SOCIAL MEDIA

Playing Catchup and a Meal Plan

February 27, 2025

This week I turned 39, and somehow that means Harry is turning 10. It blows my mind to think that when I turn 49 he will be turning 20. This next decade is going to be a roller coaster ride. 

I walked into my room Monday morning to find a few treats from students. I wish I was that mom who could keep up and remember this sort of thing for her children's teachers... but alas... I am not. 


Not many of you care for the kombucha sagas, but I'm sharing anyway. 

I accidently got lazy in January and didn't bottle and change ferments quick enough, I think the low temps made me believe I could delay. Wrong. My scoby (some say pellicle) was far too think and it quickly turned sour. I had to dump two weeks worth of ferment to get it back to a drinkable acidity. 

Finally this week I was able to bottle and frement my flavored F2!


While making my favorite Pioneer Woman meatballs this weekend, which are also Elliot's favorite, I realized just how long I've been making them. For 16 year (come May) I've used that Pyrex dish for this. 

Next month makes 17 years since I started dating Jeremy. 

He seems unphased by the numbers, but something about hitting the age of high school juniors and seniors is shocking. I mean, aren't we just some 20 year olds living on Duval Street in Monroe? Spening money that we don't need to spend at Eskamo's Ice Cream on Frozen Strawberry Lemonade. That's surely how it feels. 


I should have taken an action photo of Elliot during this course, when he got to those white pipes he scaled them no problem at all. They had to jump over with two feet and he didn't even hesitate. 

I'm slowly sounding like a spokesperson for this company, but it's been great for the boys. 


Now for the meal plan. It's giving - bowls. 

That was not at all on purpose. 


 

Thursday | Grilled Porkchops, Chopped Salad Kit, and Baked Potatoes

Friday | 5 Guys for Harry's Birthday



Monday |  Brunswick Stew from Daddio's Kitchen (This keeps getting delayed and moved around) 

Tuesday | letovers

Wednesday | Sam's Club Chickfila Knock Off Nuggets and Fries.

Lunch for the Week | Spring mix with grilled chicken tenderloins (easy lower fat protein) and balsamic dressing. Ratio Yogurt with Protein Kodiak Granola. 


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Weekly Meal Plan

February 20, 2025

We've officially made it to the big birthday week at our house! Sadly this year it didn't fall on Mardi Gras break, but Harrison and I will survive anyway. 


I'm attempting the Brunswick stew again. On Monday when I had it in the crockpot the power company had a planned outage that they didn't inform us about. I popped my pork roast in the crock pot at 6, and we were without power from 9-2:30. So we had Subway for dinner. 



 

Thursday | Grilled Porkchops, Chopped Salad Kit, and Baked Potatoes

Friday | Pioneer Women Comfort Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes (These are a favorite, and in her early 2000s cookbook they were called this and not bbq meatballs.)

Saturday |  Eat Out 

Sunday |  Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Coleslaw (from a church cookbook from 1999), Hawiian rolls, and Strawberry Pretzel Salad (I add bbq sauce to the pulled pork when it's done cooking.) 


Tuesday | letovers

Wednesday | Sam's Club Chickfila Knock Off Nuggets and Fries.

Lunch for the Week | Spring mix with grilled chicken tenderloins (easy lower fat protein) and balsamic dressing. I also got some cubed cheese, it's the mood. I also made my old macro bar recipe but with a full scoop of protein for a solid 25g hit. 


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Runnaway Elliot

February 17, 2025

 The last few weeks were so busy, I was really glad we got a weekend with nothing really on the books. 


Friday night, there isn't a photo to prove it, but the kids went to a parent night at Kid Strong and we went to Top Golf. I love Top Golf, but really wish you could just book an hour slot. By the second hour my swing isn't as strong and Jeremy has a better shot at beating me! 


I've got a secret party trick of being decent at driving. Jeremy says I play golf like an old man, always consistent and straight. I blame that on being friends with a lot of the golf team in college. I'd go to the driving range and video them so they could see their swing, the benefit if I was taught how to swing a club by the college golf team. 



