Menu Plan Monday 6/20 - Rude Neighbors

Don't get me wrong, I like a party as much as the next guy.  That being said, my neighbors and their parties are the rudest people there are.  They have in the past kept the music, yelling, fighting, throwing glass and such going until 3 or 4 in the morning.  A couple of times it went straight through the morning not ending until around 5 in the morning.  Understand there is literally about 5 feet between where they sit around cranking it up and our bedrooms.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if they would do this on a Friday night, but no...week nights when we have to get up to work.  Only two of the 8 adults living there actually have jobs.  I know I am being kind of hard nosed about the noise, but I would prefer to be able to hear my TV, my music, or sleep.  We all get up about 5 AM to start our days around here as well.  While I have enjoyed the weeks off from the party circuit, tonight is the worse yet.  They have a live band, with sound system cranked up.  The more they drink, the louder they get, they weren't on key to begin with, as the night progresses it just gets worse.  The guy cannot sing, the tuba player is choppy and the accordion player sounds like his instrument has been run over.  Sadly, there is absolutely no where I can go in the house to get away from the sound.

Menu planning around here is going to be kind of half hearted for the next two weeks.  This week is going to be a lot of cleaning  and high temps so I am doing some soups and salads.  Quick, easy and especially cheap (as in what is already on hand).  The following week, oldest daughter and the two grand sons are coming for a visit so have absolutely no idea what we will be doing what days.


That in mind, here is what my week looks like at the moment:
M. - Minestrone Soup and bread
T. - Chicken salad
W. - Baked talapia, salad, carrots
Th. - Pizza - home made
F. - CORN (cleaning out refrigerator night)
S. - Everyone on their own
Su. - Daughter arrives - probably burgers


For added inspiration, head over to Organized Junkie for her Meal Plan Monday post.  Hundreds of cooks link their blogs each Monday listing their own meal plan for the week and some are wonderful about sharing their recipes as well.


Momma dog Lexy and puppies #1 - #4 are doing well.  We numbered them, not naming them.  We are not keeping any of them.  No matter what daughter J wants.  I admit they are cute, but what puppy isn't.  I wish she could have waited about two more weeks though, until the grand sons were gone.  Lexy has decided that her little brood needs to be inside the house, which is fine until the grand sons come.  It will not work with them running about.  It was kind of cute though, J. went and stretched out by the dog bed and Lexy pushed on her puppies over next to J.'s arm.  It was really sweet to realize the trust this dog has in our family.


Tonight was kind of nice, our oldest son and his wife dropped by to eat and spend a few minutes with hubby for Father's Day.  I made all the sides (mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, cold slaw, baked beans) and then picked up the special $10 Sunday bucket for the meat, along with some biscuits.  Guess that is enough for tonight, need to go take some aspirin.  OH THIS MUSIC IS MADDENING!

Oh, and as an explanation of why I am writing this at night but posting of a morning.  I write my blog post for the MPM on Sunday nights, save it, then post it on Monday morning.  It saves time for me and I like trying to get high in the listings for all the blog links.

Getting Better? Puppies

Took Miss J. to the doctor's on Thursday afternoon.  With an appointment, once again, was there almost 2 1/2 hours.  And it was a slow day.  I really like her doctor, but two things I don't like.  He has to visit way too much during the visit, loves to hand out referrals for PT.  Problem with PT is that with our co-pay it cost us $25 each visit, which is usually twice a week for about 10 weeks.  I do realize that therapy will help her heal up quicker, but that is a lot of money.  So...we will evaluate that need when we get there.  Kind of just wait and see how it goes.

It really does look like it is worse, but it is much better.  Swelling has gone down and she is able to put a bit of weight on it now.  I know that a lot of times bruising does always look much worse before it gets looking better.  Still going through the color change stages (you know, a little purple to more purple and red, then the green and yellow show up just before it starts fading) but thankfully it really is a minor injury.  Doctors have checked x-rays again and see no breaks or cracks, skin wound is shallow so no stitches is needed.  Praise God that she wasn't hurt as bad as she could have been.

On the home front, my little garden, emphasis on little, is surviving.  I have two tomatoes, each on a different vine.  I harvested one lone strawberry, it was terribly tart, but the three strawberry plants are doing the best and at least look good on the patio.

