Our weekly meal plan! 8th - 14th February. #MealPlanningMonday

Last weeks meal plan went well. We ate everything on the days I had planned and every meal was enjoyed. Hooray! 

On Saturday Stu and I had one of the £15 Valentine's day meal deals from Asda. Runny scotch eggs for starters, Beef, roasted garlic & mushroom en Croutes, I bought the triple cook chips but we had baby potatoes in garlic instead, chantenay carrots with wildflower honey & citrus butter for our main course and a sticky toffee pudding pots for dessert. We also got a bottle of Cava included in the £15. This isn't an Ad. lol

The Beef, roasted garlic & mushroom en Croutes were amazing! They slightly burnt on top before they were cooked but we ate the burnt bits and even they were delicious. I am tempted to buy the same again this coming weekend and buying a couple more to freeze. They are that good!

This week is going to be another real treat. We're having a roast dinner which I am really looking forward to, it seems ages since we last had one and I have an afternoon tea being delivered that I was gifted in exchange for a blog post for Buyagift about experiences you can enjoy at home on Valentine's day.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - A roast chicken dinner.

Tuesday - An afternoon tea.

Wednesday - Leftover roast dinner pie.

Thursday - Pork and apple sausages, potato wedges, mushrooms and peas.

Friday - Fish, chips and mushy peas.

I haven't been planning our meals over the weekends but this coming weekend I have Sunday sorted. We're getting a Chinese takeaway. It's Valentine's day so a good excuse for a treat.

What are you eating this week?

Brightening up a rainy day, #MySundayPhoto

One thing I love about this time of year is that Daffodils are back in season. They're such a cheerful flower and are so cheap and I always get some with my online food delivery. This was my first bunch of the year.

Week 5 of #Project365. 30th January - 5th February. A photo every day for a year!

 Another week of lockdown and home learning is done. We've had a good week, the sunshine we had gave me some motivation. It is apparently going to snow over the weekend. I'm not holding my breath for that, we've been promised snow for the last month and have only had a few flakes. As of writing this a family friend is in hospital so close to having a baby, she has been induced and my dad is getting his vaccine next week. It seems like things are looking up and I have something to look forward to at the moment.

Now for a photo every day!

30/365 - 30th January

A cheeseburger flavoured pizza. We got this from Iceland along with a meatball one. They were OK but tasted really doughy. We won't be rushing to get them again.

31/365 - 31st January

Banoffee pie. It was meant to be eaten on Saturday but we forgot about it so it was a Sunday afternoon snack. It was a lovely treat.

32/365 - 1st February

Our new Google nest, mini thing arrived. Ages ago, I think back in September Spotify were giving them away and Stu filled the form out to get one. On Monday it arrived. It is now in the living room and comes in very handy with the home learning.

33/365 - 2nd February

We all heard the sad news about Captain Tom. It really was rubbish news and he really was a hero.

34/365 - 3rd February

French school work. Ugh! Google translate helped a lot as it is not a subject that Ellie can get the hang of.

35/365 - 4th February

I received an email from Harry Potter and it did make me chuckle. It wasn't about anything to do with Harry Potter which was a shame. lol

36/365 - 5th February

Ad - Gifted! We were sent a copy of the Scoop magazine to have a look at. For ages 7+ it is full of stories, articles, games & activities. This months theme was poetry and music which Ellie has been loving. I was just happy to see her reading which has been lacking during this lockdown.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Motivated. #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

This week has actually seen some sunshine. There has of course still been some rain and it did try to snow one day but Monday and yesterday were sunshiny days and it has really brightened our moods and given us some motivation. Life is better when the sun is shining.

We went out for a walk on Monday, with no real place to go we just walked and did a lap of our little town. It was just what we needed, some fresh air and a change of scene.

This week has been up and down when it came to the home learning. When it was bright out Ellie was motivated but on Tuesday when it rained all day she couldn't be bothered to do anything and it was very challenging.

Ellie is a bright girl but if she isn't being told so, she doesn't feel confident in doing her work and lacks motivation. Learning from home has meant less feedback from the teachers but this week has been great for it. We have had quite a few teachers email to say "great work, keep it up" and it has really helped.

I was all set for an argument with the French teacher during the week though. Ellie had work to do online, on one of the quiz websites and really struggled with it. The teacher said she wanted to see everyone getting above 80% and that just wasn't happening. Ellie tried twice got about 12% first and then 18%. I shouldn't have but I gave it a try, using Google translate to help and could only manage just over 20%. The teacher had said that if children weren't getting high enough scores there would be phone calls home. I was waiting for the phone call but got an email saying "well done Ellie for trying so hard with the work". I am guessing the teacher saw she had tried and tried with the work and had improved her score but couldn't get the 80%. We don't understand French and Ellie is counting down the days until she doesn't have to do it, she has said she certainly won't be choosing it for her GCSE options which she will be picking soon. The feedback from the teacher did help and motivate Ellie as the next day she tried her hardest with her independent work.

Becky has been doing great with her college work. She was on an online lesson on Wednesday learning about work she has already completed and handed in. She is that far ahead with the assignments and the understanding of her work. I am so proud of her.

I am sitting here now trying to find the motivation to finish off doing the online food shop. I much prefer doing the food shop online than going to the supermarket, I always have, way before Coronavirus was even heard of. I sometimes feel bad getting on online grocery order when other people might need them but to get to the supermarket it is a 20 minute bus ride and then I either just buy what I can carry which would mean at least 2 trips week or get a taxi back with would add at least £20 to the bill. Shopping locally isn't ideal because our little Tesco only seems to have branded products in which are more expensive and there is not a great selection.

I hope you have all had a good week.