Memorable Menu Plan Monday 6/27

I've decided to continue combining Memorable Monday and Menu Plan Monday. Why not? :)

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MENU PLAN:

This week's menu theme - simplicity and BBQ! Similar to last week, I'm only actually cooking 2-3 meals myself. Chris will be BBQing the other ones. :) He's been asking me to incorporate BBQ'd meals into my menu planning so here y'go, hubs!

Friday we're hosting a Canada Day BBQ at our place and either Wednesday or Thursday night we may be having friends over for another one (unconfirmed).

Monday:
BBQ'd chicken from Sobey's
Spinach tortellini with home-made alfredo sauce with broccoli

Tuesday:
Chicken noodle soup made from Monday's leftover chicken, onions, carrots, celery & macaroni. (I LOOOVE home-made chicken noodle soup. Chris says it isn't really a Summer meal and most people would probably agree, but I can personally eat it whenever and I can't bring myself to throw out a bird carcass without making a soup! Such wastage!)

Wednesday:
Maybe a BBQ? If not, I'll cook something from the pantry or cop out and do a frozen pizza or sumpin. :)

Thursday:
See Wednesday. :)

Friday:
BBQ - probably hamburgers & hotdogs. Maybe some snausages too. *nods*
Salad, taters, veggies and mushrooms on the side. 

Weekend:
Sunday we're in Kincardine at a picnic with Chris' extended family. Saturday - dunno. Maybe treat ourselves to dinner out!

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MEMORABLE POSTS:

• Best. Reaction. Ever. from The Blonde Critic. So sweet and funny - you've gotta check this one out!
• Who's up for "no-pooing" by Good Girl Gone Green. This isn't what it sounds like, heh. It's about why we might want to consider no longer using shampoo to wash our hair, and how to wean ourselves off . My good friend's husband does this and he has a super-thick, healthy looking head of hair. I might give it a whirl myself! (Now's a good time with cottaging coming up!)
• Funny Parenting Quotes by Mama B. My favourite: “In general my children refuse to eat anything that hasn’t danced on television.”
• The Power Behind Date Nights by Simple Mom. Good tips on why & how to regularly "date" your spouse, post-kiddos. 
• 80 Uses for Coconut Oil by Hybrid Rasta Mama. I can't wait to try some of these (and write about my experiences) when I receive the coconut oil I won from Tropical Traditions!
• How to "Go Green" When Eating Out by Simple Organic. I'd never thought of bringing my own reusable take-out container to a restaurant before reading this, but I'm going to start! Why not? Such a simple way to cut down on some waste!
• And finally, two articles which really spoke to my inner demons, if you will. :) What Motivates You by Live Renewed and Am I Normal? Wait, don't Answer That... by This Mom Loves.

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So what are you cooking up and reading this week? :)

Memorable Menu Plan Monday

Yes that's right. I'm combining Memorable Monday and Menu Plan Monday this week. Why? 'cause I want to do both, but I'm on a self-imposed time budget as I'm *exhausted*. I need to get myself a few nights of solid sleep in a row. So I'm going to try to do this post in 9 minutes.

Let's rock.

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MENU PLAN:

I'm only cooking three meals this week. (See above note on exhaustion.) Meal inspiration? The thriving basil and cilantro in the back deck planters which are begging to be pruned down! :)

Monday:
Pasta with basil, tomatoes and feta served over PC Dine-In Tonight Fire-Roasted Goat Cheese and Tomato Girasoli. These dine-in tonight pastas are super-delicious. I just wish the portions were a bit bigger as I'm still on a mission to gain back some weight and my appetite is ginormous. 

Tuesday:
Phad Thai w/ shrimp & tofu. I've had a hankering for this for some time now. 

Wednesday:
Thai red curry. Both basil and cilantro will go into this scrumptious dish! 

Thursday:
Quiznos subs. I have a Wagjag I need to use. 

Friday:
Leftovers. There should be plenty from Tues and Weds! 

Weekend:
Lots of food-tastic events, including THREE birthday parties and the KW Multicultural festival! Our kitchen will be closed down. :)

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MEMORABLE POSTS:

• Living a Good Story in the Chaos and Getting Organized for an Intentional Summer by Simple Mom. Great posts about living intentionally. I was inspired by the second one in particular which led to Chris and I brainstorming our own "want to do" list for this coming summer. I'll post on this soon!
• Sunscreen by Job Description: Mommy (via guest poster Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama). Great info on why it may be wise to avoid traditional sunscreens and alternative methods for protecting your skin from the sun.
• Flats and Handwashing Challenge Survey Results by Dirty Diaper Laundry. A HUUUUGE collection of interesting stats and comments are included here; definitely take a look if you want to know more about diapering with flats and/or cleaning dipes without a washer/dryer.
• Ten Ways to Stress Out a Blogger by Simply Stacie. All I can say here is "Amen"! Great read if you're a blogger, a giveaway sponsor or a giveaway enterer. (Or any combination of the above!)
• Life in the NICU - How to cope by Little Miss Kate. Some great tips for "riding the NICU rollercoaster" from a Mama who has been there!
• Infant Massage Basics by Natural Parents Network. There are some tips here on alleviating digestive problems which I'd like to try on S as she has the tendency to get a li'l bunged up. :-/

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OK that took a half hour. *chastizes self*

Bedtime!!!

