Family Game Night and Other Pleasantries

I’ve had several insane weeks in a row at work – mostly because there was a bit of a snafu re: overstaffing. There is a central staffing office but several folks put my on pitches without notifying the staffing office, and when they got awarded to us, I suddenly was on a billion cases. Since then, several have settled, which helps. A couple are in a lull right now. The leader of my practice group told me Friday that I was under no circumstances to bill this weekend, or she would take me off some cases to make sure I was able to get adequate rest. So I haven’t billed a minute!

Instead, we did family game night on Friday, per the Prof’s request. It was a good request. Typically I use my Friday Evening Exhaustion as an excuse to veg out with my phone on the couch for a million hours and do an easy dinner, shoving the kids in front of the tv/video games for a little break. But because I was sort of forced to, I put the screens away and got out the games with the boys. And it turned out that Screen Free Family Time was not too exhausting – we did have to manage the 3 yo’s careless destruction of the game board on occasion, and working out who would play which game with whom was something of a chore. But we got out checkers and a game called Pirate vs. Pirate, while Craig tinkered around with Marble Run.  And a merry time was had by all, though we played the games laying on the hardwood floor and the Prof and I both were a bit creaky in the joints when we finally got up.

(Speaking of hardwood floor – we want to get some area rugs, and I think finally we are in a position to afford some reasonable ones – as in hundreds of dollars, not thousands. Any recs?  How do we decide how big it should be? How do we make sure that the living room rug doesn’t clash with the dining room rug, since it’s really just one big room? I’m very nervous about this rug-buying process. WHAT IF I GET IT WRONG AND I’M STUCK WITH A RUG I HATE. This would be . . . ok not the worst thing ever, but for some reason it gives me anxiety.)

(Speaking of buying things – I did finally buy the handbag I promised myself after getting this new job! And it was on clearance from Macy’s, and my mama got me a gift card for my birthday, so I only paid $45 for it! It’s not this one exactly, but close – same color, same designer, same general price, slightly more pursey and less totey than this, if you get what I mean. I love it.)

Saturday I did a 5.5 mile run (I was on track for 7 miles but it turned out to be 9000 degrees and I wilted a little more quickly), then took the boys to a birthday party, then took a nap. Saturday night I made the halibut dish (it was excellent – I made it with cod bc I couldn’t find halibut, and we had it with couscous which were perfect.)  I read a book a while, then went to bed early.

And now it’s today, Sunday. We have Boy Scouts and another birthday party today, and I am going to work a tiny smidge because I have to give a presentation to about 300 lawyers on Tuesday and I haven’t even STARTED working on it. It’s only about 20 minutes, though, and I can get our marketing department to make my power point slides look pretty, so not terribly stressful. I may take another nap. La di da.

As for meal planning – the neverending chore that I mostly love but sometimes don’t – here are the plans for the week. I never got around to the tuna casserole or the Korean beef  bowl last week – we had a leftovers night and a macaroni and cheese night because the week was so busy, plus I made a brisket because Trader Joe’s brisket is so reasonable.  So those two dishes from last week remain on this week’s list.

• Korean bowl
• tuna casserole – tuna, cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, plus oregano and breadcrumbs on top. Simple, cheap.
• sausage and pasta bake – I have sausage, pasta, and pasta sauce – sounds good to me!
• This Thai carrot soup

That’s all I’m putting on the menu this week. We’ve got leftover brisket and may make burritos with that, we’ve got frozen soups in the freezer – we can put something together for the other nights.

Here’s hoping for a week that’s tame enough for more family game nights. 😉