Summer Time, Busy Time!

Good Morning All!!

Although, I seriously doubt I will manage to not only finish writing, but edit, add photos, and actually publish this anytime this morning.

Things have felt like a complete whirlwind here for the last few weeks. In my last post, eons ago, I mentioned my business blog, and that I would post a link to that. It's here, and I'm hoping to get another article up this week or next week.

My husband recently brought home two pieces of furniture that we've made into our temporary entertainment center. We had outgrown our old set up...well, a few years ago! So, while the pieces of furniture weren't ideal, they definitely helped us greatly when it came to rearranging the living room. We were able to arrange it in such a manner that we gave ourselves sort of a faux foyer to our tiny little space. (Both the front door, and the door to the carport come off the living room....)

We did end up finishing our school work before GCA's last calendar day of school, and that was excellent. However, I still have books, materials, and their computer taking up space in my house. For one (two?) good reasons. One, I do not have a box big enough for my single returns label. And, two, the school has yet to tell me where I need to send the computer! So, I found a box, of course the UPS store sells them, and that's who the materials shipping label is from. I just need to put the things in the van, go do it and be done with that. And as for the computer, it's all boxed up. I kept the boxes it came in, my husband helped me stuff everything back (except the printer, damn.), but it's FedEx shipping!!!

I am not sure what next year holds for us when it comes to the kids education. We are currently waiting to hear back from a local, out of district school. For some reason, the school board has not yet seen fit to address the issue of "out of district" students. This is rather frustrating, I would like to make sure I am aware of my options before deciding what to do.

In the mean time, I am trying to enjoy the summer, and trying to help find things the kids will enjoy doing this summer. We have been to the library almost every week, and the pool. (Our neighborhood doesn't have a pool, so we go visit my Grandma, and use her community pool.) We are thankful to have some playmates on our street, just one house over! The girls (usually) get along great, and despite the huge age gap, the boys enjoy playing together as well. I really love having someone so close I can hang out with, and I hate when I'm so busy I don't have time to hang with THE NEIGHBOR! lol

On Thursday, I got a wild idea to sit down, with the huge white board, and make a monthly menu. We probably won't keep the menu as is, forever. I'm sure there will be some dishes that we don't want to try again, or that I won't want to make again. But, I sat down, and I did it! It took roughly 5 hours, but, I have a full menu. Saturday's are open for alternating eating out, or for having something super simple (frozen pizza ;) ) so that I can catch a small break.

And while I was working on that, The Feminist Breeder posted this piece, and I thought it was cool of her to share her personal food story. My food story isn't the same, but it had the same end result. A lack of learning to cook foods from scratch, has lead to a life of pre-packaged, processed or fast foods. Do I fault my mother? Not entirely. I don't know how grandma cooked when mom was growing up, but I do know, that what you learn what you live when you're a child. I am trying my hardest to see to it that my kids can make positive food choices.

As a result, my menu is full of home cooked meals. Now, it's not perfect. For example, Friday night I made chicken, but the rice was from a package. Baby Steps people ;) But the end result was perfect. The kids ate what I gave them, I ate a full helping, and then what got put away was rapidly put away by Hubby when he got home from work!! I was not only pleased that everyone enjoyed it, but that it was so good, there were no leftovers!! Last night was homemade pizza, something I started making a few months ago. But last night I used a jarred sauce. I picked it up, so that...in the future...I can have some dough pre-made, ready for the Hubby and Kids to make their own pizza on a night that I won't be home to make dinner. I should have made my own sauce, it's always better. But, the pizza was still good....and I [i]think[/i] there is one slice left over.

Tonight is a simple dinner, sandwich wraps. I bought some turkey and chicken from the deli, along with a few slices of some different types of cheese. My daughter LOVES these, which is a huge bonus, as she's my picky eater. I think next month we'll try spinach, or sun-dried tomato wraps rather than the plain ones I picked up for tonight. But, again....baby steps. Tomorrow night, I am making teriyaki sauce from scratch, and beef tips and noodles. I'll let you know how/if that turns out :)