Memorable Monday 6/6

Haven't done one of these in awhile. In the absense of a Menu Plan Monday post (just got back from a mini-vacation tonight) I thought this was a good time to get back in the saddle!

Flats and Handwashing Challenge: Over and Done (Dirty Diaper Laundry) - If you're a cloth diapering parent, you may have heard of this challenge (and possibly even participated). The main purpose was to demonstrate that just about ANYONE can cloth diaper as it can be done on an extremely tight budget and without conveniences such as a washer/dryer and diaper sprayer. I didn't take part myself, but I followed along with the accomplishments and struggles of other parents participating in the challenge. Kim Rosas (the mastermind behind the FaHC) provides a terrific postmortem here, along with links to conclusions from other participants.

The Opulent Ability to Give (Simple Mom) - Discusses the benefits of living within one's (financial) means via a poignant account of a Filipino family living in acute poverty. This article is written by one of several "Compassion Bloggers" who recently visited the Phillipines representing Compassion International, an organization which partners with bloggers to help release children from poverty.

There Will Never Be Another Moment Like This (Connected Mom) - A touching reminder of the importance of living in the present and cherishing every moment!

Preparing a 72 Hour Kit with Kids in Mind (Job Description: Mommy) - A helpful "starter list" of items (including those specific to babies/kids) that would be helpful to have in a kit in the event of a natural disaster or emergency.

5 Strategies for Preparing for a Great Garage Sale (Simple Organic) - 'tis the season, so great timing on this one!

Memorable Monday 4/18

I haven't had a chance to do a lot of blog reading this past week so today's MM will be on the short side, but the following posts did catch my eye:

A Beautiful Calling for outlining how parents can take control of their children's attachment to comfort objects (or "loveys"). No more frantic searches or stringent laundering times with this approach, as if you follow the suggestions, you'll have multiple "loveys" in circulation. Great idea!

Another great and practical article from Doable Diapers on travelling with cloth diapers. Bringing your own detergent and being somewhat conservative with your travel stash size are a couple of the helpful tips.

Julie from Knickernappies on tips and tricks for green cleaning. We already clean with vinegar in our humble abode, but I have yet to try some of her suggestions such as using essential oils (e.g. grapefruit seed) to leave behind a fresh scent, and mixing lemon, baking soda and vinegar together to create a powerfully natural cleaning paste. Good stuff!

A Beautiful Calling once again on the benefits of choosing a midwife. Although I did have a positive experience overall going the OBGYN route (and our local hospital, Grand River, provides excellent childbirth care), I think I'll opt for a midwife next time around, for a number of the reasons cited in this great article (possibility of home birth, lengthier prenatal appointments and encouragement to birth in "non-standard" positions to name a few!)

And finally, this isn't a blog post per se, but thanks to Darcy at Tales From the Nursery, I found myself learning about baby led weaning on wholesomebabyfood.com. S is a week shy of 5 months old so we'll be starting her on solids quite soon. Up until this point, I assumed we'd take the standard approach of rice cereal followed by a rainbow of purees (home made), but BLW suggests an entirely different way of going about solids introduction. Food for thought! (Pun intended.) I'm sure I'll be blogging on this further so stay tuned!

Memorable Monday 4/11

OK so it's technically Tuesday now, but we'll let that slip, right? :)

This week's list:

•  Doable Diapers for explaining that order is indeed important when it comes to stuffing your pocket diapers! A simple article, but one that made me go "Ahhhhh - good to know! And I thought I knew everything about CDing!" (yeah right) 

• Simple Organic for inspiring me to go screen-free for a week later this month (or at least limit screen time, because let's be realistic here :). The article links to some great resources containing dozens of ideas for spending fun, creative family time outdoors (or indoors with the TV off when the weather is less than ideal.) Very helpful to me as I'm a researcher and assimilator; not a creator per se!

• A Mommy's Blessings for managing to invoke in me a desire to bake something pastry-esque. This doesn't happen often, but c'mon: sausage, gravy, eggs and cheese - need I say more? (Note - haven't made it yet but am planning for it to be on the menu for Mother's Day Brunch! Will need to do a test run first, of course!)

• Nicki's Diapers (via guest poster Sarah) for a fascinating article on cloth diapering a preemie. Definitely something you don't hear about day to day! Heck, we didn't even CD our sizely newborn daughter until she was almost 2 weeks old (though next time around, assuming there is a next time, I'd like to start from day 1!)

