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Overview of Father's Day
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hubby had duty today from 8:30am-3:00pm. DD cleaned her room (leftover bits and bobs that didn't quite get picked up yesterday) and finished on her dad's card this morning.Me, I had worship music on (cable TV radio channel) keeping me company in the kitchen. I had some things that just needed to get done!We got our organics produce delivery on Friday so the bottom of our fridge has been overrun by GREENERY!! I'm trying to get a handle on it, knowing that if I don't take the time to prep it, most likely it won't get eaten.
This morning I made a cauliflower/broccoli salad (it was yummy at dinner this evening after the creamy goodness had time to really sink in to everything), I prepped the rest of the cauliflower and broccoli into manageable pieces, cut celery for eating, and cut up the big ol' head of romaine lettuce. Our guinea pigs got the scraps, they just love lettuce! Also this morning I made an Asian cucumber/cilantro/vidalia salad recipe I found online -- it was scrumptious! Also got the last 4 cups of homemade granola made into granola bars. I'll need to make another batch of granola this week. (*note to self*)
I had hoped to get some zucchini breads or muffins made, too, but that never quite happened. Maybe tomorrow. I had also planned to repurpose some leftover vegetable rotini pasta into a pasta salad, but that didn't happen either, yet.
For dinner I made Body For Life's recipe (in Eating For Life cookbook) Asian noodle stir-fry (just vermicelli pasta with stir-fried celery, onion and cabbage & garlic on it) with spring rolls. You can see a YouTube video of this recipe over here. I usually make it without any of the beef that the recipe calls for. Today, however, I used some seitan I had in the fridge and it was also delicious that way! (The seitan I happened to have already made, and used in this recipe is Lachesis' Seitan Recipe of Greatness, but next time I think I'd prefer a regular baked beef-flavored seitan for this particular stir-fry.)
In any case, along with the stir-fry over noodles with spring rolls, we had the cauliflower-broccoli salad, the cucumber/vidalia salad, red and green grapes, and cherries. As DH finished up the last bit on his plate he said, "This was a Father's Day meal to remember!" (Ain't he sweet!LOL)
DH got a mini-fridge for Father's Day/birthday, a pack of Monster Energy Drink, and a meat thermometer (for continued grilling expertise as his old one died), 5 packs of Taro Pancake mix (sent specially to us from a TOG friend in Hawaii-- thanks Mel!) those were from me, and from kiddo today he got her card, a sampler hot sauce pack from World Market, and HeartBreak Ridge movie (he's been wanting it for AGES, on DVD.)
I just checked my email and a gal on the TLT list asked for the recipe for the Cauliflower-Broccoli salad, so I'll posted it over here.
This evening I have to organize this week's homeschooling lessons. We homeschool year round, remember. DD has 4 weeks of various camps to go to throughout June and July and we're taking a week-ish long vacation at the beginning of August so schooling is continuing between all of that. We're just about done with Tapestry of Grace Year 3 (classic) so will be finishing that up as well as finishing up our Botany study over this week and next. math, grammar, spelling, and other subjects continue to march on in 2008.
DH is busy this evening finishing up a paper he's writing for his English college class online. He's taking that as well as a Mass Communications class (the latter of which I'm also taking.) I'm sure he's upstairs with golf or basketball on... or maybe his new DVD??
As my faithful readers can attest to, I've not been blogging much lately. There's no particular REASON why but rather a variety. However, if I were to pick just one reason it would probably be that I feel I'm just rambling on about the same things, nothing new, and that must be boring to read about. Last week, though, I was encouraged by a sweet online buddy to try to get back to it. I had a post written up about our joy with Shakespeare's "The Twelfth Night" late last week but the blog editor here at HSB lost the post before I had a chance to post it, just giving me a blank editing screen. I was too miffed to bother rewriting it.
So, to get you caught up with our ultra-fun, ultra-hip life here........this long holiday weekend was a good one! DH had duty on Friday but that wasn't too rough. We ordered pizza delivery that evening.
