What my 3 year old says when the gears in his head are spinning. So this is a place for me to "spin my gears" (post my thoughts)... OK, fast forward 3 years because my 3 year old is now six years old. I will keep the title the same, though, in honor of his having been three years old once!
Last night I was my mom's date to a fundraiser dinner for Camp Angelos(which I attended as a camper the first year they had the camp and I was a counselor their for a few years, too.. we also have our annual Men's retreat (obviously, I don't attend that) there and we have had our marriage retreat at the lodge... it's a very beautiful, peaceful place to be and I have many wonderful memories from my childhood of this place). Every person present receives a ticket for a drawing. Top prize= $1000. 2nd prize= $500 and then there were various other prizes. A little background- my dad is in Greece and so I went in his place. My dad ALWAYS wins raffles. I don't know why but he is always coming home from fundraisers like this with some sort of prize (even something small like a bottle of wine). He just always wins. And me? The person he took his place at the dinner? I won! I won $500! I couldn't believe it! And what a great time to win some extra cash- right before the holidays when I am trying to budget gifts (even little gifts) for god-children, family, friends- you know, nothing really fancy, just a few nice things. And now I know how I will pay for it AND have some left over (mom made me promise to take $100 and spend it on myself- how does one do that? Spend money on oneself? I'm not sure I remember how!).
Meal Plan: It's the week of the lamb- as in, we received over the weekend the lamb we bought at the monastery fundraiser dinner in September (we are splitting the whole lamb with my parents). Just in time for the fast to begin on Saturday!!! DH is very excited to have lamb this week. So here are our lamb themed meals (I hope I don't have too many leftovers:)
Sunday: ok, no lamb. Leftover lasagna for men, I went to the dinner with my mom:)
Monday: Crock pot lamb shoulder roast cooked with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and wine served with rice (it's a Greek recipe I have adapted for the crock pot).
Saturday: We always eat fish on Saturdays so salmon with potatoes and salad
I have to make some Vegan Brownies and Lenten Apple Cake for Sunday- there is going to be a going away get together to say goodbye to Pavlos' nouno and nouna (although I don't think his nouno will be there as he is already in New Jersey) and their children. (nouno=godfather and nouna=godmother BTW).
Last Thursday was a "bad" day... you know, one of those days where six different things happen and if each of those things had happened over a couple of weeks, I would have been able to "handle" it in a much better way. But, no, as my mom says (and the Morton Salt girl), "When it rains, it pours." That was one of those days. I am feeling better now (two of those things were taken care of over the weekend). One of those things I have to just accept. One was annoying. One is a wait and see. And one has no solution. That one is that my bike was stolen off our back porch. Yes, we have a fenced in backyard but I didn't lock my bike up. And the funny thing is that they didn't touch DH's bike or Big P's bike. Just mine. I am glad they didn't take DH's bike as he uses it to commute to work (but, as far as value goes, his is worth more than mine). It's just annoying that this has happened. I spent Thursday morning cleaning out our garden beds and filling our yard debris recyle bin. I needed a "healthy" outlet for my frustration at these circumstances. I think I did ok:)
Good things: I had a conference (yes, it's that time of year) with Big P's teacher. He is doing well. I started watching a baby girl last week (two days a week). We went to the pumpkin patch with yiayia on Saturday. Is it just me or are pumpkin patches (and Christmas Tree farms) becoming so gimmicky?
Picture: Little P painting.
Anyway, here is dinner from last night... it was yummy! Beef Stefatho 2 lbs lean beef (I used a roast that I cut up into big pieces) 1 med. onion cut into big chunks 1/4 tsp. ground clove 1/4 tsp. allspice 2 bay leaves 1 can diced tomatoes 1/2 cup red wine 4 Tbs. olive oil 2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 2 cloves garlic
So I did this in the crock pot. The recipe calls for simmering it in a deep sauce pan for 2 hours but I just put everything, in order, in my crock pot and cooked it for 10 hours. Then, I served it over Gluten Free noodles (ancient harvest brand). Yummy!
Menu for this week: Mon: beef stefatho Tues: leftovers wed: baked lentils and rice Thurs: grilled cheese and tom. soup (we have swim lessons and I have a meeting at school) Fri: veggie soup in crock pot sat: salmon with red potatoes and salad
UPDATE: Me feeling sorry for myself is just plain dumb. There are others who have to work with bigger problems than I have... please keep my sister, Katherine, and her family in your prayers. They have a lot going on right now...
