Thursday, September 22, 2011

Yummy Eggplant Recipe

I didn't plant eggplant in my garden this year, because...well, I had no idea if I liked eggplant! I've eaten all sorts of odd and unique foods in my travels as a musician, and eggplant was never one of them. We received a few eggplants (does "eggplant" have a plural?) from my in-laws, and decided to look for something tasty. I stumbled across a recipe for Crispy Eggplant Parmesan, and I can say that I am hooked!

Now, just a fair warning...the sauce has a nice little bit of heat to it, but we like heat in our household. I also split the recipe and tried freezing half. I had the frozen batch tonight for dinner, and while it was still good, it went a little mushy. I think I like the "fresh and crispy" version a little better.

I think I may have to plant eggplant next year just for this recipe!

Partial goal success

So, my husband walked out the door with BOTH sets of car keys, leaving me unable to do my pre-baking planned grocery run, and unable to go to my orchestra rehearsal tonight (boo...), so I took the opportunity to plow through the list of new shows in the DVR (he can't complain about watching them without him, now can he?) and IRONING.

I am happy to say that the Mr. now has NO unironed laundry. My stuff is a different story, however, I do not get as many opportunities to wear iron-worthy clothes lately, and I am more likely to up and iron the item I need myself.

Can I claim a partial victory?

Monday, September 19, 2011

Weekly goal update

This week has been full of highs and lows. I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my back, and it put me on the DL for most of the weekend. According to my hubby, I was OUT COLD for 2.5 hours on Sunday during one of the football games...which meant I never got up my anticipated series of Sunday posts giving my favorite Game Day meals and snacks. I will have to assemble this later in the week.

On the upside, I have 4 confirmed private students, and two more I am waiting to schedule. Things are starting to fall into place in those regards, which makes me feel less like a "unemployed" spouse. I am doing my best to take advantage of this time at home, and to be a wonderful spouse and homemaker for my wonderful husband (who has picked up extra teaching hours to close in some of the salary gap).

Here is my goal list from last week!
1.1 load of laundry per day. The victory on this one actually belongs to the Mr., as he did some laundry for me while I was laid up.
2. Ironing catch-up.  The new television programs all come out this week, so I plan to take care of things while plowing through all of the new shows we've set to record. Being unable to move made this one a fail.
3. Finalize office organization. Victory! My office is starting to look like...an office! We're just down to the boxes that were moved in from my classroom after my layoff, but I'm not counting those in the equation.
4. New chore list. Fail.
5. Finalize cross stitch wording. Fail.
6. Sort/pack/donate one box or bag to Goodwill this week. This was my plan for Sunday afternoon, but my body said no. :-) Fail.
7. Canning! Rather than canning, I turned quite a bit of what I had handy into freezer meals. I'm building up quite the stockpile of oven-ready meals to overcome the fact that I will get to see my husband all of 2 evenings a week.
8. Follow up on sub lists. I have an orientation with one this week, and the other one isn't returning my calls, so I've emailed. At this point, I'm considering it complete.
9. Contact local music teachers re: sub list. Half-complete. I have the names/emails of every teacher who was listed on the website. I've decided that a snail-mail letter might be a bit more professional than an email, so this is going on my list to accomplish this week. I have spiffy music letterhead in my stash to make it look cool. :-)
10. Make sure my grad school homework is done every week! Done, but this will be an ongoing goal.
 
Here is my list for this upcoming week:
1. 1 load of laundry per day
2. Ironing catch-up.
3. New chore list.
4. Finalize cross stitch wording.
5. Sort/pack 1 box to donate to Goodwill.
6. Mail out letters to local music teachers for subbing.
7. Unpack/resort/repack boxes that came from my music room, and find a storage place in the house until the God-designed job comes along!
8. Catch up on the coupon sorting (My MIL gave me 2 months worth of coupon inserts, and the clipping and inserting of those has me behind).
9. Call the list of students who never contacted me back re: lessons.
10. Grad school classwork.
 
What is your goal list this week?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Weekly goals update

It's been a hectic week, and some back problems (and several days of cold, rainy weather) put a damper on getting some goals accomplished. Here's my update!

My new goals list:
1. Daily load of laundry
2. Get TOTALLY caught up on ironing. Epic fail. This is going back on the list!
3. Complete office organization! I'm putting this back on the list. I'm down to a couple boxes of odds 'n ends, and then I'm including the boxes of items from my school, which need to be sorted/repacked/stored until a new teaching job comes along, and then the things that are school property need to be returned.
4. FINALLY do the new chore list. Layoffs at the hubby's work and changes in my class schedule threw this for a loop. Giving this one another shot!
5. Canning :-) Boo rain. Back on the list!
6. I have two schools yet to contact re: subbing. I called them...they never called me back. So, done, but I think it needs to go back on the list
7. Contact my assigned music students and get them scheduled.
8. Cross-stitch wording...I think I know where the graph paper is now! Another epic fail.
9. Box up as much of the items from our twice-failed garage sale and donate it to Goodwill so that we can reclaim our garage! Going to be a MUCH bigger project, so this is getting revised.
10. Contact the music teachers in the districts I'm eligible to sub. Third epic fail. I'm on a roll!

This week's list:
1. 1 load of laundry per day
2. Ironing catch-up. 
3. Finalize office organization.
4. New chore list
5. Finalize cross stitch wording
6. Sort/pack/donate one box or bag to Goodwill this week.
7. Canning!
8. Follow up on sub lists.
9. Contact local music teachers re: sub list.
10. Make sure my grad school homework is done every week!

Keeper of the Home Giveaway

Stephanie over at Keeper of the Home is having a Union28 giveaway! Union28 has a great line of marriage apparel, and she's giving away $50 in Union28 apparel! You should go enter her giveaway!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Weekly goals update

This just seems like a crazy week, but I really feel like I got a LOT accomplished!

Here is my list from last week.
1. 1 load of laundry per day.
2. Finish organization of the office. (Super close to being done! The desk and table are cleaned off and purged of clutter, so I'm down to 2 boxes of books and a huge pile of music that needs to be sorted and filed in the cabinet that is currently blocked by the boxes of books)
3. Put together new chore list. Changes at the hubby's work changed his work schedule majorly, so we're bumping this yet another week.
4. Order baking supplies.
5. Follow up on city school sub list.
6. Finalize the wording for Thomas' cross stitch.
7. Schedule classes!!
8. Put together blocks of lesson availability for the music store.
9. Transfer coupons to new coupon binder.
10. 1 new app this week. There's just...not much out there. I did, however, have orientation for subbing at the ESC, so I at least am on the lists to start working!

My new goals list:
1. Daily load of laundry
2. Get TOTALLY caught up on ironing so that we know what hubby has in the wardrobe and what needs replaced so he looks all professional for the start of his next term of teaching.
3. Complete office organization!
4. FINALLY do the new chore list...which should be easier to handle now that we know what our respective schedules are going to be.
5. Canning :-) The sweet corn and beans should be ready in the garden, and I have some beans still to can from my mother-in-law!
6. I have two schools yet to contact re: subbing. 
7. Contact my assigned music students and get them scheduled.
8. Cross-stitch wording...I think I know where the graph paper is now!
9. Box up as much of the items from our twice-failed garage sale and donate it to Goodwill so that we can reclaim our garage!
10. Contact the music teachers in the districts I'm eligible to sub for to let them know that I'm on their list. I always hated taking sick days, because I knew it was unlikely that I would have a musician for a sub...and therefore my students would fall behind. I know teachers can often request subs, so I want to see that my foot is in the door.

What are your goals for the week?