Monday, April 30, 2012

First BBQ and Baked Beans


This weekend was short and sweet.  

The sun shined brightly and while that guy that I like so much cleaned up the garden,  I napped in a somewhat comfy chair...somewhat comfy only because it's the kind of chair that would be much more comfy with a pretty striped pillow on it.

I'm going to fix that problem this week.


We even had our first official barbecue of the season.  There's just something about the first summery meal that I love...not that the oven is off for good, but it's definitely time to refill the propane tanks in anticipation of grill season.

Aside from naps and a bbq and church and endless games of words with friends, we did nothing.  No laundry.  No floor mopping.  No bathroom cleaning.

Nothing.

I did make the bed and cleaned up the kitchen and watched a hallmark movie and painted my toes and made the most amazing baked beans on the face of the planet.

Yum.

 Next weekend?

Packed to the gills...but this weekend was not.

This weekend was all about being home.  Just us.  

Just us with no plans.

Rested.  That's what I am...rested.

=0)


Homemade Baked Beans
(adapted from Tyler Florence)


3 - 15oz cans cannelini beans
1/4 C ketchup
1/2 C molasses
1 T dijon mustard
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo (just ONE pepper, not the whole can!)
3 slices thick cut bacon, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 sprig of rosemary


Drain and rinse beans and put into a baking dish.  In a blender, combine ketchup, molasses, mustard and chipotle pepper until smooth.  Pour over beans and stir to combine.  Top with bacon and rosemary, bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly and bacon is cooked.  (I turned on the broiler for a minute or so to get the bacon crispy.)  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Serves 6.

Friday, April 27, 2012

So Glad It's Friday


Mahjong.  I love it more than words can say.  I would love to play a real life game of it sometime...does anyone play real life games anymore?

Boy #2 is registered.

Me no likey likey.  At all.  

Brother barber shop.  Those $40 clippers have saved me hundreds and hundreds of dollars...but even better?  Brother bonding time.  

=0)

Work.  This week has been rough.  The sad part is that it is not going to get better for the next little bit because of a crisis in one of my cities.  Oh, the drama.  Oh, the need to call me to complain.  Oh, the need to yell at me.  Oh, the party I am going to have on the first day of summer.

My other work?  Thriving.  We've yet to hit that 'after Christmas' lull...and I am thankful.  I'm registered for an advanced metal-smithing class in May and I am so excited...I've been wanting to take this particular class for quite some time but haven't been able to fit it in.  But now it's on the calendar and (fingers crossed!)...I'm going!  What does that mean?  Hopefully an expansion of my line if I learn what I am hoping to learn.

Thursday night taco bar.  My 'cool mom' status has definitely been bumped up...especially since it had hit an all time low.  Do they seriously think I like to nag about things like wet towels on their bedroom floors?  

I actually told Brian that I go to sleep at night excited about the fact that the moment I wake up in the morning I will get to nag him FIRST THING....that my day doesn't go smoothly unless that has been accomplished.

He believed me.

Hence the taco bar.  His favorite.   See...I'm not alllll bad.

I could seriously eat a taco salad every day of my life and not get tired of it.  

Really.

OK, maybe not.  But a few times a week would be fine!

Happy Friday, everyone...what are your weekend plans?


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Date Night


So today...well, it was icky.  Like majorly icky.

=0(

I guess it wasn't the whole day that was icky, but work that was icky.  The kind of icky that made me not want to ever have any form of contact with any crossing guard in any city ever again.  But since I'm paid to have contact with them, I guess that's just not possible at this stage in my life.

Sigh.

That guy that I like so much needed a  reminder of his address...and that reminder got me a dinner date on an otherwise no good, very bad day.

Our newest hangout...Cucina Enoteca.

We waltzed in past the super overflowing patio and grabbed the last table for 2 that they had...plopped ourselves down and ordered a bottle of vino rosso.

And here's where it gets funny.  I look over and two tables away is my girlfriend, out for a dinner with her girlfriends.  And in between us is a lovely couple on a date night who suddenly became a part of all of us and suddenly we were all BFF's.

Crazy how that works.

The food at this place is soooo yummy...but it's the atmosphere that I love.  It's sort of like a neighborhood pub and you almost can't help either running into someone you already know or meeting new people...new people who you become facebook friends with and invite them to a summer supper in the garden.

The kind of place you kick yourself for not thinking of starting. 

There's just something about having a truly icky day end in such a truly un-icky way.

The only thing missing?

A dance or two.  Or three.

=0)

Home again, home again, jiggly jig...home to a houseful of boys who were a bit put out at the fact that we had run out of milk and OJ and (gasp!) chocolate chips.  

