Meal Planning 3-16-23 to 3-23-23: Feeding the Family

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I hope you had a good one.  We did our St. Patrick's Day dinner 3-18-23.  Even though our Bishop gave a dispensation for meat on St. Patrick's Friday in Lent, we decided to keep that Friday meatless.  And I was making a soup for soup supper at church, so I did creamy potato which was meatless too.  The boys came home for spring break on Friday.  It's so nice to have them home.  It's only for a week and I know that week will fly by.  At least we'll get to see them again in a few weeks for Easter.  This week I shopped at Aldi and Marc's.  I spent more than I wanted to, but I have two extra mouths to feed and I had a meal for soup supper.  This week I have a meal train meal for our church family.  I plan on making chili and gluten free corn bread.

This week's menu:

Thursday: Hamburger Casserole

Friday:  Creamy Potato Soup for church soup supper

Saturday:  Corned Beef, Mashed Potatoes, Cabbage, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, and Rye Bread

Sunday:  Turkey Meatloaves, Baked Red Skins, and Vegetable

Monday:  (Meatless Monday for us, but meat for the college boys) Baked Chicken Thighs and Fettuccini Alfredo

Tuesday:  Taco Night (and chili for meal train meal)

Wednesday:  Hamburger, Hot Dogs, and Vegetables

Thursday:  Tater Tot Casserole

I'm going to try to shop at some salvage stores this week for groceries, but the problem with that is that you never know what you are going to get.  There are also some bulk stores by the salvage stores so I may check them out too.  I just really want to get our grocery budget down, but I don't want us to eat garbage either.  

I don't think I ever posted the Lent Tree:

Have a blessed week ahead!!

Menu Plan 1/20/23 to 1/26/23: Feeding the Family

 The big boys are back at school.  They left in a snow storm on Sunday.  I was stressed for almost 5 hours until they made it there safely.  We miss them, but we are glad that they are back doing their studies and becoming independent adults.  So I'm back to cooking for just the three of us.  My grocery budget will be happy.

This weeks meal plan:

Friday:  Frozen pizza for boys/Mom and Dad date night before we lose our sitters to college

Saturday:  One Skillet Chicken With Green Beans and Mushrooms

Sunday:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Monday:  BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad

Tuesday:  Sesame Chicken and Broccoli

Wednesday: Hamburger Soup

Thursday:  Clean Up Day

I have next weeks meal plan put together and I scheduled a Walmart pick up for it.  I'm really trying to save money.  And my budget is less than when the big boys were home.  But not enough to make me happy.  I KNOW everything is more expensive, but I need to do a better job and saving money.  

Have a Blessed Week ahead!!

The Summer That Flew By

 Last time I checked, it was June.  How are we here in September??  

The last thing I posted was about the graduation party.  It was nice!!  It was a ton of work.  Next time I have a graduation party, it will not be at my house.  Oh, the work involved.  But to have it at a hall or restaurant was very expensive. And I would have had it at a local park, but apparently you have to book those one to two years in advance.  I know that now.  I will not make that mistake again. But the party really did turn out nice and it was worth all the stress and sleepless nights.

Then we moved on to vacation.  I LOVE the beach.  But again, it's a lot of work to get ready for it.  We've been going so many years that I have a system.  But it doesn't happen all on its own.  I love it though.  I'd be there right now if I could.

After vacation, I had two and a half weeks to get two boys ready for college and another boy ready for 4th grade.  Even though one has been to college the last two years, he moved into an unfurnished apartment this year and it was like starting over.  And this is the other boy's freshman year.  I'm broke and I'm tired.  But they are settled and happy.

My car was loaded, and this was just one boy.  And this is a new car.  We bought a new car during those 2.5 weeks.  Because why not add more chaos in the mix? 

Got the other one off to 4th grade. So far so good there.

AND last week, we got a puppy.  Of course, right?  But the son with the allergies finished his allergy shots (and is on maintenance) and is at college so the allergist thought it would be ok.  The little guy has been begging for a dog, the doctor said it would help with his anxiety, and with both brothers leaving, we felt it was a good time.  

