Weekly Menu

After talking to a coworker, a few other friends, I realized either I'm a freak, or my friends are freaks. I'm not so sure which is better. But that's beside the point. At lunch we were talking about dinner. Our office is all about the food. My coworker, Crystal, had no idea what to fix. She said she usually just wings dinner & it may end up being fast food or corn dogs from the microwave. My dinner? Beef stroganoff, pasta & peas. Tomorrow? Grilled chicken, mashed potatoes & green beans. Crystal was amazed. I already knew what I'm having tonight, and I had planned for tomorrow as well.

I do this every week. Saturday morning I sit down and plan a menu for the week. Ronnie does a lot of freezer cooking, but that's another post. I take into consideration what we have prepared in the freezer, and what meats we have already. Then, I put together a shopping list. I only buy things on the list. Since I use a lot of what is on hand, my weekly shopping bill is down to about $35-$50. When things we use frequently are on sale, I'll stock up the pantry or deep freeze then. Otherwise, I'll buy as we need.

This saves a ton of time as well. Take tonight for example. The beef stroganoff was from the freezer. Last night I moved it into the fridge to thaw. By the time I got home, it was completely thawed. I made pasta while heating the stroganoff. Toss some frozen peas to steam in the microwave & dinner is served. Dinner tonight took about 20 minutes from walking in the door to table. And that does allow for a potty break for Paige, and Mommy getting out of work clothes.

Tomorrow won't take long either. I already have the George Foreman out on the counter ready to go. On weeks when I'm really on the ball, it takes even less time. Some weeks I'll pre cook any rice or pasta that I'll need for the week. That seriously cuts down the cook time in the evening!

So, am I the only one? Am I the freak or are my friends?

Well, we survived

It wasn't pretty, but we survived yesterday. Paige was very cranky, and spent some good quality time sitting by herself in the bathroom. (Works better than her room since it has so many toys.) Paige decided to play on my rocking chair, which is usually fine. But she started to get very rough with trying to stand and jump from it while it was rocking. I kept telling her to stop or she would get hurt. Well, Mommy caught her. And now I have a really nasty bruise that covers most of my pinky on my right hand. Really not pretty.

She didn't take a nap at nap time. We could hear her playing. We each went in once, and put her back down. About an hour into what is usually a 2 hour nap, she called for Daddy. She had wet the bed. Ronnie showered her off while I changed the sheets. That one I don't get since she pottied just before nap time.

Ronnie still wanted to do something special with just the 2 of them. He packed her up and headed to the Exploreum. She loves it there. So much so that she didn't want to stop playing to go potty. She peed on herself. Ronnie had repeatedly tried to get her to potty, and she refused. As a result, she lost TV privileges yesterday afternoon and evening. They had to leave early to come home & get cleaned up. (Paper towels in the mens room doesn't really do much.)

She argued & acted up more during the afternoon. She pretty much refused to eat dinner. We refuse to cook 2 meals, so she may have gone to bed hungry. (And it was her fave meal anyway- fish, cous cous & green beans.) We did put her down to bed early also. Usually bedtime is 7:45. Last night we put her down at 7:15. We didn't hear a peep from her. She was so tired she was instantly asleep.

One of those days

I think it's going to be one of those days. Paige let us sleep late today, and we didn't get up until 7:30. That was a small miracle in itself. But, the extra sleep didn't help her any. She's cranky.

She started off by asking for chocolate milk. Ronnie said OK, and they started to the kitchen to get it. Then the mistake came. Paige told me that I couldn't have any. That it was only for her & Daddy. Now, I don't drink milk of any kind. I hate it. But, it's the principle of the thing. She's got to learn to share & to be nice. She's still refusing to share chocolate milk. She's had to sit in the bathroom this morning. And, she's been told there will be no chocolate milk today at all.

There's been much crying, screaming, a couple of temper tantrums, and an overall not very nice mood this morning. I'm hoping it gets better.

The Best & Worst of 2008

They're everywhere. The best of this from 2008, the worst of this category from 2008. There's Oscar Buzz, and lists of who we lost in 2008. I don't tend to agree with most of them. So, I've created my own. Here it is, Angie's Best & Worst of 2008.

Movies:
Best Actor- Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight. He freaked me out.
Best Action Movie- The Dark Knight
Best Comedy- Wanted. I know it wasn't supposed to be a comedy, but have you seen it?
Best Comic Book Adaption- Iron man. Except for the very, very end.
Best Surprise Moment- Hancock
Best Sequel: Hell Boy 2
Worst Movie: The Love Guru. I didn't see it, but the previews killed braincells.

TV:
Jumped the Shark: Nip/Tuck
Best SciFi: Battlestar Gallactica
Best Reality Show: Top Chef
Sorry to See Go: Stargate Atlantis
Why Was it on So Long?: Boston Legal
Please Cancel: Most Reality TV
Best Imports: Dr. Who/ Torchwood. Torchwood is a spin-off, so I'm justified in selecting both.
Thanks for Canceling: ER
Best Cartoon- Bob the Builder
Best Drama- CSI

Internet:
Over-hyped: Lyndsay Lohan is gay. And?
Over Drama Queened: Brittney Spears
Most Addictive Site: Twitter
Most Time Consuming: Facebook
Best News Site: ABC News
Funniest: LOLcats
Most Over Publicized: Brad Pitt/ Angelina Jolie. I really don't care.

