I'm not sure how many parts I need to describe our week in Colorado...or how much time I really want to spend in this effort. I promise I shall be as succinct as possible.
I don't know if that's saying much.
Unfortunately we have far less pictures than I thought we did. Photography is a hobby I would love, could learn to do, and dearly wish I actually invested in. The reality is I am either too busy enjoying the moments of life or just plain too lazy to get a camera out/carry a camera around/mess with camera settings.
I really think it's more laziness than anything. Part of me thinks if I got a bigger, better camera (we currently favor the variety that fits in your pocket) I would take more photos, but let's be honest. If I'm too lazy to carry around a camera in my pocket, get it out, and turn it on all the time WHAT makes me think I'm going to carry around something bigger and more complicated?
Anyway, so the first day or so of our trip have no photos to illustrate them. Mostly the first day we were in the car. 13 hours of sleeping, reading, listening to an audio book, crosswords, the busiest Dairy Queen between Dallas and Colorado (is it Dalhart? where the parking lot is full all summer and there is constantly a line of at least 10 for the women's bathroom...can I buy stock in that particular Dairy Queen?), and Sonic!
(I wish I had a picture of the line at the Dairy Queen bathrooms...and the full parking lot. Come to think of it, on our trip back home, we couldn't even find a spot in the parking lot and had to make our pit stop across the street at the Subway.)
It is important, for later parts of this story, to mention that John's aunt and cousin dropped us off at the airport in Colorado Spring to pick up our rental car as we were staying overnight with friends the Colorado Springs. John travel a lot, and thus has some super special status with his car rental company where he gets free upgrades. We paid a sub-compact car price and they gave us a Ford F-150 4x4. Nice! So he decided on the spot to just keep the car for the week instead of returning it in Boulder the next day as planned (where his sister would come to pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Estes Park).
The evening and following morning were spent with some dear friends in Colorado Springs who fed us, gave us a comfortable bed to sleep in, let us play with their precious little girls, and even entertained us with fireworks! (OK. The fireworks were a surprise, even to our friends. Their neighbors down the street apparently were confused about when the 4th of July holiday is celebrated and must have thought the correct day for the pyrotechnics was July 17. I, for one, am glad they were a little late.)
The highlights of the next day were, in no particular order: an iced latte at Starbucks, Glacier ice cream (MMMMMM! and I hear they're coming to Colorado Springs!), summer music mix, a hilarious moment of music making in the toy store thanks to John and his dad (I need to get the video from my sister-in-law), Drop (licorice from the Netherlands), and driving up into the mountains where it's cool. Oh, and finding out that housekeeping brought a brand new queen mattress to the cabin we stayed in at the YMCA of the Rockies just for us!
I have gotten next to nothing done today on my day off from work, so I need to adjourn and go do some ironing or make dinner or something. Part two will be coming soon, I promise. (And maybe the video of the toy store incident...if I can find it. It is hilarious.)
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Over Prepared
I came home from the grocery store a few minutes ago and had a revelation while putting away items in my pantry.
Apparently when at the grocery store, I panic that I might not have enough chicken stock at home. So, as I did just this morning, I pick up a box of chicken stock "just in case."
And apparently this is the FOURTH time I have done this.
I guess you never know when you might need to whip up some chicken-noodle soup for 80.
I am perplexed at my obvious subconscious anxiety over chicken stock. As far as I can tell, I do not have this problem with any other item.
What can it mean?
Apparently when at the grocery store, I panic that I might not have enough chicken stock at home. So, as I did just this morning, I pick up a box of chicken stock "just in case."
And apparently this is the FOURTH time I have done this.
I guess you never know when you might need to whip up some chicken-noodle soup for 80.
I am perplexed at my obvious subconscious anxiety over chicken stock. As far as I can tell, I do not have this problem with any other item.
What can it mean?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A Technology Break
I am not one of those people who needs to take a "vacation" from technology because, well, I am not very technologically-connected. I really prefer to actually talk to people rather than text and am not a member of the most well-known social networking site.
I recently witnessed two people texting back and forth to make a decision about something. It took about 25 minutes of back and forth before a decision was made when, by my calculations, a phone call could have cut the conversation down to about five minutes.
I think we're fooling ourselves if we think all the newest technology is saving us time...or improving our communication skills.
Wow. Let me get off my soapbox. (OK. One more thing. I visited with a friend last week who also agrees with me about the whole texting versus actually talking thing. So, I'm not alone in my opinion.)
What I really meant to say when I started this whole post was I have not had much access to the internet or good cell phone service for the past week because we were in the mountains of Colorado.
Estes Park to be exact. Try not to be jealous.
