No Where to Go

It is Saturday and we have no where to go!  Last week was the final week of third grade girls basketball so little brother did not arrive at dawn and spend the morning here. No one is scheduled to visit.  Although it is currently 35 degrees and raining, in three hours it should be freezing the rain into a layer of ice and covering it with a few inches of snow.  It is noon and I am still in my pjs. 

Before I show a bunch of photos, I would like to answer a question from Mulewings about the reason no one came to my charity office this week.  It is complicated and both psychological and generational. This was not a shut off week.  Most rent payments are due on the 1st, so the first week is when families receive eviction notices if they haven't paid the previous month.  Utility bills begin to arrive the second week, but shut off dates are the third or fourth week.  Many low income households are not as concerned as, let's just say you and me. They have this hope and more of an assumption that something will happen or someone will step in until the last minute when no one does.  There is a name for this that we learned at a conference a decade or more ago but there it is. Last week we had sixteen applications and we will probably have that next week too.  

Another factor is February is income tax returns. People let bills get behind in anticipation of paying them with their tax return. They also borrow against the return to pay bills, losing up to 25% in fees. It is disheartening.  

So anyway - Valentine's Day Dinner! 

I went into the kitchen to wash potatoes to make twice baked.  Fortunately I was getting the ingredients out of the refrigerator first because I discovered the Parmesan and Truffle heart shaped ravioli that I had purchased two weeks ago and had forgotten about.  I think it was under $4 at Aldi and it was sensational! I will watch for it again next year. The ravioli was bright red, but faded to a nice pink in cooking. 

Two Porterhouse steaks, the first steaks from our beef quarter purchased last month and served on our "wedding china", free place settings with each $20 deposit during 1973.  I had 12, but have been finding more at thrift shops in the area as people clean out their parent's cupboards.  I used them once at my house for a potluck for my husbands family. They were shocked at "good china" for a meal like that. I have over 30 of the dinner plates so I am good to go. 

Chocolate Lava Cakes for dessert. A two pack was under $5 at Trader Joe's and you just pull them out of the freezer, put them on parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes.  I will be watching for these next year too. 

Two more Trader Joe's plugs.  I picked this up at Christmas and we loved the bread. I bought more boxes this week (not many left!) and made cake donuts. Fabulous! 

This expires this month. I hate to buy heavy cream which is so expensive in a large container. And the large container at Aldi is the same price as a small container at IGA (we don't have a lot of grocery store choices in a small town).  We asked and it is "seasonal" and comes out in October. So watch for it. It is juice box sized. 

To fill up the rest of the blog today I am posting photos from my little grasshoppers. I have taught my daughters well, LOL.  Here a snapshot from a video of my youngest daughter's Super Bowl party for her husband and two young children. She has learned that everything is an excuse for a celebration even if it is just your family of four! 

And here was her Valentine's post. Christopher is her Valentine, lol. 

My oldest daughter volunteered herself for some kind of scholastic banquet. Here is her decorated lobby for the kids and parents. (It was a huge event, over 100 people and catered). 

She is pretty amazing at planning events and more at following through! She organizes (or threatens) help and volunteers, seeks donors and is a master at what she does. I remember when her 3 were in grade school and she lead an effort to get chrome books for every second grader. It took her a month. She does all this while (at that time) working on her Phd and working fulltime as a nurse with three small children. Now she is a fulltime college professor, has a second job teaching at another school since she has three kids getting ready for college and is an active sports mom planning a family trip in 30 days to England for her husband's milestone birthday. I keep telling her to ask for asylum while there.  

Unfortunately for my daughters, they have inherited my party gene, my planning gene, my people person gene and my volunteer gene and my ability to never say no.  I'm sorry.