Archive for the ‘The Hubby’ Category
Happy 19th!
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
No, it’s not the 19th of June that we are celebrating (you silly goose… it’s June 16th today!).
The Hubby and I are celebrating our 19th Wedding Anniversary today. And how are we celebrating, you might ask? Well, I made beef ravoili and garlic bread for dinner, and he is at a golf outing… so, basically we won’t be seeing each other today.
But that is totally ok. He surprised me this morning with an early morning email (posted at 1 a.m.), telling me how much he loved me and how he can’t imagine life without me. Gee, talk about getting me weepy first thing in the morning! (Alright, a little weepy now, too, just writing about it.) So I replied back to him so my email would be the first one he saw this morning on his Blackberry. And I posted on Facebook (before he did!).
This is the last week of school for The Boy. I can’t believe his sophomore year is over. It flew by, what with his Applied Science class and volleyball this spring. His summer is kind of open; the internship we had been hoping for doesn’t seem to be happening. It will give him one last “free” summer, as I expect next summer will be full of college angst and working a summer job for pay.
Posted in Family Life, The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on Happy 19th!
Twelve Days of Christmas
Monday, December 29th, 2008
Christmas is no longer one day a year… it is a whole season. And the heart of the season is a two week span… from a few days before the 25th to a few days after the start of the new year.
We have (like many lucky folks) been busy with family, friends and church. We have our family traditions that, although they don’t seem to change year from year, become more and more meaningful each year.
The Boy was part of the youth group’s Christmas play. This is third installment in the series; and each year we have the church potluck dinner first and then the play (nothing like dinner and entertainment, right?). They added a Sunday community performance – it’s a bit less attended, but still very nice.
There was supposed to be a Christmas party for my work, but Mother Nature and her pal Snow Storm got in the way. So even though there was no actual party, it was nice to know the bosses put the effort into the planning of it.
With my knee issues, decorating didn’t get done timely or in full swing. No lights on the outside of the house (the up side of that is – we don’t have to take them down, either!). The tree went up the week before Christmas – very late for us. I had The Boy do most of the actual hanging of ornaments. Traditionally, The Hubby is in charge of setting up the tree in the stand and putting the lights on; The Boy and I are in charge of ornaments. Since we got an artificial tree a few years ago, The Hubby’s portion has gone down in time, effort and swearing. And it’s even a pre-lit tree, so no untangling of strings of lights either. It’s pretty much get it out of the box, make sure we have the right parts in the right places, and plug it in.
I did the rest of the house decorating – but again, very light and modest in comparison to previous years. And my friend Sally give me her annual post-Christmas purchase for Christmas (she gets great deals after Christmas and gives me my ornaments in time to decorate for the next Christmas) – some nice sparkly (I guess that’s a word!) beaded ornaments.
The Hubby and I went to church the Sunday before Christmas. The Boy was doing the reading that day, and the Sunday School kids led the worship with a drama. We generally don’t go to Christmas Eve services. The early services tend to be packed with families (not that I don’t like families, but it is a small church and I like my space) and lately there hasn’t been a midnight service at our church. I did think about going to my aunt’s church – but their later service was only at 10 and I decided against it. We opened family gifts – the ones from me to The Hubby, from The Hubby to me, and our presents to The Boy. Santa came overnight and filled stockings and left more presents under the tree. We opened those around 9 or so – it is so nice to have a teenager who sleeps in and not a toddler waking you up at 4 am!!
I invited my parents over for dinner and made a chicken. I have to say, that was one of the best chickens I have ever had. I got a large bird – about 7 pounds – and roasted it in the pan I ususally use for Thanksgiving turkey. I really didn’t do much to prep the bird – just washed it out, put some salt and pepper on it and threw some salt/pepper in the cavity – then into the oven for 2 hours. I used the brand new Cuisinart hand blender my parents gave us for Christmas and whipped up some awesome mashed potatoes. Add in the green bean casserole, and it was a pretty good meal. I pulled out the banana bread, ice cream and homemade chocolates for dessert.
