Last resort

There is so little on TV I actually convinced the Canadian to break out our fancy, new Scrabble game from Jessica.

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Missing or mocking me?

I received a care package in the mail today from some co-workers;

A get-well card, teddy bear, a protein shake and some applesauce. Just what a girl with a bandaged up neck needs!

I've got sticky buns!

While killing time this evening waiting to go grocery shopping I found a recipe online from the company I buy my gluten free flour from for sticky buns. And since I had everything I needed on hand to make them I decided to give it a try. First was a plain dough of flour, baking soda, baking powder and powdered milk that was then mixed with yogurt, eggs, apple cider vinegar, and a packet of yeast. I turned the dough out on a floured mat and shaped it into a rectangle shape before covering it with a buttery, cinnamon sugar filling.

Then I cut the dough in half and rolled each half up before cutting into individual slices.

I had already prepped a cake pan with melted butter mixed with chopped pecans, maple syrup and brown sugar for each of the pastry slices to be placed on.

Then I let the whole contraption raise in a warmed oven for 25 minutes.

After proofing, I stuck the buns in the oven for another 25 minutes at 375. After cooling for about 5 minutes I turned the pan out onto a plate and reveled in it's glory.

And of course that's right when we needed to leave for the store so it would just have to wait. When we got back about an hour and half later (after a detour to B&N) I served us each up a slice with a scoop of ice cream.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Or sticky bun dinner. We're not even remotely pecan fans, but these were really tasty and you wouldn't even know they're gluten free. I know what we're eating for breakfast tomorrow!

World's tiniest incision

Seriously, compared to the miles of scars I have from my tummy and thigh surgeries, this is barely bigger than a scratch.

Don't mind all the tape residue that multiple scrubbings of rubbing alcohol have yet to remove. I have zero pain from the incision and haven't taken any kind of pain meds since yesterday. The biggest inconvenience is the giant lump in my throat I'm trying to swallow around and not being able to lift my head up all the way without pulling on the incision. And the incessant need to clear my throat every two seconds. That's just plain annoying. I still have all of next week off from work after which I'm sure I'll be more than ready to return since daytime television is not nearly as exciting as one would suspect. 

Home again, home again

Surgery went well this morning. I was out by 11:00 a.m., just like the predicted. Thankfully they only had to remove the left lobe of the thyroid and not the whole thing, otherwise I would have had to stay in the hospital overnight. Now for a little R&R.

The incision was much smaller than I was fearing so hopefully it'll heal up nicely and I won't have another raging scar to add to my collection.

Off to see the wizard

The wonderful wizard of thyroids that is. This morning is my thyroid lobectomy surgery at 9:00 am, though we've got to be at the hospital at 7:15 am for check-in. The plan is to remove the left side of the thyroid and the benign growth that's attached to it. I'll be back before lunch feeling fabulously drugged up and ready for a 10 hour nap. Think of how stylishly sleek my neck will look now without that full, fatty thyroid weighing me down!

Special visitor

We were lucky enough to have a whirlwind weekend visit from baby sis, Wilson. We stole her away for a  Saturday night dinner at La Hacienda.

Then we ordered our little chauffeur to take us to Barnes & Noble for a little after dinner coffee and magazine reading. Just enough of a visit to tide us over until her return in July. 

Our other big activity for the day - making a new batch of mead. 

 Chris infused it with an orange spice tea we got at Fisherman's Wharf while we were in San Francisco last month and with a blood orange off our our tree. It made the house smell divine. Now to let it stew in the back bedroom for a couple of months. It smells like a winner.

Wine night

A little wine with the ladies after work tonight.

**Hmmm...this was actually Thursday night, but apparently took a full day to post from my phone. I could have walked it there faster. Just sayin', AT&T.

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New kicks

Breaking in some new, black wedge slingbacks. As long as you don't ask my left little toe, they're pretty comfortable.

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St. Patty's Party

My co-worker, Josh, had a St. Patrick's Day party at his (and his wife's) house in Chico that we were invited to yesterday. It was a potluck dinner where they were providing the corned beef and traditional sides and the rest of us freeloaders were supposed to bring a side dish, or dessert, to share. I made some mini spinach, artichoke and bacon tarts. Thankfully there were a few other co-workers there that I knew, but most of the peeps seemed to either be Josh's college friends or friends of the wife. Ironically, the table we ended up sitting at was where Josh's parents and their friends came and sat so we ended up hanging out the whole evening with our kind of people - old. It was really fun, we talked about cars, vacations, and beer. And the food wasn't too bad either! The corned beef was an excellent cut from Chico Locker and Sausage and instead of roasted potatoes, Lenette (the Mrs.) made mashed red potatoes which were delicious. And of course there was cabbage and steamed carrots. If you were one of the lucky ones who could enjoy bread, there was a variety of choices from Great Harvest, plus a whole side table full of tasty looking desserts.

And the best part? It wasn't my house to clean up afterwards! Good fun and I hope Josh does it again next year so we can hang out with his folks again!

Back in school

Day 2 of my Environmental Planning Law class in Sacramento. At least I didn't get lost again this morning coming here!

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MacCrafter

Today was my big boss' birthday and to celebrate I made a special cake topper for her;

I made a color copy of an old photo of us when we did disco karaoke for a co-worker's retirement party, cut her out and mounted it on a coffee stir straw.

Classy. My new nickname is MacCrafter because I'm the crafty version of MacGyver - just give me a stir stick and a glue stick and I'll make you a cake topper. It was good for quite a few laughs, but really, how do you top that for the next birthday?

Rockin' to Jesus

Enjoying another Christian concert at Arco Arena with Kari!

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New bling

I was supposed to be buying birthday gifts, but couldn't pass these little sparklies up for myself!

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Happy Anniversary

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary, the traditional "wood" anniversary. In honor of such, I gifted the boy with a wooden pencil holder complete with Dale Jr. pens and Kyle Busch pencils.

In return, the boy gifted me with a shopping spree at the Roseville Galleria earlier in the week that included a new dress, some skirts, shoes and a smorgasbord of gluten free goodies from Whole Foods. Not a bad trade off. That allowed Chris to spend today how he really wanted to...

...passed out and broken down. He's had to keep his right hand bandaged from his disco roller skating smack down last night. But maybe after a few days on the down-low he'll be back in action again!

Disco nights

Tonight was a friend's 30th birthday party and she was throwing a disco themed skate party at Cal Skate to which the Canadian and I were invited. Well you can't go to a disco skate party without looking the part so Chris and I donned on our finest outfits (based on our historical research!);

Thankfully, there were other people there that we knew like Kari & Steve and their daughter Jessica as well and Rick & Joanne, our realtors when we bought our house.

I had sweet pleather pants and a sequin top complete with mirror ball necklace and super nature afro. I've never seen so many headbands in one place at one time! It had been a looooong time since either Chris or I had roller skated and unfortunately the lack of practice proved too much for the Canadian who took a spill within seconds of stepping on the rink.He landed hard on his tailbone and awkwardly on his right wrist which then became so painful he couldn't even move it and caused him to make the hard decision to go home and ice it on a bag of frozen hashbrowns.

 I however, remained upright the entire time and managed nothing worse than some shin splints by the end of the two-hour session. I got dropped off at home just in time to check on the little invalid and empathize with the fact that 10 seconds of bad roller skating has now crushed all dreams of working in the garage this weekend and possibly jeopardized his upcoming trials event. But really, when you think about it, it was all worth it to rock that sweet outfit out in public, right?!?