Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's March 11 already - where on earth did February go?? Life has continued to be a whirlwind of activity around here. Daddy had shoulder surgery last week and is recovering nicely, though it's still very hard for him to hold Charlie, which is sad for both of them. I didn't get to spend as much time last week during Matt's recovery phase on my real estate courses, but I'm determined to get through this and get things wrapped up next week.

I was very proud of myself last week as I spent nearly the entire day in the kitchen on Tuesday preparing a week's worth of meals to have on hand while caring for my patient. I made stuffed shells, cottage pie, chicken soup, chicken salad, banana bread & daddy's favorite Chocolate Cherry Cookies. I probably spent 6 hours or so in the kitchen and it really was nice to have a fridge full of food to just heat 'n eat until Sunday. I think I'll try to build a cooking day into my schedule over the coming weeks to prepare for busier work days ahead.

I did have to come up with a fancy trick to cool my two loaves of banana bread & two dozen cookies all at the same time. I'm not a huge baker, so I've only ever had one wire cooling rack in my arsenal. I created two additional "cooling racks" by inverting a pizza pan with holes in it over a base of 3 ramekins & by inverting a muffin tin on the counter. Both allowed the air to circulate around the cookies & bread just like a wire rack would. I'm always so proud when I come up with my very own "a ha" solutions around the house!