Here, Just Not Blogging

So yes, I'm back from Vegas. And I can't get the energy up to write a post about it, or really anything else. I'm so so tired, from travel and jet lag and all the rest.

I managed to get my suitcase unpacked and restored in the closet. I even did a few loads of laundry, which are now sitting in the baskets waiting to be folded and stored. Yeah, that'll happen someday.

Last night I didn't fall asleep until close to 2, and I should get up for work at 5:30. Not surprisingly, that did not happen. I got up at 7:15 and was hating life until close to 10 when I finally started feeling halfway human.

Tonight, there is football and baseball to watch, but I think even more than I want to see either of those events, I want to go take a shower and put on my pjs and crawl into bed.

And maybe tomorrow I'll feel more like writing a real post.

Weekly Menu Plan

Back into the swing of planning and cooking after a weeks break.

Saturday - Ribeye steaks, scalloped potatoes, and broccoli. The steaks were on sale at the store and I couldn't resist. And I've got some milk that's about to go bad so the potatoes will make use of that.

Sunday - Chili and cornbread. The weather is quite cool so it's perfect chili weather. I may try a new recipe, or I may pull out an old favorite from last season.

Monday - Pizza if I get home from work in time to get the dough made, and I usually do on Mondays.

Tuesday - Baked potatoes and leftover chili.

Wednesday - Spaghetti! It's been ages since we had it and it's one of my favorite meals.

Thursday - Vegetable soup and rolls.

Friday - L will probably not be home, so I'll eat leftovers or a pb&j or whatever else I can scrounge up from the fridge.

To Do versus Done

Things I Needed To Do Today:

1. Make a menu plan for the week.
   
   
2. Make a grocery list based on the menu plan.
   
   
3. Go to the grocery store.
   
   
4. Do some healthier eating to make up for the last couple of dreadful days.
   
   
5. Unpack suitcases.
   
   
6. Put away items from emptied suitcases.
   
   
7. Put away now empty suitcases.
   
   
8. Do several loads of laundry.
   
   
9. Enter receipts from trip into Quicken.
   
   
10. Enter books finished on the trip into my "Books Read" list and blog widget.

Things I Actually Did Today:

1. Grocery run, where I more-or-less randomly flung stuff into the cart (L wanted to go and go RIGHT NOW).
   
   
2. Entered books finished on the trip into my "Books Read" list and blog widget.
   
   
3. Finished the book I'd started on the plane as we landed and taxied to the gate.
   
   
4. Started another book and finished it as well.
   
   
5. Sorted the laundry that desperately needs to be washed.
   
   
6. Walked past the sorted laundry at least a dozen times, but did not wash any of it.
   
   
7. Emptied my suitcase and spread the items over the floor in my bedroom.
   
   
8. Walked past the spread-out items and empty suitcase at least a dozen times, but did not put any of the items away.
   
   
9. Ate McDonalds for a late lunch and microwave popcorn and hot chocolate for dinner. Did not eat breakfast as I'm still on Vegas time and am completely confused.
   
   
10. Enjoyed my day immensely, thankyouverymuch.

Friday's Fave Five

I had fun participating last week, want to participate again as I get back into the swing of things here. So this is the just-returned-home edition:

1. I'm back home from my trip. It ended up being a really really boring conference and I was very happy to come home.
   
   
2. I am so so happy that I have today off from work as well, because I would have been exhausted if I'd had to go into work this morning. As it was, I didn't get up until 9:30. I think I was still on Vegas time so based on that, 6:30 isn't so bad.
   
   
3. The weather is cool and rainy and very fall-like. I love it!
   
   
4. I had one meal in Vegas that I'm still dreaming about - steak frites with bernaise sauce. It was fantastic! The frites were just ok, but the steak made up for it.
   
   
5. It was nice seeing family over the weekend; I had a nice talk with my sister-in-law on Saturday and got to see all the brothers-in-law.

Friday's Fave Five

I'm new to this, but it sounds like fun on a Friday. My favorites from the week:

1. Not having to go to work today. I'm heading out of town early Saturday morning and it has made it so much easier to get ready for my trip by having the day off.
   
   I had time to read the Bible more than usual on a weekday, I did some laundry for the trip, paid bills, and have begun to gather my things for the trip (using my packing list, of course). I even baked a loaf of banana bread since our flights out have no food service and little time to get anything at the airport. I'll slice the bread tonight and package it so that we can take some of it with us and the rest will go in the freezer.
   
   
2. Did I mention I'm going out of town? Because I am, and I'm excited. It'll be a short trip and most of it is work-related but still. It should be fun.
   
   My husband is going with me, in part. The weekend is the not work-related part; we'll be visiting his family. Then Monday we'll drive to the conference city, where I'll attend the conference, and he'll visit additional family. We'll fly back separately since he returns a day before me.
   
   
3. The weather has turned cool again. We had a few days of fall-like weather at the beginning of the month, but then it turned back into more summer-like temps. I'm glad that it looks like fall is here to stay. Of course this happens just as we're getting ready to leave town, heading towards a city that is forecast to be in the mid 80s.
   
   
4. I made some banana-pineapple bread for my husband and he raved about it all week which made me very happy.
   
   
5. I received a new book in the mail today, in time for me to take it on my trip. I can't wait to read it! I'm kind of nervous about reviewing it; I don't know that I'm very good at writing reviews but I'll do my best.

