Week 1 of the Great Meal Plan - it's a go!

This whole meal planning project has been enormous. I know that when it's all finished I will be a much, much happier person. Until that day (when my originals of everything are all printed out and sorted in a three ring binder), I will be a nutcase. I sat down on Thursday last week, my one day of sanity left between moving into/setting up my new classroom and the official back-to-work date set by my school district, to finish my weekly menus. I had already painstakingly typed up my own versions of recipes found in cookbooks along with the necessary ingredients for my weekly shopping lists for weeks 2, 4, and 1. Why that order? I have no idea. But they were finished and I was ready to type up weeks 3, 5, and 6.

Or so I thought.

My laptop gobbled up my recipes for Week 1 AND Week 4, particularly upsetting because Week 1 included, among no-brainer recipes for spaghetti and hamburgers, a detailed recipe for delicious Pulled Pork and a really long recipe with instructions for making pizza dough!

I was in a tizzy, to say the least. So I did what any logical girl would do. I started over. Now, I have, for the moment, skipped the recipes I know by heart. I will add them back later. But it was imperative that I get my grocery list together so that I could shop on Sunday.  The result was more than incredible.

I made a chart for my recipes that included several columns. One for each of the 3 stores near my home (so I can put aisle numbers in later - helpful when asking my hubby to run to the store for me), one for checking off when I actually have the item in my house at the moment (helpful in not having hubby upset that I bought things we already have), one for when I've put it in my cart at the store, and another for the Sale Price/Location when I have the time to check on those things beforehand. Today, I did not. But I did all of the above today before I ventured out to the store.

Since I had already determined my ingredients list, all that I needed to do was alphabetize and put them into my chart.  On my chart, I left room for a few extra items that we need around the house.

Following the sorting, I printed my list and went to the kitchen to check on what we already have. From my list of 23 ingredients, I only needed to buy 8. EIGHT!!! The hubster and I added 8 more before I left. I highlighted the 8 original items and their blanks so I'd be sure to check them off when I went. Highlighting gave me greater focus.

While there, I cut down greatly on impulse buys and focused instead on items on the list or items that would easily supplement our planned meals. I picked up some Capri Suns for our lunches this week and some peaches for our snacks. This means we're healthier and hopefully happier.

I also managed to cut down our grocery bill from $125 to $67 by buying the items I needed that were on sale instead of buying items just because they were on sale. Buying items just because they were on sale in the past led the V household to throw away items that weren't actually used.

I still haven't told you the BEST part, though! My actual in-store time was 30 minute. That includes having the butcher cut out the bone in my pork shoulder, the wait as the cashier rang up my items, and asking the customer service clerk about whether or not they have a store map/list of items by aisle (I was at Tom Thumb today - they don't have these at my store anymore)!

I am so happy knowing that now I have an entire week's worth of meals ready to go and can't wait to see how much easier my year is going to be now that I have a plan.

Happy eating, everybody!

Meal Planning, Phases 1 and 2 done!

Last (school) year, I didn't eat well. Getting married to a fast-food and TV dinner man kind of messed with my nightly routine of eating something that took a little longer to prepare. In addition, we moved further away from work leaving me exhausted at the end of the day, unwilling (most nights) to venture out to our neighborhood Tom Thumb. Also, being underfed or nourished left me too tired to properly deal with the challenges of teaching a more difficult group of teenagers than the ones by whom I was previously blessed AND it made me crankier than I like being. (By a show of hands, who, honestly, likes being cranky? Not me! Seriously!)
I had to take action. I am a firm believer that if you have a problem you aren't willing to go about solving or at least make an effort toward solving, you revoke your right to complain about it. So I decided that this summer, I'd come up with a 6 week meal plan that would rotate throughout the semester (maybe even the year) so we wouldn't get bored, we'd always be fed, and I'd have only one trip to the grocery store per week, making all of my necessary purchases at one time so I'd be ready to go Monday through Friday!

I broke my project into three distinct phases. Phase One included identifying all of our favorite recipes, asking friends for other recommendations, and typing up the titles of the recipes along with the ingredients I'd need to have on hand.  This was necessary as Phase Two involved comparing recipes for similar, perishable ingredients, matching them up and sorting them into weeks, determining how many times we can get leftovers out of each, and putting them into a sort of calendar. That calendar is below.

Now that the first two phases are complete, I'm onto Phase 3: Recipes and Shopping Lists by Week!

I am in the process of typing up all of the recipes I've collected tweaking them to fit our family of two, and adding the grocery lists beneath all of the recipes. Each recipe gets its own page in the file as does the grocery list. I'll be saving an additional, editable grocery list file which will include columns for where I should get it, extra spaces for other things we need (toothpaste, trash bags, popcorn) and, of course, the ability to cross through it for a week if I'm all set on items.

