Menu Planning

If you have read my previous post Home Budgets and Extreme Anxieties you know that I do a monthly menu plan to help save money. (If you haven't read it you should check it out after you read this post!)
Thursdays are my days to go through coupons, search for freebies online and update my weekly menu according to any sales or leftovers we have in the house. Every week I will be posting my weekly menu plan, any sales it correlates with and one recipe of an item on that menu.

You can thank me and my culinary degree later!

                                              Vegetables in a grocery store   Photo by MFinderup

This weeks menu (beginning June 2nd):

Sunday:
Breakfast - Eggs, waffles and fruit
Lunch-Tuna salad (made from leftover tuna from previous week)
Dinner- Baked chicken, corn on the cob and broccoli

Monday:
Breakfast- Cereal and fruit
Lunch-Chicken salad with grapes (made with leftover chicken)
Dinner- Cobb Salad

Tuesday:
Breakfast- Toad in a hole
Lunch- Egg salad (made with extra eggs from Cobb salad)
Dinner- Sweet and Sour pork, rice and veggies

Wednesday:
Breakfast- Eggs, waffles, grits, fruit
Lunch- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with banana smoothies
Dinner- Spaghetti and meatballs

Thursday:
Breakfast- Cereal and fruit
Lunch- Grilled cheese and fruit salad
Dinner- Leftovers

Friday:
Breakfast- Muffins and fruit
Lunch- Peanut butter and banana sandwiches and strawberry smoothies
Dinner- Nachos

Saturday:
Breakfast- Eggs, pancakes, fruit
Lunch: Leftover spaghetti
Dinner: Cook Out!

Items on Sale at Food Lion

Serves 4 to 6
- Whole chickens 99 cents lb.
- Cantaloupe is 2 for $3
- Honeydew/ personal melons are 2 for $5
- Rice 2 for $4
- Green Beans $1.69 lb
- Cucumbers 99 cents each
- Green peppers 2 for $1
- Yellow squash or zucchini $1.49 lb

Sweet & Sour Pork Recipe

                                                         Chopsticks     Photo by vivekchugh
1 lb Diced pork
Sauce:
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C ketchup
2 T Soy sauce
1/2 C Water

Mix sugar, ketchup and soy sauce in sauce pan. Bring to boil.
Add water and and pork. Cook for an hour.
Ladle over over rice and steamed veggies!

Fruit Week

Last week was supposed to be The Week of Cousins because my nephew, Ryan, had his 5th birthday. But we had to change it due to the library having very little on cousins. So we learned about some of our favorite things... FRUIT! We love fruit at our house and it goes very quickly.

Books:
Molly and the Strawberry Day by Pam Conrad
Once Upon a Banana by Jennifer Armstrong
We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past by Jacqueline Woodson
Watermelon Wishes by Lisa Moser

                     
                                      Crafts: Apple stamping, finger painting and coloring pages.

                               This was also a great way to introduce the Fruits of the Spirit.

 

And Saturday the girls and I went to the Pungo Strawberry Festival with my mom and nephew. We saw animals, the kids rode ponies and we ate jumbo corn dogs and funnel cake topped with strawberries.

 

                                                 Great way to end Fruit Week!

Friends Welcome: Part 1

Summer is quickly approaching and here at Indigo Plantation we have already had our first cook out. Since we moved here last year we have tried to a do a weekly cook out with friends. I know this may sound a bit crazy but it's quite fun and it's nice to get together with different groups of friends. Potluck is always good and every one has a great time.

That got me thinking... what is a friend?

Merriam- Webster defines the word friend as

1 a: one attached to another by affection or esteem; b: acquaintance

2 a: one that is not hostile; b: one that is of the same nation, party, or group

3 one that favors or promotes something (as a charity)

4 a favored companion

 

Interesting. There are some people that I consider acquaintances and others I consider casual friends. Only a couple I find favored companions. These are the people I talk to about the things going on in my private life. And of course, there is my best friend who I tell my secrets, desires and even my dark thoughts. Everyone, in each of these categories of friends, gets invited to our home.

 

To be invited to some one's home is a gift. Truly an honor. Crossing the threshold of some one's home is entering their lives on a more intimate level.

 

Upon coming to our home you get the grand tour. You get offered a beverage and we'll probably sit and talk a spell. If you bring your kids there will definitely be squeals of excitement and crying. If it's warm out then we will probably sit outside and watch the kids play, the men folk gather around the grill and we may take a leisurely dip in the pool. After that, you make yourself at home. Some don't even knock anymore... I love that!

 

There is one thing you can be sure of. If you are invited to our home you are considered special. You are our friend and  you should take the invitation seriously because we don't invite just anyone. But friends are always welcome!

Updates and Fun Dates

In honor of Mother's Day we did not have any scheduled lesson plans last week. We did learn though!

