Author Archives: Sheila

Monday Menu Plan

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Another busy week is happening but I am officially starting to count down the remaining days till Summer!  48 school days if you care. Monday- Matt and I have a meeting, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are all ballgame days. Hopefully this makes time go fast!

Breakfast- Saturday- Eggs how you like them! Sunday-  Breakfast casserole (Dad version) ,Thursday–Baked oatmeal   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday,   find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)My goal is to make a baked oatmeal for Tuesday morning but we will see.

Lunch- Saturday-finger foods are sandwich’s  Sunday- Mi Cancun  Left-overs are always great for lunches, I made a HUGE Pasta salad for dinner on Saturday so that is a good start!

Dinner- Saturday- Pasta Salad  Sunday-Find it and eat it, I actually had ice cream Monday-Hamburger tacos Tuesday- Taco casserole (yes finally) Wednesday- Cheeseburger soup  Thursday-Chicken nuggets    Friday-  Good question probably hot dogs at ballgame!

Five Things Friday

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  1. The weather has been all over the place. On Monday, Zach and Kendall were out of school due to a high threat of tornadoes.  Tuesday and Wednesday the temperatures stay in the 40s. Today on Friday we had a high of 74. We are expecting a very nice weekend with highs in the 80s. Next Tuesday we swing again into the 50’s and 60’s.
  2. Zach has been working really hard last week he got all the mulch put out for the year. Today, he was able to get our garden bed repaired and filled with paper and dirt.  Next up on his list is to get some pellets and wood shavings in the chicken coop.
  3. The chickens continue to range between 5 and 9 eggs per day. I have been water glassing some eggs for future use. But this week, I have not been able to add to them due to the dirt that is currently covering all our eggs. I am hoping to finish at least two or more gallons this spring. We should have a full solid year of good egg production but next fall/winter may be a slow period again. I have no plans at all to add ANY chickens to the flock this entire year. I may consider .add in 2027 depending on the amount of eggs we have at that time.
  4. I am very hopefully that we can get the heat set up in the greenhouse so that we can move both the peppers and tomatoes to the greenhouse this weekend. I plan to keep the greenhouse going until the first week of May. When after checking the weather, I can transplant out to start growing.
  5. I am going to declare that the white Honda we purchased in January, is officially fixed. It has been running just fine after using that initial tank of gas along with new spark plugs and wires. We are hopefully to get Zach’s truck fixed and running so that it can go up for sale very soon!

Garden Update #1

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This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL!  I was so excited and thankful to get outside and actually see some things growing.

Rhubarb plant that survived the winter!

Garlic plants that have now been transplanted and look like they are going to survive!

Zach was able to spread some mulch . . . . . .

We have worked again on a watering system that is mostly hands free!

Finally we have some pepper sprouts!

 

Monday Menu Post

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This week was scheduled to be a really busy week with three ballgames and a meeting in Mocksville on Monday.  However, the weather has changed and that means plans have changed. We were able to reduce  this weekend.  Matt and Zach helped me empty out the chest freezer in our building. The ultimate goal is to restock it with another cow probably late in the summer. However, I also would like to see if we can stretch the meat we have and use what is oldest up.  We are also starting to run low of most of our “connivence” meals as we are beginning to approach Summer!    I am excited to finally start back in a routine and hope to keep up with blogging and other things more regularly.

Breakfast- Saturday- Dutch boy pancakes and bacon . Sunday-  Bagels from Food Lion Tuesday- mini muffins, Friday–Baked oatmeal   Monday, Wednesday, Thursday  find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)My goal is to make a baked oatmeal for Tuesday morning but we will see.

Lunch- Saturday-left overs  Sunday- Kimonos   Left-overs are always great for lunches and I have a stash of crackers and other snack items as well.

Dinner- Saturday- Matt made smashed tacos on tortilla shells on black stone  Sunday- rotisserie  chicken and scallop potatoes from Costco  Monday-KFC bowls  Tuesday-Baked Potatoes and Salad  Wednesday-Gyro (found pita bread at Costco as well) Thursday- Taco Pasta  from the freezer as well.   Friday- Salisbury steak, rice and green beans

I hope to stick to the plan this week so we don’t end up eating out alot.

Monday Menu Plan

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Things don’t always work out as planned. But you can always keep moving forward. That is the plan for the week.  We have had a couple of rough days so let’s hope things are better.

Breakfast- Saturday- Sausage, Bacon and Eggs. Sunday- Cinnamon Rolls from a can (actually two cans).   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs). I did make baked oatmeal last week, and I made some Bacon and egg muffins on Saturday. Hoping to keep things going smoothly this week.

Lunch- Saturday-? a grab and go with chips or left-overs  Sunday- New Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It was good but crowded and loud so don’t know if it will be a repeat.  Left-overs are always great for lunches and I have a stash of crackers and other snack items as well.

Dinner- Saturday- I made a green pepper, onion, steak and Japanese BBQ sauce Rice Bowl. Sunday- Cocktail wiener and left-overs  Monday – Spaghetti Tuesday- Taco Pasta from last week.   Wednesday-Meatloaf muffins and mashed potatoes  Thursday- Hamburger helper  Friday- Have not gotten that far.

