2014 in review

We had just north of 4,000 visitors this year at Butterscotch Sundae (that is, for those of you keeping track, a truly impressive decline from years past). The majority of those folks were from the the United States, Australia and Canada. And also one each was from Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Norway, among other places.

The most-visited posts of 2014 were:

1. “Caffeinate thyself with a free cup of coffee
2. “I fought the cat and the cat won
3. “Meatballs & bad weather

And here are the most popular posts from each month:

January: “This Week in Homeschooling: We Start a New US History Study

February: “Meatballs & Bad Weather

March: “What Do Homeschoolers Do All Day?

April: “Caffeinated Thyself with a Free Cup of Coffee

May: “That’s No Moon. It’s a Cheeseburger!

June: “Three Fun Places Near Savannah to Visit with Your Kids

July: “The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls are Worth the Effort

August: “What Fourth Grade Looks Like at Our House

September: “Notes from the Parking Lot

October: “I fought the cat and the cat won (but so did I, eventually, so I guess it was more of a draw)

November: “A Few of Oprah’s Favorite Things that Nichole Definitely Won’t Be Purchasing

December: “This week in homeschooling: Mama has a meltdown

Menu Plan Monday: the I Need to Go to the Store edition

Did you have a Merry Christmas? I hope so. We drove 700 miles to spend the holiday with my dad, and it was frantic but nice. I wish he lived closer. We got home last night around 10, and I still haven’t made it to the grocery store. So the following is what we’ll be having if we don’t end up eating cheeseburgers at Wendy’s every night instead.

Monday: Chicken sausages and macaroni & cheese
I made the macaroni and cheese from Homeroom for Thanksgiving, and it was stupendous. I’d promised Poppy that we’d have mac and cheese one day this week, but I thought it would be nice to have something other than Kraft.

Tuesday: Tacos
Pete strongly suggested that he’d like tacos for dinner. And so we are having tacos.

Wednesday: Ham!
As I understand it, pork is a traditional New Year’s food. As are beans and greens. I’m not a fan of black-eyed peas and collard greens, though, so I’m trying to find a good-looking lentil salad recipe. Lemme know if you have one!

Thursday: Scalloped Ham and Potatoes
There’s a box of scalloped potatoes in the pantry, and I’m relatively certain there’ll be leftover ham from NYE.

Friday: Pizza
Oh yes it’s pizza night, oh what a night. (Oh what a night!)

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

We have no running water and so today is ‘Appreciate the Wisdom of Glam Band Cinderella Day.’ By which I mean: You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Til It’s Gone.

A water main broke sometime in the early morning hours yesterday near our house, and we haven’t had water since. The original estimate was that the water would be back on last night at midnight. I woke up this morning and it hadn’t come back on yet, so I called the city’s water department to find out the new estimated fix-it time.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m in southeast WaterMainFailuresville, and I was wondering if they had a new estimate on when the water might be back on.”

“Well, there was a massive leak in the water main,” the lady replied.

“Yes, I know. Yesterday they said it would be back on by midnight, but it’s not on yet. Is there a new estimate?”

“It’s going to be a long time,” she said. “It caused a sinkhole, and they had to replace 8 feet of pipe.”

“Wow,” I said, trying to downplay my slight feelings of panic at the word “sinkhole.” Sinkholes are the scariest. “When you say ‘a long time,’ does that mean it’ll be today or more like sometime next week?”

“It’ll be today.”

“OK. I’ll just continue to be unshowered in the meantime,” I said. I thought I said it lightly, but she didn’t take it that way.

“Look, we can not fix it and you can be without water for a long time or we can fix it and you can be inconvenienced for a little while.”

“Ummm… thanks for your help.”

So my point is: This menu plan may or may not hold up, depending on when the city gets the repair done.

Monday: Quesadillas
Probably chicken and black bean for most of the fan. Definitely just cheese for Poppy.

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes
Once upon a time I found the perfect crusty hamburger roll for these. I should’ve written down the brand, because now I can’t remember which one it was.

Wednesday: The grocery store
Kids eat free this week at one of our local groceries! And they have pretty great food, so we’re going to take advantage of the offer.

Thursday: Crispy garlic chicken
Maybe with au gratin potatoes, because there’s a box of them in the pantry.

Friday: Dinner with friends
I think we’re going to their house, but I’m not entirely sure.

Now I’m going to go over to the gym to take a shower! How’s your day going so far?

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.