Showing posts with label kathy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kathy. Show all posts

Monday, November 28, 2022

Monday

Last night was the first in a long time that I finally got a decent night's sleep. I find that sleep is often a topic of conversation at my age, among friends and family. Funny how things circle around. It was the same when we had new babies. "Does he sleep?" For me, poor sleep seems to come in phases. I usually sleep pretty well, but then I'll get into a week or two where it just doesn't come easily -- falling asleep, waking in the middle of the night and not being able to go back. 

It's been over a week since I've blogged, so like sleep it's sometimes hard to get back into it.

Thanksgiving was lovely. There were seven of us -- Marcus and the kids cancelled at the last minute due to a poorly-feeling Bentley -- so around the table were Dad and Carol, my brother Mark, nieces Brandi and Elsa, and of course Dan and I. Oh, and Tommy came by for appetizers, before dinner at his house with extended family. It was different than the old days, which we seem to lament about a lot -- the way holidays used to be. And yet, it occurs to me that we are creating some pretty nice memories right now. Brandi, who is in her first year residency, has been on a tight schedule. So when she came late Wednesday to stay the night and help with preparations the next morning, we spent the evening relaxing with pizza, wine and a movie. Thanksgiving Eve has always been a holiday of sorts in my mind, and it was fun to have her and Dan and me, kicking it off with one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Family Stone.

Thursday morning, the three of us started early in the kitchen, Dan at the sink cleaning up as we went. We had the traditional dinner, the girls made pie and cheesecake for dessert, and it was a nice day.

Today. . . the tree is up, but not decorated yet. I'm going to set up the Christmas village. It's a sunny day, but gray, heavy skies over the mountains portend a storm later tonight. A bird walk that was scheduled for tomorrow morning has been cancelled. I'm looking forward to a day tucked in at home.

Ending on a silly note. Saturday, Kathy and I went to do a little Christmas shopping, and got carried away in the tree topper section of our local home store.

Happy Advent everyone.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Shrimp Dip Recipe

One of the ways I've learned to simplify my life a little bit is to find a recipe each season that can be my "go to" for occasions when I'm asked to bring a dish or even when I'm planning something myself.  How often do you find a recipe that calls for fresh herbs and you use a few tablespoons and the rest goes to waste?  Or you buy an entire bottle of a particular ingredient and use less than half of it?

This recipe for Shrimp Dip is one my friend Kathy gave me several years ago.  I now have most of the ingredients on hand, I even keep a couple of bags of shrimp in the freezer.  It's been a while since I've made it, so for most of my family and friends, they think I've come up with something brand new:)

It goes well with crackers or fresh veggies.  I like English cucumbers and sugar snap peas because the flavor of the dip can really dominate!

Shrimp Dip

2 lbs shrimp -- shelled and cooked
one clove of garlic, minced
one cup of mayo
1/4 c. olive oil
2 Tbs. chili sauce
2 Tbs. fresh dill
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. salt
2 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped

Using a food processor, blend the garlic, mayo, olive oil, and chili sauce.  Add dill, celery seed and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Add celery and onion with shrimp, and mix in food process until shrimp is chopped.  Chill in fridge before serving.

I'm linking up with Cooking Thursday.  For more great recipes, check it out!
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Friday, November 23, 2012

T-Day plus one

I love Black Friday.  Or, let me rephrase that.  I love being OVER Black Friday as a shopping day, and enjoy it for being a 'free day.'

There was a brief period of time when Kathy and I would get up at the crack of dawn -- in those days the stores opened at 6 a.m. -- and one of us would head over to  ToysRUs to get a place in line, while the other grabbed the Starbucks.  We loved "the thrill of the hunt."  Our kids were young enough that we didn't have to drop a week's worth of grocery money for a few toys and things to delight them.

This morning I got up early -- aroused from a tryptophan coma -- and had the house to myself for an hour or so.  Then Joe joined me and while he worked on his computer, I put away dishes from yesterday and organized my recipe box, sorting cards and clippings from yesterday.  I also printed out a couple of recipes for leftover turkey from All Recipes dot com.


