Day out

Judy, Kurt, Trevor, and I cancelled our planned trip to Richmond due to the weather.  We stayed local and went to lunch at Trevor's and my favorite buffet.  Judy was able to eat her diet food, Trevor and I had sushi galore, and Kurt threw everything up in the parking lot afterwards. (He's been having stomach issues similar to what Holly used to have.)

As Judy and I chatted on, the boys pulled out their DSes. You need big pockets to hold these, plus a phone, is all I can say. 

Lighting is less than flattering, my flash was accidentally left on!  

They came back to our house for several hours, nice to hang out for the day.  Field trip will be rescheduled at a later date.

Chilly at work

7:30 a.m.  It's 55 degrees at my desk.  And it's dark too, because a year ago, there was a vote, and a majority-by-one determined that the florescent lights would not be turned on during the day.  It's like working in a dungeon, cold and dark.  So dreary.

 I plug in my little heater (thank you, Robert), and an hour later, it is 61 degrees.

By 10, it's reached 67.  Six more hours and I can go home!

At some point, I went up to the third floor. It's toasty warm up there, but the construction noise from the 4th and 5th floors was so awful that I preferred my freezing space.  At least I can hear on the phone.

In two weeks, we move up to the fourth floor.  But it's not being renovated. It has, however, had some demo work done.  And then the county Board of Supervisors decided that, although they'd approved the demo work, they were not prepared to approve the reno work.  So the demo'ed fourth floor is having what's left of the floor--concrete--finished for us.  They are replacing the walls that were taken down.

It's expected that we will move one more time after that, back to our original fifth floor. That was the only floor that was approved for renovation.  No time frame on that.

Meanwhile, the parking lot is going to be redone, repaved, relined.  There are new city rules that ultimately result in allowing fewer spaces than we have now.  While the parking lot is being made new, half of it will be unusable.  There is parking two blocks away that we are encouraged to use.  There will be half of the usual parking lot, and there is limited all day street parking.  I think I'll be okay, since I get there earlier than most people.

I was really hoping to not be here for the parking lot issues, but here I am.

Tuesday

Cold, but the blue sky and sunshine made all the difference.

Morning.

Afternoon.

The driveway 1/3 shoveled.

A day off of work for me!

So cold!

It's been bitter cold for days, and the weekend was super windy.

Snow today, hard and dry, lasting almost all day. It's only 15 degrees, it's too cold for snow!

We stayed in and stayed warm.  I had postponed my planned Valentine's dinner for Robert and made his new favorite pork green chile. He made scrambled egg burritos swimming in green chile for dinner.  To.die.for. 

Can't WAIT for spring!!!

Men Cook for Woman Valentine's Dinner

Robert slept in on Sunday. I had to leave the house early to pick up Trevor and Kurt. I was a little unsure what to expect after the weather last night, but the roads were fine (exceptions were the two abandoned cars that had slid off the road and were facing backwards).

Kurt came back over after church for the afternoon.

Robert and I dropped him off and headed out to the Men Cook for Women dinner. We had no idea what to expect. We knew men bring food, men cook steak and chicken. Women don't.

 The daytime view is lovely. Nighttime, breathtaking.

 Everything was sooooo nice!  This is an annual thing, and it's very organized. The tables were set up with white tablecloths and Valentine decorations scattered across.  Places were already set. There was another table with candles and flowers. 

People are so friendly here, which made me really brave. It's a small church, but because there are two services, there are a lot of people we don't know.  Both couples we met are also brand new. We've heard talk about all of the new people (which includes us). It's always funny when you assume someone else has been there a long time, and you find out they don't know anyone either!

 By the time the women were seated, places were set with filled salad plates and baked potatoes.  Men served drinks, other side dishes, and offered meat selections. 

It was so impressive! First the service--I've never had less than a buffet meal at a church before, ever.  And the food was fantastic!

When the meal was done, the men served dessert:  pina colada cake, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cupcakes that surprisingly tasted as delicious as they looked.

