November Meal Plan

Meal plans are something that have historically had a big presence on this blog. Not so much in recent years. Well, actually not very much has had much of a presence on this blog in recent years. But I digress. 

Meal plans were big back in the day, because the overarching focus of this blog (and my life) at that time was homemaking and all that that entailed. Planning meals was an essential part of that.

Unfortunately, my kids were ungracious enough to grow up and I had to grown up with them and get a job, and thus, my focus has hence become divided. 

That is not to say that I don’t still have to perform all of those homemaking tasks which, at the time, dominated the bulk of my focus and energy (and all that fun stuff like changing diapers and bathing children and dealing with fevers and runny noses and fighting with the never-ending onslaught of excessive toys), they just get shunted onto the back burner of my time and energy where they continue to taunt me with the guilt of having not been done well, properly, on time, or at all... 

but again, I digress. 

The importance of meal planning has become no less necessary in recent years. In fact, it has probably become even MORE necessary as we have all become busier. I used to always plan a week at a time, and then do my shopping accordingly. Lately, I’ve taken to planning a month at a time, and I completely LOVE it. I still do the shopping weekly, but knowing a whole month just became brainless relieves a lot of stress. I have done it list style, and like this:

I probably prefer the calendar lay out. It enables me to see what day is what, without having to figure it out based on disembodied dates. To further make things brainless (this is a big thing lately - apparently my brain function is limited and I don’t like to use it more than I must) I have several days of the week that fall into categories. Pizza happens once a week. It has been on Wednesdays, but I think we’re moving it back to Fridays. Sunday is always breakfast for dinner. Tuesday is some version of Taco Tuesday. Monday is generally something quick or something Dave can make without needing to wait for me to come home with ingredients, since I do the shopping on Mondays. And we clean out the fridge on Saturdays. 

It’s fantastic every Sunday when I check the menu for the coming week and make my shopping list. Sometimes coming up with 7 meals every week seems overwhelming and repetitive. If I have a whole month in between having to do it, I find it much less tedious. 

 

An excess of negativity

I have a confession to make. I hope you will hear it. Along with it comes an apology.

I have been feeling very convicted lately that my manner of speech and demeanor has been excessively negative. I could list off a number of excuses for why this may be. I'm sure you would nod your head and agree that all of them are perfectly legitimate reason for one to feel upset, angry, negative, pessimistic, etc. 

But really, it is that I have allowed myself to become unfocused on the things that are true. I have allowed my heart and eyes to have been turned inward to my own reasoning of the things I see and experience around me and how I think they should be. I have not focused on Jesus and the promises of God's Word. I have neglected that relationship, due to a number of emotions and frustrations - not with God, but with what I have allowed to cloud my ideas about God - and my perception of things has been negatively impacted. 

I have allowed myself to be negatively influenced by the negative speech and attitudes of others, and even worse, allowed my own negative speech attitude to negatively influence others. 

For this, I hope you will forgive me. 

My peace is grounded in the God of the universe and knowing that my place with him is secure, regardless of elections or wars or church politics or pandemics. And because of that, I can have hope and hopefully leave my negativity behind.

adventures with spicy pickled beans

Well, thanks to COVID, we had some extra time on our hands this year (with all the lack of activities and school and commuting and all), so we did what everyone else did and planted an extensive garden. Dave built me these fantastic raised beds, we filled them with compost, added plants and didn’t do a lot else. One of the things we wound up with an abundance of is green beans. I planted both bush beans and pole beans. We eat beans at least once a week (with our pizza, because we’re weird like that), but at the height of the season, there’s really only so many green beans one family can use.

Now, because I’m old-fashioned like that, I have long held this delusional fantasy of something along the lines of homesteading… living off-the-grid, if you will. I have this idealized, Little House on the Prairie idea of how we should live, not dependent on the grocery store, or really anyone, to aid in our “survival”… But, let’s face it, I’m not exactly cut out to be a “prepper”, much as I would like to convince you all that I am. BUT, growing and preserving our own produce is one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do, but never gotten around to learning how to do. Usually, when I want to learn how to do something, I check out every book I can find on the subject from the library and read them until I’ve either convinced myself I can do it, or get too intimidated and ditch the idea. Canning is one of those “intimidating” topics for me.

But, one random Sunday afternoon in August, finding myself with an abundance of beans and a bee in my bonnet, I suddenly announced that I was going to the store and buying jars and canning supplies. FINALLY. (I’ve been threatening to for at least a decade.)

Now, my mom sufficiently scared me away from wanting to do any normal canning of green beans. The word “botulism” is right up there in the URGENT: MUST REMEMBER portion of my memory (right along with choking on fish bones will kill you), so the whole pressure canner thing is something I still approach with caution and much fear and trembling. But I thought I could probably pull off some pickled beans and just do a normal water bath canning.