I have a small file book that I use for favorite holiday recipes.  The Brussels Sprouts and Cauliflower Au Graten recipe from yesterday will go in that.  It was a big hit and one that we'll want to make again.  It now has a place of honor with our family's favorite stuffing recipe, my mom's cheesecake recipe and Aunt Mary's sour cream mashed potato recipe.


I also put yesterday's menu in the three-ring notebook that is my homemade cookbook.  There's a section devoted to holiday menus to help remember what I cook each year.  It's also helpful to have a menu already planned when I don't want to start from scratch.


A few years ago, we started a Thanksgiving tradition where everyone in our household is assigned a dish to  make.  It makes preparing the dinner a whole lot more fun for me, and the hope is that eventually I'll work myself out of a job:)  With my mother-in-law's fantabulous rolls, dinner was THE best.

For the rest of today we'll be putting up Christmas lights.  We'll have leftovers for supper and find a movie to watch tonight.

Happy T-Day + One to everyone!  How will you be spending your day?
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Friday, May 13, 2011

Friday favorites

I'm looking back over my week and finding five things that made me happy.  Linking up to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, for Friday Fave Five!

*  Yesterday, it rained all day long.  It did wonders for the grass in our backyard.  It may not be so pathetic for the graduation party after all.

*  Today I had lunch with Kathy to celebrate our birthdays, which are just two weeks apart.  We usually try to schedule lunch in between our b-days, but life got in the way this year.  We had a delicious meal at PF Chang's (the Coconut Curry Veggies are my absolute favorite) and then went shoe shopping.

*  I stayed up late, two nights in a row, to read PW's new book. Loved it!  I've read most of the story on her blog, but the last section (which is new) made it worth buying the book.  Which I didn't buy, but received as a gift.  But if I hadn't, I would've bought it.

*  Oh!  This is exciting!  (Tiffany, you'll appreciate this). On Mother's Day I entered a raffle at Emily's softball tournament -- an easy raffle, where I bought two hot dogs and Cokes for Dan and I, so I was given a raffle ticket -- and I won an autographed Todd Helton jersey!  Which I promptly gave to my husband, because Todd is his favorite baseball player.

*  There were lots of good moments this week, so I'll squeeze the rest into #5.  Lunch with my dad, time spent with my mother-in-law, playing nerf guns with my nephew, getting the laundry caught up, and planting two new rosebushes.

How was your week?
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Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Friday

It's Friday, and time to link up at Susanne's to share the best parts of our week.

1.  Yesterday, after I dropped Emily at school, I took my usual route home and saw two Bald Eagles perched in a tree in the open space near our park.  It was thrilling to see the pair of them!  They looked so regal, looking over the snow covered fields, surveying their domain.

2.  Is it weird that sometimes I like having my kids home sick?  Not because they're sick, but because it means I don't go out anywhere. I tend to work on projects that keep me close to them so I can keep an eye on them, feel their foreheads, bring them ginger ale and sit on the sofa next to them every so often to catch up on episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place. I love that show. Don't tell anyone because it's written for 10-year-olds.

3.  Talking to Kathy on the phone.  I haven't talked to her in two weeks, so we had lots to catch up on.  While I had cleaned up the kitchen, fed the dogs and then stretched out on the sofa and twirled my hair for 20 minutes, we got all caught up with each other and had solved many of the world's problems.  I love having a friend like that.

4.  I cleaned out the pantry and re-stocked.  I feel like I have King Soopers in my back room.  Everything I need, all neat and organized.

5.  Meeting new bloggers!  I found some new blogs this week and have met the nicest people.  It's a Very Cherry World  is filled with vintage charm!  Check it out.
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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Deck the halls

It's sooo good to have my 'puter up and running again.  I took it to my computer geek for what I thought would be Last Rites.  But it lives!  Yeah!