It was a really nice evening.  When we'd first arrived, we sat in the parking lot asking, why in the world did we sign up for this?  But it was fun, and we enjoyed meeting a few more people.  Hands down, this is the friendliest church we've ever been to.  Ever.

Valentine's Day!

Robert went up to Mason to take food to Holly.  It was super cold. He spent some time in her room fiddling with a few things (flowers!).  They made a trip to the grocery store and went to Q-Doba for lunch and even ran into Chipotle to get her dinner for later!

Before he left, he'd given me a sweet little flowering plant and my favorite chocolate orange sticks and Reese's.  Man after my own heart, exactly what I wanted (especially those orange sticks!).

I took Trevor over to Kurt's house to spend the night.

I cleaned house big time, including that pull-out-the-couch kind of vacuuming, and found an old pair of Robert's reading glasses, haha!  I've been wanting to train Kota to put her own toys away. I put them in her bed.  I don't think she liked that.  She looks so sad!

I realized she had her own idea of picking up--she moves them in front of the coffee table, exactly where I don't want them!

We had a few little snow squalls but weren't expecting any wild weather.
Robert called about 80 miles out, reporting white out conditions and fog. 

He called about 40 mins. later, after sliding on sheer ice in a curve, back and forth three times, going sideways down the interstate at 50 mph, and passing a car that had already bashed into the guardrail.  His only comment:  "I'm glad I know how to steer on ice."  Yes, we're glad about that too.

The snow squalls were patchy, even locally. We got practically nothing here, but a friend three miles away was snowed in.

It took Robert maybe half an hour longer to get home, but that was okay.  I am SO thankful that he went instead of me.

Light!!

My friend Cindy shared a picture of a new chandelier hung in her bedroom.

I coveted. I so rarely do that! I wanted a light like that.  I wanted THAT light.

This is our first home without lights in the bedroom ceilings.  Not really a big deal to me, except that the light switch by our door is connected to a small corner accent light that leaves me still in the dark.

So Robert spent hours upon hours over the past two months looking at possibilities. We read reviews after reviews. Did I like this? Like that? What size? We compared measurements to existing chandeliers we have, and we made a cardboard circle to put on our bedroom ceiling for perspective.

And we ended up finding THAT light and bought it with Christmas money.  (Thanks, Dad and Sherry!)

At first, every time we walked into the room, it was a complete shock to see it hanging from the ceiling.  But we liked it.  There's still no power to it. Robert will have to tap in to the walls and bring the power up into the ceiling.  Meanwhile, we can enjoy looking at it and imagining the light it will bring into the room.

The dog

I heard something down the hall and couldn't figure out if it was Robert (who I thought was in the shower) or if the cats were up to something.  It was coming from Trevor's room.

Trevor had left an open bag of Cheetos in his room.  Kota had found it, which was surprising, because I didn't realize she went into our rooms if no one was there.  She began eating Cheetos and got her head stuck in the bag.

I laughed until I cried, calling for Trevor to come see and take a picture.

Poor little dog!  I felt a little guilty that I laughed so hard at her, but her feelings didn't see to be hurt, and her breath smelled better than it usually does.

Saturday

Trevor had a ref recertification class for soccer, so he was out of the house early.

I picked him up at noon, and we went to Hibachi for lunch.  It's become kind of "our place."  It's not so much a favorite of Robert or Holly, but Trevor and I really enjoy going there.

We watched a bit of TV. We're currently watching both Top Chef and Survivor, so we juggle between those.

Our pastor put a last minute invite out on Facebook so Robert ended up meeting with him.  For beers. At a local brewery. As far as I know, Robert was the only one going. Hahaha.  He had a good time. It's only 5 minutes from our house, but he was gone for four hours.  I checked, and we're still allowed to go to church tomorrow.

I ran to Walmart and bought new sheets for Trevor, who tore a hole in them.  Last week, I'd had to buy Holly new school sheets for the same reason. So funny, I haven't bought sheets in a long time, so I guess they were due.

