Monday, June 27, 2011

Weekend Favorites

 Favorite Place To Be...my backyard.  Everything is in full bloom and it is so colorful!
Favorite Smell...parmigiano reggiano.  Yep, smells like feet but then again, I live in a house of all males, so I guess I am just used to it.

Favorite Sight...it's gotta be my backyard again and the fig tree that is exploding with (surprise!) figs.

Favorite Quote..."we thought about moving to your neighborhood but we just can't do small."  

Ummm...how would you respond to that? Thank you?  I'm happy for you?  Ok?  

I just smiled.  With gritted teeth.

=0)

Favorite Meal...it's a toss up and while I did cook this weekend, that .89 relish dog from der wienerschniztel was quite enjoyable.

And when did they drop the 'der' from 'der wienerschnitzel'?

Favorite TV Show...the Anne of Green Gables marathon that was on.  Love.

Favorite Mail...the newest Country Living magazine.  Makes me happy.

Favorite Event...the fact that that guy that I like so much spent all. day. long working on my website after it crashed.  As in ka-pooh-y.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.  But he prevailed and while he wasn't all smiles while he was dealing with it (I went for a walk because I quickly learned that my freaking out wasn't being appreciated), he was very happy once it was fixed.  

He's my star.  

=0)

(that was totally cheesy.  sorry.)

Let's see...other weekend favorites?

a totally awesome sermon on Romans that had me craving more
following Matthew's drum corps on facebook
chewy brownie cookies
angry birds
not having to set the alarm for the first time in forever...and actually sleeping past 6:30am!

What were your weekend favorites?

Friday, June 24, 2011

InstaFriday


I learned this week that it is OK to sleep if you have a suspected concussion.

Good thing.

If you would have told me 25 years ago that on my 25th wedding anniversary I would be eating a salad of roasted beets, I probably would have laughed.  Or cried.  Not sure which, but let me tell you...the heirloom beet salad from Napa Rose will knock your socks off.

So will the price...but how many times do you celebrate a 25th anniversary?

=0)

A most lovely visit with the neighborhood girls that included feasting on fancy treats.  They not only fed me physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.   Thank you all (and you know who you are!) for being such a blessing to me.

And that chocolate mousse?  Ummm...YUM.

Lunches a few times this week have been corn on the cob, cooked on the grill until it gets a few little charred spot on it.  Best eaten standing over the kitchen sink while the butter runs down your arms. 


Happiness is a freezer stocked with homemade chicken stock.  No real recipe...I take all the frozen whole roasted left over chicken carcasses (now doesn't that word make it sound yummy...not!), cover them with water and throw in whatever sorry looking veggies need to be used up...usually some carrot and onion and celery.  Simmer for a few hours and there you have it.

We went and saw a matinee of Super 8 and really liked it...it truly is a cross between Goonies and ET.  The previews definitely didn't do it justice.

Brian snacked on popcorn, candy AND an icee...gotta love the youngest child.

We were the only ones in the theater and they forgot to start the movie!  Ten minutes after it was supposed to start, Michael had to go out and tell them that we were there...crazy!

I passed the time by playing with my camera settings.  Hello, toes!

My youngest, proud of his heritage.  

=0)

Sharing my week, thanks to Jeanett!
life rearranged



Thursday, June 23, 2011

Thursday


I am trying REALLY hard to not throw my computer out the window right now after dealing with website/email issues since yesterday.

Computer problems ain't fun.

Soooo frustrating.

=0(

BUT...there are tulips on the table and tulips are always a good thing.

Ready for freak fact #182 about me?

I like fruitcake.  Yep.  Fruitcake.

Introducing....panforte.  Italian fruitcake.  Better fresh but in moments of computer turmoil,  packaged will do...especially since fresh means an airline ticket to Italy and that's not happening this year.

And if my website weren't crashing down around me, this is one of my new favorites that will soon be added. 

Baby hearts.  

LOVE.  Simple and sweet.

(There's baby stars, too!)

My last day of work is officially tomorrow but I am sending off my last payroll this morning (as soon as I can figure out how to fix my email...grrr!!!)  and then I am off for the summer!  Matthew is leaving on tour this morning, Alex has basketball practice, and Michael and I are taking Brian to the movies...I think to see Super 8.  

I'm splurging on the popcorn, baby.

=0)

(still. no. email. worky. ugh.)

Distract me...what are your plans for today?



Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Twenty Five Years


Yesterday was our 25th wedding anniversary.

We were babies and had the whole world in our hands.  My friends pointed out that he still looks at me this same way...I am pretty sure in his head he is thinking 'uh oh...what's she gonna say now?'

=0)

Now...we aren't babies anymore.

Twenty five years will do that to you.

=0)



I have to say, this anniversary was extremely stressful.  Well, not the anniversary itself, but the planning of it.  We had both wanted to go away, even just for a night or two, but just can't leave the home front (and the boys that dwell in it) at this time in our lives...so that was out.  Can't stop parenting, even for a day or two.

There'll be a 30th anniversary, so that's OK.

=0)

But that guy that I like so much?  He had grand plans for a dinner out and then I became cheap. And after a week or so of going round and round, (and quite possibly me complaining a little...or a lot about how much this was going to cost) some people close to me told me to buck up, quit the debbie downer act and stop being a roadblock to his plans.

So out for an extremely fancy schmancy dinner we went.  With a happy heart.

=0)
(nope...didn't get the $5000.00 bottle of wine!)
 We had THE BEST MEAL EVER.  And course #4?

