After my bout with bronchitis, I was hopeful that the illnesses were over…No such luck as my youngest came down with a nasty cold and decided the only cure was to attach himself to me like a barnacle.

A common mantra among the self-help crowd is some variation on the idea that you get out of life what you put in. What goes around, comes around; self-fulfilling prophecies; positive mental attitude. So I wonder if my continuing declaration that 2019 is a rough year is making 2019 a rough year. And what does that have to do with food?

My husband took dinner duty on Saturday with grilled pork chops, green beans, and spaetzle. Sunday I made roast beef with broccoli and noodles. We’re eating a lot of noodles these days.

After my bout with bronchitis, I was hopeful that the illnesses were over and we could get through a busy week as planned – meals, activities, and meetings. No such luck as my youngest came down with a nasty cold and decided the only cure was to attach himself to me like a barnacle. Fortunately, my mother-in-law arrived on Monday (seriously, thank goodness for excellent in-laws), and she helped immensely with my older kids and getting my house in order. I went prepackaged on Monday with a frozen lasagna from Costco that was surprisingly acceptable!

Tuesday we celebrated my sick toddler’s second birthday. I made some of his favorites in the hope he would eat some real food. BBQ chicken in the Instant Pot, corn, and (shocker) noodles. He ate virtually nothing. However, he did provide his only smiles of the week when presented with cake. Cake: the cure for everything!

One of the things on my plate last week was Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughter’s school. I’m a person who really, REALLY appreciates my children’s teachers, and as Head Room Mom, I had quite a lot planned with a fun Outer Space theme! Wednesday was dessert day and I LOVE to bake, so I made Cosmic Brownies for the teachers, and – since my oven was already on – banana bread and pumpkin bread for my family. (My banana bread recipe is a favorite, found here.) For Cosmic Brownies I made a Ghirardelli boxed brownie mix and drizzled the top of the finished brownies with white chocolate colored blue, purple, and pink. In a Pinterest-packed frenzy I also made fruit rockets from strawberries and bananas.

For dinner on Wednesday we went with beef tacos, accompanied by black beans, corn, lettuce, and cheese. Thursday and Friday we went simple with leftovers and pizza night. Another week survived. Now I’m putting out into the universe that the coming week will be amazing and all will go according to plan. Whatever works!