Menu Monday: The Confession Edition plus Progress Report

Okay so in addition to this being my menu post it will also be a one week until the end of the month progress report. What have I done this month? Not much. I finished the butterfly project. I did an owl craft for a friend of mine. Here are some specific things I haven't done in the entire month of August.
1. Cleaned the kitchen** or bathroom floors.
2. Deep cleaning of the bathroom
3. Fridge Cleaning
4. Put away clean laundry
5. Cleared out anything to get rid of or give.
6. Cared about cleaning at all.

So, I'm hoping that today I can get myself into a manic fit and do it. Maybe all it will take is the lovely smell of bleach water to get me started. Soon if I don't do something a new species of sentient leftovers will be discovered in our home, watching tv and eating popcorn.
ETA: I just finished cleaning the kitchen, its floor and walls. So at least something has been accomplished. I am about to embark on a journey through the clean laundry pile. It has come to my attention that if I would simply fold the clothes as they arrived from the laundry room this would not happen. I have known this for sometime yet still choose to do nothing. Maybe it's a weird genetic thing or medical condition. I'll make a note to get this tested asap but I may have to postpone laundry folding to do so. 

So on to the menu:

Monday: Oven Chicken Nuggets, Sweet potato fries, Broccoli
Tuesday: Turkey-Quinoa Meatloaf, Cheddar rice casserole, Peas
Wednesday: Crepes with Cottage Cheese, Apples, Bacon
Thursday: Crock-pot Chicken Paprikash, Green beans
Friday: Salmon with roasted beet salad, oranges, and avocados.
Saturday: Ham and Cheddar rice casserole(leftovers), peas
Sunday: Shrimp, spinach-yogurt dip, pita chips, cucumbers

Monday Progress Report

So it's diet time. The whole family.
Here's why.
Typical snacks include:

1. Fruit snacks
2. Ice Pops
3. Granola bars(reduced sugar - but still)
4. Cat cookies from Trader Joe's 
5. Crackers - any and all kinds
6. Ice cream
7. Chips

Notice anything? Yeah. So did I. So here are the replacements:

1. Fruit - Apples, Grapes, Berries, Plums, Bananas
2. Veggies - Baby Carrots, Snap Peas
3. Chocolate Rice Cakes
4. Yogurt to make our own frozen yogurt. 
5. Dried Fruit
6. Almonds
7. Popcorn

We have lots of yummy fresh food, an awesome grill, and a tiny bit of motivation that I'm going to squeeze until it's dry. It's time to start teaching Ruby the right way to eat.

August Syllabus, July Report Card B-

August. This is what I think of when I say the word. August. Hot. Very Hot. Also overwhelming. This is the last month before the down swing into the holiday season. I've found that the year is a lot like a roller-coaster. The faster you go up to the top, the faster the drop. Since this year has flown by so far I guess there's really only a few weeks until Christmas. Okay so I'm exaggerating. A little.  I've noticed my anxiety levels climbing lately. I'm starting to freak out worry about practically everything, even in my dreams. I'm starting to fray around the edges a little so my August projects might seem a little more Me-focused, than they have been.

Back to business. July Report Card.

House Projects - B

• Hang Curtains: A
• Find Something for Kitchen/Ruby work surface: C (I did find something. It needs to be painted and brought over. Since that wasn't done maybe I should give myself an incomplete or something.)

Personal Project - C
I did get a binder for all of the recipes I saved. I didn't organize them, but plan on it today. I also have a cute idea to make it look like my existing recipe book but it involves a trip to a color copier and I have not wanted to provide that amount of effort.

Group Project - B+
We went on all of our field trips. We watched less tv - with the exception of yesterday. It was too darn hot. Plus yesterday was technically August.

So based on my superior math skills I say July was a B- and I'll take it.

August Syllabus

House Project

1. Make-up work from last month. Finish the kitchen.
2. Bedroom Makeover. Clean it. Move it around. Get rid of junk.
3. Clutter purge

Personal Project

1. Make-up work from last month. Finish the recipe project.
2. Cousin Lilly's birthday project

Self-improvement Project
Walking program.
I've signed up for a daily newsletter for a walking for fitness and stress reduction plan. Gives goals and set daily requirements and some required thinking activities. I'm hopeful. It seems doable.

June Report Card - Solid B

Farewell Month of June. Filled with Family, Father's Day, Farmer's Markets and FUN! 
Apparently, June was brought to us by the letter, F. Thankfully that does not also reflect the grade I'll be giving myself this month.

Goal #1
This month my personal project includes making a new bag for myself.
DONE!!

 

Goal #2
My house project will be new curtains for the kitchen.
Partial Credit.  I have finished one panel of the two. The other is pinned and ready to sew and will be finished today. Since today is technically a Holiday Monday, I'm taking it as a "teacher work day" and doing some extra credit on my holiday to bump my grade up a little.


Group Assignment Goal for the month: NO THROWING AWAY LEFTOVERS!!! 
Done. We threw out one small container of one portion of a stir-fry because it was originally intended for my lunch the day after having it for dinner, but I got a little bit of a stomach bug. Even though J and Roo didn't experience the same thing therefore ruling out the food as a possible culprit, I was gun shy and threw it away to be better safe than sorry.

I finished the Great Magazine Clean Out. Going from having about 40 magazines to about the size of ones worth of pages. My cleaning schedule has slacked off this week. I'm blaming to holiday and a little more stress than usual. Though even in that slacking it's nothing like it used to get.


For the Month of June, I'm going to give myself a Solid B. There was effort, mostly success, clear goals and working toward them. Some things were left off but overall I believe the was a general understanding of the assignments.

