Another busy week is in the books, with lots of projects completed...and we even had a bit of time for some fun!
First off...my favorite picture of the week! I love my beautiful girls, and we had a great time with friend Ruth!
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| Alysia, Ruth and Kayla at the Kansas City Zoo |
More to follow on our zoo trip in a bit.
First let's back up to last week.
Last week Aaron was mowing and the mower threw a rock. Unfortunately, the rock hit our back screen door and shattered the glass. And since the glass was an integrated part of the frame, I couldn't just pull out a pane and replace it. We ended up having to buy a whole new screen door...and since the front door has needed a screen door replacement since 2020, we just went ahead and bought two. Aaron spent a couple hours working on it, but we have a new screen door on the back of the house. We will put the new one on this upcoming week on Aaron's next set of days off.
On my to-do list I wanted to make a couple of window screen frames and get screens in a couple of windows that haven't had screens in them since I bought the house. I also had two screens that needed replaced. On Sunday after church and a potluck lunch I went to Home Depot and bought supplies, and settled in to work on those few windows. However, once they were done, the rest of the screens in the house looked a bit shabby next to the bright pretty new ones.
So of course...my OCD wasn't going to let me rest as long as it looked that way. I ended up purchasing more supplies and replaced every window screen in my house with the exception of two in the kitchen that still looked practically brand new. It's amazing how such a small thing can make a house look so much better!
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| Replacing Window Screens |
Since we had planned to take this week off school we had a chance to try to get a lot done. After the screen project was finished I wanted to try to finish the downstairs projects that needed finished. I wanted to paint one of the bathroom walls as an accent wall. Three walls are gray, and now we have a pink accent wall. I think it turned out well!
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| Rose-themed Bathroom with Pink Accent Wall |
After I got the wall painted Aaron replaced the sink faucet, and short of replacing a piece of trim (after a trip to Home Depot), the bathroom is finished.
We spent one day planting the garden (and getting a sunburn). We planted green beans, cucumbers, wasabi radishes, tomatoes, jalapeno and bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash, basil, parsley and flowers.
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| Garden Planting |
Once that was done the girls and I deep-cleaned the kitchen. That involved going through every cabinet, organizing, washing, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, washing curtains, etc. With the exception of the basement and garage (both of which aren't bad and shouldn't take more than a few minutes each), our house has been completely deep-cleaned! Yahoo!
I stayed up late Wednesday night, and I finished my Mom's Christmas present. I am going to try to do a lot of homemade stuff this year. I am super excited to be making some progress on it so early on.
On Thursday evening we picked up our friend, Ruth. She was going to stay Thursday night with us and go with us to the zoo on Friday. After we picked her up we decided we were going to try a new restaurant that I had heard about in the Martin City (Kansas City) area. We ended up going to RC's Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner, and it was fantastic. They have great fried chicken and tenderloins. And the best part...kids 10 and under eat for $2.50 with adult entree purchase!
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| The girls at RC's Restaurant - Martin City, MO |
That evening we didn't make dinner since we were all still full, but we did make a batch of Sweetheart Cookies from the Watkins Woolen Mill State Park and State Historic Site cookbook. When I worked there I made thousands of them (literally), and they are one of my favorite cookies. I will share the recipe for them soon.
On Friday I had a dermatologist appointment in the morning and then we loaded up and headed to the Kansas City Zoo. They were calling for rain in the afternoon, so we decided we were going to do the Australia loop and take our time. We rode the train for two complete loops, and the carousel once. We went through the big cat loop, and then spent time in the snake house and discovery barn. After that we ended our day by spending quite a bit of time petting the stingrays and watching the penguins.
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| The Girls Looking At An Orangatang |
Thanks to our friend (Rebekah...thank you for the Christmas present!) we have a Friends of the Zoo Membership pass, which gets us into the zoo as well as rides, discounts, etc. With zoo cups with cheap refills and snacks we brought with us, we spent the whole day at the zoo and spent less than $20. I am excited about being able to go more often in the future. We are going to plan another trip back soon so we can cover Africa.
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| Riding the Train |
In the past, we have always tried to cover the whole zoo in a day, and you have to run the whole time. Since we can now go anytime we want we can go at a leisurely place and really enjoy ourselves, and not feel like we have to see everything every time.
After we left the zoo, everyone was hungry. We stopped at a place on 40 Hwy in Independence. There was a place with an interesting fusion of cuisines, and Aaron wanted to try it. It is called Fuegos BBQ Mexican Cocina. It was interesting, and they had either Mexican dishes, BBQ dishes, or dishes that contained a mixture of both. Their brisket sandwich is what I got it, and it was phenomenal. It's not a big place, or fancy by any stretch of the imagination. But we will definitely go back!
When we got home we got the mail, and in is was a book that my friend John sent the girls. We met John for lunch a couple of weeks ago and listening to the girls talk about their adventures reminded him of one of his favorite books when he was a child. He searched out a copy of it, and sent it to them, and they were so excited. It is called Cubby in Wonderland and it is a story of a mama bear and her cub that explore Yellowstone National Park, and it is so cute. They had to start it immediately, and we are already seven chapters in. We (as a whole family listening to it) are enjoying it immensely! Thank you, John! What a special present. They girls (and I) will cherish it.
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| The Girls and Their Book "Cubby in Wonderland" |
Last night I finished my menu plan which was almost complete and made a grocery list. We decided at 9:30 p.m. that we were going to go do our grocery shopping and get it out of the way. I like going to the store when it is late and mostly quiet.
Today we are mostly chilling while I visit with you all. I still have projects to complete and things to do, but I am super tired after such a busy week. I'm trying to decide if I will tackle anything else this weekend or not.
This week's menu plan is as follows:
Tonight: Dinner - Tomahawk chicken legs, potatoes, corn
Sunday: Lunch - Ranch macaroni and cheese
Dinner - Leftovers
Monday: Lunch - Cereal
Dinner - Spaghetti red, bread and butter
Tuesday: Lunch - Salad
Dinner - Honey glazed salmon, veggies and rice
Wednesday: Lunch - Tuna salad, chips
Dinner - Grill out (burgers/brats, pasta salad, chips
Thursday: Lunch - Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Dinner - Sausage and kraut
Friday: Lunch - Nachos
Dinner - In Nevada (drop Kayla off)
Saturday: Lunch - Eat out
Dinner - Egg sandwiches
Sunday: Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner - In Nevada (pick Kayla up)
Well friends...that's it for now. I hope you have a great weekend. We will be returning to school and normal life on Monday, while preparing for Kayla to go and visit her mom for the weekend.
I'm going to post an update on my to-do list here in a couple of days. I am planning to post it to keep myself accountable for actually getting things accomplished.
Talk to you all soon!
Amanda
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