(I feel I should point out we packed the tech and left the house before coffee yesterday. I feel lucky that the only thing I forgot was the power cord. Oh wait, I also forgot a hair brush.)

But there are concessions... like working from the Starbucks in the Indigo in the mall. I like working from coffee shops. It reminds me of being a student, although I certainly didn't have a laptop then and no one had wifi anyway. I was going to come back to the mall for lunch and I figured it would waste less time to just work here then going back and forth between the mall and the hotel a few more times. Also, the view doesn't suck.

We're eating out a lot more than usual because we're not home. My plans for the end of the week are rather loosey-goosey because I didn't plan before we left and I'm not really sure what's in the fridge/freezer right now.

Monday: We're in Toronto. Lee has dinner with a colleague. My plans got to postponed due to illness so I'm not sure what I'm doing to do. Maybe I'll grab some pizza and bring it back to the hotel. I'm TIRED.

Tuesday: We're not sure yet! We might go to one of our favourite restaurants in Toronto. Or we might go to the baseball game where one simply must get a hotdog. Or we might not either of those things. We're going to see how the day goes and play it by ear. We're pretty sure lunch is going to be at the St. Lawrence Market though. Mmm veal sandwich.

Wednesday: I'm guessing this is going to be either fast food on the drive home or we'll call a local restaurant (usually the local noodle house) from the road and grab some takeout. It depends on what time we actually leave Toronto. Or if we really can't face takeout, we can stop at a grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken and a salad.

Thursday: I think it will just be me at home for dinner but I'm not sure. I'll forage in the freezer and see what we have in there that I can pull out. I know there's some minestrone in there.

Friday: I don't want to have to go grocery shopping and I don't want takeout. I wonder if we still have some shrimp in the freezer... if so I'm thinking some spicy shrimp. If not, we'll pull some pork chops out of the freezer and grill them. We can do rice or quinoa for a side and we should have some frozen veg kicking around.

Saturday: Our friends have a BBQ every year on this weekend so we'll be chowing down on burgers and salads.

Sunday: I have absolutely no idea. We'll do a freezer dive or pick up something when we go grocery shopping.

What are you cooking this week?

We made it work. We had donairs on Saturday night. They were originally our Friday night plan but we decided to do a dinner date night on Friday instead. Mmmm sushi. Since we we had to buy pitas for the donairs, we picked up a few extras and made pita pizzas for dinner on Sunday. The pita pizzas were a real winner last night. After all the yard work (plus a round of golf for Lee) we were both exhausted. Pita pizzas took us about five minutes to prep -- most of which was grating cheese -- and only ten minutes to cook.

This is how this week is shaping up!

Monday: Beef stir fry with snow peas and quinoa rice blend. (Note to self, make extra quinoa so you can eat it for lunch.)

Tuesday: We've had a bone-in turkey breast hanging out in the freezer for awhile. I'm going to pop it in the slow cooker. I'm going to more or less use Stephanie O'Dea's recipe. I haven't decided on whether I'll use wine or stock yet. Or what we are having with it. Maybe something sweet potato-y since I think I have a few stray sweet potatoes kicking around.

Wednesday: Chicken burgers with either peanut sauce or sriracha mayo. We need to pick up burger buns because the grocery store was darned near cleaned out of all buns and we totally out of the kind we like for chicken burgers. (We like the really thin ones for chicken burgers for some reason.) I think everyone was having impromptu BBQs this weekend.

Thursday: Just me at home. I'm thinking pasta.

Friday: Pizza night.

Saturday: Pork chops and whatever needs to be cleaned out of the fridge

Sunday: We're heading to Toronto so it will be dinner out tonight and the next couple of nights.

Extras: We's so making these grilled cheesecake turnovers from Sarah's Cucina Bella. I'm not sure what flavour yet though -- I need to see what kind of jam we have in our fridge.

What are you cooking this week?

When we moved into the house the deck was untreated. Or, if had been treated any evidence thereof had disappeared. We kept saying we should stain it. We finally did last fall. It took eight hours. (It's a big deck.) 

