Friday Favorites: Shelter at Home Week #7

I started back on Weight Watchers this week and while I am doing pretty well with tracking food you are sure to see that I went over my points most days.  I figure baby steps!  We also celebrated a birthday, had a few fun hikes, and managed to get some yard work done.



We started our day off on Friday with a huge double batch of waffles!  I then spent my morning in the kitchen baking up a squash casserole and a chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole for later in the week.  I put together a large garden salad too and then supervised Alec assembling Ian's cake.




He put a peanut butter filling in between the layers

Topped that with crushed Reese's peanut butter cups
Topped the cake with another layer of peanut butter filling and frosted the sides with a coffee flavored buttercream

He piped on a few piles of frosting and topped off the cake with peanut butter cups



Ian headed out with this grandmother to get takeout and have lunch with her; every year around his birthday my mother in law takes him out for a nice lunch just the two of them but since that wasn't an option this year they did the next best thing.  She also gave him his gifts; two new model trucks for his collection.



My mother stopped by to drop of Ian's gifts too... even though she's still waiting for one of them to come in.  Evan and I took a quick walk up to the mailbox and then I started making dinner.  I made chicken Parmesan with spaghetti and garlic bread and it was delicious!

After dinner the whole family battled it out in ping pong and then we had Ian open his gift (new riding boots) and finally dug into that cake-- it was so delicious!




Saturday was warm and sunny so I kicked the younger two boys outside and set them to work cleaning up sticks from the yard.  My husband and Ian were out working but by afternoon they were back at home and began putting Ian's 4-wheeler back together now that his new parts had arrived.  I worked on clearing out leaves and dead plants from our flower garden beds; finishing up 4 of the 6!

I showered, put together a pasta salad for dinner, took a little walk up to the mailbox and settled myself on the glider to read a bit more of my book.  For dinner we had this amazing cranberry chicken, ham & cheese pasta salad (recipe coming soon!), and salad.



It was supposed to rain on Sunday so we didn't really have any plans.  Ian headed off to work and my husband spent part of the morning working on the 4 wheeler and making a part for it at the machine shop.  Just before lunch my husband, Evan, Alec and I headed out on a walk and ended up walking for about an hour.  By the time we arrived home it began raining and we spent a quiet day inside.  I finished up my book and my puzzle!   For dinner I made a pot roast and a tray of mixed roasted vegetables using up a bunch of veggies.



Monday was another cold and rainy day; I just loved finding these two together in Alec's room (in the dark-- so sorry the photo is blurry) watching something on his Kindle together.



We read two more chapters in Harry Potter and Ian tackled another science experiment dealing with why we have buffered aspirin and what buffers do testing the PH of various substances and buffers (they keep your stomach from becoming acidic).




I decided to head to the bank and deposit a few checks we had and tackle our small pile of bills.  Once home the boys played Apple to Apples and Scattergories while I talked with my sister (for 2 hours!).  We cleaned the upstairs and I started another puzzle.  Alec began packing up his room and reminded me that we were supposed to buy paint.



I had some potatoes that we needed to use up so I made some homemade french fries in the air fryer while Evan prepared pork chops with shake and bake and I heated up some frozen corn and green beans to go with it.

Tuesday was a beautiful and sunny day.  We spent our morning working in Alec's room getting it ready for painting.  He decided to clean out while packing up most of his stuff and we got rid of 5 garbage bags full of stuffed animals, books, and outgrown toys.  I taught him how to spackle the holes and we're getting really excited about painting!


In the afternoon, once we got Ian all settled on sweeping the road with the new sweeper attachment for the tractor, the younger boys and I headed out on a nice hour long walk.



I cooked up some fish (chicken for the younger boys), heated up the squash casserole, and served it with broccoli and salad. A yummy and low point dinner.

Wednesday morning was pretty foggy on the lake but once the fog cleared and the sun decided to shine we made plans to head out on a hike after breakfast.   We headed to Old Furnace and hiked for 45 minutes then swung by my sister's house to drop off some games for her kids.  Alec and I stopped in at Lowe's real quick and picked out a bunch of paint swatches.




Once home I spent the afternoon working on another garden while the younger boys went to play outside.  Ian was still working on sweeping the road and we all took a little break when my mom stopped by with Ian's birthday gift that had finally arrived.

I heated up the chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole for dinner and made up my grocery list while Ian and my husband finished putting Ian's four wheeler back together.  Ian rode it around for a bit to make sure everything was working just fine.


As soon as we finished breakfast on Thursday, I headed out to do our weekly grocery shopping.  While I'm not really scared and nervous about getting sick I do feel so much anxiety on my way to the store and I think it's that combination of worrying if I'll find what we need for the week and if there are even more/ new regulations I'll have to worry about once I'm there.



Thankfully for the third trip in a row I was able to find everything on my list!

It was a really yucky, rainy day and so I spent my afternoon baking.  I whipped up some zucchini bread, oatmeal/ butterscotch cookies, and a cornbread to go with our chili for dinner.



