Am I the only woman here that gets the tax refund and rubs her hands in glee at being able to restock the pantry shelves with canned goods and paper products? I've got a serious trip to Costco to make in the next week. Serious. I mean, we're talking about cases of canned vegetables, flats of peanut butter, and all sorts of other stuff.

If I'm bringing home an infant in the next few days/weeks I'd better finalize some of those great plans I'd started running together in my brain. There are some library books to read, some menus to plan, some recipes to try out and freeze (once my freezer stops having to store lots and lots of bottles of breastmilk) and start planning ahead how we're going to arrange the car seats so that we can fit one more human in the back seat.

Speaking of fitting people in the car, we're also beginning to plan a small road trip. A day trip, to a national park, so my girl can hug a tree. She loves hugging trees. I'd shake my head wistfully, to be so young again, but then I'd not be her mother and I'd miss that more than a second childhood. Her daddy wants to show her snow, and I believe that this park is high enough to still have a decent chance of snow on the ground. I don't know how we'll manage all of that, but it's going to be fun.

Another weekend draws to a close. My tip for today: my family's version of tuna noodle is a box of mac'n'cheese, a can of tuna, and about a cup of peas (or a can of them). Did you know that if you're using frozen peas and want to make sure that they're fully thawed and heated through, you could add them to the boiling water when you're cooking the macaroni? Then just drain them together. Voila! Hot peas. Also: toss in a couple of handfuls of shredded natural cheese to counter the cheese powder/cheese stuff in the pouch. Extra cheesy. And me? I'm all about the cheese.