Mellow Monday & Menu Plan

Happy Mellow Monday to you'all!


We are starting a busy week in our house.  VBS at my momma's church starts today, a couple of afternoon dates and then it's Lil' Miss's 2nd birthday on Thursday!  Woo-hoo...my baby's TWO!  It is going to be really important for us to be organized and ready for the week ahead, so I've gotten my meal plan down and I'm ready to share.

Our Mellow Monday meal is a super duper yummy easy-peasy and versatile chicken dish that a good friend of ours made us while we were on vacation.  I'm making a big pot of it so we can use it several times throughout the week to save on time and money.  Check it out...

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed, or other chicken parts
• lemon pepper seasoning
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Instructions:  Put chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle generously with lemon pepper seasoning. Drizzle butter or margarine over chicken. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours, or until chicken is tender.  I'm going then shred the chicken so it can be used in various ways.  I'm also going to double the recipe so that it will take us farther this week. :)

I totally wish I had a picture of this cooking...but I'm writing my blog a day early...sorry! 

It's kind of looks like this when it's all done:

 Check out my FB page later this week to see how it turns out...but trust me...you'll love it!

Here's what we're eating the rest of the week:

Monday:  Lemon Pepper Chicken over brown rice
Tuesday:  Lemon Pepper Chicken quesadillas
Wednesday:   Meatball sub sandwiches
Thursday:  Lil' Miss's birthday party at the waterpark...so I'm thinking Lemon Pepper Chicken on a green salad and snacks if we're still hungry.
Friday:  BBQ Hamburgers with green salad and frozen french fries made on the grill
Saturday:  Date Night!
Sunday:  Pizza!

Do you meal plan?  I do because it saves me time, money, and answers the never ending "What's for dinner?" question.  After you've checked out my menu plan and then see others at Orgjunkie.com.

What are you eating this week?

Always ~ Momma Goose

High Five for Friday

Isn't it awesome that it's Friday!?  Even though we are sort of on a perpetual weekend because Brother is on summer vacation and Daddy is off work, we are still TGIF'n and giving out high fives.  Here are some of the high five moments from our week:

High five for... Brother Goose catching his very first fish!!!!

High five for... all of us sleeping in 2 days til 9:45 a.m.!  (Woo-hoo!)

High five for... Daddy Goose's phone working after being dunked into the lake on Sunday!

(Double high five!!)

High five for... spending a great day at the water park with some new friends.

Horrible quality picture...but too cute not to share.  She was a tired girl after the water park.

High five for... Brother Goose finishing flag football with smile!

What are you high five'n for this week?

Hope you have a great weekend!

Always ~ Momma Goose

Fun Exercise

You'all know I'm a sucker for a good workout.  I've done the gym, spin classes, boot camp style classes and jogging/walking...all in the name of keeping in shape so that I can keep up with my goslings.  For the past few weeks, I've been walking with a good friend I've been friends with for about 25 years.  We meet up at the high school early in the morning (7:00 a.m.) - yes I know some of you may not think that 7:00 a.m. is "early," but "early" is all in how you look at it, and for me that's EARLY!

We usually, walk a lap (0.25 mile) and then do a set of stadiums (which is up and down two times).  Lately we've even been adding in squats, lunges, push-ups, tricep dips and a little ab work.  We're getting up to about 2.5 miles in an hour.  Including our little circuit. We've even talked about doing a half marathon in November.  I know, we're getting crazy! LOL!

Source

There is a group of ladies that I've known my whole life that have always gotten up and walk every morning at 5:30.  They would walk past where Daddy Goose and I used to live and every once in a while, if I was awake, I'd hear them chatting, chuckling and enjoying their exercise.  It always brought a half smile to my face (Only half a smile, cause lets face it...its 5:30 a.m.! Hee-hee!)

It's been so fun.  We get to chat AND exercise.  What more could you ask for?  A workout buddy who is super fun to talk to!!  I totally get what that group of ladies experiences.

BUT...on my way home this morning, I was thinking about what I was going to do when my friend goes back to work in a few weeks (she gets summers off) and Brother starts school or Daddy Goose goes back to work.  Will we get up and exercise at 5:30 a.m.?  Or walk in the afternoons when she gets off work?  Or will we just walk on the weekends?  I haven't even talked to her about it, but already I'm getting bummed.  I don't wanna stop our daily walks.  We gotta figure this one out!

For now, we'll keep up our walks and talks and enjoy the cool summer mornings while getting our exercise on!

Do you have an exercise buddy?  Studies have shown that those who do, workout more.  So, if you don't...you better find one! :)

Always ~ Momma Goose

What my Toddler Tuesday looked like

Yesterday was one of THOSE DAYS!  My beautiful, awesome, happy, amazing goslings and I went into town to have a little fun and run some errands.

We started the day with a visit to Chuck E Cheese...my favorite place on earth...NOT!!! That place has the right idea...waste spend a ton of cash on useless video games to get tickets so you can get useless awesome toys that will end up in my trash can within a week.  To top it off, their food is like cardboard....no, no...old cardboard.  AND...it costs a small fortune!  Double yuck!!  Yet, I find myself taking the goslings there every six months or so because $10 will buy us an hour or so of "fun" and they can't leave the building without me!  Brother Goose doesn't like their food either, so we get to eat somewhere else.

