April 15th Menu Plan + Baby menu plan!

It's been nearly a month since the last time I menu planned, which means I am really out of shape doing it now!

Back to basics, as I always do when I am feeling stressed (which is too often, sadly).

For me (and, sometimes, Partner):

Monday

• Lunch: Onion soup chicken drums
• Dinner: Puff-pastry roll

Tuesday

• Lunch: Chicken strogonoff + rice
• Dinner: Scrambled eggs with mushrooms

Wednesday

• Lunch: Broccoli and cauliflower with white sauce
• Dinner: Hake fillets with caramelized onions

Thursday

• Lunch: Ground beef fajitas
• Dinner: Homemade pizza

Friday

• Lunch: Pasta with tuna.
• Dinner: Roasted peppers and eggplant salad with tuna.

Saturday

• Lunch: Vegetable soup (zucchini, carrots, onion, cabbage and potato)
• Dinner: Fried rice with shrimps.

Sunday

• Lunch: Pasta with bacon and cream.
• Dinner: Ramen or Leftovers, if any.

Possible breakfasts in no particular order

• 3 minute chocolate cake-in-a-cup
• Fried banana with chocolate ice-cream and drizzled raw honey
• Mixed berries and strawberry yoghurt smoothie.
• Chocolate and strawberry muffins
• Yoghurt with diced fruit
• Chocolate milk with cookies
• Puff pastry roll leftovers

For Oath (baby menu plan):

Monday

• Mid-morning: Baked apple.
• Lunch: Chicken pieces and bread crust.
• Mid-afternoon: Baked apple, again.

Tuesday

• Mid-morning: Cereals with breastmilk
• Lunch: Chicken, onion and carrot soup with rice.
• Mid-afternoon: Pear.

Wednesday

• Mid-morning: Orange
• Lunch: Steamed broccoli and cauliflower.
• Mid-afternoon: Hake.

Thursday

• Mid-morning: Cereals with breastmilk
• Lunch: Beef, peppers, carrot, onion. Cut in small bits.
• Mid-afternoon: Apple.

Friday

• Mid-morning: Cereals with breastmilk
• Lunch: Pizza.
• Mid-afternoon: Pear.

Saturday

• Mid-morning: Cereals with breastmilk
• Lunch: Vegetable soup, without salt.
• Mid-afternoon: Banana.

Sunday

• Mid-morning: Cereals with breastmilk
• Lunch: Fish, peas and zucchini, pureed.
• Mid-afternoon: Baked apple.

Linking up at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday and at Erin Branscom's Menu Monday!

Oath's Mom

April Plan

Nearly half a month late, my Ready, steady, clean! 2013 plan comes again. This time I have an excuse, as I've been out of home until some years ago, but this is not excuse enough to completely give up. Oh, no: if I've learned one thing from having a child is that giving up is not an option. So there we go!

April is the kitchen month. I've been looking forward to it, because there are so many things that can be done! So many cabinets in need of a serious organizations, and so many drawers that can turn into quick and satisfying projects.
Now, I can fail very easily: less than 20 days to do it, with my exams coming up on May... it will be easy to get distracted from this plan. But now that I enjoy being in the kitchen, that I can bake again, I want it done. So it means I'll have to do it.

The facts:

• Even though some years ago I wouldn't have believed it, I love being in the kitchen: cooking, baking, snacking...
• A little organization would make my cook like easier...
• ...as there is hardly any organization right now!

The plan:

• Tackle the bags drawer. Get rid of the ones that can't be reused and fold the other ones, so that they aren't trying to take over the whole kitchen. Restrain those bags, ma'am!
• Clean the cutlery drawer. It is the most organized part of the kitchen, so it might not need much more.
• Put some kind of order in the mixer and the bowls drawers.
• Organize and clean the plastic containers + mixing bowls + baking pans + everything else that fits here big drawers.
• Same for the tiny cutting boards and wrappers drawer.
• Clean the pots and pans drawers.
• Brave the fridge! Get rid of leftovers and food past its date (if any), clean, reorganize.
• Organize under the sink cabinet. If at all possible, replace chemicals with homemade cleaners.
• Buy/find some alphabet magnets Oath can play with. My mom has some in his kitchen and he loved them!
• Review the plans, see what worked and what didn't. Post. 

