Weekly Update

Hello patiently waiting readers! I mean, hi mom and Deb. =)

I have felt extremely busy, but I am not quite sure what I have been up to. Let's try to do a recap.

Since my last post, Joe and I ate all the pie. You may have thought I would have to be in the hospital since this time with the sugar diabetes, but we managed to stay out of a coma.

Last Friday, I went down to babysit for my favorite rug rats. I got to meet the famous Jesus Fandango Rodrigo Luiz Ortega, who is just a little bit funnier and cuter than the pictures. I also got to see my folks, and we got a cute picture from the top of a hay wagon.

Please note my crown. Little Miss put that on me when I first got there. And she TOTALLY forced me to where it all night. Seriously, I hate being a princess.

Saturday, Joe's parents came up to the Fort. They were our first overnight visitors. They even slept on an air mattress!! We are that awesome. Mimi brought us a present! In a Crate and Barrel box! My favorite kind! (Well, expect for presents that come in pretty little velvet lined boxes.) So she got us the green charges we registered for. They are so pretty!

It's hard to get a good picture, but the very pretty dessert plate on top is what my mom got me! I can't wait for my shower! Keep the Crate and Barrel boxes a'comin!

Back to the update... I had unexpectedly been given the chance to go to a conference in Chicago so Sunday night I packed up and drove to Chicago. I pretty much ditched all the conference sponsored socializing events and went about my way in Chicago. I ate at my favorite pizza place and got to poke around the Magnificent Mile.

I have since been working entirely too much. I thought this whole work from home thing was going to be a piece of cake, but goodness sakes- it is easy to get sucked into work till 10pm when it is in your living room.

This last weekend Joe and I went to a state park about 20 minutes from our house. It has 11 small lakes formed by a glacier, and 8 are connected by little channels. Joe and I hiked for 3 hours on Sunday!! Ugh! My butt is still sore. But it was nice. It is so shaded that it wasn't even too bad to walk that long in 80 degree weather. We are going to try to kayak through all 8 lakes at some point, but I think we will wait till it is cooler. I don't think there is too much shade in the middle of a lake.

Welp, I must be off (to work). I must start blogging more regularly. It is harder to even write one when you haven't for so long. So I make this promise to you, I will stop working so much and start blogging!

Happy Happy Birthday

Today is Doctor Joe's 31st birthday. Dude, he's so old. Like as old as my sister.
Last year for Joe's 30th birthday, I surprised him with a trip to New York. I packed his bags for him, made him get in the car, and he didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport. I am still paying off that birthday present. (Thank goodness for 0% APR credit cards). Since I am still paying on that one, this one was a bit more low key.
We went out for a very fancy dinner in the smallest town up here over the weekend. It is such an odd place, the town is maybe a few hundred, and there is this phenomenal four star restaurant. We had fois gras (which is freaky but really good); Joe had lamb and I had fish. And then we had four desserts.
Today for his real birthday, Joe had to work, but he requested a few pies for his present. So I spent all afternoon baking up a storm. He wanted a key lime pie, a cheesecake, and a blueberry pie. So he got...

The key lime pie was the most time intensive. I used actual Key Limes, not regular limes. I felt like I was in some reality show competition while I was squeezing all those tiny little limes. Do you know how many of these

it takes to get 2/3 cup?! Well, I don't either, but it felt like a lot.

Should Joe and I consume all the desserts I made tonight, we would eat 3.3 pounds of sugar, 1.33 pounds of graham cracker, 1 pound of cream cheese, 1 pound of butter, 5 eggs, and 3 egg yolks.
Now I am going to go lay on the couch and watch the Olympics, I mean, go burn off some calories.

Ratatouille

I'm excited to share my first recipe! Although I am very bummed it is not "Ellen's super awesome black bean salsa." Joe's camera is holding those pictures hostage until we find the battery charger. It will come though, I promise.

Anyway, on to Ratatouille. Now, if you are like me, you had no idea what Ratatouille was until you saw the very adorable Pixar/Disney movie. I love it. However, since Remy didn't post a recipe at the end of the movie, I had to ask Mimi. (Remy is the little rat in the movie, Mimi is the soon to be mother-in-law)

So, this is what you need, more or less.