I tried to duplicate the cucumber wasabi sauce I had on tacos last week at Macado's (lunch with Judy).  Trevor had it with fish tonight.  It was okay, but I obviously have to work on it.

Oh, and the weather was nice.  High 50s.  Finally.  It won't last, but spring is coming!

Quick trip to GMU and the rest of the weekend

I made a quick trip up to Fairfax on Saturday.  It was a gorgeous drive, blue, sunny skies, except that it was 19 degrees outside.  Ha!  Holly and I had already planned to stay inside as much as possible. After we put away the food I'd brought up, we made our usual trip to Walmart.  We tried a new (to us) Chinese restaurant--unfortunately, it was not one that will go on our list of favorites. Holly described it as mall food. I think the mall food is better, although this was edible, and it certainly could have been worse.

I'm back up for Indian or Q-Doba next time.  :)

We went to the mall. We haven't been there in months, maybe not even since last spring.  I specifically wanted to get one thing from Sephora (which we don't have locally), and they were out of it!  Holly chose something else, and she had just enough on a gift card to cover the cost.  It worked out perfectly. We found available seats and sat down and chatted.

On the way back to school, we stopped at Chipotle so she would have something to take home for dinner.  She treated me to Starbucks on campus, where we surprisingly found a small table tucked into a corner.  We went back to her room, and she put on her new sheets (old ones tore).

I had an easy drive home, fueled by Coke, Cheetos, and pumpkin seeds.  I've relaxed a bit about night driving (that deer fear), and as has been the case for the past few trips, I drove the last hour in the dark.

As I walked in the door, Judy texted me that she and Charlie were at the new bar/restaurant down the road, so Robert and I went down to join them for a couple of hours.  Fun, fun!  We were at a little table in the packed bar with a loud UVA basketball on 5 giant screens. (It really was fun, we ignored the basketball, haha.)

Robert and I went to church yesterday morning. As much as we've church hoppped for the last almost-five years, this is the first time the pastor and other people have ever friended me on FB. We've been going there for two months, and we know people. Really awesome.  Talked with one of my new friends yesterday and found out they'd gone to "our" Calvary Chapel here for a year before leaving in August. BAHAHAHA!!  That's crazy!  We were both pretty, um, excited in our exclamations that, "Us Calvary Chapel people always find each other!"  A lot of truth in that, and I'll be laughing over this for a long time.)

Hung out for the rest of the day, made chicken wings in the crockpot, and watched part of the Superbowl. 

The end.

Dad and Sherry

My dad sent me this picture last week of him and Sherry.  Loved it!!

He's been telling me I need to get a few recent pics of Holly and Trevor.  Do I please my dad or incur the wrath of my kids?  Well, I have to live with them! The last best picture I have of them together was taken as they walked in front of me on Easter at the Lincoln Memorial.  LOL. There is less opportunity for those pictures now too, since they are not together as often as they used to be!  Love you, Dad, and I'll work on it.  :)

Back to school

I spent Saturday making sure Holly had enough food to take back with her. Robert fixed a few things for her too and helped clean out her fish tank.  Holly did last minute laundry, deciding what to take with her and packing up.

Robert loaded the car up, and we were out of the house nicely early--about 7:30!  Foolishly, I didn't check the weather report before we went.  Expecting it to hit 50 (which had been predicted earlier in the week), it was foggy and misty in DC, in the mid 30s.  Brrr!  I was not ready for that!

We borrowed a moving bin to get everything from the car to her room. Brilliant idea, and we'll have to do this again when there's a lot to carry in or out.  We moved everything in two simple trips, unpacked all of the cooler food and went to Walmart to finish up shopping.  We stopped at Chipotle to get her a burrito to eat for later, and then went to the McDonald's near campus for a quick lunch.

