Mealplan Monday #130 and he gets me

Hubby and I celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Here we are as 23 year olds in college...and then, as now, Hubby really "gets" me.  He managed to plan and pay for a great low key weekend with things to go, see, and eat. It will be just he and I, bopping around, having a great time, reconnecting.

Monday - Cheddar Broccoli Skillet, salad
Tuesday -Brown Sugar pork Chops, sweet potatoes
Wednesday -  Pumpkin Ziti, salad
Thursday - Game Night
Friday - Mom and Dad out - boys get pizza
Saturday -Ditto  - boys get taquitos, refrieds
Sunday - Stir Fry with crunchy noodles, Anniversary Cake *
{But also this week I am making Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies for my peeps to take in lunches}
*going to buy this from a bakery on Friday from either here or here

The best part is that he did all of the planning to find the places to stay and eat.  He calls it our "Winey 29th" because the theme is wine. I told him I had a few surprises up my sleeve, too.  It will be our first weekend away for FUN in years.

We are going to enjoy a great weekend and plan for our 30th!

Gina

Little things add up, take two

I have so little time to do big projects nowadays that little ones when they work out right, make my creative heart glad.  I've been looking at these bedroom lamps for so long thinking I really loved the shape of them, but the color, a washed-out wood finish, wasn't working in here.

 I was also noticing that the brass lamp I repainted years ago was starting to show some wear and tear.  And the paint finish wasn't doing it for me, either.

 Ick.  Shiny.

 And scuffed.

 The hardware I painted on the dressers was also scuffed.  I  used a combo of paint and primer last time, but four years of use was bound to take it's toll.

For all of these things I wanted more of a flat finish, like cast iron.  And this time I used a combo paint and primer that dried lightening quick!  I mean the whole project took me maybe an hour and a half - total. And the paint was only $5.

 The table lamps turned out lovely!  Lots of detail you can now see.

And the floor lamp - I love it!  No more scratches or shiny finish.  And the hardware on the furniture  looks great, too.  This isn't a fancy room, but it is neat and clean and comfy - just the way a bedroom should be! 

I would love to work on adding some curtains to frame out the window, and maybe new linens.  But a little spiffing on the lamps was waaay overdue and I'm glad I tackled that one thing.  Now to start on the master closet...

*sigh*

The metal shelving and all that Christmas storage is making me sad...

Ready for Pumpkin Palooza time!

What a glorious morning to sleep in (til 7:30) on my day off with the windows open and a favorite quilt to snuggle under!  There's a nip of Fall in the air which makes all things pumpkin even more appealing to me.  Hooray for Fall and Pumpkin!

I stopped by World Market yesterday and loaded up on some fun stuff to try - pumpkin soup, pumpkin salsa, pumpkin pasta sauce, and pumpkin chai tea.  I could have bought all the things pumpkin in there, but I managed some restraint...  I've got plans for all of these goodies over the next week or so.  Let the Pumpkin Palooza begin!

What about you?  Enjoying pumpkin yet?

Mealplan Monday #129 and things that make me laugh

I came across something funny while I was using the expansion drive recently.  Apparently, Hubby had saved a file called "Mom's 50th birthday" with pictures they took to make me this:

I was supposed to wear it at work since it's made to look like a badge.  I think I took it to show everyone - the pictures were so cute I laughed all over again.

The first tag said "Your name is Gina - pronounced "GEENAH"

Firstborn (20) up a tree with the sign...

The Girl (19), posing at her job that day,

******

Monday - Dr. Martin's Mix, cheesey garlic toast

Tuesday - Pork Chops, beans and tomatoes

Wednesday - Baked Tacos, salad with avocado

Thursday - Swiss Chicken, homemade masheds, green beans

Friday - Crusty Baked Tilapia, Ranch Mac and Cheese, salad

Saturday - Dad grill

Sunday - Salsa Spinach Chicken, Spanish rice, corn (never had this a couple weeks ago)*

Dessert will be Pumpkin Brownies

*This seems to happen a lot lately!

******

Scout (15), with his euphonium...

Bubbie (almost 12) in the backyard  {OMG how tiny was he!}

Hubby at the BBQ grill.  His tag says his name is MARK when he's in trouble.  Too funny! The tags included stuff like  "Here is where you work, here is where you live" (with photos and a Google map).  It included a picture of my car with the caption "God only knows where your keys are".  It made me laugh all over again!  So I went and found the tags and gave them a place to hang over my desk so I can smile every time I see it.

I need to make one of these for Hubby...

5 thing Friday - roses, trail mix, clothes, computers, and less stuff

Things are settling back into a pattern here at Camp Rustown.  It's been a rough go for me, physically, mentally, every other -ly.  My knee and foot pain make me want to kill someone.  And yet I haven't called out at work or shirked my duties, either there or here.  More on that later...

We brought home some roses from Dallas two weeks ago.  My nephew rigged them up on this hanger to dry so they would stay upright in a dried flower arrangement.  A man after my own heart.  I do this with Valentine's roses for pot pourri, too.  However, I think I will move these to the garage - they smell a little like dead roses, of course.

I made a Fall trail mix with pumpkin spice M&M's, golden raisins, and almonds.  Bubbie found it in the pantry so it didn't stick around for long.  It was merely "ok".  Next time I'll use Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips.  It won't necessarily need to be Fall-flavored.

Clothes shopping wears me out.  It's a little depressing and very time consuming.  But I slogged through an hour or so of it in Kohl's this week and found these two tops to wear with skirts for less than $5 total, and a pair of Lee jeans on sale for $30.  This is going to be a slow process.  I may resort to Zappos for the shoes.

I vowed to get all of my files and programs transferred from my old laptop to my new one and I DID IT.  Only took me about three weeks.  Have I mentioned that I am not technically savvy?  Again, the cat was in the way helped.  The only thing I left to do is work on my iTunes files, but that's not at the top of my list.

