A menu plan by the incredible shrinking woman who also gave herself an early birthday present

This post is a combination of three posts that have been running through my brain in the past two days.

Hence, the never-ending title.

I hope the post won't be never-ending.

Subject #1: My menu plan, in no particular order...

Chicken noodle soup and homemade (!!!) rolls
Pork chops and stuffing (carried over from last week)
Chicken and noodle casserole
Shredded pork enchiladas
Chicken left overs
Enchilada left overs

I was Susie Homemaker this weekend! I bought some bone in chicken breasts and used them (along with carrots, celery, and onion) to make my own chicken stock.

I took the chicken off the bone and divided it in half - one half to be used for soup and one half to be used in the casserole. I also set aside a couple pints of the chicken stock - one for the casserole, and one for future use.

Then, I made my chicken noodle soup and included homemade noodles (using my mom's recipe). Mmmmm.

In addition to the homemade noodles, I used this recipe to make dinner rolls from scratch. Mmmmmmm.

Then I cooked some noodles (not homemade) for my casserole, and put them, the chicken, two cups of chicken stock, a can of 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup, and some seasonings in a casserole dish. I put in the fridge and heated it up for dinner tonight. Simple, but good, and we have lots of leftovers.

Today I also cooked a four-pound pork loin in the crock pot. When I got home I divided it into four sections, shredded it all, put three sections in the freezer for later use, then mixed the fourth section with some taco seasoning and put it in the fridge for Thursday night, when I plan to make enchiladas.

Whew! I promise you that I'm not always this productive. In fact, I don't know what's gotten into me lately. All I know is that I want to get as much stuff in the freezer while I have this crazy energy!

Subject #2: The incredible shrinking woman

I joined Weight Watchers (again) last week. I had success with WW before I got married, and since Kaitlyn was born I've tried several times to get back on track. But lately I've had renewed motivation to lose the 75 extra pounds I'm carrying.

75 POUNDS.

That's crazy!

Anyway, this renewed motivation happened to coincide with a recent revival in my prayer life. Coincidence? I think not.

It also happened to coincide with the start of a "Weight Watchers at Work" program through my employer.

So.

I weighed in today and in the first week, I lost 5.2 pounds! WOO! HOO!

(People usually lose a lot of weight during the first week because of all the water weight, and then it's supposed to level off to 0-2 pounds per week.)

I have lots of other thoughts related to the weight issue, but I'll save those for another day.

Subject #3: My early birthday present

For a while now, I've wanted to get a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. Kohl's has them on sale this week - their normal price is $199 and I got it on sale for $79.99. Happy birthday to me!

I got it yesterday and I've already used it to seal up leftovers from last night, the three pounds of shredded pork I mentioned above, and a bag of baby carrots that was soon to go bad.

I think Mike is skeptical that I'll use it on a regular basis, but I have high hopes. I gave it a place of honor on my kitchen counter, which I've read is one of the keys to actually USING it, versus storing it in a cupboard and intending to pull it out when needed.

If anyone has a vacuum sealer, feel free to share any tips or suggestions!

Subject #4: My mom

Ok, so I cheated and threw this one in at the last minute. (Get over it.)

My mom started her chemo today. I talked to her tonight and she was in good spirits. If you think of it, please pray that the rest of her week (especially once the medicine really kicks in) will go smoothly.

Subject #5: Mike and the fire

Yeah, I cheated again and threw another one in. (Hey, it is my blog, after all.)

The majority owner of the company has found a building to lease for the short-term, and is thinking about rebuilding on the site of the building that got BBQ'd. They will hopefully be able to begin portions of production tomorrow.

In the meantime, they are getting orders like crazy! This is a big answer to prayer! For 3+ years we've been waiting for things to take off, and we seem to finally be getting to that place. Ironic, because they manufacture RV's (fold-out campers, to be exact), and while so many RV companies have been laying people off and closing down factories, we are GROWING.

Praise the Lord!

(I'm done now.)