• Growing Up Gamers for laying out 10 "easy" steps (ha!) for teaching board games to kids. As somewhat of a gamer geek myself with fond childhood memories of family board games night, I'm definitely eager to carry on the tradition with our kids! The GUG family obviously knows a thing or two about gaming with kiddos, judging by the loftiness of their board game stash and the fact that their 5 year old knows how to play Settlers of Catan well enough to write a review on it! These guys rule. :)

• Cloth Diaper Blog for some great "how to" info on combining CDing with working outside the home. Yes, as it turns out, the two can happily coexist! This is encouraging since we'll be in this position when I return to work this Fall. The article also links to a CD-friendly daycare directory (CAN/US) which includes a few listings from my area. A great place to start, as CDing will be one of our stipulations when it comes to finding a childcare provider. On a related note, I also found this article from FuzziBunz on encouraging your daycare provider to cloth diaper your baby. Some excellent tips here!

• Maple Leaf Mommy for her friendly reminder to show some appreciation to those blogs you heart. Possible methods include voting, commenting, following and showing some sponsor love! On this note, you may have seen a couple buttons at the top of the left sidebar on my own blog....???? .....! :D
  

Memorable Monday 4/4

Before we begin, a quick reminder of what MM is, for those who didn't catch the inaugural edition the first time around!

This week's list:

Simple Organic for documenting 10 Childbirth Norms Parents Can Refuse. I believe that it's important for expecting parents to be aware of all the prenatal and birth procedures and interventions that are standard in our society, and understand that it's within their rights to turn down many of these if they are not comfortable with them. This article does a good job of listing and explaining these.

Adventures in Mommyhood: Mommy Outnumbered for her sweet & whimsical SAHM don't get sick days! post, which outlines what a job posting might look like for a SAHM.

Everything Cloth for her two excellent articles The Sanitizing Power of the Sun and What is Wicking? Each of these clearly explains a cloth diapering concept which is frequently misunderstood and/or shrouded in mystery. I definitely learned a thing or two here. For example, did you know that if weather prohibits line drying your diapers outside in order to remove stains, hanging them inside on window ledges can accomplish the same goal? As a Canadian gal, this is a welcome tip and I'm definitely going to try it out!

Connected Mom for a heartfelt and thought-provoking post My Son Was Born "Imperfect" - What Would You Do? from one of the contributors named Summer, documenting how she handled her son being born with a conspicuous but purely superficial port wine stain on his face, and how he responded mentally and emotionally as a result. Great post highlighting how attitude can be everything when it comes to navigating life's obstacles.

Memorable Monday: The Inaugural Edition

I've invented (I think) an alliterative weekly blog event! Yay me!

What I'm going to do each week is showcase recently read blog posts in other journals which were, well, memorable to me in one way or another. Perhaps they were hilarious or touching, they hit home in a personal way, or they revealed an excellent tip which I plan to incorporate into my own life.

I thought of naming the event "Memorable Mama Monday" to extend the alliteration, however I wouldn't want to exclude the daddy and child-free bloggers I'm following as you guys rock too! :)

(And yes, I realize it's no longer Monday, however I came up with this idea late last night just before hubby & my snuggle / Ally McBeal time. :) )

Without further ado, here's this week's listing!

The Mrs - a newly discovered (for me) Canadian mommy blog, Mrs makes the list not only for having an incredibly engaging and hilarious writing style in general (she manages to work in her maple candy addiction every three sentences or so) but also for her bare-it-all documentation of Project Grocery, in which she strives to stay under $120/week on grocery-related expenditures. Her Oatmeal Time installment in particular was memorable, as I didn't realize you could make oatmeal ahead and refrigerate it for up to a week! I'm totally doing that. :) Finally, she reminded me to do the laundry late at night - surprisingly, this'll save us some $$$!

Hobo Mama (another new blog on my reading list) for her frank synopsis of post-partum sex. Without going into detail, I can certainly relate! I highly recommend this one if you've recently had a child and are disheartened at the resulting changes in this area.

Mommy Only Has 2 Hands! just wrote an excellent tutorial on how to continue with Blogger after purchasing your own domain name. This is something I'm considering, so I'll definitely reference her article if I do take this step.

The Connected Mom for her compelling article on Elimination Communication (EC) myths. I've been intrigued by the idea of EC, especially since I have good friends who practice this with their son. I'm not sure we'll take the plunge (no pun intended) with S, however it would more likely be something we'd look at for child #2 (assuming he or she "happens"!)

To round things out, Everything Cloth earns comic relief points with her graphic EBF blow-out story. :D She had me LLOL (literally laughing out loud) several times with that one!

Feel free to join me with your own Memorable Monday posts - let's let those bloggin' gems out there really shine!