Saturday kiddo didn't have any soccer game due to the holiday so we got an early start on our outings. We popped by the library to pick up some holds and for DD and DH to get some videos for the week. Then we headed to Vernon Hills to see about getting DH's cell phone repaired. What a nightmare. It had quit working a couple weeks ago (yes, we're slow to get it into the shop) and he's been using DD's cell phone for the time being. Anyway, the repair place told us that it hadn't been water damaged and just wasn't working, for no apparent reason (Gee-- thanks for the news flash!) and that we'd have to send it in to LG for them to replace/repair it since it is still under manufacturer's warranty. Yeah, okay. After that we went to Potbelly's for some lunch. We'd never been there before but we all enjoyed it. I'd describe it as an upscale or yuppy-style SubWay. The sandwiches were good, though I didn't realize the kid's sandwich was so small and ended up sharing my sandwich with our growing, nearly 11yo daughter! Tummies full we headed to the NEX and perused around there a bit. I was searching for new kitchen shears and DH needed new tennis shoes. I ended up getting a new purse (on sale!!!) which I'd been eyeballing the week prior. That afternoon kiddo played over at the neighbor's house and DH and I cleaned out the guinea pigs' cage, changed the bedding, and added a 2nd level with ramp to their cage. They didn't hesitate very long at all in exploring up there (where their hay and a water bottle was located.) Soon after they were racing up and down. DH & I watched the season finale of CSI. It was a good day.
Sunday was a good one too, with the weather warming up a bit. We went to the area mall to the Kohl's store where DH found some running shoes (on sale big time!) and I snagged a set of Kitchen Aid kitchen shears that had a "go-along" pair of utility scissors. Even better, we got $10 in "Kohl's Bucks" at the register to spend this week. Perfect timing as I need to take DD shopping for new swimsuits again. Apparently the once "too big" swimsuits I bought last year with the notion of "room to grow" have already been grown out of. *sigh* By this time DH was feeling hungry so he opted to go over to Lonestar Steakhouse for lunch. (Note: We don't usually eat out so much, but DH was feeling it this weekend. But even when we do 98% of the time it is for lunch not dinner, as lunch menus are typically less expensive.) Afterwards we popped into the Sports Authority store at the mall so DH could pick up some knee wraps. That afternoon DD played outside with the neighbor girls and DH and I rearranged our bedroom furniture, killed cleared away dust bunnies, then caught up on the season finales of Criminal Minds and NCIS. (Can you tell DH and I like to watch crime dramas together? LOL)
Monday, Memorial Day, was a relaxing day. DH went to the base gym for his morning workout. Kiddo did math, spelling, and read a couple chapters in Annie Quinn in America. DD and I went again to a neighbor's house to feed/water their hamster and hermit crab. Kiddo played outside again with a neighbor girl... I think she said they made up a song of some sort. I sewed two name strips to hubby's dungarees. (He'd found two pairs at the thrift store recently super cheap, to replace the ones that had gotten too worn. He is easily impressed with my super-wonderful sewing skills. LOL) DH grilled steaks for our early dinner of steak, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and fresh veggies. It was so sunny and warmish, quite lovely. I noticed the radishes are starting to sprout in the garden as are soem of the wildflowers, morning glories and even the lettuce is starting to come up. The cherry tomato plant, on the other hand, is looking a bit weary. We'll give it one more week to see if it starts to look better, otherwise I'll be replanting one next weekend. DD was delighted to find that the PC game Nancy Drew and the Haunted Carousel worked. (We'd picked it up last week at a thrift store for just $1.00!) She played it a bit in the evening time. Before bed she watched some of the library DVD of Oliver! the musical (one of her Favorites, seen numerous times.) DH and I watched an episode of American Gladiators (no matter what, it truly isn't as good as the old show back in the 80's! But I watch it because DH enjoys it.) I, of course, watched the new episode of The Bachelorette.