Parking at school is a giant pain.  You can only park by the buildings for 30 mins. at a time, and I'm terrified to go over after getting that parking ticket last year.  Parking in the garages in not convenient, and it's $3 an hour for the privilege to park!  Holly's used to racing around campus (on foot), but I'm not!  So we parked in the garage, tried to check out an unfamiliar classroom, and picked up a few books we're renting from the bookstore.  We went back to her room, where we hung a picture, and hung up clothes that she'd brought back.  Time to go get my car again, bring it close by and finish up a few more things in her room.

Easy drive home, but after McDonald's, and car food consisting of Good & Plenty, Coke, and pumpkin seeds, my stomach was blech.  Instead of the usual endlessly flipping radio stations to try to find something good, I had burned a couple of Skip Heitzig sermons on CD to listen to in the car.

It was a good day, a nice end to a great 5 week Christmas break.  It was wonderful having my girl back home. Spring break is just two months away, and I'm guessing this semester will fly just like second semester did last year.  Now to get back into the routine of regular life.

Finals nights of break

Robert made his long-famous chile rellanos for dinner before Holly left. There were extras that we packed up for her to take back.

Nope, I did not intentionally create the Mexican flag.

Last minute shopping

Holly and I went out to do some last minute shopping. She was looking for a few specific items before heading back to school.

We went out to the mall, and she found just what she was looking for. I thought the post-Christmas sales prices were fantastic!

We ran by the Christian bookstore to find a gift book for our sweet friend Susie, who begins chemo for stage III colon cancer next week.

We stopped at Target, where Holly picked up a few more items.

She'd been planning this trip to coincide with taking us all out to dinner at Cheddar's, so we called Robert and Trevor to meet us at the restaurant.  We were seated in the bar area, which was quite lovely and warm. The menu's been revamped, and that was nice too, a smaller selection with several choice items remaining. She had ribs, and the rest of us ate fantastically giant burgers with french fries and ranch dressing.  It was such a special treat!

The four of us went to Petsmart so she could grab a few things for her fishtank.  We each bought our bettas last Christmas, and surprisingly they are both still alive. 

She had been looking at tablets for school. Her computer gets a lot of use, and the side is broken, preventing the lid from closing. She wanted something that she can take to class when necessary.  Robert and Trevor presented her with a bunch of info, and she looked at a handful of options at Best Buy, eventually settling on an iPad mini.

Such a nice afternoon/evening out with my girl and my family, and good that we got those last minute things done before she heads back to school.

It's a New Year!

I have lots of posts to write, things we did that I want to note, pictures to post--I'll backdate.

A friend's post on Facebook last week spurred me to commit to reading my 365 day chronological Bible again--a Bible set up to be read every day, with events in chron order, over the course of a year.  I first used this book eight years ago. I did pretty well, whatever that means. To me, it meant that I got all the way through September. I'm still pretty happy about that.  There have been a couple of other years I've begun, but I've never held any commitment, making it only a few weeks, or into February, or into spring.

So I made that spur of the moment commitment last week, asked around if anyone wanted to read with me, that we could encourage each other, help with accountability.  Within two days, I had a group of THIRTY-THREE women who want to join a FB group for this purpose.  Wow!  Oh, I know the numbers won't hold up. It sounds like a nice idea, but it's hard to keep reading, every day, every week, every month.  But I was surprised by the response.  Oh, I know it's not really true, but I have this image of a lot of my friends that they are perfect at reading their Bible every day, lol. The group is where my worlds collide, with many of my dear loopies, a couple of friends from elementary school, a family member, a few locals, plus a few friends of those who have joined. 

Several things I need to prioritize and organize this year, quickly.  This horrible job has sucked all life from me, and I need to change.  I hate that place. I need to focus on Trevor's junior year, helping set him up to be in the best position for college apps later this year.  Just a year and a half until he graduates, and I want to consciously be spending that time with him, just as I did Holly.

But the only way all of that's going to come together is if I get closer to God, reading His Word every day. I'm desperate for that.

Foolishly, I have been taking the easy way out, opening my computer, passively people watching on FB, looking at news websites and following whatever other pointless things I find.  I need to be more purposeful with my time, not only in the mornings, but all day.

