Wordless Wednesday

Things you'll see outside my house at any given time.

Forty-something Blah!

I'm taking a break from blogging about my recent weekend on the Big Island because, honestly, I am just blah today and have been for a few days now.

I am suddenly aware that in a few months Callie will be leaving me to attend college in Texas. I knew she wouldn't be around forever, but she's the last of my three and I'm very sad. I have cried two mornings in a row thinking about it. Whoever designed a woman's life to have empty nest, menopause, and poor eyesight (not to mention the lack of metabolism and all that goes with that) all at the same time, was clearly not a mother or even a woman, for that matter.  In case you haven't been keeping up with my blog very long, I will update you on the empty nest. Alex (Nick's 15 yr old) is joining us this summer. I won't have an empty nest but I will still miss Callie. I have cried over all three leaving. I can't see that stopping with Alex either!

We arrived home on Sunday afternoon and I knew I had to get my act together and make a weekly menu and grocery list. This is something I've enjoyed doing and it's saved me money and time at the store and during the week. This week, I just couldn't get there. I struggled with the menu and list. I poured over cookbooks and my favorite web sites and found no inspiration. I'm trying to eat healthier so when I asked for help from the husband, I had to shoot down half his ideas. (an all beef menu for the week)
I finally got it together and made a menu. I hit the commissary after going to the gym. Let me just say that I'm STILL struggling to find my comfort zone. I hate working out and I suspect that I always will.

This Week's Menu:
Sunday: Chicken pasta alfredo (from a jar) and salad. This was because I had absolutely nothing else in the house.
Monday: Chicken pesto and roasted asparagus (southbeach diet recipe again and it was delish)
Tuesday: Stir fry beef with veggies (Nick makes this one, let's see if it's too spicey to eat again!)
Wednesday: Pork Tenderloin and broccoli
Thursday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and cabbage
Friday: Homemade pizza

On a brighter note, yesterday, Callie and I finished up 3 scholarship applications and got them in the mail. Fingers crossed for some $$$ this year. She got 2000.00 last year from a spouse's club I belong to. All that volunteer work has paid off!

Big Island, Day 1

We got up the first morning and decided we'd hit the gym. We'd made a promise to each other that we would work out every day we were there. After the gym and breakfast, we went volcano hunting. The volcano national park covers a lot of land and there are lots of parts to it. I guess I thought a volcano was like you used to make in school; one mountain with a hole on top. It's not like that at all. I don't understand it completely, so I will just say the place where the lava erupts moves. There are lots of calderas where the land has caved in. There was one place we saw after dark that had glowing lava in it. Some places had steam or some kind of sulfur cloud coming out of them and that was it. We did see lots of lava. Some of it was up to 20 years old and some as new as 4 months. The part we found that was only 4 months old still had hot lava running underneath it. In fact, we were able to stick our hand in a crack and feel the heat. It was like holding your hand in front of a 300 degree oven. This particular lava had covered a whole community.
Check it out:

 

This was the entrance to an old lava tube... very cool!

Lava and more lava. This is some of the older stuff.

Literally..the end of the road. This was very cool.

Four month old lava.

For those of you wanting to move to Hawaii, here's a deal for you. The sign says two lots and ocean view. These people actually re-built after the lava came through and wiped out the community. There were other new houses here too.  Remember, this lava is 4 months old. There is no water or electricity here.

This was the only "hot" lava we saw. It was disappointing for us. Many times you can see lava rushing into the ocean, but Pele was quiet this time.