As you can see, we're pretty darn normal here. Not too much adventure. We just enjoy hanging out together. We recently got new patio furniture (in hopes that the heavier table will better anchor the new patio umbrella, keeping it from breaking like the one did last year!) and enjoy sitting outside together chit-chatting, watching the birds, and commenting on the weird weather we have here.
Our Super Bowl party 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
After a busy week, I figured I better jump in here and do some catch up blogging. So forgive me for the delay but I reckon later is better than never, right?
Here are some photos of the little Super Bowl party we had for ourselves at home. I had found my football themed cookie cutters while on the phone to my mom, I opted for "appetizer" type naughty food for our party fare (foods I'd otherwise have NEVER bought), and we played silly little games at time-outs and halftime.
First, here are the signs we made. DD make the SUPER BOWL Sign (top), DH made the PATRIOTS sign (top left) though he wasn't happy about it as he did NOT want the Patriots to win, but he gave me first dibs at team signs, LOL.... and I made the NY GIANTS sign. Those signs as well as the smaller ones below were made on some "banner" paper (perforated computer paper) I had received from my step dad, oh golly... probably 9 years ago. I STILL have a drawer full of it. Below are the game signs... TOUCHDOWN GOLF (an indoor putting set we use) which we played during the pre-game show, (an oldie but a goodie), TABLETOP FOOTBALL, TIMEOUT 21 (as the name suggests we played 21 during timeouts/commercials), and finally, a game called YOU DON'T SAY (we weren't allowed to say any of the words listed during the second half of the game.) I made up the game signs. Everything was all stapled to a black project tri-fold board we had from a literature fair last autumn. (Stapling onto these project boards is fabulous as you can just pull the items off when you're done and recycle the board again and again!)
Next we have a shot of the TV screen during the National Anthem. Surprising, I thought Jordan Sparks did an outstanding job singing. She didn't do too much "vocal gymnastics" or draw out the song too long. Great job!
AAck, here's kiddo and me with the "hold the camera out in front of us" shot. Hate the picture but oh well.
Here is a shot of the delicious cookies I made and cut with the King Arthur Flour cutters. DH just LOVED them and couldn't believe I'd planned making these since the end of November (when I bought the cutters along with all the flour I bought for Christmas baking)! These were peanut butter/chocolate chips cookies. I opted for these instead of sugar cookies. Delicious! And FYI, the helmets are larger than the palm of my hand, for reference.
Here's DD and DH being silly while I was setting up the camera for a group shot. Don't ask... they're just a bit odd. LOL
Here's our group shot... "nothing else to say about that. " (said in my best Forrest Gump voice.)
And the artery-clogging spread of foods: riblets (dry rubbed and BBQ)...made a TON of riblets, half of which are leftover in the freezer now for another day, pizza bites, bagel bites, jalepeno poppers, chicken fries, baked potato skins, chips, veggie tray & dip, and the cookies. (I love how my white Corell dishes go with any party theme! LOL) Dh was just tickled by al lthis food. Totally not the way we usually eat, but it was easy, fun & festive appetizer type sports-bar food. He really appreciated it all.
Here's DD eating a bit...
And finally, her playing TABLETOP FOOTBALL, yes from the piano bench.
She was a good sport, for a 10.5yo girl. She definitely wasn't into the game, but enjoyed "ranking" the commercials with us, enjoyed the food and games, and REALLY enjoyed the $20 she won from Daddy for the NY GIANTS winning. They didn't bet or anything, but DH wanted the Giants to win SOOO badly that he said if she cheered for them, too, he'd pay her $20 if they won. Well, she's $20 richer! LOL
It was a great time. A simple way to share in DH's love of football and give him something to enjoy instead of going to a sports club with some co-workers or whatever. LOL This was our second year of doing this. I think it is now a tradition for us!
Well I liked my cardinal-Christmas motif but with the new year I decided it was time for a new look. This wintery motif was inspired by my current iGoogle homepage color scheme:
With the snow we've gotten here yesterday and today the cold, wintery blues just seem to fit!