It's looking a lot like Christmas around our house these days.  Everyone has pitched in to help decorate.  The boys put up the outside decorations. Emily helped me set the village up.  We decided on a different location this year, which involved a ladder, agility and the fearlessness of a 13-year-old.  It's hard to get a picture of it, but it looks so pretty with all the lights on, nestled on this ledge.
 One of my favorite decorations is my angel tree.  My friend Kathy started the tradition for me after my mom passed away.  Each year Kathy has an ornament put on the angel tree at the hospital where she works, in memory of my mom.  The ornament hangs on the tree through the holidays, then Kathy gives it to me.  I now have 10 angels on my tree.  I should add that a few years after starting the tradition for me, Kathy's mom passed on, and now she has an angel tree, too.  Our mothers were dear friends.

The big star behind the tree is actually a mirror that was already hanging on the wall.  I like the way it adds more sparkle to the lights.

Em has been a big help with the baking. I was thinking it would be a good idea to start it early, but now I'm not so sure.  Perhaps it would help if I found a better hiding place for all the tins of cookies:)

It's good to be up and running again on my blog.  Now, I need to make the rounds and get caught up with reading all my favorite blogs.  I hope your season is merry!
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Friday, November 5, 2010

Cleaning out MY closet

Has anyone been over to PW's lately?  She's cleaning out her closet and giving away clothes.  I have to laugh.  First, because everything is either a size 8 or 10 and if I don't laugh I'll cry.  I was born a size 10.

Second, because I'm cleaning out my closet today, and there isn't one single thing that I would dare put on this blog for all the world to see.

First, there's the jacket I bought to wear for Easter Sunday. (I should say right now, that most of my cast-offs are not even from this century).  Besides the fact that it's a shade of green that would  make a leprechaun cringe, it holds horrible, embarrassing memories for me.  It was only after we got home from mass that day that my family told me I had marched up to communion in front of the entire congregation with the price tag and extra buttons dangling from my armpit.

Then, there's the skirt and shell (does anyone call sleeveless, collarless tops "shells" anymore, or am I showing my age?)  My 21-year-old son took one look at it and said, "I've never seen you wear that."   I said, "That's because the last time I wore it, it was for your christening."  Deciding then and there that I'm over pink and looking like a Happy Birthday cake, I tossed it in the ever-growing giveaway pile.

There's the skirt that drapes beautifully -- just not so much over my hips. The chunky, large knit, cowl-neck sweater, that I can wear for about 30 seconds before hot flashes have me tearing at the neck. And the pink shoes from Kathy's wedding -- a lovely shade of shell pink with pointy toes and spiked heels -- that I'll never be able to wear ever again because my feet would just cry.  These, however, will not go in the giveaway pile. When I die I don't want my entire closet to be ugly "comfortable" shoes, leaving my daughter to wonder if I ever had a life.

There's the tropical print skirt I wore to my 25th class reunion.  I have to say, it was a great outfit, paired with a chocolate brown v-neck, wrap knit top and strappy sandals.  Kathy and I promised one another that we'll never go to another class reunion.  Never again will we fret about what we're going to wear and spend hours shopping and returning outfits before finally settling on something that turns out to be another poor choice.  Never.  Probably. Oh, I guess it's possible we'll one day change our collective  minds and decide to put ourselves through the experience again.

After weeding through miles of clothes rack, sorting my entire wardrobe into piles of "love it", "never liked it", and "those days are gone", I ended up with a couple of large trash bags filled with clothes to take to Goodwill.  And a very clean and organized closet:)
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

In the two last two weeks . . .

. . . the kids have settled into their school routines.
I am still learning the carpool line at Em's new school.  The first day was unbelievable.  There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the way the cars snaked around the circle drive in front of the school, through the parking lot in the front and down the street to the back, and kids were crossing every which way.  I rolled down my window and asked of a man in a bright orange vest, holding a hand radio and looking bewildered, "What's the procedure around here?"  He replied, "Just grab your kid and run like hell."  I later learned that he is the vice principal.  Since then, I've learned to arrive way early in the morning, which gives Emily time to chat with her new friends, and get to school 15 minutes after the dismissal bell, when the congestion starts to clear.