Friday was a prep day for our big family Christmas. I was making all homemade gifts for everyone, so I had to get cracking on the chocolate portion of the gifts. I had already made the cookies – but hadn’t had time to get the chocolates done. I was making baskets for K&E and J&S to give them on Movie Night, so I concentrated on getting those done first. It turned out we went to J&S’s early to talk with Steve about the XBox 360 and gaming, so I was really under pressure to get them done quickly. When I was ready, we headed over to J&S’s place for movie night. We were going to watch The Island (which is a great movie and I had actually just talked to someone about it), but once they heard that we had watched it, they wanted to pick another movie. Jo offhandedly said – hey we could go see The Spirit and The Boy was like “Field Trip!” and we ended up going out for movie night. I wasn’t overly impressed with the movie, but it didn’t suck completely.
So, Saturday was the big family party at my aunt’s house in Windsor. I had to get seven more baskets done before noon, so I was up at 8 am starting my chocolates. I managed to get everything done (the baskets, present wrapping for the niece and nephews, and wrapping the family swap present) in time and off we went to party with the family. We had a pretty big crowd (about 40, I think) and had a great time eating and drinking and playing games. The big boys (the over 15 year olds) actually took over the Wii and bowled quite a bit. We did a present exchange – whoever you wanted to give presents to. Aunts and uncles gave to nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters exchanged gifts, etc. Then we had a Yankee Gift Swap. The basic idea is to get a gift (you set a dollar amount – we used $20) and it gets put into the pot. Whoever gives a gift, gets a gift. We had 12 presents, so the twelve of us got to pull a number to determine what order to pick the gifts in. Number one has the best deal of all. That was my Aunt Joanne this year… she got to pick first. Then the second person picks a gift and unwraps it. They can either keep it or swap it for the first gift. This goes on and on – the current gift picker can exchange the gift in hand for any of the previous gifts. But… poor Number One you might be thinking… gets stuck with whatever they first got or got stuck with in an exchange….not so quick there. Number One actually gets to pick AGAIN at the end… so clearly number one is the best number to pick. And Aunt Joanne knows how to pick them – she opened the CVS gift card first and then took it from my brother at the end!
Then we did our new thing – the family story thing. I got nominated to start first, so I shared the story about the Camaro we bought in Rancho Cucamonga. Mom went next and shared a story about her father in law and her husband when he was a boy. Aunt Joanne shared some pictures of her parents with Cabbage Patch Dolls for Christmas presents. Aunt Marilyn told us how she and Uncle Carl met in college. My cousin Elaine shared a story about her and her husband’s trip to Canada. So now Mom & I will get the pictures scanned and type up the stories for a family book of memories. I hope this is something we do every year.
Sunday was our annual Holiday Halftime party. We basically have an open house for friends, co-workers, church friends, etc. Last year we probably had over 80 people, so we were expecting a crowd. The invitation was a bit late coming out this year, so I think that contributed to a smaller crowd this time around. We had so much food!! (And we still do!) Everyone was generous with bringing something and we had the basics of clam chowder, chili, and meatballs. My dad made a venison chili which was a big hit. I actually bought a deli platter that was to serve 20 – 24 people – and it never made it upstairs to the table!! Even though it was a smaller group, we still had a great time.
And for New Year’s Eve, we will be heading to J&S’s place for a night of games and The Twilight Zone. We’re bringing a bunch of food and drinks; they are providing soup and bread and other goodies.
On Saturday The Boy is having about 10 friends over to have a Rock Bank party. So I am sure whatever food I have left by then will be devoured by Saturday night!
I hope your holiday season, whether Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa is happy, healthy and full of love and joy!
Posted in Family Life, The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on Twelve Days of Christmas
An update…
Saturday, December 13th, 2008
Ok, it’s been a while, but I do have a valid excuse… surgery is a valid excuse, isn’t it?
I was scheduled to go to the hospital for 1:30 on Tuesday. As The Hubby and I were putting on our coats, the phone rang. It was the hospital. The doctor was running late due to some issues with his first surgery of the day and they pushed me back to 2:30. Now – I have not eaten anything since 11:30 Monday night ( I had some crackers and hard boiled eggs before I went to sleep), so I am not particularly happy about pushing it off an extra hour. I had actually been sleeping so I wouldn’t be thinking about the surgery or how hungry I was.
