Snapshots: Not Sick!

I have some photos!

Like this one on the way to last week's track meet.

And a very unflattering selfie at the track meet. It was sunny and windy, hence the dorky Mom hat.

We know a very well-read 17-year-old boy who said he hadn't read very much American fiction. Despite being American. Well! I have several American boys who are happy to recommend books to remedy that.

Here's what we gave him to start. (Desmond Bagley was actually British, but he did write excellent adventure stories.)

My family is here for Poppy's First Communion today. They're staying at a place in the village that has lovely New Mexican furnishings. Unfortunately, it also has things like this chair.

I am not a fan of Frida Kahlo, so this is really not to my taste.

Also some impressive orchids. (Apologies for the blurry picture.)

I was sitting outside with Poppy while she was playing, and I was amused when she started playing with good ole Dumpy.

We've had this little dump truck for fourteen years, unbelievably.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Back to Business

Friday 

Short version: Scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, green salad with ranch dressing, applesauce with cream

Long version: I still have many, many boxes of excess-commodities macaroni and cheese on hand. It occurred to me that perhaps it could be improved by adding egg to it. I had about seven dozen eggs on hand. I looked it up, and it is apparently not unknown to add egg yolks to make it creamier. Okay!

I made three boxes of it and added three egg yolks. It did make it creamier, but is also made it too thick and dry after it sat for a few minutes. I of course neglected to save any of the pasta water when I drained it--always--so I just added a bit of boiling water to it to loosen it up a little.

The egg whites went into the scrambled eggs, which worked out nicely. Even if one boy asked me what the meat part of the meal was. Eggs, I said. "That is NOT meat," he replied.

Nope. You'll survive, though.

And look at me, making a salad! It had some arugula from the garden in it, too, which is always lovely. Arugula bolts very quickly in our hot sun, making it an ephemeral treat, but appreciated while it lasts.

The applesauce was my bribe to get the kids to do their bathroom chores two days early, in advance of overnight guests arriving on Saturday. It worked. 

Saturday

Short version: Beef and bean chili, cornbread

Long version: We had two overnight guests with us, one of whom was diabetic. I needed to make something ahead of time that could just be ready to go whenever we were ready to eat, as there was a lot going on in the afternoon.

Chili worked for all of this. 

Sunday

Short version: Lamb curry, rice, green salad with vinaigrette, butterscotch pudding

Long version: This was the first day in over a week that I actually felt like cooking, as opposed to forcing myself to make food for consumption.

I took out a bag of the lamb we ground when we butchered the wethers and used that to make curry with the curry sludge left from dyeing Easter eggs. It also had potatoes, carrots, and peas in it. I finished it with sour cream, and then some milk and cornstarch because I thought it needed some thickening.

And I made a salad! So many vegetables!

Relative to our previous week's meals, anyway.

Monday

Short version: Leftover curry at home, gas station chicken, and egg salad, on the road

Long version: I went to a track meet in the afternoon. As is my habit, I brought a salad with me to eat on my lap in the car in between events. I didn't make a typical lettuce salad this time, though, instead using two hardboiled eggs and cooked asparagus, plus vinaigrette, to make a kind of egg salad.

This was really good.

The trackster got fried chicken and potato wedges at the gas station we stopped at on the way home. A. gave everyone at home leftover curry.

Tuesday

Short version: Spanish tortilla, still-frozen green beans, sugar cookies

Long version: I made the Spanish tortilla ahead of time so we could eat right after I got home from the last First Communion class with Poppy.

Because it was the last one, I made sugar cookies for the class that looked kind of like the hosts used for communion.

In that they were round and had crosses on them.

I had extra cookies that I frosted with a mixture of heavy cream and powdered sugar and then sprinkled with colored sugar. That's what I gave my family.

Why purple? Why not?

Wednesday

Short version: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, peas, asparagus

Long version: Every part of this meal could be put in the oven before I had to leave for a meeting at 5 p.m. so it was all ready when A. got home from his bus run. It worked out.

Thursday

Short version: Pizzas with ranch dip, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I didn't have much pepperoni left, so one pizza was only lightly pepperoni. The other was just cheese.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Notes from a Track Meet

I was sitting on the bleachers at yesterday's varsity track meet, waiting for it to start, when I hear one of the boys from the team sitting next to me say, "Dominic, what's your problem? You got something to say to me?"

