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Quarantine

UGH. What a weekend. Tabby got a doozie of a cold towards the end of last week. Thankfully Matt got home from Cali just as it was getting really bad. Tabby hardly slept Thurs or Fri night and we both were the living dead this weekend. Then Sat night, I got a doozie of a GI bug. I'm pretty much over that (as of this evening) and Tabby's hitting the end of her cold … but maybe she has my GI bug now. I soooooo hope not. Yea, we're loads of fun around here.

Here's a video of Tabby giving kisses instead of more cheerful ramblings from moi.

Continue reading “Quarantine”

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I'm almost embarassed to admit …

What I spent on these shoes. Oy. Here's the deal. I've been running … quite a bit … between 2 and 3 miles a day. But this past weekend and early this week, I had to take some time off because my left ankle area was paining me. Not bad pain… no problems walking or anything like that, but it was definitely there and it wasn't any fun to run. So I went on running forums and the #1 thing they said (even for beginners) was to have fit tests done and get the right shoe.

So tonight after I did grocery shopping and while waiting on my mom and sister to meet me for dinner, I hit Road Runner Sports. I ran on their treadmill, stepped on their foot analyzer and got what I hope is a good pair of shoes for my feet. They're even green (though that isn't why I picked them).

$120. Sorry starving children in Africa.

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Insert Witty Title Here

I have been saving up links for a while now trying to make a pile sizeable enough that it would be worth sharing. I think we're there!

♥ The makers of Cranium (one of my all-time favorite board games) have released a cool line of kids' toys. I especially love the make-believe sets.

♥ Of course, I found out about Car Bargains AFTER we bought my car. Basically, you pay them $190 and they get quotes from local dealerships on what you want. That's quite a bit of $$, but the quotes that this user got varied by $1900. Might be worth it.

♥ via Not Martha, this Q&A session on Meta Filter about where to buy Women's clothes online … good info for me, perpetually stuck on a few stores.

♥ Also via NM & Metafilter … a few more ways to waste time on the web (games)

♥ Awesome clean line furniture at 2Modern Continue reading “Insert Witty Title Here”

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Catching Up

I've wanted to post about 10x, but I have been insane busy. Yesterday I spent the day with the three kiddos and they were … challenging. I have so much respect for stay at home moms. Each kid on his/her own would have been no problem, but all together. OY. But even after the day was over, I could be happy and reflect on the progress I saw them all make … Wes smiling at me; Liam telling me what a cow says; Tabby chattering away on her Tinkerbell cell phone …. with a huge glass of red wine and a couple of advils, that is.

Today was the start of a very busy week at work. I have meetings. I have deadlines. I have many items on my to-do list. I have work to take home. Where there's wine.

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Alone in My Office

Yes, people. I am alone. This never happens. And fortunately, I'm talking about my home office, not my cubicle at work. Yay. I have a mug of English Toffee tea (only 1 bag left after this) and I'm watching Gossip Girl, reading blogs, making CDs, organizing things, planning a menu for when we have company next Friday … and really really enjoying myself.

I spent all day yesterday with Tabby (we hung out with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Gaga) while Matt worked in his woodshop. Today I've been promised a nice stretch of a few hours while Tabby and Daddy play together. Tabby's had a serious case of noonewilldobutmommyitis lately and while I am happy to have her attached to me most of the day, it does get a bit exhausting. Plus, we are going to have loads of great mommy daughter time this week. Daddy is going to California and we will miss him LOTS!

So they get to play together and watch football and I get to be on my own. YAY. Now I just hope I can not waste my precious FREEtime sleeping or something lame like that.

In other news, my darling daughter has finally decided that crawling might be worth her time. But only when it's absolutely necessary. I.e. when she can't get one of her many servants to bring her her bink.

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Date Night Dud


I thought I'd give you a date night update since I got quite a few comments on it.

Dinner was great. It was even easier to make the second go around because I knew exactly where we were headed. And I brought out the Lens Baby to take some photos of the results. I am still learning, but I think I captured a bit of the yummminess.