It was a week of cool, dry air, gorgeous mountain views, hiking, shopping, dining, laughing, and playing games. I intend to write in detail about the more interesting parts of our vacation...mostly so I can relive it again to cope with coming back to real life, and hot, humid weather.
But not today. Because today I have a mountain of laundry to deal with and otherwise am taking my time adjusting to post-vacation. I am enjoying some denial about being back in the real world.
Also, we carpooled to and from Estes Park with some family and inadvertently left our camera in their car. John is currently on a mission to retrieve it, but for now I have no pictures to share. I'm hoping some of our pictures can be worth a thousand words...so that you don't have to endure me actually writing a thousand words about each day of the trip.
Even though you know I could!
I recently witnessed two people texting back and forth to make a decision about something. It took about 25 minutes of back and forth before a decision was made when, by my calculations, a phone call could have cut the conversation down to about five minutes.
I think we're fooling ourselves if we think all the newest technology is saving us time...or improving our communication skills.
Wow. Let me get off my soapbox. (OK. One more thing. I visited with a friend last week who also agrees with me about the whole texting versus actually talking thing. So, I'm not alone in my opinion.)
What I really meant to say when I started this whole post was I have not had much access to the internet or good cell phone service for the past week because we were in the mountains of Colorado.
Estes Park to be exact. Try not to be jealous.
It was a week of cool, dry air, gorgeous mountain views, hiking, shopping, dining, laughing, and playing games. I intend to write in detail about the more interesting parts of our vacation...mostly so I can relive it again to cope with coming back to real life, and hot, humid weather.
But not today. Because today I have a mountain of laundry to deal with and otherwise am taking my time adjusting to post-vacation. I am enjoying some denial about being back in the real world.
Also, we carpooled to and from Estes Park with some family and inadvertently left our camera in their car. John is currently on a mission to retrieve it, but for now I have no pictures to share. I'm hoping some of our pictures can be worth a thousand words...so that you don't have to endure me actually writing a thousand words about each day of the trip.
Even though you know I could!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Excess
Oh, wow! Look what came in the mail!
What could it be in such a large, long box? An electric piano? Our very own hot dog roller? A bigfoot yeti sculpture? A brand new wardrobe for the summer?
Wait. The box is suspiciously lightweight.
Windshield wipers.
With all the things a certain online shopping mall sells on a daily basis, you'd think they'd have all manner of box sizes to choose from. But, apparently not. And apparently bigger is better.
It's America after all.
What could it be in such a large, long box? An electric piano? Our very own hot dog roller? A bigfoot yeti sculpture? A brand new wardrobe for the summer?
Wait. The box is suspiciously lightweight.
Windshield wipers.
With all the things a certain online shopping mall sells on a daily basis, you'd think they'd have all manner of box sizes to choose from. But, apparently not. And apparently bigger is better.
It's America after all.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
We got ants in the mail.
The swimsuit purchase has been confirmed as a positive choice after a conversation with my sister via Skype. So now I have two swimsuits to take to Hawaii, which apparently is a necessity according to page 22 of our guidebook...which is as far as I've gotten in the vacation planning so far.
Sunscreen is also on the list of important items to pack, and I quote, "at least SPF 15." SPF15!!! Does that even do anything? It's hardly worth the money to buy SPF 15, right? Or maybe I'm a sunscreen nazi who regularly purchases the highest SPF I can find in a store and then reapplies it as often as I can think about it during the day. I think we currently have a bottle of SPF 45 in the closet and a newer bottle of SPF 60 because they keep coming out with more and more potent stuff to shield ourselves from the deadly sun rays.
Although, now I hear we might die from lack of vitamin D because of ALL THE SUNSCREEN we smear on ourselves every day, thus eliminating the vital nutrient we are supposed to be receiving from the sun. It's a complicated, confusing world we live in.
Speaking of complicated. My favorite nephew and his mom made cookies together just for Aunt Erin and Uncle John while they were visiting my parents. My mom mailed off the package to us and we received the box yesterday complete with a lovely card my sister made for us, pictures of sweet little D "helping" make the cookies, and a tin full of cookies...and ANTS!
ANTS, ANTS, and more ANTS!!! The little tiny black ants that come from indoor environments, though most certainly not from my parents' house. And suddenly I realize there are ants all over the kitchen table! Even today I found ants crawling out of the trashcan and around the kitchen sink.
Alas, we had to dispose of the cookies that D worked so hard to make for us! So sad.
Yet, the whole idea with the card and the pictures? Too, too CUTE!
