My husband is a jerky, and other reasons why I stress eat.

There are days when my husband is wonderful.
There are days when he is a dunderheaded ignoramus.

When I got home from dinner with Jackie and Jason (I was actually able to make dance class today - Whooo hoooo Tango!) there was a note on the door from our neighbor. Kindly asking Kelly to remove the mulch piles he had placed in his (the neighbor's) side yard.

When I called Kel to tell him that we had received the note and that I had worked to spread it out so it looked okay, instead of leaving piles*, he HUNG UP on me.

If you are wondering how to make someone go from level one of semi-pissed-offed-ness to full on OH-NO-YOU-DI-DUNTed-ness, hang up on them when they are trying to drive a point home. Good thing that he will be out of the house until Friday. I might be able to let him apologize by then and more importantly for him, I might put down the "locksmith" section of the yellow pages.

*these exact words we not used. The actual language involved words and voice deflections of a more colorful nature.

Whew - what a weekend

Can you have a laid back - busy weekend?
If you can, we did.
Kel and I hung out on Saturday night, went to Laurie and Paul's on Sunday and then to Drew and Brooke's on Monday night.
I made stuff - Summer Sangria - the drink that defines summer to me, recipe below, Key Lime Pie - Kel's favorite, Lemon meringue pie - my favorite and German 'Tater Salad - because that screams picnic to me.

Summer Sangria -
White wine instead of red makes this an easy summer sippin' drink -
Makes a bunch - I'd day at least 12 glasses -
1/2 c Brandy
1/2 c Orange Liquor (I used grand mariner - but a lot of stuff would work)
2.5 (2 quarts) bottles dry white wine
1/2 c sugar
Mix this stuff and put in fridge for an hour.

Then add this stuff just before serving -
lime, lemon and orange slices
honeydew and cantaloupe balls
strawberries
club soda, 1 liter
ice

Day two, when the fruit is marinated in all of that alcoholic goodness was even better.

The move is coming! I can feel it!
I am starting to work more daytime hours in the bakery! Not there all the time yet - I'm there more than upstairs more this week.

Let me tell you - I had for the first time ever today a complete indulgence - a couple of
Snoopy's hot dogs. Yum- they were just what I needed after a day of work in the bakery. The staff was really friendly and full of smiles. Always had heard about this Raleigh institution. Finally partook.

The Week in Review

Crazy week since Friday. Woke up early on Saturday to make stuff for a picnic on Sunday. I had the best batch of choc chip cookies I have ever made using this recipe - I don't know if it was the humidity, the recipe, the baker or what - but these babies were perfect (used bittersweet choc from Ghiradelli - available at Food Lion of all places). If you use that recipe, don't let the two cups of each chip fool you - you only need two cups total. Also made the worlds easiest fruit dip - 1:1 ratio of marshmallow fluff and cream cheese to go with Strawberries. Saturday night at work was constant - just couldn't get ahead, but not unbearable. There have been plenty worse. The highschooler that has been coming in part time to work had graduation, so there was no tag-teaming the dessert and cheese stations. The only thing that I needed help with is the cheese station -most everything was precut, but man, nobody really takes care of the stuff like they have to clean it up at the end of the night when they cut cheese. What a mess.
On Sunday, Kel and I woke up early and drove to Sanford for autocrossing. Where, fanfare please, I beat Kelly in his own car. Yes, I have been doing this longer, and yes, it is his like third event. But, we both drove his car that I don't drive every day. The event was the third annual charity event to benefit Jimmy V Foundation. We missed out on the bracket races and headed home early, but overall I finished third in Ladies class. Not bad on street tires.
So we came home and after cleaning up a little, we went to Chef's picnic. We ate too much, but everything was good. We came home empty handed - the choc chips and strawberries and dip were GONE so I guess I got the numbers right. Red made corn dogs, Rodney made mac and cheese (homemade, with bacon!), Will made a veggie salad that was great - and there was an orzo salad that was good too.
Monday was a blur - I worked in the bakery during the day - but was tired. I ended up going to bed at some ungodly early hour.
Tuesday was the same - worked nighttime and came home and watched dancing with the stars. Go Apolo - he was great and worthy of the trophy - fun to watch! Even if his cha cha was too sexy and not really a cha cha, he was fun to watch.
Brings us to today -have to get motivated to do something. But I'm not quite there yet. Feel the need to drink lots and lots of water. Let me get on that.

Project

You know those projects that you allot 15 minutes for total and they turn into something much bigger than that?

I present to you the window screen:
The frame was there, only missing the cross bar and ready for new screening material.
I had the parts from when I made the screen: the screening material, the spline tool, the spline.

