Week In Review: Mini Splits, Meal Hits and Other Bits

Happy First Friday of March!  I used to detest March (so long, no school breaks, winter weather, LENT) but now that my college kids come home for a week during March, I love it again :)

Speaking of college kids...JP sent me a photo on his 21st birthday with his girlfriend, Grace.  He said a small group of friends ordered takeout and had a little party for him:

College Sweethearts

I also just paid his last college tuition bill this week.  Can you believe it?  JP did really well with scholarships and grants and paid 50% of his tuition each semester (we paid the other half) and he will be left with about $21,000 in loans.  Not too shabby.  I remember crying once (while pregnant with Baby #7) after a coworker asked me "How on earth are you going to afford college for all of those kids?" so this feels like a really big achievement for our family.  God provides, we work hard, and it all comes together.  One done, six to go!

Andrew sent me this selfie he had used to check-in for a job he and a buddy signed up to do.  Basically they had to give a donut away to anyone who signed up for an app.  They had 80 dozen donuts, and Andrew, or Andy as he is known on campus, said it was the easiest money he ever made.

College Sweetheart

We had the mini-splits installed this week!  Our house was built in 1885 and has baseboard heating and nothing for cooling.  Now we won't need our window air-conditioning units anymore!  I'm psyched to be able to open windows on cooler summer days, and hopefully save money using these mini-splits.  We are getting a rebate back for 66% of the cost, so it was a great time to do it.  We had three installed downstairs and three installed upstairs (one in each bedroom).  I was worried that they would make the house look ugly, but they found places to install them that are really out of sight:

A reading nook in the master bedroom

Off to the side in the kitchen

Above a piece of furniture in the toy room (off the family room)

Pancakes on Saturday or Sunday mornings are a regular thing in Casa Martin, and we followed our normal recipe but I threw in 2 small containers of strawberry applesauce that were just expiring, and the kids dubbed them the best ever.  The whipped cream didn't hurt.

Electric family sized griddle

Makes a note to put away Christmas plates.

Also on the menu pretty much weekly - Mexican food!  We cook 2 pounds of ground beef with taco seasoning, and 2 cups of rice (in instant pot) then mix it all together and the kids eat tacos or make quesadillas or salads.  I like the low carb Mission tortillas with mine.

Our lunch soup this week was White Bean and Chicken Chili, delicious and filling:

And today I packed up some Curry Chickpea Salad for my lunch as it's a meatless Friday, and Elisabeth has been raving about it:

Aren't those containers so fun?  They make my lunch happier :)

After trying to find a cheaper mascara alternative, I have come back to my favorite one this week and I am very sorry for ever having strayed from the perfect Roller Lash.  Considering how little makeup I wear, it's worth $24 to me:

Suz totally impressed me with her Wordle skills, and then lo and behold, I impressed myself with this one!

Today is Xander's last swim team practice for the incredibly long (since September) season.  He absolutely thrived with this sport and does not want it to end.  I'm so glad he found his "thing" at the ripe old age of 12 and was so committed to it, attending four hour-long practices each week.  I'm proud of my little (Bat)man who has always loved the water: 

We have decided on an opening date for Season 2 of The Ice Cream Cottage, and we are adjusting our hours slightly.  The new restaurant should be opening next to us this spring, so we want to stay open a little later to catch the after dinner crowd, and we really don't make money before noon, so we are opening a little later there too.  You can check out the updates over on The Cottage website or Facebook or Instagram (we appreciate your follows!)

 Have a fabulous March weekend everybody!