What I Learned in February

It's podcast Tuesday! This week we pay tribute to some of the HILARIOUS things my mom said pre and post op. She's so funny! And a shout out to Ryan's fifth grade love..

Listen here!

Now...on to today's blog!

It may have been a short month, but it was not short on new insights! Here is at least some of what I learned in the month of February! I'd like to think there were more insights along the way, but this is a good list!

1. You really can sneak cauliflower into a soup in place of potatoes.

I didn't sneak them in to be sneaky to Ryan. I did it to see if it was true that you really can't taste the difference. My friend Allison gave me a cheeseburger soup recipe and told me she swapped out the potatoes called for in the recipe with a head of cauliflower {chopped, of course}. She said she mashed it up into smaller pieces as it cooked and her kids didn't realize she had replaced potatoes with a healthier veggie. So when I made the soup, I did the same, and Ryan didn't catch it either. I was surprised, too, as I ate the soup, that I couldn't taste cooked cauliflower. {It's admittedly not my favorite vegetable in its cooked state. I don't mind it raw.} Sneaky veggies for the win! I'll be sharing my modification of this one soon!

2. Social media has become such a happy place for me since I employed rapid use of the "hide post" button.

I love social media. And one of the things I love about it is that it serves a million different purposes. Everyone wants what they want out of it, and that's great! Know what I want out of it? Baby pictures and cute puppies and Bible verses and those sorts of things. So this month I made the executive decision that I would hide all political posts on Facebook. I would hide them whether I agreed or disagreed. Whether they made me happy or mad. Political? Gone. I don't unfollow the people. I just hide the posts. And oh my goodness! What a difference it has made. I'm able to go and just smile when I see Facebook now, and that makes me happy. I can still read the news articles in other forums, and I do. But on that one space, I just want to find real life info about real people that I know and their cute puppies and babies!

3. Weighted blankets just might be a little miracle.

I have a friend who has started making weighted blankets as a side job. She made one for her son to help with some of his issues {I have no idea what they are} and then people started asking her to make them for sale, so she did. I'd read various articles that talked about how the weight helps with restlessness and anxiety and such things, and I'm sure those of you parenting kids with any of those issues could speak much more articulately than I on the matter. Well! When I went to the dentist this month, I was due for x-rays, so the assistant put the weighted vest on me for that, and immediately I felt calm and relaxed. (And that's good because the x-ray plates get into my gag reflex zone and cause a good amount of anxiety for me.) I relaxed so much that I contemplated asking her if she could just leave it on me when the x-rays were done. But I didn't. However, I have to say, I can see how the miracle of the weighted blanket isn't just all talk. It's real!

4. You can buy wood wicks for candles.

My sister introduced me to WoodWick candles several years ago, and they are my favorites. Have you ever had one? The wicks are wooden and crackle like a fireplace, making the whole candle-burning experience extra delightful. But the candles are definitely pricey, making the much more of a treat than an everyday experience. But I learned (via the magic of Pinterest, of course) that you can actually buy wood wicks and use them to make your own candles! I've never been a candle maker but this absolutely intrigues me!

5. I don't like almond milk.

In a rather embarrassing turn of events at Starbucks this month, I accidentally grabbed someone else's drink by mistake. I didn't realize anyone was ahead of me in line and when my chosen drink was declared - except made with almond milk - I thought the barista just messed up the milk choice. I hated to waste the drink and have her redo it, so I grabbed it and started sampling. I. did. not. like. it. at. all. And right about the time I was insisting I would power through anyway, she called out MY drink. The same one, made with skim milk. THAT'S when I realized a lady over in the corner had just not claimed her drink and I'd grabbed it. The lady whose drink I stole by mistake was ever so gracious about it. The barista? Not so much. I had a very red face, but in the process, I learned I don't like almond milk!

6. Making freezer meals is a fun, yet exhausting activity.

If you missed the post last week, I'll fill you in by telling you I made freezer meals for my parents to have on hand following my mom's recent hip replacement. I wanted to make meals that were done and ready to eat, so all they had to do was defrost and heat them. No additional prep required. It took me an entire Saturday from morning to night, but I prepared and individually portioned out thirty whole meals and two kinds of cookies. It was a lot of fun to do, but my feet were killing me by evening.


