Dinner prepared for the work week

Some of you may know that I do most of the cooking at our home. I was home first and had plenty of time to prepare dinner. I was lucky that I had a short commute to work and I got home early in the afternoon so I could relax a bit before tackling dinner.

I recently started a new job that is has a longer commute than before. Most days it is close to an hour for me to get home. The last thing I want to do when I get home is spend 30-60 minutes preparing dinner. Amanda has a long commute and work day so it would be no different for her. So after a bit of thought I decided to try preparing all of the dinners on Sundays, so all we have to do on weeknights is pick the meal we want, heat it up and prepare a vegetable to go with it.

      This is the second week that we have done this and it has worked out great. It takes a little planning and it takes about 2 hours to get all of the meals prepared, cooked and put away on Sunday. However we have enough food for all of our weeknight dinners and many of our lunches. I feel that I save at least a couple of hours a week and when we get home dinner really is a 5-10 minute job at most. I feel this is a great way to prepare great tasting meals and it is a great deterrent from us picking up take away after a long day. Who knows how much money we are saving by not eating out. If you are struggling to find time each day to prepare dinner maybe this is something to consider for your family.

Have you ever cooked several meals ahead of time like this?

 

Saturday Snapshots: Staten Island Ferry

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

When we went to New York City in July we decided to stay outside of the city in New Jersey. It was much cheaper ($80 per night compared to $200-600 per night in the city) so I felt the extra time spent travelling into the city would be worth it. The easiest way travelling into the city would have been using NJ transit which would have dropped us off at Penn Station but we found a more interesting way to get there.

The Staten Island ferry transports people between Staten Island and Manhattan. It runs 24 hours a day and the best part is that it is free. What better way to travel into the city than a nice ferry ride?

They also have parking nearby for $7 a day. Even with the $12 toll to get to Staten Island it was far cheaper than NJ transit or staying in Manhattan.

You also get a great view of the city skyline from Staten Island before your ferry ride.

A close up view of the Statue of Liberty is included along the way. So no need for an expensive boat tour.

About 20 minutes after departing Staten Island you arrive in Manhattan. The ferry station is close to several subway lines and a short walk from Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Center and several other attractions.

We loved using the Staten Island ferry to start and finish our day in New York and would definitely do this again on our next trip to New York. Have you ever ridden on the Staten Island Ferry?

Saturday Snapshots: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

Last month we drove to New York for a few days and stopped at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel along the way.

 

 Right before the first tunnel is a gift shop, restaurant and fishing pier. You can see Virginia Beach in the distance about 3 miles away.

The fishing pier is always popular with anglers.

An information board about the bridge tunnel. The length of it is almost 18 miles.

Shellie having her picture taken as a crab.

Shellie and Tim (my sister and her husband)

This is the first of two channels. There is no land visible as the shore line is well over 10 miles away.

Have you ever been on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel or another long bridge?

Saturday Snapshots - Freedom Tower

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

We took a trip to New York City with my sister and her husband a few weeks ago. Among many other things we got to see the completed World Trade Center building. It truly is a magnificent building and here are just a few photos that we took.

The last time we were in NYC was 2011 and the tower was still under construction.

The finished tower dominates the city skyline

Its so tall it is difficult to get the whole building in one shot.

 A close up of the building.

What is the tallest building you have seen in person?

Saturday Snapshots: Lap quilts for the Aussies

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

My sister and her husband have been visiting us in Virginia for the last two weeks. My sister and I decided to make a lap quilt for her husband.

I cut out the squares and my sister sewed them together. Teamwork!

Tim chose the pattern that had beer glasses and beer related phrases. We paired it up with coloured blocks that matched.

 Tim chose the backing as well. It is a microfleece material. It was fairly easy to sew.

Since we were working together we finished Tim's quilt fairly quickly so we went back to the fabric store to get material for a quilt for my sister Shellie.

 She loves Dachshunds so we found a Dachshund fabric and some bright colours to be the solid squares.

The backing for this was a little harder to match but the nice lady at the fabric store found one for us.

 Tim and Shellie displaying their new quilts.

They are heading back to Australia today where it is winter so they should get plenty of use out of the quilts for the next month or two.

 Do you have a favourite quilt for cold winter days?

Saturday Snaphots: Snow photos

Have you liked our "His and Her Hobbies" Facebook page? If not, click here!

Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

A lot of my friends in Australia are getting some of the coldest weather they have had in a while and some of them are seeing the first snow in decades. Since the snow is such a rarity there are tons of snow photos being shared on social media. I figured I would join in the fun and post some photos of the big snow storm we got a few years ago. 

Once we get this much snow we are pretty much housebound for a while.

Alex is out exploring the snow.

During this particular snowstorm we got 13 inches (33cm) of snow.

I love the effect of the overhanging snow.

Its interesting how the snow sticks so uniformly even on an angled roof.

 The snow melting sometimes causes some pretty cool icicles like the ones on this house.

Do you ever get snow where you live?

Saturday Snapshot - Lap Quilt

Have you liked our "His and Her Hobbies" Facebook page? If not, click here!

Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

Last week I posted a picture and asked if anyone could name which city the photo was taken in. Click here if you missed that post. A few of you guessed the correct answer which was Boston.

Today I am sharing some photos of a  lap quilt that I made for a friend of ours. I kept the design fairly simple but it turned out to be super bright and colourful as I used a ton of different colours and patterns.
 

The quilt measures approx 58 inches by 52 inches (147cm x 132cm)

The back of the quilt is an orange checkerboard fabric. I kept the quilting simple but it looks nice.

There is a total of 56 blocks on the quilt.

There are 27 different prints in the quilt. All but one of the patterns were scrap pieces from other projects.

 Each print appears once in the center of a block and once as the border of a solid color block.

I used a variety of solid colours for the binding. I really liked the effect that the different colours give the edge of the quilt.

Give it a quick test run before it got shipped off to our friend.

 Which of the fabric patterns on the quilt is your favourite?

His and Her June 2015 More and Less Review

On June 1, we blogged about things we wanted to do More and Less of in June. I said I would come back on the 30th and give an update, but...well, to be honest, I forgot. Oops!

I'm here now though, so let's recap our goals for June (you can see the entire original post here) and how we did:

Amanda's More and Less for the month of June:
More - Knitting!
         I did great with this goal. Since school ended I have done a lot of knitting. I finished a pair of socks and started another. I finished one and a half squares of my Sherlock afghan. It's been a great summer of knitting so far.

More - Devotions! 
          I have been doing a devotion in the morning with Proverbs 31 Ministries and at night with She Reads Truth. I am loving both!

Less - Complaining! 
          I've been complaining a lot less this month. I'm not at zero complaints so that is my next goal.

Less - Procrastinating!
          Nope! I am still a procrastinator. Sean's sister and brother-in-law will be here next week and we have not cleaned any rooms yet. We have got to get going on this.


Sean's More and Less for the month of June:
More - Running!
          It has been so hot and we have been so busy that I have not run in a while. Something I want to do more of soon.

More -  Biking! 
          See above - no biking this month either. Too much heat and not enough time. 

Less - Snacking!
          This I have been good with. I eat some ice cream at night as a snack but other than that, no snacks. :)

Less - Procrastinating! 
          As Amanda said, we have not cleaned before my sister gets here and the yard definitely needs some attention. We both have some work to do with this one.


Check back tomorrow to see what goals we are setting for ourselves in July.

Happy June,