I can only conclude that the ants came from the post office while sitting waiting to go on the truck. I at first thought the post office should owe us something for the ruined baked goods, but cookies my own favorite nephew helped make himself are priceless. So, Post Office, you can keep your money! I might retaliate by mailing all packages with UPS or FedEx from now on.
Hmmph. So there.
But I still smile every time I look at those pictures. There's something so special about your sister's child.
Maybe it's a good thing we don't live next door (as I sometimes wish we did) because I would probably spend all my free moments over there with him, and my sister and brother-in-law might start disliking my constant presence or start asking for some reimbursement for rent and utilities.
No. I wouldn't be that intrusive. I think.
Sunscreen is also on the list of important items to pack, and I quote, "at least SPF 15." SPF15!!! Does that even do anything? It's hardly worth the money to buy SPF 15, right? Or maybe I'm a sunscreen nazi who regularly purchases the highest SPF I can find in a store and then reapplies it as often as I can think about it during the day. I think we currently have a bottle of SPF 45 in the closet and a newer bottle of SPF 60 because they keep coming out with more and more potent stuff to shield ourselves from the deadly sun rays.
Although, now I hear we might die from lack of vitamin D because of ALL THE SUNSCREEN we smear on ourselves every day, thus eliminating the vital nutrient we are supposed to be receiving from the sun. It's a complicated, confusing world we live in.
Speaking of complicated. My favorite nephew and his mom made cookies together just for Aunt Erin and Uncle John while they were visiting my parents. My mom mailed off the package to us and we received the box yesterday complete with a lovely card my sister made for us, pictures of sweet little D "helping" make the cookies, and a tin full of cookies...and ANTS!
ANTS, ANTS, and more ANTS!!! The little tiny black ants that come from indoor environments, though most certainly not from my parents' house. And suddenly I realize there are ants all over the kitchen table! Even today I found ants crawling out of the trashcan and around the kitchen sink.
Alas, we had to dispose of the cookies that D worked so hard to make for us! So sad.
Yet, the whole idea with the card and the pictures? Too, too CUTE!
I can only conclude that the ants came from the post office while sitting waiting to go on the truck. I at first thought the post office should owe us something for the ruined baked goods, but cookies my own favorite nephew helped make himself are priceless. So, Post Office, you can keep your money! I might retaliate by mailing all packages with UPS or FedEx from now on.
Hmmph. So there.
But I still smile every time I look at those pictures. There's something so special about your sister's child.
Maybe it's a good thing we don't live next door (as I sometimes wish we did) because I would probably spend all my free moments over there with him, and my sister and brother-in-law might start disliking my constant presence or start asking for some reimbursement for rent and utilities.
No. I wouldn't be that intrusive. I think.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Goodbye Tomato. Hello Blueberry.
I am finally running out of tomatoes in the garden. It's too bad they all come at once over a span of several weeks and then....nothing.
Is it weird that I'm actually in mourning over the fact that I now must eat non-homegrown tomatoes? And just when my basil plants are starting to produce more, too. Mmmm. Home grown tomato-basil-mozzarella tosti (that's like a panini or a grilled/toasted cheese sandwich in Dutch).
(Speaking of Dutch: shout out to the Netherlands for making it to the World Cup final for only the third time in history!)
I suppose if I lived further outside the city, I could just buy other people's homegrown tomatoes on the side of the road. You don't see that too much in the big city. My other option is the farmer's markets. Unfortunately, I have to work this Saturday and Saturdays are when the farmer's markets take place. And last Saturday we were busy picking two gallons of blueberries with some friends out in East Texas.
Can I just tell you, the humidity and sweat during two hours of blueberry picking is TOTALLY worth it when you can have the sweetest, freshest, most delightful blueberries for months on end! And at about 1/4 the cost of buying organic blueberries at the grocery store! It's fun, an incredible deal, and so tasty!
Here's our loot:
I see some blueberry cobbler in our future. Or maybe a blueberry pie.
Can you believe I've never made a pie in my life?!? Really, I haven't. I guess that means I prefer cakes, cookies, and brownies. But doesn't blueberry pie sound good?
In case you're interested in going out to a farm to pick your own produce, this website is a good place to start. You can find farms based on the state you live in and then narrow it down by cities or areas.
Fortunately, we had July weather in June (surface of the sun hot with absolutely NO rain) and are now experiencing June weather in July (rain, rain, rain, and cooler temps), so last Saturday was really the best summer weather you could ask for in Texas for blueberry picking - cloudy and only in the 80s...though it was pretty humid...can't have everything.