How was your week?

Linking Up With: A Morning Cup of Joe,




Comments

  1. BEST bakers around- have a great weekend!

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  2. Love the puzzle and those waffles look amazing. Your guys are so talented.

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  3. That pasta salad looks yummy, can't wait for the recipe! Oatmeal butterscotch cookies are my husband's fave, I just made some too :)

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    1. I just love them! They're my sister's favorite cookie too and making me them yesterday made me think of her.

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  4. I'm always interested in the gifts boys receive!

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    1. I find teenage boy so hard to buy for. My husband made that suggestion and Ian just LOVES his new riding boots. He ended up taking a big chunk of his bard earned money and bought himself a full set of riding gear to go with his new boots.

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  5. Sounds like a great week! And I feel the same way about grocery shopping. It's really frustrating not being able to find what I need. I don't know if you have a Trader Joe's in your area, but I've had the most luck getting what I need there. The one in my area hasn't been out of stock in anything except occasionally toilet paper, but that is impossible to find anywhere! It looks like you've been coming up with great meals anyways! And that peanut butter cake looks delicious!

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    1. Sadly we don't have a Trader Joes near us; the nearest one is an hour away in a city that has been hit pretty bard by Covid so we're making do with small, local stores.

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  6. Such great favorites! Loving your completed puzzle and the new one as well. The foggy pictures look gorgeous!
    Thanks for sharing!
    Ellibelle's Corner

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    1. Thanks! I almost forgot how much I enjoy the challenge of a puzzle.

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  7. Joanne, every time I stop by I get a new craving!!! You had a delicious week!
    xo,
    Kellyann

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    1. LOL. Sorry! We definitely had a delicious week.

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  8. The waffles and cake look so good! What a special birthday tradition for your mother-in-law and son. Hope you have a good weekend!

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    1. Thank you! She's just an all around nice person and always takes the time to make their days extra special-- even calling them on the crack of dawn to sing loudly to them through the phone no matter where she is.

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  9. Good for you with starting WW. Never focus on perfection... or you won't make it. I struggle more with the nutritional side of things vs. working out, and I have to just take it in strides too. Focus on what GOOD I have done each day. That cake... I tell ya... looks AMAZING!

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    1. I've actually been doing WW for about a year now and lost 45 lbs; I just want to make sure I'm not gaining it all back as our eating has definitely strayed more to the comforting sweets and fatty foods than normal. But I just can't complain with all the amazing goodies we've been cooking up.

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  10. It looks like you had a nice week filled with good food and a lot of baking. The cake and waffles look so yummy. I love the photos of the fog.

    Thanks for the blog visit and enjoy the weekend.

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    1. Thank you! I love watching the fog lift on those mornings since it seems like the view changes every few minutes.

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  11. The birthday cake looks amazing! I don't know how you stay on track with WW with all these baked items. You've got great will power!

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    1. I am really struggling with WW this past month. We are doing way to much baking and eating for me to stay on track; thankfully we are more active than usual so it's not totally derailing my progress.

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  12. What a busy week! All the food looks and sounds amazing. Hope y’all have a great weekend.

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  13. Oatmeal butterscotch cookies bring back memories from childhood. Would love that recipe. So glad to see you liked Penny's chicken. I have it pinned and will get the ingredients this week. Looks yum. I have bananas to make banana bread this weekend.
    We are back on WW, too. I am down to my lifetime weight but would like to get a few extra pounds off for buffer. For days of banana bread and oatmeal butterscotch cookies!
    Your photos are eerily beautiful. Surely spring is about to arrive up there.

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    1. I'd like to drop a few extra for a buffer as well.

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  14. Your son's cake looks amazing- very impressive. I started Weight Watchers 3 weeks before they closed their doors. Since I stopped going to meetings, I've only lost about 2 additional pounds, for a total of 9 pounds in 8 weeks. I'm following it but doing a lot of night cheating since we are staying up so much later watching Netflix. So basically I'm maintaining-better than gaining. I love your foggy lake photos!

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    1. I have been doing it strictly on-line for the past year with my husband and while we have been doing so great we are definitely back sliding during this time. I am trying to nip these bad habits in the bud before they undo all our hard work. I feel so much better having dropped 40+ lbs and I was only 2 lbs from my goal weight! I am definitely motivated to keep at it but I really need to get out of this house and stop eating. Best of luck to you on your weight loss journey!

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  15. That cake is stunning! You all have so many yummy things to eat. Happy birthday to you son.
    Blessings, Dawn

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  16. With all those delicious desserts around it's not hard to see how you go over your points! :-) Happy Birthday, Ian! My husband has one of those CAT collectibles someone gave him - it's a side boom, which is what he started out operating on the pipeline. He's a foreman now, but he keeps that side boom in our kitchen! I love the hot air balloon puzzle.

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    1. Yeah, I told the boys No more baking... until Mother's day. LOL

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