Slices of Life

We did pretty good with our monthly meal planning this month.  We did eat out a few times rather unexpectedly so I had a few meal ideas I was able to just roll over onto December's calendar.  I also had to revamp a few of our menu items when Weight Watcher's changed their point system but over all just a few small tweaks and our month was pretty perfect. 1. My husband and I enjoyed a date night out at Mr. Z's after dropping Alec off at his karate pizza party and the other two boys got take out. 2. Weight Watchers American chop suey. 3. Pulled pork with rice and cooked vegetables. 4. Homemade chicken parmesan with whole grain pasta, sauce, and salad.  5. Baked fish , baked potato, and zucchini (the younger boys had chicken tenderloins with baked potatoes and salad). 6. Chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole made with brown rice (though only Evan and I ate it as Ian, my husband, and Alec headed out to dinner and then to Alec's karate demo).  7. Grilled steaks, roasted pot

With the 13 books I read this month I only have 5 more to go to meet my yearly reading goal-- easy peasy! I typically don't read any Christmas themed books until after Thanksgiving but the last couple of years I have not been able to read quite a few of the books I had hoped to because I waited too long and they were all snapped up at our library before I got there.  So I added in some holiday books along with some of my standard reading and had a great time reading this month.  At one point I had 4 different books going!   1. For Batter or Worse by Jenn McKinlay (Cupcake Bakery Mystery Book #13)-- When Mel is checking out the venue for her wedding reception she finds her old bakery assistant Oz standing over the dead body of his boss who has been murdered.  Mel knows that Oz is innocent and is determined to clear his name before she walks down aisle.  I've read this entire series in the last year and the books are so fun and such quick reads.  2. The Falling in Love Montage