It's been a while! I've been busy, and we've been in and out of town so much that I didn't have an April menu made up until yesterday when I decided it was time to make a trip to the grocery store for more than just basic necessities.
Here's the menu plan for this week, albeit two days late...
Monday: sandwiches I had a Board meeting.
Tuesday: lump crabmeat (imitation, of course) with a green salad, fresh fruit
Wednesday: crab salad sandwiches, fresh fruit
Thursday: Taco Layer Dip
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: pancakes and sausage
Sunday: AWANA pizza party - and the club that raised the most money for missions this semester (based on a per person average) will get a surprise ice cream party, too! Go Cubbies! (I work with that group) :o)
For more menu ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.
Two weekends ago, while Billy went to New Orleans to watch Dan Wallace debate Bart Erman on the validity of the New Testament, the boys and I headed back home to visit family.
Thursday night was family night, always a fun time. We made homemade pizzas and ordered a few extras from Johnny's Pizza (YUM!) for those who weren't fond of veggie pizza. (Melissa and Lindsay made a barbecue chicken pizza that was wonderful! I'd like to make one for us soon!) Later we had some delicious chocolate cake that Daddy made for Caleb's belated birthday party. I think Caleb was so into opening his presents and playing with them that he never got around to eating any cake...
It stormed most of Friday, so Mama and the boys and I spent most of the day in the house. We played Caleb's new Game of Life, which he had gotten the night before. The weather cleared during the late afternoon, and we took Memaw out to eat at Cracker Barrel that night. After we got home and got the boys ready for bed, we stayed up a while and played Mexican Train dominoes. After the boys went to bed, we watched the previous night's episode of Survivor.
After a lazy Saturday morning, we headed to Aunt Sue and Uncle Don's for an afternoon crawfish boil. Welcome to "The Misadventures of Clawed the Crawfish".
Clawed and two of his buddies, Clawdius and Clawdine, managed to escape from prison. They were really enjoying their freedom - picking clover, hugging shoes, waving at everyone who got in their way. They made friends with just about everyone there. Well, except for the boys, who loved tormenting them with sticks.
Caleb had more fun playing with Clawed's less active relatives, who were relaxing in a cooler after a long steaming bath. I tend to prefer them, too. Jacob didn't want any part of Clawed or his cousins. I don't know if Clawed and his buddies ever made it down to the freedom of the bayou or if they were recaptured and ended up taking a dip in Uncle Don's homemade cocktail sauce instead.
After Eric and Uncle Don finished boiling all the crawfish and corn and potatoes, Uncle Don grilled hot dogs for Memaw and the boys. Then we feasted. At first I wasn't too keen on pulling the heads off my crawfish. (I had no problem with the boiled shrimp - they don't stare at you.) So my kind Daddy sat at a small table with me and pulled the heads off for me. Halfway through, I decided to give it a try. It wasn't so bad!
The boys liked their hot dogs and the corn that hadn't been cooked with all the seasoning. Caleb ate one or two ears, doing his best with some missing front teeth. Jacob ate 4 ears of corn!
When everyone had finally gotten their fill, the boys headed down to the bayou's edge and played in the mud. Eric and Darlene left so Eric could go to work. The rest of us sat around and talked, played on cell phones, and eventually got around to playing a few rounds of Nines. It was nearly 6:00 when we finally headed back home with a load of leftover crawfish in tow.
Melissa, Lindsay, and Josh came over and we ate Garlic Butter Pasta with Crawfish, garlic bread, and salad. Yvonne and her family weren't able to make it because one of their miniature horses foaled and they needed to wait for their vet to come, so Josh took some supper to them later. The boys were really disappointed that they weren't going to get to play with Grayson and Philip anymore.
By the time things wound down and we got the boys to bed and the kitchen cleaned, it was late and we were exhausted. It was great!
*There are 481,616 people in the U.S. with the first name Ashley. *Statistically the 114th most popular first name. *95.58 percent of people with the first name Ashley are female. I don't think I've ever met a guy with my first name. The closest I've come was a boy I taught in 6th and 7th grades many years ago. His name was Ashton.
*There are 91,158 people in the U.S. with the last name Todd. *Statistically the 357th most popular last name.
I used to be nonexistent, according to that website. My maiden name isn't in their database. Sorry, Mama, Daddy, Melissa, Lindsay, Josh, Josef, etc.
Now for Billy: *There are 115 people in the U.S. named Billy Todd. I know two of them! *There are 382,862 people in the U.S. with the first name Billy. *Statistically the 145th most popular first name. *98.41 percent of people with the first name Billy are male.
I thought Caleb's name would've been more popular: *There are 34,944 people in the U.S. with the first name Caleb. *Statistically the 975th most popular first name. *There are only 10 people in the U.S. named Caleb Todd.
Jacob's name was more popular: *There are 250,683 people in the U.S. with the first name Jacob. *Statistically the 259th most popular first name. *There are 75 people in the U.S. named Jacob Todd.
Other fun statistics: *There are 906 people in the U.S. with the name Charlie Brown. *There are 1,303 named George Washington. *There are 299 named John Doe. *There are only 23 named Jane Doe. *There are 50,178 named John Smith. *There are 50,865 named James Smith, the most popular first and last names.
If you don't yet want to know the results from American Idol, don't read any further.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
The bottom three was a surprise: Syesha Mercado (not surprised), Carly Smithson (sort of expected it), and Michael Johns (What?!?!?).
The big shocker: Michael Johns was eliminated. What?!? What?!?!?
He had one of the top performances Tuesday night, probably coming in right behind David Archuleta. The rest of the performances were ho-hum, and while I like Jason Castro, I wasn't impressed with his ukelele-playing rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The ukelele makes me think of Tiny Tim, and I don't really like that song very much, either.
I think the judges and the audience were just as shocked as Billy and I were.
All I can say is this: Jennifer Hudson. Clay Aiken. Bo Bice. Elliot Yamin. Chris Daughtry. You don't have to win American Idol to really win. (Is that too cheesy?)
I know I've been sporadic in posting, but I've been in and out of town for the last 3 weekends. I'm trying to get back into my routine, but it's a slow process. In the meantime, here's a little something from LOST for your enjoyment. (You don't have to be current to enjoy this!)
Yes, there's another good one in American Idol's bottom 3. One who doesn't belong there. At all.
I sooooo hope Brooke White doesn't go home tonight. I'd love for it to be either Baby Girl (Ramiele) or Country Girl (Kristy). I would've put Syesha in that group, too.
My earlier picks for top 3 this week: David Cook, David Archuleta, and Michael Johns.