What we had really wanted from the beginning was a patio table with an umbrella. Something that could sit six and where I could work during the summer days. I work from home. It's nice to be able to work outside on nice days. We knew it wouldn't happen that first summer. We had installed hardwood floors on the upper level (getting rid of some truly gross carpet in the process) and had a new furance installed. Things like patio tables would have to wait. 

The former owners had left a cheap plastic table and we could squeeze six people around it using the built in benches on the deck (did I mention the deck was a big plus?) and folding chairs. We also had a folding card table we'd haul from time to time. We bought a couple of loungers so we could at least hang out on the deck. We made do thinking that we'd do buy a set the next summer. And then the next summer. Other priorities appeared. 

Spring was slow to come to Ottawa this year. Just two weeks ago we snow. Spring finally came in the past week, looking very much like summer. I love working from home but there are days when I just desperately wanted to be outside. I've been taking my lunch breaks outside and let me tell you, it's been really hard to back and sit at my desk after those breaks. 

This weekend I was determined that we were finally going to do some patio furniture shopping. I sat down, crunched numbers and figured out our budget. We didn't need a full set because, again, of those lovely built in benched. We needed a table, four chairs (technically, only three but it felt too weird to buy an odd number), umbrella and umbrella stand. 

We checked out three stores yesterday. It would have been four but Canadian Tire closes at the unseemly hour of 7pm on Saturdays. We figured out things we liked. We figured out what we didn't.

The chairs were the first thing we decided on. They were a steal at $25 each at the Canadian Superstore. They had umbrella bases for $19 and the umbrella was $39. They also had a cute side table for $19 that would go nicely with our loungers. We took notes and pictures on Saturday and went back on Sunday to buy them. Total for chairs, umbrella, umbrella stand and side table was $188. So far, so good.  

We had a harder time deciding on the table. We debated glass vs. metal table tops. Given our budget constraints, as much as we liked a couple of metal table tops they were a really hard sell. Maybe in a few years we may upgrade to a metal top but for now it was a glass top for us. We wavered about still as tried to decide. There was one at the Canadian Superstore that we hadn't really looked at because at that point we were still thinking metal, not glass. When we went back to look at it we decided it was a bit too flimsy for our liking. 

(We also wonder/debate if the displays are ever as flimsy as they seem. Is it just a bad construction job? Discuss among yourselves.) 

It was down to two glass top tables at Canadian Tire. There wasn't really a significant enough price differece between the two for that to be a big factor -- only $30. In the end we decided that by eyes the glass seemed to be better attached to the one of the tables than the other. Perhaps surpringly, it was the cheaper option. Grand total for our table? $109. Score! 

Grand total for our new patio set? We squeaked in just under $300 at $297. That's UNDER budget you guys. Yay! I think with that money we saved we might just use some of those savings buy ourselves a few new BBQ accesories so some summer dishes. Maybe some of those ones you put ice in the bottom to keep salads and dips cold. If I'm going to be working out here, I need snacks!

Now we're stuck in that place where we want to grill all the things but the things in our freezer aren't especially grill-friendly. We're working on that as we try to get the freezer levels down a bit. As always it's close to overflowing.

Monday: Asian chicken sandwiches and a spinach salad. Apparently I liked the sound of these chicken sandwiches so much I pinned it twice -- both this version and the original from Use Real Butter.

Tuesday: Pasta salad and grilled sausages. I am not a big fan of sausages so it will probably be mostly pasta salad for me.

Wednesday: Turkey drumsticks and wings on the BBQ and hopefully leftover pasta salad.

Thursday: It's just me at home. Would it be too much to have pasta again? Probably. Maybe I'll make homemade tomato soup.

Friday: Donair night! Yay! (Oh nuts. We forgot to buy pita bread. We'll have to do that before Friday.)

Saturday: I'm doing a rift on this chili verde recipe and using it to make a slow cooker pulled pork something.

Sunday: Burrito bowls with quinoa and leftover pork.

What are you cooking this week?

Then Lee came along and ruined everything. 

You see, he's kind of a neat-freak. He's not an "OMG, there's a spot of dust on that thing. MUST CLEAN ALL THE THINGS" neat-freak. But he's one of those types that really needs to do the dishes before he can go to sleep at night. 