Butterflies
Monday at storytime one of the grandparents told us she was a director for the Butterfly Society of VA. She helps educate the community and she had some caterpillars she was supposed to give someone who showed up. Well, I went home with 10 new "babies" and I am proud to say that I have not lost one! We have one in chrysalis form and 3 making their way there. I think in about a week we will see a black swallowtail butterfly and I am so excited!

I didn't know how educational this would be for a 2 year old but we watched a couple videos on Youtube about the life cycle of butterflies and she totally understands that the "snakes", as she calls them, will soon be butterflies.

http://butterflysocietyofva.org/

Workouts
My dance classes have been pretty sporadic. I finished one choreography class involving a 6 minute number, took a couple beginner classes to refresh and will be starting a new choreography for a show at the end of the month.
www.hipnoticbellydancing.com

Hapkido is going quite well. I have been practicing my self defense techniques, kicks and punch blocking. I still haven't conquered my fear of the forward roll but I feel a lot stronger and will be testing for my white belt this Thursday.
I know, due to a trip to the doctor, that I have not lost any weight but I am not concerned with that. I want to be able to protect myself and my family when the need arises so I want to be strong.

In other news I will be training with the Crisis Prevention Center of Tidewater tomorrow night. This step is a long time coming.  Find out more about this wonderful, life saving organization here: www.cpcfriends.org

I have had 2 weekends of great restoration and preparation. 1st at The Tender Warriors Women's Conference at Calvary Chapel and then last Saturday at a Women's Prayer Encounter at my church.
My husband and I have decided to become members of our church. Our Discovery Seminar is next week and we are looking forward to belonging to such a great church.

May's Playdate Party
Every month I host a playdate party for the moms that I know. So far it has been a great success and I think I may just make it an official playgroup!

This month we had a picnic in the park. We have a gorgeous park that wraps around a beautiful man made lake in my city. It was wonderful to all the new faces this time! I invited friends of friends, friends from storytime, from music class and, of course, my regular core group. And what a turn out!

We had fried chicken, potato salad, fruit and of course A GOOD TIME! The kids loved playing on the playgrounds and exploring by the lake. And the moms had fun talking, eating and sharing. I love this fantastic group of ladies and hope to have many more excursions with them this summer!

Things are about to heat up!

Grandpa

My Grandpa was the best father I ever knew. My Grandpa was pretty much the only father I ever knew. He was the only man who was consistently in my life. He loved me, accepted me and taught me more than I could imagine.

My Grandpa, for most of my life, smelled like tobacco and felt scruffy. His "whiskers" would always brush up against my cheek when he would hug and kiss me. He was the best book reader. He would do all the voices of the characters in the book and they would come alive. That may be why I don't remember a time when I couldn't read. And why I read so well. I was on a fifth grade reading level in the first grade.

My Grandpa told the best stories. They could have been from his childhood, when he met my Grandma or from his travels. I loved to sit on the back porch and listen to him talk. Or sing. Or whistle. Everyone did.

My Grandpa loved music. From big bands to Culture Club, he loved a good tune!
"Marezy Doats", "All the Pretty Little Ponies", "O Came, O Come", and "In the Good Old Summertime" are the ones he sang to me since I was a baby. And I sing/ have sung them to my girls for 20 years.

My Grandpa, like Noah Calhoun in The Notebook, loved one woman. But even better than Allie and Noah, it was real. He wrote about meeting her in his journal. He told of how he could not live without her and how they were married not long after that; right before he went to the war.

My Grandpa is the greatest man I have ever known and I judge all men by his example.  If my husband makes my children feel 1/3 of the way I feel about my Grandpa then they are very lucky kids. I know I am!

We're Going to Mexico!

When my husband Peter and I got married we started a great tradition: the kids pay for us to go out and eat on Cinco de Mayo. This has been a fantastic idea that we look forward to every year now.
This Cinco de Mayo our oldest, Maddison, and her fiance Michael took us out for pizza and wings. We had a great time playing games and eating together. A great start to Mexico Week!

Books:
The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred by Samantha R. Vamos
Cinco de Mouse-o! by Judy Cox
Let's Dance! by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Chavela and the Magic Bubble by Monica Brown

DVD:
Numeros Y Figuras

Craft:
Mariachi

We ended the week by going out for Mexican on Mother's Day! Yummm!
This week is Mother's Week so we will be taking a break and just going with the flow. Happy Mother's Week to me!

At My Grandma's House

When I was little and I would get mad at my mom I would want to run away to my Grandma's house. I didn't know how I was going to get there safely since my grandparents lived on the other side of the city. I just knew there was love and cookies!

At Grandma's the cookie jar sat on the kitchen counter, in the corner, very accessible and always full. If you didn't stop by the cookie jar when you came over then you just weren't human.

These days my time at Grandma's house is scarce. She has Alzheimer's and it's getting to the point where she doesn't really remember anyone. For a while it was hard to go there but I decided to put my big girl panties on for the sake of my girls. The truth is, Grandma may not remember, the little girls may not remember, but we will all know in our hearts that it happened.

