Busy Monday, March 17

So this week I'm on vacation. I had 5 days that if I did not use them by the end of the month I would lose them and not get paid for any of it so I wiggled in some vacation while one of the other Engineers was on vacation. I wish I could have taken this in April to spend Spring Break with the kids. 

Today's 'To-Do' List

• Get this Blog up!
• Menu
• Groceries
• Look into making Strawberry Jam - A holdover from last week I have got to do it! 
• Dr. B12 Shot
• Chiropractor
• Lunch with Husband
• Plant Tomatoes

Menu

• Hamburger Helper w/ Green Beans (We did actually avoid this one last week since we went out to dinner once)
• Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
• Meatloaf, Potatoes w/gravy & corn
• Pizza
• Salmon & Chicken (since Pete won't eat fish and Kat only eats a little fish) with peas and rice
• (Undetermined)*
• (Undetermined) *

*At lunch today with my husband I'm going to pester him to give up some ideas for dinners this week too. 

This Week's 'To-Do' List

• 4-H STEM Club - Wed
• COMPASS Test for oldest Daughter -Thurs
• Meeting with Pest Control to just check up on things since we were treated for termites a couple years back so they want to see how everything is doing under the house and in the venting system. -Tues
• Renew Driver's License
• Lunch Date with a Friend - Tues

Last Week

Well we will start with last night when I made the Feta-Topped Chicken with Pasta with pesto alfredo ... the chicken wasn't bad but I'm bad at broiling chicken so it was 'dead' but the pasta we had some serious issues with. It uses a ton of olive oil and then that's all you can smell and taste. I'm going to have to find something else to switch that up with if I ever want to try that again. Maybe an olive oil based salad dressing instead.

I also tried a new recipe for 3 ingredient crockpot chicken tacos. This sadly did not go over very well it was often commented that there was an odd taste. We have decided we will try this again next month but instead of using taco seasoning like is suggested instead using fajita seasoning.

I did see the dietitian last week and she went over my tests and my history and decided that the low carb diet was going to far for me and that it what the doctor had told me actually was even a little extreme for a full blown diabetic which I am not in fact how she put it it's truly questionable if I'm pre-diabetic but with diabetes so strongly in the family it would not hurt for me to stay on a diet but instead of 'low carb' it is instead a controlled carb. I haven't quite gotten the hang of it but it does allow me more carbs and not to worry about the healthy carbs like I shouldn't be stressed out about the carbs in green beans. The other thing the dietitian did though was put down that I should go down to a 1500 calorie diet. This has been hard! I go from 'the calories don't matter' to suddenly the calories do matter. I go from a high meat and cheese diet to a diet where meat and cheese have high calories so I really have to watch how much I get. I very much feel like a pinball! The good news is that since starting all these various diets I have lost weight amazingly. I'm nearly 20 lbs lighter. I don't feel it but that is what the scale tells me. 

Brielle is all signed up for High School but we had to do a ton of shuffling with her schedule and there are several freshman classes she'll have to take other years because she is going into this Engineering program and wants to continue with Orchestra.  We are well on our way though and she goes down for her COMPASS test on Thursday. Right now I'm really trying to stress that she brush back up on her Algebra.
She was disappointed though it looks like she'll have to take Geometry a second year because she's only pulling an 81 in the class. Unless you're pulling a 90+% the teacher is making you retake the class. Brielle had really hoped to be done with Geometry and go onto Algebra 2 but I warned her not to let her grades slip but she got lazy there for a semester and that's all it took to mess things up. 

The girls went to 4-H Project club this past week and they made bags. Well Katherine is finished with hers. Brielle kind of lost her mind somewhere along the way and has to seam rip things out for the 3rd time! I'll have to get a picture up of the finish projects later. I'm hoping next weekend I can spend sometime with Brielle and help her get hers finished up. 

Friday was also the Daddy Daughter dance and while I was out at Walmart (I dislike Walmart but where else can you buy a plant light at 10 o'clock at night) I found this zebra dress and we all know how Katherine is about Zebras. 

Before you make a comment of my husband all in black... well yes he's that weirdo guy but also that is what Katherine told him to wear because for the Daddy Daughter dances the girls have always had complete control. 

I'm still jealous they can get him into a tie! I wish I could more often! 

That's pretty much it. Friday Katherine had her friend spend the night and then Saturday her Friend went home and then we headed out to buy a present for a friend of ours little boy who just turned 4 and we went to his birthday party. It was great because our friend came out with a little mini cake for me and they sang happy birthday to me too! It was totally unexpected and it really was great. 

We socialized so long I didn't have time to make dinner so we hit Arby's (which their wraps and side salads really aren't that bad for calories/carbs and portions!) 

Brielle was in charge later that night for a little bit so Peter and I could go visit with some friends who were having a St. Patty's Day party. I'm still a little antsy about leaving the kids though they've now proved on many occasions that they will be okay. It's like I told my husband though... If I didn't worry about my kids what kind of a mother would I be?

Well this blog is going up a little late and I need to start running again.... wait I thought this was my vacation week?!