Category Archives: menu plan Monday

An overabundance of anxiety calls for copious amounts of chocolate pudding

Poppy was perusing a local magazine last Monday as the two of us waited for Pete to finish his guitar lesson.

“Uh, Mama? This says our doctors office is closing,” she said, holding the magazine out to me. I took it from her and read over the ad, and indeed it was as she said.

Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble photo
Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble photo
“We are closing in Spring 2016,” it said. “Call us or email us so you can come get your records before we toss them into our Beltane bonfire.”

I may be paraphrasing a bit. I don’t know anything about Beltane. I doubt it’s associated with the destruction of pediatric medical files. But that was the gist of the message: Gather ye records while ye can.

So I called the office, but no one answered. I emailed the office, and no one answered. I called again several times over the course of the next few days. Sometimes it rang and rang into oblivion, other times it rang and then sounded a busy signal. Twice it sounded like an answering machine had picked up, but there was no message. Finally, after three days of calling, someone answered the phone on Thursday and said I could pick up the records on Monday — today — between 9am and 11am.

So naturally Pete has been sick since Friday night and we were supposed to get an ice storm overnight. We did not get an ice storm, but I still didn’t want to drag feverish, hacking Pete out in the cold. Someone actually answered this morning when I called to reschedule, which was nice. Hopefully the weather and our health will cooperate on Thursday, when we’re supposed to go pick up the records.

I’m not sure what happened that caused them to close up shop so abruptly, but I’m surprised that the only notification was a magazine ad. I would think an automated phone call or a letter to their patients would be a more efficient way to be sure you’ve reached everyone.

Writing this out, it occurs to me that the physician situation is probably contributing to the feeling of impending doom I’ve been having for several days now. That, and the fact that Pete was sick and Rockford was gone all week and was sick when he got home and I spent about seven hours over the course of two days at Poppy’s tae kwon do testing this weekend and Poppy’s twice-weekly soccer practices start up again this week, and I feel like I was and still am behind on everything.

For hours yesterday, especially, I felt like I was just about to topple over the edge into a panic attack. It eventually subsided after I went to the grocery store and came home and ate some pudding and read a book under my trusty blanket.

(“But Nichole,” you may be saying to your screen. “What about the yoga?” And I say to you that I don’t know, exactly, but I’ve been having a hard time turning down the static in my brain enough to focus on the yoga for the last several days. I’m still trying, though. Sometimes you need yoga, sometimes you need chocolate pudding.)

Speaking of the grocery store and awkward segues, here’s what we’re having for dinner this week:

Monday: Breakfast for dinner
Omelets and veggie sausages, most likely.

Tuesday: Hot ham and cheese sandwiches
Poppy will most likely forgo the ham.

Wednesday: Manicotti
I had ravioli on the menu, but frozen manicotti was BOGO when I got to the store. Manicotti it is.

Thursday: FreezerFest
We have a plethora of frozen proteins in the fridge, so it’ll be a Choose Your Own Adventure meal.

Friday: Pizza
Right now it looks like it might be warm enough to grill again by Friday, but I’m not holding my breath.

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I also re-learned how to make an animated gif

Happy February, friends. I learned two things yesterday:

1) If I already have a cold, I can dust without having an allergy attack. So that’s a silver lining, I guess.

2) Actresses Rooney Mara and Kate Mara are sisters, and they are football royalty. The maternal side of their family has owned part of the Pittsburgh Steelers since the team’s inception, and their paternal side has owned part of the New York Giants since that team began.

marafootball

Monday: Cracker Barrel chicken tenders
I’m glad I scheduled these as a repeat occurrence on my computer calendar, because I really enjoy the recipe but I always forget about it when I’m menu planning.

Tuesday: Bacon, lettuce and avocado sandwiches
Avocado > tomatoe

Wednesday: Popcorn
It’s our 15th anniversary, and it is our tradition to see as many movies as possible on our anniversary. So we’ll be having movie snacks for dinner.

Thursday: ???
I’m not yet sure what Thursday has in the cards for us.

Friday: Pizza
I was sick last Friday and one of my preferred frozen pizza brands was on buy-one-get-one, so we had frozen pizza. I’m hoping to get my act together enough to make pizza this week.

Did you learn anything interesting this weekend?

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A menu plan for the Great Thaw

We ended up getting 11 inches of snow over the weekend. Our average annual snowfall is 13 inches, so that was a pretty impressive amount to fall on us all at one time. We had great fun sledding and flopping about in the snow all weekend, and Rockford and I spent some quality time shoveling our driveway and front walk yesterday. I kind of enjoy shoveling, but it takes a good long while when you’re sharing a shovel. Which brings me to this: There are a few supplies we need to gather before the next snowstorm hits.

Things We Need to Gather Before the Next Snowstorm

Another shovel. Our nephew gave Rockford a snow shovel a few years back for Christmas after we got snowed in and realized we didn’t even own a shovel. The house we were living in then was on a private road, and it was several days before we were able to get out. The road we live on now is a secondary priority on the city’s snowplow schedule, but we still have to clear our own path to get the car out of the driveway. A second shovel would cut our escape-from-the-driveway time in half.

A second sled. We had a second sled the last time we got enough snow for sledding. It was a baby sled, though, and Pete was pretty large for it even then. We sold it in our annual yard sale over the summer, and we are now a one-sled family. In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I want a second sled primarily because I’m impatient. It takes the kids for.ev.er to trudge back up the hill after a run. Eventually it would be great to have four sleds, but we’ll take it slow. Unless I find some sleds on clearance.

Snow pants for Rockford and myself. The kids are well-equipped for the snow, but Rockford and I have been wearing jeans. Jeans aren’t great for making snow angels or for when you crash your sled and roll through the powder, even when you’re wearing two pair. Which I’ve been doing.

Snow boots for Rockford. I’ve been wearing rain boots with three pairs of socks, but I ordered some half-off clearance snow boots yesterday. They won’t be here in time to tromp around in this snow, but I’ll have them for next time. They didn’t have any in Rockford’s size, so I’m going to have to keep an eye out for a pair for him.

The weather forecast says it’ll be sunny with a high of 49 tomorrow, so the snow will probably be gone soon. Here’s what we’ll be having for dinner while it melts away.

Monday: Breakfast burritos
We’re using chorizo, scrambled eggs and cheddar this time.

Tuesday: Fish sticks & mac
Poppy doesn’t know this yet, but she’s making dinner on Tuesday.

Wednesday: Pizza
It’s Witty Kitty Book Club night. We’re supposed to meet at a pizza place, but I think I’m going to try to talk everyone into coming here and ordering pizza instead.

Thursday: Chicken tacos
I make chicken for tacos by cooking chicken breasts in the CrockPot with a jar of salsa, then shredding it in my stand mixer. Super simple.

Friday: Pizza
Again with the pizza? Yes, most likely. Maybe we’ll even be snow-less enough to get the grill out again.

Did you get to play in the snow this weekend?

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