7. If you need answers to your tax questions, check the scrapbooks.

Ryan's been working tirelessly on our taxes over the last few weeks, and he comes up with occasional questions of when we did certain things so he knows where to look for receipts or whatever. On more than one occasion, my too-detailed-for-most-people scrapbooks have provided the necessary answers. Scrapbooking for the win in a brand new way!

Alphabetical Dates: The Letter "C"

Welllllllllllll, here is one date that certainly saw more modifications than I intended! Just to catch you up real quickly, in case you're new here - we're mixing up our married dating life this year by going on alphabetically themed dates. You can read about the "A" date here and the "B" date here, and this week, I was bound and determined that despite the chaos of our week, we were GETTING the "C" date. And it turned out to be one of the most beautiful and welcomed parts of the week. That's for sure!

My friend Odie said we needed to go on a CRUISE for the C date, and we definitely agreed, but alas. We just bought a gallbladder eviction, so we lacked the funds to buy a cruise.

So the next best thing? A "coffee shop crawl." How fun is that? It's like a pub crawl, but we don't drink, so we went from coffee shop to coffee shop instead. Or at least we tried. It was a brilliant plan on paper. I spread the date over the course of three days, because I felt we could enjoy the coffee much more if we weren't trying to do allllllllllllll the coffee shops in one day. I mean, that is a lot of caffeine and sugar - even for us.

I found three coffee shops in Kokomo we hadn't yet visited, and I spent time researching when they were open and arranged the dates accordingly. (Can I just say that is my only complaint about Kokomo coffee shops? None of them stay open very late at all.)

So the plan was that Thursday morning, we would get up extra early and a little after seven, we would go to The Bind Cafe, which is a coffee shop downtown that I didn't even know existed until a few weeks ago when I saw it on a list of must-visit coffee shops in the state of Indiana. Their Facebook page said they opened at seven, so I thought I'd give them a couple of minutes to settle, but go early enough that we would still have time to enjoy coffee and breakfast before Ryan had to work.

We arrived at 7:10 to this.

Closed up tight. Not closed, but lights on and people milling about, just running behind. Closed, closed, closed. Dark inside, no cars outside, CLOSED.

I don't think I need to explain how disappointing that is for two coffee addicts who have already survived a significant chunk of their morning without coffee, waiting for this glorious moment.

Baffled and befuddled, I checked their Facebook page again to see if I had somehow misread it. Nope. It said right there in bright green: "OPEN." And yet clearly, not so much. So we drove away with much sadness, and headed instead to Big Ben Coffee, which is our favorite local shop.

Ryan got fresh brew and I got the same with a scone on the side. (He was having breakfast at work, so he didn't need food.) We thoroughly enjoyed watching the sunrise and talking together. A lovely, leisurely morning, and even though it was Plan B, it was wonderful. And we took some goofy photos.

Friday night, after the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng week was finally behind us, we went to our second destination. There's a place in town called Coffee Junkiez that has several locations. Most are drive-thru only, but they have one full-sized restaurant that is both Coffee Junkiez and Pizza Junkiez. So we went for dinner and coffee.

The thunderstorms that rolled through central Indiana showed up while we were eating dinner, so it was nice to be inside where it was comfy and dry. It was actually quite a nice little place to eat. Quiet, calming music, lots of space, DELICIOUS pizza.

Ryan would like to point out that we got the Carnivore pizza, because it also starts with C. After we ate, we ordered lattes. Andes Mint for Ryan and Raspberry Delight for me, and we just kicked back, talked for a while, and watched the rain while we enjoyed our coffee. Delicious.

A keeper of a night, a keeper of a coffee joint, and the ONLY date that went as planned.

Saturday morning, we had plans to go to Main Street Cafe, because we had a gift card we'd been saving to use. It's hard to go to this place, because they have NO evening hours at all, and that makes it tough when you have a day job. (Plus, Ryan only gets 1/2 hour for lunch on weekdays, so eating out is not an option.)

I'd been there on a Saturday morning before, with one of my friends, so Ryan and I got up early on the only day we could sleep in, got ready, and drove in the snow to Main Street Cafe: Closed. Apparently they're not open on Saturdays. Not sure how they were open the day I went, but they were definitely not participating for our date day. Womp, womp.

