Food Sculpture, Auditions, and Off brand Lego vases

Happy Friday. We made it to the end of another and the last day of January. Is it just me, or did January seem to be the longest year ever? Seriously. Today it is wet and rainy here, but at least most of the snow is gone. This week has been crazy at work and home and just busy (I shouldn't be surprised, but it was overall taxing this week.) There really wasn't anything spectacular or crazy that directly affected me, so I thought I would just hop on here and give you three random things from this week. 

      

I mentioned last week that I have been ordering groceries online. Well Friday I picked some up and I had the kids unpack it. Well, I went into the kitchen to find this food sculpture of the snacks and pantry offerings. I just love the garlic on top! LOL

Rebecca had her first college music audition to try to get a spot at Bowling Green State University College of Music. She said she was happy with her audition and to me that is all that matters.  

I have fallen in love with Legos. I got a set of Lego flowers for Christmas and really enjoyed putting them together, but not the price tag. Then I found Brickcraft Bricktanicals which are like Lego but much cheaper. I ordered a daisy, a marigold, and a hydrangea to make. I also ordered a Bricktanials vase. I LOVE how this little bouquet turned out. 

                                                            How is your week going? 

                                                                Wishing you all well! 

Wednesday Thought

 

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was busy but good. One of the things that I have been doing on the weekends is meal planning for the following week. Actually I have been making a menu plan on Thursday nights for the following week and putting a grocery order in to pick up on Fridays after Ben's therapy appointment as his therapist is right across the street from Kroger. This system seems to working  now and has allowed me some peace when it comes to what is for dinner. I think that to continue this system, I also want to start sharing what we ate and what we will eat for the week on Mondays. 

So let's start that today: 

What we ate this past week: 

SUNDAY: Chicken Enchiladas and Corn

MONDAY: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, rolls

TUESDAY: BBQ pulled pork sandwich, tator tots, cole slaw

WEDNESDAY: Girl dinner: meatballs, rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes

THURSDAY: Leftovers

  FRIDAY: McDonald's (It had been a LONG WEEK!) Sorry no picture. 

SATURDAY: Rebecca and I were in Bowling Green Ohio for a college audition for her and we ate a diner. 

SUNDAY: Creamy Italian sausage ditalini soup, homemade garlic bread on hamburger buns

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What we will eat this week:

Monday: The boys are with their dad, so it's just Rebecca and I. I think I will saute a couple thin steaks, roasted potatoes and broccoli?  

Tuesday: BLTs, macaroni and cheese

Wednesday: Hot dogs, baby carrots, baked beans?

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza and fruit

Saturday: The boys are with their father. Rebecca and I will get something out as she has OMEA Solo and Ensemble competition

Sunday: Cheese and Chicken casserole, green beans, applesauce, rolls

What are you eating this week? 

Miscellaneous Art for Sunday

Happy Sunday! I used to do a series where I shared nature photos on Sundays. However with the cold temperatures I have not been out to walk usually. So I thought that I would share some art. I have recently started saving pictures of different art creations that speak to me. I thought I would share some of them with you all. This world needs more beauty and less ugliness. Enjoy. 

 

5 Things from this week

 Happy Friday! Today I am going to try something new, as this would turn into a really long post if I tried to highlight EVERYTHING that has been going on since I wrote last week. So I thought I would do a 5 things Friday types post to keep things updated. So here goes:

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Jacob had his 2nd indoor track meet. He threw 25'3" in the shot put, so I had to owe him $5. Grateful he is enjoying himself. Also thankful that I am able to go and watch him throw and then leave since we live close to the his school. 

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I decluttered our closet of doom last weekend. I ended up getting 8 trash bags of items to  donate and 2 boxes of items to donate. These have been in my car all week, but it has been too dang cold to stop to drop them off. I finally got a chance yesterday when I was coming home from work and it wasn't snowing or anything. Felt good to get those out of the house. 

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Speaking of the cold, the weather is stupid. We had a day where the actual temperature was in the negatives. Schools were closed this week, Monday through Wednesday. Today there was a 2 hour delay due to icy roads. The winter weather is stupid. 

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A good reminder that I painted the other night to hang up above my bed. I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping, for various reasons. I felt good to be creative. 

I also  put together some Lego flowers that I got for Christmas. They took me a little over 2 hours to do (over the course of 4 nights). I love how they turned out and they look great in the Ball Jar vase that I picked up last summer when I went thrifting. 

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I have been trying to work on my health this month and I have had various doctors appointments. One of those appointments was to get my very first mammogram. It was easy, painless and not as scary as I thought. I will admit that I have to go back in to have some more imaging done as they found some cysts that they don't like the look of. But I am glad that I am being proactive. 

