Monday, February 13, 2012

Goodbye Monday: Thoughts, Menu Plan, Goals

The weekend just zoomed past me and took Monday with it. And it's 4 minutes until my bedtime already. Good grief! My feet hit the ground running these days (into walls, if it's pre-coffee), and blog posts remain mostly in my head. There's a really great blog stowed away in my brain, y'all. Meanwhile, everyone over here is fed (check!) clothed (most of the time), and kissed....so I'm doing my job.

February 2012

Last week was somewhat of a bumpy ride for me. I had a couple of days where I struggled with strong feelings of anxiety/fear. It sent me to my knees and reminded me deep down that my very ability to think sanely comes from the Lord. I can't lift my pinky finger without Him.

I was very thankful for dear friends who prayed with me on the phone and for my husband, whose words of encouragement are often like a wave of relief washing over me. Fear, of any sort (unless it's fear of the Lord), is irrational in the light of God's truth. He keeps bringing me back to what He says...the only thing that's real.

We are enjoying this month where Andrew has weekends off (his schedule changes month by month).  Between the studying, interview prep, and licensure application stuff my hubby has to do and family things like laundry, grocery shopping, errands, and church, weekend days are much busier than we would like them to be. But we're together, and that's sweet.

And now for another week! Here's a bit on the planning side, starting with our menu.

Our Dinners for This Week:

Monday--Salad with Olive Cheese Bread (Monday seems to be Pioneer Woman night! Last week it was Penne a la Betsy, which we LOVE).

Salad and @thepioneerwoman's Olive Cheese Bread for dinner!

Tuesday--Valentine's Day Date with my hubby. Some sweet friends called and offered to babysit! Score.
Wednesday--Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata with veggies
Thursday--Home Group Potluck--we are bringing Quick Crustless Quiche

Homemade pizza for dinner...so good and easy, esp if you make the dough ahead...


Friday--Pizza Night with salad
Saturday--Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings
Sunday--Leftovers.

Curious how I did with last week's goals? Here's the list:
  • Read 2 chapters of Surrender: Your Key To Spiritual Success
  • Memorize Mark 2:17. Nope. I forgot to write the verse down in a prominent place, and so it didn't happen.
  • Write Andrew a letter.
  • Have 2 learning/activity times with Squishy. I think I did this once?
  • Work out one time (after my 6 week post-pardum appointment!) and also go for a walk with the kids.
  • Make a double batch of lasagna.
  • Grate mozzarella cheese for freezer pizza kits
  • Make snack for playgroup.
  • Get up to date on editing February's photos. I got very close to completing this. Then I took tons more photos. Ha!
  • CLEAN THE BATHROOM. Honestly, this is a weekly goal of mine, but it's been a couple of weeks since it's been really cleaned, and it's reaching bachelor-pad proportions. Scary.
Goals for this week are: 
  • Memorize Mark 2:17.
  • Finish Surrender: Your Key to Spiritual Success.
  • Double the Quick Crustless Quiche so I have one for the freezer. 
  • Wash our sheets and bathroom rugs. 
  • Exercise x 3
  • Walk with the boys x 1. 
  • Update my recipe binder.
  • Get up to date on editing February's photos.
  • Have 2 learning/activity times with Squishy.
  • Think of something special to do for Andrew.

And with that, I'm off to bed (40 minutes late!). Notice I have not put "go to bed on time" on the goals list yet. Hmmmm.

For fun: What's a cheerful thing you did over the weekend, and what's one goal you have for this week?


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9 comments:

  1. Impressive goals, Alicia. We're still adjusting to night-time feedings around here. How are you managing?

    Highlight of the weekend/ month/ year: I brought my baby girl HOME!!! We are thrilled to be home together at last.

    A goal for this week: To get my grandmother's sewing machine set up downstairs.

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    1. Yay! Glad to hear you are home with your family.

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    2. Julia, I am SO glad your baby girl is home!!!

      I am adjusting to the night time feedings ok. I always hit an exhaustion point around week 3/4, but then it gets better. Baby E has started dropping down to one feeding at night, so that's helping HUGELY.

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  2. Pioneer Woman must have a huge investment in butter. Rare is the recipe that doesn't call for a stick (or two) of butter. =p But oh so yummy is the result! I have to try that olive bread recipe. How did I miss that on her site? Every Friday has turned into pizza and movie night, and we're thinking of having Trader Joe's Tuesdays (or Thursdays) just to try out all the neat stuff they have. =p I love your pics.

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    Replies
    1. Ah, I wish we had a Trader Joes nearby!
      We liked the cheese bread. It was a tad on the salty side, so I might decrease the amount of olives next time. And maybe the amount of butter...I think you wouldn't notice much if it was a bit less (3/4 of a stick?)

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  3. Hi Alicia, please take care of yourself! You are so busy; put yourself first! It's like in an airplane; put the oxygenmask on your own face before you put on your kids'. If you don't take care of you, who is going to take care of your kids? Sending you lots of love, Amelie.
    PS. My cheerful thing I did last weekend was going ice skating with my husband and kids in the park. My goal for next week is; start on a photo album with pictures of my mother, grandmother and my grandmothers mother so my little girl will know the women she came from.

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  4. I too had some really crazy battles with fear last week. Jonathan and I were talking about it last night and just how strange it was {I'm not usually fearful} and turned it over to prayer.

    Fun weekend event? We went to a birthday party that had a petting zoo. That was pretty neat! Thought Hannah really didn't care for the turkey that kept following her around. ;)

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  5. Glad to see that you're counting your family as your first priority :) Love reading your goals and menu plans/recipes. It's inspiring!

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  6. Sweet photos Alicia; I love the one of you and Squishy and Andrew with the donut. :-) Crustless Quiche sounds really tasty. I'll have to try that. Miss you guys lots! I'm praying for you daily.

    Oh, fun thing we did was have friends over to watch Clue. Brought back memories of you going to the Clue costume party back in the day. Who were you again? My goal for the week is to keep waking up earlier.

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