So we drove to another part of downtown to a little cafe called Gabetta's, and ordered breakfast and fresh brew. It wasn't a true coffee shop, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

When we went to pay the bill, we discovered it's owned by Coffee Junkiez, too, so SCORE! It counts as a coffee shop!

So the winning part of our C date was that we had three opportunities to enjoy quality time together in the middle of a week that was totally chaotic and exhausting. Love that. And that's what really counts. The losing part of our C date was that 2/3 of our destinations were complete busts. Sadness indeed.

The Shafferland Shuffle

Well there certainly has not been a shortage of events this week!! Full, full week! Here we go!

* Last Sunday, Ryan had to work, which is a rare thing, but it does sometimes happen. (By Friday, he had worked 13 days in a row, and we were both exhausted.) When he got home, we went to an open house for a recently built house in our neighborhood. We love to see what's new! Ryan likes the light fixture and I photo-bombed. :) And that night, we began the first of allllllllll the visits to the hospital. That night? To see his mom.

* Monday I spent an hour and a half at the Goodwill, buying clothes for my spring capsule project (more on this later). I think that may be a record for the amount of time I've spent at the Goodwill in one day. That night, we went back to the hospital to see Ryan's mom again, and then out to my parents' house to drop off the 30 freezer meals I made for them. (They were surprised!)

* Tuesday was Mom's surgery day, so I hurried to get all my chores done in the morning and then we spent the whole afternoon and evening at the hospital with her. (And threw in some visits to Ryan's mom while we were at it.) We had Bible study that night and made minor pigs of ourselves on the snacks provided, because we'd never gotten around to having dinner!

* I'm sure it will surprise you that I spent part of Wednesday at the hospital, attending Mom's therapy sessions and delivering flowers. Ryan and I went back that night to see her again and to get our daily hospital selfie. We tried to get one every day this week, but this was the last day we actually remembered to do it.

* Thursday morning, we went on the first portion of our "C" date (more on this to come), and then while Ryan went to work, I went back to the hospital to be Mom's therapy coach. Even got to eat lunch with her! Ryan and I went back that afternoon to help with her release and to get her home and into the house safely. Quite a production!

* Friday morning, my dad had a previously scheduled appointment, so I went to sit with Mom while he was gone and to help when the home health nurse came. (Lots of questions and Mom was still pretty groggy from all the happenings of the week.) Came home, worked all afternoon and then that night, Ryan and I had part two of our "C" date. We were so tired, we ended up sleeping on Mo and I missed the entire end of the movie we watched!

* Woke up yesterday to SNOW. COME ON, INDIANA! Snow was so last month. Let's move on to spring! We went out for the third and final portion of our "C" date, and then I had to get back home for a podcast interview. It was Ryan's first day off in two weeks, so he enjoyed updating his phone and doing other fun at-home chores. Well-deserved. We paid a quick visit to my parents, and it's great to see Mom doing so well!

The Saturday Six

One.

If you struggle with the need (not a desire, but a need) to never disappoint anyone, well, you're probably going to disappoint yourself, because that's just pretty much impossible. But I get the whole people-pleaser mentality. Have that bug myself! This post is beautifully worded, offering freedom from an impossible goal!

Two.

Gone on a good virtual home tour lately? I hadn't, so I read this post from Between Naps on the Porch. THREE homes on one property. I love the guest cottage the best.

Three.

Ryan!?!!?!?! This one's for you! Remember when we got our Surrender sign, and you said you wished you knew how wood burning art worked? Found a tutorial! It's not written by the lady who made our sign, but I'm guessing the technique is close enough!{And anyone else intrigued by how wood burning works...check it out!}

Four.

A short, but meaningful read about the importance of making memories with your kids. I have great childhood memories and hope Ryan and I provide good memories for our nieces and nephews!

Five.

Any Aldi shoppers out there? This is a cute way to keep track of your quarter! 

Six.

Source

Last summer, I read Lynette Eason's book Without Warning, which was the second book in a series called Elite Guardians. I'd missed the first book, but easily jumped into book two, and it was a heart-stopper for sure! I read the book in the car as Ryan and I drove home from Kansas from my niece's wedding, and I kept jumping every time he slammed on the brakes!


So when I saw that book three in the series, Moving Target, was releasing this winter, I had to get it. To refresh your memory, these books tell the stories of a group of young women who serve as bodyguards. Each book focuses on a different member of the Elite Guardians, and this time, it was Maddy McKay's turn.

