The Weekend Update

This weekend has been so lazy. I have slept entirely TOO much, but enjoyed it in the moment. This evening I have a headache though; interesting how wonderful, luxurious sleep backfires when you indulge a bit too much. The last 2 days have gone quickly, too; I guess that's another side effect of sleeping 1/2 the day. ;)

Saturday I slept in and woke up to a late breakfast and coffee. Kevin and I spent some time in the yard in the afternoon then went on a couple errands including a stop at Garden Ridge where we found a curtain rod for the new curtains I got at Target last week. We still have the white curtains up that the previous owner used but I thought something colorful would be nice. The grommet top will be easy to push them open and closed. Now I just need to get some hold backs; I'm thinking something with beads - maybe something I can make myself. =) Saturday night, I pulled out the Christmas decorations and put the tree up. I usually don't decorate til after Thanksgiving but I think I was too excited about seeing the tree in our new house for the first time. I love it! As if our living room wasn't cozy already, it's now extra cozy. Plus I acquired a few new ornaments this year and I love admiring them on the glowing branches. Of course the soft and unbreakable ornaments are on the bottom branches so my curious cats can play with the tree without breaking any of my favorites.

Kevin informed me I am no good at fluffing branches, so he decided to help me out. ;)

One of my new owl collectibles - a sparkling gold owl ornament for my tree. Isn't he handsome?? I knew he would look wonderful glowing against the lights on the tree.

Sunday I slept even later. Not surprising since we stayed up til the wee hours playing games on Saturday night. I had some Cheerios with a banana and we spent the afternoon watching 'Avengers', napping (!), and playing games together. This evening I made a big pot of sausage and vegetable soup with homemade cornbread that was the perfect dinner on a cool(ish) evening. Kevin hasn't been feeling too well and he asked for soup: the perfect feel better food! I just threw the soup together with items I had in my kitchen; here is the recipe in case anyone is interested in replicating it.

Sausage and Vegetable Soup

12 c water on high heat

Add and bring to a boil:

1/2 white onion, diced

3 ribs celery, diced

3 medium/large red potatoes, diced small

4-5 sausages - I used bratwursts, prepackaged and cut in half (I cut them into bite-sized rings before serving)

Cook this for a while until the vegetables start to soften and add:

1/2 c corn (I used frozen)

1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with liquid

5 cloves garlic, minced

Simmer everything til the vegetables are completely soft. Remove the sausages and cut into bite-sized pieces; return to the soup and turn off the heat. Leave the pot on the warm burner and add about 1/4 head of cabbage (green or red) and cover to let the cabbage wilt. I seasoned with generous pinches of Kosher salt; then added dried parsley, oregano and paprika.

Cornbread

Whisk together:

1 c cornmeal

1 c all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

Then add:

1 egg

1 c milk

1/3 c vegetable oil

Mix until smooth and pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake in preheated oven (400 degrees) for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

My week in photos

I realize that I take a lot of photos. Most of them are random and sometimes superfluous. I don't really need 12 photos of my cookie baking process, for example. But I have noticed that I end up with at least one 'good' photo every day. So I thought I could (at least in very surface terms) chronicle my days and weeks in photography. Not especially fascinating, but still somewhat interesting (at least to me and my 2 blog followers ;).

Monday

I had a nice Monday overall. Spent some time discussing our office expansion with the administrative staff and started training the new temp. Kevin fell off a ladder trying to retrieve what we learned was a doll that had been thrown onto our roof over the weekend by the kids next door.

Not quite sure how this happened but it certainly didn't fail to startle me at nearly midnight, thudding onto my roof.

Tuesday

I had a gray and foggy commute this morning and a very (very) busy day at work. I think I will have very very busy days for a long time; it's just the way it seems to go this time of year, and even more so this year. We have a lot going on all at once. Kevin and I went to Chili's for dinner and then went to Aldi for some grocery shopping. We watched the latest episode of 'Dexter' before bed.

Not an unattractive downtown. And yes, I'm driving and taking photos at the same time.

Wednesday

Hump day was more than crazy. I feel sometimes it wouldn't hurt to have a cot at the office; it would make it easier to stay as late as I sometimes need to and not have to drive back and forth. It's probably *not* a good sign that I am even considering that idea though. I had lunch today with my friend Michael whose birthday is tomorrow. We had chicken and mashed potatoes and peas for dinner and I made some potato soup with the leftover mashed potatoes. I baked some sugar cookies and Kevin spent some time with a friend. I bought a few things online at Metrostyle using a great discount.

Still warm from the oven as I pour a glass of milk.

Thursday

I can't even remember what I did at work today but it was a lot! The new space downstairs is coming together well and the cubicles are set up. Now all we need to do is encourage everyone to pack before it's down to the wire. We have big red crates and dollies all over the office and huge computer carts blocking the halls. I came home this evening a tidied a little and had my good friend Bonnie over for yoga. It was enlightening and so therapeutic; we plan on doing this together a couple times a week and I'm SO excited. Oh, and my neighbor is apparently excited about Christmas; her decor went from Halloween straight to Christmas, blinky lights and all.

Friday

Woke up feeling spectacular today. I credit the yoga. Good thing, too, because it was a long day. I showed those expense reports who is boss and completed 5 of them, including making minor corrections to 2 others. I helped like, 7 people throughout the day and decided however stressful that can be, at least I know people can rely on me; that's a good feeling. I didn't leave work til 7pm because I was helping one of my Officers pack his office. I think I knew that at least one person would procrastinate and not pack til the last minute, but we made the most of it - working together we got it all packed and moved (or put in the shred bins - there was more to shred than there was to keep!) in an hour and a half. I was so tired. Got home and freshened up a bit and went for dinner with Kevin at Rancho la Sandia, "our" Mexican place up the street. They recognize us now. ;) Live music, enchiladas and a margarita was a great way to relax.

I had a weird day.

But it got better this evening once I came home and spent some time with Kevin, made dinner, watched some Anime (he just got me started on a series called 'Moon Phase') and went for a walk around our neighborhood. 

Dinner was chicken fajitas today, though I guess they are more like chicken tacos? I'm not sure what the magical preparation is for the restaurant fajitas that come out of the kitchen sizzling and popping on those little cast iron dishes. I just brown chicken on the stove - no extra dose of sizzle involved. But yummy for sure!

And somehow, we have the worst luck with sour cream in our house. Whenever we are putting it away we manage to drop the tub, splattering what's left of the sour cream onto the floor, rug, refrigerator, wall, trash bag. At least we had already eaten. ;)

Start with ...

2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) cut down to bite-size-ish pieces

Brown the chicken in a pan with a little cumin and a little chili powder and a pinch of salt

Then, prepare ...

1 green bell pepper - wash, remove seeds then slice into strips

1 onion (white or red would do here) - slice into strips

Soften the veggies in another pan over medium-high heat with some butter to keep them from sticking - add a pinch of salt, too. I like the veggies to get sort of browned around the edges, but just cook them to whatever point you like - still crunchy, soft, a little brown around the edges...whatev.

Meanwhile...

Heat a small pan on a medium-low flame and add a little butter once it's warm; swirl a corn tortilla in the butter and let the tortilla warm on both sides - set aside and cover. Repeat this with however many tortillas you want. This is actually Kevin's tip for helping the tortillas stay in one piece and not start splitting as you take a bite - that's never fun, but usually messy - and I've officially adopted it.

 The only other 'toppings' I use is some grated cheddar, some of Kevin's custom-mixed hot sauce and a drizzle of sour cream. So so good. (A beer might have made this dinner even better but, alas, we are out.)

wow, that looks like a lot of sour cream from this angle...