                                            Grandma helping Haddie put her shoes on.
So last week we took a ride "over the river and through the woods".

On the outside it looks the same but no one can explain just how different it has become over the last 4 years. There is no cookie jar. The yard my cousins and I used to play in, running around the house freely, is now fenced in. A lot of what of what made it "Grandma's House" is gone.

Haddie in Grandma's backyard- Sept 2011.
Her first time touching grass! (6 months old)

Juliet in Grandma's backyard- May 2013
She loves to eat grass! (7 months old)

Haddie and Maddison 

But the things that are still there bring great comfort to me. Like the back porch. For most of my life it was my happy place. It's where my Great Grandma Grier taught me to tie my shoes, my Grandma taught me my times tables and my daughter Maddison beat me at checkers for the first time.

                                                                     Happy Place

                                            Haddie with my mom's dog Rose on the  porch.

                                      Griers on the porch: Jasper (my grandpa), Uncle Tommy
                                        Uncle Eurith (the baby) and Aunt Jewel (Angel)

Then there are those stairs that curve at the bottom. How many times did I slide down those things on my butt? A LOT! I would love to see my little ones enjoy that.

There's always the garage where my closest cousin and I would play with Grandma's pretty tin full of buttons for hours. And the slick garage floor we would roller skate on.

                                       My cousin and me at Grandma's for Christmas ... 1974?
And finally, the barn. My Grandpa and his brother built it when I was just a baby.

                                                       The most awesome barn ever!
                                                    Looks like it's under construction.

Lots of great memories were made there. Maybe one day, I too won't be able to remember but for now I will continue to make memories with my babies in tow.

Flower Week

                                               April showers bring May flowers!

How fitting that the end of April and beginning of this last week it rained to bring us the beautiful month of May. I'm very excited about this month as it brings warmer weather, Mother's Day and we put the pool up.
Anyway, it was flower week last week and we had a blast!
Monday it was raining and pouring so the theme at storytime was rain. Perfect! When we got home we painted and colored on the art wall.

                                                       Haddie's fingerprint flowers

Juliet's footprint flowers

 

Books:

 So Happy by Kevin Henkes

Good Morning Garden by Barbara Brenner

Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee, Do You Know Me? by Anne Rockwell

What Does Bunny See? by Linda Sue Park

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold

My goodness the rain did not let up for 3 days so on the 1st of May we celebrated May Day by making our very own maypole inside!

 

Videos:

Barney Outdoor Fun and Barney Let's Play Outside

(I know it's ironic to watch videos about playing outside but in my defense it rained 4 out of 6 days!)

 

Thursday was finally sunny. And just in time for our field trip to the Botanical Gardens. All three of my girls and I met up with some friends so the little ones could play. Then the girls and I had lunch and enjoyed the tram tour. Right now at the gardens they have a glass sculpture nature exhibit. All the I'm not sure that we got to see all of them but every one we saw was absolutely beautiful! It was a great day, with great company and absolutely lovely flowers and landscapes.

 

 

We rounded out the week of flowers with cupcake paper flowers and changing our decorations on our door wreath!

 

 

 

Joyce Meyer Conference

Last weekend I got the pleasure of going to the last day of a Joyce Meyer conference. She comes to the area every year, for free, and I have never gotten the chance to go. This time I wasn't sure I was going to get to either. I had been dealing with an illness which would have made sitting in a conference very uncomfortable. But God wanted me there and I really wanted to go. So go I did!

And let me tell you, I am so glad I did. It was short but I was refreshed and renewed in the couple of hours I was there. Amazing! It started with worship with Matt Redman and Kristi Nockels. It was pretty cool to see all those grown women rush the stage like they were at a rock concert.

Then they took up the offering which is going to be set apart for orphans. Oh boy. Then Joyce gave some statistics about orphans in the United States. I was very impressed with this because every time I hear of people wanting to adopt or help children the children are usually from other countries. Now, I know that they need our help but I am a firm believer in taking care of our own children right here first. If you can't take care of your own then how can you help someone elses?

Did you know that there are approximately 400,00 orphans in the US? Joyce said that there are just as many evangelical churches here as well. So if every church took care of just one child there would be no orphans. But we know that's not going to happen. Well, at least I do. So who issupposed to help these children? Who will step up and help the 17,000 she said were in my area alone? She confirmed something I have had on my heart for several years. That in itself was worth going for.

When she took the platform she spoke on "Always Believing". She provoked us to turn off our minds and check what was in our hearts when we were faced with unbelief. Thinking versus knowing. Good stuff. What do you know? The believe it!

The conference ended on "Enjoying Everyday Life". I was personally challenged to stop being so complicated and stop worrying so much. I tend to get really intense with my husband and oldest daughter. I become a great big party pooper. Which is terrible because I love a good party!

All in all, I am so glad I went. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I am so grateful for my family, our home and our friends. I don't deserve all that I have and I know now what it is that I am supposed to do. Plain and simple!