So there you have it, 5 quick things for this cold Friday night to share what I have been up to, along with work (which I will write about another time), being mom and just living this life of mine. 

Hope all is well with everyone else. Until next time, I am wishing you all well. 

Doctor Appointments, Winter Weather and a New Recipe

Happy Friday! Man it has been a couple of days. 

I have had several doctors appointments and lab work completed. Waiting on results from a few of those labs. Monday I had labs done for my kidney doctor. Tuesday, I had my yearly physical with my primary care doc-- who is referring me to have a mammogram and a colonoscopy. She also wanted different labs, so I had to have more blood work done for her. Wednesday I had an appointment with my kidney doc. She is concerned because some of my levels are going back to where they were when my kidneys started acting up. She has added a phosphorus pill back to my medicine intake. It is what it is I guess. 

The weather has wreaked havoc on us. Tuesday I left work 45 minutes before my doc appointment (which takes 20 minutes to get to) as it was snowing. The roads were terrible, and it took me 40 minutes to get there. I am glad that I left early. 

Yesterday morning the kids' school got cancelled due to the timing of some snow squalls that dumped a quick 2 inches of snow on the ground. I also decided to take a sick day, as I woke with a massive headache and our preschool got cancelled. I am supposed to go into work even if there is no school for the kids, but honestly I really didn't want to drive in the snow. I have been dealing with a headache now for 3 days. At times it is better than at other times. Last night I was awake from 1:30 AM to 4:30 AM with a headache and just really didn't feel good. I am pretty sure I am fighting something off. I called off today as well, as I was exhausted and not feeling good. I had to go to urgent care and get a doctors notice since Monday is a holiday. The doc believes I am fighting off a virus; he is wondering if it is flu A, as that is showing similar symptoms with headache for days and nausea and just feeling blah. I just want to feel better.   I am trying to be productive when I have a burst of energy. And by that I mean, read a book, work on the Lego flower set that I got for Christmas, do dishes, put in a grocery delivery order, etc. 

Speaking of groceries, I tried a new recipe this week that I wanted to share for 3 ingredient homemade air fryer chicken nuggets. 

Apparently it is a keto recipe, but I am not following keto so that means nothing to me (although I know some readers here follow it!). It was super easy and simple to make and most importantly super yummy! Mine actually had 4 ingredients--- canned chicken, shredded colby-jack cheese, an egg, and garlic powder. You can find the recipe here.  I ate mine with chic-fil-a sauce. Rebecca had ketchup with hers. I will definitely be making these again! 

This weekend is going to be busy. Jacob has an indoor track meet tomorrow. I need to do some laundry and get some more things done at home. 

                    What is on your agenda this weekend? How's the weather where you live? 

Wordless Wednesday: Cold but Beautiful

 

New Recipe: Easy Chicken and Cabbage Stir-Fry

Happy Tuesday everyone! 

Today I wanted to hop on here for a quick post to share a new recipe that I tried on Saturday. I am trying really hard to not waste food. I had a half a head of cabbage in my fridge from New Year's Day that needed used up and I wasn't sure what to do with it. While searching online, I found a recipe for this easy chicken and cabbage stir-fry that sounded yummy. I decided to make it on Saturday, as I knew that the boys probably wouldn't like it. They were at their father's house. 

It is super easy and quick. Rebecca commented on how it didn't seem to take me that long to make it. Honestly, the hardest part was cutting up the chicken and veggies. I did deviate a little and add a sliced up carrot to the recipe as well. Also, I served it over rice. I will definitely be making it again! 

The original recipe can be found here at Salt & Lavender. 

If you make it let me know how you like it! 

Anyone have any other easy recipes that they think I should try? Please share if you do! 

New med, saving money on groceries, organizing, and laundry

 Happy Sunday! Hope everyone's weekend is going well. 

I have been puttering around the house this weekend. We had another snow event on Friday night into Saturday morning, so I just planned to stay home and do some things around the house...mainly laundry! 

I also wanted to stay home to make sure that I didn't have a reaction to my new medication that I began on Friday. Thursday I saw a nurse practitioner that my primary doctor referred me to, as he is very well versed in mental health issues. This NP spent a lot of time with me and as we talked about my history and things that have happened in the past few years and my responses to those, it became clear that my current way of dealing with my depression is not working. He also diagnosed me as clinically depressed. Makes a ton of sense to me, and was almost a relief to hear as I felt there was something wrong with me. He started me on a new medication that I am so glad that insurance covers as if I had to pay out of pocket it would be $1800+ for 30 days. I will follow up with him in a month to see how this new med is working or not. 