I have also moved my cookbook collection around.  Previously it was located in about three different spots because I just couldn't find an area to hold it all.  Maybe I have too many cookbooks?  NO NEVER!  At any rate, I am trying to round them all back up and get them located in one spot.

I have left an opening for some books I hope to find.  I know I have them, have just not been able to find them yet.  The top portion is mostly all of my "collection" cookbooks.  In other words, they were made for fundraising and members of that group have all entered their best or favorite recipe and their names appear with it.  I love these type of cookbooks, the recipes are always what I call TNT (Tried n True) so you know that it will be a success.  Also, you know that the recipe is a family favorite of that member, or family tradition (may have been grandma's), the recipes are for the most use normal ingredients with no fancy techniques (in other words, just plain old home cooking).  There are also some really old cookbooks from the 40's and 50's that are just fun to have around. I think one of my interesting cookbooks is the Fredericksburg Home Kitchen Cook Book published by the town of Fredericksburg, TX as an anniversary edition of the town.  It was first published in 1916, this book is actually the 10th edition of this cookbook and was printed in 1971.  However, the town has a strong German heritage and so does my mom's side of the family so there is a double link there to my attachment.  The bottom section is mainly the yearly collection of the favorite recipes for Quick Cooking magazine.  It is published as an annual hard back book and at one time we would receive it free as a gift from our church's financial organization for being a member. This used to be one of the magazines from Reimer Publications  back in the day and has since been morphed (along with a couple of other publications) in to the magazine Simple & Delicious of today.  Yes, I have subscriptions to it and Taste of Home, which I read over and over and usually add many of the recipes to my meal plans.  I have decided to look through all these cookbooks and start adding in a few recipes each week from them.  Gives the family a little change and myself a new perspective on some common foods.

In moving my collection and going through them, I also found several little pamphlet style cookbooks. You know, that came with an appliance or such.  Some were printed in the late 30's and 40's.  One is for a refrigerator and I am sure they were developed to entice the home cook to purchase the product by showing her what all she can make by using the appliance.  I often think how much pleasure a homemaker would have in making the change from an old fashioned ice box (that cooled with a block of an ice) to an electric refrigerator.  I admit I would love to live the simpler life of days past, but I do dearly love my modern appliances.

Finally, for the newest news of the family.  Hubby went out back to work with the pool pump and found a mess which led him to the whimpering of one of the dogs. This is what he found.

Momma dog had four puppies.  This is her first litter, will be her only litter as we plan to get her fixed after this.  All is doing well and she seems to be doing everything that she should.  We have moved her and the puppies inside for a few days though.

Dreaming

I have been so darn lazy since the camping trip.  Guess maybe I relaxed a little too much.  Also think I came home with a bit of a cold.  The second night I took a weird chill and just could not get warm.  It was not that cold there, as I was the only one cold.  At any rate, the nose has been alternating between stopped up honking to running like the great falls.  Still is and it drives me crazy.  Because of a little heart problem, I cannot take a decongestant.  What ever it is that has attacked me has left me with a huge case of the blahs and absolutely no energy.  I need to find the energy some how though.


Daughter J is healing up some what.  I am still concerned at the swelling.

This is what she came home with.  I posted about her little mishap earlier.  We go back to the doctor today and I will take another photo of the new bruising and swelling.  The coloration has now gone along the side of the foot and up the the ankle but was assured that there are no breaks.  I am anxious to see what the doctor says about her wound though, want to confirm the it is actually healing as well as I think it is.


Speaking of photos, I wish I could figure out what I am doing to keep getting a dark shadow in the bottom corner.  It shows up no matter where I position myself.  I have tried to get behind the light source, beside the light source, tried lining up the shot and then moving my head and body to the side, nothing really works.


I was sure that my little container garden had died and was a total loss.  Everything was so wilted and limp, so dry.  I had watered heavily on Friday afternoon just before we headed out, we were back on Sunday and it was just dry as a bone.  I went a head and watered everything to see what might possibly be saved.  I watered again on Monday.  Tuesday, I was completely surprised to find that almost all of the plants had come back.  Was like a little kid on Christmas when I spotted tomatoes actually growing. The lettuce is a total loss, it just isn't going to revive, but everything else came back nicely.  Just wish I didn't have to water every day.  Told my husband we have a mini (emphasis on mini) farm.  I have tomatoes, strawberries and herbs growing.  Found a third set of fry (name for baby fish) in my aquarium.  Really do need to clean out the smaller tank and transfer some of the adults over.  And to top it all off, it would appear that our dog is in the family way. 


