Endless shrimp, a fever, chili, Churchill and Bobby Flay

9-6-14

Off to visit the grand babies I went and poor Joe got ripped off of a birthday dinner. Turns out this was not such a bad thing as Red Lobster kicked off his favorite meal of all times, Endless Shrimp! Must say though, he is turning into a light weight. Only ate four portions... 

As for the rest of us, we decided to give the four course feast a whirl. What a bargain, soup, salad, entree with two sides and dessert. Hmm... and you still get those famous cheese biscuits. Suffice it to say I made it through about half of the entree (grilled Tilapia) and was calling for the to go box! I call that lunch tomorrow.

On the sad side, my handsome little B decided to have a fever and not feel so good. Those of you who know this little butterball should sit down for this.

He wouldn't eat.

Enough said.

His mother sent me a text when they got home that said 102.9. Poor little man. Hopefully he'll rebound quickly, his face was made for smiling!

As for my two darling granddaughters up North. Phone rang earlier and when I answered I heard, "Churchill, Churchill" and I said, "is he being good" and she said, "meow" and I said, "oh really" and she said, "baby" and I said, "where is A" and she said, "night night". 

Not an incy wincy spider in sight today! 

Question: what do you get when you cross two pieces of Bojangles chicken, dirty rice, kale with white beans and couscous, a package of sausage, a couple of tomatoes, a half a green paper, a half a red onion, some garlic cloves, a can of tomato sauce and a can of kidney beans? 

Answer: a killer pot of chili! 

Shared some with H & M but don't tell her I put a few tapas peppers in there too!

The kale with white beans and couscous was the side dish to some pretty tasty pork chops that I made Thursday night. Decided to have some for lunch on Friday and planned to put the rest of the chop in the chili but this was before B didn't feel well. He finished his black bean burger and half of my chop for lunch! Must say though, the marinade I made for the chops came out pretty tasty. Did a mix of spice rub and liquid sauce that I marinated in before cooking and then basted with while cooking. Used the indoor grill with a bit of smoked paprika in the rub. Thank you Bobby Flay, yet another tip that works like a charm!

I'm back! Newborns, hop, and the incy wincy spider...

9-3-14

Thinking you can blog in a house with a newborn and a toddler, priceless!

The last two weeks have been a total blast! I am exhausted but in a good way. A is the cutest little newborn of all times, reminds me of a tree frog the way she clings to you. I know they say babies this young don't smile but I'm telling you this one never stops and it is not accompanied by anything even remotely resembling the tummy troubles usually given the credit for said smiles! 

C is going to be one heck of a big sister. She is so smart and has a heart of gold! She loves her "baby" and doesn't seem to tire of looking at her and fetching for her. For some unknown reason, she calls her pacifier "HOP" and is determined that A should have a hop in her mouth at all times (including when she is sleeping)! I think my daughter is going to have her hands full with all that helping!

We did so many things while I was up there, I don't even know where to begin. I was impressed that I remembered all of the words to the Goodbye Song from "The Bear in the Big Blue House" and I was even more impressed that C learned all of the finger play parts to Incy Wincy Spider in one day. Not bad for 20 months old! 

Incy Wincy Spider

We don't even want to discuss how many times I watched these nursery rhymes but when C shouted "Out, Out" the spider was on, on!

I look at this child in motion and immediately think of Taz from the Looney Tunes show. From the moment she wakes up she is ready to go full throttle. Everything you say to her she responds with "ok" and then she may or may not take action. Reminds me so much of her mother at that age! I think they make them so cute at this age as the survival of the species technique for homo sapiens. Every now and then she yells, "kisses" and runs up and leans against you (her version of a hug) and makes kissing noises. Definitely her saving grace move!

Had some great family time with my parentals and siblings. Did a shopping trip so we could do a trial run of the logistics of shopping with both kids. Hit one of my favorite restaurants for lunch. Cooked up a storm and stocked the freezer with thaw and heat up meals. Even managed a trip to the mall that taught us a few lessons on the importance of timing! And then, boom, two weeks are gone and it is time to head back to Joe and the kids. 

Must admit, they were some tears off and on for the first few hours. Pandora is my new best friend and travelling South is much friendlier and cheaper than heading North, just saying... 

Made it to Edgewood, MD the first night, would of kept going but thunderstorms were imminent and I'm no fool! For anyone who is interested, La Quinta is super nice, first time staying and I was impressed. Great Priceline Express Deal and breakfast even included fresh fruit salad, yum. A mini suite, complete with sofa, desk, tons of outlets, comfy bed, smelled good and was very clean!

