Another great year – 250 kids stopped by to get KING-SIZED candy bars! We are officially the “king-sized” house!! It was so funny to hear people refer to us like that. Not as many repeats as previous years, which is good. Still a few, some I could have definitely called out but it was in the last half hour and I was just trying to get rid of candy at that point so I didn’t care. I don’t know. Kinda think I should said something since the kid had his jacket on backwards – it was the dumbest disguise – but if that is what he thought would work he is going have bigger problems in life 🙂
The point where Brutus was over his costume:
And the moment when Luna decided she was over her costume:
It was a beautiful day for a ride so Scott and I met up with some fellow riders from the bike shop. No destination in particular just a lot of country roads. I met some new friends and it was just really fun to be out riding with a group again. I don’t get to do it as much as I used to and I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Everyone except one person was riding Triumphs so it turned into a “British invasion” ride which was ironic and humorous on this Independence day weekend 🙂
I also did some patriotic nail art which I think turned out pretty great even though I haven’t done nail art in a while. I was pretty steady with my left hand so they both look equal. I think the trick is to keep it simple. (duh) But that is hard to remember sometimes when you see all these great ideas on the internet.
With all the holiday excitement there have been teenagers setting off fireworks in the park next to my house for the last 2 weeks which has made Brutus afraid. The first time I found him hiding under the bed but now he has taken to being carried around after some fireworks go off. Luckily there isn’t too much in our neighborhood so I am hoping tomorrow won’t be a big deal. He doesn’t seem nervous about the city fireworks that are far away, only the ones that are happening nearby.
For Christmas, The Other, got me the most coveted item on my wishlist. A Triumph Daytona 675R. It finally came in last week and we went today to pick it up!
It was a balmy 42 degrees F today but sunny so honestly not too bad. Would I want to do this regularly? probably not, but it wasn’t the shiver-fest I was expecting. Scott met me at the Harley shop (which also happens to be a Triumph dealer) to ride home. It made what probably would have been a rush to get home into a pretty great ride. We did stop for coffee once to warm up and rest but otherwise we rode straight through. Regardless it was fantastic and I can’t wait for spring so I can ride regularly. I was even thinking of taking it out tomorrow to fill it up with gas..
This bike is completely different from the Spyder (which is still a great bike, don’t get me wrong). Everything on the bike is made for performance so its not exactly make for cold weather and heavy boots and gloves. It has features like a lap time and shift alert based on RPMs. The sales guy said they do some track days (including track training) and invited me out so maybe I will try that and really see what this bike can do!! It definitely likes to go fast – about 50 mph the bike really smoothes out. So much fun!!
For dinner The Other and I made a Blue Apron recipe “Chicken and Sage Biscuit Pot Pie” which was perfect after a cold day of riding. It was easy to put together and super delicious – I would make this recipe again. I really liked that to make the biscuits you simple dropped the dough on the top of the filling mixture and then cooked in the oven for 12 minutes. I also liked that the vegetables were large and roughly chopped. Again, this was a fast quick saving tip that made everything come together faster. The only thing we changed in this recipe was to make the Roux (flour/oil mix) in a separate pan before adding it to the pot of vegetables – I think any other way would have resulted in a mess and a watery sauce.
If you didn’t know, my parents have moved to Arkansas. No one is quite sure why, but they seem happy so we just tell our friends they “moved south” and are vague about the location rather than admit to having relatives in Arkansas. (Hi Aunt Cindy!)
This is their first year there so they sent us some Easter treats. My sister, brother and I all got the same stash although mine was the only one covered in blood:
Typical Dad – getting hurt but powering on through the pain to get the job done! Also typical that he would see nothing wrong with sending me a package covered in blood. And before you ask how I knew it was his – it was on the inside of the package.
My brother’s response was “You must be the favorite”
My sister said “It is covered in the blood of the father”
They both think they are funny.
Besides blood, the package contained some Easter treats! But not real Easter treats, more Easter lessons in confusion.
The first is a tiny egg shaped Jesus. I don’t know if this is better or worse than cracking open an egg expecting candy. Regardless, I cracked with glee and my tiny egg shaped Jesus turned into a tiny egg shaped penis.
This penis/Jesus, unlike real penises/Jesuses, was filled with a candy necklace rosary.
Also included in my care package was this gem:
This is a grey egg (which let’s be honest, has to be special order. You just don’t normally have a use for a grey easter egg) in a foam backdrop that says “He has risen”. Now I knew it was supposed to be the cave tomb where Jesus was buried but I didn’t understand the scene. My brother then reminded my of the rock that was in front of the tomb which we think the egg is supposed to signify. Just like in the story, Jesus wasn’t inside when we opened it up. Instead it was a sharp plastic cross with a necklace hole. I assume you can use this one on the left over string from the candy rosary once you finish eating all your sins.
Finally, the centerpiece of the whole package was some room decoration stickers.
This product expects you to decorate your room with the scene of the empty tomb, guard asleep on the job, and an angle dropping trees on him. Also, that yellow splotch in the upper right hand corner is supposed to be a “ray of light” which is included as well.
When I finish putting it up, I will let you guys know.
Day by day the Burmeseys are becoming better friends. In full disclosure I put Luna here but she kept trying to go up and was a little frightened. This was the first time Brutus didn’t bite her to chase her away from his “territory”. They are still figuring things out between them but this picture gives me hope that my life won’t be filled with hissy/growly/screaming for the next 18 years…
In other news, Luna has discovered the best way to get around the house is the hood of my sweatshirt. I full expected to claw her way out but she settled in for the long haul. It started to get a bit chokey though so I took her out, which of course is when she used her claws!