The recipe calls for:

1 eggplant, cubed

1 large zucchini, cubed (I used two small ones)

2 medium yellow squash, cubed (the grocery didn't have any, so I had to use one, slightly old, leprosy ridden squash)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small green pepper, coarsely chopped (mine was not so small)

1 small sweet yellow pepper, coarsely chopped (again, not so small)

1 small red pepper, coarsely chopped (kind of small)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 (14.5 oz) cans of fancy tomato wedges, undrained (I don't have a clue what these are, so I used two cans of peeled, diced tomatoes)

1/2 cup of dry white wine (I don't drink white wine, so I don't know what kind is dry- I used Riesling)

1/3 cup small pitted olives

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of dried Italian seasoning

1 bay leaf

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used the stuff out of the green can)

If you have these totally awesome bowls from William-Sonoma, you can do this with all your chopped, cubed, and minced veggies.

Saute the eggplant zucchini and yellow squash in hot oil in a large Dutch oven (giggle) over medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes (We don't have a Dutch oven yet- it's on the registry!- so I just used the biggest pan we have, which wasn't big enough)

Add the peppers, onions, and garlic and saute for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Look at the pretty colors!

Add the tomatoes, wine, olives, salt, Italian seasoning, and the bay leaf. Stir, cover, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. (I don't have a picture of this step because my pan was overflowing and I had to divide it between two pans.)

After the 15 minutes, discard the bay leaf and transfer the ratatouille to a large serving dish. (Or keep it in the pan)

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

It may look a little bit like throw up, but it is so good!! I sauteed some ground turkey and added it before I served it. I hadn't done that before, but it was very good and I will do it again.

I feel so healthy eating it- I was getting about 98 servings of veggies!

I heart Fort Wayne

I have been delinquent in my blogging, but I think this story is worth a week's worth! This is an excerpt from the Fort Wayne news.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A Fort Wayne man was arrested Monday for felony Public Indecency after police saw him standing naked in the window of his home.
Around 10:30 p.m. Monday evening, a Fort Wayne officer was driving in the 4500 block of S. Hanna St. when he noticed a naked man standing in front of a large picture window of his home with his genital region clearly visible to those on the street.
According to the officer, the blinds were not pulled shut and the front door was wide open, giving a clear view inside the home.
Together, with another responding officer, the two walked up to the home and found the naked man, then on the couch, conducting a lewd act with a claw hammer, plastic bag and motor oil.
The man, Ronald Miller, did not acknowledge the officer's presence until they addressed him and still did not say anything.
Officers arrested Miller for felony Public Indecency, at which time Miller asked the officer for another chance. Officers declined and took Miller in double-locked handcuffs to the Allen County Lock-up instead.
Mr. Miller had a previous conviction for an unrelated public nudity incident.
A neighbor watching the scene, who wished to remain confidential, told police she had seen Miller walk around naked in his home with the front window and door open on several occasions. She said, "He does it 24/24. He's not right."
The neighbor also told police she doesn't appreciate that he walks around naked for all to see in her neighborhood.

Okay, so the hilarity about the claw hammer, plastic bag and motor oil is almost too much.

Until you read the comment by the neighbor who says he does it "24/24", you know, like 24 hours a day, 24 days a week.

How is it possible I live here?

Sister knows best

Yep. That's right. John Deere Mom was closest with her $650 guess.
Are you ready for this?
I spent $738 on GASOLINE! In ONE MONTH! And I don't drive an 18 wheeler!! Do you know how much fun stuff I could buy for that!! That's like 7 really great Target trips. Or at least a couple really nice purses. Ugh!!
Here is another fun car story that happened during this month of constant driving. I got my oil changed in mid-June. Then one day, driving here in the Fort, my car started beeping at me. My screen said "Oil change recommended." What? I just had my oil changed. So I dug through all the crap in my console and found the note from the dealership- Oil changed 6/13/2008 4, 176 miles. Next oil change 9/13/2008 or 7, 176 miles. Sure enough, in under a month, I put on over 3,000 miles. Sheesh. I guess that explains the $738.

So speaking of all my driving, let me give you a little run down of the cars of my life.

The first one, you all probably saw on my sisters site, the super sweet Oldsmobile Cutless Calais.

After dad and I pulverized a deer in that car, and did about as much damage to the car as the deer, I got a "new" car, a 1986 Honda Accord.

Kinda like this...

I loooooved this car. It took me through high school, college, and into the real world. It persevered through one deer mishap, one rear-ending, and 200,000 miles. I put butterfly stickers in the corners of the windshield, a pink fuzzy steering wheel cover, and a lei on the rear view mirror. However, it did have the minor problem of a leaky sunroof, which would result in a bucket of water gushing on top of my head in the early mornings. Yeah, my baby had to go.

