Menu Plan Mondays?

So I follow a couple of blogs that have a menu plan Monday and I am considering doing one too. I like the idea of being able to see what meals I plan for in a daily slot. Right now I plan meals but it is more like a menu then we eat what sounds good that night. It is a flawed system that I often change at the last minute. I know it is Tuesday but I will go ahead and try it out for the rest of the week. It might be helpful to be more organized structured in the kitchen. Maybe I can do a follow up on how the food turned out, how I did overall, and if I will do it again.

Here is my menu for the week starting with yesterday

Monday

Homemade pizza topped with eggplant, spinach, and cheese

             This turned out wonderful!

Tuesday

Spaghetti Homemade sauce with store bought wheat pasta and home made bread.

I made the sauce yesterday for the pizza and then put the remaining eggplant in the sauce.

Wednesday

Baked Chicken with left over sauce, roasted beets, and sauteed spinach

Thursday

Sheperd's Pie

Friday

Jamie Oliver's Cornish Cowboy Pasties

Saturday

Grilled Lamb and beef kabobs with fresh veggies to be annouced.

Sunday

Pulled pork Sandwiches and sweet potato fries

I think that is a pretty good start. Amazingly enough it already feels good to know what is for dinner each day. Well I will let you know how it goes next week. Wish me luck.

My new obsession

This blog may fall into the way to much information category. I have been on birth control since I was sixteen and I can count the number of periods I have had over at least the last ten years. Due to the different types of birth control. After I had James I got an IUD, it worked but my body often felt weird and out of sorts. So I decided to go all natural like God made me to be. I had the traditional feminine products they smell, they feel like you are wearing a diaper, they rub me wrong and it is gross that we just throw it away to go to a landfill where it will not breakdown. I started researching the different products that are available that are environmentally friendly and that are better for me. I found Lunette Cups which are menstrual cups to replace tampons ( I really hate tampons!). I choice Lunette because it was rated as the easiest to clean out of all of the cups. I wanted simple. I love it! It takes a minute to figure it out but be honest it took a minute to figure out a tampon the first time. It does not dry you out like tampons and you can wear it for up to 12 hours as long as you are not to heavy then you just empty and wipe clean ( I bought the The Lunette disinfecting wipes), It is easy to use and easy to clean. Then I found Gladrags. I placed an order with a second cup and a variety of their cloth pads with a wet bag to store them in. Today my Gladrags arrived. They are so soft. I can't wait to use them next month. So I took some pictures to show you.

I wanted to show you the three sizes.

This is a night pad and I think it will cover your whole panty, so there is no chance of leaks.

This is the day pad which is a regular sized pad. Both of these has inserts that fit in the back so you control the thickness you need.

On top is the pantyliner it is a cute little thing.

They all snap under the panty .

Wet bags. the big one is for storing the pads at home and the small one fits in your purse.

My Lunette cups. They come with pretty bags to store them

The cup is about as long as my thumb and the tail is not bother some.

I hope this inspires you to try out the Menstrual Cups or cloth pads. Gladrags.com are a really caring company. They have great customer service. I recommend you start there. Enjoy!

Thunder storm

Yesterday I woke up in the wee little hours of the morning during a Thunder Storm. The first thing I did was Thank God for the rain as we are in the 3 worst drought in recorded history. Then I laid in bed listening to the thunder roll, thinking is that a train whistle? Thunder here is not a gentle rolling, no it is a freight train coming at your house, it roars, it snarls and I get up to watch TV in case the warning signal comes on. I am the only person in my house who is awake standing guard against the natural forces. You see I am afraid of tornadoes, and since I have never been part of a tornado I am afraid of the loud booming, thunder. It never fails I wake up and I am unable to go back to sleep until the storm has calmed. So I went to the living room to watch whatever was on at 2 in the morning on the 4 channels we get. Flashing lightening filled the room, the thunder filled me with worry and on the Zubo (a cartoon channel) He-man. For a moment I was reminded of watching it with my brother when we were much younger. Just a brief flash of us together as small children. I wonder if he still likes He-man. I settled on Everybody Hates Chris, a cooking show on Ion a little blond woman making a meal for two complete with a cocktail I wonder why he hands is shaking, and finally According to Jim. After two hours the storm moved on so that it was not so loud and I was able to sleep. Still fear and all I am thankful for the rain.

Little Artist in the making

I bought some supplies so that the kids can paint pictures for Father's day. I was so surprised at the gusto James painted his picture. At times it seemed as if a whole orchestra played while he conducted the colors. When he told me he was finished I proudly asked what he painted. His response was a chicken pooping on the road. Damian fell in love with play-doh. So the boys begged me to buy them play-doh. If by some chance you do not know that play-doh does not come out of carpet, and it drys out if the lid is not on just right you might not understand why they would have to beg and make a big promise to take care of it. I caved because we no longer have carpet in the living room or kitchen or dinning room. Damian has a talent for making models of snowmen. Of course I was right to be leery of the soft clay. The white is now pink and covered in cat hair and is that a chunk of play-doh stuck to the floor? Oh well they are only young once and I know one day I will miss the messes happy children make. If you by chance have a happy child who loves to clean be thankful the Lord has blessed you in this way and please don't rub it in!

