Connor's First Birthday

Susan's youngest, Connor had his first birthday party today. It's not his real birthday until later in the week, though. Susan and the family recently moved from their house in Oroville to the second story of the Sunshine House (where she lived when we were in school) deciding to rent their house out instead. So at 1:00 pm today I was up in P-town having attending a birthday extravaganza! There was food, cake, presents and tears. Here's some highlights:
The funny farm cake Susan made. I tried to get the cupcake with the burro on it, but she gave it to some other guy instead. Pah!
Just in case you forgot how old the birthday boy was.
Please stop singing! You're ruining the beauty of the song with your off-key drunkenness.
Wait...this is actually pretty tasty...
5 lbs of cake + toys = 1 happy little boy

We bought him a cute baby book at B&N that is full of baby face close ups and really simple text like, "I love you", "Boo", and "Good Morning". He liked it and was giving the mirrored page (of himself) kisses. We also got him one of those funny hats that looks like a jester's hat.

I to the K to the E to the A

Who had yummy breakfast and productive shopping at IKEA today? That'd be me! We had our $1.99 breakfast of potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon and french toast sticks (Chris also got a side of swedish pancakes). Mmm Mmm. Then we hit the store with the 'rents and did some shopping. We got two new wall shelves, some more closet clothes baskets for me, some bowls and of course more meatballs!
Chris being artistic on his pink kitty stool.
The 'rents in one of a dozen areas that required them to make a decision. Tick tock, tick tock.
Me in my dream kitchen. The island was large enough to crawl up on and go to sleep!
Us cheesing around at the end of the store waiting for 'rents to finish up and join us so we could load up their furniture and get in the check out lines. It was a long wait.

We actually got out of there for only $100. Last time I think we dropped around $250, so it was quite an improvement. If you can get through there only looking at the floor it's much easier. Otherwise they use their Swedish mind control to make you buy all the super cute stuff you have absolutely no use for. They almost got me to buy some outdoor hanging lanterns (for all that time we don't spend outdoors). See, they're tricky like that.

After dinner tonight we're going to Barnes and Nobles for a little coffee and magazine time, then to CholoMaxx to do our grocery shopping. I also need to stop at Target and look for a birthday gift for Connor's party tomorrow. I thought I'd find better stuff at IKEA for him, but it's really either geared for new babies or older kids. I did get some animal finger puppets though that Susan can use on him.

For dinner tonight we're having sweet and sour chicken over rice. It's a frozen packet I just need to bake and then make some rice on the side. It looks good enough.

Crock Pot Experiment

I tried a new recipe tonight. It was a polish sausage stew. It had all the right ingredients; kielbasa, potatoes, sauerkraut, cream of celery soup, onions and cheese.
Hmmm....I see that my photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea. Anyway, it wasn't as delicious as I was hoping for. Chris liked it, but he also eats year old gummy bears he finds under the couch so I can't really count his opinion. It's the sauerkraut. It's sweet and sour and gives the whole dish a flavor that I'm not diggin'. Also, I used turkey kielbasa which is already a distant second place to real kielbasa as far as flavor goes. It wasn't horrible, but I don't think it's a repeat recipe.

Here comes the flood!

First off, the important stuff: IT'S RAINING!!
That's an actual rain puddle! It's even nice and brisk outside:
What a nice way to end the week. I even got to have lunch with my friend Linda, who works at the City of Chico and was my first boss when I took the job in sanitation. We ate at Zot's which is a hot dog and deli restaurant. I got a foot long with liquid cheese sauce. It was one of the most magical things I've ever had. I need to get Chris there ASAP.

Speaking of food, check out what I made the other night:
Too bad Jessica doesn't live closer, I know this is a favorite of hers....

Tomorrow we're supposed to be taking the 'rents to IKEA in West Sacramento. Of course it's supposed to continue pouring rain tomorrow. I feel bad for Johnny Appleseed Days. Anyway, the 'rents still want to go so we'll bring a tarp and load up. I'm looking for a birthday present for Connor, Susan's youngest, who is having a 1st birthday party on Sunday.