Our somewhere else yesterday was Subway.  While the food was better, the service was less than better.  In fact, I'm pretty sure the guy at Chuck E Cheese was fully trained in customer service and in kid language.  Back to Subway...as you know Lil' Miss is allergic to milk and even fake cheese, which sometimes is hard for an almost two year old to understand.  Brother Goose got Cheetos and Lil' Miss wanted some...can you see where this is going?  Screaming, crying sad, sad, sad Lil' Miss in Subway. Somehow she got a hold of one and in my mini-struggle to get it out of her hot little hands it bumped her face....annnnnd...now screaming, crying, sad Lil' Miss is now red faced and welted, screaming, crying, sad Lil' Miss. :(

Next visit was Verizon.  My cell phone was stolen last week and I had to return to the store to get my new one up and running.  What was I thinking towing along two hot and tired children?!?!  The poor guy that was helping me was a little clueless.  He must have been a "newer" employee, because he couldn't answer several of my questions, took 45 minutes to long to activate my phone AND was oblivious to my children - which is either good or bad.  Thankfully, there was a table with chairs in the store where we could sit and behave while the guy worked on my phone.

(P.S.  My phone still doesn't work right.  Hopefully, Daddy Goose can figure that out tonight.)

After Verizon was Costco.  A little glimmer of light thanks to a cart that seats two! LOL!  They treated each other with respect in the close proximity AND there were popsicle samples!  Costco must have known that crazy moms with their crazy kids would be coming in yesterday - a smart and successful marketing strategy.  Yes, I bought the popsicles! ;)  Half way through the warehouse, Brother says..."Mom, I'm starving!"  Whaaaatttt??  He ate an entire 6" turkey sub, half a bag of chips and a snack on the way to Costco!  This boy is definitely going through a growing spurt.  $1.50 hot dog to the rescue!

Finally, we were on our way home.  Chuck E Cheese crappy toys, activated cell phone, fed tummies and groceries.

I know this may all sound like not that big of a deal to some.  But...add in that it was 108 yesterday, we missed the friends we were supposed to meet at Chuck E Cheese and Daddy Goose wasn't with us, which we've become quite accustomed to.  Ooooo...and I wasn't mentally or toddler approved activity prepared to sit at Verizon for over an hour.

The silver lining = the day was not lost.  We got to have dinner with four of our favorite people, enjoyed watching Brother play football and then got a surprise visit from an old friend we really missed.

Here's a quick YouTube video of practice. :)

All in all it was just another glamorous day in the life of a momma.

How about you, what glamorous thing did you do yesterday?

Always ~ Momma Goose

Menu Plan Monday & (Not so) Mellow Monday

Wow...here we are almost 3 months since my last post!  Phew, time is flying by!

We are busy, busy, BUSY!  Our lives have changed so much since April.  Nothing that a little adjustment can't fix...but it's been just that...an adjustment.

Daddy Goose hurt his back in March and has been home with us since.  (We love having him here.  He usually works a lot, so we're taking advantage of his time. Hence the lack of blogging.)  Brother Goose finished his last year of pre-school, which means KINDERGARTEN in the fall!  EEEEEKKKK!!!!  Lil' Miss Goose is growing like a weed and says new words everyday.  (Including..."Uhhhh, no!"  Not my favorite! LOL)

So, all four of us are now home together. Every. Day.  It has been a whirlwind.  All my routines have been thrown out the window.  Everything from menu planning to daily house chores to exercise.  The only thing we want to do is hang with Daddy Goose.

W have settled into a new routine.  The go with the flow routine.  The take advantage of Daddy being home routine.  The clean the house once a week and do laundry only when needed routine.  The sit by the pool, go to the water park, spend extra time with family and friends routine.

I am still very much a Type A kinda girl, so there are plenty of days when I can't stand the "go-with-the-flow," but I am really trying to deal with that slowly.  I have my days.  And today is one of those days.  I am fed up with the mess in my house and need a menu plan for the week.  There will be no mellow-ness in our house today.  We are doing laundry, deep cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing bathrooms and washing floors.

I have figured out what we're eating this week and I figured, if I am doing a little work, you should be able to get the benefit too!  So, here ya go!

Monday:  Frozen Bean & Cheese burritos
Tuesday:  BBQ Chicken with Brown Rice Pasta Salad
Wednesday:  Ground turkey "sloppy joes"
Thursday:  Leftovers
Friday:  Camping!
Saturday:  Camping!
Sunday:  Camping!

With Lil' Miss's egg & milk allergy I adjust recipes or provide her with something else to eat. 

It takes a little more planning and caution, but it's just another reason why I meal plan!

Do you meal plan?  I do because it saves me time, money, and answers the never ending "What's for dinner?" question.  After you've checked out my menu plan and then see others at Orgjunkie.com.

What are you eating this week?

Always ~ Momma Goose