. . . I got a new bike!

I have a friend who has the biggest heart in the world.  She won a gift card to the local bike store and insisted on sharing it with me so we could both get new bikes.  Hers is raspberry and cream. Mine is from Schwinn's "coffee and cream" collection.  And the coffee-colored handlebars and seat are trimmed in pink. . . because it's the Girl's model, which is called Cream.  The Boy's model is trimmed in blue and it's called Coffee.
I wanted to get Dan the Coffee model for his birthday, so we can "match".  But he wants no part of it:(
 . . . I had a pool day with Kathy.
 Our Pool Day Tradition started several years ago.  When we get all of our kids back in school, we take a day and go to Kathy's dad's pool.  Just the two of us.  We start off with Starbuck's.  We float, we talk, we float some more.  Then we have a poolside lunch.  This year Kath made a delicious Chicken Tortellini salad and I brought some decadent desserts.  Then we float and talk and read and float some more.  And since the kids are in school, no one bothers us, it is peaceful and serene, with a mountain view and absolute quiet, except for the water lapping softly against the sides of our floats and our constant gabbing quiet conversation.

. . . we got a new car.

It is heavenly to have a vehicle that drives so nicely.  After 118,000 miles of  listening to a 'weird sound' in the rear passenger side, we traded in the mom-van for a Toyota Highlander.  And it has a sun roof, so I'm halfway there to my sporty convertible!

I am gradually working myself into a daily routine.  This is the first September in years that I haven't been working from home while the kids are in school.  I'm finding it nice to be able to plan a routine for laundry, shopping, meal planning, and cleaning, rather than trying to squeeze it all in around work hours.  Our weather has been gorgeous this week, with temps in the 80s.  The maple tree in front of our house is already starting to change color.  I turned off the air this week and opened all the windows.  It is by far my very favorite time of year.

I've off to catch up on what's happening in Blogville.  I have missed everyone and I hope to get back in the swing of things around here.
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Friday, April 30, 2010

Where I've been

Since I blogged 10 days ago, I . . .

Was completely celebrated on my birthday, which deserves a post all its own, but suffice it to say, my husband and kids really put together a fantastic family dinner including cleaning the house and even decorations.

Had dinner with Kathy.

Watched Up In the Air on DVD.

Officially retired and cleaned out the office. I emptied all the file cabinets and boxed up files. Cleaned out the desk, took all the cutesy cards off the bulletin board, gathered up the fun-colored post-its and my favorite pens, and moved all my stuff upstairs to the loft where my new desk is. Then I vacuumed and dusted and prepared the old office for its new occupant, my husband, who will have the place all to himself, as it should be.

Found a new desk on clearance at Target, for a steal.

Found a loveseat for the master bedroom for an even bigger steal.

Cleaned my son's room and found enough spare change under his bed to treat myself to Starbuck's.

Shopped with my 13-year-old daughter. It's amazing how my sense of fashion has suddenly improved. She couldn't get over how many cute outfits I kept bringing into the dressing room. The same things I've been trying to get her to wear for the past two years. You know, style basics like collars and buttons and belts and things that fit. Instead of sweats and her brother's t-shirts. "Mom," she exclaimed, "You're finding the cutest things!" There is a God. He's at Kohl's.

Watched lots of baseball. Watched it rain, snow, rain, snow and games were canceled. So, this week there are five games in five days, including makeup games.

Went to the eye doctor. Gave up on progressive lenses and ordered bifocals.

Realized the dogs trampled or dug up all the Columbines I planted last spring. Argh!

Provided 30 meals for 5 people.

Went for walks five out of the last five days!

Missed blogging and visiting all of my favorite blogs! So nice to be back:)
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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thursday 13

What happens when you've made this silly commitment to post on your blog everyday and you look at the clock and it 5:33 p.m. and you realize you have to be someplace in 45 minutes, and you can't think of anything to say?

You look for a meme.