This month at work we have a ton of fun dress up days for the teachers, our principal does this once or twice a year. This particular week was dress like the students, the long socks had to be taken from the husband who is more inclined to changes in sock culture. It took forever to pry black ankle socks from hands. 


I may not be a favorite of my children's teachers for this, but I've used it for years. Harry struggles with fine motor skills and this helped him as a beginning writer.  If you're struggling with handwriting, or just generally being overwhelmed by a writing task - prewrite it in yellow marker or highlighter. 

By the time they hit 4th grade, and even 3rd I see this diminish. However, little boys, especially the neurodivergent type, hate to write. It's tedious, their hands aren't ready to write (yet American school curriculum pushes skills that are never appropriate), and they get frustrated. I have done this more with spelling lists and short answer writing. But seeing what they need to do and not a blank page helps. 



It also helps tremendouly with learning spacing. 

Now with older kids and spacing, I've used graph paper. By 4th grade spacing between words can be more of an issue than just getting all those letter on the paper. 


The temps dropped by down on Sunday, so Elliot insisted we go to the park. 

However, only Harrison and I went on a walk. Ellit got on his scooter and closed off those useless little boys ears, then promptly sped away. We watched him cross the road as we were jogging and yelling behind him, and he was quickly out of sight and on his own. 

Harrison kept making me promise that if we got to the car and didn't see him that I had to call Daddy and tell him we lost Elliot. 

But in true Elliot fashion, we finally got back to the car and there he was waiting. He said he told everyone in the park hello. When I gave my rant about kidnapping he just assured me that he wasn't kidnapped and acted like Harrison and I were overreacting. 

Typical. 

I really thought that if anything the geese would have slowed him down. Especially after how he reacted to being chased by that squirrel last time. 

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Weekly Meals

February 12, 2025

This week's meals! A lot of the ususal and a few repeats. I really need to photograph and share my lasagna recipe. 



 

Thursday | Grilled Porkchops, Chopped Salad Kit, and Baked Potatoes

Friday | Valentine's Day - we are changing from our ususal steaks at home to play Top Golf.

Saturday |  Lasagna and Sourdough bread (I need to share my recipe.)

Sunday |  Leftovers for lunch & dinner is a variety of dumplings, al la Trader Joe - but Walmart - they're really stepped up their game. (we always do appetizers on Sunday night) 


Tuesday | letovers

Wednesday | Sam's Club Chickfila Knock Off Nuggets and Fries.

Lunch for the Week | Spring mix with grilled chicken tenderloins (easy lower fat protein) and balsamic dressing. I also got some cubed cheese, it's the mood. I had a kombcha snaffoo, so I'm drinking keifer while I recover from antibiotics and wait for the next kombucha batch to be ready. I also made my old macro bar recipe but with a full scoop of protein for a solid 25g hit. 

I tried adding extra water since I was using extra protein, do not reccomend. Go one tbsp at a time with water. Different powders really effect the texture. I just ate mine as a snack, and after being in the freezer since 7am, it is still not hard. I could eat it with a lot of finesse, but it was a struggle. It was a wet pile of chocolate protein. 


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Snow Day 2 & 3

February 6, 2025


Name something better than freezing temps and sweats? Nothing. We are back in the 70s this week and I am dreaming of weather cold enough to turn on a space heater for. 

On the 2nd and 3rd day of snow on the ground we lazed around and did very little. It was a perfect winter wonderland where we (me) could pretend that we were snowed in and living that way up north life. 




Dill, much like Harrison, preferred life staring straight into the space heater. Surely he lost an eyelash with his behavior. At times the living room smelled of hot dog from him baking himself for so long. 




Elliot got into a drawing mood and spent two days making a book that he has since carried everywhere.
 



Elliot and I wandered to the park to see how it all looked before the snow melted. This is drama child when I said "Hey take a pic before we get home." Notice the stuffing coming out of his vest, he leaned on the old janky fence when they were in a snowball fight with the neighbors and tore it up. 









On day 2 the snow was still deep enough that the four wheeler was getting stuck. 







