Tuesday, April 27, 2010

One of Those Days...

You know, the kind where you don't feel like doing much of anything?

Well, I'm having one of those today.

I feel tired and achy right through to my fingertips. Not sure if I'm coming down with something-or-other or if I'm just simply tired.

As much as I would just love to curl up in bed and stay there all day...there are a few things I really should get done today.

Event though I really don't feel like doing anything today, sometimes we have to do things we don't always feel like doing :-). This morning was spent running errands with my husband. Now it's 2:30 p.m. and I haven't got a whole lot accomplished around the house yet.

Here's the plan for "One of Those Days":
  • Fold and put away daughter's laundry
  • Finish washing bedding and remake bed
  • Tidy up the kitchen
  • Quick clean main bathroom (skipping the tub/shower today)
  • Quick sweep
  • Do a quick pick-up of stuff around the house and have whole house tidy again
  • Empty garbages
  • Plant peppers in indoor containers
After I'm done those tasks, then I might work on my daughter's baby book for a bit or try setting up my sewing machine (which is still in its box!). Then...I'm relaxing for most of the evening. Time to tackle that list so I can take the rest of the day to...rest. :-)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Savoury Flax Biscuits



Savoury Flax Biscuits
(This is from a church cookbook - the church I attended when I was growing up)

2 cups flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup flax seed
1 cup grated carrots
2 tsp herb and spice seasoning
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk

Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in flax, carrots, and seasoning. Combine egg and milk. Add to flour mixture all at once. Stir until dough forms a ball. Knead gently 20 times. Roll dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Cut will cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-14 minutes at 450 F oven until golden brown.

Beef Barley Soup



B
eef Barley Soup

6 cups beef broth
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz can tomato soup
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup pearl or pot barley
6 more cups water
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
3 cups leftover roast beef, chopped

Heat the beef broth in large pot. Add remaining ingredients (except beef). Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Add beef and simmer 1/2 hour more.

Menu Plan Monday (April 26)


Here's the plan for the week.

Sunday, April 25
Lunch: out to eat
Supper: Tuscan Pizza (scroll down), loaded pizza, carrots and dip

Monday, April 26
Lunch: Leftover pizza
Supper: Homemade beef barley soup, Savoury Flax Biscuits

Tuesday, April 27
Lunch: Leftover soup and biscuits
Supper: Smoothie, spinach and cheese omelet

Wednesday, April 28
Lunch: Tuna on rye crips, veggies and dip
Supper: Teriyaki Salmon (on the bbq if nice outside), brown rice
Bible Study Snack: veggies and dip, blueberry tarts

Thursday, April 29
Lunch: Fruit salad, cheese toast
Supper: Jeera Chicken Curry (new recipe I still haven't made yet!), brown rice, strawberry spinach salad

Friday, April 30
Lunch: leftovers
Supper: Cream of tomato soup (scroll down for recipe), cheese toast

Saturday, May 1
Attending a Bible conference, so we're eating out

*For more great meal ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday hosted by orgjunkie.com*

Snow in April

Yes, it's true. Snow in April. One days it's 20+ degrees C outside, the next morning, I wake up to snow.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Project Mania


I've had a busy past few days. Here's what we've been up to.

Painting
On Monday I painted our bedroom a smoky greyish/purplish colour, which I personally think looks better than the green that was on the walls before. When I first opened the can of paint, my husband's initial response was, "It's PINK!". Now his response is that as long as I like it, whatever colour I pick is fine with him. I think it looks okay. I am never too sure about change at first, but it usually grows on me. I want to either paint the kitchen or our daughter's room next, but I honestly hate painting. It is not something I enjoy, so usually I have to put a few months between each paint project so I can forget how much I hate painting. Then once I've forgotten, I start another project and then I wonder why I talked myself into painting again. Pictures to come once I've got my curtains sewn.

Sewing Machine
I finally got my sewing machine on Saturday. It's kind of a long story and I made 3 trips to the store in the same day in order to get my hands on one, but it's finally here, safe and sound. It is a Singer computerized one. Pretty basic. Not too fancy. It is still in its box, but make no mistake, I am itchin' to get it outta there and start sewing! Hopefully tonight or tomorrow it will make its grand appearance.

