Our week...

I was really feeling a nagging desire to blog today. I admittedly have not been on the computer as much this week. Mondays are always very busy for me. I hit the ground running with laundry. I wash all of our clothes on Monday. Well, I wash clothes for myself, Dave, Carolyn and Brianna. Jonathan and Natalie have their own wash days. Next have to make sure my school planning is finished and in order because the older two will be wanting their assignment sheets. These are actually extremely handy for me and them. If my memory serves me correctly, school took forever on Monday. Some days are like that. Natalie went to the barn to work. I came home and did a couple of things. Then I went back up to get her. After a supper of chicken corn chowder, I took Jonathan to youth group. A ladies bible study has just started at church. So, I attended that.

Tuesday was fine until mid morning when some intestinal distress hit and made the rest of my day awful. I did manage to get through grocery shopping in the afternoon, but Dave picked Natalie up from work. Then Natalie, Dave and Carolyn made pancakes for dinner. I slept.

On Wednesday we got about 9 inches of new snow. It was not too bad until the wind started blowing in the late afternoon. Then we started getting drifts, and it was kinds of nasty. I drove in it twice because my diehard horse girl had lessons. Carolyn has taken a break from lessons until the weather breaks. She is such a little thing, and she gets so cold even with warm clothes on. So, we will wait until April or so. I am sure she will let me know when she would like to go back.

Thursday was our gym and swim day, and now we are back at Friday again. I do not have a dinner plan as I am out of mozzarella cheese. I tried to get a big bag at Wegmans on Tuesday, but they were out of the big bags. I won't pay for the little bags, so we have no cheese for pizza. I am going to dig through my refigerator and make whatever is in there. Better to eat it than to waste it.

I hope to be back with some more winter pictures. We have had snow on the ground for over a month now. We did not get a January thaw. Well, it did get up to 40 last Friday, but that only melted a little.

Our new eating plan...

Here is a sampling of dinner menus from our new eating plan.

Beef barley soup (homemade)
Bread (homemade)
cheese
oranges

Hamburger Pinwheels
Brown rice
green beans
applesauce
pickles

Chicken tenders
Buttered noodles
Peaches (canned)
Romaine and spinach salad

Macaroni and cheese w/ meat (I confess that my kids like hot dogs in theirs, but ham would be better if you are going for whole foods)
Pennsylvania Red Cabbage
Salad (romaine)
Pickles

Meatball subs
Green beans
Pears
Noodles

Cube steak
Mashed potatoes
broccoli
applesauce

Pizza (We eat this every Friday. I make my own, but now I am rounding out the meal more by adding...
carrots or salad
strawberries or other fruit

I hope this blesses some of you as you strive to eat healthier with more whole foods.

Update to the couch cushions question...

Way back at the beginning of December I asked what I should do about my couch cushions. Some of my Family Homestead friends gave me their ideas. Well, after Christmas I found slip covers at Bed Bath and Beyond. Add that to the lovely cabinet that my husband gave me for Christmas, and I feel like I have a whole new living room.

Note the lovely cabinet with the basket of pinecones on it. Lurking underneath are all my homeschool books. I love it.

And one picture of the dining room

The Eating Plan...

I have learned over time and by experiment that making too many changes at one time leads to disaster. I have decided through much reflection that during the month of January the only changes I am making to my eating and meal preparation will be to follow the meal plan laid out in Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Their Parents.

Since we are not vegetarians, I will follow the meal plan with animal protein. This is how the plan breaks down:

Fish, eggs, chicken, pork or beef
Starchy vegetable or whole grain
Green vegetable
Another vegetable or fruit
Something fermented, pickled or raw

I tried this with tonight's dinner. For dinner we had hamberger pinwheels which does include both meat (beef) and whole grain (the dough). I did add in brown rice as another whole grain to add some depth to the meal. We also had green beens that were sauted and quartered strawberries. I forgot to include the pickles, but we did have them at lunch.

Typically I plan my meals for a month. I am not in the habit of giving much thought to the vegetable or fruit that we are having with the meal. Sadly, it is often an after thought. This will take all of my thought and effort this month, so I am waiting until I get this down before I add in other things. The only other focus area will be water consumption. This is not that difficult for me, so I am not counting that as a "new" focus area for me.

Now I am off to get the rest of the plan down. I especially need to know what I am making tomorrow.