Yikes! Got busy and forgot to post

Some good things happened last week and there were some dull days. I guess you could say the week was a mixed bag of nuts.

Monday, Jan 12: This was another day I got little in the house done. I did sort through clothes and some of the  stuff we have accumulated to have a pretty decent size donation for The Exchange Club for their next pick up.

I also managed to clean out one more kitchen cabinet.

TheHub and I had some business to discuss and needed to book our flights for our late spring trip. We got that done and out of the way. Now I need to plan a 3 week wardrobe for the trip. I am not very good at this!

What I learned: I watched a documentary about Anheuser Busch, and learned a lot about the history of the brand and also about the "beer war" between Pabst and AB. 

Dinner: TheHub was not feeling great and just wanted some pasta. Fortunately, I had some jarred sauce to help it along.

Pesto pasta.

Tuesday, Jan.13: I began the day reorganizing my armoire. I realize I have too many clothes and need to purge. I have a Goodwill run planned for later in the week (or possibly next week) and needed to get everything I will donate before I go.

Got the armoire done and was ready to work a few sudoku puzzles when TheHub mentioned he was going to run to grab him some yogurt and wanted to see if I needed anything.

 I went into the laundry room to see if I needed detergent. About once a month Publix has the brand I use on their BOGO list. The ad was expiring Tuesday and I had to see if I needed it or not. I made the mistake of moving things on the bottom shelf of the cabinet above the washer checking to see how much I had. I quickly saw I had more than enough, but once I started moving things, it was all over and I was hooked cleaning out both of the overhead cabinets.

And again, by the time they were emptied, I found stuff I do not even remember buying. And, don't even get me started on the candle stash. These are not the lovely scented candles I already have too many of, but tapers, votives and tea candles out the wazoo. When I start sorting I tend to count, though I did not count the tapers. Those were just wrapped in toweling sorted by color. The tea candles number 57, along with 62 votives. Why do I have that many? No clue! That does not include the pillar candles which have a box of their own, but they are larger and not as many fit in the shoebox they occupy. 

And once you start organizing the cabinets the rest of the room starts calling.

What I learned: Never move things around in a cabinet unless I am willing to empty and clean the entire thing out.

Dinner: Mexican casserole (Made with ground pork, because I did not have on my glasses when I took it out of the freezer and couldn't read the label. It looked just like the ground beef.). It was so veggie dense I booted the salad I planned to serve with it.

Wednesday, Jan.14: I woke got ready for my Wednesday class but had an unplanned delay and would have arrived about 20 minutes late. 

I did not want to interrupt them so I did not go. 

Got DIL1’s birthday gift mailed, and did a little business planning with TheHub before heading to Pita Stop for lunch

I met 2 friends I went to elementary school with for a long lunch over food and conversation. MA and I have lunch about once a year, but neither of us have seen C in years. It was so nice to be with them. Lots of catching up and lots of laughs. We decided to do it again before MA leaves town. *

I got home in the later afternoon and hung out with TheHub for a while before going to The Pig. I know I said I was not going to buy anything for the freezer. I lied! It turns out I am helpless when it comes to bargains

What I learned: I learned about things going on in my friend’s lives and how important it is to stay in contact with or renew friendships with those I have known most of my life.

Dinner: Mongolian beef, rice

Thursday, Jan.15: I was able to go to my happy place today with My Beloved Sister. The last time I was with the Thursday group I told them we were going to make Brussels sprouts soup. I admit I enjoyed seeing the horror on a lot of the faces, but you never know what you do or don’t like until you try it. I attempt to get them to at least taste something different.

But Son2 had a brilliant idea which was a sneaky way of having them make something fairly healthy, tasty, and still incorporate the nefarious vegetable.

I had done all the chopping at home so once we started cooking each participant had a cooking chore to make the soup (wilting veggies, adding broth, herbs, seasonings, etc) As the mixture came to a boil, I added a single whole Brussels sprout to the soup, took it out once all the other veggies were nice and soft, then blended the veggies into a puree, added milk butter, cream and grated cheese. The result was a creamy, cheesy vegetable soup, and though I was true to my word about having “sprout” soup, they really did enjoy not having to eat it. (And I got to enjoy the deception)

I think next time I will make spinach the star, but will really use it.

What I learned: Because we have been watching 11/22/63 TheHub and I are doing a deep dive into Lee Harvey Oswald. He was an interesting (not necessarily in a good way) guy.

Dinner: I tried a new (to us) recipe and we really liked it.

Mushroom goulash  rice**

Friday, Jan 16: I had troublesome legs cramps all through the night until about 4 a.m., and slept very little until then. As a result I woke later than normal. I am not one of those creatures who hope out of bed ready for the day. Instead I like to ease into the morning. Because I woke later, TheHub wanted to get out and do something. So much for easing! 

We wound up only going to a couple of grocery stores. We shop Walmart's Everyday Market for most non-food items, but it is also where I find the best selection of Hispanic foods (Like La Crema)

and less expensive ultra low carb buns.

The store also carries a gigantic package of the toilet paper brand we use. Even before the toilet paper crisis during covid, I was overstocked with it, and since then I might have become a bit more obsessive. When I checked, we were down to only 10 rolls of the stuff, so by my metrics it meant we needed more. I was all in on stopping there first.

Next we went to Aldi, and stocked up on produce, general meal prep ingredients, and an abundance of chips.

I think TheHub has transferred his solo recreational shopping trips to include general grocery shopping with me. 