Maddy and the guy she's been dating {he stops just short of willingness to define the relationship further}, Quinn Holcombe, vanish one evening after having dinner together. Their friends discover the news a day later when both of them fail to show up at Quinn's birthday party and they all realize no one has heard from them in a full day.

Though Maddy is a bodyguard and Quinn as a muscle-laden investigator, they've both been abducted by a mysterious {and apparently very strong!} man. They awaken from their drugged stupors and begin a fight to stay alive and figure out who has targeted them, and more importantly, why. They suspect their abduction is related to a string of deaths, and they're determined to not become the next victims, but instead bring justice to those who have already died.

Much like the second book in the series, this one is full of twists, nail-biting moments, surprises, and I would highly recommend not reading it right before you go to bed. {I finally closed it because it was so real, I knew I'd have nightmares if I kept going! But when daylight returned, I cracked it back open and read ferociously until I finished the book!}

Also like the second book, Moving Target had a clear faith base to it, but the storyline wasn't cheesy or watered down. I appreciated the author's ability to weave the two so well. And I learned at the end that the fourth book in the series comes out later this year, so I'm looking forward to that! {One other note: if you've not read the first two books, you won't be confused when you pick this one up. Though I recognized characters from the previous book, the storyline itself stands alone enough that you won't be lost.}

* Revell provided a copy of this book to me at no charge. All opinions are my own. *

Healthier Hot Chicken Salad

Several years ago - seven, to be exact - I posted a recipe for hot chicken salad. I first learned about this culinary delight from my friend Marie, who knew me well enough to know I would love it and brought me a generous serving of it one evening. I asked for the recipe immediately and during my desert months in 2010, this was one of the few things I could make, because it was easy and though I was capable of little else, I could mix up a hot chicken salad.

If you like a good full-fat, mayo and fried onion laden dish, check out the original recipe and please excuse my photography. I will not deny that the original version is delicious, but these days I've adapted it to make it healthier. It doesn't taste exactly the same, but I think it's still pretty yummy, even all healthed up. :)

I made it last week and we gobbled it right up, so I thought I would put the updated recipe out here for you, just in case you were looking for something new to try that isn't loaded with mayo and friend onions. :)

Healthier Hot Chicken Salad

* 3 cups of cooked shredded chicken
* 1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
* 1 cup slivered almonds {1 1/2 ounce package is about right}
* 2 cups celery, chopped
* 1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
* 1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, except green onions. Spread in an 11x7 baking dish and sprinkle green onions on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

A Few Tips

* I take frozen chicken and boil it (straight from its frozen state) on the stove until it is cooked through, then shred it in my stand mixer. Works like a charm.

* Personal preference: I put the seasoned salt in the chicken as it's shredding rather than adding it to the whole dish later. You can definitely add it as you're mixing everything together if you prefer. I just like how it clings to the chicken as it shreds, so I add it then.

* If you can't find slivered almonds, you can use sliced instead. You just want to make sure your pieces are smaller than whole almonds. That's the goal.

* If you can't find low-fat cheddar, you can substitute mozzarella instead.

* The Greek Yogurt isn't quite as creamy as the mayo, but it really does work well, and I think the flavor is still excellent.

* I thought I might miss the fried onions, but the green onions were a pretty good substitute!!

* We eat this plain to save carbs, but you could serve it on buns if you prefer.

* I like it that this dish is easy to dress up (we eat ours with asparagus or other cooked vegetables) or dress down  with chips or something if you prefer.

Enjoy! :)

The Amazing Human Body

Thanks so much for all the kind words regarding my mom yesterday. She apologized for "spoiling" my post with her rules about pre and post op pictures. {hee hee hee.}

I. Am. Absolutely. Amazed. at her progress in 24 hours. Amazed, I tell you!

I'll be the first to tell you I was a science failure in school, so I don't have a commanding comprehension of how the human body works, but being married to someone in the physical therapy world has helped me understand its ability to heal and adapt after surgery.

So I sort of had an idea of how things would go for Mom, but even "sort of an idea" didn't prepare me for how well she would do in the first twenty-four hours.


When I got to the hospital yesterday morning, she was already in a therapy session, and when I walked in, she looked totally normal! Dressed in her own clothes, with her hair done and her glasses on, she was up in a chair, stretching her leg!