If this post is not yet random enough, I would like to just say that Dillard's has their swimsuits 40% off right now. I know this because after we saw Toy Story 3 on the 5th of July (a really great movie that really only made me shed two tears at one point near the end of the movie), we meandered over to Dillard's to look for swimsuits in preparation for a trip we're taking in a couple months (actually sooner than I realized!) to Hawaii (never been, can't wait, can't come soon enough, woo hoo!!!). I don't care how cheap swimsuits are, there is not enough money in the world to compensate me for spending hours looking at myself trying on suit after suit underneath florescent lighting. The one I came home with still has the tags on because I'm not fully committed yet. I still have 28 days to make that decision.
But maybe you'll have better luck. The selection was still really good considering almost everyone has probably already done the dreaded deed of swimsuit shopping this year.
All this thinking about swimsuit wearing is making me rethink the blueberry pie idea.
Is it weird that I'm actually in mourning over the fact that I now must eat non-homegrown tomatoes? And just when my basil plants are starting to produce more, too. Mmmm. Home grown tomato-basil-mozzarella tosti (that's like a panini or a grilled/toasted cheese sandwich in Dutch).
(Speaking of Dutch: shout out to the Netherlands for making it to the World Cup final for only the third time in history!)
I suppose if I lived further outside the city, I could just buy other people's homegrown tomatoes on the side of the road. You don't see that too much in the big city. My other option is the farmer's markets. Unfortunately, I have to work this Saturday and Saturdays are when the farmer's markets take place. And last Saturday we were busy picking two gallons of blueberries with some friends out in East Texas.
Can I just tell you, the humidity and sweat during two hours of blueberry picking is TOTALLY worth it when you can have the sweetest, freshest, most delightful blueberries for months on end! And at about 1/4 the cost of buying organic blueberries at the grocery store! It's fun, an incredible deal, and so tasty!
Here's our loot:
I see some blueberry cobbler in our future. Or maybe a blueberry pie.
Can you believe I've never made a pie in my life?!? Really, I haven't. I guess that means I prefer cakes, cookies, and brownies. But doesn't blueberry pie sound good?
In case you're interested in going out to a farm to pick your own produce, this website is a good place to start. You can find farms based on the state you live in and then narrow it down by cities or areas.
Fortunately, we had July weather in June (surface of the sun hot with absolutely NO rain) and are now experiencing June weather in July (rain, rain, rain, and cooler temps), so last Saturday was really the best summer weather you could ask for in Texas for blueberry picking - cloudy and only in the 80s...though it was pretty humid...can't have everything.
If this post is not yet random enough, I would like to just say that Dillard's has their swimsuits 40% off right now. I know this because after we saw Toy Story 3 on the 5th of July (a really great movie that really only made me shed two tears at one point near the end of the movie), we meandered over to Dillard's to look for swimsuits in preparation for a trip we're taking in a couple months (actually sooner than I realized!) to Hawaii (never been, can't wait, can't come soon enough, woo hoo!!!). I don't care how cheap swimsuits are, there is not enough money in the world to compensate me for spending hours looking at myself trying on suit after suit underneath florescent lighting. The one I came home with still has the tags on because I'm not fully committed yet. I still have 28 days to make that decision.
But maybe you'll have better luck. The selection was still really good considering almost everyone has probably already done the dreaded deed of swimsuit shopping this year.
All this thinking about swimsuit wearing is making me rethink the blueberry pie idea.
Monday, July 05, 2010
A Little Bit of Crazy
Happy 5th of July! It's a day to do absolutely nothing useful or important because we both have the day off and yet there are no celebrations, explosions in the sky, or flanks of meat to barbecue.
Although, we didn't even grill flanks of meat on the 4th of July. As it turns out we might as well not have grilled anything.
Let us start from the beginning. My in-laws belong to an athletic club which hosts a 4th of July celebration each year: a buffet barbecue dinner followed by a fireworks show. After attending the buffet last year, we decided this year we could do better (and it would be cheaper, and probably healthier) just making our own barbecue at home.
That line of thought was put to the test yesterday evening.
The turkey burgers (yes, we had turkey burgers because we are nothing if not health-conscious), ended up being a mushy mess on the grill within about ten minutes. Something to do with the grill not being hot enough, or not oiling the grate before putting the burgers on, or a faulty recipe...or all of the above. While attempting to flip the mushy mess and figure out a.) whose fault it was, b.) how we were going to eat these, and c.) why the burgers were completely falling apart, it seems the heat and smoke from the grill were beginning to char an overhanging tree limb.
Luckily, we stopped discussing the disastrous turkey burgers long enough to notice the tree was turning black and move the grill over to avoid our own backyard fireworks.
(Another good question: why was the tree getting grilled while the turkey was just turning to mush? Hmmm.)
We ended up scooping the turkey off the grill, sautéing it all in a pan on the stove, and eating the "burgers" more or less like sloppy joes. The happy news is: they were tasty.
