Thursday's Thoughts

Thursdays have always been my “writing” days on the blog – sharing my personal thoughts or results from various writing challenges around the interwebs. Sharing my writings is a very tough thing for me to do; so, Thursdays are often neglected. Since I do not have much time for blogging and sewing/crafting due to life, I have decided I will just to do general recaps of my week. At the very least, writing will not get neglected.

Let’s see, since we finally closed on the house, we basically immediately packed and left that night (Wednesday, May 30, 2012) for a trip to the Houston, Texas area. We witnessed two of my nephews graduate from high school – one on Thursday evening:


{Yes. hats were thrown; but, they are obscured by all the people in the background}
and another on Saturday morning:


I am very proud of both of my nephews. Dan managed to get decent pictures from both ceremonies.

We also visited with Mother several times while we in town. She was doing better this time around than the last time I visited her. She has her ups and downs. And, we saw Lily! She and her mother came to town to attend the graduations too. She is the cutest little “bug” ever!
Overall, the long weekend was very good and we had a wonderful relaxing time visiting with family. Both Dan and I were very reluctant to pack and return home last Sunday because we knew we were going to have to knuckle down and start packing and planning for a week long camping trip. On the way home, I started working on a menu plan and grocery list. We tend to keep things very simple regarding food.

When we arrived home, we immediately noticed that Gracie’s food was all gone and Chessie’s was practically untouched. Chessie is eating Gracie’s food! I feel so frustrated. However, Gracie’s food is better for Chessie in the long run. Gracie needs specialty cat food due to her allergies and food sensitivities and these types of food are more expensive. I just dislike the idea of wasting good cat food (Science Diet) that we still have for Chessie; but, if she is not going to eat it, she is not going to eat it. Since she is already a skinny cat (has been all her life), we cannot afford to let her lose weight. So, we are switching her over to Gracie’s food. This means that I had to buy more of Gracie’s cat food before we go camping. Dang finicky cats!

Anyway, I have been finishing up and fine-tuning the menu plan, making the grocery list and taking stock of what we do have for camping. Dan brought out the big black boxes Monday night and started taking stock of the current camping stuff. He tested some old inner tubes and I believe they are fine. A few boxes are packed already with camping supplies. So, we are making progress!

I will be going grocerying this morning. Yes, I realize “grocerying” is not a legit word; but, it should be a valid word. Ha! I will also start preparing the food today. I tend to prepare the meats and freeze them ahead of time. For example, I make the burger patties and freeze them. I also tend to clean up and brine the chicken before throwing them in the freezer. By doing this ahead of time, it makes our lives so much easier while camping. All we will have to do is grab the meat from the cooler and throw it on the grill when we are hungry.

I will continue food preparation tomorrow (Friday). Both Friday and Saturday will be spent packing, packing and more packing. We will be leaving for Garner sometime Saturday. Due to the fact that Wi-Fi connection is hard to reach at Garner, I will be on a blogging break.

And besides, I do not think I will have the time or inclination to blog while we are camping. I am planning to return to blogging on Monday, June 18th. But, if I do not post anything that Monday, do not worry. I will be back. :-)