Meal Plan Jan 38 - Feb 2

Here you go. Let me know if you want any recipes!

Menu For Jan/ Feb

Wednesday, Jan 28

B- cereal banana

L- soup

D- orange chicken fingers, rice, coleslaw

Snacks –

Thursday, Jan 29

B- cereal banana

L- cheese/crackers leftovers

D- Asian Noodle Soup

Snacks -

Friday, Jan 30
B-cereal cottage cheese

L- Mac and Cheese sandwich

D- grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches
Snacks-

Saturday, Jan 31
B- waffles

L- pita pockets

D- mac and cheese
Snacks –

Sunday, Feb 1
B-veg fritatta

L- chicken noodle soup, crackers

D- dinner at mom’s

Snacks – samosas, summer rolls, lemon deviled eggs, feta cheese dip with bagel chips

Monday, Feb 2
B-cereal grapefruit

L- cheese and crackers soup

D- Stir Fry, rice noodles, asian salad

Snack -

Tuesday, Feb 3

B- cereal cottage cheese

L- sandwiches

D- pork and sweet potato stew, rice, salad
Snacks -

Wednesday, Feb 4

B-cereal grapefruit

L- ichiban leftovers

D- fish tacos, coleslaw, avocado, low fat sourcream, corn tortillas

Snacks -

Thursday, Feb 5*

B-cereal cottage cheese

L- Dora Noodles Leftovers

D- spaghetti, low fat Caesar salad, buns

Snacks

Friday, Feb 6
B-cereal oatmeal

L- tuna melts

D- Italian Couscous, chicken, salad

Snacks –

Saturday, Feb 7
B- english muffins

L- nachos

D- tuna burgers, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, buns, coleslaw, chips


Snack –
Sunday, Feb 8
B- Chocolate Chip Dutch Baby

L- nachos

D- Honey Chive Cod Fillets, roasted potatoes, green beans

Snack – No Fat Chocolate Cupcakes

Monday, Feb 9
B-cereal - pear

L- soup

D- lemon coconut fish, rice, asian coleslaw


Snacks – smoothies

Tuesday, Feb 10

B- cereal cottage Cheese

L- Dora Noodles soup

D- creamy chicken and veggies, buns, rice

Snack -

Dustin's point of view

Dustin: hmmmmm I'm hungry. . . I ate 2 minutes ago and now there is nothing left to eat. What should I eat? Oh look. . . here is a bag of colored sugar. . . that looks tasty. . . now if only I had something to eat it with. . . hmmmm . . .
Wait! Didn't Granny just give me some new playdough??? I LOVE playdough! It's kind of sticky, so that would work perfectly!
Oh wow! It's kind of hard to get the sugar onto the playdough while the sugar is in this bag. . . what can I spread the sugar out onto???? Perfect! Caroline is playing barbies so the barbie drawer is empty. I wouldn't want to get sugar in the drawer because mom will get mad, but she never said anything about turning the drawer over! That's great!!! This makes the perfect "table"! Now spread the sugar out. . . dip my playdough in it. . . and lick it like a lollipop!!! Perfect snack for a little boy.
Oh look! Here comes mom! Uh oh she doesn't look impressed. She is yelling at me! I don't know what her problem is. . . she has never told me that I can't eat the colored sugar with playdough. And doesn't she know that I turned the drawer over this time? What's her problem anyways? She needs to tell me these things before I do them instead of always getting mad at me!
Is she done yelling yet? I am getting hungry!

