Menu Plan Monday: 4/26-5/2/10

I have officially decided that my life no longer belongs to me. I thought I was busy before. But after looking at the upcoming week, I've realized that my life belongs to work, baseball, meetings, dance class, and everything else that is going on. Well, I take that back. I do have 1 day of vacation scheduled this week. The kids' have a field trip to go strawberry picking, and we're going to make a family activity out of it. There is, however, something going on EVERY SINGLE NIGHT this week. EVERY night! I don't know whether to scream or cry. And I don't see much of a break in sight until June, when baseball season will be over.

So if you don't see much of me, don't panic. I'm just on stress overload and will be on a mental break. I'm going to try to keep my life as simple as I can make it for the next 5 or so weeks until some of our activities clear out. All part of trying to maintain a semblance of balance! :)

Monday--Chicken Pot Pies, Peppered Cottage Cheese
The menfolk have baseball practice this evening, so we moved our weekly "Family Home Evening" or FHE night to Sunday night. The Pot Pies are really nothing fancy--just the frozen single-serve box kind that you toss in the oven, bake & serve. Hubs and the Little Man have to head out early in the evening, so hubs chose to make this meal so they can eat before leaving.

Tuesday--Tomato Pasta Bake, hubs chooses the sides
Baseball game night! And I have a meeting at church and will leave straight after work. Because of the game, Little Miss will go with me. Hubs is playing "Meals On Wheels" and will prepare/heat the meal, feed himself & the kids, then bring a plate of food to me when I get off work so I can eat on my way to my meeting. I'll need to remin him to pack a backpack of distractions like coloring books and toys or Little Miss so she won't be bored while I'm in my meeting.

Wednesday--Taco Casserole, Oranges
This is my vacation day and our strawberry picking day. I have a ton of errands to run once we get home, but I will actually be able to put supper together for a change. Because of baseball, hubs has had to step up to the plate a little more and put together supper more & more often so he and our son can eat instead of starving themselves by waiting until they get home. Hubs also has a meeting this night, but with me having a full day of vacation, there should be no problem with me having supper made at a decent time so he can eat before needing to leave.

Thursday--Teriyaki Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Pineapple, hubs gets to choose side #2
We have another baseball game on this evening. I plan on going to this game, so hubs will need to have dinner ready to eat early. So early, that I'll probably have to take a plate with me to the game. We could just plan on taking some cash and eating hot dogs from the concession stand--and the kids would absolutely love doing that--but that means spending money, and in my opinion, taking the easy way out. I've got these freezer meals in the freezer, and hubs doesn't work, so in my opinion, we should just use what we have and save our money. However, I know that there's a lot going on, and I can foresee one or the both of us being stressed out by this night, so I'm fully prepared for my husband to proclaim, "I give!" and refuse to make any dinner this night. It happened last week (instead of cooking up supper on Thursday night, he made peanut butter & honey sandwiches for dinner before the baseball game that night).

Friday--Hubs is on his own
I'm scheduled for a girls' night out for a monthly scrapbooking crop. I just might actually get some stress relief after all. :)

Saturday--Baby Back Bash Ribs, Sweet Corn Bread, Beans
It's baseball tournament day, and the team is scheduled to play two games (yes, two games on top of the two games and baseball practice earlier in the week). I also had intended on this day being my Once A Month Cooking day, but that was before learning about the tournament that was scheduled. Now I don't know what I'll do. I might do half a month's worth of cooking, instead of a full day. I haven't completely decided what to do. There's supposed to be a trophy presentation late in the evening, so I want to make sure that I'm able to go to at least one game and the trophy presentation, assuming my son's team gets a trophy.

Sunday--
Breakfast: Cranberry Orange Muffins
I still, STILL have not had a chance to make these. I didn't have enough flour a couple weeks ago, and I intended on buying some this week but never made it to the grocery store.

Dinner: Church potluck, bringing Chicken Salad Sandwiches and Cantaloupe
Our church meets late in the afternoon, and choir is meeting each week immediately following. We've decided to have a potluck the first Sunday each month after choir practice is over, as an opportunity for fellowship and to give us a little break from rushing to get the family fed once we get home.

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