Our Groceries, Our Menu, Our First Week of School…and Our Mannequins?

Well, here we are at the beginning of our first week of school for 2015-2016. I’ve made a few meals and convenience foods ahead of time. I’ve ordered and purchased a lot of groceries. I’ve organized our books and classes for the year. I’ve made a 30-Day Real Food Menu to help make meal time easier. I’ve moved the mannequins out of my office. Hold on. Did I forget to tell you about Sheila and Robert?

Creepy Alert…

Why, oh why?

Asa was working on a new video project for a friend last week, and they needed mannequins. What does a person do when he needs mannequins? Well, his mom puts a request out on Facebook, and hopes a friend has some to lend. I truly almost wet myself watching our friend haul two necked mannequins across the street to our porch. I would love to know what the neighbors were thinking.

Ever dressed a mannequin? It’s harder than one would think. Sheila lost two fingers in the process, for which we are truly sorry. I gave up on pants and simply wrapped her legs in a blanket. Then we stored her (as well as a little boy mannequin – see him back there?) on the bed in my office. I jumped every time I walked in – because obviously – and I felt as though Sheila was watching my every move while I tried to work. It is very hard to write sentences while being watched by someone who doesn’t blink. So we moved them to our other guest room. In the process, her legs came off. As did her arms. And her blanket. Then Asa and his friend ended up not needing them for the video after all.

See sometimes you just don’t want to know all the goings on in other people’s homes. Please still love us.

Want to talk about food now? Yes, let’s move on to the more normal (and I use that term lightly) life of the Coppinger household, shall we? Truly, looking at my bottle of vinegar will be a blessed relief after the previous pictures.

Saturday I picked up an enormous Bountiful Basket order. Along with lots of fruits and veggies we got tortillas, bread, and pizza crusts for the freezer. Ah yes, and a bottle of vinegar. As I was saying earlier, life is so normal, simple, and boring around here.

My August Subscribe and Save order is beginning to trickle in. I should have the rest by Monday, but so far we’ve received Organic Cacao Powder, a case of Kashi cereal, and a case of Rapunzel sucanat.

Our garden tomatoes are producing well! Soon it will be time to make a batch of tomato sauce.

And guess what? Our green bean plants are reviving themselves and we already got to pick a few beans. Take that, bunnies! (Yes, we’re still keeping the cat.)

I ordered 50 pounds of potatoes and 50 pounds of wheat (not pictured) from Azure Standard. Soooo, we are all set on food for a while!

Along with school, some of our boys’ soccer practices also begin this week. I took the 30-Day Real Food Menu list and my Menu Planning Notebook, and I jotted down meals from the list I have food on hand to make. This is so much better than having all the info and thoughts floating around in my head. Yay for a list on my fridge (and for the iced coffee I drank while making it)!

First Week of School Food

• Homemade Pizza
• BLT Chopped Salad
• Meat and Cheese Burritos
• Easy Noodle Stir Fry
• Tuna Casserole
• Italian Cream Cheese Chicken
• Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole (from Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks)
• Hawaiian Beef and Rice (from Eat Right Away: Slow Cooker Beef Edition)
• Taco Potatoes
• Real Food Meat and Velveeta Dip with chips
• Crepes

Last but not least, here are some boring pictures of a few of the books our three younger boys will be using this year. (Justus – 10th grade, Elias – 8th grade, Malachi – 5th grade)

This isn’t all of them, but these are some of the piles I was working through for a few hours over the weekend. I got the boys’ assignment lists printed, so we’ll begin bright and early (yeah right) Monday morning.

 

Hopefully, the mannequins will not be terribly distracting while the boys work on their math and Spanish on Matt’s office computer. We’re running out of options for places to move them. Our porch, perhaps? That could be fun.

Here’s to a great first week of school! How about you? What are you up to this week? Care to share anything about your normal (or not so normal) goings on? Have any mannequin creepers?