a yummy post

Anne and Deb said they wanted another food post. So yesterday I decided we would have a nice dinner. Of course those days are always the ones my husband is home late. Good thing I knew better and didn't start cooking until he was 15 minutes from home. I was going to make Herbed Lentils with Rice to go with this but we ran out of time.

The menu:
-Orange Glazed Salmon (I got the recipe from one of those junk mail cookbook teaser things) it's actually spicy and sweet, very yummy.
-Tomato stuff that I don't have a name for cause I made it up. I serve it with bread or pita chips. Ingredients include: Feta, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, olive oil, garlic

Ava and Lily were not fans. They usually eat Salmon but this is a bit too spicy for them. Jer tried to get them to eat it by telling them it was his secret recipe. Ava said to me this morning "Momma, I don't like Daddy's secret recipe. I never want to taste it again"

If you want the recipes I'll post them. I am too lazy to do it right now.

annoyed, sorta

Hubby will be gone all week next week, Monday through Friday, for work. I can't remember where he's going, it doesn't even really matter. Then he'll be home late Friday night, here Saturday, and then leaves again on Sunday afternoon for another week somewhere else.

I hate when trips are back to back. It's even worse that Lily is so attached to him right now. She wakes up every morning and asks where Daddy is. We've taught her the days of the week so she knows when the weekend will be here and he'll be home. She is going to be a mess on Sunday when he leaves again after just getting home.

Not to mention the fact that we're under construction right now. I'm betting I end up doing all of the painting by myself while he's gone. It'll probably be finished when he's gone so he won't get to see it until much later.

I suppose I should count my lucky stars that he's not living in Korea by himself for a year like he would be if he had stayed in the military. Or I could just be happy he has a job he likes that pays all the bills. But instead I just want to bitch about how I hate feeling like a single mom every few weeks when he leaves and I have to pick up the emotional pieces of the Lila Bean.

I better get started on figuring out what I'm going to do with them to keep them (and myself) distracted.

Ok, I'm done.

top 10 for the week

1. My bed, it was a pain in the ass to get into the house but it's proven to be a keeper.
2. My porch swing
3. Sangria
4. Plants/Flowers/Trees that live outside and I don't have to water
5. That damned brown sugar ice cream.
6. After dinner walks with the family
7. My dogs ears
8. Parties
9. Patsy Cline
10. BB King

notice anything amiss?

If you saw my last post and the picture of our backyard in Colorado you know that trees are not common. The only trees we had were the tiny sticks someone would try to plant and then, when they had consumed hundreds of dollars worth of water would die anyway. We pretty much had tree skeletons everywhere. It was the most depressing place we have ever lived.

(Disclaimer: There are trees in CO. I swear, I've seen some. Just not where we used to live)

When the girls became able to communicate and we would drive to Wisconsin to visit our family they would get so excited to see trees and green. It would start in Nebraska with corn, Iowa with corn and trees, IL ramped up the green, and then finally Wisconsin. Hills, green, trees...ah, home.

I can actually remember Ava saying "Whas dat?" while pointing up to a canopy of leaves we were driving under. I remember thinking to myself, we have got to get out of here.

We were outside a good chunk of yesterday working and playing. I had one of the girls on me laying back in the swing and looking up into our gigantic maple tree. I turned to my husband and thanked him for moving us here.

The ladies have become dandelion experts. They just don't know that they are called dandelions. I've tried to tell them but they prefer to call them yellow flowers. They pick and sniff all.day.long. Which brings us to our next set of pictures. Notice anything wrong here? I was rolling my tongue and Lily was trying to do it too.

Let's get closer. This is what Ava does when you roll your tongue in her general direction. Notice anything?

Isn't this the saddest face? All I did was tell the kid to smile, I swear. Notice the dandelion nose? My kids have had a dandelion nose everyday that we were able to go outside this week.

Oh, and this is not a dandelion either. This is a "wish." As in "Momma, Momma, wishes!"

look at what I got

Part of the fun in moving in the middle of winter is you have to wait and see what kind of yard you will have in the spring. We were told the previous owners had done a lot of planting. Still, you never know what you're going to get.

We are starting to find out. In a big way. I am up to my eyeballs in green here people and I'm loving every minute of it! Colorado.....not so green. I know, I know. But the mountains? The lakes? I'm sure they exist, just not where we used to live in Strasburg, CO. Here's a picture...

Ok, back to the pretty. My parents have Lily of the Valley growing next to their house and I always loved them. I just love how dainty and un-flowerlike they look. I love the color of the leaf against the super white of the flower. They just make me say, ahh. I always said I wanted them in "our next house."

And here they were, waiting for me. ALL over my house! I am so glad we moved!

you have got to try this stuff

I made an impulse purchase last weekend at the grocery store.

http://www.haagendazs.com/products/five.aspx

I bought the brown sugar flavor and it.is.so.fucking.good you have to try it. I dare you. I double dog dare you. Did you notice preggo friends that it also comes in ginger, maybe y'all should try that one and see if it puts a stop to all that puking you're doing. Then you can try the brown sugar...seriously.

I had to go back to the store a couple nights ago to buy more. Did you see that's it's also lower fat! I don't know how, but hey, works for me.

Go forth and report back.

my agenda for the night

"I am so glad it's the weekend."

I think I probably say that every Friday, though as a SAHM of kids that are too young for school, my days are really all the same. Regardless of the letters that come before the word ____day. I still wake up with the girls, feed, and clothe the girls, and then put them to bed. The only thing different is having a husband in the mix.

Which leads me to my plans for the night. My husband will be home late, I don't know why, I didn't pay attention. I called him and informed him that we were having a date tonight. There will be no reservations or babysitters involved. No tickets to buy or people to tip. No bartenders, strangers, friends, neighbors, just us.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in other responsibilities and obligations. We have a tendency to be so exhausted by the time the ladies are in bed that we just veg in front of our computers or video games. We get lost in books or homework instead of hanging out together.

While the days of all nighters, clubs, and house parties are long gone we still have a great time together. He is my best friend and the person who is my exact opposite. I mean, the guy actually likes math, what the hell is with that?

So tonight after we put the ladies to bed we will watch LOST, eat some unhealthy yummy food and I will kick his ass at Boggle. He will then try to convince me to play Stratego and I will claim that he has an unfair advantage in that particular game, since he has military experience and can read my mind. Maybe we'll even sit outside on the porch swing and have a drink.

It's going to be a great night.