I know it isn't much, but I think it is enough to make a difference (while still being manageable). I'm letting all the pantry cabinets alone for now, and the dishes and glasses ones too, as we (somehow) manage to keep them pretty nice.

Wish me luck!

Oath's mom

March evaluation

Now that I am back home, as I told you yesterday, it is time for last month's evaluation. It is late, you say? Very late indeed, but life was busy and time was short, so it had to wait.

On to the evaluation, then!

This was the living room month, and it was scary, both before starting and during. And now that's it's finished, even, I must say. It was well timed because this month Oath has turned fully mobile, and even though he's not actually walking yet, he just does not stop trying. Even if I hadn't planned to baby-proof the living room this month, I would have had to!

But, apart from that, what else did I do?

• Organize the cabinet. Done!
• Organize the table end where our printer, modem and some office supplies live. Not done, at all! My excuse? Partner has been working a lot on this space, and it was in constant use (lame excuse, I know, I know).
• Get rid of the random stuff behind the big couch, so the mat can be properly stored there when not in use. Partially done. Even though the mat can be stored there now without any problem... I must admit I haven't thrown away or relocated what was (and is) behind the couch. Why? I have nowhere to put it and I do not dare to trash it!
• Organize the small shelves and my university items (bags, books, odds and ends) corner. Done! Not that it isn't falling into disarray again...
• Move the small sofa and rescue all the toys that rolled beneath it. I'm sure there will be a handful waiting patiently to be found! Done! Curiously, there weren't as many toys as I thought there would be... but let's not talk about the dust bunnies.
• Turn the wine shelves into toy shelves. Move the wine into the bar-cabinet or down into the storage room. We don't drink wine, anyway, so we do not need it here. Partially done. They are now wine and toy shelves (wine on top, far away from little hands reach; toys on bottom, where Oath can go and help himself)
• Organize the TV thingie, being careful not to leave anything dangerous within Oath's reach. Partially done, I suppose? No organization here, but relocation of several non-baby-safe items happened.
• Empty the chair corner and put the chair back on its spot by the table. Done. Except for moving the chair back to where it belongs. I must get up and do it now.
• Then, buy the extra chairs we need and move the mismatched ones to the storage room.
• Baby-proof everything! Drawers, corners, sockets... We've already started on this one, so I am one step ahead. Yay! Done!
• Take care of the plants. Get rid of the dead ones, replant some, clean the ledge... Done! I posted about part of it here, and will post more soon!
• Review the plans, see what worked and what didn't. Post. Doing it!

It feels like I did less that I should have and, to be honest, I think the feeling is closer to the truth than the list is. While writing the list I was thinking I had actually done something but... no. It's not true. The days I spent with my family were many, and very nice, but they didn't help me get all of this accomplished.
I'll give myself a 5/10, right on the border of pass and fail. I hope April is better, though it hasn't been off to a good start either!

What did you this month?

Oath's mom

Back!

Oath and I are back home, tired but alive. He loves being back with his daddy, and can't stop smiling every time Partner walks in through the door.

I have many things to share with you, including my March Plan evaluation, my April Plan, an update about the pots I planted, a 365 project update, some more 10 things... posts... But not now.

It's past midnight, Oath has just fallen asleep (sleep is becoming a struggle in this household) and I am tired, aching (my arms! my back! All the mommy pains!) and have an open book about History waiting for me, reminding me that there's less than a month left until the exam.

I've missed this little corner of my in the web.

How have you all been?

Oath's mom

Feelings

I feel like my life is going at full speed these days.

I don't know what it is about being here, in my little island, that makes me feel like this, but I both love it and dread it. Days go by in a haze and I never have time to do anything, but yet, somehow, they feel like childhood summer days, both eternally long and gone in a second. I visit family and old friends, and just when I think I'll have some days to relax and stay home enjoying the sun and warmth... it's time to pack my things again and take a flight. But I miss Partner, and Oath does too, and I'm not sure I could manage to stay longer.
It is a strange mix of feelings, to be honest.

All of this, coupled with the fact that I do not have my own computer with me, have kept me away from the blog. This and Instagram, as I said in my last post... but now my Instagram app died on my and blew up my hopes of doing a 365 project. 3 days in and I failed. Again. I have taken the pictures, though, so maybe I manage to revive the app and make up for it.

For now, know that I'm alive, chugging along in the kind of alternate reality that is being far from home.

Oath's mom