So after lots of soul and dealership searching, I found the car of my dreams. And since I had a real job at this point, I could afford a real car. So I got a 2002 Explorer Sport Trac.

As much as I loved my Honda, I loved this one more. It was cute and tough. It was great for tailgating. I could haul stuff, and still have my backseat full of junk (although I think the purpose is to have a backseat full of people.) My headlights came on automatically, I had a sunroof, and a fun little back window. The steering wheel was perfectly positioned for total knee driving, leaving my hands free for important things like talking on my cell phone, and jotting down notes. Everything a girl needs. This little beauty packed on the miles like a champ. It took me back and forth from South Carolina. It moved me from my apartment to Joe's house. Perfect.

Until one fateful December day. I was going to babysit for these monkeys.

Then the weather folks said there was going to be a winter storm, so I cancelled.

Then it was 5:00 and not doing squat. And it was like 40 degrees.

So I called up the sis and again offered my services.

I got down there no problem and got to babysit for the hooligans. Then Ang and Farm Guy came home, and it was still like 38 degrees and not doing anything. So I decided I could make it home. And I got to about 10 miles from Indy, and it started raining. Then kind of sleeting. And the temperature was dropping, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33.

I was driving very cautiously on the interstate and someone came up behind me in the fast lane. I got over, but on my way, hit a patch of ice on an overpass, careened over to the right, then spun all the way back across the 4 lanes of traffic, then hit the median wall head on, then stopped facing the wrong way on the interstate. Holy crapola. And this is what remained of my baby.

This was the view from the police car after they came to save me. Woah. Super scary. The airbags went off, it was all smoky (and very stinky), but I was okay.

Here's another shot, from the car graveyard.

My poor baby. So I was in the market for a new car. And as much as I loved the sport trac, I thought it would be silly to get a car the exact same as my old one. So I looked an looked and decided I really liked the Honda CR-V.

It was zippy and more sensible than a big truck. So I got one. Brand new. It was very nice. And I liked it a lot, for about a day. Then I pretty much hated the site of it. I felt really awful in it- it felt very wrong. And get this- it's headlights didn't turn on automatically. Seriously. That's really what split us up.

So, I wound up whining and moaning so much about my stupid CR-V that Joe was finally like, why don't you look at a new Sport Trac. OKAY!

Barely three months after I purchased my brand new CR-V, I was in the Ford Dealer getting a brand new Sport Trac. With headlights that come on automatically. And I love it.

Here she is.

Holy Petrol Batman

I am going to post a little challenge to you all. I have been driving A LOT. And I got my credit card bill yesterday.
Guess how much I spent on gas in the last month?
I was on vacation for one week, moved one week, and have had to go to Indy from Fort Wayne a number of times. Throw out some numbers. I'll let you know how close you are tomorrow.

OMG

OMG! I know I set up some pretty strict rules about blogging while I am "working" but I had to share this!!


I have been watching the Hobby Lobby ads to see when their Christmas ornaments would go on sale. (Yes, it's July. Yes, they already have Christmas ornaments out.) (A little background information as to why I am so freakin stoked about Christmas ornaments in July: I am planning on using Christmas ornaments as favors for my wedding. We are going to have a 15 foot monstrosity of a Christmas tree in the entry way to our reception site and it will be decorated with my beautiful ornament favors.)


So, I saw today that they had some on sale. So I rushed there over lunch to check it out.


Well, the ones on sale were the clear craft kind- not what I wanted. BUT! They did have a gamillion other ornaments there, just not on sale yet. And I think I may have found the PERFECT ones!


To put you in my wedding frame of mind... I am going to be in white (What?! You may ask, given my previous description of "firsts." Ahem, yes, I am innocent and full of wonderment, just ask my dad). Joe will be in some sort of dark tux. My 'maids will be in black. The head table (where all 26 of us will be sitting) will be in all white- white tablecloth, white chair covers, white chair ties, white napkins. The guest tables will have black tablecloths and black chair covers, with either white or bright pink chair ties. So lots of black and white.


So feast your eyes on these little beauties!!!

Can they be more perfect? I think not. And, I have already practiced with a paint pen and you can write on them! Because we (by we I mean my mom) will personalize all 200 of them with something like "Happy Holidays, Joe and Sue December 6, 2008"

I AM SO EXCITED!