Manic Monday

This Monday was similar to all Mondays where you feel just a little bit behind all day long. Armed with coffee, I dropped the kids at school then came home to get ready to host my first 'baby' playdate. It was so quiet. I had forgotten how much noise the younger set doesn't make. It was kind of blissful, actually.

This week, I've decided to get serious about using up some of the older freezer meals that I have stored. Things like soups and meat store for a long time which can be good, but it can also be forgotten.

Last night was book club, so I wanted to have dinner ready and cleared well before it was time for me to leave. At about 3pm, I pulled a bag of Our Best Bites' Black Bean and Sweet Potato Turkey Chili that had been fully cooked when we originally had it for dinner (several months ago) and frozen flat with all air removed in a gallon ziploc bag. I thawed it for about an hour in a sink of lukewarm water and then let what liquid was fully thawed come to a simmer and left it simmering, stirring occasionally until warmed through. It was still just as good as the day it was made, so good! This meal is very filling and with both pumpkin and sweet potatoes, you kind of don't even need a side veggie.

I grated some jack cheese and sliced a couple avocados for topping options and everyone got to serve themselves.  Along with a fresh batch of cornbread, it was a full meal. For whatever reason, if my kids get to top their food themselves, they're much more likely to be excited about eating it.

These stacking mugs from World Market were way too big for anything other than the occasional giant latte, but they're perfect for soup!

While Charlie was showering after dinner and Jack was tucked into bed, H got some much-needed one-on-one time with J for a round of Battleship and I got to finish the ears and weave in ends on my Burton Bear Cowl. I can't wait to see it on the little girl whose mama asked me to make it, it's going to be adorable. Speaking of little girls and the Burton, check out my growing knitting buddy.

A few of the new patterns I have been working up require fun, chunky buttons. I took the chance to finally search for a way to brand my goods and landed on these really fun custom buttons from Remember Wynn on etsy. I used the font from my logo on the tiny ones and the typewriter font from part of the logo for the others. I love the tiny ones for things like the Julia Boot cuff by Pepperberry Knits, which I plan to make a boat load of in the upcoming months, and the bigger one for some of the hats and cowl patterns created by The Velvet Acorn which, along with Shannon Cook are some of my favorite pattern designers right now.

Speaking of colors and fonts and design, I've been working with etsy shop Jojo studios to create a new template via blogger so pretty soon the blog will have a whole new, custom look and I'm so excited to see it completed! Now, I need to get dressed and ready to meet with Leslie 'The Punisher' at the Y so I can feel extra blissful in the chair while I get my unintentional ombre taken care of. I love that our local Y makes having a personal trainer incredibly affordable, because guess who wouldn't be doing walking lunges across the raquetball court on her own? 

What do you have on the menu this week? Are you working on eating from your freezer or pantry? Up tonight is taco soup because it's dead simple and I have leftover sliced avocado. Also, Taco Tuesday.