We now have to make up a day of school due to the snow. Well, I do. The boys school hasn't announced that. It was worth it though. Send me to Canada any day and I'll happily live in a winter wonderland.

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The Acadiana Blizzard

February 5, 2025

 What started as turning off the outside world during the snow week, morphed into having a cold and it being observation week. Now it's Wednesday and here we are... having skipped blogging. 


I don't know if you've seen photos, or heard about our record snowfall. But it the experience of a lifetime, and it might be the only time we experience this much snow in Acadiana in our lifetime. Magical doesn't even sum this up. 



Our usual is a few flutters and then completely melted by noon, ever 10 years. 

This 10 year snow started in the morning, continued into the afternoon, and stayed on the ground for most of the week. 

I refused to let the kids go outside and even touch it until the snowfall stopped at 2pm. 



Of course, we had no appropriate snow gear and sent the kids outside wearing surgical gloves over their mittens and grocery bags over their socks. 




The snow was so powdery it was as if we were trying to shape bags upon bags of confectioners sugar into balls. 







Harry was not such a fan, he lasted for two hours and was done for the rest of the week. Elliot on the other hand, he wants more and needs this to happen again asap.





Our backyard was our best snow, Jeremy has cleared a lot of the trees and foliage. He also went out the day before and cleaned up the yard to make sure we had the best snow... no dog bits. I appreciated that. I measured it being 7 inches in most areas. If you're curious about a trampoline in the snow, the kids said it's like bouncing on the ground. I didn't test it out. 




And finally, to top off being cold, we came inside and made snow cream. It was good, and if you're lactose intolerant... get the proper milk before it snows. Whole milk was the death of me. Totally worth it, but attempted murder.

The leftover Butterfinger bits from our bible study dessert and the kids chocolate syrup were a great addition. 



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Weekly Roundup

January 17, 2025

Another week, another grouping of items that have been on my mind. 

*post contains some affiliate links



Recipe: Copycat Tom Cruise White Chocolate Coconut Bundt Cake


I've been sitting on this recipe for a hot minute and really want to try it out. Apparently there's a bakery in California that he gets these from and sends them to everyone for Christmas. 


Product I'm Loving: Bucky Ultralight Eye Mask

I'm not exaggerating when I say I've been using this almost 20 years. I started sleeping with an eye mask after I had my wisdom teeth out and never have looked back. This has great pressure, does not sit on your eyelids, and is adjustable. I wash this in a mesh bag with my clothing and lay it out to dry. Probably my most repurchased item I own. 


Craft Project I'd Like to Start : This near dupe for This Is My House Dress. 


I love the concept of a house dress, and have adored the If Only If night gowns. But with both brands running at nearly $200 dollars... they are a no go for me. This will probably be my summer time craft project.

With our predicted snow days for next week, I am finally going to make that shirt I talked about on Monday. Just need to get some buttons and thread from the Hobby Lobby and I'm reading to rock and roll. 


Reading: Ten Essentials for New Christians


Jeremy had me read this awhile back when we were starting to think towards how to do discipleship in the youth group. Time flies, I was really thinking I read it this fall, but honestly I read it last fall. 

It's laid out very simply in a format that teens and up can understand. I'd recommend it to anyone who is new to their Christian walk and wants to better understand their next steps.



Listening : The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast


I so badly want to put down the newest episode from Bare Marriage that dives into the Love & Respect book. I'll spare y'all my absolute dislike for how much love and respect are seperated between the sexes and not thought that we both need both love and respect. 

But I'll save y'all.

 Instead, I really loved this episode from Jinger Vuolo where she and her husband discuss courting and dating. I was a big Duggar show watcher back in the day. It was a fun conversation, and if you know who they are and are near dating - it would be a great listen. 


Outfit: All of this.


I bought of these items as my Christmas present this year and plan to wear them at some point during this lovely arctic blast. Minus the bucket hat. These jeans from Buckle are a great dupe if you don't want to pay Free People prices. 



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This Week's Meals

January 16, 2025

This is kind of an off meal plan, we've got a few activities planned. So there's quite a few missing meals.