Fun Filled Family Weekend

As I wrote in my previous post, Otto's dad and his wife flew into town to come and visit. This past weekend we got to spend a lot of time with them. They slept over at our house on Saturday and Sunday evenings. It was great! The kids really enjoyed having Granny and Grandpa sleep over at our house. It is too bad that they live so far away because the children don't really get to see them that often (did I mention that we hadn't seen them in 3 years???).
On Friday night Otto and I went out for dinner with Bob, Kathy and Kevin (Otto's sister's husband). It was great! It was so nice to be able to see Bob and Kathy without having to control any children. Afterwards, Otto and I went to a movie. . . if you haven't seen Yes Man and you are looking for a really funny, light movie, go see it!
Saturday was a day full of cleaning. We were having Granny and Grandpa sleep-over and so the house had to be extra clean! It was worth it though because we had Otto's sister, Heather and her entire family (3 teenage boys) and Granny and Grandpa all over for a pizza party! We hung out, played Rock Band (I killed on the drums of course), played games and had TONS of food (would you expect anything less of me???). The kids had a BLAST with their cousins and it was really fun to have a party with Otto's family. We don't do it very often so it was a fun evening!
On Sunday, I was so busy I was barely home. We had a nice brunch and then church and Bob and Kathy went to her family party. I was in meetings all day and evening and so I didn't get home until after 10 pm, but it was nice to visit with Bob and Kathy that night. . . . a great way to relax!
Yesterday afternoon, Jason (Otto's brother) came and picked up Bob and Kathy to take them down to their house for a couple of days. We kept the kids home from school so that they could play with their grandparents. The girls and Dustin spent the whole morning teasing, and being teased by Grandpa and being read to by Granny. They all had a lot of fun (except when Grandpa tried to flush them down the toilet. . . they kind of freaked out a little. . . HILARIOUS!!).
So, there you go. . . I CAN be spontaneous. . . however. . . well. . . it takes WAY more energy to be that way. I think that I could sleep for about 3 days!
How was your weekend? I will have to go catch up on some blog reading I think!

Spontaneous

If you know me at all, you will see the word Spontaneous next to my name and laugh! Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT spontaneous!! However, I am really trying to be that way this weekend. You see, my Otto's dad and his wife decided to fly out to come see all of their family on a whim this weekend. They decided yesterday afternoon and arrived last night. Wow! I could NEVER do that!! I would be freaking out the whole time because of the lack of plans. . . wait. . . ok, I will be honest, I AM freaking out a little bit because I didn't have time to put plans in place.
As I am sitting here, trying to take deep breaths and type this post at the same time I am realizing that this will be good for me. I haven't had time to make a ton of plans, but I have been able to plan to spend time with Otto's dad and his wife. We really do like them (okay, Otto loves his dad) and we rarely get to see them and it has been about 3 years since we have seen them last. So, I have basically cancelled all of our previous plans so that we can have a fun, Comin-filled weekend!
I am excited to be doing something that is so spur of the moment, and I am a little anxious too because I won't have complete control over the plans (this is new for me), but I am soooooo excited that they decided to come and visit us and I know that we will have tons of fun with them!
Wish me luck. . . I plan on being spontaneous!

Don't it always seem to go. . . .

that you don't know what you've got 'til its gone. Yeah I know. Another quote from someone who is more eloquent than me. But seriously! Ok, so my dad and his friend own this hotel in Waterton. Yesterday I found out that it had burned down in the middle of the night. I was so shocked and saddened by it. This hotel was originally built in the 1920's and then there was a fire in 1933 and then it was rebuilt again. I loved that my dad owned this hotel. There are other hotels in Waterton that may be nicer to look at, but this one had history. . . and a FANTASTIC restaurant!
I loved going there with my family and staying overnight when there was a family wedding in Cardston, or having a family dinner there. Actually I was planning on going down there to have dinner when Otto and I went to visit Otto's brother next month, but I guess that it won't happen.
I don't know how the fire happened, and I don't know if there could have been anything that could have prevented it, but I do know this. . . I will miss that hotel. If they decide to rebuild the hotel, that will be nice, and I will be happy for my dad. I am still saddened by the loss of this hotel though because for some reason I have always felt a connection to old buildings. I don't know what it is, whether I love the history behind them, or the feeling of being somewhere that people have loved being for generations, or the old musky smell of old buildings, I just love them. I love their looks. I love their smells. I love their history. I love everything about them. I love being reminded that the world didn't start turning when I arrived, but that it existed before I was born and it will continue to exist after I am gone. It is a really humbling feeling and one that I think we all should remember every once in awhile.
So, I am sorry about the loss of this wonderful, loved building and I will be praying for my dad that everything can work out for him.

