Hey Look! We're Alive!

Dude. Being sick sucks. And that was a nasty one. But aside from a few sniffles, the kids and I are over it now. And Ben's seems to be moving faster than ours did, so he should be over it soon as well.

Because of being sick, life all but came to a stop last week. Chores hardly got done and I didn't run all week. Our anniversary plans got pushed back to this coming weekend. And we've been eating a lot of junk food. Whoops. =\

But now! Now I am better, and now I can get back to life. I made a delicious batch of potato bread yesterday using leftover mashed potatoes. It turned out heavenly. I think the best part is that every now and then you get a bite of ground pepper that was in the mashed potatoes. It adds a nice, surprising little kick while having a piece of toast, or a sandwich. I used this recipe, with the difference of using about 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes and a 1/2 cup water, instead of cooking a potato just for the bread.

This week's menu plan will go something like this:
Monday: Foil Wrapped Chicken & Rice
Tuesday: Beans & Rice with tortillas
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Pork (I'll figure out the details of that later. I just have a roast that needs to be consumed.)
Thursday: Leftovers

 I can't wait to get back to home cooking. I felt so guilty giving everyone junk food last week. So guilty, in fact, that I did a whole giant meal of Salisbury Steak, mashed taters, stuffing and bread on Friday. I guess the need to cook had been building all week.

I sat down yesterday to total our grocery spending and we're over. Way over. $160 over. Which makes me very disappointed, but I know exactly how it happened. The once a month shopping just doesn't work for us. I spent most of the budget at the beginning of the month and then we had little things purchased since then. I will try to cut it to two weeks instead and see how that works.

I will need to post pictures of our garden and the changes we made. We hung just about all of our produce-bearing plants in hanging pots to keep the cats out of them. They are hanging on our eaves and they are loving life greatly. I can't believe how big they're getting. I think we're going to have a ton of tomatoes and jalapenos. And our mint is trying to take over the world.

I can not wait for produce this summer. I realized the other day that I want to can so badly. Pickles, jams, vegetables, all kinds of stuff. I want a pantry stocked to the brim. My Mom-in-love said she will plant me some more spaghetti squash this year and I am so excited for it. I can practically live on that stuff.

In short, I guess I'm really ready for summer. I just wish the weather around here would make up it's mind.

Oh! Before I forget. I'm like 2 inches away from being done with my shirt. Just in time for our mini-trip. So once it's finished I will have pictures for you all. I love it! Although I wish I had made it just a wee bit smaller. I prefer tighter fitting clothes. I am thinking I might make another one in a different color. Also, I have 1/8 left on the secret project. Will reveal all when I can.