So, I went back to snooze for an hour. I get up, we put our coats on, … and the phone rings. Yup, it’s the hospital again – pushing me back to 3:30. Urggg! This time I just channel surf to pass the time. We leave at 3:00 (it’s only a 15 minute ride to the hospital) and pray that the phone doesn’t ring as we are putting on our coats. We get out the door safely and are on our way.
I go through the pre-op paperwork and physical exam; I pee in the cup and get into my nice hospital gown. The Hubby gets to come in and sit with me while I wait. They insert the needle for the IV and I see the doctor. This is the first time The Hubby has met the doctor, so he asked him a few questions and then the doctor takes a marker to my knees. On the right one, he writes “NO”; on the left leg he writes “YES” down the leg (not on the knee itself). I love a doctor who pays attention and does the right medical procedure on the right appendage!!
So I get a hug from The Hubby and they wheel me away to the surgical room. I have the nurse and the nurse anaesthiologist, plus another OR nurse in the room. They set me up on the IV and tell me I will start to feel a little different shortly. Everyone was nice and we chit chatted while they got everything set up. One of the nurses put a blood pressure cuff on me and man, was that thing tight!! I felt like it was trying to squeeze the blood out of me, not just measure the pressure! I told the nurse it was really bothering me and she readjusted the cuff; it got much better after that. Then..
Nothing. I remember nothing. I remember our conversations (talked about how I did this, about what kind of dogs I have, stuff like that) and then nothing. I didn’t “drift off”; I just wasn’t there.
Then I woke up in a different room, with The Hubby sitting next to me, looking at me. We talked; he told a bit about what the doctor said; the recovery nurse was there; but things were a bit blurry in my head still. I guess I asked The Hubby a couple of the same questions more than once – he would gently remind me that I had already asked that and I couldn’t remember that I had.
I wasn’t feeling too much pain – even after the IV had worn off. The knee had been shot up with Novocaine, so it was pretty numb. We left the hospital around 8 pm – about 3 hours later than we had thought (but pretty much all due to the delay in start time). We drove down to a Burger King to get a quick bite as I was, as you can imagine, very hungry by this point. But I really didn’t have the appetite to eat a whole hamburger – I had about half before I decided that I had enough. The nurse had kindly given me a Percocet before I left, so I was pretty much out for the night.
Wednesday I took it very easy… I took the Percocet every four hours (or whenever I woke up and at least four hours had passed). It was hard to get up and go to the bathroom, but at least the dogs were well behaved. The Hubby took them out before he left with The Boy to got to school and work. Then Pansy jumped into bed with me and Chewie found his spot under the bed and everyone stayed there until about 2 in the afternoon. I let them out and when The Boy came home at 2:30, they were ready to come in.
Thursday I got up and out of bed. I tried to work, but only managed to get in 3 or 4 hours. I took some time to get a shower in – my first since Monday night. It was difficult – but boy am I glad our shower has seats on either side! I was able to sit down and take it easy and pay attention to not getting my knee wet (it was wrapped in saran wrap). The handheld shower head was also a great help. I noticed my left arm really was hurting… which was weird since I didn’t think they had done anything to it. I looked at my arm; then I noticed I had “stretch marks” where the dang blood pressure cuff had been. I knew it was too tight! For pain management that day, I switched over to 3 Advils after meals and took a Percocet at night.
Friday I got up and drove The Boy to school. I felt so bad that The Hubby had to take over “mom duties” since Wednesday. Plus, I had my post op doctor appointment that day, so I was going to have drive later on. So I got him off to school, took a shower (a little bit easier this time), and started on some work stuff. I went to the doctor’s mid-morning and got to see pictures of the insides of my knee. He showed me what it should look like, and what it actually looked like. He was a bit concerned that I was still having trouble bending and flexing my knee. He said he wanted me to get into physical therapy as soon as I could. When I was on the table during surgery he had my knee flat out without any issue, and since he had cut out the frayed mensicus, there was nothing impeding my knee from operating normally.