Second First Anniversary and a Menu Monday

So Sunday was our First Wedding Anniversary. Saturday night we had Ruby stay the night with her grandparents so that J and I could enjoy a night out to dinner and some time to ourselves. We decided that would be the night we'd stop trying NOT to have a child. So we'll see.
I should be registering for classes soon for the Fall semester. Looking over the courses, they are as necessary as boring as they sound. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Things are moving along nicely for the month of June. With two and a half days to go, I still need to make the curtains for the kitchen. When talking to J about it he said that I should give myself a one-day extension due to the last needle on my sewing machine breaking when I was 3/4 of the way done with my bag project. If I need it I'll take it.

I did not clean the hood vents in the kitchen in bathroom last week, so first thing after the post, that's what I'll do. 
Floors were vacuumed. Dishes were done. No leftovers wasted, week 3. Farmer's Market visited and came home with some lovely cantaloupe and a giant bag full of patty pan, zucchini, round zucchini, cucmbers, and yellow squash. I'll have to investigate some squash recipes.

So for this weeks menu:

Monday - Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry with Pineapple and Noodles
Tuesday - Chorizo, Red Pepper, and Rice Stuffed Round Zucchini Squashes with Quesadilla for the Roo.
Wednesday - Pizza night, bacon, mushroom, and yellow squash a family favorite
Thursday - Sweet Corn Pasta Salad with fresh sweet corn from the farmers market
Friday - Date night with Grilled Burgers and pasta salad, probably some grilled zucchini.
Saturday - Fish and Chips with Peas
Sunday - Fourth of July Family BBQ at J's Parents Summer House.

Father's Day Recap

This was one of those rare weeks when we reached our yearly quota for hosting family and friends in one weekend. We had a very good time. Ruby loved seeing her grandparents and her five year old cousin. They went to Legoland. We painted pictures together. We even played marching band as documented above. One big lesson I learned this weekend was that it seemed easier to parent with two kids around. Granted I'm not saying it is always easier, but the dynamic changed. Instead of feeling like I was constantly at war with my arch nemesis over dyer issues like picking up toys and wearing pants, I felt like the one in charge. For the first time ever I really felt like two kids wouldn't be so bad.

For Father's day this year, J wanted to take Ruby swimming at a fun indoor pool with zero depth entry and a water-play ground. We had a blast. Sunday was the day everyone left for home, so after 11am we were a small boring family again and free to relax and enjoy each others company. All in all a great week.

On to the accountability portion:

1. All cleaning was done according to the schedule.
2. Laundry was even done on Saturday morning and folded/put away by J.  
   Thanks sweetie.
3. The meal plan was altered slightly. We didn't have tacos last week because we had leftovers to eat. All other meals were prepared and devoured.
4. No work on June projects has been started. Thinking about starting later today, but not holding my breath.

No farmer's market as my refrigerator is still overflowing with food waiting to be prepared and eaten.
Today Ruby and I made Banana-walnut-chocolate chip muffins, for breakfast. While the oven was hot I threw together a strawberry-rhubarb crumble for later tonight.

I have been reading. Last week I managed to read Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll. A great short read. I've moved on the The Land of Laughs also by Carroll.
Today is shaping up to be a nice lazy day at home with my baby girl.

Blog post to-do list for the next month:

1. Father's Day craft project
2. Product Review - Mission Fig Goat Milk Ice Cream
3. Second, First Wedding Anniversary
4. Making the curatins
5. Momma's got a brand new bag.
6. Preserving Apricots - Roman style
7. Blueberries and birthdays

Project of the week - Cleaning the kitchen ceiling and the hood vents in bathroom and kitchen.

Menu to follow.
 

Monday Progress Report

It's Monday and I believe I have successfully accomplished my goals for the week.

I stuck to the meal plan until Sunday. We made an impromptu visit to the in-laws house to fix my aging and unruly back. I enjoy the perk of having a physical therapist in the family by marriage. After that I was in no mood to cook any of the delicious things I had picked up from the farmers market that same day. Fresh English peas, local red currants, fresh Madeleine cookies baked by a local French catholic abbey. Yum. We ended up picking up our dinner instead. Since technically Sunday is my 'fun' day on the meal plan I still consider it a win.

As far as the cleaning schedule, it was all completed just some of them weren't completed on the same day I had listed. Some early, some late, some like the magazine de-clutter project is still going on. In fairness, I had eight magazine holders full of old Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, and Cooks Illustrated to go through and keep only the recipes I was likely to make. So far I have removed about a magazines worth of pages from six of those magazine holders. Only two to go and I'm planning on finishing that up tonight.
On the agenda for this week:

Monday - Finish magazines project, grocery shopping
Tuesday - Clean bathroom and wash floors, Fold and put away laundry, unload car and vacuum car out.
Ew to the car. Toddlers are messy and I don't remember the last time we did this.
Wednesday - Vacuum, straighten balconies, Father's Day project
Currently our balconies are being used by an expecting squirrel couple. We've been giving them their space but my parents will expect somewhere to suck on their cancer sticks away from the rest of us.
Thursday - Dinner with a friend, Finish up Father's Day Project.
Friday - Hanging with the parents
Saturday -Dinner with Friends
Sunday - Father's Day

It's a light week because we're entertaining most of the time I usually have to do things around the house.
Next week I'm going to have to start my house project and personal project if I'm going to finish by July.

Now for the obligatory picture of my daughter doing something supercute.

The Asian Chicken Noodle Salad was a big hit with everyone. Even when she had cold leftovers for lunch one day after. This weeks meal plan to follow.