This year, I am experimenting with picking up groceries as a way to save money as I am the type of person that will only plan on getting 5 things at the store and end up with a whole cart full because I see something on sale that we can't live without or that I think we need but we already have some at home, etc. I got a Kroger pick up grocery order on Friday night and organized my freezer and pantry. I also placed a Walmart delivery order for Saturday for things like laundry detergent, toilet paper, backup chopped onions for the freezer that I forgot in my Kroger order, and batteries. 

I spent some time organizing. I went through a couple of totes in our basement and have a huge tote of stuff to throw out and some to donate. After I type this up, I am going to bag up the trash and take it out to the bin. I also went through a tote in my bedroom that had a bunch of saved love notes/cards from my ex-husband. I went through all of them and threw them away. 

In between all of that, I did ALL the laundry in the house.  I don't even know how many loads it was, but it was a lot. I used the timer on my phone and was strict about flipping laundry and folding it when it came out of the dryer. As I type this up on Sunday afternoon, I have the very last load in the washer. Yay me! Of course that will last until the kids start taking showers tonight so it will be a short lived happiness. 

I have a ton to do this coming week, including getting blood work done, 2 doctors appointments, work, Jacob has a track meet, bible study, etc. 

I feel like this post is all over the place. I should end this so that I can take the trash out and maybe get something else done, now that I have had momentum. 

What are you up to this weekend? Do you get the organizing bug at the beginning of a new year? How do you save money at the grocery store? 

End of 2024, Hello 2025

Happy 2025 everyone! It is already 9 days into the new year and it feels like this year is already flying by and is being crazy busy. 

The end of 2024 was crazy emotionally. Long story short, I received a phone call from our police department on the Friday after Christmas letting me know that the FBI had received confirmation that there was a "hit list" on a social media site that included students names from our high school. Jacob's name was on the list so they were calling to inform me and to see if he had any enemies, etc. They said that they were working on it and would be in touch with any updates. Thankfully the kids have been on break. It was all overwhelming as Jacob is a sweet kid. It definitely was a cloud over our head. (As an update, on January 2, I received a phone call from the sergeant who informed me that they had made 2 arrests of juveniles and that charges were pending. The school was aware and had banned them from school property and they felt that it was safe for the kids to go back to school. Apparently there were close to 30 names on the list and most of the names were girls with a couple boys. I found out that a coworker's granddaughter's name was also on the list.) 

The last Sunday of 2024 we had a "soup night" at my parent's house. One of our family goals that we had all talked about at Christmas was getting together at least once a month for a family dinner. We started with a soup night. I took a copycat Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup. My sister made chili. My sister-in-love made lasagna soup. My mom made corn chowder and a vegetable type soup. I also made homemade garlic bread. It was all super yummy. 

Our New Year's Eve was quiet and at home. The kids and I played Uno No Mercy which is a great card game. We then watched the ball drop at midnight; Ben opened the door and kicked the old year out and let the new year in. 

New Year's Day started with mass for the Solemnity of the Blessed Mother which was a great way to start off the year. Then it was home to putter around, get a planner set up, etc. I made a yummy pork and peppers dinner. 

I spent the rest of the week reading a couple books, putting away the Christmas decorations and switching it out for winter decor. I also had to deal with a visit from Murphy. My washing machine died. I ordered a new one and it was delivered on Satruday. Unfortunately the delivery men were condescending, acted mad that they were delivering in the snow, wouldn't hook it up as they said that my cold water valve was leaking, and couldn't understand how the drain hose got hooked up to the pipe as this is an old hose. They said that once I had a plumber come out and fix those issues I could call them back and get them to install it. Well, I called my landlord who came out and the valve was not leaking they just didn't turn it on all the way. I was able to get the washer drain hooked up after have the clasp come off twice, but I got it done. So yay for clean clothes! 

The kids were supposed to go back to school on Monday, but we got snow and had a snow day for them. I went to work and got some things done. The drive to work was crappy, but the drive home was much better. Tuesday and today the kids had a 2 hour delay due to snow. I will say they were all 3 glad to go back to school. I am back to work after our school had a snow day on Tuesday. I went into work and worked on some trainings. Last night I also had to go and take a CDA exam. I am so glad to get that over with. Now to finish my portfolio and plan for my observation day that is scheduled for 2 weeks from today. 

I have also been working on some goals for the year. One of the my goals is to get in a better place financially. I am trying to not eat out, have no spend days, and am doing a low spend January. So far so good. Tonight I really wanted to get fast food however I came home and made tomato soup and grilled cheese and it hit the spot. The kids really enjoyed it as well. 

Well, I need to get ready to head to bed so I can get up tomorrow for work. I haven't been sleeping well lately. I will leave you with a scene that I encountered when I left work yesterday. It was snowing and there is a farm field next to our center. The deer were having the time of their lives! 

Hope everyone is having a good start to 2025! Until next time, I wish you all well.