Interesting, this was along the same theme as our sermon at church today.  We've been going to a new (to us) place for several weeks.  Judy and Kurt met us there today.  We started in Galatians today, such a parallel!  Funny that as I sat there listening earlier, I didn't see it--that didn't come until writing now.

So I'm looking forward.  The best is yet to come!

Things randomly placed on my counter . . .

 . . . which are entirely appropriate when you take a second look.

Trevor

Doing what he does best, mysterious and unknown (to me) things on his computer.

Just after installing a new motherboard and processor on his desk top (and doing something with drivers on his laptop?).  He's happy.  I'm happy.

Dog walking

It's been mostly very chilly out with a few nice days in between.  Robert's back and leg have been really, terribly bothersome, but he's enjoyed (I guess!) taking Kota down to the creek, and I've been going along.

Christmas Day

I've been backdating several posts here, just going by what photos I took on that day.

As has been typical for the past several years, Robert and I woke up early.  We got everything set up for the kids--long gone are the days where they would wait, excited and bleary eyed, at the back of the hallway or at the bottom of the stairs, until they had permission to enter the living room!

Robert went back to bed.  I got dressed, and although the kids said they wanted to be woken up at 9:30, no one was awake. Robert got up a little later, and the kids easily woke up at that point.  Lol.  Trevor is always the one who gets all of the presents from under the tree and passes them out.  I don't know how long he's had this job, but I don't remember a time when he didn't do it. It's tradition!

 Even Kota watched!

We quietly celebrated, just hanging out and enjoying each other's company.  (I don't remember specifics, as I'm typing this a week and a half later!)

Dinner was quite non-traditional.  Trevor and I wanted Greek, Robert and Holly put their feet down. We compromised with bbqed flank steak with horseradish/sour cream, my mom's famous Rice and Mushroom Casserole,roasted okra, roasted asparagus, and Mandarin Orange Salad.  Robert made pumpkin pie and rum cake for dessert.

It was a wonderful day, and I am ALWAYS thankful to be celebrating it with my family.

Christmas Eve

The church we've been visiting did not have a Christmas Eve service.  We don't always go, but it was kind of strange not to have the option.  We would've done it.  We're liking what we see and hear here.

Instead, we decorated cookies at home.  Robert made them earlier in the week, and I whipped up the icing tonight.

Robert and I joined in too.  Trevor made certain characters, including Walt from Breaking Bad (and Skyler, but I think he understandably killed her before I got a picture).

For dinner, I made Robert's new favorite food, Pork Green Chile.  He can't get enough of it.  He will eat it on top of Cheerios.  At least he says he will, I haven't seen him do it. Yet.  And when he's not eating about it, he's talking about it to anyone who will listen.

It really is amazing stuff.  I can't believe that these ingredients can come together into something so delicious.

Green Pork Chile

2 lbs. leftover pork roast, shredded
2 T. oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 HEAD garlic, minced (I dumped in a couple of spoonfuls of minced garlic from a jar)
6 T. flour
1 - 15 oz. can tomatoes, drained
2 c. diced green chiles, drained (I used a big can of whole green chiles, a bit more than 2 c.)
3 large tomatillos, coarsely chopped
5 c. chicken broth (or water)
1 T. cumin
2 T. chili powder
1 t. salt

Process half of the green chiles until smooth. (I forgot to do this the last time, and I couldn't tell a difference--so this step is optional.)

Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion; saute until tender but not brown.  Stir in garlic, and cook for a few more minutes.  Stir flour into onion mixture until flour is absorbed by fat.  Add broth.  Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil and is slightly thickened.  Add shredded pork, drained tomatoes, chopped tomatillos, all green chiles, and spices.  Simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking/burning on bottom of pan.

Serve in burritos, over burritos, with tortilla chips, with tortillas.  Or anything else. Including Cheerios.
 --
I adapted the above to suit our tastes.  This was the original recipe.