Happy My Valentine

In a chat today with a friend who married her high school sweetheart too, we reflected on how lucky we all are 12 years later.

I dated losers and jerks until I met my husband at age 17. We were friends first. He was sweet and kind and opened doors for me. He read the same books I did and would talk to me about them. He bought me milkshakes to cheer me up. One night he picked me up from work in a blizzard and asked if I had even seen a certain painting. No? Want to? Off we drove at midnight, 4 hours in a blizzard to Kansas City. All this before our first kiss.

Once that happened we were inseparable. I can count the days we have been apart the last 12 years. He is a wonderful father and husband.

Before we were married he decided to do everything he could to get me through college, even if it didn't work out between us. None of our friends really understood that. He was devoted to my happiness and that was an amazing thing. Even now, he may make jokes about my massive student loan debt and itty bitty income, but never in a mean way.

That said, he's alway been by best friend. We've grown together, though we are different people than when we were at 19, we are still interesting to each other. That's pretty neat.

Happy my Valentine. I am so glad you are mine. :)

Thursdays Part 2

We missed library day. There was a setback with making lunch and it was ruined so I had to make something else and by that time, we missed the library thing. So of to swimming we went. It had been a while and I forgot what a joyful swimmer Lil'Bug is. She did her "dangerous" tricks and dove to the bottom of the pool and back. She practiced swimming to the side and back, about 12 feet. Laughing and singing the whole time. We pretty much had the pool to ourselves until 1:30 when a mass of homeschool families descended in, or rather the kids did since the moms were outside in the lobby watching through the glass wall.

After swimming and to allow time to dry off, we checked out the new kid gym. It has kid sized and safe workout equipment. Funny thing is, since I am only 4'10" (ish), regular equipment has always been a pain for me to use. This set was perfect. I showed Lil'Bug how to use each one and then we exercised together. Very cool.

She fell asleep on the way home but woke up soon after. All I wanted was a spinach salad but my spinach is missing. I know we bought some at the store last Saturday and I haven't used the new one yet, but I cannot find it anywhere. So I made my salad with Belgium Endive. It was a bit like iceberg in flavor, which to me is unappealing, but served up ok in this pinch. I used bacon, apples, Parmesan, and Caesar dressing. Pretty simple, but not as yummy as my spinach salad.

Thursdays

Today Lil'Bug got up way too early.

I had to drag myself out of bed and follow her downstairs to relieve daddy in time to get ready for work. I still feel run over. Lil'Bug is so full of energy it is spewing out of her ears.

And so the day started. I did the rounds, made the beds, unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, and went to change loads of laundry only to find that overnight they had mildewed? Huh? I thought that only happened in the summer time! Gah. So now I am rewashing instead of folding and I feel totally off track.

I have papers to grade that will get done today. Today is IHE's new library day and we wouldn't go but for that I left my only pair of scissors at craft day and I NEED them back ASAP. I hate our downtown library and that's where it is at. It is also swim day. If we opted out of swim day we could go to game day. Why is Thursday so popular for group activities with homeschoolers? Swim day is what Lil'Bug has her heart set on so that is the direction we will head after library visit BUT it means we have to pack a lunch and find a place to eat it before swimming.

Bright side is that now, except for the two loads of laundry pending, the house is tidied up and dinner is a simple 20 minute deal. Tonight we shall make cards and I shall finish up the grading for the week. Sometimes busy days get more done in less time. Now, off to pack a lunch.

Yoga 60 and Menu

I did the whole entire yoga routine, all 60 minutes of it. There was only one pose I couldn't do because my crappy folding chair is the wrong height. Whew. I am zonked and a bit sore and a lot thirsty, but I feel warm and comfortable despite all of that. I also played different music and muted the DVD- the instructor on the program's voice annoys me and my thought was that if I eliminated that I might stick it out longer. Yup. I love the soundtrack to The Piano, by composer Michael Nyman. Lovely.

So the question came up again this week about how and what we eat around here, how we have time to make stuff from scratch, ect. So I thought I'd post our menu for this week:

Dinner:
Sunday: Turkey, mashed potatoes, peas
Monday: Class night, so we ate Planet Sub's food
Tuesday: Whole wheat penne pasta with sausage meatballs and shredded parme and garlic bread (supposed to be Green Bean Schezwan, but missing beans)
Wednesday: Turkey, broccoli (w/ butter, pepper, and lemon), yams (steamed)
Thursday: Steak, acorn squash, snow peas
Friday: Fish (Cod, baked) and crispy oven fries w/ Cajun seasoning
Saturday: Chili

Lunch (Dearest either takes leftovers from the night before or a sandwich fruit combo):
Sunday: Soup, spinach salad
Monday: Cheeseburgers and apples
Tuesday: Cheese Noodles (Parmesan Fettuccine w/extra Parmesan and peas), leftover Planet Sub, chicken nuggets
Wednesday: Leftover pasta and meatballs w/fruit and milk
Thursday: Spinach salad with dark meat turkey
Friday: Peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt (leftover yams)
Saturday: Chicken nuggets with leftover oven fries and

Breakfasts are rotating with one or more of these elements:
Oatmeal with added fruit like apples, raisins, dried cranberries, and/or bananas
Scrambled Eggs with bacon or sausage
Cheerios with milk and fruit on the side
Whole wheat toast with peanut butter and/or raspberry jam

Sometimes I have oatmeal and make bacon too. It depends.

Snacks involve fruit and sometimes peanut butter on one slice of bread folded like a taco or yogurt with fruit add ins. If we are on the go, I slice up fruit and/or put a dry mix of raisins and pretzels and whole wheat goldfish together. Fruit this week included:
Strawberries, grapes, apples, tangelos, cantaloupe, bananas and frozen blueberries.

We drink orange juice, whole hormone free (and local) milk, tea, and water. Dearest also drinks cherry cola and coffee.

Every week I plan the meals so we have a variety of meat and vegetables and fruit. My protein counts are about 110 each day. I drink about 3.25 quarts of fluid, mostly water and whole milk. Desserts are for really special occasions and Lil'Bug can have whatever fruit whenever she wants, usually it is an apple.

So what we eat really isn't that different or odd, just planned and mindful. We eat locally raised, hormone free beef and pork, hormone free chicken, and local hormone free milk. (See a pattern?) We have noticed a difference in our health since we've opted out of hormone laden meat, most significant for me is the reduction of fibroids both in my uterus and breast tissue and I no longer have calcium knots in my hand and toes and ear cartilage. Medical studies have shown links to the artificial hormones to these medical conditions and some cancers.

So there's the details of our food week. Tomorrow I shall post a recipe! :)