Rockford left for Shanghai last Sunday. It’s always stressful when he’s out of town, but it ramps up the anxiety even more when he calls on Monday morning and says, “Well, I’m in Korea.” To which I said

You may have read that pollution in China hit dangerous levels again last week. Rockford takes a packages of air filter masks with him when he goes to Beijing, but Shanghai usually isn’t as smoggy. This time, though, the pollution and some heavy fog made it impossible to land in Shanghai. So Rockford’s plane was diverted to Korea instead.

They went from Korea to Toyko, where he spent the night, and he finally arrived in Shanghai the next day. The trip didn’t get much smoother from there. He had a terrifying car ride,

he found out that his flight from Shanghai to Qingdao had been rescheduled at a completely different airport than the airport in which he was standing,

and he had to listen to “Jingle Dogs” on repeat at dinner one evening.

Things were pretty smooth for most of the week on the home front. We did school, Poppy had a dentist appointment, Pete’s basketball season started, and my mom came over for a night so we could take her out for birthday burritos. But then the ear pain Poppy had first mentioned last weekend got a little bit worse.

And a little worse. And then it started to go away, and then she woke up Saturday morning with aching, stuffy ears and puffy, welded-shut eyes. So we spent an hour and a half at urgent care and then dropped some more bills at the drug store to treat what turned out to be two infected ears and conjunctivitis.

Instead of Pete and Poppy going to Kids Night Out at the tae kwon do place and myself going to the grocery store all by my lonesome, we ordered pizza and watched “Home” and Pete had a dance party to which I was not invited. So after a not-so-auspicious start, it ended up being a good day.

Finally, Rockford got home yesterday morning. And we were all like

Then I realized I never went to the grocery store on Saturday, so I whipped up a menu plan for the week and I went to the grocery store.

Thank you kindly for enduring all the “Supernatural” gifs. (Or, if you’re a right-minded person who loves the show: You’re welcome.) Here’s what we’ll be enjoying for dinner this week!

Monday: Cube steak

It’s one of the easiest ways to create gravy for the mashed potatoes.

Tuesday: Crispy garlic chicken

This is a great, simple dish. It’s basically just marinated Shake ‘n’ Bake chicken. But I do have to remember to put the chicken in the marinade today so it’s at peak flavor tomorrow.

Wednesday: Various and sundry

Pete and Rockford have basketball practice in the evening — Pete’s playing; Rockford’s the assistant coach — so they’ll probably be going out for a burger after practice. Poppy and I have a book club meeting.

Thursday: Breakfast burritos

I’m hoping this will be a dish everyone will eat. I know Rockford and Pete will eat them, but I’m not sure about Poppy. If nothing else, she can make a cheese quesadilla.

Friday: Pizza

I’m one pizza-order away from a free pizza at Papa John’s, so I might do that this week.

Looking for more mealtime inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!