This is just getting ridiculous

Here's an inventory count: 18 variety pack of Samuel Adams, 3 beers left from a variety pack my mom dropped off and 5 crystal wheat beers. Add to that a new 6 pack and 12 pack from my mom,
And this little (big) treat I found at Safeway today;
Do you think we have enough beer yet?

Celebrating my heritage

With tonight being both my turn to host b.s. and Cinco de Mayo, I decided to throw a little Mexican fare together for dinner to honor Mom's people. When it's my turn for b.s. I always leave about 30 minutes early from work to get a chance to put the meal together before everyone else arrives at 5:30 pm. But today I ended up spending some of my extra time trying to track down our freshly emptied garbage can that had blown to the far reaches of the earth.
Our lid was right in front of the hydrant, but look across the street behind the green recycling can. That's our brown trash can on it's side in somebody else's yard. That's how far it blew away.

For dinner tonight I served fish tacos (baked fish tenders in corn tortillas with cabbage and a taco sour cream sauce), chips and guac, and jicama slaw (cabbage, jicama, mandarin oranges in a creamy, tangy sauce)
And what fiesta is complete without margaritas and a tres leches cake?
Good study and good grub. It was my last evening of freedom as the Canadian came back home tonight around 9:00 pm. He's been in Oregon for poop training for the last couple of days leaving me to enjoy an entire queen bed to myself. It's been glorious! But now the bed crasher is back. Party off.

Here comes the bride

Today was my old friend Dawn's bridal shower conveniently down the street off of Bruce Rd. I haven't seen Dawn since we were all together for Poppy's bridal shower. Apparently bridal showers bring the old group back together. A friend of Dawn's hosted the party at her house with the help of Dawn's youngest sister. It was full of treats, games and gifts. Too much fun!
Dawn opening my gift.
What's a party without see-through chonies from Sarah?
After gifts we played some games including Memory.
Two minutes to remember everything on the tray. Out of 20 some odd items I remembered 16 things which was enough for second place and no winning gift. Bah!
Dawn's sister, Dayna, made the cake which was shaped like a pillow with a tiara on it. There was a princess theme to the party.
Then we spent hours catching up.
Since Poppy, Sarah and I spent another hour standing out by our cars talking after the party we decided we really needed to make a lunch date in the near future. I miss my girls.

This morning after church and before the party, Chris and I spent some time out in the front yard pulling weeds and mowing the lawn.
Our new friend, Mr. Slimy,
As long as he doesn't venture into the walkway we should be fine.

Race day blues

Today was our first race of the season out at Thunderhill in Willows. We were up and on the road this morning at 7:30 am. Unfortunately, although it was sunny, it was also really windy. Not our favorite conditions. Chris had one practice session and one race qualifying session before lunch. Both of which went without incident which is half the battle. The first race was at 12:30 pm and while he finished the race, this is how he came back to the pits;
After much researching,
He finally decided the best way to solve the problem was...
A four piece meal from KFC and a nice cold beer. A disappointing finish to the day, but we'll be back on the track again soon. Right after we fit my car with race tires....

Wacky weather

We went from a beautiful, warm weekend to a cold, rainy, and windy work week. Yesterday's weather was particularly delightful. It would go from partly sunny to sideways rain to pelting hail within minutes of each other. I had gone to Holiday during my lunch break and it was clear when I left, but started hailing like a demon on my drive back to work. I sat in my car and tried to wait it out since I'd worn open toed shoes.
But no such luck.
Thankfully today the weather started drying up since we have our first race of the season tomorrow in Willows. While I was at Upper Crust this morning getting a birthday dessert for a friend, I picked up an assorted package of day-olds for breakfast in the morning on the way to the track.
A chocolate croissant, lemon-cranberry scone, bear claw and pecan roll. I'm not sure I'm going to share any of these...

When I got home I had a delivery from Barnes and Noble of a recipe box I'd ordered for a bridal shower I have on Saturday. On old friend of Sarah, Poppy and mine's, Dawn, is getting married in June and her shower is this weekend. Since I never see Dawn anymore, I'm not sure what her tastes are, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with this.
It comes with some pre-printed recipes and then a bunch of blank cards for friends and family to fill out. Where was this before I had the bright idea of scrapbooking the last recipe box??

Tonight for dinner I made a recipe out of my Eating Well for two that Jessica didn't think I'd like (I'll be making every recipe in it to prove her wrong). It was sausage, potatoes and homemade kraut. Good idea for the night before the race, or brilliant idea??
It was the first time I'd ever used fresh fennel bulb and I found it fascinating that it smelled just like black licorice. Freaky!

Score: Adults -2, Kids -0

This is the second time that we've babysat Connor and Andrew and once again we prevailed. We used our skills of treachery to trick them into having fun. How could we lose with an action packed line up of a walk to the undeveloped park down the street,
Followed by a little movie watching and some brownie eating and goofing around,
Then we played a little Thomas the Train, letting Andrew win everytime of course,
Capping off the evening with a little Sprouts television on the kiddie tube. Some Dragon Tales and RubbaDubs. C and Todd came and got them at about 8:45 pm which is good because we were quickly wearing down. Apparently three hours is the noise and entertainment limit for old fogies such as ourselves.

My little helper

The reins to the kitchen and all dinner duties this weekend were handed off to the Canadian. He's always asking for a turn, but I'm such a back seat cook that I can't stand not knowing what bad ideas he's brewing up under that little fro of his. This little concoction was all his idea. Chicken tenders with a fruit glaze made with mustard and pepperoncinis. I can't explain it, but it was really good.
His other treat was lowfat mini meatloaves he found online. Really they were mini shredded veggie loaves with a splash of hamburger, but they did the trick.
And for dessert, a kitchen full of dishes.
At least it was worth it.