The only thing I was missing - the only part they don't sell on it's own - the connectors for the cross bar. So I went to Lowe's. Now, I don't think that one is any better than the other, but Lowe's is right around three corners and awefully convenient for us (good thing). But, those connectors are the only stinking thing in the kit that they don't sell on its own, and I had to buy like an 8 foot piece of aluminum side part to get the cross bar (bad, I thought at the time, a lot of waste for a 2 foot section). So I went home and cut down the cross bar. Whooo Hoooo 3 minutes into the 15 ... on the home stretch ... until, I look at the top part of the frame. Being outside didn't treat it right. It was bent to all heck - No spline tool was getting through that. So, I carefully tried to slide the end off the frame. Funny how the corner connector went Snap! and the only thing I could think to say is Oh Snap! (or Chasquido! if you have been watching My Name is Earl.) So good thing I had all of this extra frame material, because well, the ends were stuck in the old stuff and I had to cut two new pieces. And of course I didn't have those connectors. Those are sold separately from the kit.

So back to Lowes.

Good thing I know where all this stuff is, otherwise it would have been a debacle.
No lines on the first trip - but on the second I got stuck in idiotland. Must have been because I was trying to get into work.
So I picked those up and came back after work to assemble.

Okay - so I watched Grey's Anatomy in there first, dang - good season ender and then finished up the screen. But at least it is all done.

Today I meet up with the girls from old work for Lunch. At Heregehty - yum! Happy Friday!

An unscheduled day off

Yesterday, one of the girls from work called, asking if I would like an extra day off. I had just stepped out of the shower and was getting ready to go in, but since that super long weekend, I could definitely use an extra day.

I hadn't seen Jackie in about forever due to Anniversary weekend and mother's day weekend, so I called and said come over for dinner before your dance classes (their Wednesdays are like marathons, jive formation and normal dance class - 2 hours of on the go dancing!). We had Epicurious' Soy-Lime-Ginger Chicken, Rice, Marinated Cucumbers (recipe below) and Angel Food Cake (joy of cooking) with Whipped Cream and Strawberries. Yum!

Even though the Kel is out of town, my grilling turned out okay (whoooo hoooooo!)

Jackie and the Hippie convinced me that I hadn't missed too much at dance class, so I decided to tag along. We reviewed the swing, foxtrot and cha cha. And I miss these classes due to the crazy night time schedule I've been leading - hopefully soon we'll be able to get into the daytime part of the job and not miss out too much more!

Today I'll be going in for work at normal time. Before that, I'm going to redo the screen that the cat decided was in his way and mail off these babies for Hokie Healing:

The Cucumber Recipe

You know how some things remind you of certain people/places/things?

When I was growing up, my mom, sister and I would summer with my grandparents at "the shore". "The shore" to anyone growing up in the Philadelphia Area, were the beaches from Atlantic City to Cape May, in Southern New Jersey. My grandparents had a second home, double wide trailer on route 9, inbetween Sea Isle and Ocean City. We would go to the beach every day from about 8 until dinner. I would actually tan instead of burn (no really!) and my dad would high tail it from the city after work on Friday to be with us on the weekends.

This dish reminds me of summer, my grandmother and the shore. At night we would explore the trailer park, and hang out with the old men who played bocce on the hardened sand near one of the intersections and ride bikes and meet other kids our age. We would stop at tomato stands with a can on the table for payment. If it were a good night we would play mini-golf and stop for custard or eat carmel corn on the boardwalk after rides at "funland" on the boardwalk. Occassionally we would day trip to Cold Springs village or to see Lucy the Elephant in Margate.

My grandma would make this salad during the summer, and I asked her for the recipe, which was a heck of a lot easier than I ever thought it would be.

3 Cukes

1 onion, sliced

1 T Salt

1/2 c Sugar

1/2 c Lemon Juice

1 T Celery Seed

Peel and Slice Cukes.

Sprinkle with salt and put in fridge for an hour (sweat the cukes).

Drain Cukes and mix with the remainder of ingredients.

See, easy. These are better on day two, but you can eat them on day one.

There it is - my reminder for the Jersey shore. Now I just have to figure out the recipe grandma uses for spiral noodles and red sauce - I know it involves bacon. Everything is better with bacon.

On a side note:

My Mom and Dad took Grandma to see her sister in upstate New York, see the Falls, and bed and breakfast to make a good trip of it over Mother's Day weekend plus a couple of days.

Aunt Blanche isn't doing all that well, can't travel and isn't lucid. So when these three show up Grandma turns to her sister and says - do you know who I am?

