Family day

I am happy to report that we are all well again. Thankfully whatever Mariposa had was shortlived and she's her usual bubbly self again. I think the recovery was prompted along by the fact that she had a very special birthday party to attend. Another local homeschooling family has a younger daughter who turned 4 and she had a DANCE party at The Groove Family Disco. It was heaps of fun, with dance music playing continuously for 2 hours, and 2 dancers who also danced continuously to encourage participation. To our dear friends who organised this, we say a very special:

We all had a wonderful time!

Once back home, it was into some regular chores and looking at the week ahead. Sunday evenings are usually my planning time for things like upcoming appointments, 'to do' lists, menus and shopping plans. I found it helps my budget, and the general flow of the week, to have a weekly or fortnightly menu. It's not anything spectacular, but I've made up an Excel sheet on which I can write a month's worth of meal ideas. It helps with the shopping, too .. checking to see if we're going be using up the currently stocked items first, or buying in to bulk out what remains.

As an example, this week's evening meal plan is:

Monday - pasta and veg. bake with salad

Tuesday - beef and veg. casserole served on rice

Wednesday - lentil and veg. soup with bread rolls

Thursday - tuna patties with steamed veg. and salad

Friday - corned silverside (in crockpot), with mashed potatoes and steamed veg.

Saturday - (planning a special outing for my parents' 40th anniversary)

Sunday - left-over silverside and rice salad

It's pretty ordinary meal planning this week. Lots of things happening, so keeping it all basic helps.