I recall a long time ago doing a meme called Thursday Thirteen, so I looked it up and sure enough it still exists. So, in the spirit of the Giving Thanks Challenge, here are

13 Things I'm Thankful for In a Friendship

1. Honesty
2. Sense of humor
3. Not afraid to challenge me
4. and knows when not to challenge me and let me rant
5. Will shop with me at boutiques and at Target
6. Loves my family
7. Will watch chic flicks with me and sit through the credits when the movie is over.
8. Listen to me tell the plots for my favorite books from beginning to end.
9. Drink Starbucks with me
10. Knows my favorite dessert
11. Waited and then rejoiced with me when my babies were born.
12. Will offer to go with me to the tough places -- a scary doctor appointment, my first visit back to the cemetery when I lost my mom, my first lip wax.
13. Remembers who I was before I became a wife and mom, and loves me for it.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009

36 hours

And it's still snowing. Here's proof:

Two feet! and about another 6" today. Needless to say, the kids are home from school again. While snow like this is common place in the mountains of Colorado, it does tend to slow us down a bit here in the Denver area.

It's been nice being stuck at home and downshifting to slow gear for a couple days. Lest you think I've had so much time on my hands of late (judging pumpkin contests), it's been crazy busy. The past two weekends, while Dan has been building a new cover to go over a new deck, I've been painting. It's a sickness really. I can't leave well enough alone. And since moving to this house 14 months ago, it has been my mission to repaint the entire place. It was mostly white (some of it still, I haven't got there yet), and the kitchen/family room was a sage-y green. Now, the common areas of both rooms are Behr's Raffia Cream, the kitchen is accented in blue (Behr's Waterscape), and the fireplace wall in the family room is Gobi Dessert, with the nooks a deep Belgian Sweet chocolate. I will post pictures, promise.

In between painting, I spent last week with my nephew, Tommy, which I posted about here. The week went so fast and I miss him already! I also finished up an online writing course and am continuing with a weekly study on the Book of Matthew at our church.

All to say, I welcome a snow day or two, as it has given me some time to catch up with my work-from-home-job (oh, yeah, that!) and laundry (oh.yeah.that).

Have I mentioned how much I love my UPS man? Yesterday evening, as we were sitting down to a supper of vegetable beef soup and French bread, the doorbell rang and there, in the raging snow, was the UPS man. With a package. For me. From Amazon! I immediately knew what it was and had my son bring the box to the table, where I tore it open and squealed, "It's here!" This is what it was:

If you've been living under a rock in Blogland and don't know Ree Drummond at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (or if you're not a blogger and just want to kill 19 hours reading a fantastic blog), check it out here! I am unabashedly one of her biggest fans, and I'm thrilled that this Monday, Ree is coming to the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, and I get to meet her in person! I'm dragging Kathy along with me. I'll post pictures, promise.
But, for now, I have some reading to do. And new recipes to try. Be back later;)
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Catching up

Since I've been back, I've been thinking about blogging, just about every day. And then I go, eh, what do I have to blog about. Here's what I've been up to. . . .

Last Friday -- Seems like months ago. Since I came home from our trip to a dead computer (did I ever mention that?) I needed Friday to be a work day. Typically, I never work on Fridays, but I really needed to get caught up. In the morning, my BFF Kathy came by, so I could "take a minute" and sew about 8" of a banner she was making for her son's First Communion. When she walked in with a bagful of supplies and a sketch for the banner, I knew it would be longer than a minute. So, I put on a pot of coffee and "we" made Scotty's banner. (This is my non-crafty BFF who doesn't own a glue gun. Guess who made the banner?) After we made a fastest-ever trip to the mall for the Clinique special, I did manage to get some work in that afternoon.

Saturday -- Grocery shopped in the morning. I got really organized, went through all my coupons and saved $47 on my order! In the afternoon, my Bible Study group went to tea at the lovely St. Julien Hotel in Boulder. From our table, we had a beautiful view and watched the snow lightly falling against the mountain backdrop. A fun afternoon with girlfriends. Saturday night, Dan and I decided to watch a movie. We ended up choosing Wall-E, since Em was going to watch with us. So, Dan and Luke and I watched the movie while Em went upstairs and watched something else. It was a cute movie, even though I'm not into animated films. I know, weird, I never like cartoons as a child, either.

