AWOL - and catching up! (And what I've been doing.)
Wow!
I really went AWOL there for a while didn't I? I really didn't mean to.
It's been busy - both last week and this week we have something every single day plus we were at my in-laws all weekend, which was lovely but it involved 8 hours total in the car, lots of time with a ton of people, and sleeping in a really wretched hotel bed for 3 nights. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep! LOL!! May is always hectic with the end of school for all of us, the children's dance recital, and usually a trip to my in-laws. This year seems to be worse for some reason. Maybe because I feel like we've been running at full speed for so very long now and I'm ready to slow down.
Anyway, it's been fun and wild and I'm very excited to look at June and see a whole lot of, well, nothing.
Blank, empty squares and open space on that calendar page is something I'm really looking forward to! We're still doing piano lessons, swimming lessons and church "stuff", but at a much slower pace than we have. Thank the good Lord for that! Our weekends are more full - John is on call at work a lot and he's preaching at 5 different churches for a total of 7 services. We have two "open" weekends we're still waiting to hear about but that's okay. A couple of "open" weekends would be okay too.
I went shopping Friday before we left. Here's what I bought:
Sorry for the poor lighting, my camera battery will not hold a charge for anything right now (I need to buy a new one!) but at least it's a photo this time. I spent $39 and change at two stores and there was a bunch of bananas that didn't make it into the photo too. We're good for a while again!
I'm doing a pantry challenge in June so we can have a completely empty freezer for our produce and bulk meat purchase. I'm so excited about that! And I'm excited that, Lord willing, our CSA will start delivering mid-to-late June too. I'm ready for some fresh veggies!
Here's our menu for the week:
Breakfasts: Waffles or Oatmeal. And I'm making a Blueberry Buckle for Saturday morning.
Lunches: Hot lunch for children and leftovers or pot lucks for John and I (we're sending fruit to each potluck). Saturday lunch will be Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad with Tuna.
Dinners:
Sunday: Tacos at my in-laws
Monday: Snack-y dinner in the car (apples, pretzels, carrot sticks, and snack mix)
Tuesday: Pork Roast, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Golden Beets, Strawberry-Banana Salad
Wednesday: Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Oranges
Thursday: Macaroni and Cheese, Strawberries
Friday: Baked Salmon, Couscous, Purple Beets, Strawberry-Pear-Banana Salad
Saturday: Homemade Pizza and Bread sticks, Strawberries
I've also been loosely trying to keep up with Money Saving Mom's cleaning out challenge. I haven't been very good about keep up (I'm going to keep going through June and July so we can get this house cleaned out!) but here's some of things I have cleaned out:
I also have a stack of photo frames that we haven't used for a few years, an over-the-car-seat "stuff" holder that we've outgrown, a few baby things we had laying around, some organizers that we don't use anymore and a few books that are going to the thrift store We've recycled a ton of stuff - most of our "clutter" is paper clutter. And threw away a bunch of almost completely burned down candles that I meant to someday melt down into new candles - that "someday" won't come any time soon, so in the trash they went!
Grades are done for the semester and the semester is over (Whoot!) and now I can concentrate on my Dissertation and some course prep. I'm very excited about that - especially since I'm so close to being done with my Dissertation. Lord willing, I'll be done before 2014 (and hopefully this summer!).
We've been rainy and wet, wet, wet and I'm ready for some sunshine but in the meantime, we're starting to settle into a summer routine. The children are done with school for the year next week and then we'll have third graders in our house! Yikes!
Hopefully I can get back to some "regular" blogging (or at least something more regular) with our less frantic summer schedule. Thanks for sticking with me - I appreciate it so very much!
What have you been up to lately?
I really went AWOL there for a while didn't I? I really didn't mean to.
It's been busy - both last week and this week we have something every single day plus we were at my in-laws all weekend, which was lovely but it involved 8 hours total in the car, lots of time with a ton of people, and sleeping in a really wretched hotel bed for 3 nights. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep! LOL!! May is always hectic with the end of school for all of us, the children's dance recital, and usually a trip to my in-laws. This year seems to be worse for some reason. Maybe because I feel like we've been running at full speed for so very long now and I'm ready to slow down.
Anyway, it's been fun and wild and I'm very excited to look at June and see a whole lot of, well, nothing.
Blank, empty squares and open space on that calendar page is something I'm really looking forward to! We're still doing piano lessons, swimming lessons and church "stuff", but at a much slower pace than we have. Thank the good Lord for that! Our weekends are more full - John is on call at work a lot and he's preaching at 5 different churches for a total of 7 services. We have two "open" weekends we're still waiting to hear about but that's okay. A couple of "open" weekends would be okay too.
I went shopping Friday before we left. Here's what I bought:
Sorry for the poor lighting, my camera battery will not hold a charge for anything right now (I need to buy a new one!) but at least it's a photo this time. I spent $39 and change at two stores and there was a bunch of bananas that didn't make it into the photo too. We're good for a while again!
I'm doing a pantry challenge in June so we can have a completely empty freezer for our produce and bulk meat purchase. I'm so excited about that! And I'm excited that, Lord willing, our CSA will start delivering mid-to-late June too. I'm ready for some fresh veggies!
Here's our menu for the week:
Breakfasts: Waffles or Oatmeal. And I'm making a Blueberry Buckle for Saturday morning.
Lunches: Hot lunch for children and leftovers or pot lucks for John and I (we're sending fruit to each potluck). Saturday lunch will be Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad with Tuna.
Dinners:
Sunday: Tacos at my in-laws
Monday: Snack-y dinner in the car (apples, pretzels, carrot sticks, and snack mix)
Tuesday: Pork Roast, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Golden Beets, Strawberry-Banana Salad
Wednesday: Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Oranges
Thursday: Macaroni and Cheese, Strawberries
Friday: Baked Salmon, Couscous, Purple Beets, Strawberry-Pear-Banana Salad
Saturday: Homemade Pizza and Bread sticks, Strawberries
I've also been loosely trying to keep up with Money Saving Mom's cleaning out challenge. I haven't been very good about keep up (I'm going to keep going through June and July so we can get this house cleaned out!) but here's some of things I have cleaned out:
 |
| Several skirts and a couple pairs of pants from Missy's drawer and a package of socks that Buddy never wore. |
 |
| Outgrown or falling apart shoes and an outgrown pair of boots. Most of these ended up the trash can, the rest we'll donate to our local thrift store. |
Grades are done for the semester and the semester is over (Whoot!) and now I can concentrate on my Dissertation and some course prep. I'm very excited about that - especially since I'm so close to being done with my Dissertation. Lord willing, I'll be done before 2014 (and hopefully this summer!).
We've been rainy and wet, wet, wet and I'm ready for some sunshine but in the meantime, we're starting to settle into a summer routine. The children are done with school for the year next week and then we'll have third graders in our house! Yikes!
Hopefully I can get back to some "regular" blogging (or at least something more regular) with our less frantic summer schedule. Thanks for sticking with me - I appreciate it so very much!
What have you been up to lately?