Just keep swimming

Because I have 5 kids the majority of movies that are in our house are Disney movies. In fact, I have become quite a fan of Disney movies and I usually HAVE to see them in theatres! So it will probably come as no surprise to you that my most favorite saying in the whole world comes from a Disney movie. In fact, it comes from the movie "Finding Nemo". Who knew that the movie would be so deep? (get it???)
Anyways the saying is this, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming."
Yep. . . that's it. I know that it doesn't sound inspirational, however I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have caught myself saying this phrase to myself when things just seem to pile up on me. It actually helps me focus and get through everything that is going on.
I had one of THOSE DAYS yesterday where everything just seemed to keep on piling up. I felt as though I wasn't going to be able to get everything done, and nothing was turning out right. Just when I felt as though I should throw up my hands and just go hide in my room, the phrase from Finding Nemo would pop in my head and I started saying it as I went about doing my various chores and activities.
I can't believe that I would love a saying from a movie so much and that I would quote it so often to my children, but whenever it feels as though life is piling up on you and you don't think you can go on. . . just keep swimming!

It's nice to know people

This morning I was getting ready to drive the kiddies to school (I slept in not them) and I got a phone call from a friend of mine that I hadn't talked to in quite a few months. Here is what the conversation went like:
Friend :"Hey Megan, does Otto drive on (insert road name here) to get to work?"
Me: "yes"
Friend: "Does he drive a white truck?"
Me (a little bit worried): "Yes. . .why?"
Friend: "Well, I think that I just passed him while I was driving to physio. . . does he have a cell phone on him?"
Me: "No, why?"
Friend: "Well, he is sitting on the side of the road with the hood of the truck open and it looks as though he is having car troubles. I didn't see him in time to stop, but I wanted to call you and make sure that you knew what was going on."
Me (now panicked and worried): "Thanks for letting me know! I am leaving right now!"
So I threw all of the kiddies into the car and drove out to go help Otto. Once I got there he was still there (he had left 1 1/2 hours before that time so he had been sitting there for over an hour)and I was able to talk to him. I guess that he had gotten a flat tire on his way to work, and it took him about 45 minutes to change it (on the side of a major road!!!) and once he was done he went to turn on the truck but the battery had died because he had had his hazard lights on. So, finally someone stopped and they were on their way to get a portable charger because this was a one way road and it was too dangerous to turn a car around on it.
I felt terrible that my husband had been sitting there for so long. I knew that he had wanted to get to work early today to get things done and he ended up actually being an hour late.
I am also so grateful that my friend DID think to call me and let me know and that there was someone nice enough to stop and help out my big guy! I just don't know what it would have been like for Otto if neither of those two things had happened.
Anyways, he got all charged up and headed off to work and everything is all good. I am very grateful that I know people who would go out of their way to help others!

Two weeks with the Comins

Wow! Thanks for the comments everyone! So, I figured since some of you had so many questions about my meal plan that I would post it today so you could see what two weeks of food looks like at our house. Now there are some things that you should know before you look at it.

1 - I am trying to lose weight so sometimes you will see two things beside each other. . . that means that the kids will eat what is written on the left hand side and I am eating what is on the right hand side.
2 - Lots of the dishes on here are vegetarian or can be made vegatarian really easily (Jackie you would like this) because I have cut a lot of fat out of our diets. All of the recipes I think are amazing!
3 - If you want me to send you a recipe just let me know and I can email you one really quickly. I keep all of my recipes on the computer so this is really easy to do.
4 - I have been asked (alot) about how can I keep food from going bad after two weeks. The answer is simple. When I am planning my meals I take into account whether they are in the first week or the second week. Based on this information I will usually include canned veggies, frozen veggies, or what I like to call "harty" veggies in the second week (These include cabbage, squash, Turnips, Tomatoes etc. and I will buy a bag of apples and oranges and keep half in the refrigerator so that the first half of the bag is out for the kids to munch on, but the ones in the fridge will keep longer so I usually put them out at the beginning of the second week) and the really fresh veggies (like bean sprouts, fresh herbs, lettuce, etc) in the first week.
5 - Because I have been told repeatedly that I am not on a diet, but undergoing a lifestyle change I have included desserts on Sunday and Monday nights. These are the nights when my family typically has desserts. I have been able to find some FANTASTIC desserts that are really low fat. They have been approved by my doctor. . . and she even has requested a copy of these recipes.
6 - I take into account my schedule. When I am writing down the dates I pull out my calendar and if there is a ton of things happening that night I will put an asterisk next to that date so that I know to include a quick meal to make that night or to do a crockpot meal. If Otto and I are going out on a date I will write down something for just the kids to eat. I even include when we are getting together with friends or other events that I would have to bring food to. . . I hate grocery shopping so it all gets done at once!
7 - I don't necessarily cook everything on the menu on the day that it is written. Sometimes I don't feel like cooking (like last night) and so I will switch around some of my meals. At least I know that I have all of the ingredients to make anything that is on this menu. I also post this menu so that my family can see it so that I don't get the daily . . . "What's for dinner?" questions that drive me crazy!!!
8 - This is what works for me. Hopefully it can help some of you, or give you ideas as to what would work well for you. If you are interested, I can post my grocery list tomorrow so that you can see what that looks like too (yes I do that on the computer too), just let me know.
9 - One last thing. . . if you are interested, I can post my menu every two weeks if some of you are looking for recipes or ideas. It doesn't take me long since I do keep all of my menus on the computer. Just let me know.