Which brings up to sleeping. And beds. Lee is very a much a Make the Bed Person. I was not. 

I'd roll out of bed, leave everything a crumpled mess and not think much about it. After all, it would only get messed up again that night. Why bother? 

Lee, however, makes the bed every day. Well, almost every day. On rare occasions it doesn't get made, usually due to the fact that there's a furry beast on it who glares at you if you try to move the blankets while she's sleeping. (She is very good at glaring and looking disdainful.) 

Now it bothers me when the bed is not made. I mean, it really bothers me. It bothers me enough that I've been making the bed a lot lately. I've probably made the bed more in the last year then I did in the previous ten. 

Thanks for ruining me, Lee. I guess this is payback for making it so that you can't eat Hamburger Helper anymore without feeling ill. (Homemade food for the WIN, you guys.)

Monday: The shrimp dish we didn't make on Friday because we ordered pizza. (It's ok, we use frozen shrimp and it never even got out of the freezer.)

Tuesday: Cheese enchiladas. I'll make a side of rice. Probably also some black beans.

Wednesday: Leftovers or if there aren't enough leftovers I can pull the tamale pie out of the freezer (also did not get made last week). Or throw some hotdogs on the bbq.

Thursday: I don't know. The fake husband is in charge. I assume he's throwing something on the bbq. He'll figure it out.

Friday: Pizza night!

Saturday: We're going to a friend's house, where there will be meat thrown on the bbq. Are you sensing a theme here? It's called "spring."

Sunday: Roast duck. The fake husband loves duck and it was on sale. He's going to be a very happy guy, assuming I can figure out how to cook it properly.

What are you cooking this week?

You see, I run mostly on the paths in my neighbourhood. We're very lucky that we live in an area that is full of paths. There is, however, one spot where I need to cross a street. It was rather busy at the exact moment I ended up there on my run. There were other runners, cars coming from multiple directions and I decided to step off the path and cut a corner so I'd be out of everyone's way. Unfortunately an elderly lady coming from the opposite direction had the exact same thought at the exact same time and neither of us saw the other. 

We both zigged when one of use should have zagged and boom - full body contact. 

Yes, I plowed directly into an elderly lady on my run. I AM AWESOME. 

Being Canadian, we both apologized profusely, straighted each other up and went on our way but still. I am the asshole who ran right into an elderly lady. Rock on. 

Pros: 

- I hit my benchmark, which happens to be an actual bench. I know I want to be past that bench before I get the halfway into my run. I hit that today. 

- A lot of the snow and ice melted between Monday and Wednesday. It means it's really muddy but it's easier to run in mud than on ice. 

Cons: 

- I ran into an elderly woman. I suck. 

My schedule has shifted this month. It's both good and bad but the good is that I'm taking chunks of time away from the computer during the day. Exactly when I take the time off changes every day but every day I'm taking a couple of hours at a time away from the computer. I've been doing things like clean and exercise. Or I make puzzles. Or bake breads. Now that we (hopefully) have left winter behind us, it's time to hit the trail. 

You see, I've signed up for the Army Run 5k when registration opened two months ago. Last year was my first year doing it and I loved it. I think it's a fabulous race. Last year I barely ran at all and when I was standing in the corral I was really angry with myself over that. This year, I want to do better. I don't just mean in terms of time (though that would be nice) but I don't want to be standing in that corral in September disappointed with myself again. 

I have a hard time running in cold weather due to both circulation and breathing issues, so I've been watching the weather and waiting. I sucked it up and did workouts on the stationary bike, which I loathe. Yesterday I looked at the weather and knew that today was go day. 

It was good and bad. 

I debated whether or not I wanted to use the C25K app again. I've started and stopped it more times than I could count. But I also knew that it would -- in theory -- keep me from trying to go too far too fast. It certainly did. Since I've started it so many times I know where I should be at the halfway point and I was well short of it. Part of that was the snow and ice that were still on parts of the trail. Part of it was also me going purposely slow because I was worried about the cooler weather triggering an asthma attack. I didn't. And you know, slow's ok. Slow it much better than the first time I ever tried the C25K app and went too fast and seriously thought I was going to vomit by the halfway point. (I am not so good at finding that balance of pushing myself just hard enough and far too hard.) Maybe some day I'll remember to switch the settings to kilometers. 

