Monday menus #30

 Last week I bought a yummy kale salad to enjoy with some chicken strips for a delish lunch and while it wasn't expensive at $4, I still could have made it myself!  I have a couple of really good recipes for kale salad, but my favorite one is with with apples, so I will post that soon.

And also the ones for 5 Ingredient Chicken, Parmesan Bowtie Skillet, California Coleslaw, and Turkey Sloppy Joes!

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - 5 Ingredient Crockpot Chicken, kale salad, mashed potatoes {go see my mom}

Wednesday - Parmesan Bowtie Skillet, green beans {find a CPA, get some maintenance done on my car, figure out what's going on with my washing machine ): }

Thursday - Crusty Mexican Tilapia, rice, California Coleslaw {go see my mom}

Friday - Turkey Sloppy Joes, Fritos {drop off several large vehicle batteries at City of Austin recycle center}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Gina

5 thing Friday - iced coffee, clean bathroom, punch needle, mom, grouchy me

I made a copy cat version of Mojo Coffee's Almond Joy iced coffee.  Instant coffee, a teaspoon each of cocoa and powdered sugar, almond extract, a splash of creamer, and almond milk with lots of ice cubes.

I've had it on two afternoons this week and yet still slept pretty well, so this may well be my favorite Summer of Global Warming Treat. Even more so than wine!

I pick up a load of stuff from Bubbie's apartment this afternoon, on my way back from Bryan. In advance of that, I gave the guest bathroom a freshening up, adding in some baskets for the boys (grown men) to keep their toiletries in.  For a little while, they will be housemates and home with me and I'm not really sad about that - I know it is a transition.

Eventually I will get the floors done in here and I plan on painting this tiny bathroom in a neutral color and adding a shower curtain like the one above.  But I'm not paying $60 for a shower curtain because that's dumb.

Going to learn a new craft.  But I might have to have The Girl coach me on it because I don't know what I'm doing, and she's done these.  I am really drawn to mandalas lately.

Well, the thing we feared the most happened.  After sailing through a mastectomy and recovery, with healthy heart and lungs, my mother suffered some sort of stroke and fell in her kitchen, banging her head against the floor, causing another bleed, this one traumatic, and a couple broken ribs.  She was found down hours later by a neighbor after we couldn't get ahold of her by phone for much of the day.  She's in a hospital in Bryan now, breathing on her own, slowing coming to, but confused at how she got there.  And now we have Big Decisions to make, so we are just going to take it one step at a time.

To say that this has not made me more of a friendly ray of sunshine is an understatement.  It has been a difficult two years and things are still going south. Yes, grief has changed the way I perceive and react to the world.  And this latest development makes me feel angry, edgy, ready to fight.  

I'm trying hard to behave myself, for my mother's sake.  Pinkie swear.

Gina

Monday menus #29

 Its cicada season!  The hotter it gets, the louder they seem.

Monday - kitchen closed - I will likely eat cereal*

Tuesday - Taco Salads (Beef Taco Rio meat, romaine, avocado, bell pepper, tomato, cheese)

Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Penne Pasta, zucchini {on call overnight}

Thursday - Tilapia, skillet squash, spinach, 

Friday - Crockpot BBQ Pork Chops, mashed potatoes, peas {move some of Bubbie's college stuff home}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed - cereal it is

Gina

*its hot, I don't want to eat a burger every weekend, I get home around 9 p.m., and I feel like I will sleep better with a light supper

5 thing Friday - guitar store, closing, car titles, happy hour, supplements

Update from last week: I did sell that guitar and mandolin.

It took over an hour and I spent that entire time standing at this counter, listening to very loud music of all kinds while the (new?) music store employee exhaustively looked up info on line, examining the instruments several times and finally calling over the manager to help him.  Meanwhile, people kept lining up behind me, so there was more than one annoyed person standing there...

Glad that's over.

Scout came with me to Highlands for the last time.  We gathered a few things up then said goodbye to it.  Closing was a couple of days later and went smoothly, which was a blessing as the days leading up to it were filled with me rushing to get this document or that, faxing things, jumping through hoops, crying...what an absolute ordeal.

One of frogs I swallowed this week was getting all four vehicle titles put in my name.  But there was a slight snag with each one - and yes, I had to produce court documents yet again.  I was also told I had to get new plates for the truck as they were radio operator vanity plates with Mark's call sign.  It took an hour standing at a very nice lady's window, filling out forms, signing things, paying $200 for three of the four and I STILL am not done because Bubbie did not yet have the emissions test done on the Baja so I could not pay the overdue registration tags and get it put into my name.

Deep breaths. It will get done. Eventually.

On the bright side: there was little wait for me when I got there, but a considerably full waiting area when I left.  I went promptly home and layed on my couch for an hour.  Its so hot here, you don't feel like doing much else.

Yesterday's happy hour was courtesy of an $11 bottle of Becker Viognier, some assorted crackers I already had, and this nub of Sartori Bellavitano Merlot cheese for $1.53 at the HEB deli counter.  A nice cool and calm glass of wine with cheese and crackers mid afternoon is a beautiful snack.

Seems like the older I get, the more pills I have to swallow.  This little IKEA bowl holds my supplements and vitamins, which I am trying to get better about taking daily.  I'm not 100% sold on the hair vitamins and the Ashwaganda chews, so when those run out, I'm scaling back to calcium chews and fish oil and calling it good.

Have a good weekend!

