Menu Plan: Wait, This Is Vacation?

So I was all excited thinking that there are only 2 days left of school and not only do I not need to iron uniforms anymore, but we'll have a little extra downtime.

Ha! Ha Ha Ha!

And then I looked at my schedule for this week and realized that we have something to go to almost everyday this week and some days there are two things we need to go to. So much for that.

So here's what we'll be eating this week:

**Ham and Chickpea Soup--I know soup isn't really a summer sort of food. But it's fast and easy to make, or I can just throw it all in the crockpot and leave it. And it makes for good leftovers. And my tomato-hating 6 year old will eat it because he hasn't figured out yet that red broth means it has tomatoes in it. Mwahaahahahahahaha! Bread and salad to go with it.
**Chicken and Artichoke Veggie Packets--The most recent issue of Self magazine has recipes for all these packet meals that are cooked on the grill. I'll do mine in the oven instead, but I'm stealing the mess free idea. Ooh, which reminds me, I need to buy foil.
**Key West Chicken Avocado Sandwiches--I love to make sandwiches when it's hot. This one uses roti chicken, so I'll try to buy a big enough one that we can get two meals out of it. And then use the bones and such to make stock. Maybe I'll even manage to time it so the stock goes into the ham soup.
**Crockpot Chicken Cassoulet--Ages ago, I bought a bag of frozen blackeyed peas and they are still languishing in the freezer. So this is a great way to get rid of them.
**Meatless Quesadillas--My last package of goodies from ShopRite was loaded down with different kinds of salsas, so I'll make meatless quesadillas with beans and cheese. Yum! And maybe pears or something to go with it.

What are you eating these days?

This and That

It's been awhile since I've had anything to blog about. Or, rather, I've been too busy to sit down to write. Or too ants-in-my-pants to be able to sit down and write anything that actually made sense.

So let's see, what have we been up to?

There's the new job. It's going well, I'm very happy. It's funny how things work out. I have plenty to say about the new job, but I'm also not sure how aware my new boss is about my presence on the Internet. So I won't say anything about the new job. Other than I'm happy.

The kids had a good time at Easter. It was the first time in ages that it wasn't so cold the girls needed sweaters over their spring dresses. It was actually quite hot. I won a dress from Shabby Apple on A Simpler Life. Which is awesome, because it gave me the excuse to go buy a super sexy pair of 3 inch heels to go with it. But also bad because now I go to the Shabby Apple site all the time and look at all the dresses that I want.



The garden is coming along too. I did a preemptive tea tree oil treatment of my kitchen and so far it seems to be working to keep the ants away. Wahoo! The weeds, however, are still coming. And I discovered, the hard way, that spraying weeds growing amongst moss with vinegar kills the weeds but it also kills the moss. Boo. So I'm still working on that. The moss that I transplanted last year is spreading well though. And the butterfly bush is enormous, but we haven't had many butterflies yet. My parents gave me some violets last year and I can't believe how much they have grown and seeded (everywhere!) this year.

I'll post more garden pics eventually, but here's what my irises looked like this year. I'm also proud to report that after last week's dreadful humidity, Johnny came inside one morning to report the appearance of a "penis mushroom" in one of the flower beds. Hi-lar-ious.


Most of the tree pollen is gone too, so I've been hanging my laundry out to dry.
It's so much nicer not having the dryer heating up the house. The H hasn't complained at all about the crunchy towels. And I've been experimenting with solutions for that.

Hmmm...it's hot. School is out next week. Maureen's done already. Weird to think that in one year she'll be in kindergarten. I'm looking forward to summer vacation, but already freaking out about sibling rivalry. So looking for things to do to keep busy. And cool. Here they are at the snowball stand.


Kindergarten was a really great experience for all of us. Johnny has come so far this year. He's reading, doing math, has lots of friends. But most importantly, he loves school. I hope it lasts.

Softball season is almost over too. It was fun for me to see the difference in Johnny this year compared to last. He's much more competitive. And this year, a bunch of his teammates are also kids from his class. So it was a highly social time. Although due to rain and/or tornado warnings and/or oppressive heat, they didn't get a lot of practice time and a bunch of games were cancelled.


I decided I want to learn to surf this summer. So I bought a one-piece bathing suit that won't fall off. But I realized today that I could still fall OUT of it, so maybe I need something a little more athletic? And part of me is a little worried about trying a new sport, since the last time I did that, I fell down a mountain and ended up with knee surgery.

Speaking of summer fashion, I'm curious what people think about rompers. I think they only look good on a small percentage of the population. But I was considering getting a simple one, probably in my customary black, to wear as a cover up at the beach. Maybe. Unless I try one on and it looks ridiculous. Opinions?

I'd love to know what everyone has been up to. How was the school year? Any plans for the summer?