I had to switch physical therapists since my insurance did not gave their group in the plan. I had printed out some area places for my doctor to look at, and there was one down the street from me – probably not more than two miles away. I drove home, stopped at the place, and they had an appointment available at 2 that afternoon. So, I booked it and went home for a few hours to get some more work done.
I got down there in plenty of time, filled out the paperwork and met the physical therapist. He talked to me about the injury, the surgery, what was I able to do, and what he was able to do for me. He felt the big problem was my knee muscles were too tight to work correctly. I had spent over a month not using the muscles to walk because of the pain, and the pain combined with the expectation of pain was making me tense up and cause more pain – a beautiful self fulfilling prophecy.
So he started out with some easy stuff. He used an ultrasound to help warm up and loosen the muscles. Then he rotated my knee cap – which felt really, really good. Then he had me bend my knee as much as I could. He measured the angle – it was about 45 degrees. Then he had me basically pull my leg up as far as I could stand it with a belt; leave it there for about a minute; then move it a bit more. I did that for about 5 minutes; he measured again and I was at 100 degrees. He was pretty happy about that improvement (and so was I!). He gave me some exercises to do over the weekend and then sent me home.
I noticed I was walking better – still not perfectly, but better. I have been trying to use my tai chi principles when I walk. Because of the pain, I had been putting most of my weight on the right leg when I moved or stood still. I now pay attention to where my weight is – where my balance is – and then re-adjust to be more balanced and centered. I was able to sleep last night without any pain medication – and I felt like my leg was more straight and relaxed then the night before.
Today The Hubby and I ran the Blood Drive at our church. We were up early and stayed there until about 2 pm. I paid extra attention to standing in a balanced position and when I was sitting, keeping my knee bent so that I would feel it (but not pass out from the pain). I only did my exercises once today, but I also added something to them. I walked up stairs, the way a normal person would. I went up and down the stairs to the office about 3 or 4 times, moving my office back upstairs where it belongs! I had a real hard time walking down the stairs the “normal” way. I managed to do it all the way done twice; halfway down once and did the one leg at a time method for the last time. But still, I haven’t walked up stairs normally for a very long time, so I will take that improvement for today and keep working at it.
Posted in Family Life, The Hubby | Comments Off on An update…
We interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update…
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
<serious tone> Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, we interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update.
Well, I went to the orthopedist on Thursday the 13th. I had my dad drive me – I was half expecting the doctor to work some magic and then I wouldn’t be able to drive. So the doctor looks at my knee, pushes here and there, generally causes me misery and says, yup, you have a problem here. He took some x-rays in his office; I waited for 10 minutes and he came back and showed me perfect pictures of my perfect bones. No fragments, no bone bits running around in there – which is good news. He told me due the pain I was in and the lack of issues on the x ray, he was going to send me for an MRI.
Now, I was hoping he was just going to drain my knee and I could go on my merry way. But he was concerned about the cartilage in my knee, and draining would not take care of that. So the MRI was ordered so he could get a good look at the inside of my knee without surgery. (Gotta love a doctor who isn’t ready to cut you up any chance he gets!).
Of course, it is not as simple as just making an appointment for an MRI. It needs to be pre-approved by your insurance. (I hear they are kinda expensive tests, if you can believe that!). So I waited Friday (patiently), Saturday and Sunday (mostly patiently – after all, it is the weekend), and all the way up to Monday afternoon before I called the doctor’s office to check on the status. They were very helpful, but it was still “in process”. I got the call from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, calling to make the appointment. So I guessed it got approved. After setting up the MRI for Friday the 21st, I called the ortho doctor to make an appointment for 3 or 4 days after that. Unfortunately, because of his schedule and the impeding Thanksgiving holiday, the earliest I could get in was Monday DEC. 1. URGGG!! But, at least I have the MRI appointment within the week, so it really is the best I could hope for.
So I had The Hubby drive me to the hospital for the MRI. Now, MRI’s are not invasive – no needles, no medication – so I didn’t necessarily need him to drive me. But I knew I would feel better if I knew he was out there for me if I needed him. Plus, I didn’t know how tired out I would be from holding so still for 30 or more minutes in what I assumed would be a difficult position for my knee.
