Menu Plan Monday

My eight-year-old daughter helped me put together this week's menu. I'm very hungry for vegetables. Last week we went to three parties in the beginning of the week. Its not what you're thinking, I'm sure. They were parties in barns. The standard food is sloppy joe, hot turkey, etc, chips, bars, and taco dip. Sounds great but gets old after awhile.

Monday- Hamburger helper, salad, and green beans

Tuesday- Pancakes, bacon, and sliced fruit

Wednesday- Tacos, cornbread, and green beans

Thursday- Pork chops, mashed potatoes, and carrots

Friday- Haddock or tilapia, oven fries, and salad

Saturday- Homemade pizza and salad

More menu ideas here

I Apologize

I have been busy. Busy working with my job, working on the farm, and a whole lot of life in general. Taking pictures of cows in various settings is part of my job.

Last week I took some pictures of Kurt milking but most important of all was Kurt kissing Dynasty the cow. One of Red Barn's marketing tools is digital photo frames with picture from Red Barn farms and people. One customer in particular wanted pictures with more interaction. Like for instance someone kissing a cow. Seriously. We don't kiss the cows. Uh maybe I'll give a baby a kiss on its head but the cows are kind of lethal with their heads. You could get easily be knocked out if you ticked them off messing with their heads. Dyansty is a pretty gentle cow. She was showed as a heifer by 4-H kids so she is pretty tame. She's also one of the tallest cows we have. She doesn't look too happy in the pic though.

Also needed pictures of Mac interacting with the cows. I had a pic from a couple years ago where Mac is bottle feeding a calf and that is the pic they chose to use.

We classified our cattle two weeks ago. This pic was taken while they were getting scored. Nice full udders and clean tails. Clean tails are the best. The alternative is far worse. We also had a party the night we classified so I had to get all the food ready. It is just a long exhausting day and then you throw in a party it's down right ridiculous. I went to bed at 2am and Kurt went to bed around 5am. Farmers are crazy. When they have an opportunity to have fun they take full advantage of it because these parties don't happen a whole lot. But this time during classifying for our county their were four other parties. Ours was the first on Thursday then another on Friday which we did not go to because we were too dang tired. Then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we went to the other parties but we were home by 10pm.

This week Kurt has started planting corn which is kind of early but its dry and the sun is out. Our house has a cold bug go through it which makes you feel kind of cruddy and tired. Maclayne had a stomach bug Tuesday night and she thought she needed to go to the doctor. Which in to me seemed kind of funny, but the poor girl rarely gets sick so when she feels cruddy, she feels really cruddy. So she went to the bathroom and had some Pepto and a Tylenol and was back outside helping her dad unload baled shavings off the truck ten minutes later. To go from one extreme to the next was crazy but I kind of figured she as going a little being on dramatic requesting to go to the doctor. Fortunately for her, she gets to have her eight year checkup today! Then we'll stop at Kohls, Hobby Lobby, and maybe my least favorite place the W word.

PS-Thanks for sticking with me. I am seriously trying to find a nice balance with the following...farming, family, exercising, computer work, Red Barn work, homemaking, relaxing, and fun. We actually watched two movies this past weekend. I think I'm getting a hang of this relaxing on the weekends. Horray!

Trip Pics Silo Rooms

These are the steps on the second floor that lead up to the sitting room in the silo.

There was a little alcove area before entering the sitting room where a coffee maker was set up. Very thoughtful, but we don't drink coffee.

It was really fogging the day we arrived. Can you tell? There were books up there to read which was a really nice touch.

Kurt reading his Dave Ramsey book. He got quite a bit read and he is not the reading kind of guy. We spent a lot of time on that couch reading and watching tv. It was very comfy!

The ceiling of the lower part of the silo. There was a mural painted around the hot tub and in sky part of the mural there are little stars painted. They glowed in the dark if you turned off the light which was pretty neat.

A very nice relaxing place. If you are ever in the Door County area, go check out the Cornerstone! Still can not believe that we went away for an entire weekend. Even though it happened a month ago, I can say I am good (unfortunately) for another year or so but hopefully it is not that long until another vacation.

The Master Grocery List

I try to make one trip to the grocery store every two weeks. Lately it has been each week probably due to good deals that I can not past up. I always shop with a list and coupons of course. A few days before I go shopping I start getting myself in a tizzy thinking I am going to forget something which is really quite silly of me.

I usually look through the grocery ad (if there is one) and through my coupons a couple hundred times or so it seems. On a piece of paper I list the following catergories:

• Produce
• Bakery
• Deli
• Canned goods
• Baking items
• Pasta, mixes, etc
• Meat
• Dairy
• Frozen
• Junk

I leave space to write the items I need. Then I also check the cupboards, pantry, refrigerator, and freezers for anything I may overlook. I also do a mental walk through of the grocery store. I do just about everything I possibly can to make sure I am prepared, but sometimes you just forget. If anyone has any other catergories let me know, and I didn't add a household section. I usually make a note in the top or bottom corner and it looks like this--TP! : )

Check out WFMW.

Trip Pics Part Uno

This is a painting that was in the bedroom of where we stayed. It is a painting of where we stayed. Sounds repetative, but hopefully informative. : ) In case you can not tell it is a restored barn.

Here is the front view. The suite we stayed in was on the right. The two large windows to the far right were our living room. The silo (farthest right) had a sitting room in the top. In the bottom of the silo there was a hot tub.

The backside of the Cornerstone and my husbands. That is our bedroom window to the right of the deck. The deck was part of our suite and the upstairs bedroom had skylights which you can make out on the roof.

This is the kitchen/dining area. Very cute. The upright cupboard on the left had plates, bowls, and some pots and pans. There were glasses on the shelf above the sink. Those are beams from the original barn. Behind that wall is the first floor bedroom, coming right up.
Here is it. Be still my heart! It was decorated in a cow theme! Loved it and the bed was so soft except too soft and it gave me an achy back.
Here was the focal point of our whole getaway. The gas fireplace and the tv. Very relaxing. There were also about a dozen books and magazines spread throughout the suite which I read mostly. There were also videotapes and DVDs provided.

The steps leading up to the second floor bedroom.

A very peaceful and calming room on the second floor. This bed was firmer but not in a good way. I tried sleeping on it the second night and went back to the softer downstairs bed. See that little step. Can you guess what that is??
I loved the door in this room it was not an ordinary door. More cute farm pics and the dressers and most furnishings were antique.

The chair was not antique. Oh there is that little step. Oh, what could that be!?

It was a half bath! Cute, different, a little odd, but handy if you were not sleeping downstairs.

More pictures to come...stay tuned! We stayed at the Cornerstone Suites near Egg Harbor if anyone is curious.

Menu Plan Monday

The better the weather gets the busier farmers become. We planted our oats last Thursday and Friday which Kurt thought was the earliest he has ever planted. Very strange that Kurt planned on putting oats in the field that runs along the road and cow pasture, which is usually the last field you can get into because it is usually a big wet hole. Not this year, dry as a bone. Not good. Some rainy days are in the forecast thankfully, which has now pushed our small remodeling job in the barn back a day. We will be spending a lot more time in the barn in the next two weeks. We need to start clipping and washing the cows for them to be classified next Thursday. Easy, simple (maybe not the healthiest) meals are going to be a large part of this week and next's menu.

Monday- Ham and scalloped potato leftovers

Tuesday- More ham...hot ham and grilled cheese sandwiches with jello and chips

Wednesday- Turkey burgers, tator tots, green beans

Thursday- Chicken stirfry

Friday- Homemade pizza (haven't actually had in quite awhile although its been on the plan)

Check out more menu ideas at OrgJunkie