Menu Schmenu

Menu planning is driving me crazy. I want to do it, but it just slips away from me. Then I spend half of my day each day trying to figure out dinner. It sucks. So here is this weeks plan and maybe I will actually stick to it! And I am listing here the foods that I know the boys will eat for dinner so I can, maybe, plan them a menu. *sigh*


Tuesday - Candied Chicken (from the freezer) with rice and broccoli
Wednesday- Pot Roast with carrots, potatoes and onions (maybe in the slow cooker) and fresh bread from the bread machine.
Thursday - Pizza night?
Friday - Pork chop and hash brown casserole from freezer.  Experimental recipe so we will see if it is any good. If it sucks too bad it's grilled cheese and soup night!
Saturday - Leftovers/ Fend for yourself
Sunday - Mexican casserole/ Navajo taco bake (will link the recipe if I can find it)



Some baking I want to get done this week:

BrownSugar Cinnamon Muffins
Waffles
Several breads in the bread machine. No ideas what kind yet.
COOKIES!!


Foods the boys will eat for dinner:
Frozen cheese pizza
cheese ravioli, no sauce
green peas
corn on the cob
pasta with cheese
chicken nuggets
mac & cheese
nutella or pb&j sandwiches
grilled cheese
fruit (apple slices, pineapple)
ramen noodles
waffles
pancakes
oatmeal
grits


For more, and probably much better planned, menus, head over to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie!

Explaining the Unexplainable

Braeden 2010 

 Beautiful. Funny. Silly. Smart. Loving. Cuddly. Strong. .... Autistic. 

It's part of who he is. Just one part. One part that impacts every other part of his life. When you look at him.... you don't see it. When you talk to him, interact with him, you start to wonder. You may feel a little uncomfortable when he runs up to you and hugs you without even knowing who you are. When he gets right in your face to talk to you. When you can't understand what he is trying to tell you. When he stutters and trips over his words. And then struggles to find the right word that is in his little brain and just won't come out. When he spends the time you are at my home visiting hiding in his room or lining up his cars because he just had a stressful day and can't deal with any more. When he gets angry and shouts and throws toys because his frustration level is just too high and he has no way to release it. When he asks to jump because he needs to be quiet. When he cries over something that would make another child laugh. When he tries to interact with your child and gets frustrated when they don't do what he wants them to. When he tells you what You should be saying or doing because in his mind... that's the way it should be. When you realize that at 6 years old... we still have problems with potty training. When he won't eat what you fixed him for lunch because it has sauce on it. Or the food is touching. Or he doesn't like food that is too hot. Or too cold. Or too.... anything. When he begins to twirl in the grocery store. Or pretends to be a cat in the middle of Wally World... complete with rubbing on your legs and meowing. When he gets scared of the loud intercom, the loud siren or the loud insects. When he cries because the music is too loud. When he throws his toys around the room and breaks them because he can't decide what to play with. Or because they are too bright. Or too noisy. Or for some reason that I just can't figure out. When you see me on Facebook at 3 am because he is still awake and we are worried about leaving him up without supervision but nothing is working to get him to just.... go to sleep. When he runs away from me in a parking lot. In my yard. At the store. In the library. When he screams because he just can't figure out what else to do.

When you look at him, you can't really tell that he is autistic. That he has autism. That he has a disability that will be with him for the rest of his life. And so you think maybe he is just.... spoiled. Or being naughty. Or maybe he is retarded. His parents just need to spank him, teach him right from wrong, control him.... You think his behavior is a choice on his part. But it's not. Or, to be honest, not always. He is still a little boys and sometimes he has typical little boy issues. But most of the time.... he can't control the emotions. He can't stop the behavior. He doesn't understand that he is acting in a socially unacceptable way. 

But he sees the way you look at him. He feels the stares. He hears the whispers. He hears you when you walk up to his parents and say "Why don't you control that little boy? He needs a good spanking!". He hears and he knows but he doesn't know why. And we are left to try to explain the unexplainable. 

Autism is cruel. Humanity has the ability to be crueler. 

Autism is not the tradgedy. Ignorance is the tradgedy. 

PLEASE. Please. Please. If you see a child misbehaving, try not to stare. Try not to be judgmental. You don't know what the parents are going through. You don't know why the child is behaving the way he is. 

PLEASE help to raise awareness of autism. 1 in 110 children is diagnosed with autism. Boys are 4 times more likely to be diagnosed than girls. These numbers are growing every day. Autism is not curable. But it is treatable. Therapy can help. Understanding can help. 

My son is very special. He is an incredible little boy. One day, I expect to watch him graduate from high school. If he chooses, I expect to see him graduate college. I hope one day that he will live in his own home. I hope he is able to find a partner in this life, to love him and understand him.

Until then.... I'm here. 

