Friday 5.5

Well, the work week ended or is about to soon. We made it!

1. Good eats- Monday was the best meal- perhaps not the best tasting but the best insofar as all I had to do was heat up some food that we had been given. Meaning I didn't have to cook anything... Meaning my recently deep cleaned kitchen remained cleaned. It's the little things especially after spending a good part of the day at school on Monday. To just have to reheat food for dinner (that I hadn't cooked) was fabulous. When my MIL and her husband came over for Mother's Day, they brought this food to us... They had leftovers from an event on Saturday that they had been a big part of. They brought us ham, chicken picante, vegetables and mashed potatoes. SOLD! Oh, except I didn't have to buy it :). Tuesday, I made lasagna- there's nothing like wading into the waters of cooking again (I don't think I'd cooked since Thursday- NOT complaining!) with something that I know everyone likes. Wednesday was a dish that Joyce recommended called chicken and spinach orzo.

I had to cut a bunch of stems off of the spinach for the chicken orzo dish. I wish the spinach came destemmed. 

2. The best news of the week was that Abby came home! Her time frame on her travels and coming and going is always a bit nebulous. Regarding seeing us, she'll often tell us a general time frame and then let us know when her plans are firm. So originally, she thought she'd come back home later but she texted me on Tuesday saying she'd see us later that day and so we did. When I came home from work on Tuesday, Abby was sitting at the kitchen table working on a few things. I prepped the lasagna for dinner that night, put it in the refrigerator and then Abby and I went for a walk into town. The weather was perfect! Wednesday after school, she went with me to Sam's Club. Thursday after school we went for another walk in beautiful weather. 

3. School this week... was school. I could tell tales for days but most of them are not my stories to tell. This week was the second to last week of school and the year is definitely in wind down mode. The grade that I'm subbing is divided into four teams. Each team this week went on a field trip/team building day on different days of the week and my team went on Wednesday. The place was nearby our school- it's a retreat center called Camp Chautauqua in nearby Miamisburg. The students did a team building exercise and did fun things like a short zipline, giant swing and obstacle course. It was an enjoyable day! I like doing anything different, specifically anything that gets me out of doing the norm. (See, enjoying not having to cook dinner one night this week). The students' behavior at camp was pretty good, overall, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the activities.

Here's the swing- two teachers are elevated in it in this picture (they're towards the middle of the picture). 

Just sittin' in seat 13 on the big yellow fellow :).

4. I get direct deposit emails on my phone from my employer but I have not even opened the emails recently. I know how much I make per day which means I can figure out how much per week, per two weeks, etc. I've had this thought before and I had it again this week- one of the best financial  rewards when I sub a lot is not the money that I make when subbing but the money that I don't spend that I likely would if I where home all day. I'm not a shopaholic by any means but I'll pop into stores much more readily when there's nowhere I have to be during the day.

This week, for the first time since I started my long term sub gig, after school I needed to get a couple of grocery items for the meal I was making for dinner that night. Getting something I need the day of is par for the course when I'm not subbing a lot. But days that I sub, I try very hard to not have to go anywhere in the afternoon or evening once I'm home from school. However, on Wednesday it happened. I needed to get chicken and spinach so Abby and I went to Sam's Club (cheap rotisserie!) for chicken and baby spinach. Wouldn't you know my receipt was for well over $100 as I ended up making a number of impulse purchases. It reminded me of how little (relatively) I've been spending since I started subbing long term in early April for the simple reason that I don't shop much when I'm working. For the most part, if I don't buy it during the weekend when I grocery shop, I don't buy things. And that saves money. So yes, I'm earning a little by subbing and saving more than a little by shopping very sparingly...

A few of my unplanned purchases at Sam's Club

5. Now when this subbing gig ends (SOON), all spending bets are off. I mean, I always try to be a good steward of our money and will continue to be that way but there are some things that I plan to buy for the outside patio area. I haven't so much as looked as "normal life" for me has felt on hold since early April 😆

5.5 Puppy chow aka muddy buddies- Chex mix cereal, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. I've only made it once and it was years and years ago. Like Alyssa was not born yet years ago. I liked it (what's not to like?) but it didn't make the cut in terms of items to make frequently (or at all). After all, we can't make/eat all the good things unless we're ok being 400 pounds and diabetic. I don't know when my kids learned about it/had it since it wasn't something they would have had at home. This past fall both girls ordered a puppy chow Arctic Swirl at our local ice cream shop (like a DQ Blizzard) and loved it except they commented that there was a dearth of puppy chow pieces in it. They talked about making some puppy chow and then they could add it to their ice cream to their hearts' content. This week was the week- the girls made puppy chow. It turned out good! 

Abby started portioning out the puppy chow and when she handed me a baggie, I knew I had done something right in life (her labeling of the baggie Woof! Woof!). I loved it!!!