Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Grilled Chicken Breasts (marinated in Italian salad dressing), black&white bean salad with yellow peppers, olives, tomatoes, fresh basil and feta. hmm...maybe some sauteed spinach also to put under the chicken and garlic bread.

Tuesday: Tortellini with Bacon, Greens and Browned Butter, sliced tomatoes

Wednesday: Barbecue Beef Sandwiches (already in the freezer - laaaaaaaa!), coleslaw, potato salad

Thursday: My Sister's Mushroom Burgers (MSMB!). Ground beef, chopped up mushrooms, garlic, worcestershire, salt, chopped bacon - all mixed together and onto the grill. Can't WAIT to try these!! Corn, either on the cob or Pioneer Woman's baked corn casserole.

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: BRISKET! We bought a grill/smoker over the weekend for Mr. Wonderful. His birthday is coming up soon!

Coffee, Laundry, Little House, Repeat...

What's the 4th of July without a red, white and blue dessert?!

Our day started out by relaxing at home. We watched movies on Turner Classic Movies about the Revolutionary War, drank our coffee, and I gave Warren a hair cut. In the afternoon, we went to an outdoor Heritage Days festival.

You know, in the past week I've thought to myself "Hey! I think I'm acclamating to this Texas summer heat - I really don't seem to mind it as much". Well, Self, it's easy to think that when you are at the pool in the morning, and in the house all afternoon, because, baby, it is HOOOOOOOT and I was feelin' it!

We stayed at the festival long enough to visit with some of Warren's co-workers, drink 3 bottles of water, eat one shaved ice and 2 ice cream cookies. On the way home, we stopped at HEB, where I was happy to see they had an ENORMOUS display of strawberries and blueberries. Finally, at home and out of the heat, we (literally) thanked God for air conditioning and started putting the dessert together.

O had sooo much fun rinsing the berries, drying them, sorting - both by size and by color, taste testing, planning exactly how she would arrange them on the fruit pizza. It was well worth the effort of squeezing that sugar cookie dough out of its plastic tube and into a 9x13 pan.

On the 3rd we went to the Wimberly VFW Rodeo. This is a CPRA sanctioned rodeo, and you don't know how proud I am that I know what that acronym means!! (Cowboy Professional Rodeo Association - I had to work pretty hard to remember it.)

These are the Flag Ladies - at least that is what I call them. I'm sure they have much niftier and appropriate names. These ladies ride out with the American and Texas flag, and then stay still in the middle while the National Anthem is sung. Then, when the soloist (who was a great singer, and cute in her shorts and cowgirl boots!) starts singing the last line "O say does that star spangled banner yet wave...o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave" the gal with the American flag spurs her horse and she starts riding around the edge of the area as fast as she can. The flag is waving, the music is at a crescendo, and a BIG lump came up in my throat. When the last note finished, I looked at Warren through teary eyes, and said "Wow - Happy 4th". (I have the gift of words, ya know! ha ha)

Olivia with her pink cotton candy. I don't see how she could eat it when we were sitting in the setting sun which was still 102 degrees, but she managed. We brought a cooler, and I drank lots of LaCroix and bottled water, and Warren of course, showed his Texas patriotism by drinking his fair share of Dr. Pepper.

OH! And we stopped at Bush's Fried Chicken on the way down to pick up iced tea - they make the BEST sweet tea, and have Sonic-type ice. For $.99 they also have a chicken tender sandwich, which is just one of their great chicken tenders on a tastes-like-homemade white soft bun. That was a GREAT find!

It was a good, but different, 4th of July. The pangs of missing family and friends in Ohio are still so strong, especially on holidays. We are here, though, being stretched and grown in new ways, and even though the stretching parts hurt, I know it is good for me.

Today, O and I are watching Little House on the Prairie and getting the house back in order. This weekend seemed soooo relaxing when I wasn't loading the dishwasher and piling dirty clothes into the laundry room...time to pay the piper now!

Tan Lines and Free Parking

Besides many hours spent at the pool this week, we cleaned O’s room, rearranged our room, watched much HGTV, Food Network, Little Couple (love them!), Stager Invasion (her Dad MAKES the show!), made a lemon pound cake, and a mixed berry pie.

(Sadly, my exercise has fallen by the wayside, and the eating of desserts has not.)

O squeezing lemons for the lemon pound cake.

Also, after numerous trips to Joann’s and JC Penney, I think I’ve narrowed down my paint and curtain color choices for the dining room and living room. Big stuff for only the last week of June!

O lovin' on her Daddy after a game of Clue Jr.

The fun of playing board games is ongoing. Olivia now fully ‘gets’ Monopoly. Girlfriend aggressively buys property, and is beyond gleeful when she can buy Park Place and Boardwalk.

And when she is saving money to buy houses, nothing can deter her.

“Nope, not gonna buy that, I’m saving money to buy houses!”

Did you know that the rent on only 3 houses on Park Place is $1200??


So... even though Warren and I usually end up mortgaged to the hilt, we’re thinking this might be a good thing if she approaches life with this same tenacity.

After all, if there really are places named Marvin Gardens and Boardwalk, she might have mercy on her parents in their old age and we’ll have a dandy place to live.