So we go through all the paperwork junk and are in the waiting area for the MRI. It turns out the MRI is actually in a semi trailer attached to the hospital. It’s my turn to go in (there was someone before me) and I hobble into the enclosed room. Now, since this is a giant magnet, they don’t want you to have anything metallic on your person or in your clothing. I was prepared – yoga pants, sports bra, tshirt, no jewelry or watch – so I laid down on the table and the technicians put my knee into a tube (cut in half horizontally), put a support under my knee, put the top half of the tube on, re-adjusted my knee, wedged some foam in between my knee and the tube and then was put inside the MRI tube.
They told me there would be loud noises, gave me a set of headphones to listen to the radio, gave me the “panic” button if I was in too much pain or freaking out, and left the room. They were right – it is definitely loud. It reminded me of the sound diesel trucks make while they are just waiting at stop lights or parking lots. Then there would be a different set of noises – just as loud, but different, like tapping.
I practiced my tai chi breathing. I breathed in slowly, felt it move up from my feet to my head, and then down again as I exhaled. It was a little distracting with the noise, but not horribly so. My mind wandered a bit – I started to think about things I had to do and how my knee was hurting. Every time I thought about my knee, I refocused on my breathing. About halfway through the MRI, the tech came on the headphone set to tell me it was halfway done and that I was doing fine. It was about this point that I started to have the strangest sensation. I felt my knee muscles twitch. I was sure they were going to tell me to stop moving – but I didn’t hear anything from the techs. I kept feeling the muscles move – spasm is probably a better word for it. It didn’t hurt – it was just like an involuntary muscle movement. I just kept on breathing and picturing my first tai chi section.
So I finished up the MRI, put my shoes back on (man was it chilly in there! my toes were getting numb!) and hobbled back to The Hubby. We drove up to his office, I dropped him off and I ran a few errands before going home. Once I got home, I seemed to have a burst of energy. I cleaned up the kitchen, made the taco meat for The Boy, and made a batch of Rice Krispie treats.
Now, to make the rice krispie treats, I had to go downstairs to get the marshmallows. I have been wanting to bake for over a week now, and I figured rice krispies would be simple enough, but I never got around to going to the basement to get the marshmallows. So I got down there, did some re-arranging of the stockpile, and brought up some things I had been wanting – including the marshmallows.
I got myself set up on the couch to start my work for the day. I generally have my knee up while I work on the couch. The Hubby moved a small table behind the couch and I have the printer, my Scan Snap and a basket of office supplies on it. There is room for the laptop when I am not using it, plus a little spot for a glass if I am thirsty. Overall, it works (but I sure do miss being in my office). So, I got started on some work stuff until The Hubby called and asked me to pick him up at lunchtime. We were going to go pick up his car from getting the oil changed. So I ran up to his office, then up to the car dealership, and then back home.
The afternoon was nothing special – some more work and The Boy came home and then went out with some friends. After dinner, I took him to another friend’s house for a party and he got a ride home from that. We went to bed kind of late (11:30 or so) because we got sucked into our new Netflix account (more on that later on sometime).
I slept for 6 and 1/2 hours straight! NO dogs, no cat, no snoring woke me up. I only woke up because I needed to go the bathroom – and then I fell back asleep for another hour until the dogs woke me up. I can’t remember the last time I slept that long without interruption! It felt so good.
When I did get out of bed, I noticed my knee didn’t seem to hurt as much. I took a closer look, and it doesn’t look at all swollen today! It still hurts to walk on it or bend it, but the swelling seems to be gone (for now anyway!). I can almost see the light at the end of this tunnel – and it may not even be a truck ready to run me over!
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Movie Night – Walk Hard, The Dewey Cox Story
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
We had movie night at our place Friday night. The Hubby and I picked from our On Demand selection. Well, actually, I went online, checked out what was available, made a list of about a dozen movies, and then we picked out of that list. We decided on Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story.
It was great! Very funny. It helps if you have seen the Johnny Cash bio-pic, Walk the Line.
One of my major complaints about some movies is the full frontal nudity of females. It’s everywhere! But, when it comes to guys – nothing. It’s all gender biased! Hey, if your going to show the human body “for story line purposes” it’s not fair to discriminate and only show the ladies. But writers Judd Aptow and Jake Kasdan had the guts to break that Hollywood rule. Yes, there is full frontal nudity … of both genders.
