Menu plan Monday

We totally didn't follow our menu plan last week, but having it planned made such a big difference. This week will probably be no different

So:

Monday

• Lunch: Pizza
• Dinner: Leftovers

Tuesday

• Lunch:  Spaghetti with bacon
• Dinner: Pork "aux fines herbes" and french fries

Wednesday

• Lunch: Chicken fajitas
• Dinner: Sea-food "raoles"

Thursday

• Lunch: Stuffed eggplant/zucchini/potatoes
• Dinner: Nachos

Friday

• Lunch: Fried rice
• Dinner: Probably ramen, as Partner is not home and cooking for one is "bleh".

Saturday

• Lunch: Penne with tuna and tomato
• Dinner: Fish with caramelized onions

Sunday

• Lunch: Vinegar and honey ribs
• Dinner: Chicken soup

Linking up at I'm an Organizing Junkie and at Erin Branscom link-up!.

Oath's Mom

Thank you, me.

We've spent the weekend with some friends in a house in the mountains. It was a long weekend, tiring for me because Oath's routine is changing and I still do not know it, and because Partner was the host and was not able to help me much. Plus, we hardly had any sleep.
But we had fun, we laughed, we breathed pure mountain air... and it snowed.

For me, snow is such an unusual thing that I get all giddy when I see snowflakes falling from the sky. Is like something that only happens in tales and movies. I laughed and took photos and went outside with the kid, who did not like how snow tasted (his face clearly read "This is too cold mommy! YUCK").
This, clearly, was too much, and we ended up exhausted. As in "I'll cry my lungs off all the way back home" kind of exhausted, for the kid, and the "I just want the kid to stop crying so I can fall asleep on my feet" kind of exhausted for Partner and me.

We got home at about 8pm, with a still-screaming baby in need of a bath and our luggage in tow. For all the tiredness, I was dreading that moment: I was dreading the mess waiting behind the door, and the extra mess we would create in a second. I was about to start twitching from the anticipation when I looked around and saw nothing.
No dirty dishes anywhere, no unmade beds, no stray clothes laying anywhere. Nothing. No mess at all. And then I remembered: I had spend Friday's morning running around the house doing everything I had to do on Friday plus all that I wouldn't be able to do on the weekend. Generally, this kind of cleaning ahead does not work for us, but this time... Oh, this time! It totally paid off! We were able to get home, bath the kid, eat some dinner (I don't really remember what, but I know we ate), and go to sleep in a spotless bed.

I loved it.

So, thank you, me, for cleaning ahead and letting me relax when I needed most.

Oath's Mom

Menu Plan Monday... on nearly a Tuesday

Menu planning comes late this week, but only because we haven't been home since Friday, and the menus planned for the weekend have been reorganized for this week's beginning. Some are still carried over in this plan.

Anyway, that's what we have eaten today and we'll eat the rest of the week:

Monday

• Lunch: Lentil soup
• Dinner: Chocolate milk and nutella sandwiches (mom needs comfort food!)

Tuesday

• Lunch:  "Fabada" (white beans soup/stew/thingie. My mother in law brought it to us today.)
• Dinner: Chicken nuggets and french fries

Wednesday

• Lunch: Fried rice
• Dinner: Sea-food "raoles"

Thursday

• Lunch: Spaghetti with bacon
• Dinner: Puff pastry cheese-and-ham braid

Friday

• Lunch: Chicken fajitas
• Dinner: Nachos

Saturday

• Lunch: Pasta with tuna and tomato
• Dinner: Fish with caramelized onions

Sunday

• Lunch: Vinegar and honey ribs
• Dinner: Leftovers or stuffed eggplants (depending on how many leftovers there are)

Linking up at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Oath's Mom

Back to routine #4: where I failed (but it doesn't matter)

I planned, got my home to a "just messy" state, started over and then... failed. The fourth step of my back to routine plan never came to fruition.

I went a week back home so my family could see Oath (boy, it's that kid growing fast or what? He's not even 6 months old and he's already wearing 12 months old's clothes!) and when I came back the house was back in the disastrous state that made me start this "back to routine" series. Awful. Really, really bad.

I think what I had to learn this time is that I can't trust that Partner will keep things as I leave them. Because he won't. He may try, but he just does not see messes (I talked about that before, didn't I?) as I did not see them some years ago. Lucky me.

