Meal Plan

The meal planning is great!  It really holds me accountable and helps me to be organized ahead of time to be sure I have all the things I need.  

So here is the plan for April 3 - April 9

Sunday April 3
- Sloppy Joe, oven roasted potatoes, and corn

Monday April 4
- I am working and will not be home until nearly 7:00 so I will make some taco meat ahead of time and all Zack has to do is warm it up and put it in the shells.

Tuesday April 5
- Panko crusted chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas

Wednesday April 6
- I am working and will get home about 5:30 so cheese ravioli and corn will be pretty easy and quick

Thursday April 7
- We will probably head into the Magic Kingdom today so we will eat at the Harbour House - our favorite restaurant there.

Friday April 8
- Another workday and I will get home about 5:15  again.  I am just going to put some pork chops in the oven along with some french fries...again, easy.

Saturday April 9
- If we go to Mardi Gras, we will get an Auntie Anne's pretzel. If we stay home,  I will make some mac and cheese and hot dogs.  

Spring Break Over - Amen!

These past two weeks have been "interesting".  I'm not going to go as far as saying that I hate my job at Universal but it is easy to say that I love teaching far more than what I am doing right now.I think God is trying to prepare my heart for the eventual shift in employment.  

In the meantime, I have put in for a transfer at work for summer...something that doesn't involve the serving of food. 

I just have to put this out there because it happened AGAIN today...

I cannot understand how people can take food that they did not even order!!!

The other day, two guys walked away with a whole tray of food that wasn't theirs.  On the tray was a chicken Caesar salad, two large fries, two cokes, and a cheeseburger.  They were either completely clueless or brilliant for finding a way to get free food.  Want to feed your family at an overpriced theme park restaurant? Just grab your tray of food and the tray sitting next to it and disappear!   

Today, a teenage girl took a fish sandwich, chocolate shake, and a coke and sat down at a table.  A few minutes later, a woman asked about her order. I asked for her receipt and...yep...a fish sandwich, chocolate shake, and coke.  This time I knew where the girl was sitting so I called her back and asked her what she ordered....a chicken sandwich and a sprite.  What the what??????????  And it's not that she was confused about whether the sandwich was chicken or fish because I ASKED HER if she wanted tarter sauce for her fish sandwich to which she replied, "no". 

I am so ready to get back to a normal schedule after working 10 out of the last 12 days.  

Menu Plan...

Last week's menu plan went very well.  All meals went on as scheduled and on Saturday, when we did not end up going to Mardi Gras, I made Zack some Macaroni and Cheese while I ate at work (we get a food voucher every day for free food).

This week is not a great week for meal planning so I am going to be realistic...

Sunday - Easter Dinner at parent's house

Monday - Worked until 8:00 (which means I get home about 8:45).  Zack made himself some chicken nuggets and fries in the oven

Tuesday - Pizza. This is spring break week and this city is crazy! It took me 35 minutes to get home from work when it normally takes about 20.  I was so stressed out by the time I got home, I ordered a pizza from Dominos and jumped into a hot shower...just a side note, it took 70 minutes to get the pizza!  

Wednesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
I work until 8:00 again so there is some Spaghetti and Meatballs in in the fridge that Zack can throw in the microwave.  I will eat at work

Thursday - 
I work until 8:00 again so Chris is going to pick up Zack and take him out to dinner.  I will eat at work.

Friday - 
A Day Off!!!! We will go to Steak n Shake and then do our grocery shopping

Saturday -
I work until 8:00 - AGAIN!  Zack will have tacos while i will eat at work

Crazy schedule this week

Happy Easter

I tell you...the only reason I am not working today is because I will not work on Sundays.  In other words...they are working me to death lately and that, along with other circumstances, has led to the decision to ask for a transfer within the park. 

We drove up to Flagler Beach today and my mom made a great dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, corn, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and biscuits. Surprisingly, the only real traffic tie-up we came across was as I4 merged onto I95 North.  There is only one lane available for that...the other lane is for I95 South.  But, as usual, you had your people that would cruise along in the I95 South lane (despite the many warnings) and then squeezed themselves in at the last minute.  I pointed out that this  exemplified the two types of people in this world...In one lane, you have the "rule followers" and in the other lane you have the people who only think about themselves.  

Anyway, we talked, ate, Jon and Zack tossed the football around, we played one of the longest games of 9 ball ever, and then played one game of cribbage.  C.J. passed on football saying it was, "too hot out."  

Commence pictures

My sister wore this t-shirt today


She works at the shop that prints these Donald Trump/Sarah Palin shirts...and have many requests for orders.

I am at a loss as to understand why my fellow Americans support his bid for presidency????????????   Obviously my sister is one of them.  WHY??????

