Friday Food: Mostly Arizona

Friday 

Short version: Grilled chicken, rice, salad, cookies

Long version: This was the day I left with the younger two children to drive to Phoenix. We arrived around 2 p.m. to the house my parents had rented. My mom and dad made dinner. It was simple, but delicious.

This house had a truly giant kitchen island.

The cookies were like a store version of Girl Scout Samoas that my mom bought because Poppy loves coconut. They were not as good as Samoas, but no one had any trouble eating them.

Saturday

Short version: Hawaiian barbecue, cake

Long version: This was the night of my niece's graduation party, which was the whole reason we were in Phoenix. The graduate's favorite food is Hawaiian barbecue, so they got takeout from a restaurant for the party. I was not familiar with this food, but it was very good. Both beef and chicken in a sweet marinade of some kind--kind of like teriyaki--rice, pasta salad, and Spam and rice rolled up in seaweed. Oh, and Hawaiian rolls, which my children had never had an predictably liked.

Sunday

Short version: Reuben sandwiches, leftover vegetables, potato chips, ice cream

Long version: We went to Mass in Phoenix at 11:30 a.m. before starting the drive to Tucson to stay with my parents.

St. Mary's Basilica in downtown Phoenix is beautiful.

My mom had leftover corned beef, so she made Reuben sandwiches or just grilled cheese, depending on preference.

We had eaten party leftovers with my brother's family for lunch, so I just had some of the vegetables from the corned beef for my dinner. Plus whatever was left from my children's sandwiches, because there's always something.   

Monday

Short version: Cheeseburgers, broccoli salad, oven fries, spinach

Long version: We went to see A.'s family this day and swim in the pool at his dad's apartment complex. 

My children get all their swimming for the year into the week or so they spend in Arizona every year.

My father-in-law's wife fed us a huge lunch, so for dinner, I mostly ate the broccoli salad and fries. Very good it was, too.

Tuesday

Short version: Brisket, roasted vegetables, leftover rice, ice cream

Long version: My mom made an entire brisket, like eight pounds of meat. We ate about half of it this night. Both children had multiple helpings. They certainly burned enough calories with all the swimming and running around we did.

Wednesday

Short version: Jiggety jig soft tacos

Long version: Home again, home again. We arrived home at 4:15 p.m. A. had been eating hamburgers pretty much exclusively since the older boys had left for their FFA convention, and there was still a little ground beef in the refrigerator. There wasn't enough for all of us, but I added a can of pinto beans to it, plus salsa and spices, and that was enough in corn tortillas with cheese. 

The children had eaten large quantities of raw vegetables and fruit in the car, so I didn't bother with anything but the tacos.

Thursday

Short version: Italian sausage links, roasted potatoes, canned peas

Long version: A. had defrosted some Italian sausage, which I put right on the pan with the roasted potatoes.

Is this what they call a sheetpan supper?

We got a few cans of peas from commodities. I grew up with canned peas and loved them, though I haven't had them in many years. None of the rest of my family has ever had them. I found, to my surprise, that I still like them. A. liked them well enough. One child ate them. The other refused.

Refrigerator check:

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

Oops

Lately I've been getting Poppy into older, longer* books by starting to read them to her. After several chapters of me reading, she'll get interested enough in the story that she'll start reading them herself. 

We did this with The Secret Garden and Heidi, and then we started Little Women.

She took over reading herself in Little Women after maybe five chapters and was happily zipping right along.

Then she came home from school and said her friend told her Beth dies in Little Women. "She doesn't die, does she, Mom?"

Uh. Well. Dang it.

Beth does indeed die. I had forgotten that. 

There was no way out of answering this question. So I asked her one of my own first. I asked her if she really wanted to know.

She did. I told her. She cried just thinking about it and then declared that she was not going to read the book anymore.

Fair enough. She can try again when she's a little older maybe. She's only eight years old. She has plenty of time to read the rest of it.

The next book I was going to read with her was Anne of Green Gables. I looked up if anyone dies in that book, because obviously my memory for these things is not to be trusted. Matthew does towards the end of the book. So now I have to determine if that death is going to be as upsetting to Poppy as Beth dying. I don't think so, since Matthew is an old man, not a little girl, but still. Maybe we should wait on that one for a little bit.

Anyone have any suggestions for classic children's books where main characters don't die? You'd think that wouldn't be so hard, but I guess not.

*This works well for older books because they tend to have longer and more complicated sentence structures. When I read them aloud, I can pause to break up the sentence with my voice. I also often have to define words, because the vocabulary in older books tends to be much more advanced, which is one reason I like them. When Poppy reads them on her own, she frequently calls out to me for definitions. 

Snapshots: Just Four

We have had such strange weather this spring. It was in the nineties in March, and then on Wednesday, May 20, I had to start the woodstove.

The last fire of the season. I think.

The MiL sent us this older book on running by Jeff Galloway, and I was not prepared for this passage.

Memento Mori, I guess, but dang, Jeff.

We have successfully completed the last day of school.

Mostly in the new gym, which, unlike the old gym, does not make all photos look green.

And now it is summer break. No more pencils, no more books, etc.

One of my pet peeves is non-human things that attempt to be conversational. For instance, I do not need to see a sympathetic error message on a website that reads, "Oops! Something went wrong. But don't worry; it's not your fault!"

The middle boy was given this water bottle at school. It has a helpful sticker to show where the push button to open the top is, and then this was under that.

I was not seeking validation for my water-bottle-opening skills, thanks.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.