Blanche doesn't, but says her face looks familiar.

My Mom has her turn - of course I know who you are - you're Millicent. (Another sister, not my mom).

And before my Dad can get "do you know who... - Hi Bill!

There are no other Bills on that side of the family.

For some reason, everyone remembers Bill. The first time this happened, it was my grandfather. About a month before he passed away, he told vivid stories about visiting Nicaragua last week (never had been to Nicaragua, let alone in the last weeks of his life). He sent my mother to tears by not recognizing her, but when my Dad came in said - Hi Bill!

He isn't even related by blood to these people. Crazy.

Pet Peeves and the Anti-Food List

Driving around Raleigh on my day off, I came upon a situation that made my blood curdle.
I was in the left hand turn lane, and the first car in line didn't notice that the light had changed. I mean, come on, you are driving a hunk of metal and plastic that weighs over 10 tons. Pay frickin' attention to go when it is your turn.
Since blogging should be therapeutic I am adding two things that will surely make people laugh or commiserate. The first I will call the pet peeve list (I have plenty and will add as they cross my path). The second will be this picky eater's notebook - a list of things that I don't like to eat )same as the first list, will add to it as I think of it).

...and boy are my arms tired.

I don't think I could knit if I tried.
I'm not sure how I'm awake right now - but I'm certain that if I don't sleep well tonight, I will never sleep well ever.
I'm not sure why I worked a double yesterday - but whew - Fri, Sat and a brunch on Sunday is an exhausting proposition.
We had over 300 people on Saturday night for graduation weekend and then 400 on Sunday for Mother's Day.
If I see another Strawberry Shortcake I will turn in horror.
Anyway - hopefully there were some happy moms out there, enjoying dessert. I'm going to go sleep it off.

Get It Done Day!

Welcome to get it done day!

Yesterday and the day before I worked on a needle holder. All I have to do is sew in elastic to keep it closed and it will be DONE!

Today's list -

Mail cookies to mom and g-ma - need newspaper as buffer and then off to the post office.

Shop for new dress (if I can find one) for dinner tonight.

Clean up a little and finish laundry.

Find a b-day present for Kelly.

Ok, so there isn't too much - but I'll find a bunch of other stuff to do along the way.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us! Kel and I have been married a year - and the weather is quite like that day a year ago - Sunny and bright and fun. This year, although there is a breeze in the air, it is still pleasant.

What have I been up to?

Yesterday I planted. It was neighborhood planting day at the townhomes where I live.

What does this mean? Free plants to plant in the common areas. This is the first year that I have been home to collect on the deal - the toughest part? Carolina Red Clay - if you dig more than 2", there is this obnoxiously difficult to work with red clay. But I managed: Here is the smattering of plants that I added to the first island of the neighborhood. Imagine coming into a neighborhood with only a tree there. That's how it was! So, what is wrong with this trellis?

Yeah - I don't know either - other than someone in the neighborhood complained to the landscaping and architechural board. Luckily, the guy on the landscaping board agrees that it very cool, and agrees that the shrubs that used to be there were ugly, so we are going to get it pushed through - Take that! - nosy neighbor who got a nasty gram for their Christmas lights and wants to bitch about everybody else's stuff.

Then I went to work. VIP at 1030pm last night - Joan Collins.

This morning Kel gave me a present. The whole time he prefaced the gift saying, "First Anniversary is Paper". He got a print framed for me. A beautiful Mondrian that he gave to me for a birthday. I am a big Mondrian fan.

Normally we don't get stuff for each other - we go out for dinner and call it a day.

I'll be taking us out to dinner later this week at the restaurant where he proposed. Ok, so I work there now, but still it is the restuarant to go for a great meal. The lamb looks excellent too.

Friday!

Happy Friday People,

Yesterday was my day off - and I made cookies and chicken parm - not that they relate to one another - just trying to get on the ball for Mothers Day with the cookies and well, the Kel and I needed to eat.

Here's the leftover of the parm after a night in the fridge:

And the cookies, Clockwise from top left - chocolate chip (from the Ghiredelli bag), bourbon pecan balls, snickerdoodles and benne wafers (sesame seed) everything but the choc chips are from the Joy of Cooking.

Have a good one!

Marker Fight! and Weird Dreams

Although Kel started the marker fight, I won. He had this fierce concentration on my leg:

But I clobbered his arms and even got his face a little:

I dreamt that I got a dessert order of something that we don't serve at the restaurant and I couldn't find the waitstaff person who entered the order. Weird.

Pictures of the square I knitted for Hokie Healing on Sunday: