Finding some order...

I'm going to try a weekly menu plan.  This is just the first part of my attempt to organize our lives.  I'm tired of shopping with the best intentions to cook good meals for dinner, but end up with half of the food that I buy either going bad or not going toward the meals that I thought I would be cooking.  We found ourselves eating a lot of cereal and sandwiches and take-out, eating like a family of bachelors!  So, here's the plan:  I'm letting breakfast go as a "free meal" for now, you can have the food of your choice.  Lunch is a little more structured, but not totally planned out, since I'm not home for four out of seven lunches in a week.  They can have meat-and-cheese or p.b. & j. sandwiches, or tuna or chicken salad.  I think the boys will end up eating more sandwiches and Trav more salads.  I want to have fresh veggies and fruits washed and sliced, ready for snacking.  I'm also going to make a batch of my mom's black bean salsa, which is awesome as a salsa with tortilla chips or by itself as a bean salad.  I'm going to try to do more produce shopping at the farmer's market, which is every Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon.  A good "fallback" meal for is is breakfast burritos, which we all love.  So just in case I don't feel like cooking a whole meal, we won't have an excuse for take-out as long as there is breakfast burrito stuff in the house!  I'm allowing myself one prefab frozen meal per week for now, until I can stockpile a few homemade frozen meals.  I like Stouffer's lasagna, and it's easy.  And we're going to have salad with every meal.  Now, for the meal plan.  Monday will be shrimp scampi with steamed green beans and salad.  Tuesday will be my frozen meal day, with salad.  Wednesday will be Dempsey stew (Trav's name for a throw-together favorite, sort of a chicken with savory sauce over mashed potatoes) with salad.  Thursday will be baked ziti with garlic bread and salad.  Friday is either baked or pan-seared fish with rice pilaf, a seasonal veg of my choosing (I'll decide once I'm at the market), and salad.  Saturday will be beef gravy over noodles with mixed veggies and salad.  Sunday we'll eat up all of the leftovers while I prepare for the following week.  This plan just might work.  I have a list made of ingredients for the week, now I just have to look in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what I have on hand and what I need, then I'll go shopping.  I want to try to prep veggies and salad fixin's ahead of time each week.  This might just work.  I am also planning on getting a binder together with the help of the Organized Home website so that we can gradually get our lives organized.  Lists are good around here.  We thrive on lists, because Trav and I are both forgetful.  Even Deklan has a chore chart, so he can be reminded of what he has to do every day.  And I welcome any help that I can get!

Our insurance should be in effect by now, much to our relief!  Our plan provides for 24 chiropractic visits per year per person, which you'd better believe we're going to be using!  I have to look around for a holistic/natural-minded pediatrician and/or family practice in the area.  I have one in mind, but I need to do an interview or two.  One practice that I have in mind are a husband (doctor)/wife(FNP/CNM) team here, which sounds really good.  I guess I'll see.  And we're in desperate need of the dentist!  Both boys have at least one cavity, Trav needs work done, and I haven't had a cleaning in WAY too long!  I haven't worn glasses in over a year (they got crunched, and we couldn't afford to replace them), and Trav needs a new prescription.  I'm so grateful for insurance!

We're watching the Stanley Cup playoffs right now.  Second round of the series, second game of the round, Detroit Red Wings vs. the Anaheim Ducks.  We are, of course, rooting for the Wings and not the "home team".  We had our Red Wings magnet stolen off of our van and one of our tail-lights busted out.  That's Fresno for you.  They're at the Joe today, and seem to have some good mojo going.  I hope they win.  In fact, I hope we sweep the Ducks (we won the first game).  We've done awesome so far this year, and I and REALLY hoping there is another Stanley Cup in our future.  Two years in a row...you can do it, boys!!  I have to say, the leadership is stellar with my boy Nicklas Lidstrom as the captain (*ahem*...no offense meant to Yzerman...we miss you Stevie!).