K&E were our only movie night guests. J & S had to get ready for Kevin’s birthday party on Saturday. S said he was waiting for his brother to fix his heater. So, it was a small gathering (especially since The Boy decided to go a friend’s party for the night).
We went on the hay ride portion of the birthday party today. I have to say, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on a hay ride – probably 10 or so years. And this was much more fun – I didn’t spend my time worrying about a four year falling off the wagon.
We stopped in the cow field and had the cows come up and eat the hay from the wagons.
The Hubby had a great time feeding the cows – although he kept complaining about cow tongue.
The next stop was a pumpkin patch for the kids.
While they were picking, one of the farm dogs was playing fetch with one of the small pumpkins. The Hubby had a great time with the black lab (the mom) and the brown lab (the daughter), throwing the pumpkin for them to catch and bring back.
There was a stream, which of course, the labs couldn’t resist. Although, The Hubby seemed to be having a good time as well (even if he got a bit wet!)
After that, we stopped at a picnic spot, munched on chicken and mac & cheese. They were both delicious. Although, it didn’t hurt that all either of us had that day was a piece of banana nut bread! After a bit, we headed back to the wagons and went back to the main gate. A good time was had by all.
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Chicken Parm and French Bread
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
Guess what we had for dinner tonight? Yup, chicken parm and french bread. And guess who made it? Yup, yours truly, amazingly enough.
The Hubby was gone all week – business trip – and was forced to eat restaurant food all week. Dinners here at home were simple: tacos for The Boy all week (he was so happy!) and whatever I felt like for myself. So I felt like I should do some cooking.
Of course, I didn’t get too carried away. I mean, I made the French bread from scratch, sure, but the chicken parm was practically no work at all. I found a great website, A Year of Crockpotting, for the chicken recipe. She said I could use frozen chicken, and that’s what I had. Unfortunately, it was a massive bunch of frozen chicken, so dipping in egg wash and then bread crumbs was less than 100% successful. I did the best I could, and it turned out alright. Some of the chicken was a bit dry, but that could have been from using the “quick” 3 to 4 hour method on high as opposed to the preferred 6 to 8 hours on low.
I turned to Home Ec 101 for the bread recipe. Heather posted a recipe for hoagie rolls, and there was a link for a french bread recipe. So I pulled it up and made 2 loafs – BY HAND – of wonderful, warm, delicious french bread for my honey bunny.
While I was making it, I searched for a recipe for rosemary bread. And I found what looks to be a keeper. I don’t know if I have ever mentioned it, but this summer I purchased some herbs and grew them out in a planter on the deck. And one of those herbs was a rosemary plant. I’ve used some of it, but not as much as I thought I would. So this will be a great way to use some of it up.
I was thinking of making soup and bread for our movie night on Friday. It’s our turn to host. So I have to come up with a dinner plan (well, I kind of already decided, now I just have to figure out what kind of soup!) and we have to narrow down a movie choice. It’s hard to decide between something we’ve seen and like or something we haven’t seen. We do have Vantage Point to watch, but we are thinking about some older movies that we like. I guess we will make a final decision about two minutes before we watch!
Posted in Food, The Hubby, TV/Movie | Comments Off on Chicken Parm and French Bread
Cooking VS Baking
Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
Are you a cook or a baker?
I think I am a baker more than a cook. I have always preferred baking over cooking food. I don’t have some inner quality that cooks do. Maybe it has to do with the rush of cooking – everything is going at once and you have to time it just right so something doesn’t burn or get cold waiting for everything else to finish. I can do it – but I don’t really enjoy it. Hence, I would feel safe in saying that for most of my married life, The Hubby has done the majority of the cooking. And before I was married, I ate chocolate bars for dinner (and I’m not lying!)
