this week's menu... and other random things

Surprise!

The super thick strawberry cake with cream cheese icing... mmmm!

My loves... Austin, Cody, Joshy, Ryan and Marquee...
Cody's swag... his inlaws spoil him rotten!

Just made a mega-trip to the grocery store to stock up... any time Austin is in the mood to go with me, I try to take advantage of the extra pair of hands and the company. Here are some of the fun/healthy/interesting/weird things we bought:

salmon burgers

cod

purple potatoes (making purple potato salad!)

edamame

red lentils

millet (not sure what to do with it... knowing me, it will be a salad of some kind)

roasted garlic

swiss cheese (for his burgers)

diced butternut squash (to be roasted)

hummus (it was on sale!) love having hummus and baby carrots for lunch!

snyders pretzel bits (3 pts for 1/3 cup but it's a special treat for me on days I have points leftover)

whole grain crackers

whole grain bread

fresh mozzarella

salmon

black bean burgers

a new taboule mix to try

tomatoes (i need some farm stand tomatoes in a bad way)

(I also need some fresh corn on the cob... we may have to go to a farm market some time today but i really just want to nest)

baby eggplant (thought it would be nice to roast with some parmesan)

I've got some fresh basil that I picked at mom and dad's yesterday... and some peppers that Pop grew. I'm going to make purple potato salad to go with burgers and a caprese salad - maybe with the wheatberries I've got cooking in the crockpot - and an edamame salad with purple onion, cilantro, black beans... mmmm! It's funny but eating out this weekend wasn't fun at all for me... and I used to love to eat out more than anything. I'd much rather have a rainbow of healthy stuff in my fridge. Sooo grateful that we got child support yesterday and were able to make a big grocery run and stock up with healthy stuff.

Here's what I ate this weekend:

Friday: 10 grain hot cereal with a sliced banana and 1 tbsp of natural peanut butter. 1 spicy chickfila sandwich with a fruit cup, tilapia and steamed veggies, 12 tortilla chips and salsa

Saturday: oatmeal with 1/4 cup blueberries, two figs, Pop's chicken salad with grapes and apples (it was sooo good!) with more figs (Pop had figs that were about to go bad) one big old piece of Cody's awesome strawberry birthday cake with cream cheese frosting, a chargrilled chicken cool wrap from Chickfila, diet lemonade, starbucks iced green tea with splenda

Seriously... not bad for being away from home... considering we ate out for three meals.

This morning I had a chickfila side salad (one point) with the rest of the figs (some had gone bad... so sad! i love figs!) and fat free sesame ginger salad dressing.

I made one of my quarterly trips to the thrift store yesterday. I bought "down" on a few items - things that were really good deals - I bought a size smaller than what I wear right now. That's true optimism for you! My last trip to the thrift store I bought "up" and (fortunately) never grew into those clothes. I've got a whole bin of clothes sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY CLOSET that are one size smaller than what I currently wear. I think it's great motivation to have to walk past those every time I get dressed. I bought 13 new articles of clothing: three skirts and 10 tops. All 3 skirts I will have to lose weight to be able to wear and their all three really cute so I'm motivated. Half the tops fit now and half will fit when I lose another 10-20 pounds. Thirteen new (to me) pieces of clothing and I spent - $21.11 - including tax.

Thrift store shopping isn't for everyone but I love it. It's great meditation time for me.

I never got to see Barry this weekend. I'm only mildly bummed about it. He went from work to football practice to work again... slept a few hours, got up, went to work and then back to a football game and ... that was his schedule while I was on the southside of town. Hard to be mad at someone who works so much. I just wish he didn't work so much.

Cody's birthday party was nice. He has the best in-laws... they really love him and treat him like one of them... and they are just as welcoming to Cody's brothers and parents. I hope that all of my boys find those kind of families to marry into.

Plans for today: cook, chill, clean....