Meal plans and the week ahead

A new week. Hopefully this week is better than my week last week. I hit a wall on Tuesday - and was seriously just plain mentally exhausted for the rest of the week. It sucked. The good news is that I am starting Plan A this week! Its a program that is available to all state employees here. You basically are still a full-time employee on paper - accruing 40 hours/week towards retirement, you don't pay more for benefits, etc. - but you only work 32 hours a week... and only get paid for 32 hours/week. Its kind of like taking voluntary furlough days. The 20% pay cut isn't too appealing, but my mental sanity and the extra time with my Little Man is totally worth it... ten-fold! :)

After my week last week, I haven't really given much thought to the week ahead yet. So I'm sure things will change as the week goes on. Tuesday will be a long day in Detroit for me... and I'm really hoping that things at work start to simmer down a bit after our workshop on Tuesday... keep your fingers crossed for me! Of course, we have swimming on Wednesday. On Friday, my friends Jenny and Melissa are coming over with their kids for a playdate. So that will be fun! And on Saturday, we'll go to a local orchard in the morning if the weather is nice. And in the late afternoon, we'll be going to a fall-themed party at a local gymnastics place that Carson will be starting a tumbling class at near the end of the month.

My goals this week are pretty basic. I've fallen behind on cleaning this last week and a half, so I want to do some thorough, deep cleaning, especially in the kitchen and in the bathroom. I'll be working on getting a bunch of tulip bulbs in the ground this afternoon, as well as some black eyed susans that a friend shared with me. I also want to hose down Carson's slide/climber and playhouse this afternoon. The slide/climber will be brought into the family room for the winter and the playhouse will go into the barn. Tomorrow night, I'll hook up the lawn sweeper and Carson and I will drive around on one of the tractors, sweeping up the fallen leaves in the yard. I won't really have a lot of time on Tuesday or Wednesday... and what little I have will be spent on picking up the house. Thursday night, I'm not planning anything but fun stuff with Carson. We'll be making some more fall and Halloween crafts and we'll just do what the little man wants to do. The weekend will be filled with fun stuff, as well.

So, on to the meals...

Sunday ~ baked potato soup; beer bread; organic store-bought applesauce

Meatless Monday ~ goat cheese, black bean, and corn quesadillas; home-canned pearsauce

Tuesday ~ I'll be in Detroit all day for a workshop. We'll eat at my parents' house since my mom is watching Carson.

Wednesday ~ Swimming tonight... so portable... sliced beef sausage; sliced co-jack cheese; crackers; peanuts; apple slices

Thursday ~ greek chicken pasta from the freezer; steamed green beans from the freezer; home-canned peaches

Friday ~ Friends are coming over in the morning; Carson and I will have breakfast for dinner... whole grain pancakes; home-canned blueberry syrup; home-canned pearsauce

Saturday ~ Orchard in the morning; Gymnastics in the late afternoon; dinner is TBD... but probably eating out in Grand Blanc some place since we'll be at the gym till 6pm. crockpot beef stroganoff; steamed green beans; home-canned peaches