Gina

Monday menus #28

Mark at Mt. Bonnell on our 35th anniversary

Monday - Chicken Salad with apples and celery on crackers {lots of errands to do today!}

Tuesday - Garlic Green Bean and Shrimp Bowl {going to Highlands for the last time}

Wednesday - Skillet Tilapia, (freezer) Fettucine Alfredo, Honey Carrots {on-call overnight}

Thursday - Chicken and Chickpea Salads (romaine, chicken, chickpeas, mint, yellow bell pepper, red onion, cucumber, and lemon vinaigrette) {closing on sale of Highlands}

Friday - BLT Bolillos with garlicy mayo and avocado, melon slices

Saturday and Sunday* - kitchen closed

Gina

*incidentally, next Sunday makes 2 years since Mark has been gone, almost 7 years since we bought Highlands.  I'm sure it will be an emotional week. I read somewhere 'because grief is love, grief is forever'. But after this week, I'm going to do my best to not make my grief, or Mark, the focus of my posts.

5 thing Friday - door spiff, summer dinner, reading, guitars. pie

In addition to painting the back door, I also replaced the door sweep on the screen door.  There's still a small gap, but compared to the way it was before, I'm OK with it because it looks and functions better, even with the gap.

The entire screen door was wiped down as well.  A cleaning project I never really think about.

I am loving summer dinner salads of all kinds.  This one had romaine, olives, cucumber, avocado, cut up chicken strips, croutons, and a drizzle of bleu cheese dressing.  Super easy, cool, maybe nutritious.

My latest Goodwill run netted me two books to read.  It was suggested to me that I go back and re-read all the books I had on grieving.  Well, oops, I have already donated those.  Lucky for me there are resources on-line.  This site is one of my favorites.

Long story short: Bubbie will soon be home from college for a bit.  Since his room and closet had become something of a storage area, I cleaned it up, moving the black and white chair into The Lounge (aka my office) and I now have a cozy place to sit and read or stitch.  Or drink my morning coffee.  Or talk to the counselor on the phone. Or listen to podcasts.

Two of the items I removed from Bubbie's closet were Mark's mandolin and a folk guitar.  I have an appointment this morning at a music store to see about selling them. Mark picked up new hobbies on the regular and sometimes only for a hot minute.   They are in mint condition and belong in the hands of someone who will use them.

I relaxed my "no oven" rule because I was craving pie!

Coconut Pie

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 c. flour

1/2 can evaporated milk

1/2 stick very soft butter

1/2 t. vanilla

dash salt

4 oz. grated coconut

Mix it all and pour into an unbaked pie shell, 350 for about an hour, but check around the 50 minute mark.  Cool, store in the fridge.

Happy weekend,

Gina

Monday menus #27

 The buyer for Highlands is also interested in the trailer and the canoe.

This is a load off my mind as trying to learn to hook up a trailer, drive it down the gravel drive and make the sharp turn to the right, then get it to a place I could park it to sell it?  That was going to present a challenge. And lately, I'm so over being challenged!

Monday - (kitchen closed)

Tuesday - Shake and Bake (homemade) Chicken, seasoned baby potatoes, broccoli {visit Bubbie in San Marcos}

Wednesday - Beef Tacos, street corn {checking on Highlands}

Thursday - Veggie Stir Fry/Lo Mein {going to check on my mother, pick up groceries, go get my car inspected}

Friday - Pan Fried Pork Chops, yellow squash, butter beans {yardwork, might go get a pedicure!, meal prep}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed

Heavier than it looks.

Just like my week...

Gina

Little project: painting the back door

On my list of projects was giving the back door a fresh coat of paint.  Years ago, Mark painted it from builder basic white to a color called Otter Creek.  The closest I could get to that was this pretty emerald green called Dark Everglade.  I love pretty much all shades of green, and this one is fairly 90's, but do colors ever go out of style?  I don't think so.

I used my scrub daddy sponge to clean it, rinsed it well, then took some of the existing gloss down using fine steel wool.  I used painters tape to get clean lines around the window frame, and I removed the hardware.  I also gave the window pane frame a coat of cream paint to freshen it up.  Painting was the shortest part of the project, time-wise.  {I do still need to get new weatherstripping for the metal slat at the bottom of the screen door.}

Cleaning the hardware with Brasso wasn't that time-consuming, either but getting it all back on properly?  Very challenging.  It took me over an hour and involved WD40, but the lock and door knob work better than ever.  And I am proud of myself for getting one more small project crossed off the list!

And I like it so much against the red brick - which makes me think it would be a great color for the front door, too!

Gina

Monday menus #26

Lately work is kicking my rear.   I worked 12 hour shifts Saturday through Tuesday, then took call Wednesday morning, worked 8:30-11 pm, then took overnight call until 7 am.  Back on call Friday from 4:30 pm to 7 am Saturday, worked 12 hours shifts Saturday, Sunday, and today plus scheduled to work an 8 hour shift on Tuesday, back on overnight call Wednesday.

All my scrubs are clean so there's that, yay me.

"The plan" was to go part-time, but it isn't really working out that way...

Monday - kitchen closed

Tuesday - I work until 9 p.m. today, so kitchen still closed!

Wednesday - Crockpot Chicken Tacos, pico de gallo and shredded cheese, borracho beans {painting the back door today, on call overnight}

Thursday - Dr. Martin's Mix, corn

Friday - Roast Beef Subs with sliced tomato, purple onion, provolone, creamy horseradish sauce {might go see my mother, change air filters}

Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed (and I'm going to buy two HEB Meal Simple meals for dinners)

Gina