Menu Planning Around Chaos

It's going to be a weird week. Jenna is out of town for the whole week, gone to her boyfriend's basic training graduation. Braeden has therapy on Wednesday. They are doing social therapy with him so we will be spending time at the park and then eating with a group of children. And Malachai has a beginning evaluation at the School of Psychology on Wednesday afternoon. The rest of my week will probably be just as hectic and crazy.

Along with the crazy scheduling, cooking for one less adult makes my menu wonky. I am just not used to cooking for just me and Steven. The boys are here, of course, but they eat different meals. Due to Braeden's food issues, I usually feed them things like pizza, chicken nuggets and sandwiches which I know they will eat. I hate wasting food. The food battles are just not worth the hassle, either.

Also, Steven is working closing shifts all week long. Which means he goes in to work at noon and doesn't get home until around midnight to one am. I hate cooking and eating by myself. And whatever I cook has to be easily reheated for S when he gets off work. Challenging.

So here are the meals I will be trying to make this week in no particular order:


~Leftovers
~Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole
~Red Beans and Rice with Ham 
~Potato Kielbasa Skillet made with Italian Sausage
~Ravioli Casserole
~Probably Taco Bell one night (LOL)
~Steven's choice on Sunday when he is off work.


So, that's it. What's on yoru menu this week? And how does your weekly schedule impact your menu?

Linked up with tons of other menus at Organizing Junkie!

Menu Planning .... Wednesday? And the 4th. And stuff.

Yeah yeah. The 4th of July. Big whoopie. See, the thing is..... Braeden has anxiety in large crowds. And he hates loud noises. And Malachai is uber shy. So...... we didn't do anything. No fireworks, no picnics at the park with tons of people, no nothin baby. We stayed home and vegged out and watched tv. theend. LOL

I am currently making an effort to organize my life and streamline crap so I can get back to blogging regularly. It's a dream of mine. I think it MIGHT happen! Shocking, I know.

Right now, I am going to post my menu plan for the rest of this week. In hopes that that will help me stick to it. Let's see how that goes, shall we?

Wednesday: Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole
Thursday: Black beans (or red beans) with rice and leftover smoked pork loin
Friday: Some sort of something made with leftover smoked beef brisket.... any thoughts?
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner (I need to make a huge batch of waffles and pancakes for freezing)
Sunday: Steven's choice

Jenna is headed up to her boyfriend's parents' house on Friday or Saturday. They will be leaving for Missouri on Tuesday and will be gone until the 15th. Her boyfriend is graduating from Basic Training! (Army) We are proud of him! And Jenna can't wait to see him since he has been gone all this time and will be leaving for his other school/ training in California straight from Basic.

I am a nervous wreck about Braeden's school this coming year. That will be a whole separate post soon.

Anyway, off to try to get little boys to go to sleep. More soon!

PS: I linked up to the fab blog Organizing Junkie for her Menu Plan Monday! If you are looking for any inspiration, head over there!

Obviously, I suck....

I know. I suck. Probably all of my loyal followers have moved on. That's okay. Things have just been crazy. Anyone following me on Facebook knows that. LOL Anyway, it is going to take me a bit to get caught up here and back on track.

One of the things that I am going to be attempting to do is post more recipes. I have a long list of recipes I want to try out and plan to post about over the next little bit. Who knows whether my plans will work out!

Anyway. I am alive. I have NOT lost any weight. I have NOT been going to the Y or exercising. I am looking at the possibility of my youngest having developmental issues as well.  My daughter graduated high school but is still here. Much more has happened. I am stressed out, my hair is going so gray I may just give up on the dye job and I was diagnosed with PCOS and am growing a beard. Maybe I will just be the bearded fat lady from now on!

Off to read blogs.....

A New Me?

The New Year brought with it a determination to get my life back on track. We joined the local YMCA and I am hoping to get my weight under some control. They have a 12 week to a new you type of program that I signed up for. Basically, it is a way to get yourself used to working out on a regular basis. The first thing we did was weigh me, measure me and look at my BMI. Talk about depressing.

I am at my heaviest weight ever.... including my weights through three pregnancies. *sigh* It's no wonder I have high blood pressure! So. I weigh 228 pounds at 5 foot 5 inches. I am obese. The little machine that the Y uses told me that I am carrying 39 lbs of excess body fat and that my ideal weight is between 166 and 189 lbs. Which I can deal with, cause every other scale I have looked at shows me needing to get down to like 130 lbs.

Anyway. I started working out and have done 3 days so far (since Tuesday). Although 30 minutes on a treadmill is not much of a workout. But, my legs are sure feeling it. I am going to try to ease into this and not push myself too hard. I want to keep it up, not burn out. Ideally, I will lose a pound or two a week once I really get into this. But for now, if I can get off that treadmill and not be winded or have burning thighs I will be happy.

I am planning to update my progress here weekly. I hope that means I will HAVE something to report. Wish me luck.