Diets are for the birds.

The problem with dieting is that it takes the fun out of the kitchen. Nothing ever sounds good for dinner, so I think it is back to counting calories and eating what I want. I feel like I am quitting and I hate to quit but when cooking leaves me with a nauseating feeling it is time to move on. So today I am planning a feast for dinner Crunchy garlic chicken (Jamie Oliver), Spicy Pasta Salad with smoked Gouda, tomatoes and basil (From the Pioneer Woman) and candy apple pie (from me). Okay I found a recipe for candy apples and few years ago and turned into a pie. This time I am replacing the Red Hot's for homemade cinnamon candy and then it becomes my own recipe. I have been dreaming of this pie for the last couple of days so today I am going to load the kids up, head to the store, and then spend the afternoon baking an out of season pie.  That and studying for my second to last test for my Algebra class. The 26 is the last day of math and the First day of my summer break. I am hoping to teach James how to read over the summer, at the very least have him able to recognize his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors by the end of summer. I better get started on my day.

I want to learn. . .

I wonder if my husband ever sees random dollar signs every time I say I want to learn ____. Fill in the blank, I have said it. I told him that after I get my English degree in 6-8 years that I want to go to a culinary school to learn the secrets of the kitchen. I do love to cook. I have an idea about a cookbook that I would like to write. I want to have meal menus followed by recipes and pictures (I want to learn photography). Have you ever picked up a cookbook to find a yummy main course idea but you have no idea what would be a good side dish, or what kind of wine would suit it, or even dessert. I do. Although I am okay at sorting out what sounds good with what but it would help if I knew something. I think we all want to cook amazing meals for our families, and friends. Sometimes the hardest part is planning the meals. I love food, with school I seem to have traded my time in the kitchen for homework.

Anyways I also want to learn how to sew a pretty quilt, paint with oils, garden, help build a stone patio with matching walkways, canning our vegetables and homemade sauces. I am sure I could think of a few other things that I want to learn how to do if I tried. Right now I am working on adding prayer to our daily lives. I need to learn to be more organized with my time and space. I also need to learn to be a better housekeeper, right now I am cluttered, and mostly three days behind on any given thing that needs to be done. I want to learn to be present in my daily life, meaning worrying less about tomorrow. I want to know GOD in my daily life and for GOD to be present in my children's childhood.

I am a work in progress, I hope that I always want to be better, and that I continue to grow as a person.

Now for a garden update. Finally we have some tomatoes!

 God is Good.

Sea Monsters

We have a pool down the street, close enough to walk to and walk home from. As San Antonio weather rises past 100 degrees we are more than happy to make the trip with our little sea monsters. So here are some pictures of our last adventure to the pool.

James loves swimming and has no fear. Which is good and bad.

I know I am very white but I love this picture of James and I "sleeping" in the pool.

Damian is afraid to try and float.

He almost had it. I love James is just swimming away.

 God is good, and I am glad he lead us to this neighborhood.

Day 18

Well I started this diet with high hopes but I learned last week that sometimes life throws the best laid plans out the window. Rob Grandfather passed away last week so we drove 10 hours to help the family in anyway possible. We stayed for five days and my diet lost the battle. So now I am home and struggling the light my fire but I don't want to restart the diet. So I decided to add the five days of cycle 1 and move on to cycle 2 after that. Then after cycle 3 decide if cycle 1 needs to be revisited. This morning I weighed in at 160.4, so I am at a 2.5 pound loss. With the bad week last week every pound counts.

On to another subject school. I have learned that I am no good at math. I have studied hard and I am frustrated because I am still only making a B in the class. I am trying to bring it up but each new lesson stresses me out. I watch YouTube Videos on the subjects and then when I am feeling confident I take that week's tests and get a score of 72-85. Three more weeks left of this class and I am going to celebrate when it is done! I will take a B in this class knowing I did the best that I could. I was really hoping to get a 4.0 in College but I guess the first B is the hardest to shallow.

Our garden is not enjoying the heat here in San Antonio. Everything seems to look sunburned. Surprisingly our tomatoes are finally starting to fruit, so is the okra, eggplants, summer squash, and cucumbers. I don't know how much we will get to eat but I am still hopeful. If nothing else this year will teach us how to be better gardeners next year. It is a good lesson to learn and hopeful next year we will be able to gather fruit from the fruit trees.