New Year's Eve was spent with DD and me organizing & purging her closet, shelves and overall room. It looks WONDERFUL now. I just need to buy some more bins for her shelf. DH watched football, played PS2 2008 Madden NFL game (a Christmas present), and grilling our dinner in the snow! Additionally, I continued with the smooth changeover for the 2008 school year in Homeschool Tracker (see sidebar for link) and finished up my personal binder. (More on that in the future.)
We didn't go anywhere for New Year's Eve so we just had a little wing-ding here at home:
We had bought some crackers, sausage, & sparkling grape juice, pulled out some cheese balls, leftover chocolates, and baked up a few cookies. I also thought to open a little bag of Japanese caramel corn & cheese puffs my Seester had sent us (yum!) Totally nothing fancy, but it did the trick. DD was tickled when I pulled out the blue plastic "goblet" from last New Year's Eve festivities (at the base bowling alley) for her to use. I grabbed two Don Ho bar glasses for DH and I. (Only time I recall we've EVER used those glasses since eating at his restaurant in downtown Honolulu! LOL) The little cymbals monkey and party poppers (also from Japan) finished off the side table, all laid upon a thrifted cloth napkin. Hey, I TOLD you it wasn't fancy!
DD was thrilled to find out we were going to let her stay up until midnight. That was just what she needed to get going. DD is the queen of construction-paper-hats and insisted we all have and wear one. DH fancied his up with Navy insignia and DD added a feather to it. Mine had various foamies stickers (nice to see THAT tote got used ONCE in 2007! )
While waiting for the NYC Times Square ball to drop DD and I put her telescope (a Christmas gift!) together. The weather conditions didn't permit viewing of anything at that time but she was happy to put it together.
Just before 11:00pmCST I called DD and DH downstairs to watch Dick Clark count down the final seconds. (Come to find out DH had already fallen asleep and I had woke him up! LOL) After that DH went back to bed and DD went upstairs to finish watching her movie.
Midnight (CST) rolled around and DD and I watched the fireworks out of Chicago (on the TV screen) to celebrate. I grabbed a Japanese party popper, pulled the string and BANG! (shockwaves ringing my eardrums!) But..... NO CONFETTI!!!!! ***gasp*** We couldn't believe it! Here I'd told DD we'd have to do the party poppers inside so we could vacuum up the mess in the morning instead of having it blowing all over the snow till spring time! Well, drats! No confetti and now I was deaf! DD worried the smoke detector would go off but it wasn't smoky, just SMELLY! (Guess the Japanese use fireworks OUTSIDE! LOL)
DD brushed her teeth and was put to bed. I stayed up for about a hour longer..... went to bed... then spent the NEXT two hours or so trying to fall asleep! *sigh*
My Seester has ALWAYS, ALWAYS been creative, especially when it comes to gift-giving. Being on the other side of the world, stationed in Japan hasn't changed that.
She went all out (from far away) and actually threw my mom a birthday party! How she dug up the services of www.gocakego.com I have no idea, but she did. Along with a "cyber birthday party" consisting of notes written to her from various family members (aka, party attendees) and delivered via email ON her actual birthdate, she called up and Mom went through the lighting & blowing out of the candles and cutting/tasting of the cake, yes, all while my seester was on the phone!LOL Here are some images I snapped.
On the phone and putting in the candles.
On the phone and lighting the candles.
on the phone & blowing out the candles.
still on phone, candles out
And here's the full "party in the box" from my Seester.
(Great gift find, girl! Mom really liked the uniqueness!)
And here's the two little gifts from me to Mom:
Mom in her new pink sweatshirt.
And the embroidered design I made for her.
(Don't look too closely, this was the FIRST embroidery I attempted.)
Colors sort of go with the bedding in her room. (Yes, I had the forethought to even consider that. LOL)
Wow! You'd think my keyboard was broke or something. I've hardly done ANY blogging in the month of November. Shame on me. I'm sure "all my faithful readers" have been waiting with baited breath for my next blog update. Well, now you can exhale and resume normalcy. November seems to have SLIPPED away!