I stayed for a while and watched while she got up to walk for the first time. It was painful for her, but she powered through. She took it nice and slow, one little step at a time, and she actually would have gone longer than she did, but they reminded her it was just the first of many sessions, so she needed to take it easy, and she did listen and take a rest!


Though I promise to spare her the posting of any therapy photos or videos, I will share this one I took of her with some of her flowers...can you even believe this was less than 24 hours after surgery??

I left right before lunch so I could come home to work for a while, and when Ryan and I went back after work, I was shocked to my very core. She got up for walk, and she just powered through the whole hallway at breakneck speed, compared to her morning speed! It hadn't even been twelve hours, and she was walking as fast as she did before surgery. Maybe even faster!


It truly does amaze me how a person can be up and moving so soon after having whole new PARTS put in! The body is an amazing thing, and I am grateful God built in all the things He did to make such healing and adaptation possible. As Mom told the hospital chaplain yesterday, she's grateful for the knowledge and skill of the medical community, but she's also grateful for God's help and healing! Great teamwork between the two!

We're excited to see her on the road to recovery. This waiting for surgery thing was so drawn out that she had a lot of time to overthink it and worry, and I didn't blame her. I would have done the same! So we're just excited for her that the day has come and gone and now she can get well soon!

Brain Mush

I sat on the living room floor last night and said to Ryan, "I have no idea what to blog about tomorrow." He said I could do something of spiritual significance, and then remembered I probably have no brain cells left with which to be profound in any way.

Truth!

So...yesterday Mom had a hip replacement. And she told me I was allowed to document the day {NOT the surgery itself}, but I wasn't allowed to embarrass her. And my sister told me I wasn't allowed to post the dorky selfies we took. So I have very little blog-worthy material for you to enjoy today.

Nevertheless, I'll fill you in!

Mom has been waiting on this hip replacement forever. It's just kind of been a long comedy of delays that weren't funny at all, so I guess that makes them just delays, and not comedies, right? She's been a fantastic patient leading up to it: doing all her pre-op exercises regularly, reading her long manual about surgery, and trying not to freak out about surgery.

When I arrived at the hospital yesterday, she was in the holding tank {what is the real word for that? I have no idea} in her pretty little gown and skid-proof socks, awaiting surgery. I got a picture together with her and dad, but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I posted it, so I won't. My birthday is coming up. I don't want to jeopardize my present. HA!

But I will tell you this, because it was hilarious. The surgeon came in to go over last minute details with her {SUPER nice guy}, and at the end, he said, "I always treat my patients like they're my own family." She did not miss a single beat before she said, "Yes, but do you LIKE your family?"

The entire room busted out laughing, including nurses tending to other patients. Good question! Legitimate!!!

They came to get her right on time and she went back into the OR, and I went to the little coffee shop around the corner because, well, obvious reasons.

 Best latte I've had (not homemade by my friend Mike) in a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time.

I took books and activities, but it was hard to concentrate in there, so I fear I wasn't very productive. Ryan had JUST walked in the door after work when the surgeon came out to meet with us. He said the surgery went very well and he thought she should feel like a whole new woman. Apparently her hip had been quite a mess.

I went down the phone tree and texted/called a bunch of Mom's friends and then we were able to go back and see her.

I was sorely disappointed, you guys. I was expecting a repeat of Ryan's post-op experience. Hilarity. Silly questions.

She was sleepy, you could tell, but she was 100% coherent and even kept saying, "I'm not saying stupid things am I?" Sadly, no.

My favorite part of the recovery room was when she said her hip hurt {well you had surgery, you know!!} and Ryan asked if she needed to move it a little. He moved around to that side of the bed and started maneuvering her leg, right as the nurse showed up. She just kind of stared at him and I was like "Ummmm he's a therapist. He knows what he's doing." {Although right before that I was like, DON'T BREAK HER! SHE JUST GOT THAT!!!}

The nurse just laughed and said "Well I know he's family and we can't tell family not to do something..." but you could see relief on her face that he had training at least. HA!

We stayed until she got settled in her room and then we let her have her space. After all, she had a pretty major surgery.

Interesting side note: Ryan's mom is in the hospital too, so we got to visit them both!!

