Birthday Party and Busy Weekend

 Happy Monday, my friends!

It has been a very busy weekend. Let me back up to Friday...

Friday morning I had errands to run, so I got those knocked out of the way. In the afternoon my friend's two daughters came over to spend the afternoon and evening while she worked.

It worked out pretty well for them to come over because I had to bake birthday cakes for both of them, and this way they could help and decide how they wanted them decorated.

Eszter turned 12 on December 23rd and Ruth will be 7 on January 26th. They decided to have a combined birthday party between the girl's birthdays. Eszter wanted an E-shaped Minecraft themed cake, and Ruth wanted an R-shaped Mini Brands themed cake. 

Both girls wanted chocolate, and my friend had a nifty Pampered Chef cake pan  (Click here to see it!) that makes letters and numbers by using inserts to help shape the cake. The girls got to help with the designs and both were pleased with the results.

Ruth's Mini Brands Cake

Eszter's Minecraft Cake

While the girls were here we also helped make up 9 double batches of my friend's secret hot chocolate mix (27 quarts worth!). It was a busy afternoon and evening!

Saturday I had several things to get done, so while I was working throughout the day Alysia worked on school. She is ALMOST caught back up. We will hopefully finish with catch-up in a day or two.

In the evening we went to Eszter and Ruth's party at Pizza Ranch in Gladstone. My friend had rented the party room there, and ended up with a fairly large crowd. The girls enjoyed their party. After the party 10 girls were going to go home with them to have a sleepover. My friend is brave. LOL!

Ruth and Eszter Enjoyed Their Cakes (Even If Ruth WAS Tired of Getting Her Picture Taken!)

After we got home I sat down late and did our taxes, balanced my checkbook, paid bills and put together a menu plan, focusing on things we already had on hand. I just supplemented it with fresh items, milk, bread, etc. I thankfully have a freezer full of meat right now, so that helps.

I pulled a turkey out of the freezer a bit ago. I bought an extra one when they were on sale at Thanksgiving. I will be cooking it mid-week. We'll eat it as a meal, then use some of it for other recipes. The rest of it will be frozen for future use and the stock will be canned up.

I have gotten somewhat better at cooking things in smaller portions so that not much goes to waste. Aaron takes leftovers for dinners at work every day, so we hardly ever throw anything away. I also have gotten good at freezing things for future use. For instance...I baked extra rolls the last few times I have made them fresh. Those went into the freezer, and that is what we will use this week when I want rolls. If there is extra roast beef it will be frozen for other recipes. We got a dehydrator recently, so if I have extra onions, celery, etc. I can dry them. Our goal is little to no waste, and we're making steady progress towards that goal.

Here is my menu plan for this week:

Monday:
L: Beef and Bean Burritos, Chips and Homemade Salsa
D: BLTs

Tuesday:
L: Ramen Bowl with Hardboiled Eggs
D: Pesto Pasta

Wednesday:
L: Steak Soup, Biscuit Sticks
D: Pork Chops, Raclette, Green Beans, Bird's Nest Pudding

Thursday:
L: Date Lunch with Husband
D: Potato, Sausage and Kraut Skillet

Friday:
L: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Rolls
D: Jalapeno Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts on a bed of Mexican Rice

Saturday: 
L: Turkey Tetrazzini
D: Roast Beef, Roasted Carrots, Parsley Potatoes

Sunday:
L: Leftovers
D: Turkey Pot Pie

Sunday I got up at 5:30 a.m. to pick Aaron up from work as I had kept the car the night before to go to the birthday party. I was very tired as I hadn't slept well, and when we got home I laid back down. I forgot to reset my alarm, and since I hadn't slept more than an hour or so prior, I overslept. I felt bad because I woke up shortly after church started. I don't like missing church, and I kicked myself for not setting my alarm. I was looking forward to getting back since I hadn't been there the previous couple weeks because I was sick. 😔

In the afternoon I went and got my nails done. They were horribly overdue. They had grown out so long I could barely get my contacts out of my eyes without poking them. I stopped by O'Reilly's to get a headlight bulb as I found out this morning that it was burned out on my way to pick up Aaron. I also needed to change the battery in my key fob so I picked that up, too.

When I got home I decided to save Aaron the hassle of changing the lightbulb by doing it myself. I mean, that's an easy job, right? Well...technically it is. IF you have the right bulb. But I didn't. So I had to go back to O'Reilly's. Only to get home and realize I had looked at the bulb for the high beams...which were just fine. And I still didn't have the right bulb for the low beams, which is what I needed to change. 🤦 By that time it was time for Aaron to get up, so he rode with me back to O'Reilly's for the third time, and took pity on me and went in and did the exchange.

We got back home, and I was determined I was going to finish the project, since now I was nursing a vendetta. I did succeed, but I decided next time I'm leaving it to Aaron. I was just trying to help him out since he is in the middle of his work week, but no matter how simple the job, my car repairing is done for now. LOL.

I May Be A Lady But I'm Not Scared of Getting My Hands Dirty

In the evening I focused on relaxing a bit and doing some sit down planning while watching some TV. 

Today I am going to go see a friend for a minute, and then I'm going to pick up groceries. I have some laundry and cleaning to do and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day working on school with Alysia. She has some stuff to do to continue with catch up this morning while I'm busy.

Well...that's it for now. Talk to you soon!