Enjoy!



Menu For Jan

Wednesday, Jan 14

B- cereal banana

L- soup

D- Tacos

Snacks –

Thursday, Jan 15

B- cereal banana

L- cheese/crackers leftovers

D- Low Fat Chicken Pot Pie, salad

Snacks -

Friday, Jan 16
B-cereal cottage cheese

L- Mac and Cheese sandwich

D- Phad Thai, Asian salad

Snacks-

Saturday, Jan 17
B- Scrambled egg tacos

L- pita pockets

D- veggie pizzas
Snacks –

Sunday, Jan 18
B-no fat banana muffins

L- chicken noodle soup, crackers

D- coconut chicken curry, rice, asian coleslaw

Snacks – Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Bites

Monday, Jan 19*
B-cereal grapefruit

L- cheese and crackers soup

D- taco salad, lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado, Catalina, tortilla chips, cheese

Snacks-Lemon Sponge Pudding

Tuesday, Jan 20

B- cereal cottage cheese

L- sandwiches

D- veg lasagne, low fat Caesar salad, buns
Snacks -

Wednesday, Jan 21

B-cereal grapefruit

L- ichiban leftovers

D- crispy fish tacos, cabbage, tomatoes, dressing, sour cream, salsa

Snacks -

Thursday, Jan 22

B-cereal cottage cheese

L- Dora Noodles Leftovers

D- Hawaiian Haystacks

Snacks

Friday, Jan 23
B-cereal oatmeal

L- tuna melts

D- Fish and Chips, coleslaw

Snacks –

Saturday, Jan 24*
B- low fat baked donuts

L- cheese quesadillas

D- Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Snack – Grilled Eggplant dip with pitas

Sunday, Jan 25*
B- pancakes

L- nachos

D- Curried Sweet Potato and Lentil Stew, Buns

Snack – Pumpkin Cake

Monday, Jan 26*
B-cereal - pear

L- soup

D- Crockpot Pineapple Chicken, brussel sprouts, rice


Snacks –Summer House Bread

Tuesday, Jan 27

B- cereal cottage Cheese

L- Dora Noodles soup

D- Orange Chicken Fingers, rice, mixed veggies

Snack -

Tooting my own horn

So please forgive me if I toot my own horn for a minute here. I just feel so happy. You see I have always been a big fan of meal planning. I spend about 2 hours twice a month planning my meals for the following two weeks. I then write out a menu (that I mostly stick to) and then comes the fun part. . . I write out a grocery list that is divided into categories according to the layout of my favorite (and the cheapest) grocery store. Beside each item on my list I estimate how much it is going to cost me and then I add up all of the items in a category and I write the total for the category beside its title. After that I add up the sum of all of the categories and I have the total of what my grocery bill will be.
Now the store that I love to shop at carries just about everything from clothes, to baby supplies and cleaning supplies to automobile parts and toys. So my grocery bill always includes just about any item I may need to buy over the two weeks including birthday presents and cleaning supplies and clothes.
Ok, so yesterday I decided to do a little experiment and divide my total by the number of days (14) that I need the groceries for and then divide that by the number of people in my household (7). (Lahni are you proud yet?) By doing this I was able to come up with the fact that it cost me $6/person per day to run my household for the next two weeks.
I am THRILLED!!! It just gives me such a feeling of accomplishment when I realize that by planning everything out I am able to save so much money. I feel great about that! I LOVE to save money and this has always been something that I have done. . . not because I knew how much money that it would save me, but because I love to feel organized and I hate to not know what I am going to be making for dinner. It always feels great to know that I don't have to go back to the grocery store for 2 weeks. . . . I mean how awesome is that????
So, thanks for letting me toot my own horn today. . . I think that I am just about all parrumphed out now!