Walks and the Squirrels

Whenever I walk in the door, I am greeted with a dog who thinks he needs to go for a walk...EVERY! SINGLE! TIME!

This is how he lets me know...

The squirrels around here get unbelievably close to Ollie because they know I will give them peanuts...it's crazy. In the second video you can see how they actually run to me when they see me.  

Ollie would probably chew them in half if he could.  

There is only one complex where the squirrels are still skiddish and will retreat to run up the trees.  But I'm working on gaining their trust. 

I think it's safe to say that I'm a tad bit squirrel obsessed.

But they are so darn cute when they are eating those peanuts.  

Menu Plan...Review and New Menu

I ended up making a couple changes to the schedule but, overall, it was a big help and motivator to know that there was a plan and to hold myself accountable to that plan.  

I got my schedule wrong and Tuesday was the day I had to work until 6:30 so I ended up switching Tuesday and Wednesday night and we ordered pizza Tuesday night instead.  I also switched Friday and Saturday night  since we did not end up going to Mardi Gras this week. 

This week coming up is going to be very interesting since I work 5 straight days - and a couple of those will be late nights which means finding something quick and easy on those days.  

Here is the plan:

Sunday
Panko crusted chicken and oven baked french fries

Monday 
Oven baked pork chops, mashed potatoes, and mini corn on the cob

Tuesday (working until 4:30)
Spaghetti and Garlic Knots

Wednesday (working until 4:30)
Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs

Thursday (working until 6:00)
Tacos (I plan to make the taco meat the night before so all we have to do is warm it up)

Friday (working until 4:30)
Eat Out - our favorites are either Chilis, BWW, Ale House, and Red Robin.

Saturday (working until 6)
This is still undecided because I am not sure who is going to go to Mardi Gras.  If Zack decides to go, then we will probably have a pretzel or something really cheap in the park.  If he is not going, then I will make Ravioli ahead of time and he can warm it up for dinner.  

Random Stuff

Spring Break Time

This means I could probably have unlimited hours at work if I was interested in working every single day.  In theory, this sounds wonderful, but in reality, I am not at an age anymore where I have the energy necessary for this.  So instead, I am working 9 out of 13 days.  3 down and 6 to go.  

Speaking of work, we have undergone a lot of changes since I took a week off for my WI trip.  We have a new manager, two new team captains, and a new milkshake machine.  The milkshake machine and I are not great friends.  First of all, the addition of this machine has increased our serving responsibilities which slows us down, which makes customers wait longer for their food, which makes unhappy customers.  And then, the other day, the cover popped off and the shake mix spilled all over the refrigerator.  It took me a half hour to clean that mess up.  I found out the cover had popped off the day before as well spilling mix all over the floor...so that can't keep happening.  

What is up with the word 'nigger"?  I never use this work because of the negative connotations that go along with it.  However, as I was walking Ollie today, a maintenance man was coming out of the pool and had a device playing music on his waistband...and the words, 'I had the nigger by his shirt' were part of this rap that was playing.  So my feeling is that either that word is acceptable or not acceptable!  Which is it?  If I, as a teacher, were to call one of my student's that (which I would NEVER do), I would be in a world of trouble...but put it in a rap song and it's gold!  

And now, to vent some frustration, I am going to relate this story.  Zack has somehow 'ruined' 4 computers since October!  


- In October, the hard drive crashed on Computer #1. Thankfully, I always purchase the 2 year protection plan and, since it was still under warranty, it was sent in and the hard drive was replaced.  However, because he goes to school online and could not be without a computer for the two weeks it took to fix, I purchased computer #2.  

- In November, we got Computer #1 back and things were great for a couple weeks.  I had my laptop, Zack had computer #2, and I used computer #1 to watch Netflix and Youtube. 

- In December, Computer #2 went down...after only two months!  Again, needing a computer for school, I gave him computer #1 back while computer #2 was in the shop.  

- A month went by and computer #1 bites the dust - again!  But, we had computer #2 back and I had mine so we were fine.  The warranty expired on computer #1 so I did not want to pay to fix it. 

- At the end of January  Best Buy had a sale on computers and I found one that was ridiculously cheap.  My plan was to buy it and use it for Netflix and the like and cancel cable (which I was paying $120.00/month for). So I purchased computer #3.  

- Two weeks later, computer #2 isn't working again!  So I give him computer #3 for school.

- Yep...computer #3 became a victim last week.  

Tomorrow, I have an appointment with Geek Squad to look at both computer #2 and #3.  Zack will be coming along. My feeling is they both have a virus from him downloading things *despite having virus protection* and I want him to be present to hear the lecture and discuss safe and unsafe things to do with a computer. 

UGH!