So I do menu planning every week. I have this big dry erase board in my kitchen. It is divided into the days of the week. Our schedule for each day of the week goes on the board. So does things like "vitamins" and "vision exercises (for Pavlos)" and "School". I am one of those people that likes to make lists and then cross off what I have accomplished. And, then, DH knows whether or not the kids have had their vitamins for that day, too. I have begun to write in along the bottom of the dry erase board the meal for that day. And then add in things like "check yogurt" when I make yogurt. Or "make GF bread" on the day I need to make DH's bread. Or "soak beans" a few days before making chili. It has really helped to have it written right on the board for all to see!
So, inspired by Carrie, I will post my menu plan for the week. But I am not sure if I will do this every week (post it on my blog, I like to plan our meals!).
Sunday: Pizza for kids, Monastery dinner for adults. Monday: Greek chicken and Potatoes in the crock pot. Tuesday: GF Macaroni and Cheese with brats and green beans Wed: lentil soup (double batch to put in freezer for lunches) Thurs: leftover mac and cheese Fri: vegetarian chili and GF coconut flour corn bread Sat: salmon with red potatoes
And here is that fall meme (although my mom should really be the one posting about autumn because this is her absolute favorite season... I am a winter person)
When does fall begin for you? When everyone goes back to school.
What is your favorite aspect of fall? Days might still be warm, but the nights are cool. Crisp mornings, dew on the ground. Trying to decide whether I need to wear a coat, sweater, or neither in the early morning.
What is your favorite fall memory? Alright... my parents have these two big apple trees in the back yard. So my favorite memory is when my brother's godparents would come over and all us kids would have our annual apple war. We would divide into teams on either side of the yard (under each of these apple trees), gather as many fallen apples as we could, build a "fort" out of discards wood just lying around (my dad always has discarded room piled in the yard), and then we would throw apples at each other. It was a smell, sticky operation!
What do you like to drink in the fall? I drink coffee all year round but I feel like I want a cup in the middle to late afternoon not for the caffeine, but for the liquid warmth of a good cup of coffee. Maybe I will have to pull out the decaf?
What’s your favorite fall food? Pumpkins! Anything with pumpkin in it. I love pumpkin.
What is fall weather like where you live? It's been warm during the day and cool at night, although the past few nights have been warm, too. It will probably begin to rain in the next few weeks (which is our winter weather).
What color is fall? Right now, because of the sunny weather we have been having, the leaves are starting to go from green to red and gold. Some years the leaves go from green to brown mush and skip the reds and golds. So it is nice to see some of those beautiful hues!
What does fall smell like? Katie said fireplaces just being lit and that is a smell that I associate with the fall. My parents have a woodstove so growing up the smell of the woodstove fire is always associated with the fall.
Holiday shopping in fall? I do try to buy almost everything before Thanksgiving. I am kind of a year round Christmas shopper meaning if I see something in March that I know my mom would love, I usually buy it. Although, there are a few gifts we can't buy until after Thanksgiving because we do a name drawing among my sister, brother in law, brother, sister in law, uncle and aunt. So we won't know our "names" until Thanksgiving.
If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go? I like it here. Someday, maybe go to the east coast but not just for the fall. There are so many historic sites I would love to go to on the east coast that going in the fall would just be a bonus. Walla Walla is beautiful in the fall (I went to Whitman College).
What is your favorite fall sport? I went to a lot of football games in high school and then I played flag football in college (just an intramural team). Football reminds me of the fall. DH watches the Packers so that is fall-ish.
Do you have a favorite fall chore? Switching out clothes. Cleaning up the yard. But that can also be a least favorite chore in the fall because it is a little sad to know we won't have anymore home grown tomatoes. And raking leaves starts out as a nice chore, but in a month, when it is raining, I won't want to rake the leaves:)
What is your least favorite thing about fall? Dark when I wake up in the morning. I don't mind it being dark in the evening (all summer Big P said at bedtime,"why am I going to bed? It's still daytime?"
What is your favorite fall holiday? I used to love Halloween. Now I love Thanksgiving especially because of the pumpkin pie (I make a mean pumkin cheesecake which, last year, I was able to make Gluten Free!)
What’s your favorite kind of pie? Just guess...
Which do you prefer, the Farm or the Fair? I like going to Mt. Angel for the Oktoberfest which I missed this year. The Greek Festival is always high up in my memories of fall because growing up we worked at the festival. It's coming up this weekend! Also, my mom's birthday was last Sunday and DH's birthday is this Friday! I know I have digressed... the question was about the farm or the fair and I went back to memories of fall:) I also love going to the pumpkin patch! None of these really answer the question, do they!
Do you have a favorite fall book? No favorite fall book that I can think of...
How about a favorite fall poem or quote? The first thing that popped into my head is the Simon and Garfunkel song "leaves that are green"
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