–Side story (kinda like a side dish – get it? I’m so amusing, aren’t I?) When we were first dating, The Hubby would come to visit me at my place of employment – a news stand/bookstore place. I’d generally get 30 minutes for dinner, so most of the time I’d grab a Hershey’s bar (with almonds – I need protein, after all!) and get some homework done. Once he got wind of what I was doing for dinner, that changed quick! He’d take me out to the local diner, about 2 doors down from the store I worked at. He’d ply me with sandwiches, burgers, fries, pizza – whatever I wanted. He insisted that I needed to eat more than a candy bar for dinner! So – he has always been in charge of dinner! —
So – back to the main dish point – cooking is not my strong suit. But, baking, however is a different story. I don’t bake much – I don’t want to give you the wrong idea – but I do like it. Lately I have been on a baking kick – from bread to cookies (and Rice Krispie treats too!). It’s a bit more laid back than cooking – no one is timing how long it takes to get it to the table. When I was a kid, I loved making apple pies and used the leftover pie crust (homemade, of course!) for cinnamon rollups. Hmmm… even the thought of them makes my mouth water.
So with this baking kick, I’ve been bringing baked goods to our movie nights. Another one is coming up this week, so I’ll have to think about what to make in the next few days. I was contemplating cupcakes, but that seems kinda … lame. I want something a bit interesting… maybe merengue cookies and some brownies…
Happy Baking!
Posted in Family Life, Food, The Hubby, when I was a kid | Comments Off on Cooking VS Baking
I swear this is true…
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
The following is a true story. I am not making it up, although, since it happened in the morning, I may not remember everything correctly.
First, some background. I have not talked much about her, but we do have a cat. Her name is Bianca. We’ve had her for about 6 or so years now, right from the time she was born. We had her fixed and found a new home for her mommy (a.k.a – Grandma’s house). Her mommy (Kitty Kitty – that’s a story for a different post!) went to live at Grandma’s across the street from us. Kitty Kitty was very proficient at reproducing, and always seemed to have the same basic kitten: long hair, black or grey, with the possibility of some white thrown in. Her descendents have continued her great reproductive legacy. I think my mom is mostly ok with that – it’s a bit of a farm atmosphere there and cats are great at keeping the littler critters away.
Our Bianca is a terrific hunter herself. Often we will see her, stalking her prey. There have been several baby bunnies, birds and mice left for us to admire at our doorstep. She is a pretty small cat. She wasn’t the runt of the litter, but it’s like she never grew up either. She is pretty thin – with shorter hair – not a big puffball by any means.
Ok – here is the story:
I had to drive Hubby into work today. As we are driving, he says to me:
“You know, I had this strange dream last night. I was sleeping and I thought I felt Bianca jump on me. I went to pet her, but it wasn’t her. It was a kitten. And then another kitten. Suddenly it seemed there were kittens everywhere. We looked under the bed and there was Bianca with about 40 kittens! Hubby looked at me in confusion because we know she is fixed and besides, he never saw her get fat (and that is something one would definitely notice on Bianca!).”
I thought that was kind of a funny dream because of something my mother told me yesterday. So I told him:
“Mom told me that her porch cat, who usually ducks and hides when Chewie comes to “visit” her, has actually been hissing at Chewie lately instead. She was pretty sure the cat hadn’t grown this backbone for no reason, and she discovered the reason later on: there were kittens to protect. The porch kitty had given birth a few weeks before and now “dropped off” the kittens for my mom to put in a crate to keep them away from natural enemies (such as that lunatic dog that comes over whenever he feels like it and thinks it’s ok to come on my porch and eat my food! And don’t get me started on that other one that tries to sniff my butt!). So my mom put the 3 black kittens into the crate and has been letting mommy in and out a few times a day, safe in the knowledge her babies are fine. But a few hours after putting the kittens in, there was a loud meowing from the porch. Mommy had neglected to bring the last kitten to the crate. This one was unusual though – it was not grey, not black, not even white, but tabby colored.”
So Hubby says to me:
“That is so weird. I was going to say this, but then decided not to because I didn’t think it was important. One of the kittens that Bianca had in my dream was a tabby!!”
Cue Twilight Zone music
So either Hubby is channeling my mother OR he is channeling his dog dreaming about my mother’s cats!
Posted in Animal Life, The Hubby | Comments Off on I swear this is true…
A busy week
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Well, it has been a busy week.
