Monday Menu and Weekend Recap

This weekend was perfect- nice and relaxing. Since we had originally planned to be in Florida (trip was postponed until later this year) we had an open schedule, which almost NEVER happens. Friday I had the day off, so I went and visited the hubs who was at his grandmothers helping to prime and paint her shed roof. I visited with everyone for a bit, and then I got a text from a friend I hadn't seen in a while inviting me to run to Hobby Lobby with her. Totally last minute, but perfect! We just had a Hobby Lobby open about half an hour from us, and I hadn't been yet so I was totally game. It was a quick trip, but it was nice to catch up with her and her adorable son and also to shop at Hobby Lobby! The rest of the day the hubs and I relaxed at home- I think a lot of knitting and Tv watching ensued :)

Saturday I went in to work for a bit since the hubs was at work anyway, and then we worked outside and caught up on chores inside. Again, another lazy night relaxing- it was great! One thing that did get accomplished was I finished spinning the singles for my last skein for Tour de Fleece.

I tried very hard to keep this a bulky yarn, since most of what I spin in DK weight and thinner. Singles looked good!

We also finally hung the beautiful quilt/wall hanging that a family friend gave us for our wedding. Not only is it beautifully made, its super special because guests signed small pieces of fabric that make up the quilt. Between chasing after a few key people who hadn't signed fabric pieces, then the massive amount of time spent making it (Thanks again Margaret!) and then getting it and finding the right place to hang it, this thing has been a few years in the making. I'm so glad it found a spot in our home though!

Sunday we did a few things around the house after church and I finished plying the singles pictured above- this is one full bobbin!

I didn't get a chance to skein it up and soak it, but I feel proud of spinning 12oz for my first Tour de Fleece :)

We spent the rest of the day with Kris and Sara, who are old news to readers of this blog ;) After Sara and I grabbed groceries for the week, we sat in the basement with the boys while they honed their CoD skills.

Sara has finally decided to start a blog, which can be found at http://rockandnotroll.wordpress.com/  Sara is tons of fun, and just shared a post about her week long anniversary trip to Tennessee. Check her out!

This week is looking good as far as eats go :)

Monday: lunch- salad with tomatoes, leftover grilled chicken, sliced turkey, and peppercorn ranch

dinner- salmon and veggie fried rice

Tuesday: lunch- leftovers

dinner- Dorito taco salad and corn on the cob

Wednesday: lunch- leftovers

dinner- out!

Thursday: lunch- salad with fruit

dinner- Grilled Shrimp Quesadillas and pasta salad

Friday: lunch- leftover pasta salad

dinner- out

Saturday: lunch- not sure

dinner- baked chicken chimichangas

Also, I pinned a TON of stuff this weekend. I have the sudden urge to make my house really "lived in" by decorating, if that makes any sense. Even though we have lived here for two years, after the initial painting and fixing up of things, we haven't decorated much. I've decided that I want our home to be a space that makes us happy, so I looked for ideas yesterday. I also found a lot of inspiration from the book Young House Love. I may do a book review when I've finished it (almost there!)

Whew!

Posting has been a bit sporadic, and I know I mentioned that it might be, but to be honest I had hoped to stay on my schedule of three times a week. Ha. But I finally turned in my last final yesterday! Graduation rehearsal is today, and tomorrow I will be officially graduated with my Bachelors!

I thought I would make this a bit of a catch up post since I missed both Monday and Wednesday. Surprisingly, I did sort of have a menu plan for the week, it just never made it on the blog :) We tried a new recipe this week- Taco Salad. A relative used to make a similar recipe for every family function when I was younger, and I was really hoping this was it! It didn't taste exactly the same to me, but it was similar and good, so it's a win!

Last night's dinner was pretty good too. Pasta with salmon and garlic white sauce- simple but yummy. 

We also had small salads, but those don't look nearly as good! 

The knitting is coming along slowly. I have a project that is for a friend that I would really like to have done for Saturday, but there's still a lot of knitting to do. However, the exciting fibery thing that happened this week was that I got my wheel!

I have been saving for and researching wheels for about six months now, and decided that it would be a perfect graduation gift to myself. I was careful to order it as close to graduation as I could because I didn't want to procrastinate on my finals by playing with my wheel :)

After researching and going into a LYS to try out a few wheels, I decided on a Sidekick. I ordered my wheel form the Woolery, and not only did they have a good price, their shipping was fast! My wheel came from Kentucky in 2 days. 

By the time the wheel got here I already knew what I wanted to spin on it first. Last year for my birthday I ordered some yarn and fiber, and one of the things I got was some Finn wool from Pacasha in the Rosmerta colorway. I figured the wool would be good to get used to the wheel with because it has a long staple length. I spun up one bobbin between Wednesday and yesterday, and started the second 2oz last night. I love it!

Just a couple of pins to share because I know this post is starting to get long :)

This recipe is one of those things that is super simple, but looks so good! Skillet veggies on cheese toast. We might roast or grill our veggies though!

This Beef and Noodle salad just looks so fresh!

I came across a few picture of bedrooms that I really like the looks of. Maybe if we move (or stay here long enough) I will use one for inspiration to redo ours!

Well that's its for today! Here's hoping things go back to the regular schedule, maybe with a few additions? Who knows :)

Dinner Inspiration

I owe you tons and tons of posts (especially with knitting progress) but the problem is everything I'm working on is big, involved, and will all be done right around the same time. I do have one small object I finished, so I'm going to try and photograph everything later today so you can see where I'm at. In the meantime I'm going to share two of the blogs I subscribe to. I love these gals and their ideas, and I think you will too!

The first one is Iowa Girl Eats. Kristin is super sweet and has great ideas for mostly healthy food. I really like that she cooks for only herself and her husband, because I feel like most recipes are written with a family in mind. Even though you can halve them or just eat them for leftovers, its nice to have things tailored to only two people :) I've bee following her for a while, and so far I've tried her Buffalo Chicken BLAT Wraps and they were really yummy! I have lots more of her ideas waiting for my next shopping trip. In fact, her Mushroom Cap Pizzas are on the menu for a certain person's birthday party this weekend! Kristin's meal ideas are great, and I like how they are really customize-able. You should really check her out!

The other food blog I recently started following is Sweet Tooth Sweet Life. Courtney has some good healthy meal ideas and also some work out/ training posts. She has in her profile that she just became certified as a Personal Trainer, so I think her exercise posts would be really helpful! I haven't had too much time to browse back posts, but I'll definitely be looking forward to future ones :)

I'm hoping to make food and cooking a bigger part of my blog because I feel like the knitting sometimes takes over, and I haven't been reading or watching movies as much. Heck, I'm looking just to blog more often! March kind of got away from me- we have a couple family celebrations this month and the weather was GORGEOUS for all of last week, so its hard to believe that its already the last week of March! Hope you were able to find something yummy to try for dinner this week :)