I love Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is why I always stop here for gas:

Made it home before dinner (stopped and picked up Bojangles) like I said above, I'm no fool!

Glad to be home but sad to be home. Miss those girls (and the rest of my family) already! 

Morons on I 95, porch flowers, anoles and baby toes!

8-18-14

Travelling all day is not as much fun as it used to be! Three hours from Quantico to Baltimore. The radio (when it was working) traffic update: High volume traffic. I call it idiotic drivers, construction, more construction, rubberneckers checking out folks getting tickets, some more construction, and then a car fire. That was the first 30 miles, then we hit Springfield...

Note to all of you loyal readers, please don't be that driver who ignores the lane ends, please merge signs. I'm pretty sure that the only excuse for ignoring those signs is inability to read (in which case you wouldn't have a license and be driving) so really there are no excuses and the only reason you didn't merge is you are a moron. No gray areas on this one! 

My favorite was the 20 minutes to travel one mile to see a truck in the left lane picking up traffic cones in the left shoulder. Enough said.

All the morons delayed me two hours so only made it to DE and had to stop as I promised not to drive after dark. I found a great place and pricelined it from my phone. Not wanting to be out and about after dark, decided to stop and pick up some KFC to take to hotel and devour after check in! 

What a deal! 2 pieces of chicken, mashed w/gravy, biscuit, sweet tea and a warm chocolate chip cookie all for five bucks. The cookie made my day!!

Backtracking just a tad, wanted to share some pictures. Went out and checked all the porch flowers before I left and one of my two little Anole friends was hanging out and came down to say goodbye. No tree frogs wanting to say goodbye though. Note middle pic is a mum blooming way early this year!

Also, the cats weren't too thrilled to see a suitcase coming out but at least they'll have Joe home with them! Lucky Joe!

Hopefully they'll behave themselves and not cause too much trouble while I'm gone! 

Final thought: as promised cute and adorable pic of my newest grand baby! Baby toes are irresistible!

Maybe lottery tickets aren't all bad...

8-14-14

Won a dollar in the Pick 5, gained another gorgeous granddaughter and got a killer Backyard Produce box. Today is looking like it is going to be a very good day!

Abigail Leyna born 8-14-14 at 6:45 am

 7 lbs 4 ozs and 19 3/4 in long

Pic to follow

Meanwhile, have B coming tomorrow to spend the weekend and this arrived in the mail today:

Like I said, it's going to be a great day!

Spaghetti squash w/collard greens and garlic pesto for dinner and I can't lie, it was totally delicious. Used basil and parsley from the porch garden, sliced almonds, organic garlic, fresh grated Parmesan cheese and some olive oil to make the pesto. Baked squash with just salt and ground pepper for about an hour, then "pulled" it out of shell and added it to a pan with onions, mushrooms, the collard greens (instead of kale), some spices, and a bit of butter. Added pesto and a bit more Parmesan cheese and served with the last of the sesame ginger chicken. YUM!

2 lottery tickets won last night, I am doomed!

8-13-14

Matched the mega ball and won four bucks in Mega Millions and the NC Pick 5 matched two numbers again so that's another buck won. Figure I'm in for a rough week! 

Must find silver lining. My new motto is to be proactive as opposed to reactive...

Tapas peppers are a welcome addition to ham salad (at least that is what Joe said) however, using your fingers to strip the seeds is a very bad idea! Not only did I burn the tips of both thumbs but without thinking I wiped a piece of hair out of my eye. Enough said.

After my lack of getting any work done yesterday, figured I should buckle down and try and accomplish a few things today. I have found out that junk mail multiplies while you are out of town. 

I also found out that drawers that you keep shoving stuff into to go through later now have:

1. two years of receipts that are so faded you can't read them
2. mini rubber bands
3. a few toothpicks
4. some business cards from NH (we moved about 3 years ago to NC)
5. a couple of hospital wrist bands
6. expired coupons and old grocery lists
7. those yellow forms about privacy that you have to sign at every doctor/hospital appointment
8. several teeth in a baggie (don't ask)

Junk drawer motivated me! I started sorting junk mail which led to tearing off labels to shred (before placing in recycling), this of course led to the envelope by the computer that the shredding goes into which in turn led to looking up recipes for a marinade for dinner! I think we can all see where this is going.