Apparently Dominic did. He squared up and then there were these two full-grown man-children punching each other five feet from me.

Their coach apparently wasn't there, nor any other responsible adult. I briefly considered breaking it up myself before deciding that would be a bad idea, both because of their size relative to mine, and because I didn't know them. More importantly, they didn't know me. 

I will get in between my sons when they fight, but they won't hit me. Who knows if those boys would have.

After just a minute their friends pulled them apart. It was lucky for them that neither one of them fell down the bleachers or got hurt in any other way. They were immediately ejected from the premises. I assume their parents were called to come pick them up. What a fun phone call to get as a parent, especially because they were from a school an hour away.

Such a peaceful setting for fisticuffs.

I always hear some interesting names at track meets. At this one, there was a boy named Dino, a name I don't think I've ever heard in real life. There was also a girl whose name, as far as I could tell, was Aoili. I'm sure it's spelled differently, but it was pronounced exactly like the garlic sauce. And I know it was pronounced that way because it was her teammates yelling it as she ran.

Once on the results from a previous track meet, there was a boy whose first name was listed as "Rage." Perhaps it's pronounced differently or it was a typo, but it was startling.

I guess that's all I got today. Happy Tuesday.

Snapshots: Still Sort of Lame

I am slowly getting better from whatever this sinus thing is that's been hanging on. Day by day it's improving, although I'm still not 100% yet. That's the excuse I'm giving for not having particularly impressive photos this week.

I did go in to school and sub half a day for the high school science teacher. Her classroom houses the fish tank, and I don't know how she can sit in there all day with this thing humming and splashing.

It sounded like an overflowing toilet. 

Over the winter, A. bought some watercolor paints and paper at the dollar store and taught himself how to paint.

He mostly does greeting cards with flowers on them. Very handy to have for birthdays and so forth.

My own flowers continue to dwindle down. At home, I just have these purple ones.

Nicely spotlighted by the setting sun.

And at church, all that's left of the altar flowers are a couple of lilies.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: Survival

Friday 

Short version: Larditos

Long version: I was huddled in bed most of the day with a fever, leaving A. as chef. We had some chicharrones (rendered pork skin and fat) in the freezer, so he decided to make burritos with those. 

He used the giant seven-pound can of black beans that has been hanging around for awhile to make refried beans, too. He actually used the entire can, which is great, because now we have lots of prepared refried beans ready to go in the freezer.

Anyway, he added the chopped chicharrones to the refried beans, plus cheese, in flour tortillas. These were apparently very good. I didn't have any, but I heard many compliments about them. There was plenty of lard in the refried beans in addition to the chicharrones, which led one boy to dub these "larditos."

Saturday

Short version: Tuna salad, garlic bread, carrot sticks with ranch dip, experimental soup for me

Long version: I wasn't feverish this day, but A. was. Although I was better, I was far from completely recovered. I had been planning on making pizza, but I didn't feel up to it, so instead I made garlic bread with some of the dough and then made tuna salad.

Most people elected to have these together as a sandwich.

A very large sandwich.

I was still at the stage of stuffiness where I couldn't chew and breathe at the same time. I had a little chicken stock in the refrigerator, and cooked rice, but the hamburger patty that I had been thinking to use to make soup got eaten by a child before I could use it. I had some hardboiled eggs, though. In soup? Sure.

I chopped the egg and heated that up in the stock with some already-cooked onions from the freezer, the rice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

This was actually pretty good. I mean, I couldn't taste very well, but it served the purpose of feeding me with something soft and liquid-y at least.

Sunday

Short version: Spaghetti with meat sauce, green peas, chocolate milkshakes

Long version: I kept changing my mind about what to make with the ground beef I had taken out of the freezer. We'd been eating a lot of rice and bread because I'd been out of potatoes for awhile, so I thought maybe pasta would be a good change in starch. 

Pretty basic meat sauce, which is never as good as meatballs but is undeniably easier.

I had just enough vanilla ice cream left for everyone to have a milkshake. To be honest, I was the one who really wanted the milkshake, but no one else minded having one either.