Honestly, the only way this actually happened was because of the aforementioned “bee in my bonnet” phenomenon. Had I waited, this never would have happened. But, I found a recipe that sounded yummy: https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2018/09/10/spicy-pickled-green-beans

And then I set out to find all the things I needed.

I acquired jars and lids, pickling salt, and all the spices, along with the jar tongs and funnel and all that.

I picked my beans, washed them and cut them into lengths that would fit in the jars. I sliced up my garlic cloves and measured out my dill seed, red pepper flakes, peppercorns, and brown mustard seeds… I mixed up my brine. I filled my pot with water and put the trivet in the bottom. I washed my jars and boiled my lids… all the stuff you’re supposed to do.

I was SO CRAZY NERVOUS!!!

The biggest problem turned out to be that my pot wasn’t quite big enough and keeping the jars covered meant that water would boil over and put out the burner. So I kept having to move the pot back and forth from burner to burner to keep it boiling, since being doused with water makes a gas burner reluctant to re-light. Next time I’ll use my biggest pot.

But, when the time was up, and I pulled the jars out to cool, they looked like they were supposed to.

I followed the recipe’s instructions and left them alone over night.

The next morning, they appeared to be sealed properly, so I labeled them and put them away on a shelf in my pantry. They looked so pretty! I’ll admit, I was outrageously proud of myself for actually doing this, and (apparently) not screwing it up!

So, there they sat. Looking pretty. I kept looking at them and wondering if they were appropriately “pickled” yet… I was apprehensive. Would they taste good? Would they poison me?

Finally, last week I got a hankering AND the courage to pull a jar out and try it. Based on the evidence provided by how hard the jar was to open, I’d say the sealing process happened according to plan. I tried my first bean…

I think my exact words were something like, “Oh my gosh! This is delicious!!” Seriously! They were SO good! Definitely pickled, definitely spicy, but super crisp and yummy, and definitely NOT poison!

The first jar was gone within a couple of days. All the brine and spices left in the jar made me feel like they should be able to be repurposed for something… Seemed a shame to just dump them down the disposal. But I couldn’t think of anything practical to do with them, so away they went.

The second jar was opened soon after, and at this point, my only regret is that I only made 4 jars!

Next year, I’m planting lots of beans, and I might just pickle them all!

Micah’s Birthday

This kid had the audacity to turn 13 yesterday… As was expected, I was a bit of a hot mess about the whole affair.

Here’s his “last day to be 12” photo. He ran out of fingers a couple years ago, so taking a page out of Shane’s book, he borrowed a couple of feet from the cat to make 12.

But, not too old to choose Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast.

He got his happy birthday facetime call first thing and got to open his gift from Gramma and Skip while they watched…

He’s had a boom box on his list this year. You might remember that 2 years ago, it was a Walkman. The obsession with 80s audio continues. Gramma found this one and it seems to fit the bill. Looks totally retro, plays and records tapes but also has radio AND a USB port so he could use some modern tech with it, as well.

So, he spent the morning taking advantage of the birthday allowances of not having to do his weekend chores and lifted time limits on video games… all while listening to the radio or one tape or another on the boom box that followed him from room to room. At one point, he expressed frustration about wanting to record a certain song off the radio, but he didn’t start it in time, AND they were talking over the beginning of the song! Dave and I laughed really hard over that.

Eventually, we headed out to play some mini golf, and Micah got to enjoy riding shotgun. (Small kids… We have to go for the age limits rather than weight requirements.)

Micah’s godmother, Amy, and her kids joined us, as did my dad, Shane and Leslie.

Enjoy gratuitous golfing photos:

 Shane, in particular, seemed to have an uncanny ability to get his ball wedged down in some crazy crevice or through some tiny space in the edge of the course.

Then we returned back home to eat some birthday dinner (Red Robin take out), open presents, play some Scattergories, and have cupcakes.

Enjoy gratuitous gift-opening pictures:

    In summary, he received a lot of what was on his list… new joy cons for his switch, a new mario game, money, a nintendo gift card. Layla also passed along her 49ers jersey (grudgingly) because it’s really too small for her and he had one on his list, and the latest Dog Man book. We also gave him a Costco pack of tape, which will probably be the most well-used of all his gifts, even if he thought it was silly. There’s another couple little things that should be here tomorrow – Amazon didn’t come through in time.

As usual, Layla made his birthday cake this year – cupcakes this time, so as to avoid the whole blowing your nasty germs all over the cake we’re all going to eat scenario. Thanks for the awareness, covid. He requested white cake, purple frosting, and Skittles.

This cracks me up. Shane was heading out and I wanted to grab a picture really quick… They were horsing around and I wound up catching Shane with the hugest, cheesy smile – I can NEVER get him to smile in pictures! HA!

So there you go… My last one has become a teenager. I’m not handling it particularly well. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a super-cool teenager and I very much like him just how he is right now. But man. They’re all so OLD! I keep feeling like it’s nearly over – this parenting gig. Not that you ever stop, but still. There are phases of parenting, and a lot of them have already been left behind and you can’t go back. That part makes me sad.

fall.

