Meal plan for August 11th – 17th

Thank you all so much for the comments, kind thoughts, prayers, emails, Facebook messages, etc., about my mom.  Things are looking up on the health front.  Last night, mom devoured her dinner like a frat boy, and I think that is the most she has eaten combined in a whole week.  Food with whole ingredients is not only tasty, it’s pretty darn healing if you ask me.  I made cheesy bruschetta, salad with homegrown tomatoes and Persian cucumbers, and my sister’s homegrown raspberries with sliced local nectarines.  Yum!

Mom is on the mend, but Dad is another story.  Dad, Mom’s caregiver had surgery on Tuesday and was given instructions to not push, pull, tug, or lift.  It’s a complicated game of filling the dance card, trying to arrange coverage between my sister (who is doing the bulk of the work), mom’s awesome part-time health aide, and myself.  Thankfully my employer is being amazing, so I’ve been working in the morning, and going over in the afternoon.  My parents have cable and DVR, and mom and I have been catching up on lots of HGTV and Project Runway.

Did you know I totally forgot that a DVR will let you pause live TV?  The first time mom did it, it almost blew my mind.  No cable for three years means my electronic brain has atrophied.

Jack and my nephew have been having fun with lots of durable medical equipment, like these booties that I think are supposed to relieve pressure from bedsores.  Why wear them, when you can box with them?

A group of lovely girls I know, sent me a box of Fairytale Brownies with a hilarious little card to cheer me up.

And cheer me up it did.  Chocolate = instant smiles.

You’ve heard me talk about my parent’s love of “stuff” in the past.  About how my decorating style can be described as “after the producers clear out the home on Hoarders”; I don’t like stuff or knick knacks or many decorations.  I had to laugh at the ironic scene that unfolded in my parent’s living room this week:

My parents are saving an article about how a parent’s stuff is a burden.  Oh my, oh my…

One very strict rule in our house is that at the end of the day, all the toys in the living room have to get put back in Jack’s room.  With barely being home these days, and Troy picking up the parenting slack, that rule has fallen by the wayside.  Troy and Jack have been building epic Lego installations, so the toys stay out.  And I twitch, but just barely.

In fabulously exciting news, I have an appointment on August 18th to test drive the new 2015 Subaru Outback.  No, I’m not going to be buying a new car this month (or year), but I want to check it out and kick the tires so to speak.  I drive by a Subaru dealership twice a day on the way to and from work, and it’s torturous to have to look at these cars.  I read reviews and look at photos of these things on the daily.  I’m obsessed!

Meal plan time!  Reminder, I only plan dinners.  My breakfast of choice is homemade Greek yogurt with tons of cut up fresh fruit (or fruit I froze in the summer), and a homemade granola bar crumbled on top.  It’s delicious and keeps me completely full and satisfied until lunch. Lunches are always leftovers.  We rarely eat dessert during the week, and our dinner drink of choice is water kefir soda.