A mothers job?  Well, it's never quite up to par.

=0)

I am so not ready for tomorrow...but then again, I am thankful tomorrow will come.  

It's all good.

=0)

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

I Am A Goober.


Yes, I am.

So my kitty was looking super perfect and I decided to take her picture.

But she wasn't cooperating.

I kept trying, though...she's pretty cute (when she's not shredding my furniture), after all. 

But she wasn't buying it.

So I hit that button on my camera (which is my iPhone, in case you were wondering.) that reverses the camera screen.

I thought that maybe if she could see herself in the frame she would, I don't know...smile maybe? 

It wasn't until after that I realized I was taking pictures of myself.

Goober.

=0)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I Love Tuesdays


I love Tuesdays...Tuesdays are Bible Study days followed by lunch out with some of my very favorite people.  Rain, shine, snow, sleet, earthquakes (we had one yesterday...a 3.9 jolty one)... it doesn't matter.  Bible study.  Favorite people.  Lunch.

I love Tuesdays.

Didn't I already say that?

=0)

Bible study today was powerful and I was actually in a very quiet mood...a thinky kind of mood.  A processing kinda mood.  

But lunch still happens...thinky or not.

My girlfriend knows all the best hidden gem organicy veggie hippieish places to eat and on our way there I started to get a bit complainy (you can do that with super good girlfriends)...I was in no mood for twigs and tofu.  She smiled and parked the car at The Camp.

And suddenly I was back in Boulder.  Back home.  Back to a place that I adore.

Tastes of my Boulder were everywhere...from each parking spot to the stairs to the bathrooms.

Groovy, man.

 Lunch today was courtesy of the Old Vine Cafe.

Small.  Quaint.  Super duper hip with super cute waiters.

=0)

Their breakfast menu looks ah-mazing.  Anyone want to go with me?

=0)

But the best part of lunch on Tuesdays is the talking through all the heavy stuff that we all seem to need to talk thru after our morning study...talk the way only girls can talk.

You know...about feelings and stuff.

In a houseful of boys?  Well, feelings aren't first and foremost.

=0)

And it never fails...the only time of the week where I turn my phone off for a whopping 3 hours and the whole crossing guard world seems to come crashing down.

But it doesn't matter...I still love Tuesdays.

=0)


Monday, April 23, 2012

Where'd The Weekend Go?

It's Monday morning and I am exhausted and ready for a weekend.  Any weekend.

I.  need.  a.  weekend.

We did have the somewhat normal for us chocolate chip pancakes...the natives around here are a little more smiley if they start their weekends with chocolate chip pancakes.

Pancakes, followed by egg salad sandwiches.  The old fashioned kind on white bread.  Why mess with perfection.

The garden is bursting into life...the last of the winter lemons are ready to to be picked as are the first of the summer tomatoes.

Summer tomatoes mean warm toes and late night suppers eaten outside and no phone calls all weekend long having to give the same response over and over to so many crossing guards, 'yes, I know your paycheck bounced...'

Summer.  Please hurry.

That guy that I like so much had a HUGE concert weekend and that means one thing to me...the school year is winding down. 

=0)

 We celebrated pretty much all weekend.  Quite a few bottles of bubbly and a heavenly supper...chickens roasted on a bed of rosemary that caused more than one male in my household to weep.

Wierdo's.

=0)

There is absolutely nothing attractive about a post gorging food fest.

Nothing.

Well, a housekeeper would be.  At least to me.

=0)

Happy Monday.  Pass the coffee, please.

=0)



Friday, April 20, 2012

Just This Week


Sunday:

Why is it SO hard to get one decent picture with all three of my boys?

Close to impossible.

=0)

Monday:

The sky.

Perfection.

Even more perfect?  WARM weather peeks it's way in every so often.  Oh, and tomatoes growing in the garden.  Both are happening and both are more than welcome.

Tuesday:

Hanging out with the Stars.

Fun, but tiring.  

Wednesday:

Creepy kitty eyes on a most perfect cat.

Thursday:

Work meeting (actually, an awards ceremony at the office for our crossing guards of the year) in LA and yes, I wore my bowling shirt, too.  

Attractive.

Also on Thursday?

A late night phone call to my BFF.  Actually, I'd call it a therapy session.  My Mom always told me that 'girls need girlfriends' and she was very, very right.

=0)


Friday:

Payroll (so ready for summer vacation!) day.  A $6 late morning matinee (The Lucky One) with a girlfriend.  Errands, including picking up the dry cleaning, buying contact solution and figuring out something for supper that can be eaten on the go for that guy that I like so much (big concert weekend with a big rehearsal tonight), as well a load (or 7) of laundry.

Happy Friday!

=0)


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