So,  the week that had to be used, supposedly, deep cleaning, was used getting the house to just messy again. I felt like I was watching a movie I had just watched. But what's a girl going to do? Cleaning is like a movie in repeat in the best of circumstances, too (in the worse it becomes a horror movie!) so I just started again without fussing too much.

And now I am somewhere in the middle of the process: NaNoWriMo started, and that never helps.

I have to say, though, that the first three parts of the plan worked, and that's much more than what would have happened if I hadn't even tried. So yay for trying, and let's start again!

Oath's Mom

Menu Plan Monday: doomed to fail

Last night, as Oath fell asleep early and kept sleeping until feed time, I took a moment to get back on menu planning. It was harder than expected, as we had gone grocery shopping on Friday and I am used to buy according to the plans, not the other way around. Anyway, I managed.

And this morning, when I was announcing what I was going to cook for lunch...

"Oh, by the way, I am going to skip eating carbs again"

Hello Mr. Partner. And oh, by the way, couldn't you have told me yesterday?

So, this weeks menu plan is doomed to fail, one way or another: either he skips most carbs (and so we end up following another completely different menu plan) or I trump his dieting efforts (which is not nice).
We should find a middle ground, don't you think?

Anyway, that's what I planned:

Monday

• Lunch: Rice "a la cubana"
• Dinner: Fish with shrimp and caramelized onions, and garlic bread as a side

Tuesday

• Lunch:  Sausahes and mashed potatoes
• Dinner: Burgers

Wednesday

• Lunch: Spaghetti carbonara
• Dinner: Sea-food "raoles"

Thursday

• Lunch: Chick-peas with chorizo
• Dinner: Soup and chicken nuggets

Friday

• Lunch: Beef fajitas
• Dinner: Noodles

Saturday

• Lunch: Pasta with tuna and tomato
• Dinner: Puff pastry cheese and ham braid

Sunday

• Lunch: Fried rice
• Dinner: Vinegar and honey chicken legs

Linking up at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Oath's Mom

A handmade gift

Last week my younger (but not youngest!) sister, S, turned 21. I remember very vividly where was I at that age, feeling lost even though I had finally given some direction to my life. Things looked harder than they were, life seemed harsh and rough, and some very important people let me down. It could have been way worse, but it still sucked.

I have the feeling that she is in a similar place now, with her life changing a lot, feeling alone and scared at times, lonely. So, I decided to make something special for her, something warm and bright and cozy: my first crocheted fingerless mitts.

As soon as I saw the yarn I fell in love: KnitCol (shade 64, in blue, navy, aqua & green), 100% merino wool. It was so different to work with than the acrylics I am used to! And, despite the doubts the shopkeeper had, I think it looks wonderful crocheted. Don't you think so too?

I freestyled them, weighing the remaining yarn in the ball to see when I should end one and start the other. I love how that makes them different while still looking part of the same pair.

(about my home-rescueing mission... it failed. I'm back at square one. It's always the same, isn't it? You work, and life undoes all your progress!)

Oath's Mom

Back to routine #3: start over

After planning and spending one week trying to get our home just messy, it's been time to really start over. 

I have to admit I thought it would be harder, but the world wanted to help me a bit, it seems, and sent my in-laws to visit us on Monday. Which I don't mind, but the house was in its "just messy" state. Desperation! Mondays are the main bedroom cleaning days, and that had been done, but I couldn't entertain them there, now could I? It would have been really weird, and if they do not think already that I am a bit cuckoo that would have been the last straw. So, turning the messy living room into an in-laws ready living room was in order.

And I did. I even called Partner (it was and impromptu visit, and he was working and could not help me gather most things and hide them in the guest room) when I finished mopping to tell him that if he ever wants me to clean fast, to tell me his parents are coming. Yep, I trust him to not use this knowledge against me, though sometimes I'm sure he should.

This meant that I started the week more tired that I should, but with less mess on my way, which in the end caused less stress. I do not recommend it, but the visit certainly helped me get on my way and achieve what I had planned for this week!

I did not loose that momentum, and have kept up with weekly room cleaning; loading, running and unloading the dishwasher; doing laundry (4 loads, and would have done more if the weather had been better and the last load had dried today)... I even sorted the 7 (7!) bags of baby clothes I hadn't even looked at! Now the clothes I don't like/need are apart, and the ones that I might use are already sorted by size and kind, all neatly folded!

I love it when things happen as I planned them! Don't you?

Oath's Mom