Meal Prep Again

I sacrificed a good portion of naptime on Sunday to once again meal prep my lunches for the week. I cooked another batch of white rice, along with chicken and veggies. I like the combination. This week I chose a different flavor of pre-marinated chicken breasts, which I've managed to forget. Maybe Italian seasoning or something similar. I definitely prefer the honey mustard from last week. I baked it this week, a much superior method to broiling. I also baked the zucchini and yellow squash with olive oil and garlic salt (not enough). I baked it so long that it practically melts in your mouth, just the way I like it. I portioned the food into 4 lunches, which will leave me eating crap only one day this week. Yay!

2017 To-Do List: April

1. Rearrange/clean the family room to make it a usable space 
1. Move books down there to make it a library/family room?
2. Get rid of items we don't use and/or don't like I took another small load of stuff to the Salvation Army, but again, barely a drop in the bucket.
1. clothes
2. furniture
3. kitchenware
3. Read at least 24 books 10/24 - I read 2 books in April, so I'm still on track to make my yearly goal.
4. Develop a system to ensure bills get paid in a timely fashion I have something that seems to be working, but I'm not quite ready to cross this one off.
5. Hang wall art 
6. Hang some sort of window treatment (curtains? blinds?) in family room COMPLETED - 3/19/2017
7. Blog at least once a week 17/52 - I have blogged at least once a week for the first seventeen full weeks of the year.
8. Purchase new bras
9. Purchase new underwear COMPLETED - 2/5/2017
10. Go on a date
11. Go swimming, preferably in a natural body of water
12. Take my son camping in a tent in the woods for at least one night
13. Frame a picture of my son for my desk at work COMPLETED - 1/17/2017
14. Go to the Adirondacks
15. Take my son to the zoo COMPLETED - 1/14/2017
16. Install anti-tip straps on the TV
17. Open a 529 account for my son COMPLETED - 3/8/2017
18. Visit Second Home Nature Center at least once a month 4/12 - January & February. We went to the nature center twice in April.

Meal Prep

I work with a young woman who is a BIG fan of meal prepping. She puts together lunches for the whole week on Sunday evening. She even has specially purchased plastic containers for the purpose. I've never been willing to sacrifice the amount of time needed to cook and assemble the meals during my son's naps. But I'm also getting so sick of eating crap: processed packaged foods. So the goal is more variety, healthier food (not healthy healthy necessarily but not frozen or freeze dried crap), and hopefully saving a little money.

With that in mind I started small, two marinated chicken breasts, one bundle of fresh asparagus, and white rice (from the cupboard). I broiled the chicken according to the package/internet directions, adding as much as 6-8 additional minutes to avoid any potential RAWNESS. This was the first time I'd ever cooked chicken, so I was a little stressed. Then I baked the asparagus with olive oil and salt, while cooking the white rice on the stovetop.

Now this all may sound very simple, but keep in mind I've never cooked anything more complicated than boiling water for pasta. I ate the first one for lunch today and it was yummy. Success!

Lunchtime Reading

With the wet and rainy conditions today I spent my lunch hour reading at my desk. This is the fourth book in the series, so I felt confident I would enjoy it. It takes place three years after the first three books, with a mostly different cast of characters. It is fast-paced and engaging and difficult to put down at the end of an hour. I may have to check to see if this author has written anything else that interests me.

Love of Water

On Saturday we went for a walk in a nearby neighborhood. I anticipated my son would enjoy this "lake" and I was correct. In fact we might still be there if I had not dragged him away with promises of peanut butter for lunch.

Lunchtime Reading

On Friday it snowed. On Monday it was 80 degrees outside. Hello April, nice to see you again.

I wore a dress and sandals to work and spent 55 of my 60 lunchtime minutes outside walking and reading. It was glorious. I started this book just yesterday and didn't have time (with the walking) to get very far into it, but I was chuckling and nodding along. I'm looking forward to reading more today. And I can't wait for outdoor lunches to be the norm again!

2017 To-Do List: March

1. Rearrange/clean the family room to make it a usable space 
1. Move books down there to make it a library/family room?
2. Get rid of items we don't use and/or don't like 
1. clothes
2. furniture
3. kitchenware
3. Read at least 24 books 8/24 - I read 3 books in March, so I'm still on track to make my yearly goal.
4. Develop a system to ensure bills get paid in a timely fashion
5. Hang wall art I hung one photograph on a nail vacated by a piece of art that belonged to my ex. I am not marking this as complete as I have more things that need to be hung. But, progress.
6. Hang some sort of window treatment (curtains? blinds?) in family room COMPLETED - 3/19/2017. I ordered a pleated fabric shade from Amazon for ~$9. Not fancy at all, but it gets the job done.
7. Blog at least once a week 13/52 - I have blogged at least once a week for the first thirteen full weeks of the year.
8. Purchase new bras
9. Purchase new underwear COMPLETED - 2/5/2017
10. Go on a date
11. Go swimming, preferably in a natural body of water
12. Take my son camping in a tent in the woods for at least one night
13. Frame a picture of my son for my desk at work COMPLETED - 1/17/2017
14. Go to the Adirondacks
15. Take my son to the zoo COMPLETED - 1/14/2017
16. Install anti-tip straps on the TV
17. Open a 529 account for my son COMPLETED - 3/8/2017
18. Visit Second Home Nature Center at least once a month 3/12 - January & February. In March we went to the Nature Center for a pancake breakfast. We didn't walk the trails so it didn't necessarily meet the spirit of the goal, but I'm counting it anyway.