 

Thursday | Grilled Porkchops, Chopped Salad Kit, and Baked Potatoes

Friday | Birthday Party for a friend

Saturday |  Sunday School Get-together 

Sunday |  Meeting after church / I'd like to make this pimento cheese spread for our appetizer tonight.


Monday |  Breakfast for dinner - soft boiled eggs on Dave's Killer Bread English Muffins with hasbrowns and bacon

Tuesday | Pork Udon, but using sliced pork loin.


Wednesday | Sam's Club Chickfila Knock Off Nuggets and Fries.

Lunch for the Week | Zucchini Lasagna Meal Prep Bowls - sliced zucchini and layering with blended cottage cheese (more protein), mozarella, and a low carb tomato sauce with extra lean groud beef. I'll weight it all out when I make it, but my protein goal is always at least 30 grams for lunch.


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Mums, Clogs, and Neglected Sewing Patterns

January 13, 2025

 It appears the polar vortex has come and gone, and with that my mums had to get themselves back outside. While my darker flower varieties seem to have been fine stuck in the house, the lighter ones were yellowing and looking pathetic. 

Now it's up to them to survive the winter. 

I also should have done this ages ago, but I bought some of plastic drip trays for them. While they're easy to maintain and come back easily, watering is not my strong suit. 



I'm obsessed with this shoe from Walmart!

Here's a little "What I Wore to Work," but I couldn't decide. I ended up wearing the Old Navy Pulla Barrel Pants. If something isn't offered in petite, I'm rolling it. At 5'3" and a tad... I need the petite sizing. 


Last summer I got my hands on a shirt pattern that I was dying to make, needless to say that time is not a friend of mine. My plan is to make this out of a bedsheet, the set is my favorite pattern I think we've ever had. Plus we, as traditional millennials, have never touched the top sheet and I might as well use it for a shirt. 


I only got this idea after seeing someone use this exact bedsheet to make their wedding dress. If I could rewind the clock, it would have been my dream wedding dress as well. 


Anyway, I tried to get started this weekend, read the pattern instructions, and ultimately decided I needed the time that Mardi Gras Break offers me, maybe MLK. Christmas is just so busy deep cleaning that I can't get into sewing projects. I need a good surprise snow day when all my house work is done. 



This weekend I broke out of Mosquito Supper Club and Chasing the Gator cookbooks and made Crawfish Bisque and Cornbread. Who knows if cornbread really goes with bisque, but Isaac Toups cornbread recipe should really go everywhere. 

If you're on the market for legit cajun cookbooks, get both of these. I also told a friend this weekend, but Cajun Red Head Seasoning is another legit one. I use it only is true Cajun dishes, the seasoning blend just has this Cajun granny taste, where Tony's is more of a house seasoning.


Now for another King Cake Review!

A friend handed me this mini one the other day from Village Deaux, it's pecan praline. 

Being that it is from a donut shop, I was really expecting the donut dough. It wasn't, while it was still fried, it had an almost fritter texture. But definitely an enriched dough. For a donut shop king cake, this was actually really good. I cut it and Elliot immediately consumed half of it. 

I saw Rouses has a Tres Leche flavor this year, I'll have to get my hands on one.


When I tell y'all its either eclectic granny or camping vibes, here's the camping side. 

I ordered the Chaco Paonia Clogs for Christmas and am obsessed with them. If I could eternally live in 30-40 degree weather with wool socks and these shoes, I'd die very happy. Make it snow now and again and that would bring me ever more joy. 




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Weekly Roundup

January 10, 2025

 Here we go, a week of things that are currently making me happy. I'd love to hear what yours are too!

*post contains some affiliate links



Recipe: Sam Sifton's Momofuku Bo Ssam

I had this recipe in my back pocket for ages before trying it. You need a good day at home to fool around with it, but it is homemade Asian food perfection. It checks all the boxes for having guests over!



