There really is a ‘Supernatural’ gif for every occassion.

12/07/2015 Nichole 3 Comments

Rockford left for Shanghai last Sunday. It’s always stressful when he’s out of town, but it ramps up the anxiety even more when he calls on Monday morning and says, “Well, I’m in Korea.” To which I said

You may have read that pollution in China hit dangerous levels again last week. Rockford takes a packages of air filter masks with him when he goes to Beijing, but Shanghai usually isn’t as smoggy. This time, though, the pollution and some heavy fog made it impossible to land in Shanghai. So Rockford’s plane was diverted to Korea instead.

They went from Korea to Toyko, where he spent the night, and he finally arrived in Shanghai the next day. The trip didn’t get much smoother from there. He had a terrifying car ride,

he found out that his flight from Shanghai to Qingdao had been rescheduled at a completely different airport than the airport in which he was standing,

and he had to listen to “Jingle Dogs” on repeat at dinner one evening.

Things were pretty smooth for most of the week on the home front. We did school, Poppy had a dentist appointment, Pete’s basketball season started, and my mom came over for a night so we could take her out for birthday burritos. But then the ear pain Poppy had first mentioned last weekend got a little bit worse.

And a little worse. And then it started to go away, and then she woke up Saturday morning with aching, stuffy ears and puffy, welded-shut eyes. So we spent an hour and a half at urgent care and then dropped some more bills at the drug store to treat what turned out to be two infected ears and conjunctivitis.

Instead of Pete and Poppy going to Kids Night Out at the tae kwon do place and myself going to the grocery store all by my lonesome, we ordered pizza and watched “Home” and Pete had a dance party to which I was not invited. So after a not-so-auspicious start, it ended up being a good day.

Finally, Rockford got home yesterday morning. And we were all like

Then I realized I never went to the grocery store on Saturday, so I whipped up a menu plan for the week and I went to the grocery store.

Thank you kindly for enduring all the “Supernatural” gifs. (Or, if you’re a right-minded person who loves the show: You’re welcome.) Here’s what we’ll be enjoying for dinner this week!

Monday: Cube steak: It’s one of the easiest ways to create gravy for the mashed potatoes.

Tuesday: Crispy garlic chicken: This is a great, simple dish. It’s basically just marinated Shake ‘n’ Bake chicken. But I do have to remember to put the chicken in the marinade today so it’s at peak flavor tomorrow.

Wednesday: Various and sundry: Pete and Rockford have basketball practice in the evening — Pete’s playing; Rockford’s the assistant coach — so they’ll probably be going out for a burger after practice. Poppy and I have a book club meeting.

Thursday: Breakfast burritos: I’m hoping this will be a dish everyone will eat. I know Rockford and Pete will eat them, but I’m not sure about Poppy. If nothing else, she can make a cheese quesadilla.

Friday: Pizza: I’m one pizza-order away from a free pizza at Papa John’s, so I might do that this week.

Looking for more mealtime inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!

menu plan Monday, National Blog Posting Month

Fare thee well, NaBloPoMo

11/30/2015 Nichole 2 Comments

Let us all greet November 30 with a grand and glorious HELLO. These last 30 days, we have marked my birthday, Petey’s birthday and my dad’s birthday. We have discussed ’80s movies and Thanksgiving movies. We have played pinball and started a book club and spent an entire day together via my camera.

Once again, folks, we have survived National Blog Posting Month! And the world shall continue to turn, and my family shall continue to request dinner. Here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Monday: Meaty mac: Every now and again Pete grabs a box of Hamburger Helper and says “Hey, can we get some Meaty Mac?” when we’re at the store. And sometimes I say yes. This is one of those time.

Tuesday: Grandma’s birthday dinner: We’re taking my mom out for her birthday.

Wednesday: Butternut squash ravioli: Harris Teeter had their butternut squash ravioli buy-one, get-one-free this week, and it reminded me that Poppy used to enjoy them. We’ll see if she still does!

Thursday: Cracker Barrel chicken tenders: This time last week we were having a slightly larger poultry experience.

Friday: Breakfast for dinner: We’ll be having eggs, veggie sausages and hashbrowns.

Looking for more mealtime inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!

Domestic Blitz, National Blog Posting Month, Photos

The stockings are hung, the eggnog is flowing and Space Ghost is on the tree

11/29/2015 Nichole 4 Comments

Rockford and the kids spent a lot of the weekend getting the house ready for the holidays, and as a result it’s begun to look a lot like Christmas at our house.

There’s a little telephone shelf on our living room wall from way back when people actually had home phones. Poppy took charge of decorating it this year. I love that she gave the Griswolds’ car a place of honor.

Instead of driving out to the Christmas tree farm this year, we decided to get our tree from the grocery store. It’s a good-looking tree, and it cost half as much. We may be grocery-tree people now. We also have small, tabletop trees in each kid’s bedroom. Pete’s is a white tree, and he uses most of Rockford’s “Star Wars” ornaments to decorate it. Poppy’s is a sparkly pink Barbie tree that’s pre-decorated.

Here are a few of our favorite ornaments. Rockford’s grandmother gave me a couple of White House ornaments over the years, and I love them. I’m hoping to get the 2015 one for Christmas this year (a hint I’ve already strongly dropped to Rockford). I’m not sure how long Rockford’s had his Hoosiers champion ornament, but it’s one of his favorites. And of course there’s Space Ghost. Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the good cheer that Space Ghost brings to the tree.

Rockford and Pete decorated the mantle this year. They took a more minimalist approach than I usually do. They did a great job.

The ornament display trees on the mantle are new to this year’s holiday decorating. I give Poppy and Pete an ornament every year so they’ll have a nice collection of them when they move out and have their own places and their own trees. This is the first year we’ve put any of them out. Poppy chose to display her first ornament, which I bought at Bluestem in Columbia MO in 2005, and her two cat ornaments. I bought the Marsha T. Cat portrait in 2011, and my friend Melissa made the felt portrait of JJ T. Cat for me in 2013. Pete’s picks were his first ornament, the personalized block I commissioned from Robin Plemmons in 2010 and the Flapjack’s Pancake Cabin ornament I gave him last year.

Rockford has been slowly amassing a collection of outdoor lights over the years, and his decorating out there has expanded from the bushes in front of the house to the flower-bed-island-thing in the middle of the yard. I’m thinking of making some of the giant ornament balls we saw in my brother’s neighborhood at Thanksgiving to hang in one of the trees out front. I also saw a how-to for some ginormous light balls that stay on the ground when I was searching for the ones for the trees. There may be some DIY in our future.