Meal Plan Monday! Weekend Re-cap!

Well, I had high hopes of being able to show you guys some before and after pictures this morning. Sorry, no after. We emptied out both rooms completely, cleaned them from top to bottom, it was SO nice here so we were able to have the windows open and let some fresh air in, LOVE that! We also were able to get "most" of the furniture back into the rooms that it now belonged in. We made two trips to Home Depot this weekend, one trip to Costco (that was just for nourishment and berries for the wine tasting we went to Saturday), one trip to the diner Sunday morning (due to the fact that we could not see the stove or counter-tops) and one trip to the hardware store.

The boy was able to get my "new to me" credenza painted, it just needs a coat of poly tonight. He also was able to repaint my desk. Now tonight it will be more of me going through stuff to get rid of and recycle, as well as trying to put things back to where they need to be. I am hoping that having nine drawers in the credenza will help, but please keep your fingers crossed for me. I also am thinking a trip to Home Depot may be in order for some new lamps, but we will see once everything is all pulled together.

I am also considering doing this with my cedar chest that is currently in my office full of sweatshirts and sweatpants.

The challenge here would be where do I put my sweats and sweatpants. We already removed one piece that was in the guest room which had all of my long sleeved shirts in it, and in the spring and summer it usually holds my short sleeved shirts, so that is in the garage and now I need to figure out where to put those.One other idea would be to look on Craigslist for another cedar chest and re-do that one and use it for files and then move the one that is in my office into my bedroom. We talked about doing that anyway, but there is a bookshelf in there right now, so I would need to figure out what to do with that.

The guest room is pretty well situated. We now have a twin size bed and matching dresser, a bookshelf, chair and luggage rack with my Lilly Pulitzer picnic basket resting on it in the guest room. This room already has curtains, so now the challenge is to find a comforter, bed skirt and such that I want for this room. I may just go with a very basic white. We also switched the rugs which also worked out perfectly. I am so excited to get this project done I can't wait. Of course there are still little things that need to be looked at and reassessed and I am still struggling with places to put things and what to eliminate, but I know we can pull it all together.

SO, with all of this going on, this week, our meal plans are really easy and on the go. Yesterday on our way up to the boys parents, after stopping by my parents, we stopped at Super Target with our meal mission being quick, easy and little mess. I think we accomplished that! We had such a fabulous meal at the boys parents last night, after working pretty hard all day it was the perfect thing to end the weekend with, T-bone steaks on the grill (the boy and I split one and his mom and dad split one THEY WERE HUGE!) which were cooked PERFECTLY, baked potatoes, mushrooms and a nice salad! SO GOOD!

Saturday evening (working my way backwards here) we met up with friends for a quick appetizer, a little basketball and a very nice tall John Daly (one of my favorite summer drinks!) before heading to see their new house (all 3200 sq. feet of, do I have house envy? why yes I do!) which they close on later this week, it was gorgeous! Then off to a fabulous Cabernet tasting with a new wine group that we recently joined. So excited because it is such a fun group of people. We tried I believe 8 different Cab's and they were all wonderful, some I liked more than others, but for the most part they were all delicious! We also had some good treats as well, stuffed mushrooms, cheese with honey and jam, truffles and berries (our addition) and meats, cheeses, bread and dipping oil. It was a fantastic evening. We are hosting the next one on April 10th, which will be a blind tasting, SO excited!

Friday night was our big wine event. I think we had about 47 people and a TON of wine and food! It was SO much fun, so many new people as well as familiar faces, a fantastic location and a perfect evening. A lot of people who are regulars to the events said that they thought it was their favorite event so far. I would have to agree it really ranked up there for me as well. I didn't get to spend a ton of time talking to everyone, but I tried to make my rounds. I was absolutely exhausted as the night wore on, literally could hardly keep my eyes open, but Fridays are like that for me usually. Looking forward to our next event which will be a tour through Willamette Valley!

Onto this week, which thank goodness, at the moment we literally have hardly anything on the calendar, such a good thing when it comes to getting the house ready!
Monday
Plans - Work on the house
Dinner - Sandwiches or BLT's (it depends on whether or not I feel like making a mess and making bacon)

Tuesday
Plans - JLM Sub-committee meeting\dinner
Dinner - Taco bar. I am bringing dessert which I have done a couple of times now, cinnamon and sugar tortilla chips, apple pie filling warmed up with shredded cheddar cheese melted on top and scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream (if you can find it!). It is such a quick and easy dessert, I just love it!

Wednesday
Plans - Work on the house, prep chili for crock-pot tomorrow
Dinner - Pot Pie (I have not had one of these since my college days I think, at least from the frozen section!)

Thursday
Plans - Work on the house
Dinner - Chili and fixings

Friday - Maybe work on the house, but after the week we will have, I think we may need a night off with dinner and a movie, depends on how much we get done.
Dinner - out?

Saturday
Plans - Help friends paint at their new house
Dinner - Friends B & J for dinner (late celebration of her birthday, early celebration for mine!)

Sunday
Plans
Dinner - My parents to celebrate my birthday with my family