If I find that I have time or am exceptionally bored in my final days before I go back to school (yeah, right!), I'll make a master list of items I can get for all five weeks that won't go bad.

I know I didn't really leave room for us going out or anything fun. It doesn't happen a ton during the school year according to the way we've been doing things. I'm hoping that it will change this year with the new system and other changes I'm trying to make in my life. But in the event of something special going on or our date night happening (we don't have one set night, especially during high school football season when games are often on Thursday nights), we will not eat the leftovers that night. Maybe they'll be on my much simpler, soon-to-come lunch calendar instead!

Finally, I'd like to say that I am totally inspired by my friends who are going natural and making so many things on their own. I am hoping that once I get into a rhythm of dinner-making, I'll be able to do fantastic, healthier things like make my own jars of diced tomatoes. Until then, I am going to be proud of my accomplishment in planning for five weeks at a time. It has taken a lot of out of me and tested my sanity at times but I think that the rewards will far outweigh the frustrations and the result will be a healthier, happier me (and Mr. V)!

Sometimes. . . sometimes I think he doesn't understand me

Mr. V and I had a lovely date night tonight. We went to dinner at In-N-Out and then to see Hoodwinked, Too in 3D at the Plano dollar theater. On our way home, I used my cell phone to check in on FB and see what was up.

Well, amid congratulations for my brother's job offer (so proud, by the way) and my former coworker announcing that she's opening a donut shop (at least, I think that's what she was announcing), I started thinking about how I have a bunch of friends who are starting something big in their lives. Miss H in Austin is working to get her all-natural cake mix off the ground and another sorority sister is launching an awesome photo booth business (Mrs. P, if you're reading, we're so excited about the launch party on Saturday!) and it just makes me think.

I want to do something fun and big. I just haven't figured out what it is I want to do. It's driving me a little crazy.

So, thinking out loud as we were pulling into the driveway at our home, I said, "I need a project. It's driving me nuts!"

Mr. V, ever the problem solver, said, "Well, why don't you get to cleaning up your room upstairs so you can do crafts or whatever. Or you can start going through your old high school stuff your dad sent over."

Discouraged but trying to stay calm in the situation I replied with, "Not exactly what I had in mind, but thanks for the suggestions."

We'll talk about it again tomorrow. I think he'll do better when he's not focused on getting some sleep. I hope!

Working with my husband

Mr. V and I work together. Lots of you know that we fell in love by the copy machine at our school. Okay, that's not true. We didn't fall in love there. But we did get engaged on the theater stage. And between Mr. V and me, we've taught students of all ages in the school. I taught Freshmen the last three years (making the oldest juniors and the youngest freshmen) and Seniors this year and Mr. V taught Sophomores and Juniors last year and Juniors this year. We figured we had our bases covered. In short, we're pretty well known at the school.

So imagine my surprise today when a girl didn't know exactly who I was.

I was sitting in the cafeteria trying my best to convince a young mother that dropping out of school was not only a bad idea for her but a bad example to set for her baby. Mr. V walked by and said something that I can't remember now but it caused a girl on my opposite side to start the following conversation:

Girl: Do you live together?
Me: Yes. We're married.
Girl: No! I thought you were just dating!
Me: Nope, we're married.
Girl: Since when?
Me: June 20, 2009
Girl: You're lying!

What? I most certainly am not! I haven't yet reached the age where I cannot remember my anniversary or gained the number of years in my marriage where it becomes difficult to pin down the date. I know I put on that white dress, walked down the aisle on my dad's arm, and said "I do" and I'm beyond sure that I said "I do" to Mr. V!

All in all, it was pretty funny. We did have to call Mr. V over to authenticate my story by reciting our wedding date to the girl so she could compare notes but I think she's satisfied now.

I guess not everyone realizes that we're not just together but that the togetherness is the 'til death do us part' variety. It does remind me that during state testing, I took a kid to the bathroom and had a brief chat with a fellow fish teacher who said that it wasn't until testing week that a kid realized I was Mr. Victor's wife, and that's just because I took him his snack as the break room was closing down and I didn't want him to go hungry. I wonder if the same last name made her think that we were brother and sister. Hmmmm. . .


Just another adventure in my life as Mrs. V! Hope you enjoyed reading the anecdote as much as I enjoyed living it!


Mrs. V

Riding Home - an excerpt from our daily commute together

Mr. V: Hey! There's a TURTLE in the middle of the road!
Me: Poor turtle!
Mr. V: He'd better get a move on!
Me: It's a turtle.