Product I'm Loving: The Ordinary Retinol

I got a new dermatologist when we moved back into town, and I'm finding the thing now is to have your own personal Sephora and not want to offer prescriptions. Sorry folks, I want to prescriptions. I bought a product in store that cost way to freaking much and have stretched it all year long. Finally I just decided to tryout a retinol from The Ordinary, they've never done me wrong before. I alternate this on night one, night 2 is a snail serum, and night 3 is Differin gel... and back to retinol. After I run out of the 1% I'll jump up to their highest dose on the website. 



Essential Oil Blend : Bergamot, Lime, & Spearmint

Don't ask me why, or what it's supposed to smell like. It's just what I've been diffusing these days. It actually smells really good with my Smell My Nuts candle burning in the kitchen. But don't tell those Instagram health girlies that I'm burning a candle every so often.


Reading: The Wind and the Willows


I was going to talk about an adult book, but heck, let's talk about one I got for the kids that we recently read. I absolutely cackled though this book. Online you see photos shared and people saying how they'd love to be Toad while he's drinking tea.

 Having only known that, and really purchased the book because I love Beatrix Potter/A, A. Milne style writing and illustrations, I got very tickled when Toad was arrested and thrown in jail. 

I didn't see it coming and the kids surely didn't know why I found this so funny. 

 


Listening : The Culture Study Podcast: How Did Thrifting Get So Bad?



I have so many thoughts about this one. Due in part with the fact that I've always been a thrifter, but Anne Helen Petersen makes a great point about cost. It's why I'm not buying fast fashion items on Amazon. In the past you could find stuff in the thrift stores, but now that resell has become so popular, everything get's scooped up. Plus the Facebook Marketplace price gouging is insane, especially when you see someone say that what they're selling is ages old and they still want a chunk of change for it. It's bonkers.

Towards the end they momentarily dive into remodeling culture, which holy smokes is such a thing right now. So many influencers make most of their money online by showing demos or decorating. I do think this drives the idea that we need the newest and best looking, instead of the style we prefer and slightly lived in. 

It really made me think about my clothing turn over. I guess this is really hitting home since I've been in a bit of a spend year. We replaced some furniture (We've been together 15 years and some items needed replacing), plus my clothing has been slowly being replaced from the last big turn over I did about 6 years ago. It's slightly thrown me into this headspace of "Did that need to be replaced?" But honestly that torn couch and the 15 year old mattress did need to go, it's mainly clothing that I have to make sure gets worn out and not just tossed out. 


Outfit: This Blazer 

I snagged a blazer just like this from Old Navy and wore something very similar to church at Christmas. Based on the weather, I'm probably wearing this again on Sunday. I mean heck, after listening to that podcast, it's time to escape the idea of "always a new outfit" and live more in line with "what makes me happy at this moment." We have so little cold weather, and I absolutely live for it - so I'm rewearing my cold weather clothing to death before the heat hits again. 

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Weekly Meal Plan

January 8, 2025

When I said I was still tracking macros the other day, I should clarify. I'm tracking protein and trying to stay lower carb without diving into intentional low carb. Definitely not keto, but I find I'm insulin sensitive (family history of diabetes so it helps to monitor this), and I tend to feel better when I'm not maxing out my carb count for the day. 

What that ends up looking like is low carb for lunch (I intermittent fast) and then I eat what I am cooking the family for dinner. 

You might look at this, and if you followed along in the past, think "She's gone mad!" Especially after all the years of Keto and Paleo. I use to be super strict all the time, but with the kids getting older and not really desiring to be stick thin anymore... there's more wiggle room. So healthier versions of things, organic when I can, higher protein always. 

Stick thin would be super nice if it didn't also involve being extremely regimented in my diet and working out to level I do not possess the time for these days. The kids homework, housework, and dinner alone take up too much of my time and leave no room for the Emily I knew 10 years ago. 

This is a lot of blubbering to tell you we are having grilled pork chops for dinner Thursday. 

So healthy, not hungry. Exercising, not insanity. 



 

Thursday | Grilled Porkchops, Chopped Salad Kit, and Baked Potatoes

Friday | Eating Out!

