Weekly Meal Plan: Week 20

Weekly Meal Plan Week 20 - 10 amazing bloggers bringing you a full week of recipes including dinner, sides dishes, and desserts!

 

Weekly Meal Plan 20

Welcome to Week 20 of our weekly meal plans. If you enjoy Meal Planning you can peruse the Recipe Index on the blog for more recipes and menu plans.

So....today is THE DAY. It's New Horsey Day! For those of you who are new to the blog I have fabulous news. We bought our horse's daughter. She's being delivered today.

Here's a little back story to all of this. I grew up adoring horses, but my Dad was not a huge fan. It's a long story but let's just say someone he cared about was very seriously injured by one.

However on odd occasions I would ride at friend's or relative's places. There's something about horses that just brings out the calm in me. They're good for the mind, and soul.

Cut to me being an adult and having kids. When my daughter was almost 4 we asked her what sport she wanted to play. Mini-me looked at us and said horseback riding.

We laughed because she didn't know I used to ride. She was 4 when she started. By 6 she was in western lessons. By 8 she switched to english. Then jumping began and that was that.

When she was about 8 or so I thought to myself "wouldn't it be nice if I took some lessons". One lesson a week turned to 2, then 3, then half leasing a horse, then full leasing a horse.

Then we met an Arabian horse named Ginger and our world was never the same. We basically took over her expenses and care for a year so we could ride her without sharing her.

Never in a million years did we think her owner would sell her. One day he called and offered for us to buy her. One condition, he'd give us a deal on price if we let him breed her once.

Ginger was bred and she went through her pregnancy with us riding her until she got too uncomfortable. Which was almost right up until her due date. She was a trooper.

On Ginger's birthday she gave birth to her daughter, Gigi. We fell in love with her. We imprinted her immediately and she stayed with us until weaning time. It was amazing.

Once she was weaned she went off with her owner. We've visited her regularly every summer and kept in close touch with her owner. He lives on a property about 30 minutes from us.

This summer he called to ask if we'd be interested in buying Gigi. My daughter hoped from the day she was born this would happen, but we never thought it would.

We worked out all the details carefully. You see Gigi is 9 years old and no one has ever ridden her. If you know anything about horses you realize the weight of that statement.

After a lot of talking we decided it was worth the financial, emotional and time investment we'd be making to take her in. So today she comes home. I still can't wrap my head around it.

Gigi is a bit of a special horse. Not only did we help raise her but she's our horse's last baby, as well as the stallion's last baby. She is the last in the line of both parents, which is a big deal.

I'm not going to lie, the idea we may get to ride together with the horses is such a cool concept. Mother and Daughter get to ride together on Mother and Daughter horses.

I'm really hoping training goes well with Gigi, and that Ginger ages gracefully so we have a couple of years of riding time together. Ginger is 28 years old, so she's getting up there.

Our hope is that the girls get along and training goes well. We'll get to spend time together at the barn which for moms and daughters is a super cool thing.

So that's the big news. It's super cool if you're a horse person. If not you probably just read "blah, blah, blah". I glaze over when people talk about sports so I can relate. Completely.

For those who are thinking "OMG these people must be rich, and live in a mansion, and sleep on beds of money". NOPE! Not even remotely close to the truth.

My daughter goes to university and works 3 jobs to pay her own way in life. My kids don't get handed anything. She's worked her butt off to save for this.

She was gone for 4 months this summer in the military and saved every penny. We're not rich. We live in a tiny house, rarely vacation or shop, drive used cars and have old furniture.

I never thought owning horses was a possibility. We know it means giving up a lot, but we also know how lucky we are. We never take it for granted. Not one little bit.

If you're interested in seeing photos of her arrival today follow me on Instagram. I can't wait to welcome Gigi home. 9 years of wishing for Mini-me's dream to come true. 

One Pot Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta - Roxana's Home Baking

 

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken - Diethood

 

Perfect Pork Tenderloin - Sweet C's Designs

 

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches - The Cookie Rookie

 

Kitchen is CLOSED - Enjoy a night off from cooking!

Chicken Caprese Skillet - I Wash...You Dry

  

Indian Spice Chili - Lemons for Lulu

 

Mushroom Rice Pilaf - Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

  

Honey Potato Wheat Rolls - Foodie with Family

  

Cranberry Christmas Cake - Barefeet in the Kitchen

 

White Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Peppermint Dip - Cravings of a Lunatic

 

 In loving Memory of our dear friend Joan

Slow Cooker Molten Lava Cake - Chocolate, Chocolate, and More

 This week's meal plan was brought you to by:

Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts| Barefeet in the Kitchen | Foodie with Family 

 Roxana's Home Baking | I Wash...You Dry | Lemons for Lulu

Sweet C's Designs | The Cookie Rookie | Cravings of a Lunatic | Diethood

 

Pin this weekly meal plan to your favourite meal planning board!

Have you seen my recent posts? Here's some new recipes for you:

Parmesan Smashed Potatoes

Smashed Potatoes with Onions and Garlic

Peanut Brittle

Easy Pop Tarts with Nutella Ganache

Thanks for stopping by the blog today. Feel free to take a peek at more recipes while you're here. You can also email me any time if you have questions or need help with a recipe.

Be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram to see what I'm whipping up day to day.

Toodles! xx