Yes, it's like having a baby.  Yes, it is.  We are trying to get into a routine.  As of right now, we've had her a week, and she is slowly getting settled. And I'm slowly getting settled too.  Slowly.  She sure is cute though.  Meet Daisy.

And the young one is playing tackle football this year.  So far so good there too.  He sure does love his sports.

This is the quick, abridged update for a very busy time.  I told everyone that I was hibernating during September and not to bother me.  That's not going to happen.  So maybe I'll hibernate during October.  But I doubt it.

Oh The Things That Are Going On

 Prom.

End of the school year activities.

Graduation.

Travel Baseball.

Car Crash (everyone was OK).

Broken Washer (TWICE!!)

Picking up oldest from college (8 hours round trip)

College Orientation with the Middle (stayed in the dorm.  Ate in the dining hall.  12 hours of meetings.  I was EXHAUSTED)

Y'all.  It's been a wild ride.  Good, but busy.  I have photos.  But I need to download them.  

Up next.  Grad Party.  I feel very detached from this.  I should be panicked.  I don't even care right now.  It's going to hit me.  And it won't be good.  

Pray for me.  It's just so busy.  

Easter, Spring Break, and so much more!

 Last week's Easter Sunday was really nice.  I will never take being able to go to church for granted again.  Last Easter was our first holiday back in church since Covid and I will never forget the feeling of churches being closed.  Our church wasn't as crowded as it usually is, but it was still quite crowded and decorated beautifully.  Easter dinner was the usual treats.  We had ham (Honeybaked), Delmonico potatoes, bacon wrapped green beans, 4 types of sausage (smoked Slovenian, smoked kielbasa, fresh kielbasa, and fresh Hungarian), and gluten free chocolate pudding pie for dessert.  The oldest came home from college for a few days and it was nice to have him with us.  But it's such a long drive just to be home for 48 hours.  Since the middle son will be at the same college next year, we are thinking that we may just drive down there instead of the boys driving up here.  But we'll see.

Baskets being blessed at church

We always have two baskets.  Too much food.

The two younger boys were on spring break last week, so it was a busy, yet relaxing week.  The little guy had baseball practice, he read to a horse again through our local library system, and I took him to the zoo.  They only have around a month of school left, but no one wants to go back (I'm sure the teachers are included).

I've also been planning the middle son's graduation party, ordered his senior pictures, and designed and ordered his announcements.  And I even started to purchase some of the things he will need for his dorm room.  It's a lot, but it's all good stuff.  Tomorrow is back to school, and we need to finish out this school year strong.

A Whirlwind of a Summer

 Summer is not over!  But as of today, the high schooler returned for his senior year.  The 3rd grader goes back Wednesday.  And we return the college sophomore to his university on Saturday.  Even though summer is still with us, it seems to be behind us.  

It was a really good summer.  Baseball dominated the first part of summer.  From May (actually April) until early July, our days were full of baseball.  The season went ok.  The team he was on was full of really great kids.  But they all go to another school, and some of his school friends play on another team and he really wanted to play with them.  He tried out for the new team and made it.  So next year he'll be on a totally new team and he'll miss his teammates from his old team, but he's really happy to be with his school friends.

The older boys both worked at a grocery store this summer.  At first it was really busy and they worked a lot of hours, but as summer went on, customers weren't coming in as much and the available stock became less due to supply chain issues, so things became slow and hours were cut.  They weren't happy about losing money, but it did give them more free time.

We went on vacation.  To our usual South Carolina spot.  It was a really great week.  We all love it there so much.  We fished, swam, sunned, and just spent quality time together.  I wish we could do that more than just once a year.

It's been a rainy summer here in Ohio.  My flowers and garden are water logged.  My lettuce did well, as did the hot peppers, jalapenos, and green beans.  I got NO garlic (I don't know what I did wrong), and my peas, carrots, radish, green peppers, and cabbage did "meh".  Tomatoes and zucchini are coming in now so we'll see how those go.