Saturday |  Crawfish Bisque & Homemade Sourdough Bread (bisque is from the Mosquito Supper Club Cookbook)

Sunday |  Blackened Chicken Alfredo with Banza Pasta 

Monday |  Breakfast for dinner - soft boiled eggs on Dave's Killer Bread English Muffins with hasbrowns and bacon

Tuesday | Burger patties with cheese, caramelized onions, and mushrooms with argula salad and roasted sweet potatoes 

Wednesday | Sam's Club Chickfila Knock Off Nuggets and Fries.

Lunch for the Week | Low Carb Wrap with shredded cheese, 5 oz of grilled chicken tenderloins with taco seasoning, and Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce --- Protein Shake in the afternoon


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When Dad's Away

January 7, 2025

Jeremy was gone this past weekend for the youth group's senior retreat. 

While that was happening I was once again living the youth pastor wife's life of tending to people shorter than me and doing my twice yearly baseboard deep clean. 

My main goals for Christmas break this year were to wash the couch (y'all Lovesac is AMAZING with how easy it is to clean), rent a carpet cleaner and get after all the rugs, and then crawl around this old house cleaning baseboards. 




Back in the Covid cleaning Instagram days I was turned onto the Go Clean Co. and have never looked back. A gallon of hot water with a tsp of powder Tide + a microfiber cloth is revolutionary. 


I just about finished, the only room left is our bedroom and bathroom. Plus any area I walked through without glasses. I hate cleaning with glasses on, it quickly points out everything I missed when I was cleaning without glasses, and honestly if I'm not at work or driving... I kinda live life blind. 


So don't ever judge anything you see at the house. I shoot for tidy, not sterile. 




In the home alone activity calendar, which I am already out of order on, the kids had their KidStrong day, and everyone is beyond happy to have leveled up to Alpha. All that really means if they can now be picked for Class Captain. Which Harry did get picked for. He was probably more excited and silly than helpful. 




Little Elliot finally leveling up! 


I'll dive into this more in another post, but he has been struggling with recurrent fevers, and I think we finally have some answers. But.. the fevers have gotten him behind Harry on his KidStrong level. So when he finally leveled up a week later he was beyond excited. 



Don't judge me, but trying to get a photo of an outfit is a daunting task. 
1. I don't take myself serious enough for it. 
2. Lighting is a full on joke at this house. 
3. I don't have a decently placed full length mirror. 


Regardless, this top is the best thing I've purchased in ages and I hope everyone can ignore me wearing it constantly from hence forth. 


See also, the failed attempts at getting a photo meant I was way behind my usual time for Sunday School. 




In the name of girl food and not having to cook for a husband, I bought a rotisserie chicken and lived my best life while he was gone. The go-to was a chunk of that chicken, half a sweet potato with butter/cinnamon/raw honey, and a salad with everything I had on top of it. Plus a LaCroix for good measure. 


Can we talk about the crime that is the grocery store not having regular radishes? They only had organic and I am not paying $5 for regular radishes. 




Back at work, and back to girl food, means back to protein shakes. 

The current ones is as follows: 
8 oz almond milk
frozen strawberries
chocolate protein powder
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp powder peanut butter



This is a late addition to the blog post, but in the land of girl dinner. I present to you "Healthier Utah Soda." 

I don't recommend this as an every day way to get in protein, but when you need a treat its a great 30 grams of protein for 200 calories that doesn't taste like yet another protein shake. 

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Break at work took this to another level and I used Coke Zero with Fairlife protein, leading me to consume more soda than I have likely had in the last decade combined. 

Maybe it's who I am now, on the cusp of 39, worried about protein intake, and tired. 

But on a more positive note, this tastes like a Coke float. 




Last but not least, Santa Gigi brought the kids a zoo pass. We found ourselves at the zoo twice while Jeremy was gone. My theory is if they aren't at home, they can't make a mess. 
Also, if they're outside... they'll get tired. 


Both of which are very important. 


Our local zoo seems to have been updating not just the animals, but walkways. It's been really nice, especially in this cooler weather. It's honestly so hot down here for so much of the year that we really squeeze in our outdoor activities between November - May. Other than that I better be in water to be outside. 

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