Sunday -- Cleaned house in the morning and in the afternoon hosted our group to choose Rockies tickets for the season. There are six families that share season tickets, and it's always a rousing, fun-filled afternoon as we munch on ballpark snacks and compete for the games/dates that we all want. Always good-natured teasing and lots of fun.

Monday -- That was yesterday. Worked all day after taking the kids to school. More of the same today.

That's where I've been. A little work, very little cleaning, lots of girlfriend/family/friend time. Not bad.
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Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Friends who craft together. . .



Today was the day for Kathy and I to make our annual Christmas craft. It's a day when one of us picks the craft -- a very simple craft -- and we meet at her house where the Christmas music is playing and the dining room table is spread out with crafty stuff. We begin with a Starbuck's, craft a little, talk a lot, stop for a nice salad lunch, craft some more and talk some more. This candle with the peppermint sticks wrapped with ribbon is what we made last year.


This year I chose a project that I had a feeling might be a challenge, since I saw the picture in a magazine at least two years ago and would have to go from memory. I gathered up the supplies I had on hand, bought two wreath forms from Hobby Lobby and formulated the steps in my head. It all went south when I got up this morning and couldn't find either one of my glue guns. I called Kathy. "You have a glue gun, don't you?" Her response, "Bwah hahahhahahaha," told me no, she does not. Now you know what I'm up against. Crafting with a person who is so uncrafty she doesn't even own a gluegun.

In the midst of dealing with a teenager who was experiencing great angst this morning, I never could locate the glue guns, so I opted for Plan B, which was to do an entirely different craft. A couple of months ago I bought some of those little felt sequin kits that are so beautiful when finished and that Barb has perfected to an artform. My kits have little stockings that hold the silverware on your holiday table. Doesn't that sound nice? I imagine my table set for our traditional Christmas breakfast of cinnamon roles, fresh grapefruit and scrambled egg casserole. These little silverware holders would make it all so very festive.

Kits in hand, I was late rushing down to Kathy's house, but too early to pick up our salad lunches because McD's doesn't serve salad until 10:30. Did you know that? I rushed through Starbuck's drivethrough for a coffee . . . A coffee. And showed up at Kathy's door to be greeted with the sound of someone tearing out tile in a bathroom upstairs, and another preparing to tile the kitchen. The living room was completely empty of furniture as she was waiting for an entire new set to be delivered.

There was no Christmas music.

I was greeted with, "Where's the lunch you were supposed to pick up, and since you only have one coffee, I assume it's mine."

It all went down hill from there. My un-crafty friend not only doesn't own a glue gun, she also doesn't sew. But that's okay. She envies me because I have a glue gun and I envy her because she has a house that has a fireplace in her bedroom. After 37 years of friendship, we understand one another.

Eventually we set ourselves up at the dining room table, snacking on leftover peppermint sticks that were in her "craft bag" from last year's project. We didn't have to worry about the work people eavesdropping on our conversation because they couldn't hear us over tearing out the tile. And inspite of having to stop when the furniture was delivered, and then spending the next hour re-arranging the room a half dozen times -- which, by the way, involved moving her FULLY DECORATED 8-foot Christmas tree back and forth across the room at least six times -- I managed to get one sequined little sock done. Kathy got one cut out, and has 4 sequins sewn on it. But her living room looks great.

When it was time to go, I packed up both batches of our crafts. I apologized again for not bringing lunch. She said it was okay. I told her maybe we can meet monthly and by next year have all of our little sequined socks finished for Christmas 2008. She thought that was a good idea.

I have an idea for my next craft pick. You take candy canes. And brown pipe cleaners for antlers and little beady eyes. . . and a red pom-pom for the nose. . . and some Elmer's glue . . .
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