Good news is dinner was tasty! Made a yummy sesame ginger chicken along with fingerling potatoes slow fried in olive oil, kosher salt and ground black pepper! Did the chicken marinade in a saucepan with a touch of Shedd Spread added. I then basted chicken every 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Chopped up some salad for on the side which used up most of the veggies so I am ready for my Backyard Produce delivery tomorrow!

Decided to kick back and watch a bit of tv with Joe and then tackle kitchen clean up. All that sorting today really wore me out. Not to mention fighting the mighty Adam Ant, sweeping some floors, giving the porch plants their daily dose of TLC & H2O and of course washing B's bedding and our favorite sitting outside blanket! 

Squished, tossed, he reappeared so I splatted, re-tossed and spent the next hour checking to be sure he was still dead in the garbage. Hoping he was a stray...

Final thought: I liberated a couple of Reader's Digest magazines from Utah for the plane ride home. Found an October 2013 little blurb about weird words so I now have a new favorite word:

Cataglottism

My gift to you, go ahead look it up. 

Now that you've been to the dictionary, I'm sure you understand why I have no final picture here...

95 years young but do you really need all that stuff?

8-12-14

Left you guys with my arrival at SLC! First stop, Avis, for anyone travelling to the area be aware that they charge an extra hundred bucks at the airport rental location, this is in the form of "facilities charges" so my $200 car rental is now $300+ and my 6' husband is in a Ford Focus... Also, when they say turn left and go to the blue one they really mean turn right and go to the white one!

Luckily for us my Priceline Express Deal has us in a top notch Quality Inn just a few miles away so things are looking up! Well rested and one awesome complimentary breakfast later (make your own waffles, Joe was in heaven, I had a banana) we begin the 45 minute trek to the house. 

Our birthday gift is cleaning help for a year but we aren't expecting it to be accepted graciously! Can't imagine how hard it would be to admit to needing help to do things you've always done yourself and Mom has always been pretty vocal about cherishing her independence. We arrive to find four women in process of scouring kitchen, bathrooms and floors. Details are worked out, much easier than anticipated and first point goes to Joe and I! 

We now have today and Friday to get this party planned before the second wave arrives. First order of business, check out the fridge. Scientific experiments abound! Note to selves, at 95 and 93 we no longer need the jumbo size of anything and since chances are that our memories won't be what they used to, have someone else check expiration dates monthly! Items dating back to 2007 (that was not a typo) are removed and off to the grocery store we go! I have spared you the process of getting the grocery list made, you can thank me now!

Not quite this bad but you get the idea

Creating a menu for the nine of us, with various individual requirements was no easy feat but this chef figured it out! High point of trip for me, cooking for the masses! I even did fruit salad for the 20 plus combined family members for birthday party Saturday and pasta salad for the "light Sunday dinner" get together. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of those gorgeous salads! Happily, I converted about 20 people to loving mangoes! 

On the plus side, all the grown men took over the bottle washing after meals, it was a win win for me! They had never read my blog so were totally unprepared for the chaos after hurricane Judi hits the kitchen!! Luckily for them the dishwasher was broken so we were using paper plates and blue solo cups (no beer, Mormon house)!

Saturday is birthday party day, plenty of remember whens and can't believe how great you looks, stories of this and that, followed by an excellent meal and terrific cake! Fairly confident that Mom and Dad had tons of fun and were pleased that so many of the siblings were in attendance! Truly a wonderful day and thanks go out to many! 

Party Balloons!

Sunday morning, huge breakfast and all the brothers gather round the table to spend time with Mom and each other. Kudos to each and every one of you. Of course, this gave Mom the perfect excuse to blow off sorting and avoid the task of eliminating unnecessary items... Well played on her part! She even played the "in our house, we don't work on Sunday" card! Point to Mom.

Monday, Monday. Back to the real world. Please note that I have received an email over the weekend that says that my Mega Millions ticket has won $5. We all know what that means.

Remember the sick baby B that had to be picked up from the sitter and the cat who decided to be sick after all? 

 Rash = Miserable Boy

The dreaded vet!

One needs cuddles (and grandma isn't there) and the other needs antibiotics and special food at not quite $2 a can, and btw, feed it to the girl as well, just in case...

Thanks M, your kindness was noted and appreciated!

Figure the best thing to do to take my mind off B and the cat is to get the sorting started before all the brothers have to leave. What actually happens: lots of stories around the dining room table, eating breakfast, a trip to a sports store, black bean and corn dip with doritos, sitting on the back porch, more stories, a chicken lasagna dinner and everyone heads off to bed early so they can leave in the morning. Think that was match to Mom.

