Meal Plan... Yes

It's going to be insanely busy this coming week.  Lindsay is back to school after over three weeks off for Winter Break and Matt's visit home from Japan.  I start school after six weeks off, and Rob has darts this week.  I knew the craziness was coming so I prepared when I stopped at the grocery store on Friday.  The meat counter had pre-made black and bleu burgers and bacon cheeseburgers, mini meatloaves, and chicken fried steaks, all ready to cook and all on sale.  I figured it was a good start.

• Sunday - Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, country gravy, veggies, dun-buttered muffins.
• Monday - Spaghetti with meatballs and vodka sauce, garlic bread, salad
• Tuesday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, veggies
• Wednesday - Hamburgers and fries
• Thursday - leftovers/breakfast/ramen...  whatever
• Friday - Mac & Cheese from the box and leftover spiral sliced ham from the freezer
• Saturday - Breakfast for dinner

I'm a huge fan of the Dinner Doctor cookbook, Desperation Dinners, and Cheap. Fast. Good! but since it's been forever since I had time to sit down with my cookbooks, I have no idea where they've gone to.  I knew there was a recipe for the dun-buttered muffins in the Dinner Doctor so I just looked it up online and shared it with you.  I've made them before and the only change I'll make tonight is to add some roasted garlic to them, or maybe sprinkle granulated garlic over the top, though I'd better get on it since it's getting close to dinner-time.

Next week I want to try some sort of black bean and rice dish, probably with ground beef in it, and Japanese Curry and rice.  A friend on Facebook posted a picture of her curry dinner yesterday and I went looking for the recipe - again, online - turns out it's so easy to make, though I'll have to hit the Asian market here in town to find the curry.  Beef, potato, carrot, onion, curry powder, rice - that's it!

Airport Surprises and New Year's Intentions

The craziness of the past several months has culminated in a visit from our Sailor Son, Matt.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing more exciting/heart wrenching/amazing than seeing your military son/daughter/wife/husband/brother/sister (well, you get the point) after they've been gone for awhile, and our son was gone for 14 months.

We met him at the gate when he flew into DIA, which was a total surprise for him.  We hit the ticket counter at a run, asked for - and RECEIVED - gate passes, breezed through security, and then stalled when we made it on the train.  For some reason those trains don't move any faster just because you're in a hurry.  When we got to Concourse B, we speed-walked/ran to the farthest gate - of course.  And then it hit us...  the passengers were already deplaning.  We thought we'd missed him when two pilots walked off the jetway and I was verbal about my disappointment.  We were holding a six-foot long by three-foot tall welcome home banner that had an almost life size picture of our son on it.  A few of the passengers heard us, saw the banner - how could they miss it - and told us he had been behind them on the plane, while another said her daughter sat with him and that he would be off any minute.  I was so excited that I was bouncing on my toes and I started to cry before I even saw him.  It was a great moment full of laughing (he didn't recognize his sister) hugs and tears, one that will live in my memory for a long time...  and it had better, because we didn't take any pictures!

Though my world seems to have ground to a halt while my Sailor is home on leave, the new year came, people are making resolutions, tax season is on the verge of exploding, and life marches on.

I hate resolutions, though I've made, and kept, a few in the past couple of years.  This year I have decided that I will have intentions for the upcoming year rather than resolutions.  My intentions for 2013 are pretty simple: Survive, Thrive.  Yeah, that's about it.  First I'll survive - January tax season at work, three classes a week with a teacher who drives me nuts, fitting routine back into my life after three weeks of holiday preparations.  After that has been accomplished, I will thrive.  I will become a better counselor, enjoy school, and be grateful for those things in my life that have been difficult because of my attitude.

I have a few hopes too...  I hope we can see our Sailor again before next Christmas; that we'll be able to travel to San Diego or Pensacola when he comes back to the States for training.  I hope Rob gets a job so that the pressure I've been living under for the past four months will be relieved.  I also hope that I will continue to do work I consider worthy of a B, though for some reason my professors continue to give me A's for that work.