Monday

Short version: A seriously random collection of foods

Long version: The night before, one of the boys--the one who loves sandwiches above all else--had eaten most of the spaghetti on his plate, but not all the meat sauce. I saved that separately and made him a sandwich with it this night so it wouldn't be wasted.

Looks like he also had a mini bell pepper with it.

The other two boys had leftover spaghetti with the meat sauce.

A. had the meat sauce on leftover rice.

Poppy and I had oatmeal. I don't think I have ever in my life eaten oatmeal for dinner. I don't even eat oatmeal for breakfast, typically, but I was still feeling pretty bad, congested with lots of pressure and the kind of headachy soreness that comes from coughing and blowing my nose. I wanted something hot that didn't really require chewing. Oatmeal fit that description. 

Oatmeal also happens to be one of the Poppy's favorite foods, whereas pasta is one of her least favorite foods, so that worked out for her.

Tuesday

Short version: Sorta Spanish rice, chocolate cornflake candy

Long version: I needed to make something ahead of Poppy's first Communion class so we could eat promptly upon returning home. More ground beef, plus rice, already-cooked onions, spices, salsa, and cheese. That works.

I made this recipe for a dessert treat because one boy had standardized state testing this day that he was really not enthused about. I really didn't feel like baking, and I was out of marshmallows to make crispy rice treats. I did have cornflakes, though, and I figured there had to be some kind of dessert made with those.

Most of the family really liked these. The recipe as written says it makes fifteen of these clusters. They would be HUGE and really messy to eat if I had only made fifteen. I made 25, and I still thought they should have been smaller.

Yes, I know there are only fifteen on this tray. There was another pan elsewhere.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: One kid had the last of the spaghetti. The rest of us had the Spanish rice. And there were enough of the cornflake things for everyone to have dessert again. Good thing, because the math portion of the state test was this day. Downer.

This was the day it occurred to me that I didn't actually have a cold anymore and really what I was dealing with was a minor sinus infection. Whatever the reason, I sure wasn't winning any awards for my cooking this week. Except maybe an award that acknowledged everyone ate every day. Some weeks, that's pretty good.

Thursday

Short version: Lamb chops, mashed potatoes, asparagus or raw radishes

Long version: Look! Not ground beef! Or rice!

This tasted so good after eating a lot of the same things all week. Especially the asparagus. We were definitely light on vegetables this week.

I couldn't fit all the lamb chops in one pan.

Refrigerator check:

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

I Think I'm Gonna Make It

This is the first morning since Friday that I've awakened normally and gotten up because I was done sleeping, not because I was driven from bed because I felt so awful.

I don't know what this virus is that we've had in our house, but it certainly hangs on. I am still thankful that I never threw up like my kids did, but the continuing fever, achiness, exhaustion, and horrible congestion haven't been all that much fun, either.

It's been awhile since I've been sick this long. My house is showing it. It's a mess. I managed to do laundry on Sunday, but it hasn't been put away. I haven't been doing my typical continuous picking up, either, so everything is looking a bit chaotic and cluttery. And, of course, I haven't dusted or vacuumed.

It's all happening today, though. Interspersed with resting, because I'm still pretty tired.

Shall we end this random post with a random photo? Sure.

Very unfortunately, I had to bring a child to a not-close city for an appointment yesterday. The view from the window as we were waiting was very typical of any office park in any southwestern city.

Phoenix? Tucson? Santa Fe? Who can tell.

It occurred to me, though, that this sort of landscaping does not exist where I live. The parking lots, the sidewalks, the gravel with the bushes in it . . . it's only in cities. Just an observation.

Snapshots: Slim Pickings

Thanks to the plague descending upon our house, I don't have very many photos this week. I do have Jesus, though.

A very tiny and cheery Jesus.

There were apparently some girls going around the state FFA convention giving out these little rubber Jesus figures. I found this one in a pocket while I was doing laundry.

And I have the newest iteration of the the altar flowers. 

I took apart the remaining three arrangements and used the flowers that still looked good to make one smaller arrangement for the altar. And then I moved the Easter lilies from in front of the Holy Family statue to the main altar.

I used fake flowers up on the saints' pedestals.

I have also been culling and combining the flowers left at home.

The tiny jar was for Poppy's room.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted. Here's hoping this week features less sickness and more photos.