Just before we started making dinner, we posted my car on Craigslist. Even before we sat down, we had a call from someone wanting to see the car. And another as we were doing dishes. We had the car sold by the time we went to bed. And I'm happy to say we got out of it what we wanted. Oy I am going to cry like a baby when they drive it off.

So though we had a nice dinner and managed to sell my car, the evening was sort of a dud as far as having fun goes. I think we both fell asleep watching TV around 10:30. We'll have to take a raincheck. Tabby had a great evening with the grandparents and Auntie Gaga and was a very good girl for them. So I think she'll be invited back.

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Date Night and other Blather

A couple of weekends ago I tried out one of the recipes in my new cookbook, Apples for Jam which my sister got for me after seeing me oogle it while we were in Anthropologie, I suspect. We made the ricotta gnocchi which were really easy to make and … well … amazing. I was planning to make the tomato pesto to go with them, but Target was out of basil, so I bought pre-made sun dried tomato pesto which was excellent.

So when Matt and I were planning a little date night for us, Matt requested that we have the ricotta gnocchi again. Typical to me, I wanted to try out some new recipes (from Apples and Jam, to be precise), but I yielded because we still have an unopened package of the pesto and well … they were really really good. As with last go around, I will also make a simple salad of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and romaine with balsalmic vinegar dressing on top … and there might be wine.

Tabby is going to visit her grandparents and Aunt Gaga. As for Matt and I and the rest of the evening, I have no idea what we'll get up to. Probably something TV related would be my guess. We're kinda boring these days. Continue reading “Date Night and other Blather”

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Ricotta Gnocchi

from: Matt & Jess original

Ingredients
1/2 C refried beans or black beans
1/4 C cooked ground beef (seasoned as you or your baby likes it)
2 T cheddar cheese

Directions
If using black beans, mash them with a fork. Then combine beans, beef and cheese together.

from: 171

Ingredients
2 C ricotta cheese
3 T greated parmesan cheese
1 scant cup all purpose flour
salt
pesto, butter and more parmesan to serve

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Mix the ricotta, flour, parmesan and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. With lightly floured hands, roll the dough into thin sausages (5/8 inch thick is recommended). Cut into little dumplings about 3/4 inch long.

Drop them into the boiling water and cook for about 45 seconds (they will rise to the surface). Remove with a slotted spoon and serve immediately with pesto (sun dried tomato is very good), butter and parmesan.

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What to say about today?

I'm kind of whiny and tired today … Tabby didn't sleep real well last night (probably our bad as we forgot to give her a bottle before bed last night) and therefore neither did I. So I need positive things to focus on.

* I lurve my new car. It has bluetooth. Now my commute can be practically used to make and return phone calls. Or gossip with my sister … whichever.
* I ran 2.5 miles this AM. I realize that for you running types this is probably pathetic (and I won't even tell you the pathetic speed at which I ran this distance), but for me it's a major accomplishment.
* I finally got on the feed bandwagon and am now using google reader to keep up with all of you fine people. It is saving me loads of time (note: I tried bloglines a while back, but couldn't get into it, but I love GR).
* Though I got home quite late last night, I got to spend the whole night at home and actually had a nice dinner and got a few things accomplished.
* Our house cleaner comes tomorrow … so even though I have to get the house in order tonight, I will have a CLEAN house tomorrow afternoon. Yay.
* I need to buy a bunch of new clothes … but for the good reason.
* I get to spend a quiet evening at home with my favorite people (and canine who thinks he's people).

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Frigid Beauty


I actually managed to get a few things accomplished last night … which was brilliant. We made dinner (salmon burgers which were good, but not great), we worked on our will (so fun, I could hardly stand it) and I spent a bit of time on the computer … and actually got the few photos I took on our trip up on the net. Yay me. The photos were taken on our trip home. Everything was snow covered and really really beautiful. If the driving conditions had been a bit better, I would've stopped and taken some shots from better angles & vantage points.

Alas, I am boring today. Nothing more to say really … just huge piles of work.