My next big project will be to further empty our master closet.  I got Hubby to admit that we needed to purge some more.  No one needs textbooks from college in the eighties.  No. One. Keep your fingers crossed that he is still on board and WWIII doesn't break out at Camp Rustown!

Gina

Closet and drawer prep

I re-organized all of my clothes in preparation for getting some new things to wear.  I am tired of looking in the closet and choosing the same old things, some that I have had for years.  Some don't flatter, others I have nothing to wear with.  I needed to weed through it.

 Sugar was right in the way helped.

I pulled each drawer out of the dresser and went through it with a critical eye.  If it was stained, misshapen, or too big/small, out it went.  I ended up with a small laundry basket of items to give away.  I've been doing this for years with the kid stuff, too.  It gets taken to Goodwill or left outside of the garage for ARC.

 My tee shirt drawer is FULL.  No more tees for me, please.  I wear them all the time, but seriously, no more.  I tucked some unwrapped bars of soap in there to make them smell nice.

 I tossed about half of my socks.  Ditto for old undies and bras that were too tight.  There's just no sense in having a billion of something.  And digging through these drawers on work mornings is for the birds. 

 I went thru the hanging things, too. Then I made a list of some basics I need to get in order to make complete outfits:  a solid color jumper, a pair of nice jeans to wear with heels, a pair of brown clogs, some low heels for skirts, a couple of button down tops to wear with skirts.  I organized all of it by function or sleeve length and weeded out those two hanging shoe organizers as well. Next up will be emptying the shelves in there, but that's another project for another day...

 Time to clothes shop!

Gina

Mealplan Monday #128 and the boys

Sometimes my kids make me want to spank them til their heads fall off.  They can be smartalecky, stubborn, hard to get along with, and just plain ridiculous.

{Too bad I was never a spanker, right? } 

But seriously, they pluck my last nerve til I am ready to cry.  Then they will make me proud, or laugh to make up for it...

Such was the case while we were in Dallas.  All in all, I think they handled the weekend better than their mom did.  Their calm demeanor at the funeral was beyond reproach.  While I was a crying mess, they were able to keep it in perspective.  While everyone was proselytizing about how my SIL wouldn't want us to be sad and crying, and all the while crying...

******

Monday - Chicken and Dumplings

Tuesday - Meatball Subs, Rosemary Fries (we never had this week before last...)

Wednesday - Easy Chicken Enchiladas, salad*

Thursday - OUT - Game Night

Friday - Brisket Sammies, chips

Saturday - YOYO, camping weekend

Sunday - Mississippi Crock Pot Roast, masheds, green beans

*Recipe coming soon

Dessert this week is Easy Spice-y Pumpkin Cake  (cause I can't wait for the Season Of Pumpkin!)

******

...Scout and Bubbie heard what was said and took it to heart.  Sharon would have laughed at their silly selfies outside of the funeral home.  She would have engaged them in conversation and reminisced about how similar they are to their dad.  Being sociable was what Sharon always was.  She loved life and she loved laughing.

She would have thought they were cute and fun to hang out with.  

And they are, for the most part.

Sweet boys.  How you drive me crazy.  And make my heart glad.  

And let God and Sharon speak to my heart.  All at the same time...

Happy Birthday to The Girl!

Happy Birthday to my pretty little girl, 23 years old!

You'll always be my smiling, sweet little girlie, no matter how old you get...

The Girl, ca. 1994

While we try to teach our children all about life,

Our children teach us what life is all about

-Angela Schwindt

Amen to that!

Fallification

I hauled all of the Fall stuff out and arranged it here and there...I wasn't aiming for Pinterest-worthy vignettes.  Just a touch here and there to remind us that cooler weather is coming, and hopefully, some happy family times.  The house got a thorough cleaning, too...

Welcome, Fall.  What took you so long?

Mealplan Monday #127 and Strawberry Bread

I wanted to take some things to Dallas with us to lessen the hostess load on my nephew's family.  They were very generous to let all five of us stay at their house.  They have small children - I know how tough it can be when your kids are out of their normal schedule with sad faces all around and hubbub. Strawberry Bread sounded like a good thing to bring - I got the recipe from Sharon so many years ago. We were visiting her around the holidays and she had set out a couple of breakfast breads with butter. It was wonderful!

She was a great hostess and cook and she shared her recipes with me whenever I asked, which was often.  So, in honor of her...

Strawberry Bread
Pre-heat the oven to 350. Sift together in a large bowl:
3 c. flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
2 c. sugar*

In another bowl mix:
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. canola oil
2 small cartons strawberries in syrup, thawed

Combine the two, stirring gently.  Grease and flour 4 loaf pans.  Divide batter evenly between the pans. (You can also add some finely chopped nuts to the batter if you like)  Bake at 350 for 45 min to an hour, depending on your oven.  Let cool and slice. Or freeze them for the holidays!

I broke my no oven rule and the house smelled so good!

******

Monday - (Leftover from freezer) BBQ Pulled Chicken for sammies, chips
Tuesday - Spinach Salsa Chicken (freezer meal), brown rice,corn
Wednesday - Four Cheese Bacon Lasagna Skillet, salad (And Back to School Night for only ONE kid - I can hardly believe it!!)
Thursday - Pan Fried Pork Chops, white beans with tomatoes, cheesey garlic toast
Friday - Game Night - OUT
Saturday - Dad grill
Sunday - Chicken Parmesan Casserole, salad

******

The loaves don't rise really high - they are so moist.  Also, I've made them with a little less sugar and oil in the past and they turn out OK.  Your call.

Strawberry Bread will forever remind me of family, holidays, home, and Sharon.