What is it like to be married to Mr. V?

Some of my friends and coworkers will ask me what it's like to be married to Mr. V. I know, I know. Being married to the rock star social studies teacher my husband is seems so interesting, mysterious, exciting. I'm going to give you a glimpse into what my life is like a lot of the time.

Yesterday was Mr. V's birthday and, in typical birthday fashion, a family birthday dinner was scheduled. As we're sitting down at our table, the waiter, having been informed of Mr. V's birthday, wishes him a happy one. Mr. V, awesome man that he is, reveals that four incredible things happened on his birthday: (1) the fall of Saigon; (2) the Louisiana Purchase; (3) George Washington was inaugarated; and (4) Hitler killed himself. It's worth noting here that the fourth one is the one he's most excited about, at least in the telling of the story.

This leads the waiter to compliment him on his history knowledge. Mr. V acknowledges his status as a history teacher and another waiter comes over to give Mr. V a high-five. Turns out, he's a former student. Teachers have a random celebrity status that's hard to explain to outsiders. You wouldn't think it, but kids really enjoy seeing (most of) their teachers outside of school.

Anyway, I digress.

Tonight, we're watching The Celebrity Apprentice and we get the news that Obama wants to tell us that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. NBC news told us instead, but whatever. As we're watching this "breaking news" coverage, Mr. V says, "How awesome would it be if we're just hearing about it today but it actually happened yesterday? That would be so cool! Hitler kills himself AND Osama Bin Laden is killed ON MY BIRTHDAY!"

I have never heard of anyone being so excited about the deaths of horrid people happening on his birthday and I let Mr. V know it.  His response? "More reason to party!"

So that about sums it up. This is my life. It's a crazy, funny, twisty, turny one, but it's mine all mine. I know you're jealous. You have every reason to be :)

Happy first day of May to all and happy birthday to my dear friend, the fabulous Mrs. B, who is experiencing her first married bday today. Love you, girl!

Mrs. V

You want me to cut my hair? Discrimination! Where's my lawyer?

Take a minute and read the following article about Greensburg Community Junior High School.

http://www.theindychannel.com/education/26352589/detail.html

Now that you're up to speed on the issue, let's chat a little. As most of you know, I'm an educator. I teach at the high school level. We have all sorts of rules that we ask people to follow in school. Don't have unnatural hair color in your hair. Shave before you come to school. No piercings anywhere for guys and none anywhere but the ears for girls. Make sure your tattoos aren't visible. Make sure you aren't showing your underwear - or lack of underwear - to the general public. Don't carry weapons on your person. You know, ridiculous stuff here.

I mean, isn't it a violation of my seniors' right to bear arms if they can't bring a gun to school? If my students can't demonstrate their gang affiliation to other students by the tattoos they have on their arms, isn't that denying them the right to express who they are?

I think these parents in Indiana need a reality check. When I was a cheer coach, everyone signed a page that said they had read the constitution and would abide by its principles. They had the constitution in their hands before they even tried out! Anyone who couldn't abide by it had the option of *gasp* NOT trying out for cheerleader! And there were things that smacked of the ridiculous in that 23 page document including (but in no way limited to) the color of nail polish they were allowed to wear with their uniform. Ultimately, it didn't affect their cheering ability but it was about being part of a team. AND they knew about it BEFORE THEY TRIED OUT so when I punished them for violating the constitution, they didn't have a leg to stand on.

High school basketball is a privilege, not a right. No one struggled through life just because they didn't play basketball. They have, however, struggled to hold down a job because they were never taught to comply with policy.

This sort of thing really rattles my cage because day after day, I see children who have no respect for authority, cannot comply with reasonable requests, and have clearly been placated in every aspect of their lives since they were conceived! I know my room is hot. I'm wearing a wool sweater and have been in here all day. You don't get to yell out in class that you're hot and are about to walk out of class. I am not required to let you go to the bathroom. Try the law - you'll find it's on my side.

In no way does telling them 'no' illicit a proper, respectful response. Teaching kids to "fight for your rights" is ridiculous in these cases, especially when they are related to TEAM sports. Only after they understand that you have to respect policies that are in place can you begin to respectfully argue your position. Claiming discrimination is ignorant; everyone on the team was required to follow the same rules.

These parents are teaching their child the wrong lesson here and in the process are draining the district's resources. I'm sure that teachers will have to be let go, forgo any raise, and/or be limited in their ability to obtain materials necessary to teach their classes. Way to be extremely selfish, parents. Another wonderful trait your child is going to grow up possessing.