Leftovers

I am the leftover King!  I love them.  I work afternoons so leftovers are a way to eat home cooking at work.  When Robin was working we ate out a lot.  Take out, eat in, drive thru, it was convenient albeit more expensive.  But when we had two incomes that was the trade off.  Now we are back to one income and I am enjoying having home cooked meals again more often.  Although I'm pretty good at weeding out the leftovers from our fridge there are pitfalls I've found.  Case in point, chili.  Robin made chili one day.  It was a special meal for me since I'm the only one in our family who likes chili.  I add cheese to melt on top and add a little sour cream and waa-laa, a delicious meal for me to take to work.  Since Robin made a large batch we decided to seal some up and freeze it.  A few weeks ago I found myself searching for leftovers in the fridge and to my disappointment there were none!  Oh the horror!!!!  Then I remembered we had froze some chili!  Saved by forethought and large batches!  Or so I thought.  There were 2 bags in the freezer, one large and one medium sized.  I saw the word "chili" on the large bag but it was much too big for a meal so I went for the medium sized bag.  I placed it in my lunch kit, added some sour cream and cheese in containers and off I went to work.  Chili was on my mind all the way up to dinner time.  I took the chili out of the bag, placed it into a bowl and popped it into the microwave.  After about 2 minutes, I stirred it and replaced it for another minute.  Ahh steaming, hot, wonderful chili awaited.  But wait, as I stirred it I noticed....a mushroom cycle thru the bowl.  Hmmmm, I certainly didn't remember mushrooms in the chili, so I went for a taste.  AARRRGGGG my chili was spaghetti sauce!!!  So there I was, at work, hungry, craving chili, but having only spaghetti sauce.  No noodles!  No bread!!  The dinner I was salivating over was now a bowl of spaghetti sauce.  Being the leftover King I did what every good man faced with such a dilemma would do.  I ate spaghetti sauce for dinner.  Maybe next time I'll take just noodles and call it even.

Family Vacation?

Spring Break, two words that offer a nice respite from the bump and grind of the work week.  This year, as many before, we decided to drive to my In-Laws in Missouri.  The irony is we drive when I work for an airline and we can fly for free.  Lately the flights have been so full though that driving was by far the easier choice.  We drive it many times even if the flights are not full.  Driving allows us to take the trip at our own pace, gives us a vehicle to have while in Missouri, take our dog Maggie and make any stops that we need along the way.  The drive takes 10 hours and can be a bit exhausting but we've driven so many times we know what to expect.  Anyway, here we are on vacation in Missouri.  We have a good time and it's very relaxing.  There's not a lot to do here but that's okay because it allows us to get away in a very real sense.  The kids get a lot of lovin' from Grandma and Grandpa and we get a little spoiled sleeping in a few times.  Maggie gets to play with their dog Abby and everyone settles in easily.  The kids are good travelers and Maggie also loves to take trips.  We spend a lot of our vacation time traveling between families, mine in Michigan and Robin's in Missouri.  As years go by we try and make sure we plan trips to each home away from home.  Traveling can be harder on the grandparents than on us with the kids at times so we try and make sure to visit when we can.  Vacations are all about getting away and recharging.   Sometimes going home is just the recipe.