So let's see....
11/1: We attended a CYT performance of LES MISERABLES
11/3: Another youth soccer game (a win!) click to enlarge
11/10: last soccer game of the season (league CHAMPS - 4:2)
11/13: Shopping w/ DD & got new phones. 1st photo on my camera phone! LOL
11/14: My mother-in-law's birthday. I made a chocolate cake so DH could "celebrate" his mama's birthday here at home (she lives on the East coast.)
11/22: Our 7th wedding anniversary.
11/22:Thanksgiving at Mom's house! click for my Thanksgiving blog entry
11/23: day after Thanksgiving shopping. We opted to keep OUT of the malls & plazas. Didn't find too many purchase-worthy things in Toto, Indiana but did see a few things I'd like to make "knock-offs" of...here's one of them...
11/24: Went to a local scrapbook store and got two cool templates!
and LOVE these journaling templates!
& finished decorated Mom's Christmas tree.
11/24: We celebrated my Mom's birthday on this day. My seester (stationed in Japan) sent her a fun "party in a box" and "virtual party" from www.gocakego.com
click to see my blog entry about this
11/25: My mom's actual birthday. We left to go home this day. Here's a pic of the "dreary weather" in Chicago.
click to enlarge
Christmas season plans are already underway. I'll try to get back into the swing of blogging...
Today was a beautiful day and we took advantage of it! We were out the doorbefore 9am and after grabbing some cash from the ATM we were on our way to the Apple Orchard.
Beautiful blue skies and a crisp 45 °F or so made perfect apple-picking weather!
It was just under an hour getting there and the route we took was scenic (sort of) through neighboring villages and into the next county. A pleasant drive at least. We arrived about 15 minutes before they opened but the orchard lady didn't seem to mind and motioned us to "get on out of the minivan!"
The orchard itself is small (not at all what either my DH or myself remember as orchards back from our childhoods!) but there was a nice variety of apples to PICK from. Down at the orchard building there was a beautiful garden of lots of flowers...
Your standard marigolds. I was very jealous as mine outside my garden at home
haven't bloomed at all this year! LOL
DDhas never been apple picking before (though we'll be going again in a few weeks with her Girl Scout troop!) and she REALLY enjoyed it. She especially liked pulling the wagon with the bushel basket on it (and my coat and camera bag!) I do think she wasn’t expecting the number of BEES in the orchard though. That surprised her. But she was a trooper and only balked a couple times when the bee-fest in a particular location was a bit dense.
View from top of the orchard hill, looking down to the orchard building.
Anyway, per the orchard lady’s instructions we made our way to the back of the orchard (up a hill) before we did any picking. Then, we maneuvered down the hill and between the rows of trees while looking for the various colors of ribbons tied to the trees that were RIPE FOR PICKING. (The orchard lady told us that last weekend some groups of people picked a bunch of apples from trees that weren’t yet marked for picking and would probably be disappointed with their apples since they weren’t quite ripe yet.) We kept our eyes out for white, red, yellow, blue, pink and green ribbons while being careful not to step on any rotting apples with bees surrounding it.
Starting off, heading up hill, DD with cart in tow.
Here are some more just random photos from the outing:
"Which direction should we start?"
Looking cute as usual!
Who's that peeking around the corner? (Yes, it's me. LOL)
"Hey guys! There's a good bunch of apples over here on this tree!"
We tried to pick a full bushel but never quite got there. This photo shows it about 1/4 full. We stopped at just over half-full. The nice orchard lady only charged us for 1/2 a bushel.
At each tree we came to with a "new" ribbon color/name we each took a bite of a sampler apple (we shared as to not be wasteful!) We enjoyed all of the variety of flavors, and all three of us agreed that the Cortlands had the least favorite flavor. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as tasty as the others. Additionally, all the "hoopla" about Honey Crisps... well I personally didn't think they were all that fancy! Again, not bad, but nothing SPECIAL! LOL
"Yummm... this one is nice and crunchy!"