A cheese plate.

To know me is to know that I LOVE a cheese plate.

=0)

Twenty five years.

It doesn't feel like 25 years have passed...I mean, we still like each other and all.

My advice for a happy marriage?

Prayer.  Laughter.  Forgiveness.

And four words from him: "whatever you say, hun."

=0)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Recuperating



Recuperating from the weekend.

Friday to Sunday...SEVEN basketball games.  
(my Alex is red #25)
 In between traipsing between three different gyms, we drove an hour to watch Matthew's drum and bugle corps sneak preview.

All was fine except my mind...the most rickety looking stadium ever.

And of course we had to carry our spaghetti dinner (included in the ticket price) all the way to THE VERY TOP, where you could see up close and personal how dilapidated the wood planks really were.

Their show is fun...can't wait to see all the fun touches that are yet to be added.  Things like guard uniforms and flags and all the pretty stuff...but the music is fabulous!

My very, very, very tan and grown up boy.  And his friend.

=0)

This is what Brian looked like after being dragged to all of his brothers activities.  The joys of being the youngest!

 Father's Day weekend was perfect for that guy that I like so much cuz he got to see his boys do all the stuff he loves so much.

But then it got better.

I made him tiramisu.

It was the least I could do...he is a good dad after all.

=0)

Can someone (anyone?) PLEASE tell me why every single time I make it, when I add the mascarpone to the eggs it gets all curdly looking????  So frustrating!  Does anyone know why?  
See?  Curdly?  Still tastes OK...but looks icky!

 And then this morning came.  I woke up early and got dressed to go to the gym, woke up a very sleepy Brian and drove him across town for the first day of music summer school and once there realized (when we were the only car in the parking lot) that it doesn't start until next week.

Yeppers.

So the gym went out the window and donuts came in.

=0)

Tomorrow...we sleep in.




Friday, June 17, 2011

Insta-Friday


Gas prices in Orange County, California are coming down.

Sort of.

What is it about the word 'butt' that makes me laugh?  Might've been the fact that  that guy that I like so much and I were already feeling punchy on a late night run to the store...and then we acted like we were 12 again in the middle of the meat department.

BUTT!

Dinner al fresco with friends at a super fun outdoor shopping center.

Can you figure out where it is?

Dessert...a key lime pie martini.

Love, Love, Love.

Alex (my frugal 17 yr old son) orders fries from In N Out and then asks for packets of their spread...he then makes his own animal fries (which are very hard to eat while driving).

Chocolate chip cookies and one nosy kitty.

And can I just say that with all 3 of my boys home, we are now going through SIX GALLONS of milk a week!  SIX GALLONS.

Homemade cookies don't help that problem.

=0)

New in the shop...well, sort of.  The website is being finicky, but they will be there soon.

Linking up with LifeRearranged.

(thank you, Jeanett...I like this!)

=0)
life rearranged

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Summer List

This is what June Gloom looks like:
cloudy and gray and misty and chilly

BUT...today is the very last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year, and I am ready to say farewell.  It's been a doosy.  I, along with my houseful of boys (including that guy that I like so much who went straight from his school year to filling in for a church job which ends this Sunday), are more than ready for summer.

We always make a summer list of the stuff we want to do...some we get to, some we don't, but it's nice to pull out the list when someone mentions the dreaded 'I'm bored' phrase.  

At the top of Brian's list:

Pancakes.  Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  As many mornings as possible.

I can roll with that.

=0)

Other things on our summer 'to do':
the beach
row a boat on our lake
s'more's (with nutella, please)
summer basketball games 
revisit the USS Midway
watch 'classic' movies outside (the Sandlot is on that list)
 grill pizzas
eat as many tomatoes from the garden as possible
make real lemonade
lunch at Langer's
take the train to Olivera Street
paint the house
the Getty
clean out everyone's closets
stay up late
catch as many of Matthew's drum and bugle corps shows as possible
hot dogs from Pink's
pick peaches
host bunches of late night dinners in the backyard
a weekend getaway somewhere, anywhere

Any other ideas?


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

June Gloom

I just can't seem to shake the grumpies.  Not sure why, but they are hanging on to me like the marine layer that has settled over my little house on my little street.

June gloom, they call it.  

Or maybe it's the fact that we are STILL in school until Wednesday and I am just OVER it.  Will it ever be summer?

Despite the grumpies, the weekend was fun.  I ate a rather amazing burger with both pickles and avocado on it.  Sound disgusting?  Yeah, it did to me too...until I started eating it.  Because really, is there such a thing as a bad bbq burger?

My brother in law and sister in law and their littles came to play.  I temporarily forgot about my grumpies while they were here.

=0)

Nastiest strawberry pie ever...there was more goop than berries, but then again it was only $5.00.  But wait...we ate it anyway!

My niece Ella when I told her that she could have all the ice cream she wanted.

She liked that.

=0)

The next morning, I was channeling my inner Mrs Kravitz and peeping on the new family that is moving into our 'hood (see the big white truck?) and I noticed something in the bird cage by the window.

Turns out the burgler is not playing nice with Ronald McD and the dark haired girl is totally letting the conductor have a piece of her mind about somethin' or other.

Poor guy looks scared. 

Nothing like a little laughter to help with the grumpies.  Though I'm still waiting impatiently for summer sunshine to come our way...but in the meantime, I'll stare at the little people that are trapped in the birdcage.

=0)


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