I'm watching Rachael Ray for lack of anything else on at 3:30. At least it's some lady's helping someone make a chocolate cake and I'm not actually having to listen the Rachael's grating voice. Chris should be home soon, though. He had a site visit out of town and though he'd make it back home around 4:00.

Brrr....I might need to get up and put a sweater on. Who thought I'd be saying that anytime soon?

Shopping Booty!

Who had a productive day of shopping?? Here's what just happened to follow me home:

Super cute belted gray/black top from Gottschalks
A cute gray sweater from the Gap made out of a thick jersey material.

At Mervyn's I couldn't decide on a pair of shoes, so I bought them all.

I'm just trying to stimulate the economy, that's all.

Super Saturday

Yesterday morning Mum and I went to the farmer's market together. I've been having to go by myself for the last couple of weeks because the novelty has worn off for Chris and it would require that he wake up a little earlier than he's ready to on a Saturday. Cranky Chris is not a happy shopping Chris. Anyway, when we had dinner with the 'rents on Friday (Chowder House) I made plans with my real shopping buddy, Mum. She puts my shopping to shame. It was nice weather Saturday morning (not too cold) and we took her convertible Miata over there. Instead of my usually cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, I got mung bean sprouts (for Chris), nectarines, plums, fresh eggs, jicama and an eggplant. Mum got stuff, stuff and way more stuff...

That's her in the turquoise shirt. She's a much better cook than I, so she knows what to do with the weird stuff at the market like leeks, bok choy and ugly bumpy cucumber things.

I had my eye on the pottery booth. They had a couple beautiful mugs, but they were $18. I told Mum that I wanted to buy my produce first and then if I had enough left I would come back for one, but alas I did not.

Last night we went over to the 'rents for a bbq. During my outing with Mum earlier in the day we stopped at S&S and got some marinated country style ribs to bbq. The marinade smelled delicious. Anyway Chris bbq'd the ribs, sliced japanese eggplant and those bullet style onions. We brought a tomato and mozzarella balls salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Mum also made toasted asiago cheese bread and baked beans. It was sooo good and I ate toooo much and had a rough night. Chris even lucked out with some leftovers.

No big plans for today. Chris is watching a car race he taped early this morning and I'm looking at ads. At 10:00 I'm heading over to Mervyn's and taking a look at the boots on sale. There's some cute ones in the ad, but I have monster size calves, so we'll see. Gottschalks is also having a good shoe sale with lots of cute heels. So many shoes, so little time.

Uh oh, Chris's recording cut off right before the last lap finished and now he wants the computer to look up the race results. What a pisser.

Last Race of the Season

Today we played hooky from work for Chris's last race day of the season out at Thunderhill in Willows. We had to get up at the ass crack of dawn (5:20) so that we could be rolling out here by 6:00 a.m. It was Customer Appreciation Day so rates were cheaper causing every race group to be full. It also meant that we didn't get our complimentary coffee and danishes this morning or a free lunch ticket. I was outraged and coffeeless!! Anyway, Chris turned in his best times for the season and clinched the championship for his race class in time trials and the race group. GT4 Champions! You know where you can send the gifts...

Don't mind the chain link fence in the photo. I apparently have gotten lazy with my bad photography skills by the end of the season.

As you can see, the 'rents were there too. They just got back into town yesterday specifically so they could make the race today. Mr. A. even made sure to wear his Thunderhill t-shirt (and ended up buying a matching hat while there too). No comment.

The temps weren't too bad, but looking at myself when we got home I apparently got a little sun on my chest and arms. Perfect, end summer with a nice farmers tan.

We have plans to meet the rents for dinner tomorrow at their abode. BBQ, I think. Right now Chris is trying not to fall asleep on the couch and I'm trying to come up with an insiring grocery list. We're both failing miserably.

Ok, I have to go now, captain bossy pants wants some cheese, crackers and olives. Men!