Hubby and I went to Boston on Sunday and stayed through Tuesday afternoon. He had a seminar to attend and I decided to tag along. The Boy stayed at home (with grandma & grandpa next door) – although he has been so busy that he was hardly home either.
It was a nice trip. I worked in the hotel room while he was at the seminar. I did take a walk around abit – found a computer store and looked at laptops for The Boy. I walked next to the Charles River. I forgot how windy and cold it gets around the river. I couldn’t imagine being these ladies:
Our hotel was very nice…except we got the Steven King room:
Yes, we were in Room 1408. I have to say, it was much nicer than the one John Cusack was in – if for no other reason than it wasn’t haunted or drive us insane.
When we got back on Tuesday night, we picked up The Boy at his play rehearsal. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty typical – except i was getting ready for our church’s Trivia Night. I had to buy the soda and candy and get organized. I had to call my help to make sure they were still available and double check on those who had signed up. I was thinking we would have about a dozen groups playing; we ended up with seven.
I have mixed feelings about it – it is a lot of fun and really not that much work – but it doesn’t seem to make alot. We only made about $220 for the Mission Fund at church. We do get a few groups from outside the church that come – so it’s not just regular church members. Everyone has a good time, so i guess i should be happy with that and not worry about how much it did or did not make.
I have a few things exciting coming up for next week (I hope!).. so stay tuned!
Posted in The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on A busy week
Ever have a day…
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
That isn’t horrible, not necessarily bad, but things just don’t go the way you want them to?
Yesterday was a day like that. I think most of my problems stemmed from the fact that at lunchtime I went to the grocery store and when I came home, I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat lunch. Everything was mostly ok – no big issues or problems – until I had to go to the city to pick up The Boy from school. Normally he goes home on the bus, but he had a play to watch and wasn’t done until 5 pm, so no bus for him.
I hate driving in the city.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour and then not be able to find parking near the school.
I hate driving in the city at 5 pm rush hour and then not be able to find parking near the school and then when I do find parking, it is next to impossible to get OUT of the parking space to get The Boy when he calls to say he is ready.
And I’m hungry.
Let me tell you a story about me being hungry. This is when Hubby and I were first together – not yet married. He got a promotion and had to move from CT to CA. This was a temporary job for 3 months, until the company and he were both sure he was a right fit for the job. They put him up in a hotel, paid his expenses, all was grand. They were even generous enough to pay for my ticket to visit him for 2 weeks. So, I went out to visit him. I had absolutely NOTHING to do every day for two weeks during the day. I went for walks, looked around the local area (I didn’t have a car, I think), watched tv, played cards, etc. Hubby was busy all day working hard to turn around the plant into a well run machine (as opposed to the hell hole it was) and was tired when he got “home” to the hotel room. We would usually go somewhere close and quick for dinner.
One night, either he was late or I hadn’t eaten much, but he got home and just wanted to chill out and relax – he was in no hurry to go dinner. Well, I was hungry and bored and cranky… I practically was in tears (and probably did cry) waiting for him to get ready to go for dinner. Poor guy – he had no idea how bad and horrible I felt inside until I pretty much exploded into tears and sobbing. He was so good to me, said he was sorry, said I should have told him that I really needed to go eat, etc., etc. (He is a very good Hubby that way).
So now we have a family joke that if I say “I’m hungry” in a certain tone of voice, we drop everything to go get something to eat.
Well, I should have paid attention and gotten something to eat before I left to pick up The Boy. Driving was a nightmare, parking was a nightmare and it was all worse since I was hungry.
The Boy and I stopped at a Dunkin‘ Donuts – one of the worst selections and service I’ve had in a while, but it was something to eat.
I got home, Hubby was already home, and we just relaxed in the bedroom. We needed to get dinner going, so I listed off the choices. One of the choices was sloppy joes. It turns out I did not have seasoning packet for it, so I jumped on the trusty web and looked for a recipe. I found one that looked good, that I had the ingredient for, and had gotten positive reviews.
Let’s just say it didn’t go over well. Cereal came out as the backup dinner.
So much for the trusty internet!
Posted in Family Life, The Boy, The Hubby | Comments Off on Ever have a day…