Books:
Best New Read: Duma Key, Stephen King
Best Reread: Stephen King's Gunslinger Series
Most Anticipated: Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card
Most Read in our House: Sing a Song of Sixpence

Politics:
Stupidest Politician: Blagovich. Seriously, don't talk about it on your cell phone!
Shoulda Ran: Colin Powell
Most Un-newsworth Story: Palin's clothes shopping spree.
Is It That Serious?: Obama's get a dog.

Around the House:
Can't Believe I said: "Cat's don't wear chapstick."
Favorite Gift: Strawberry Shortcake Display Stand. I LOVE IT!!!
Nosiest: Paige on the drums.
Biggest Achievement: Using the potty.
Longest Overdue: Graduating from college.
Best Invention Used Around the House: DVR
Can't Live Without: George Foreman Grill
Most Used: Coffee pot
Mini Me Moment: Catching Paige laying in bed reading.

It's on!

It's New Years Eve. That means it's time for the SciFi Channels Twilight Zone marathon. Here's your chance to watch some of the best written science fiction ever. Rod Serling was an amazing writer.

The Twilight Zone was written during that time period when censors still viewed everything before it was aired. If the censor didn't like what it, it couldn't be aired. Most political and social commentaries wouldn't be seen. In order to get around this, many writers turned to science fiction. They were able to get out what they wanted to say, but were allowed to say it. Why not say how wrong nuclear war is? They aren't saying it about war between the US and Russia. This is talking about war on another planet. It's OK to talk about that.

I enjoy The Twilight Zone more than pretty much any other show. Why else would I have named my daughter Serling? It's a great show that tells a story while entertaining you. It's safe to watch with kids. Pop some popcorn and curl up on the couch. Try to catch my favorite episodes: Time Enough at Last, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, The Martians are Coming on Maple Street and To Serve Man. Those are the 4 best episodes, in my opinion.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!!

Remember my post a few days ago about Mommy being cranky? Well, let me say it wasn't pretty. Besides Paige being sick during the night for a couple nights in a row, Ronnie has been sick & snoring. Add to that his night job waking me up several times a night. Oh, and a side effect of a medicine I have to take is the dreams. It gives you these vivid, realistic dreams which make me wake up 3 or 4 times a night. Everything added together made Mommy not a happy Mommy. And we all know the saying "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." Yeah, it's true.

The past couple of nights Paige hasn't been throwing up during the night. Yeah! Ronnie hasn't had to work nights since last week. Two of the issues down. Finally, Ronnie's snoring & my side effect dreams. To combat those, I turn to another medicine, Ambien. We don't take it often, but when we do, watch out.

A couple of nights ago Ronnie slept on the couch & I took an Ambien. I got 10 hours of sleep straight. No waking up, no snoring, nothing. Then, because Ronnie has a been so tired from working 2 jobs, he took one the next night. I slept on the couch then. People walking in may have thought we had a fight or something. No, we just needed our sleep. Sometimes, in order to get the sleep we need, we have to sleep in separate beds. Or in our case, one of us in the bed, the other on the couch. I must say, we have a really comfy couch.

And now Mommy is happy, so we can all be happy.

Christmas Pictures- Finally!

This year there weren't a lot of pictures. Paige was a diva avoiding the paparazzi. She kept putting her hand up in front of the lens and saying "No take pictures of me!" I did snap a few, since it was Christmas, but for the most part, I didn't take that many.

Santa did a nice setup in the living room. She watched Die Hard as she set up the gifts.

Santa brought a doll house that's bigger than Paige, a Bob the Builder work bench & a pink dolphin. There's also tons of stuff under that tree!

The next morning, Paige came in & couldn't believe that Santa had brought it for her. She kept asking if it was hers, and if she could play with it.

She wasted no time in opening the gifts under the tree.


We were super cute in our matching jammies. This is one of my favorite traditions that we've started. I shop early to make sure I can get them matching, and in the correct sizes. On Christmas Eve after taking a bath, I pull out the new ones for her to put on. She got so excited this year. I laid out both sets of jammies on the bed so she could see that mine matched hers.

Paige and Daddy laid down on the floor to play with the new toys. She was so excited and overwhelmed she had no idea what to play with first.

Paige loves to color, and got 2 new Color Wonder sets. She was coloring with Daddy, while wearing 3 sets of barrettes in her hair. Everything else is scattered around.

Overall, I think there was a good haul this year.



I took my camera to Granny's house, but forgot to get it out and take any pictures. Paige took pictures on her camera, but they were odd pictures. If you would really like to see Granny's floor, let me know. I've got pictures of it. And of her couch, the table, and various other objects that stood still long enough. In a few weeks I'll review the hits & misses of Christmas. We need time to play with them to decide whether they were a good buy or not.