Menu Plan Monday

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Yes, I am painfully aware that it has been a very long time without a post.  November is a pretty busy month for us, we have two birthdays and are gearing up for the upcoming holiday season.  October brings with it the fun and stress-free holiday of Halloween, but November brings with it the uber stressful family-expects-to-see-you holidays.  So, alas, I've been away from the blogging world a bit.  But, I've been inspired to come back to the land of the virtually-living and post again. (c:  Since it's Monday I thought why not kick off my back-to-blogging with a Menu Plan Monday post?  This week's menu is a little off because we will be having two Thanksgiving-type dinners.  I think we will all be sick of turkey by the end of this week.

Monday: Japanese-style stir fry

Tuesday: Our at-home Thanksgiving meal - Smoked turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy and pumpkin fluff

Wednesday - Pork chops with mac and cheese (wanted a break from turkey for today)

Thursday - Thanksgiving at the in-laws for lunch and our own leftovers at home for dinner

Friday  - ?? Normally this is my grocery shopping day - but I'm not crazy and won't be grocery shopping on Black Friday - in all honest, I might not even leave the house.  I'm thinking if we still have leftovers I might make a turkey pot pie or we may be so sick of traditional Thanksgiving fare that we might do something wacky like breakfast for supper.

Saturday and Sunday are remaining unplanned as well because I don't know when I will actually be shopping.  One of those days is likely to be pizza (c;

 



Menu Planning Monday

www.orgjunkie.com

Happy Halloween!  Some families have a traditional "Halloween dinner" each year, spaghetti because it's quick and filling or Sonic hot dogs because they are *free* or Halloween candy (which is the dinner I remember as a kid, although I'm sure my mother would have made me eat something before the candy, right?).   Our family has never really been into the tradition of a Halloween dinner - until now.  I have a strange feeling that meat hand (yes, you read that right) is now going to be the traditional fare in the Wood household on Halloween  - and why not?  It's terribly gory and my family loves meatloaf.



Monday: Meat Hand with Mashed Brains
Tuesday: Whole roast chicken with mashed potatoes (leftover brains) and gravy
Wednesday: Homemade chicken noodle soup
Thursday: Bubble and Squeak (fried potatoes and smoked sausage)
Friday: Pork chops with baked sweet potatoes (and lots of cinnamon brown sugar)
Saturday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Sunday: Krista's pick - Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

This week we are having our Girl Scout meeting on Tuesday (no meeting on Halloween, of course) so Tuesday night is my quick and easy night.  Although roasting a chicken isn't really quick, it is super easy.

Halloween Memories: The Making of a Monster

Sydnee is definitely a Halloween fan, in fact I think she loves it just as much as I do.  As the years have gone on Sydnee has moved from the cutesy Halloween costumes (back when I was helping dictate what she was) to the truly gory (now that she's in full charge).  So, today I wanted to look back as the Ghost of Halloween Past and show you how her style has changed over the years....

Unicorn

Care Bear

Scarecrow

Tinkerbell

Vampire Princess

Mummy Princess

So there you have it...the making of a monster.  In the span of 8 Halloweens we went from adorable little unicorn to the hide-your-small-children wolf girl.  Oh, and the totally awesome make up of her later years - that is credited to my talented husband.

Be Inspired: Gettin' My Spook On...

I love Halloween, I mean, I LOVE Halloween.  To the point that people might think I'm a little strange (okay, so people think I'm a little strange anyway, never mind that).  So, what better topic for my very first Inspiration post than my most favoritest (yes, that is too a word) holiday?

The first inspiration I have to share with you are these super cute (and really easy) spider eggs.  Use whole black olives, cut each in half and then use one half to cut the legs.  Use your kitchen shears for easy cutting.

This totally cute caterpillar is made with pumpkins - want to make it even cuter - make the head red and you've got the very hungry caterpillar!  That would make an ubber cute classroom project, dontcha think?

Now this is so neat and so wonderfully cheap!  This awesome witch's curtain is nothing more than (are you ready for this) trash bags!  Yep, so simple yet so effective!

And, if you want a similar effect inside just grab a roll of crepe paper streamers (you know those birthday party decorations) and make a curtain!  Oh my!

And this amazing jack-o-lantern inspires me - who would've thought to put a pumpkin in a pumpkin?  Well, someone over at Skull A Day did, that's who.  Simply brilliant!

So, I hope you find some inspiration in these ideas.  I'm off to put the finishing spooky touches on our home before Halloween comes - and to make one of those awesome witch curtains!

Vintage Thingy Thursday

It's been a while since I posted but the call of Vintage Thingy Thursday has been going on inside my head.  This week I wanted to share my favorite teapot in my collection.  I love the nice round shape (perhaps because it mimics my own so well!) and the super cute handle.

I really don't know how "vintage" the teapot is.  We purchased it in a lot at an auction at the same flea market where I got my wonderful old stove.  The stove, in fact, is the permanent home of this tea pot.  They just seem to go together so well. 

Seed Viewer Project

Last semester for science we covered plants and their needs. Sydnee really enjoys science, but doesn't really enjoy book work, so we compromised and created this seed viewer project.

It's really simple - we used a clear plastic cup, a few red kidney beans, a piece of brown felt and some paper towels. We cut the brown felt to fit and stuck it in the cup, placed the beans between the cup and the felt and we the paper towels and stuck them in the middle of the cup. Sydnee made two of these and kept one in the dark and place the other one next to her window. At first, the one in the dark grew much more quickly, but then when the plants started to come up above the cup it quickly died. We concluded that this was because seeds don't need sunlight, but plants do. We did discover that the roots will grow into the felt, so we would suggest using construction paper instead. Sydnee's "light" beans are still going strong, but they are in need of a larger pot - and a serious felt-ecotmy - still working on figuring that one out.