We spent some time at the swim club this summer (I call it the lake).  It's really nice there and I'm glad we joined.  I'd like to keep going on the weekends until they close, but weekends are filling up fast.  

I went on a few college tours with the senior.  He's narrowing things down and we'll see how things go.  He seems a little disengaged in the whole process, but we'll see.  Maybe that's just how he's appearing on the outside.  I know he'll end up in the correct place for him.  God always put us where we should be.

So that's my update.  I'm sure I forgot some things.  But these are the big ones.

Broken Computers Are The Worst

My computer broke.  It's actually been broken, but I could cobble up some ways to make it work, but even those stopped working.  My son thought he fixed it, but I think it's an inherent problem with the type of HP computer that I bought (several years ago) because when I Googled how to fix it, it seemed like a common problem with this particular model.  So I've been MIA all summer long.  But my son did fix an old computer that we found in our home office, so I'm back.  The next time I invest in a computer, I think it's going to be an Apple (sorry HP, but I've been burned enough).

So what has been going on?:

1.  The 7 year old played baseball this summer (social distancing baseball).  He loved it and had a blast.  He tries out next week for next years team, so we'll see if he makes it.

2.  We went on vacation!  We went on our usual summer vacation (I booked it in January before the pandemic).  We rented a condo, went to the beach, didn't eat out, didn't go to the pools, and social distanced while wearing masks anywhere inside.  It was just so nice to get away.  

3.  School starts soon.  The little goes back August 17, the middle goes back August 27, and the oldest was supposed to go to college August 10 but it got pushed to September 14 but classes begin August 17.  I am not sure how this is all going to go or even if anyone will actually return to a classroom setting.  I hope so because these kids really need it.  But on the other hand, I'd like to keep them home in a bubble.  I'm so torn.  I don't think there are too many good decisions here.  No matter what happens, it will be less than ideal.

4.  Other than that we are staying in, social distancing and doing the best that we can. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this broken computer doesn't break again.  I had to buy the college student a new laptop for school, and I just can't afford another one right now.  But I can't update here from my phone and I miss updating.  No one but me reads this (according to the analytics) but this is kind of like my diary.  And I especially wanted to keep it updated during these unprecedented times.

Moving Forward

Even though we are stuck here in quarantine land, life still has a way of moving forward.

We signed the oldest up for college the other day.  He's registered and his meal plan and room and board have been chosen. He'll be attending Miami University in the fall (at least that's the plan.  We'll have to wait and see what the Governor does about schools opening).

This was NOT an easy decision.  He actually had another college in first place on his list.  He originally wanted a small, Catholic college environment, but his first choice did not come back with enough scholarship money and it was almost $10,000 more per year than his other choices.  We, as his parents, just could not justify paying that much more when we still have two other children who are planning to attend college also.  It broke our hearts to say no, but we have to put the whole family first.  So he moved on to his second choice.  And he is extremely excited!  He is also relieved that he has a plan and is excited to move forward with his life.  I am excited for him!!  I think he will do well here despite the fact that it's bigger and not Catholic.  There is a Catholic church right by campus and he can attend mass, adoration, and confession and they also have ministries that he can join (if his schedules allows).

So while we are house bound for the moment, the future waits for no one.  Even the pandemic can not stop completely the forward trajectory of our lives.  Right now, it just seems that way.

The mixed emotions I have right now are incredible.  I can not imagine my baby leaving our home.  I've dreaded this for 18 years.  But I know it's why God gave me this child in the first place.  It was my job to teach him to fly and it's also my job to let him do that.  Oh it is so hard though.

Ever since this pandemic started, I have been on the verge of tears.  Silly things make me cry.  But now that college is looming in front of us, it's even harder not to wear my emotions on my sleeve and tear up at every little thing.  And while I'm dreading his leaving us, I'm also so very excited for him and can't wait to see where his future leads.  I know God has a plan for him and I'm looking forward to watching his journey.

And I suppose this is all a part of my journey too.  It's one that I'm hoping to embrace with grace.  I guess this is just another thing that I have to put in God's hands.