Meal plan for August 5th – 11th
Preview of today’s post:
1) Awesome Greenbox month
2) Four year olds are crazy stalkers
3) Something weird in my garden, and I need your help identifying it!
1) Mitchell from The Homegrown Collective sent me surprise box for this month. Oh my gosh, when I opened it, I squealed like a little girl getting a pony for Christmas. It was chock full of items to make homemade beauty supplies like lotion bars, milk scrub, and chapstick. The ingredients are simple, they’re locally sourced, and they smell good and look amazing. SO FUN!!!
Also, I’m not sure what this says about me, but I’m obsessed with tiny containers and little storage things. This box came with chapstick tins and other beauty storage, and it made my heart flutter. When we lived in Los Angeles, I worked next to a Container Store, and I’d wander over there some times just to clear my head amongst all the organization porn.
This month’s Greenbox from The Homegrown Collective fulfilled all my deepest weird needs.
2) Jack is so freaking competitive these days that I’m ready to explode. Is this a normal four-year-old boy thing? Anyone? We had an altercation yesterday over a game that we each thought we won. I told him it didn’t matter who won because we both had a lot of fun. He insisted he won, and I told him that if playing was going to be all about winning going forward, I didn’t want to play with him anymore.
I then headed into the bathroom, and the little turd followed me, looked me in the eye, and then slammed the door.
Back the truck up buddy.
Heads rolled.
Let me say that no hand was laid on the little psycho, but we are now crystal clear that slamming doors and reacting like a roided up baseball player is not kosher behavior in our house.
Additional competitiveness things? He is obsessed with being someone’s only friend (he calls it being the “first friend”). Take his cousin Parker for instance. A few weeks ago they were at the park, and Parker saw someone he knew from daycare. Jack straight up got between the two boys and screamed “he’s my friend” in this poor little boy’s face.
Steven Weber better watch his ass (and eye), because Jack is going all Single White Female up in here. Parker better be glad he doesn’t have a bunny, or my little crazy pants might boil the shit out of it.
Someone, please tell me this is normal four-year-old behavior?
3) Oh, my goodness, what in the hell is this??????
I went outside to the garden last night and found this near my chives. It looks like cauliflower, but is squishy like puke (I did NOT touch it with my bare hands). Did a cauliflower throw up in my garden?? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? What is this thing? If it helps in diagnosing the weirdness, it rained yesterday after no precipitation for over a month.
We have now gathered a grand total of three eggs. They seem to come every other day, and always in the same nesting box. The eggs have not increased in size, so I’m wondering if three different chickens have laid their first eggs, or if one of them is just squeezing out micro eggs?
Meal plan time! Reminder, I only plan dinners. My breakfast of choice has changed, and I’m now obsessed with homemade Greek yogurt with tons of cut up fresh fruit, and a homemade granola bar (recipe coming this week) 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.
Monday:: Gyros (recipe coming this week) with grilled veg.
Tuesday:: Chicken meatballs with rice, Asian green beans (just like this recipe, but with beans), and grilled corn.
Wednesday:: A recipe I found called “man pleasing chicken” that I want to try out. Review will be next week. Which I’ll write while wearing my pearls, poodle skirt, and waiting by the door with a drink for my man to get home (:eyeroll:). We’re having grilled veg, and coleslaw on the side. Have I ever shared my 2 minute coleslaw recipe with you guys? I don’t think so. I’ll get on that!
Thursday:: I’m working late, so Troy and Jack are being fed at the in-laws.
Friday:: Popcorn dinner. Yes, seriously we eat popcorn for dinner. It’s popcorn, leftovers, cheese slices, fruit, and cut up veggies. Everyone gets as much as they want, and no one leaves hungry. I adore Fridays because it is the easiest night of the week for making everyone happy!
Saturday:: Homemade pizza and some veg on the side.
Sunday:: Family dinner with my parent’s and extended family.
