Meal Plan Monday

Crockpot Beef and Barley Stew - Recipe | Pinterest

This week is mostly a trial run in meal planning. We're horrible at it, because we're both picky eaters (We're both not veggie fans, and even worse, boyfriend hates cheese). It's especially a trial run because we've already done our groceries for the week, so we need to work with what we already have, or make a trip to the store. I don't do breakfast most days, so that will rarely be planned. Boyfriend takes sandwiches to work for lunch, so lunch will rarely be planned either.

Dinner: 

Monday: Boyfriend's choice, his day off
Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie * (Mom's recipe of ground beef, cream corn and potatoes)
Wednesday: Store-bought beef pies & potatoes
Thursday: Grilled cheeseburger wraps and homemade fries
Friday: Crockpot Chicken Tacos *
Saturday: Rotisserie Chicken & potatoes
Sunday: Crockpot Beef and Barley stew *

Lunch Ideas for the Week: 

- Leftover Shepherd's Pie
- Pasta salad *

* - Items needed

- Salsa (Optional: Lettuce & sour cream)
- Cream corn
- Cubed beef
- Beef broth
- Tomato paste
- Ranch dressing

Since we horrible with meal planning, we might not actually follow this plan. Especially since I'm a new crockpot owner, and haven't even used it yet. This gives us something to run with. Starting next Monday, I'll be doing two meal plans - ours, then a gluten and dairy-free menu for Madi. That should be more of a challenge. 

What are you eating this week?

10 Things I Did This Week

1. The most major thing, is we decided we were going to have boyfriend's daughter, Madi, in our care full-time. We started taking some of the steps towards making that work. 

2. I got super into the idea of meal planning and extreme budgeting. This is all due to #1. 

3. Something's been up with Chloe. I think and hope it's teething. First she was super cranky for days, then she was fine. Then she was fine, but randomly throwing insane tantrums and waking up a million times through the night. I'm tired, she's probably tired and I could some happy child time. 

4. I cooked a spaghetti squash and it was a huge fail. Chloe wouldn't eat it, I tried it and thought it was weird. Garbage it went. We'll try again someday. 

5. I'm still struggling with Chloe's eating lately. I'm trying almost anything to get her to eat, well, almost anything. Her favorite seems to be 'cherry berry carrot' apple sauce that I got her. And vegetable soup. It's hard to get her to eat much else these days. 

6. Got a couple of cavities filled at the dentist. Oh, fun times. 

7. I got most of my papers to get my taxes done. I hope the tax fairies are good to me this year. 

8. I decided I would try get caught up on current episodes of Gossip Girl. I haven't seen the end of season 5 or any of season 6 yet. 

9. I realized I need to work on how I deal with some things in life. Like sleepless nights or mealtime fights with Chloe. 

10. I miss coffee giving me that perky feeling in the morning, but when I drink it now it makes my belly hurt sometimes, the rest of the time the coffee shop just doesn't make it right and it tastes like bitter water. 

* I don't feel like posting photos. Go to my instagram to see a couple from this week. There's not much*

Announcing the new addition to our family

I mentioned a life-changing decision that me and boyfriend were discussing on Saturday. 

Well here it is. 

We are not engaged. We're not pregnant. 

We are, however adopting a child. His child. 

Nothing is signed on paper yet, but this little one is going to be in our custody. We will be her primary guardians, and have her from Monday to Friday, while her mother has her on the weekends. 

While this is a good thing, it has a lot of scary aspects to it. Yes, I am going to talk money. 

One tough factor in our decision was boyfriend's work schedule. He does shift work - so any day of the week, and any hours between 10am and 10pm. The shifts all vary. I work Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm. She will need to be in daycare through the week, and I will be the one responsible for both her and Chloe after daycare when boyfriend is at work. That right there is a ton of responsibility. 

The biggest factor in our decision was money. I would say that we're somewhere in the lower middle-class. I joke that we're poor, but we get by. We have a lot of debt, and we have okay paying jobs. Just okay. We both need to work full weeks to get by. 

Madi is an expensive child - she is still in diapers, and she has a lot of dietary restrictions: gluten, soy, dairy are all things she can't have at this time. Paying for more diapers, and food to fit her needs will be a bit more than we're used to paying. 

And daycare. Since we're low income, some of our child care is covered through the government (Thank YOU Canada). Chloe's child care was fully covered, but now taking boyfriend's income into play, so we have to pay a lot more out of our pockets for child care. 

We are making money off of her though - we will no longer pay child support, and we will get a small amount of support from her mother. 

We will survive, but things will be tough. We've always kept our money separate, but we are now going to be working off a joint budget, and it will be a tight one. 

I am planning on becoming a big believer of menu planning, budgeting, and money saving tricks. I've already been researching a lot, and Blissful and Domestic blog has taught me quite a few pointers. I'll be sure to share what I'm learning along the way. 

So here's to taking on a new child, and becoming frugal. Wish us luck. Somedays me and Chloe go a little crazy on our own. This will certainly be a tough adventure to get used to. 

Some LOL Things from Pinterest - Share yours too!

Browsing through my Pinterest funnies board today. Here are a few to share that I still find funny. Link up your own Pinterest funnies below if you so wish.

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I'm Wondering Wednesday

I'm Wondering Wednesday. I'm going to try again to make this a weekly thing because I don't have much to blog about. It's four questions. I answer them, your answer them, then link up your post below. That's pretty much it. If you're feeling frisky, suggest your own questions in the comments for next Wednesday! 

1. What's one little thing that bugs you so much more than it should? 
Chloe throwing food on the floor.  I think it bugs me so much because she has that badass 'tough shit, mom' look on her face while she does it. 

2. What's your favorite breakfast food or meal? 

Bacon (if it's cooked perfectly to my liking) and over easy eggs. I dip the bacon (and toast and hashbrowns) in the yolks. Now I'm seriously craving breakfast.

3. Can you do a proper cartwheel? 
Not a chance. 

4. What's the best part of your job?
I love so many things about my job, but I guess the best part is how laid-back it is. I get to sit at a desk all day. I can take a bathroom break whenever I want. I can snack at my desk. It's all good.


Join me. Answer the questions in your own blog post, and link up: