December ramblings

It's going to be another extremely hectic month so my thoughts have been on how to de-stress meals this month. I'm scheduled to work five nights this week so my total working hours will be about 64, so simple is best. I'll definitely be ready for a week off at the end of the month. I haven't posted menus in a while so I thought I thought I'd post some of this weekends along with early next week's plans:

Saturday:
Fish & Chips - Matt had a hankering for this.

Sunday:
Mississippi Mud Roast with carrots and mashed potatoes - I worked from 12-4 today and Matt went with his buddy to Minnesota to pick up a race car so this worked perfectly.  I made the mashed potatoes after I got home and we had an early supper since we were both hungry.

Monday:
Pot Roast sandwiches from leftover roast and cole slaw

Tuesday:
Chef salad

Wednesday:
Own - Your - Own - I have to be in the office for the day so we'll eat on our own.

I was blog hopping the other night and found a fantastic blog "I  am That Lady"with frugal tips and menu planning.  She has several books out on freezer and dump meals using Aldi.  Unfortunately we don't have Aldi's here but her menus and recipes can be used with regular store products.  I bought two of her books and plan to try several of the recipes. The Slow Cooker Thai Chicken looks fabulous and will be making an appearance soon.




One of our neighbors gave Jordon a love seat so Saturday we ran down to Lisbon, ND, to drop it off.  Neither of us had been down in that area.  It's a long drive, about 90 minutes.  The freeway wasn't too bad but once we turned off that and headed south my first comment was "This looks a lot like Ohio." For those that have never driven through Ohio, it's not a good comment. It was just so flat and bare. Once we turned east again we came upon gorgeous rolling hills, which reminded me a lot of Pennsylvania. I'd love to see what it looks like snow covered although I probably wouldn't want to be driving if it were.  Then we came upon SHEEP! Lots and lots of sheep! Oh the pups would have been going nuts with excitement if they'd  been with us. Lacey would have probably have given herself a heart attack. Of course I didn't have my camera with.  They were smaller sheep then what' I'm use to seeing. I'd be curious to know what breed they were. We actually passed two farms with sheep and on the second one there were piles of dirt and probably compost scattered throughout the huge pen and on ever one there was a single sheep standing on the top like a king (or queen) sheep of the pile.  Made me chuckle they looked so cute.

Jordon and his girlfriend when she was pregnant bought up every Pooh Bear they could find in the area.  The bought one that was missing a sweater so Jordon naturally assumed mom would be more than happy to knit one for him.  Needless to say it's sat for quite a while as I had other projects that took precedence but I finally started it last week and finished it Friday night.  Here's Pooh with his new sweater.  I wasn't totally happy with it, but as it was the first time I'd made one I try not to be took picky about it. They were happy with it so I guess that's what was important.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS OCTOBER 4, 2015

I had a nice three day weekend. Matt had his six month checkup Friday so I took the day off and we headed to Fargo.  His appointment lasted all of maybe five minutes. His grafts are growing well and they're happy with his progress. Next appointment will be in six months for his one year. After his appointment we headed out for an afternoon of shopping and eating.

First stop was at Prairie Yarns. I've been wanting to check out the yarn stores in Fargo but it never seems to work out. I really wanted to buy some sock yarn so I have my next knitting projects lined up. Matt was a little shocked at how much sock yarn costs. I think he appreciates the socks I've made him a little bit more. He decided he didn't need another pair right now so I bought myself two different yarns. The staff were really nice and helpful. I really appreciated them offering to ball my yarn for me for free. Matt appreciated it even more that he didn't have to help me ball it. It's a really nice courtesy service to offer. I asked about spinning classes but she doesn't have an instructor right now but she did have some roving that I checked out. I'll be watching and hoping she finds an instructor. The picture below doesn't do justice to the yarn on the right, I couldn't get the lighting to reflect all the variegation in it. I also found these adorable puppy stitch markers.  They sort of look like a border collie so I had to have them.

We were definitely hungry after the yarn store stop so we decided to eat lunch.  We've been wanting to check out the Middle Eastern restaurants in Fargo so we chose to try Aladdin's Cafe and it was an absolutely delicious meal. We both chose to have the combination platter. Matt chose the Kufta Kabob and Gyro meat with rice and I chose the Kufta Kabob and Chicken Kabob with hummus. The meats were so tender and well seasoned. We could have sat there all day and feasted. We will definitely be going back. We ended our meal properly with some baklava and fig bars to bring home. I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the food. The only thing we didn't like was that the food was served on foam disposable plates and they had plastic utensils. 

Next stop was the mall. I needed a new pair of shoes to wear to work. I love my crocs and clogs but with the amount of snow we get here I really needed something with a higher back to keep snow out of my shoes. I had a great guy helping me and I was able to find a pair. Matt said the guy had a foot fetish. Unfortunately they didn't have the Dansko style I wanted in brown so he ordered it to be delivered to the house at no extra cost. I doubt many stores do that anymore. I've wanted to try Dansko shoes for a while but they have European sizes so I needed to try some on to find out what size I would be. He also recommended a new slipper by Vionic they just started carrying that has a nice orthopedic arch support. I have a really high arch so the chiropractor has now had me start wearing an insert to help support the arch. These slippers are perfect and the arch support is high so I won't have to wear an insert in them. They will be great for wearing at the house.

Vionic Slipper in black

I got these in dark brown

We wasted some time after that at Target and then Coldstone before heading to a destination we've been wanting to checkout since I found it online, Prairie Rose Meadery. We both got a flight of four meads to try. Both of us chose cherry and ginger. Matt chose star anise and mint and I chose blackberry and traditional to round out our flights. My favorite was the traditional. Matt liked the unique taste of the star anise. If you're in the Fargo area, definitely check out this meadery. The staff were very nice and helpful. We really enjoyed talking to them while we sampled the meads. We ended up purchasing a bottle of the traditional to bring home. Again, I forgot to take pictures. The Meadery was larger than I expected it would be. It's located in a business district but wasn't hard to find. They have a bar area, table area and some couches so you can pick how you'd like to relax while sipping some mead. We enjoyed checking over the mead making area through the glass from the bar. The meads were very smooth. She'd actually been to B. Necktar which was one of our favorite hangouts in Michigan. They do have a cheese and cracker board to help clear the palate or snack on but it was a bit steep in  my opinion at over $13 or for a couple dollars more you could add salami to the board. I didn't ask what types of cheeses they had as we were still full from lunch.