I have kind of a confusing love/hate relationship with fall. 

On the one hand, I get super excited about the beautiful trees changing color. I love seeing pumpkins piled up on people's porches. I love cuddling up with a hot beverage in the afternoon. I like windstorms - yesterday's was pretty impressive - and even the potential power outage that follows, provided it doesn't last too long. I love digging out my Uggs.

But at the same time, fall depresses me. I love summer, and I hate rain. Knowing that my shorts and sandals are put away until next May (at the soonest) is super sad. Knowing I'm going to be cold and wet for the foreseeable future is extremely discouraging. 

Some people love fall because of Halloween. I'm kind of ambiguous about it. I don't love it, I don't hate it. Really, at this point, it just means arguing with my kids for the next month about candy. I could easily do without it...

Some people love fall because of pumpkin spice everything. Doesn't do it for me. I've had the lattes and they aren't terrible, but I can think of lots of better ways to ingest a million calories in one shot. 

But, ultimately, I enjoy the cyclical rhythm of the seasons. The predictable nature and knowing what you'll see and what to expect. The fact that, after you've endured months and months of dark and wet and cold, you'll start seeing daffodils and crocuses poking through the ground. Eventually things will dry out and warm up. Being outside won't require a coat, and your feet won't be wet. 

But until then, I'll do my best to embrace where we are...

I spotted this cool mushroom while out walking the dog tonight. I don't particularly love fungus, mostly mushrooms annoy me because they pop up in my yard and let me know that things are really just too damp... This one is super cool, however, and probably super poisonous.

I also love it when I find a perfect leaf. Gorgeous color, shape.... Just being its best leaf-self.

And then there's this... has nothing to do with fall, but this cat is something else. She really is the Queen of All Things....

 And that's that. 

I actually am loving this. I get to put stuff out there. Say whatever I want about it. People can read it if they want to, or not if they don't. I'm not so much loving the blogger platform. There used to be some better external publishing tools that would allow a little more freedom and customization in posting. But I've been out of the game long enough to have let all that knowledge lapse... Maybe I'll catch up and figure it out. In the meantime, this'll do.

just a fall day

Yesterday was a little bit exciting, in the usual mundane way... on my way out of my neighborhood in the morning on the way to work, I passed a school bus on my street. a big, full-size school bus! then, when I pulled up to the light, there was another one!!! Kindergarteners in our district started in-person school this week! a few little signs of "normal" can be found returning here and there. I didn't realize how much that sort of thing would affect me, but then again, school buses always get me a little bit verklempt.

Although it was absolutely POURING all night and in the morning, it all moved out by afternoon and Bonezy and I got a proper walk in.

After our walk, I did a little garden clean-up/maintenance. We had a few of the giant sunflowers that hadn't fallen over yet, so I cut them down and composted and started pulling out some pumpkin vines. I harvested our final pumpkin that has now turned almost entirely orange and put in on the porch with the others.

And, lastly, a balloon sighting!! This time of year, you never know when will be the last one you see.

 

Leaving Social Media behind - at least for now

I'm attempting to resurrect this blog as an outlet for all those mundane things I might have shared on Facebook or Instagram, but have decided not to. 

Mostly because I enjoy using that sort of thing as a record of the happenings in and around our house. But Social Media has become particularly icky and I don't really wish to contribute to or partake in it any longer. 

I still take pictures. I still want to record what's going on. I still want to share funny things that happen, even if only with my future self.

Right now, I'm wading through the technical aspects of doing this. Back when I blogged regularly, I did so usually from my desktop. Adding photos was easy, because I regularly uploaded the pictures from my phone or camera to files on my computer. Then 3 or 4 years ago, I got a phone with obscene amounts of storage, and I haven't done that since, and I honestly don't even know how anymore! Yes, all of my photos get backed up to google photos, but that is under Dave's google account, and this blog is under mine, so it won't let me access them. So there you go.

And then there was the bit where I wanted to be able to blog from the road when we took our big road trip in 2018. But blogger no longer had a mobile app. So I started a WordPress blog and Dave transferred all the content from this blog over there, which is why none of the former posts on here have any pictures. But WordPress has funny privacy settings. If your blog is public, it gets pushed out there to all sorts of whacko strangers who then decide to subscribe to it. Creepy. But if you set it to private, anyone who wants to read it has to set up a WordPress account. Super lame and inconvenient and most people won't do it.

So here we are. I'm sure my handsome IT guy will have a workable solution for me at some point. Maybe he just needs to remind me how to use a computer. 😂

At any rate, I may pop onto FB to post links, if I ever figure out how to actually make this work the way I want it to.

You can leave comments on the posts in here if you feel the need to do so. I'll see those.

Don't leave comments on the FB posts. I won't see those.