eaten a nice lunch and were not hungry.

Soup and corn chips 

Planned for the week: (Weather is perfect for grilling)

1. Steak, baked potato, cooked carrots, tossed salad

2. Grilled tuna, chopped veggie salad, dinner rolls

3. Grilled pork chops, rice pilaf, asparagus

4. Spaghetti, tossed salad, dinner rolls

5. Hamburgers with all the fixings, tater tots

6. Veggie dinner TBD, cornbread

7. Out to eat

What I read in January:

The God of the Woods (was not great)

Half Mammals of Dixie (delightful book of thematic short stories)

The Secret Book of Flora Lee* ( interesting premise but overwritten)

Cold Fire (enjoyable read but went beyond the bounds of believability)

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days (Xmas short stories and recipes) 

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

May all your weeds be wildflowers,

Anne