Just like a good bra!

I have never realized how motivating good support could be. You see we all know how support is important in a bra. . . but how about in real life? I have never been the type of person to say to someone. . . hey let's try this out together. . . I usually try it myself and then either encourage or discourage others to try it out for themselves.
Well, the saying does go "No man is an island" and that is true I think. I have recently written down my New Year's Resolutions on this blog, and what surprised me was how my mom and sisters had a similar one to me. So we decided to create a group and work on our goal together. Yesterday I was feeling a bit discouraged by my goal and then I was able to read how my mom and sisters were working on their goal and it gave me the reassurance and strength that I needed to stick to it. Some of us are doing better than others, and our methods of accomplishing our goal are different because all of our circumstances are different. However, being able to read that my mom and sisters are all there working on the same thing as I am has really made me feel great!
So, here's hoping that the results are great. . . kind of like when I wear a good bra!

I haven't got much to say

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening lately. We are all doing well. Our illnesses are starting to go away and life seems to be getting back to normal. I hope that all of you are doing great too. . . . I guess I will write more at another time when something happens, or I feel I have something to say.

I know you read this

I know you read this Grandma and Grandpa so this one's for you. Ummmm. . . how were you able to leave without even saying goodbye? I know that I could have picked up the phone or stopped by, but I have been sick. I hope that I didn't get you guys sick at all. Selling the farm was okay, especially because it meant that I got to see you two for 3 days!! Next time you come home though can you please stay a little bit longer??? I sure do miss you!
I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you before you left. I hope that you made it to the airport okay and that your flights were okay. I sure hope that you are alive and well, and I assume that you are or I really hope that I would have heard something by now!
Anyways, I love you and hopefully will talk to you soon!
Thanks for reading,
Love
Megan

A Little Under the Weather

Have you ever felt guilty for being sick? I am totally feeling like that right now. We have had this strange bug going around our house and it has now "infected" more than half of us. This isn't the flu, but it is a different sort of bug. It makes you exhausted, have severe headaches, an eye infection, sinus infection, and ear infection. You feel terrible.
Here's the thing. I seem to have caught it. Now I don't know if any of you are like me, but I just don't classify myself as being sick unless I am throwing up. I am not throwing up, but I feel terrible, and I have been for quite a few days now. However, I am feeling guilty because I am kind of wondering if I may be faking it a bit to get out of doing things. Now, I know that this is silly, however I am not throwing up so I just keep on asking myself what is wrong because I can't seem to do anything!!!
I don't know. . . maybe this is just me feeling guilty because I can't seem to get anything done and I am starting to feel overwhelmed. . . . I think that I will mull this over while I go back to my bed for another nap.

Who knew?

Well, I have about 5 minutes before my grandparents will be here for dinner, so I thought I would use them to write a little somethin' somethin! I AM EXHAUSTED!!! Who knew that the first Sunday in the year would be such a hectic day???? Maybe I haven't ever had such a large calling before, or maybe it was the fact that I was also filling in for 2 other people today (and had to turn down the opportunity to fill in for another 2 more because I just couldn't do it!), or maybe it was the fact that I stayed up so late last night! Nah! I don't believe it was that last one! I have been wondering if the Sabbath day truly is the day of rest that it is supposed to be. Who knows? Maybe it will get less hectic each Sunday. . . here's hoping!

What's yours like?

So its that time of year again when we all set goals that we may (or may not) accomplish during the year. I am huge on goal setting! I think that I got this from my mom. She always taught me to have goals, and so I have never gone a year without something to work towards. So. . . here are my goals for 2009:

1 - Lose the rest of my weight to get down to my goal weight (25 lbs down and 25 more to go!!)

2 - Create another form of savings so that my eggs aren't all in one basket! (It makes me nervous to have all of my money in one place!)

3 - Study the Doctrine and Covenants. This may sound easy, but I am in the Primary Presidency in our ward so I don't get to attend Sunday School or Relief Society, so I will have to do this all on my own. I am excited to do this because I love learning more about church history and about Joseph Smith!

4 - Spend 1 hour every day tidying up the house! I HATE to tidy and I would much rather clean, but this needs to be done more and who knows. . . maybe next year I can move onto cleaning more!!!

So there you have it! My 4 goals for 2009. We'll see how well I do, but the first step is to write them down right???
So, just curious. . . what are your goals like for this new year???