We really enjoyed ourselves! We didn't stay all that long but there wasn't really a need to. Only about the last five minutes of our time there did we see any other people in the orchard so we didn't have to worry about getting in each others way or wagon traffic (LOL) or anything. Truly a great time!
Another flower from the orchard grounds. There was a single giant bee going among all these types of flowers. DH called our attention to it as each time the bee left one flower you could SEE the pollen falling from its legs! It was really neat! We also saw a little chipmunk while standing at these flowers but I was too slow with the camera to capture him!
I popped into the orchard building while DH paid for our apples. I was hoping to pick up some tasty cider or other apple products, but they didn't have any! *sigh* They had some pears for sale but I passed on those. DD asked about us buying some fresh honey (they're prize-winning!) but I said we already had plenty in the cupboard at home.
On the way home we stopped at a seasonal produce barn to see what they had. I picked up a set of little Indian Corns (already hanging from a shelf in the living room) for this season and some sweet corn for us to eat tomorrow. DH picked up a hot sauce, a black bean salsa, and some apple bread that apparently was calling his name. LOL. DD was intrigued by the turban squash they had on display.
By the time we got to our side of "town" we were all pretty hungry and I decided it would be neat to try the new SWEET TOMATO restaurant over by us! IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!! We'll definitely be going there again!
Now, back at home, I have a giant bag of apples to deal with. DH is upstairs watching football & golf. DD is outside playing soccer w/ the neighbor kids. It's been a good day!
Then we headed to Vernon Hills to see about getting DH's cell phone repaired. What a nightmare. It had quit working a couple weeks ago (yes, we're slow to get it into the shop) and he's been using DD's cell phone for the time being. Anyway, the repair place told us that it hadn't been water damaged and just wasn't working, for no apparent reason (Gee-- thanks for the news flash!) and that we'd have to send it in to LG for them to replace/repair it since it is still under manufacturer's warranty. Yeah, okay. After that we went to 
Sunday was a good one too, with the weather warming up a bit. We went to the area mall to the Kohl's store where DH found some running shoes (on sale big time!) and I snagged a set of Kitchen Aid kitchen shears that had a "go-along" pair of utility scissors. Even better, we got $10 in "Kohl's Bucks" at the register to spend this week. Perfect timing as I need to take DD shopping for new swimsuits again. Apparently the once "too big" swimsuits I bought last year with the notion of "room to grow" have already been grown out of. *sigh* By this time DH was feeling hungry so he opted to go over to 
math, spelling, and read a couple chapters in 
Nancy Drew and the Haunted Carousel worked. (We'd picked it up last week at a thrift store for just $1.00!) She played it a bit in the evening time. Before bed she watched some of the library DVD of Oliver! the musical (one of her Favorites, seen numerous times.) DH and I watched an episode of 
On the phone and putting in the candles.
on the phone & blowing out the candles.
still on phone, candles out
And here's the full "party in the box" from my Seester. 
Mom in her new pink sweatshirt.
And the embroidered design I made for her. 
1st photo on my camera phone! LOL 
LOVE these journaling templates!
Beautiful blue skies and a crisp 45 °F or so made perfect apple-picking weather!
Your standard marigolds. I was very jealous as mine outside my garden at home 
View from top of the orchard hill, looking down to the orchard building.
Starting off, heading up hill, DD with cart in tow. 
"Which direction should we start?"
Looking cute as usual!
Who's that peeking around the corner? (Yes, it's me. LOL) 
"Hey guys! There's a good bunch of apples over here on this tree!"
We tried to pick a full bushel but never quite got there. This photo shows it about 1/4 full. We stopped at just over half-full. The nice orchard lady only charged us for 1/2 a bushel. 
"Yummm... this one is nice and crunchy!"
Another flower from the orchard grounds. There was a single giant bee going among all these types of flowers. DH called our attention to it as each time the bee left one flower you could SEE the pollen falling from its legs! It was really neat! We also saw a little chipmunk while standing at these flowers but I was too slow with the camera to capture him!