Deer from the back porch

Last day of the trip, everyone takes off by 9 am. I fix breakfast and the work begins. We need to head to the airport around 8 pm. Leftovers for lunch and dinner save some time. Curtain rods are hung, laundry is finished, (thanks to D for getting it started the night before), furniture is cataloged, stories are turned into videos, and a small section of my list is accomplished. Very small.

Joe and I make one heck of a team. The name of the game is distract so we take turns being the distraction! Meanwhile, the stove top gets completely taken apart and scrubbed, rest of fridge is emptied out and all the plastic scoops are history. Sadly, the blue envelopes are still stacked up on the box downstairs and the catalogs and magazines still live under the coffee table. Next visit.

We manage to get our stuff gathered and car packed up so we can make the trek back to Salt Lake City to begin the dreaded overnight flight home. Teary but quick goodbye (for Joe's sake) and we are on the road, thanks to D we have lots of conversation for the ride!

The overnight ride is fairly uneventful and at 10:15 am we are home again, home again, jiggety jig!

Final thoughts? Just a few:

1. I will downsize now! 

2. Yard sale my house!

3. Seriously considering cancelling the lottery subscription...

Airplanes are not meant for toddlers who bite!

8-11-14

After an action packed adventure filled week, I guess the best place to start is at the very beginning! A very good place to start, hmm that sounds like it would make a great song!

Two sick cats are feeling much better, pet sitter can't make it by so we leave a key in a special spot, suitcase is packed, errands are run, go to airlines website, pay for bag, check in, click print and nothing...

Deep breath, it's only a minor glitch, we have to drop off suitcase so we'll let them print out boarding passes and I'll worry about printer when I get home, not a big deal! Our ride is on time so we load our stuff and us into the car and off we go. Turn left out of driveway, go almost one block, not quite to the stop sign and realize that I have no cell phone. U-turn, back to driveway, Joe runs into house and nothing, no Joe, no phone, this is not good.

Epiphany! Handbag tipped in car earlier when we were running the last minute errands, my ever so patient son opens van door and lo and behold there is my phone just under the seat. However, still no Joe. 

Just as we are thinking we need to send out a rescue party out comes Joe, I'm waving phone so back to the car he heads. Seems delay was due to him having walked in on Sam spreading his sick from kitchen floor to dining room floor to living room couch. AAARGH!

Again, ever so patient son says, "No worries, I'll check on the cats and take them to vet if need be" as he backs car out of driveway and once again we head to airport. His cell phone rings, my daughter, not calling to say goodbye... Six minutes later he dumps us at airport as he now has to race across town to the sitter. Seems B decided he needs to celebrate Grandma leaving by getting a fever. I am now convinced that we are doomed and getting on this airplane is going to be the biggest mistake of our lives!

But, get on we do and the short flight to the hub airport is actually not too bad! I remembered how small airline bathrooms were before getting on the plane, had only one small coffee in flight and we arrived right on time! Restroom and a cart ride later we are on the other side of the airport just in time to board. Downside, we will now have to purchase (yes, purchase, welcome to the new age of flying) dinner on the flight. At least the coffee will be free, bathroom should be bigger and leg room should improve from the puddle jumper.

Turkey pastrami wrap $8.49

Turkey pastrami, cabbage and Swiss cheese wrapped in lavosh bread with Thousand Island dressing. Served with kettle chips and chocolate chip shortbread cookies.

They meant pastrami made out of turkey on regular bread with some red stuff that looked like roasted red pepper gel, no cabbage, cut in half and stacked on top of each other. Edible due to starvation having set in as it is now around 8 pm and we had lunch at 1 pm. Package of shortbread cookies and chips were devoured as well. 

I'm sure you must be thinking that with full bellies we can settle in and sleep for the next few hours. You forgot, this trip was doomed. In front of us is Layla, an adorable, talkative, not easily amused two and a half year old who is travelling with her mom. Her new best friend is me so between her mom and I it takes us about an hour to get her to eat her dinner (goldfish, fruit snacks and a juice box).  

Food gone, nothing but darkness out the window and stuck in her seat has now become an issue. She invents a new game, let's bite mommy and see what happens. Being my kind of mommy, Layla gets bit back and is now trying to convince me to spank her mommy. Of course I have to tell her that biting is unacceptable and that she needs to tell mommy sorry. Ten minutes of tears, no apologies are made but she does cry herself to sleep. Great, now we can rest...

Ladies and gentlemen on behalf of USAirways blah blah blah we are now preparing for our descent into Salt Lake City!