Car Conundrums
We have two cars, but we usually only drive one of them and the other sits in storage. I don't usually need a car during the day, and if I do, I just drop my husband off at work and pick him up if I need the car that day. On the weekend the car we currently are using started "acting funny". Well, my husband phoned around a few places and did some research on the internet to gather some info about what the issue was. He was told that a few parts would need to be changed, etc. Well after researching the internet, he decided that it might be a simple solution, so he bought a couple parts and fixed it himself! The mechanic he spoke with was wrong and sending it there would have probably cost a couple hundred bucks. Instead, my husband bought a 60 dollar part and fixed it himself. That's not all...

Our 2nd car sitting in storage also has a problem and frequently wouldn't start. My husband researched the internet again, found out how to fix it (a fairly complicated problem), and proceeded to buy a few parts and fix it himself on Monday and Tuesday. This problem would have cost several hundreds of dollars to fix and even then, it's not likely a mechanic would have even fixed the problem for good. My hubby had quite the project going, and I honestly have not a clue how he figured it all out, but he found a permanent solution and the car works great again! He is not a mechanic or even in a trade, but he is extremely smart! I'm very blessed to be married to him. He is hardworking and very good at problem-solving.

Carpet Cleaning
Since we already had our bedroom disassembled for painting, I decided to shampoo the carpet there and in the spare bedroom today. I bought a fairly inexpensive little machine that works pretty good at cleaning the carpets.

Schedule Interruptions
I am fairly scheduled person and have to fight the urge to not get into a major tizzy when things are not done precisely as I had planned. This past Monday and Tuesday were days where I got behind on my scheduled housework because of all the car projects, painting project, and visiting family. In the past, I would have gotten grumpy and stressed over having my schedule interrupted; however, I am learning to be flexible when things don't go exactly as planned. This is hard for me, I must admit, but is it really that big of a deal if I have to wash the bedding on Wednesday instead of on Tuesday? LOL. As a wife, one of my jobs is to help make my husband's life easier. This means that when my husband wants to work on projects or visit people, I should be cheerfully flexible and not think twice about the "interruption" to my day even if I had other plans for my day, which included housework, baking, organizing, etc. Today I am taking time to catch up on housework that didn't get done on its scheduled day this week.

And yes, I am washing the bedding today (even though it's a Wednesday!)!!!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Menu Plan Monday (April 19)


I didn't follow last week's plan very closely, so many of the meals got bumped up to this week. We had some beautiful spring days last week, so I just HAD to use the bbq! That's partly why I didn't follow last week's plan all that closely. On Saturday we had barbecued hamburgers...YUM! I decided to put my lunch plans on here this week. I tend to keep lunches very simple; usually I just have things like a sandwich, a salad, tuna on rye crisps, leftovers, soup, an omelet, or a smoothie for lunch. My husband works some weekends and evening, so I try to plan my menu around his work schedule. On the days my husband is working late, then I try to plan something a bit more substantial for lunch and then I eat a simple supper. On the days he has off, I plan simpler meals.

Here's the plan for this week:

Sunday, April 18
Lunch: Leftover loaded hamburgers
Supper: Portobello Penne Pasta Bake adapted from this, veggies and dip

Monday, April 19
Lunch: Leftover pasta
Supper: BLT sandwiches, salad

Tuesday, April 20
Lunch: Hot dogs, mac n' cheese (lately we've been hot dog deprived! LOL)
Supper: Taco salad

Wednesday, April 21
Lunch: Leftover tacos or taco salad
Supper: Tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat, veggies

Thursday, April 22
Lunch: Smoothie, tuna on rye crisps
Supper: Jeera Chicken Curry (new recipe) and Rice

Friday, April 23
Lunch: Spinach & mushroom omelet, smoothie
Supper: Pizza and caesar salad

Saturday, April 24
Lunch: Leftover pizza
Supper: Something simple (Maybe whole wheat penne and tomato sauce)

*For more great meal ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday hosted by orgjunkie.com*
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