And finally my little man, Brutus, enjoying his Christmas present a bit early since we will be out of town. It is a gift box filled with all sorts of super cat goodies. The company is KitNipBox and they even offer a monthly subscription! Brutus was more excited about the box and the package which stunk of catnip over the actual toys and treats but you know how cats are! KitNipBox knows – the shipping box even turns into a little cat house!
This past weekend we headed down to Northerly Island in the city for Polar Adventure days. There was birds, snakes, dogs, hot chocolate, stories, and snacks! A small event but a lot of things to see and do and not too many people to get in the way.
Here is my highlight reel, courtesy of Google Auto-Awesome #ThroughGlass
That’s me, the house that gives out full sized candy bars for Halloween. Not only full sized but king sized!! A lot of planning goes into it but I love the look on a toddler’s face when they get a Kit Kat bar that is bigger than their head! Truly epic!
We keep a spreadsheet so we know how much candy to buy, what is popular, how much we ate, etc. It’s important because an 8 year old has no qualms telling you Snickers are disgusting and can she please have something else. We also have to have enough extras for the “Cheaters” usually teens who come back a few times. If I catch them I call them out, but honestly all the kids look the same to me so sometimes I miss the repeats 🙂
So let the festivities begin and if you’re in the neighborhood stop on by!!
If, like myself, you are the mother of kitties it becomes important that you take mother’s day into you own hands. Kitty paws just aren’t gonna cut it! This year I help my fur babies pick out some really great gifts for me – assorted Frango Mints and a kitty necklace! They are so thoughtful!
After trying all the mints, I decided the Milk Chocolate Mints are still my favorite and informed the kitties I would like only those next year. They looked disinterestedly at me in what I assume is agreement. The Other all got me a gift – Starbucks Chai! I didn’t even have to help with this one – he is a lot more capable than the kitties.
To further treat myself, I decided to give myself a manicure utilizing the new book and nail tools I got from my Reddit exchange. Overall I think it turned out pretty good for a first try! I choose an easy one – Dots and went to work.
I didn’t have the exact colors suggested in the book so I decided to utilize my set of Coach polish.
Started with a base coat
Then my base color coat. The book suggest light pink so I used that color from the Coach set. I think this nail polish is getting a bit old (I did get it 3-4 years ago) because the pink went on a little gloopy.
Now the first dot color. The book suggest blue, which I assume is because its the darkest. For this reason I decided to start with the purple.
I waited a while in between each coat because I didn’t want to smear the dots. Luckily its easy to turn Kindle pages with wet nails. For the second dot coat I used the dark pink, since it was the second darkest color.
Finally on to the gold dots. I tried to fill it any remaining gaps but overall I think the gold was a little light compared to the other colors. If I did it again I would make sure the dot colors were closer in intensity.
Once I gave the dots a bit to dry I put on a super shiny top coat. As I said I think I did pretty good for my first time. I can’t wait to try other ones in the book. I’m thinking either Strawberries or Ladybugs next!
I’m not big in to celebrating Easter except for the obvious reasons (food and candy). This Easter there was no big family get together so I decided to enlist The Other to make a lamb soup. Lamb, I have learned, is traditional on Easter but soup is not. This would be my first foray into a more adventurous soup from my Cook’s Illustrated Soup and Stew book.
The soup – officially called Irish Stew in the book – consisted of Lamb shoulder, and potatoes. There was a variant which included turnips and carrots which I decided to try. I thought this would add a little more variety to the soup. Although I love potatoes, my results with lamb have been mixed about 50/50. Brutus on the other hand was just excited meat was being cooked and decided to jump on the counter ( a no-no) and photo bomb while I was taking photos #throughglass
The bad news was that since it was Easter weekend and people like to eat lamb on Easter my butcher didn’t have any lamb shoulder and the Jewel had only 1 package left. I quickly called The Other to see if we could sucessfully scale down the soup from the required 4.5 pounds of lamb to just 1 pound. He said it could be done and was not worried.
My two tiny lamb shoulder chops
All that’s left after removing from the bone and trimming – it doesn’t look like enough!!!!
We successfully scaled down the recipe and made enough for about 4 servings of soup. It was awesomely delicious. The lamb was cook perfectly and so tender and flavorful it was by far my most favorite part of the soup (again just making me sad I didn’t have more lamb!) There was a weird aromatic in the soup which I think came from the turnips that I didn’t care for. It wasn’t enough to not eat it but if I made this again I would leave out the turnips and just do potatoes and carrots.
The cook book also listed a complimentary quick biscuit recipe which was supposed to be easier and faster than traditional biscuits. We did not scale down this recipe….
They turned out pretty good even though I forgot the salt during the mixing. They were easy to work with and cooked in about 15 minutes and for those doing Weight Watchers were about 3 points each. I am definitely going to keep this recipe on hand for get togethers and parties. I also liked that the biscuits were small (2.5″ round) so a good option for finger food or hors d’oeuvre.
“The Other” and I love an excuse to celebrate. We celebrate good days, bad days, and days where nothing happened. We are always buying each other little gifts and treats so although we don’t celebrate “Valentine’s Day” in the traditional sense, we do use it as an excuse for a celebration! This year I think we did pretty good for each other:
Backpack Tote from Love41. This is absolutly amazing and will last for a million years. I will probably do a separate post on this awesome company.
A chocolate box with chocolate pretzels inside! The Other wants all future storage containers in our house to be made of chocolate.
Dinosaur planters – they are real plants!
Deep fried peanuts – surprisingly delicious! (but what deep fried thing isn’t delicious…)
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