spring break = productive

Many of you know that I was on Spring Break this week from my job teaching at Emerald High School. It was a well-needed break. I made up my mind before the break even started that I was going to be productive, not lazy. I had made plans with my sister that lives in Charleston to visit her Thursday - Saturday, so that only left me Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to accomplish my list:

1. make homemade spaghetti sauce and freeze
2. make split pea soup and freeze
3. make black bean soup and freeze
4. get all laundry PUT AWAY
5. plant vegetable garden
6. plant herb garden
7. have as many lunch dates as possible (I so miss this when I am at work)
8. get Maggie's nails clipped/flea pills
9. de-clutter my house
10. spend time with my best friend/husband

Lofty goals for a short amount of time, right? Here is the breakdown of what I actually got done.

1. I did make homemade spaghetti sauce that is delicious. I made a ton of it so it is in our deep freezer in the garage to be used in lieu of going out to eat. We are trying really hard to scale back on that for reasons I will divulge in a later post.

2. Split Pea Soup = delicious and easy. I also made a ton of this and it is in the deep freezer as well. I did this one in the crock pot overnight and it was one of the easiest things I have ever done. I heart crock pot meals.

3. Black bean soup is a work in progress. I soaked the black beans but then couldn't find a suitable recipe. I couldn't even frankenstein recipes together like I normally do in order to get one that I liked. Suggestions welcome!!!

4. HA HA HA

5. DONE! We planted squash, zucchini, and tomatoes. Yes, we are going to start small. This is our first gardening attempt so we decided simple is better. If this year goes well we would love to add green beans, broccoli, carrots, peas, you name it! More on the garden later...

6. Also DONE! Rosemary, basil, chives (that came back from last year!) and Italian parsley round out our little herb garden. I use all of those herbs fairly frequently. My plan is to get enough basil to make pesto this year!

7. Check! I ate with almost all of my favorite people! Sushi date with Kimberly, Howard's on Main with Denine, business lunch with Bridget at McAlisters. I had dinner with Jess one night too at O'Charleys. And by dinner I mean I ate their new smores dessert for dinner. No joke. It was awesome. I LOVE MY GIRLS!

8. Got Maggie's nails clipped and her flea pills. She was not happy with me, but she was a trooper. Even when we discovered they cut one too short and she was bleeding for over an hour. Nothing a little flour and gauze couldn't fix though. No worries, she is fine!

9. again...HA HA HA!

10. It is never enough for me.

6/10 ain't bad!