This Week

(This Week was actually typed day-to-day as we went through a trying last week.  The real week this week is much better/easier, thank you.)

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I am not asking for help, so please do not take it that way, but is this any sign that life is unraveling faster than I can knit?  And as crafty as I like to be, I have never knitted a stitch in my life. 

How’s that for an illustrative metaphor?

What got this “life unraveling” post started was this meal thing…. 

 

Sunday

Dinner, Sunday Dinner, not just another weekday quick meal, folks, this was SUNDAY DINNER for my family, literally consisted of what I could find in the fridge.  What I like to call “a little barnyard, a little insect”: 

Menu

Piggies in a blanket

Bugs on a log

Water

 

Monday

This was that memorable day at the pediatrician’s office. Lunch was Wendy’s drive thru, and supper was me swooping through the grocery ghetto known as Aldi’s to grab two pizzas and bake them at the Walton house (where there is a working oven) and eat them standing up while I did wheelin and dealin with Craiglisters coming to buy piddly furniture including:

   

Buh-bye, stuff. 

In between the wheelin and dealin and carting stuff out of the Walton house, there was no time for a Monday Music nor Movie post. 

Life is really interfering with my fun. 

 

Tuesday

Breakfast for me was two Milky Ways.

Minis, not regular size.  I know you were thinking that!

Breakfast = candy, maybe this crazy life is ok after all?

Besides completing a million sheets of paper for four kids’ school registration, mowing how many acres?, more wheelin and dealin, and moving stuff out of the Walton house, I made it to the real grocery store and stocked up on real food like Spaghettios, hot dogs, corn dogs, cereal, and not only packaged cheese/crackers but peanut butter/crackers.  Living large this week for sure, if living large equals death by sodium, a’la processed convenience foods. 

I will say I took a second at the grocery store to get my blood pressure checked (by a live nurse, not the machine this time) and it was perfect—see, I can handle the stress!  And a tiny shout out to Mother’s Little Helper, Benicar, thank you my little pill.  And why do all these people on the ad look like they are, um, older?

Wednesday

Lunch was graciously provided by Miss Caroline as I had a million things going on, and it consisted of chicken fries (in case you haven’t had the “fortune” to experience for yourself, they are nuggets in the shape of French fries), pizza bites, quesadillas, Wheat Thins, and lemonade, all presented on a blanket on the kitchen floor.  Indoor picnic!  That girl likes to make her work fun.

Since Jack had two boys over spending the night, I felt like I needed to go all out make something half-way resembling a meal that wasn’t straight from the freezer to the microwave, but seeing that it was 9 p.m. before I even got around to thinking about supper, it went like this. 

Me: Let’s do breakfast for supper!  How about biscuits and gravy, boys?

Me: Oh…shoot….we are out of milk. There goes the biscuits and gravy!

(as in “I left the new gallon at the Walton house”).

I did finally get something on the table in the form of scrambled egg, cheese, and sausage wrapped in a tor-till-a, and I will say, it was pretty tasty, if you were hungry. 

Beverage: milk  oj water

[I feel compelled to add that I also served oranges, peaches, and bananas.  So far our week’s menu might have left you thinking scurvy might soon be settin in, so rest assured there is fruit going on around here.]

Thursday

Still no milk in the house so there goes my cereal extravaganza idea. 

Breakfast:  banana with peanut butter

Two days to go until the renters move in!  We still have to remove from the Walton house:

• set of 5 white cabinets from the basement craft room
• a coffee table and end table
• white loveseat and chair from living room
• 3 barstools and 2 kid chairs (most everything I posted on Craigslist was snatched up but not even one inquiry on these?!  I think the kid chairs may be coming Karen’s way, ‘k?)

 

Ok, back to the list of things to move…

• Caroline’s desk and brass bed
• Dresser and four tables from basement
• This thorn in my side that I can’t get rid of/ yet can’t seem to finish after 13 years 

• Lamps and pictures
• Remainder of Gary’s workshop and attic(gasp)

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The garage is pretty much emptied so I just need to do a cleaning on it.  Upstairs is looking good. 

My plan is to cook a great meal today while I can and heat it up tonight as we are working on the house.  We’ll see how that goes:  shrimp stir-fry noodles.  I’ve got lots of broccoli for it.  Sounds heavenly right now.

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Update: Good home-cooked meal didn’t happen after all.  Gary mentioned “I’ll pick up pizzas on my way home” and that’s all she wrote, as my grandma would say. 

 

Friday

Ok, even though I spent a ridiculous number of hours at the Walton house yesterday, I still did not come home with the new gallon of milk sitting all alone there in that empty fridge, nor did I think to stop and pick up milk on the way home. 

I don’t like this life without milk.  I love milk.  My kids (minus Caroline) love milk.  This way of life is getting too outta whack. 

Breakfast:  yogurt with granola.  No milk.

And just when I thought my paint brush was put away for good at the Walton house, after moving out the white cabinets from the basement wall, I realized we needed to fill in screw holes and paint that wall.  Quickly got that done and Gary and I moved out pretty much the last of everything in two truck and trailer loads, and weeded and mowed in the rain. 

Gary took off work and the kids were at friends’ for most of the day Friday so we kicked some booty and got it done.  By 10 p.m. no less.  Except for the final vacuuming of the basement as I fried two of my three vacuums somehow.  The third one that Gary brought to me from the Rosie house wasn’t working for me either, but that turned out to be because he had removed the old filter and it had no bag.  No wonder it was spewing out as much as it was taking in.  We’ll just forget that vacuuming thing.  Give the new people something to do. 

Lunch was reheated pizza and supper was Wendy’s AGAIN. 

 

Saturday

We were up early to get to the Walton house before the walk-thru with the renters at 9 a.m., since we had some trash to gather up and a few odds and ends to do like sweep off the driveway and patio. 

By 10 a.m., we had a big check in hand for the August rent and the deposit and was pulling out of the Walton drive.  Whew.  What a week it was, but it all came together by the end. 

Brunch was me swinging through Jack-in-the-Box.  Afternoon involved unloading some stuff and then naps.

It felt justified. 

And I, with pleasure, vow this next week to cook my family healthy, nutritious food. 

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“Actual This Week” UPDATE

Good so far:

Sunday—The littles and I had Mexican in Clay County, and Gary took the big boys for Chinese buffet

Monday—pork chops with gravy and delicious garden sweet corn (thanks to Mom/Dad Gill)

Tuesday—roasted chicken with vegetables and rolls

Wednesday—salmon (and fish sticks for the picky eaters that prefer their fish not to be real) with rice and steamed broccoli

Thursday—it’s gonna be spaghetti and salad and bread tonight.

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I feel like a much better mom this week.