I have been dreaming lately.  I would dearly love to have a house on a large enough lot to have a real garden, some chickens and maybe a dwarf goat.  Room to raise out a calf or two and hog for butcher.  When I was growing up, our house sat on about 5 acres of land.  An alley ran through it, the house was on the front part, the back part held a small orchard, grapes, berries and small corral.  We always had a big garden.  Dad would let me put up signs and sell the excess each summer.  What I wouldn't give to have that place back.  The house we left in Texas was on an acre.  The first couple of years we had a huge garden, then we ran in to water problems and reduced it down a bit.  We always had tomatoes (hubby loves to grow them for some reason), yellow squash, peppers, cantaloupe and watermelon.  I had even planted some grape vines, but a neighbor's dog came visiting and felt the need to dig the sticks up.  The last two years we lived there, we didn't even have enough water to keep the grass up, much less a garden.  In fact it had gotten so bad with the water that if I was running a load of laundry we couldn't flush the toilet.  Barely had water to shower properly. If some one used the toilet, had to wait for it to stop running before we could wash the dishes or our hands.  A water district had been formed to save the area and we had just bought in to it when hubby was transferred.


At any rate, if we are ever financially able to do so (like if we win the lottery) I will be moving us to better place.  I know that we will never be able to afford (even if it could be found) a place that we could be totally self-sufficient, but I will find a place that I can plant a garden and some fruit trees.  


Life would be a bit sad if a person couldn't at least have their dreams.  Don't you think?


Thanks for stopping by.  This evening we are making ice cream.  Stop back in and see how it goes.  Haven't done this in about 15 years or so.

Menu Plan Monday 6/13

So, I told you last week was going to be crazy.  It was.

We made it up the mountain for a week end camping trip, took the dirt bikes for some riding.  My favorite trail was totally impassable due to the wild winter they had up there.  It wasn't so much a fierce winter as it was an unusually wet winter.  The rain and snow made for lots of trees and falling over, large branches breaking off, big rocks sliding down hillsides and great big deep ruts from run off.  The other trail, we call it the big loop, had a few mud holes, but was able to ride it with out problem.  On the second day however, my youngest daughter J. was bound and determined to keep up with her father and had a wee mishap.  They were riding my favorite trail to see if my quad could make it.  When they found that the trail was in really bad shape they turned around to head back.  Her foot got caught by a fallen tree and the force split her skin open, which caused the foot to swell up as well.  Thankfully, after a trip to urgent care on Sunday, nothing is broken.   This does cause her great discomfort, she is on crutches for a week to keep weight off the wound.  Biggest problem with this is, she is in the middle of trying to make the school volleyball team.  Was supposed to start the next session of ice skate lessons as well.  The lessons have been put on hold until the next session, but she is still determined to make the volleyball team.  We will see how it heals.  I think she likes being on crutches just a little too much.

I finally got my last stack of loose recipes filed in proper categories while on the camping trip.  I did not get a bit of progress made on any of my planning though.  While at the doctor's office, I did make a bit of progress on creating a chore list and to do list for myself.  Will be working on that a bit today as I do some work in the house.  I need to do laundry in the worst way and the little bit of help I was planning on is not going to be able to help now that she is hurt.  Also, the clean up in the house has not taken center stage, so to speak, as I found out yesterday that the grand sons will be coming in a week instead of August and that their mom, my oldest daughter C. will be coming with them.  That will also throw in another week that menu planning will be impossible as we will have no idea until we wake up what we will be doing.

I will post my progress as it happens.

Here at our house this week, the plan is:

Mon. - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad
Tue. - Cheese enchiladas, rice
Wed. - Italian sausage penne bake
Thu. - Chicken strips, rice casserole
Fri. - Baked steak, oven baked potatoes, carrots
Sat. - Pizza

Kind of simple fare this week, if you need some inspiration pop over to I'm an Organizing Junkie and check out Meal Plan Monday.  Hundreds of cooks link their blogs with their menu plan for the week.

Thank you for stopping by and come back to visit often.