I have mixed feelings about his "help". It bugs me to have someone with me, since I have been the primary grocery buyer for our entire married lives and I know what I buy and how I shop. Being there, throws a kink in my routine. 

On the other hand, it is wonderful to have someone help me load the groceries in the car, especially at Aldi where it means bagging your own. I also never have to return the buggy (that's cart or trolly for some of you) to its proper place, and the biggest help is unloading everything once I am home. 

Funny though, I am still the one who has to put it all away because I know where it goes!?!

Once home, we ate a late lunch then did our own thing until late afternoon when we watched another episode of 11/22/63. (I hate short daylight days and will not be happy until January is over. When it is dark this early, I tend to call the working day done.)

Later we watched a documentary from the perspectives of both a British and German pilot about start of WW2 and the Battle for Britain, and also from the viewpoint of a Polish Jewish teen who had joined the resistance. A lot of it had footage taken from inside the planes and was a little dizzying, but fascinating. And a lot of it had footage from the Warsaw ghettos which was horrifying.

What I learned: Watching the documentary gave me insights to the 

mindsets of three different people's experiences during the war.

Dinner: We were not really hungry after eating the late lunch. TheHub had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I had a piece of beef jerky.

Saturday. Jan 17: Personally I am happy this month is more than halfway over. I have never been a fan of January.

I slept a little later than normal but not terribly late, had a wonderful ease into the morning start to my day.

I did have one of my most dreaded household chores on my to do list. I hate cleaning the shower in the primary bedroom. And it was time for the super scrub cleaning, unlike the regular mini clean. It took a while but then was bright and shiny again.

The down side of cleaning it was the fact that I was sick 🤢, you know that green faced about to hurl kind of feeling.

The rest of the day was not so hot and I did very little.

What I learned: Don’t clean the shower when you’re sick at your stomach, (chemicals do nothing to help) and if you do, realize there is a basin handy for emergencies. (I made it through the final rinse)

Dinner: Leftover Mongolian beef, coleslaw

Sunday: TheHub woke me in time to get ready for our early services but, he had no idea I had been up a couple of times during the night and was still feeling squeamish. I stayed home slept another hour then woke for the day, cold from the inside out. It was almost like a reverse hot flash. 

After a steaming hot shower I was warm until I was dressed, then I was freezing again, and was cold throughout the rest of the day, even wrapped in blankets and wearing a sock cap. 

The day was spent with me mostly on the couch, sleeping on and off. I do know ballgames were played ( one basketball and one football) because when I would briefly open my eyes they were on the tv.

What I learned: Probably nothing

Dinner: Earlier in the morning I had but a pork butt in the crockpot.  I am so glad I did.

Pulled pork, cooked cabbage***, toasted English muffins

Menu for next week possibilities:

Pumpkin sausage soup, salad, rolls

Chicken and rice soup

Spaghetti w/ meat sauce, tossed salad, garlic toast

Crock pot beef brisket, mashed potatoes, green beans

Beef stew, coleslaw, cornbread

Hamburger patty, asparagus, mashed potatoes

Persian Chicken, rice, broccoli

Chicken parm, spinach salad (bookmarked). 

Butter chicken, rice, kale salad

Greek style veggie bake, dinner rolls (bookmarked)

Veggie frittata , fruit compote

Black eyed peas, mac and cheese, coleslaw

Eggroll in a bowl

Pizza in a bowl

Pork chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus

Stuffed baked potato w/ leftover bbq pork butt, tossed salad

Grilled tuna steaks, baked potato, tossed salad, dinner rolls

Shrimp alfredo, kale salad 

Grilled scallops, broccoli salad, baked potato

Groceries bought this week

2 dozen eggs

1 bell pepper

1 red pepper

4 pounds potatoes

2 cabbage heads

2 cartons baby bella mushrooms

2 sugar free ketchup

3 pounds onions

2.5 lb pork butt

1 bunch scallions

2 cauliflower heads

1 broccoli head

1 carton white mushrooms

1 carton grape tomatoes

4 small zucchini

2 cucumbers

2 bunches grapes

1 container greek yogurt

1 container sour cream

2 cream cheese

4 cans table cream (use for cooking only)

small bag dried oregano

2 bags pork rinds (mine)

2 bags Fritos (TheHub's)

1 bag individually packaged chips (TheHub's)

1 can grilled mackerel (trying for the first time)

1/2 gallon Almond milk

2 cans green beans

2 cans whole potatoes

1 can diced ham (trying for the first time for adding to omelets)

1 can white meat chicken (I keep this for emergency meals)

fresh  ginger

3 cloves garlic

ginger paste

garlic paste

hot dog buns

hamburger buns

rye bread

1 pack romaine hearts

2 cans tomato soup (TheHub's)

1 can pumpkin puree

Used from the freezer:

1 package ground pork. 

1 bag minced mixed vegetables

1 bag riced cauliflower

1 chuck steak

1 apple hand pie

1 cherry hand pie

Books read this week: 

Didn’t finish yet, so none

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

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

*MA and her hub have a house near the Florida coast, and they do what people with multi homes should do, and actually live there for protracted periods of time.

**Would have been better over spätzle but I had leftover rice from the Mongolian beef dinner in the fridge.

*** Meal plans change based on whatever produce is the best value. I made the original menu plan in late December and had no clue what prices would be. Meals moving forward will see a lot of cabbage because it was really cheap.