I think the first run of the year is always a good learning run. I learned there's still ice and snow on the trail, which means I'll be dealing with mud for at least a month. I learned that once again I really didn't tie my shoes tight enough (I had to pause to deal with that one). I also tried out my new Belkin Easfit and realized I accidentally bought the Easefit Plus, which has a longer armband. Which means it barely fits me. Oops. I bought it months ago so it's far too late to return it. Darn. I'm stuck using it for at least a little bit longer because April = taxes. 

It was a slow run, but a good run. I'll get faster. It will get less muddy. I'll eventually have an armband that fits. All in all, it was a good start to the season. 

We had ice fall from the sky on Friday. ICE. Hmph. I do not approve. We're watching the weather and we think that maybe, just maybe, we might be able to sit out on the deck next weekend. We have our fingers crossed because we could use some sunshine. But the weather this weekend meant it was perfect for crawling under a bunch of blankets on the couch (when we could wrestle them away from the cat) and ignoring all our to do lists.

Sunday: I don't normally include Sunday's meal because you've seen it the week before but we were just NOT in the mood for what was on the menu and we were going grocery shopping anyway. I did some scouting on Pinterest and I found this recipe for penne with asparagus, peas, mushrooms and cream. We halved the recipe because it serves something like 8 people and omg. Yum.

Monday: Minestrone and potato scallion bread. Hmm I guess that means I should go dig the bread out of the freezer.

Tuesday: Our favourite chicken burgers with peanut sauce. (Hmm, I think we forgot to buy buns for these.)

Wednesday: Five-spice pork chops with potatoes and veg.

Thursday: Tamale pie (freezer meal)

Friday: Greek-style shrimp with feta (from the Dinner: A Love Story cookbook) and rice or quinoa

Saturday: We'll be out for dinner.

Sunday: Roast chicken

What are you making this week?</

First up were some no-bake granola energy bites. Energy bites seem to be really popular on Pinterest and I had everything on hand for these except the wheat bran. It was an easy add to my grocery list. I've been noticing my energy had been taking a dip mid-afternoon and I think these might be a great snack. I know the ones I've sampled so far have been tasty.

Then it was on to making roasted red pepper relish. I pinned this close a year ago but hadn't gotten around to making it. I had been toying with the idea of making it and then when we were at the store we found a discounted package of red peppers that were slightly past their prime, but perfect for roasting and turning into relish. I don't have any firm plans for this. I think I'll tuck some into a grilled cheese sandwich or a turkey wrap. Maybe we'll have some with our steaks on Monday. It's something I can add to a bunch of things. I love flexibility.

That's what I'm looking for in lunches this week and, really, with meal planning in general. Flexibility is one of the four rules of meal planning Brittany talked about last week on A Healthy Slice of Life. If you are new to meal planning her post has some good tips. While I post my meal plan every week, we end up changing something at least once a week. Flexibility FTW!

Here's how this week is shaping up:

Monday: Grilled steaks and potato salad.

Tuesday: HOCKEY NIGHT! We have tickets to both the bronze and gold medal 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship games. Hockey double-header! So, we'll be eating overpriced food at at the arena. ;-)

Wednesday: Hoisin pork with rice noodles -- Jenna told me I had to make it. I'm listening)

Thursday: Leftovers and/or freezer meal.

Friday: Pizza night (homemade this week)

Saturday: If Lee's not home (the current plan since his Saturday plans last week were cancelled), Chinese take-out. If he is home... maybe spaghetti and meatballs?

Sunday: Kofta and quinoa salad with mint.

Extras: Following on my snacky train of thought from above, we like to snack on fresh veggies but we also really like dip. We've been buying those packages that you just mix with sour cream but we always end up throwing some away. When I saw this recipe for homemade ranch seasoning mix I knew I had to try it. I made a triple batch and it took less than five minutes. I'll need to play around with it a bit but I'm thinking about 1 tablespoon mixed with 1/3 cup of plain yogurt should make just enough for a mid-afternoon snack.

What are you cooking this week?