meal plan monday: may 14.

i'm not sure which kitchen-related news should accompany this week's meal plan post, because we had a little bit of everything going on in there this weekend: electrical work, cleaning, cooking for the inlaws, and most fun of all: dealing with our clogged sink.

buckets-o-fun.

i'm pretty sure that the whole sink ordeal deserves a post all its own, if only because the thought of a nasty clog and a backed up sink doesnt do much to stir up visions of tasty things that i would like to eat this week. so instead, let's just take a quick look back at what was most recently left on our kitchen-to-do list:

- swap out all the electrical outlets, switches, and the random phone jack.
- fresh coat of paint on the cabinets and drawers.
- re-hang the light fixture.
- decide on something to do with the fake wall next to the fridge.
- move all our kitchen stuff out of the nook and back into the kitchen.

and after this weekend about an hours work on Sunday morning, (seriously, WHY did we put this off so long?) the list is looking more like this:

- swap out all of the rest of the electrical outlets, switches, and the random phone jack.
     (we only had time to replace the most obviously ugly ones before family
         descended en mass)
- fresh coat of paint on the cabinets and drawers. (we decided against this)
- scrub/wipe down all the cabinets and drawers.
- re-hang the light fixture. (about 20 mins before people started showing up)
- decide on something to do with the fake wall next to the fridge. (nothing!)
- move all our kitchen stuff out of the nook and back into the kitchen.

its kind of amazing the things you can accomplish under a self-imposed deadline. especially when you make it just a little bit crazy, you know, like inviting ALL OF THE IN-LAWS over for a Mothers Day picnic lunch. and just like that, after a month and a half of nothing, BAM the kitchen is DONE!!
(ish)!! (as long as you dont get hung up on maybe replacing a few more outlets and a light switch, and possibly cleaning the cabinets and drawers. and really since that last one was only added because the thought of repainting all the cabinets was too much to bear, even that is kind of optional.)
our kitchen is looking and working like a fully functional kitchen again, instead of a construction zone, and i like it.

(insert picture-that-i-didnt-take-because-i-was-too-busy-running-around-like-a-chicken-with-my-head-cut-off-trying-to-get-everything-else-ready here)

however, i'm still not pushing it to its limits this week with the meals i have planned. partly because i went grocery shopping with half of a list over the weekend and i have no desire to be anywhere near the grocery store again this soon, but mostly because there was that whole sink debacle that happened right in the middle of all our other craziness that still needs just a little bit more attention before the kitchen is going to be ready for any hard-core cooking.


Monday: grilled chicken salad, made with leftover chicken.
Tuesday: leftovers. again.
Wednesday: crock pot roast with potatoes and veggies.
Thursday: frozen raviolis with jar sauce.
Friday: fish and rice and a veggie.
Saturday: broccoli mac and cheese.
Sunday: eat whatevers left of the leftovers.