Weekend in Review – Playing Catch

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This was a rare weekend.  We had absolutely nothing on the agenda for Saturday until Zach’s truck started acting up and then the car stopped at Tractor Supply on Tuesday.  Matt and Zach prioritized get one or both vehicles back to running.  I decided this would be a good time to tackle a couple of projects that I have literally been putting off for months.

First up the camper! We arrived home from Disney in December and unloaded the luggage and everything we needed out of it. Haley and David spent several nights in it at the end of December as well. It was not nasty but needed to have all the sheets/bedding washed and a good vacuum never hurt anything. I ended up have eight total loads of laundry including E’s bed and various blankets that were hung on the line. This was a huge cost savings as we are looking at probably 10 hours of drying time!  I did get the blankets put away and E’s bed made but the camper beds still need to be made up.

After making such good progress on Saturday, I was inspired today!  I decided to tackle the filing cabinet and three other bins of stuff that I moved out of the office to turn into a bedroom. I had tax papers from 2013 that needed to be shredded and lots of organizing. I ended up spending around 5 hours on this project but I am happy to say that I was able to get everything sorted and organized my desk feels amazing right now! And the cherry on top is the fact that I was able to reduce things down to more manageable and that is my word of the year!

Monday Menu Post

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I am hoping to start back on a more steady and predictable schedule. Of course as I say this I am also sick!  I feel like we know what to expect and can begin to plan around what is happening instead of reacting!  We should not experience any changes until after a court date at the end of April. Baseball season has started so we are going to be busy watching games. My goal is to eat at home as much as possible but in reality that may not happen.

Breakfast- Saturday- Breakfast bowls with lots of left-overs.. Sunday-  Grits  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)My goal is to make a baked oatmeal for Tuesday morning but we will see.

Lunch- Saturday-IHOP after ballgame  Sunday- East Coast Wings  Left-overs are always great for lunches and I have a stash of crackers and other snack items as well.

Dinner- Saturday- We ate but I am not sure what Sunday- Chicken Tacos and Raman Monday-Sausage Potato soup from freezer Tuesday- Baked Ziti and garlic bread from freezer  Wednesday-Rice A Roni and Chicken Sausage Thursday- Hamburgers and FF  Friday-  Taco Pasta  from the freezer as well.

I like consistency and schedules!

Sunday Gardening Update _First of 2026

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Spring fever has hit hard and yes I know it is early but I am working to try and keep ahead of the gardening season. I want to grow a bunch of food but also want to keep my expenses lower.  Last year, I was able to purchase several item that should make seed starting much easier and neater.

Last weekend, we were able to spend some time outside and got our green stalks moved around and set up.

My goal is to plant all my pepper plants in Green stalks this year.  I am going to fill one entire planter with “green peppers”  I will also have 6 pimento plants and 6 Anaheim peppers to use as diced green peppers.   I did end up purchasing seeds for the pimento peppers.   I started 36 containers of peppers on Saturday. I am hoping this will allow me to get at least two harvest from the peppers.

This set up is from Green Stalk and I really like the way they are self contained and look nice. I have them sitting on my kitchen sink for now. When they outgrow the domes I will move them to the green house.

This is the new green stalk that is supposed to be for flowers only but we will see.

I am excited that we were able to “save” most of the garlic plants.

This is what the bed that broke currently looks like. I am not worried because we still have about 10 weeks before our last frost date.

My overall goal for the garden this year is to plant and use as many seeds as possible. Throw away seeds that don’t germinate or have a poor germination rate and grow a successful garden!

 

YAY for the garden of 2026!

 

February In Review

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Adapting and settling in are the words that I would use to describe February. Things are not as crazy as they have been and I feel like we are finally starting to figure out what works and even what to expect from different things/changes.  This was an expensive month however as I review back it typically is so nothing new there. We were able to end the month with a zero balance so that is a good first step.  The month of March will drag on forever as we are heading on our cruise the first week of April.  Here’s to a long slow month!

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $1429.29 for the month of February. I want to keep this budget until June, however there is a strong possibility that I will need to add to this budget at least until E is settled and eats more like we normally do.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $399.16  It is a 74 mile round trip to pick up E from school each day and I am sharing most of the responsibility of this which includes providing a tank of gas for both Kendall and Zach this month. Zach has picked up furniture I purchased and also uses his truck to pick up chicken feed.  We also have not been able to get the little Civic running. Which should help to reduce our overall gas bill as well.

Blogging-The goal will be 5 posts per month.  Things are hard to juggle and I still have not figured out how to get my rhythm and include blogging.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  This is due in September and is a total of $3380.30   We have been able to completely pay off the new HVAC system. We are working to find the extra money for the Home Depot card.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. This has again been the last thing on mind this month. This was an awesome goal but I am not sure if it is realistic or not.

Health/Exercise- I am maintaining at 179.  My goal for 2026 will be to add some form of exercise 8 times a month. I don’t have time to keep my life together enough to know the day of the week. Yea this may be one of the goals that gets dropped due to our life upgrade.