Works for Me Wednesday: Packing Lists

I'm heading out of town this weekend for almost a week. I don't travel often, but I still like to make it as easy as possible on myself when getting ready for my trips.

Several years ago I developed a packing list after a few trips where I'd forgotten an item or two. Since creating it, I've tweaked it now and then, especially as I've added things to my life (such as an iPod with it's charger, contacts and their needed solution and case, and a husband with all the stuff he ends up wishing he'd brought).

The list is divided into sections, such as clothing, personal care, technology, and fun. L and I each have our own lists too. I've tried to be comprehensive on the lists, so there has never yet been a trip where we've needed EVERYTHING on the list; some seasons just don't need the specific clothing other seasons do, you know? But it's nice to have it all listed, so I can just work my way down the list.

Items on my list include:

Clothing
Jeans
Pants
Shorts
Dresses
Skirts
Sleep shirts or nightgowns
Undies
Bras
Socks
Shoes
Belts
Coats/Jackets

Personal Care
Daily pills & medicine (allergy, vitamins, nasal spray)
Medicine (Tylenol & PM, Sudafed, antacid)
Pads, tampons and/or pantyliners
Bath stuff (bomb, salts, etc.)
Shampoo & conditioner
Body wash
Poof
Lotion
Face lotion
Face wash
Eye cream
Makeup (concealer, foundation, powder, eye shadow, mascara)
Razor
Tweezers
Nail clippers
Q-Tips
Contacts
Contact lens solution
Contact lens case
Shower cap
Hairdryer
Hair scrunchie
Comb
Brush

Technology
Digital camera(s)
Camera cord
Batteries & charger
Phone & charger
iPod & charger & cord

Other
Money
Tickets
Maps
Tour books
National Parks Passport
Passport/ID
Planner
Books
Glasses
Neck pillow
Purse
Jewelry

Please remember, I really don't bring ALL of these things on every trip; I just want them listed so I can think about whether or not I'll need/want them with me.

Thankful Tuesday

• That I'm maybe managing to make sense of PHP.


• That I'm getting ready to leave town for almost a week and it should be a good trip.


• That my drum-playing neighbor seems to have stopped playing them so late in the evening.

Making My Home a Haven

I'm starting my countdown until leave town. All that means is that I'm basically making a list of what I want to accomplish before leaving and when I think I'll be able to get that done.

Today I'll be trying to get as much knocked off the list as possible, if only to make the rest of my week easier. If I can avoid my usual day-before-departure scramble, that would be fantastic.

First up, I want to concentrate on the upstairs, and my office especially. I need to pay some bills and deal with other paperwork which includes cleaning off my desk. I also want to take care of canceling the mail; I love how the post office lets me do that in advance online. Then I need to straighten my bookcase which has exploded (in part because I was digging through it as I started making a stack of books I want to take with me).

I'd also like to get the guest room and bath ready for guests who arrive Friday evening. They're basically using our guest room as a hotel before they head out early Saturday to catch a flight home, but whether it's one night or a week, I still need to make the bed and all that other stuff. That shouldn't take long however; I washed the sheets over the weekend, just need to make the bed and give the bathroom a quick clean (it's still pretty clean from the last good cleaning I gave it; an advantage of it being used so infrequently).

Only if I get my office looking respectable and the guest room ready will I then let myself finalize the books I'm taking on the trip. I know, this is (mostly) a work trip, but I still have plan rides and car travel time and possibly some evening time I'll be able to read. And I'd hate to run out of reading material before my flight home! I usually have trouble keeping myself to a somewhat-reasonable amount of books considering the number of days I'll be gone, but one trip where my flight was delayed and delayed and delayed and delayed I was SO happy I had brought too many books; I got through them all! I almost had to go buy something additional in the airport which would have annoyed me, both because of the the expense and limited selection, and because I always have so many more books to get through at home.

Now I can't wait to get home from work and get started on this!

Memory Verse

Romans 4:5, English Standard Version

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

Weekly Menu Plan

Last week's menu was slightly more successful than the week before that, but not but much.

Saturday - I'll finally make the tortilla soup I planned to make last week.

Sunday - Mock beef burgundy in the crock pot. It uses cranberry juice in place of the wine, and it's really tasty. I'm not sure yet if I'll serve it with egg noodles or mashed potatoes. I'll ask L which he prefers.

Monday - Salsa chicken. Take chicken breasts, cover them with salsa, and bake. Yummm! I like it with baked potatoes or rice.

Tuesday - I'm thinking now that spaghetti and meatballs sounds fantastic.

Wednesday - Homemade pizza. I am loving the homemade pizza, it's super easy as long as I plan ahead since the crust takes a little time to rise..

Thursday - Clean out the fridge because we're heading out of town, so, leftovers or sandwiches or cereal ...

Friday - Repeat Thursday to leave the fridge as empty as can be before our departure in the morning.

Update - The tortilla soup was good, but not the end-all its-so-good-I-can-stop-looking fantastic soup I was hoping for.

The beef "burgundy" was delicious as always (though L asked if we'd had it before; it's my mom's recipe so I've had it since before I knew him and have made it a LOT of times, but I guess it'd been awhile). And I served it with homemade rice-a-roni. Delicious!