Happy Monday, y’all. It’s another beautiful week in the Northeast US and upstate NY region as we prepare for an emotionally loaded week.
The weather mixes warm days with clear blue skies and days with heavy rain. Overall, it was a typical summer with no visible signs of climate challenges.
We spend many evenings and weekends outside, sucking up all the rays and warmth, hoping to store the energy for the winter. Our solar panels are working overtime, building up good credit with the local electricity provider we can consume when the weather gets warmer.
Our Great Pyrenees (dog) has seen a remarkable recovery from the mystery disease that caused the retinas in both eyes to detach. For the past 5-6 weeks, he has been on strict antibiotics treatment as well as eyedrops twice a day.
Yesterday, he had another check-up, and the dog eye doctor (yes, they exist) confirmed that his retina in both eyes had been wholly reattached and his eyesight had been fully restored.
Unfortunately, on her way back from the eye doctor, her loyal Chevy Traverse (2011) started to overheat, causing the car to stall. Luckily, she was near my work, so I met her to assess the problem.
To my “surprise,” she hijacked my truck and left me to wait for the tow truck. In honesty, I was the gentleman as I didn’t want her to be stuck for a couple of hours with the dog waiting for assistance, only to be told to find a ride home as they do not transport dogs.
Amongst all the financial worries and the strain from inflation (damn Bidenomics), the last thing we need is expensive car repairs. Everyone suffers from higher costs, and seeing the end of the financial woes can be challenging. I certainly hope that whoever becomes US president in November will positively impact the US economy.
Florida – A New Journey
For the past year, our amazing oldest daughter has been working her butt off. She is adamant that she does not want to have a large student debt when she finishes university/college, which is a great attitude.
She worked three different jobs, seven (7) days a week, and saved as much money as possible, which allowed her to pay for tuition and books and rent a room near college.
The only downside is that she wants to return to Florida, which is far from our house’s safety and comfort. But we all have taken this challenge when we decided to move out and fend for ourselves.
While I sometimes doubt her cooking and cleaning abilities, I’m confident she will do well, although we are extremely worried and will miss her a lot. There are a lot of crazy people in the World, so we want her to be safe.
She wanted to bring her car to Florida. At first, I was against it, given it has over 160K miles on the engine, but I understand that a car is needed to get around the US, especially as she will be living off-campus.
Also, she has landed a job in Florida, which is amazing, so she needs to get to/from college to get to her job and drive to church, the library, shopping, etc.
We decided to drive to Washington, D.C., to take the car train to Orlando and then to Gainesville, where she will become a Gator.
With our luck, Debby, the Hurricane was causing havoc in Florida and started moving North as our train journey started South. Somewhere midway, we encountered the storm, and the train had to slow down to a crawl. We encountered several downed trees that blocked the train track, causing delays.
The train from DC to Orlando usually takes about 16 hours. However, we spent 22.5 hours on the train, which had a reduced speed and downed trees.
Thankfully, I had booked a sleeper cabin that would provide us with some comfort. To my surprise, the sleeper cabin came with dinner, breakfast, and many water bottles and coffee as you like.
Even better, the stewart gave us separate cabins across from each other, so we had a small room with a bunk bed. She crocheted and read books while I listened to books on Audible and read many interesting posts on social media platforms.
I can highly recommend the car train with a sleeper cabin. It was not cheap, but it was very convenient and had excellent service. You avoid 18-20 hours of driving a car, don’t have to book a hotel along the way, and don’t have to buy dinner and breakfast.
Granted, the interior needs to be significantly updated. Perhaps new upholstery, a deep clean, and install USB ports in the outlets.
Overall, it was a great experience. We arrived in Orlando well-rested, ready for the next leg of the journey—the drive to Gainesville. I would happily take the train to Orlando again.
Her car did very well, and I’m confident it will survive in Florida.
The next few days were spent unpacking, cleaning, more unpacking, and exploring the neighborhood. I want to ensure that she has a good overview of the amenities and knows where the college is. We even found a bus route near her house (room), which goes straight to the school.
I also had the opportunity to meet a great friend from my previous job who had moved to Florida some years earlier. We ate, talked, did some sightseeing, and laughed. I truly value his friendship and regret not having visited him sooner. It is never too late, and we will visit Florida again soon.
Week Thirty-two Meals
We have leftovers throughout the year. I do not discard leftovers to avoid wasting valuable food. If we have little left from a meal, we might share it with our bottomless, always-hungry brown Labrador.
Labradors are always hungry. They appear to have an indestructible stomach and intestines and will happily devour scraps or leftovers. However, we rarely give her any spicy food, as it can backfire (literally), and she will drop a few soft stool samples on the wood floors.
Our Labrador will happily look for handouts immediately after eating her dinner. We only feed her small portions, as our vet said Labradors are prone to obesity.
This week’s simple meal plan is based on fantastic meals I’ve explicitly stored for these occasions.
Honestly, my wife is not great at cooking dinners. She’s excellent at making cakes, but she will burn a pot while boiling potatoes. There’s a reason why I’m cooking.
School Lunches
My wife must make school lunches since I won’t be home for a few days. So we’ve got to keep it simple and fast, as she will be busy getting two kids ready in the mornings.
It’ll be a mix of bagel sandwiches and personal pizzas from the freezer aisle in the supermarket.
Dinner Time
This week’s dinners will be simple. For this reason, my wife has to defrost and reheat a few delicious meals I saved in the freezer.
She will have to boil pasta and rice as a side, but cooking alone is easy and will not cause too much stress.
Meal Prep Party Pictures
There are no pictures this week as we are preparing dinners already made in the freezer.
Meal Plan
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Bagel with roast beef and melted American yellow cheese | Freezer Surprise I |
| Tuesday | Bagel with roastbeef and melted American yellow cheese | Freezer Surprise II |
| Wednesday | Sandwich with sliced hardboiled egg | Freezer Surprise III |
| Thursday | Personal Pizza | Left-overs and snacks |
| Friday | Personal Pizza | Over-the-fire cooking |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
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The Viking Heart Within 