Meal Planning (week of 01 August 2011)

Sunday - Ravioli with zuchinni + salad (we have zuchinni from the garden)

Monday - Homemade tomato soup (made Sunday, served cold) + Grilled cheese sammies (we have LOTS of tomatoes in the garden)

Tuesday - Salmon + Green beans + couscous (we have salmon in the freezer from when I bought extra when it was on sale)

Wednesday - Grilled buttermilk chicken
(we have chicken thighs in the freezer) + tomato-mozzarella salad

Thursday - Royals game

iPhone 3GS Stolen at Gap Kids at Town Center Plaza in Leawood KS

So I had a little drama this weekend. Anna, Carter, my mother-in-law and I were shopping at Gap Kids. Carter was in the stroller and I had parked it kind of out of the way so I could look at the sale rack on the girls side of the store. When I turned around from the sale wall I noticed a guy standing at the table of girls knit capris. He was tall, thin, dark skinned, maybe Indian, short black hair. I noticed and thought to myself, that's weird that he doesn't have any kids with him in here.

Then Carter needed to go to the bathroom. He had been in the stroller playing a game on my iPhone. I took the phone, pushed the button on top to turn it off and sat it right on top of the stroller. My MIL and Anna were still shopping right around the stroller so I didn't think anything about it. I took Carter to the bathroom in back. We talked about the game he was playing on the phone.

As soon as we came back I noticed it was gone. So was that guy. But I just couldn't believe someone would steal my phone. So we used my MIL's phone to call it. Nothing. I looked around. We checked the bathroom but I just knew I had left it on the stroller. I actually went outside and looked around for that guy.

We came back in and I asked them to call security. They brought me the number and I used my MIL's phone to call mall security. I asked the Gap lady about the security cameras.

"Oh those don't actually record anything." Apparently they are just for looks. Helpful.

Mall security came and then Leawood police came and I filed a report. Then we walked down and around the corner to the ATT store and had them turn off my service. I went to Apple after that but the only way to get a new phone was to use my upgrade. I didn't want to waste my upgrade on the iPhone 4 when the 5 is rumored to come out in September. I went home empty-handed and actually went phone-less for 48 hours.

Which seemed like a long time. I realized how addicted I am to my phone. I use it to check the time. For the calculator. To check my calendar in the morning to see if I need to dress up. To check the weather. It seems so cumbersome to boot up the laptop to do these things, ha!

So today at work while I was still complaining about having my phone stolen and beating myself up for leaving it on my stroller with some creepy guy there who was probably scoping out little boys, my boss mentioned that there was an extra iPhone 3 somewhere. It makes a funny buzzing noise but it works. Awesome.

So tonight I am syncing my laptop with this borrowed iPhone until the 5 comes out and I can use my upgrade. Perfect. Made my Monday a little better :)

Meal Planning (week of 24 July 2011)

I realized I should mention that while I plan each week's meals, things don't always go according to plan. Things frequently don't go according to plan. I will switch days around, or insert a take out meal if the day gets bad. Sometimes there are bad days if you know what I mean.

For example, last week I forgot I had to go to Colorado and back on Tuesday so I didn't get home until around 6:45 that night. Since I left the house at 4:30 am I didn't start the pork in the crock pot :) So instead of pulled pork sandwiches on Tuesday Kevin made the kids hamburgers. That meant we didn't have sliders on Wednesday. Instead I made BLTs and the corn tomato avocado side from Tuesday's plan. I think we had the chicken parmesan earlier in the week rather than later. Bottom line - we didn't have the grean bean side at all and we didn't have the pulled pork sandwiches until yesterday (Sunday of this week)

All of the recipes were okay. Would I make any of them again? Probably not. I find that with most recipes I make. They aren't bad. They just aren't amazing. At least they are something different.

I had high hopes for the pulled pork. It was good but it was hard to pull it. Kevin said that meant it probably got too hot too fast. The coleslaw was good on the sandwich but I wouldn't eat it by itself. With a tablespoon of tobasco it tasted too much like tobasco by itself to me.

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This week's menu has already had an adjustment :)

Sunday - those pulled pork sandwiches planned for last week
Monday - planned steak salad (leftover from steak with Kevin's parents when they visited on Saturday) but I had to go to an appointment and didn't get home until after 7. My mom picked up and fed the kids and Kevin made frozen pizza for us
Tuesday - will actually have the steak salad
Wednesday - Chicken enchiladas + guac
Thursday - spaghetti with sausage sauce

Friday we always eat out. Saturday we usually grill with friends. Those are my standing weekend meals :)

What are you eating this week? Do you have any great sites you use for recipes?

Meal Planning

I think I will start posting my meal planning recipes as a blog entry on Sunday and then keep it on the side of the blog to follow along for the week. This could be a recurring Sunday post then and I could follow up on recipes from the previous week. I'll try it and see how it goes :)

Sunday
Steak Salad (using leftover grilled steak from late last week)

Monday
Roasted corn quesadillas

Tuesday
Pulled pork sandwiches
+
Corn tomato avocado salad

Wednesday
Sliders + Green bean salad


Thursday
Chicken Parmesan but I will use some breaded chicken tenders I have from Schwanns to save time

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Found and saved for later
BLT Pasta side
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/blt-pasta-salad-recipe/index.html

Annual BFF Outlet Mall Shopping Trip

Every year Candi and I make a spring trip to the Osage Beach outlet mall in Missouri. It takes about three hours to get there from KC but is so worth the road trip. It's also good for 6 hours of girl time in the car! This year's trip was captured on video. Let's just say we're good for the economy.
(note: the beginning is dark because I'm driving. and it's so early the sun isn't up. no, i'm not holding the camera while I drive :)

Annual BFF Outlet Mall Shopping Trip from Cara on Vimeo.

(includes the Starbucks video clip at the end. if you watch this version there's no need to watch the stand-alone version in the following post)

Starbucks - Beloved Cake Pop

Candi and I were headed back after getting up very early for our annual BFF road trip to the outlet mall where we shopped till we almost dropped. It was time for a pick-me-up... we may have been a little slap happy.

Starbucks and the beloved cake pop from Cara on Vimeo.

B2 Flyover - Royals Opening Day 2011

Their timing was off - came long after the anthem was over. We had decided they weren't going to have one since it was cloudy - but alas it arrived. A great benefit of being so close to Whiteman Airforce base that I cherish every year on opening day.

B2 bomber fly over on Royals openind day 2011 from Cara on Vimeo.

Baxter in the garden

This is from March I think, when Baxter discovered compost is buried in the garden. "Mom, these eggshells are delicious, especially in the rain."

Baxter in the garden from Cara on Vimeo.

Who wants to read more blog posts?

Apparently working five days a week makes it nearly impossible for me to blog. I'm such a slacker. So much to post. I plugged in the Flip and realized I haven't video edited since last year. Here's what's on the Flip

Baxter in the garden
Royals opening day
BFF trip to the outlet mall
Trip to San Antonio including Sea World

The Flip was so dead it took 30 minutes to charge up before I could even look at the videos.

Some are short and some are long and a few really made me laugh out loud. So look for new posts including videos and pictures and more scans of the kids art.