So there you go. My least picture-represented blog post ever. And I'm not even sure it makes sense. But my brain is mush. So there's that. I'll try to be more with it tomorrow!

Meanwhile, we are so thankful the surgery went well and are eager to see Mom up and around without pain!

Freezer Meal Palooza

I had a lot of paloozas this weekend. Phoebe AND freezer meals in the same day. But before I tell you about the freezer meal adventures, here's a little bundle of laughs for you. Wait til you hear the new word Ryan has concocted for his Shafferland dictionary. Cracked me UP!

Take a listen here!

Now. Back to freezer meals.

So my mom is getting ready to have surgery soon, and she is the resident chef at their house. And when I say that, I mean my dad couldn't cook if he had to. Toast...maybe. Apparently he has recently learned to make oatmeal. And possibly he could pour milk on cold cereal. After that? It's burgers and buffets all the way, because he just simply cannot cook. {No judgment, Dad. You have many other gifts. LOL!!}

So with Mom down for the count, I thought it would be helpful if she had some meals she could warm up as needed. I know some of her friends and neighbors will probably stop by in the weeks following with random meals and food gifts, so I have no idea when she'll come upon a day when she needs something and doesn't have it. Enter the freezer meals.

Also, Mom had expressed to me that because there are just the two of them, she didn't need big 9x13 servings of things. Totally understandable! So I took that concern into consideration when preparing the meal palooza.

One other little twist in this story is that my dad is a very picky eater. I promise I'm not trying to be mean to him in this post. It's just true and he'd admit it! So I was challenged to think of things that made good, healthy, balanced meals, in individual portions, that my dad MIGHT eat. {And if not? No worries. More for Mom!}

This past Saturday, whilst I had Miss Pheebs all day, I also cooked all day. Ryan had to work, so I just organized the kitchen in the best way I could think to do it and created thirty single-serving meals to freeze and transport to their house. Thought I'd tell you what I did and how I did it, in case you never need to know for yourself!

* First, I created three menus and did all the shopping for ingredients I didn't already have on hand. (I just used spices and such that I had here, but I shopped for all the main ingredients.) Ryan and I did that the night before, so everything was good and fresh.

* I also went to GFS (Gordon Food Service) and purchased containers that had individual wells so I could portion out the servings. and freeze them.

* The first meal was the sloppy joe meal. I made Mom's sloppy joe recipe, with three pounds of ground beef, and when I portioned out the cooked meat, I ended up with eleven servings of sloppy joe meat. I put them in sandwich zip bags and flattened them for easier storage. Then I took a package of regular buns and pulled them all apart, put each bun in a separate sandwich bag, and paired the buns with the bags of meat. I put both sandwich bags down inside a quart bag to make the meal. I also bought an assortment pack of individual servings of chips to pair with the sandwiches.

* The second meal was the meat loaf meal. I made two meat loaves and while they were baking, I whipped up some macaroni and cheese that I baked when the meat loaves were done. I also got 3 cans of green beans to portion out. I was able to get five servings out of each meat loaf for a total of ten, and I had enough macaroni to get ten servings plus two taste-tester size portions for Ryan and yours truly. The three cans of green beans were enough for the ten meals, too. I took my containers and spooned servings of all three things into the wells and called it done!

* The last meal was the chicken nugget meal. I used 9 large chicken tenders, added cheesy potatoes (no recipe on the old blogaroo for this one yet) and made cooked carrots for the first time in my life, and that made the last meal. The chicken nuggets took the longest because I had to cut the tenders into pieces and coat them and turn them all individually. The cheesy potato recipe made plenty for me to have enough for my 9 meals and leftovers for Ryan. I used 2 pounds of carrots to cook, and I used them all in the meals.

* And then for dessert, I made chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles, and after reserving some out for us, I bagged the rest, four cookies to a bag, and froze those as well.

* I found this site from Pinterest, and if you download the label the lady made, you can actually edit the label and put it right on your meal. That's what I did!

So last night we drove all the meals over {stuffed into various boxes, bags, and coolers} and surprised her! And boy was she ever surprised!

The freezer meal palooza was a little gift from all three of her girls, actually. I was just the self-designated cooker. Ha! Glad we were able to do it for her and hope it makes recovery a bit on the easier side! I hear those physical therapists can really work you hard and I can only imagine that can make you hungry!