I woke up yesterday morning with a plan to make meatballs and sauce
for meatball subs for dinner. I really didn't feel like making
meatballs. Have I mentioned how disfunctional my kitchen is right
now??? So I convinced Randy that Saturday night would be the better
night for meatball subs, telling myself that I would make the meatballs
last night and cook them today. That didn't happen. Will we actually
have meatball subs at some point this week? Time will tell.
It's been one week since we closed on the house we are living in. In that time, I have not completed
a single room. But what I have done is: removed wallpaper from the
bathroom and main part of the house, washed the walls of the main living
area, bathroom, and kids' room, painted almost all of the trim, painted
the bathroom, kids' room, and have had the kitchen/main living area
painted with one coat--still needs one more. We've switched out the
hardware in the bathroom, changed door knobs on four doors, and are
currently putting the kids' curtains and animal net up. The bathroom is
also mostly done; it just needs a few more decorative items and won't
be fully complete until the floor of the kitchen/hall/bath is done.
I've also started removing the hardware from the upstairs apartment,
which I am also re-doing before we get a renter up there. As anyone who
has done a fair amount of painting will say, it's not the actual
painting that's a pain, it's the prepping. Remove all the hardware,
wash the walls, tape, trim, THEN get out the roller and load on a coat
of paint. Phew!!! And it's a good thing for child-proof gates! Those
have been super helpful at keeping my kiddos away from any wet paint.
Only yesterday did Abby (yes, purposefully) touch some wet paint. I'd say one incident out of 6 days is not bad!
Things
are starting to come together. I've decided that we need to completely
"gut" our kitchen. This will be an especially fun project as my
husband and brother-in-law are really looking forward to the task! We
have my husband's good friend who is a truly humble expert and so fun to
work with as our "foreman." I'll definitely post pictures of that
process as it unfolds! Yesterday was shopping day for the kitchen as
Marko and I and my brother-in-law, Eric, went to a couple stores to look
at cabinets, countertops, flooring, and appliances. I bought some
sample tile and back-splash and am so excited for the end result! After
such a busy day, Randy and I ordered take-out from Happy Jacks in
Leominster. Randy also made some killer margaritas. Although he used
my classic recipe, I swear it tasted better just because he's the one who made them. I like to call him the "doctor" of mixology.
A
good friend of mine stopped by yesterday to watch the kids for me while
I went shopping for a new kitchen. She's a teacher and she asked me if
it was weird that I'm not planning my classroom or getting ready for
school this year. Things have been so chaotic at home right now, that I
honestly haven't given it much thought. But the truth is, I'm at such
peace with my decision that no, it's really not that weird. In fact, I
am gearing up for a year of staying at home with my children
(potentially full or part-time). Abby will be starting preschool with
me this year and I'll have my hands full with household projects, I'm
sure. To help keep myself organized, I like to have a schedule. This
includes a general meal-plan. I've never had a problem planning
suppers. But the task of planning lunches and breakfasts and snacks and
keeping them healthy and varietal seems daunting to me. So I came up
with a handy menu for every week that can simply be adjusted and
specified to meet the needs of the week at hand, but provides enough
structure so that planning the weekly grocery list is not an hour-long
chore. I've already been asked by a few friends for the menu, so I'm
sharing it here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_4JDFBgdAuwOHY0QV9tcmlKRms/edit?usp=sharing
The breakfasts and dinners are very generalized to allow for more
specific and different meals to be prepared each week. For instance,
when it says "eggs" this could mean scrambled, fried over toast,
hard-boiled, quiche, egg sandwich, etc.
"Meatless/Mexican/Italian/Seafood" can mean a variety of things and
Sunday lunch isn't designated because for me, this is where I like to
get creative and it's my "whatever we're in the mood for" meal. Some
Sundays I like a hearty soup, stew, or roasted chicken. Other Sundays
we go out, or are at a gathering of some sort.
I am
already so excited about how this menu will help keep me structured
while staying at home and ease the anxiety of writing out a grocery list
each week. I hope you find it useful, too!
Tomorrow
we have a family reunion in CT and I'll be writing about what I make to
bring there. The upcoming week will be filled with some new recipes,
struggles with finding my rhythm in the tight kitchen, and a few planned
dinners with friends where I'll be making different desserts.
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