This week I spent $19.62 at our local produce stand, $38.18 at the grocery store, $3.50 at the farm for raw milk, and $27.84 at Costco.
What are you all having this week?
Pullet eggs … they’ll get bigger. But they might still always all be in the same place. My Mom has 15 chickens, and every single day for the last six months she has collected exactly 13 eggs, all from the same nesting box. I can’t help but wonder if the chickens entertain themselves by running some sort of ‘survivor’-type reward challenge … the winner, and the accompanying chicken chosen by the winner get the day off! 🙂
My son is about 6 months behind yours … gee … can’t wait for this stage!!!! bleh.
Where and how did you get that magical box of goodness??
http://www.homegrowncollective.com so much fun stuff!
I thought my four year old son was harder than two year old son….they know the rules at four but resent that ‘you’ get to make them. Love the comment from your doctor. Wise person. Also, some of the ramped up competitiveness comes from, sigh, attending school. I spend my days with the preschoolers who have behavioral issues. It made my son’s behavior seem easy by comparison. Hang in there.
I couldn’t stop laughing at your post. I love the containers and all things organization but I lost it with the 4 year old stuff. I have a four year old at home (okay 4 1/2 if you ask him) and he is super competitive. He races the kid next store who is 7 years old and gets very upset when he looses (which is anytime that the kid doesn’t let him win). I sat there and had to say ready, set, go during their over 50 bike races. I texted my husband and said that I couldn’t take anymore so I needed him to step in. I did the whole conversation about how it is fun to play and not fun to always have to win…hoping it takes sometime soon but if this goes on for a few years, I might not make it through to the other side either! We were at My Gym and my little guy was chasing on of his friends and there was a little girl who decided that she wanted to be his only friend and kept pushing and hitting my son. He was upset that he couldn’t play with his friend and I told him that if someone was not being nice then we need to find something else to do. He was a mess and I am really not sure why friends can only have one other friend. We also had that “stuff” growing in our front landscaping…I made my husband get rid of it! YUCK!
I am pretty sure that thing in your garden is alien spawn. 🙂
Wait, I’m confused…. It’s possible to get out of Costco for under $50? I’ll have to try that some time.
My four-year-old usually actually wins games, which makes my competitive/emotional five-year-old CRAZY. She won’t play Memory with Lilah anymore because she knows she’s just going to lose. And then end up in Time Out for being such a poor loser.
Tonight we had olive chicken. For the rest of the week we’ll be having: breakfast dinner, chili con carne, cod with potatoes and veg, crock pot fajitas, burgers, and something else with bell peppers because I found some beautiful ones for a good price and bought a lot.
The first eggs your chickens give you “pullet eggs” will be small. By spring they should be up to a good size.
I thought the small eggs were for a few weeks? I have to wait unil spring for bigger ones? Sigh
Oh I was just thinking today Man, my 4 year old is REALLY competitve! He always thinks everything is a race and his poor little sister is ALWAYS the loser, even if she wasnt even playing along. Its so annoying. love your blog, keep up the good work:-)
YES! We’ll be eating and all the sudden Jack will say “I win, you guys are losers”! WTF?
My daughter is in the “I won stage”, she will be four in September… “Mommy can I walk in front of you.” “Sure baby.” Then at the door “I won, I won. You lose” I try to smile and play it of most of the time, but today I told her it was only because I let her get in front of me. One day I will get that Mother of the Year Trophy – not looking so good for this year 🙂
OMG, Jack does that too. He won’t let me walk up the stairs in front of him because that means he is losing? Calm the f down bro.
Yes, slime mold for sure. We have that in a few random spots in our grass in the backyard. I kept thinking one of the dogs was puking……….followed my dogs around for 2 days trying to figure out which one. It was freaking them out! I just spray mine out with the hose…..It doesn’t seem to come back in the same spot either. An online search said it is just from moisture and isn’t harmful. It is GROSS though……if you leave it, it will turn pink and then black! EWWWWWW
Mine is turning pink right now and is much bigger. So nasty!