John's mom made some ice cream for dessert, only her ice cream maker apparently bit the dust during the churning/freezing process yesterday. We were a little worried the ice cream might not be hard enough until we started trying to scoop it out. Their freezer is definitely NOT broken and after running the whole thing under hot water and using some major elbow grease (um, not mine), we finally got the ice creamed all served up....with some delicious berry compote.
That berry compote was supposed to be flambéed. Us girls in the kitchen trying to flambé the berry compote ended up blaming the failure to light anything on fire on either the too-small amount of liquor (the more liquor, the better, right?) or the over-abundance of berry juice. The guys walked in a minute after our failed attempt, and for a while we were able to convince them they had missed an awesome display of culinary fire power.
The berry compote was really good anyway. And, let's face it, the only thing that even almost caught on fire during the evening was the tree overhanging the barbecue grill.
To top off the dinner, my mother-in-law's sink started backing up and her disposal has stopped working. She could not finish cleaning off the dishes, desperately wanted one of the guys to fix the sink (neither of them could figure out quite what to do at the time), and then became paralyzed when faced with the reality that we needed to leave to go see fireworks and yet the kitchen would be left in complete disarray. We honestly thought she might refuse to leave the house with dirty dishes on the counter, and my sister-in-law joked that she might actually have a heart attack. (The rest of us laughed, but John pointed out that I would be equally unhinged if this were happening at our house. And he's probably right.)
We eventually got out the door and set up our chairs in time to watch the fireworks show (which included some strange new variety of explosives that were basically really loud pops accompanied by one big, blinding flash of light - I felt the need for some eye protection), and were one of the first few out to the car, thus avoiding a 30-minute wait to exit the parking lot.
On the way home, John and his sister reminisced about watching the finale of the fireworks show from the rear window of the car growing up...because they needed to pile back in and get started home before all the traffic commenced! I'm happy to report we stayed for the entirety of the fireworks show last night.
I hope your 4th of July was just as entertaining and full of laughter as ours was...although perhaps a little less crazy. If you have today off, enjoy your Day After Independence Day!
Although, we didn't even grill flanks of meat on the 4th of July. As it turns out we might as well not have grilled anything.
Let us start from the beginning. My in-laws belong to an athletic club which hosts a 4th of July celebration each year: a buffet barbecue dinner followed by a fireworks show. After attending the buffet last year, we decided this year we could do better (and it would be cheaper, and probably healthier) just making our own barbecue at home.
That line of thought was put to the test yesterday evening.
The turkey burgers (yes, we had turkey burgers because we are nothing if not health-conscious), ended up being a mushy mess on the grill within about ten minutes. Something to do with the grill not being hot enough, or not oiling the grate before putting the burgers on, or a faulty recipe...or all of the above. While attempting to flip the mushy mess and figure out a.) whose fault it was, b.) how we were going to eat these, and c.) why the burgers were completely falling apart, it seems the heat and smoke from the grill were beginning to char an overhanging tree limb.
Luckily, we stopped discussing the disastrous turkey burgers long enough to notice the tree was turning black and move the grill over to avoid our own backyard fireworks.
(Another good question: why was the tree getting grilled while the turkey was just turning to mush? Hmmm.)
We ended up scooping the turkey off the grill, sautéing it all in a pan on the stove, and eating the "burgers" more or less like sloppy joes. The happy news is: they were tasty.
John's mom made some ice cream for dessert, only her ice cream maker apparently bit the dust during the churning/freezing process yesterday. We were a little worried the ice cream might not be hard enough until we started trying to scoop it out. Their freezer is definitely NOT broken and after running the whole thing under hot water and using some major elbow grease (um, not mine), we finally got the ice creamed all served up....with some delicious berry compote.
That berry compote was supposed to be flambéed. Us girls in the kitchen trying to flambé the berry compote ended up blaming the failure to light anything on fire on either the too-small amount of liquor (the more liquor, the better, right?) or the over-abundance of berry juice. The guys walked in a minute after our failed attempt, and for a while we were able to convince them they had missed an awesome display of culinary fire power.
The berry compote was really good anyway. And, let's face it, the only thing that even almost caught on fire during the evening was the tree overhanging the barbecue grill.
To top off the dinner, my mother-in-law's sink started backing up and her disposal has stopped working. She could not finish cleaning off the dishes, desperately wanted one of the guys to fix the sink (neither of them could figure out quite what to do at the time), and then became paralyzed when faced with the reality that we needed to leave to go see fireworks and yet the kitchen would be left in complete disarray. We honestly thought she might refuse to leave the house with dirty dishes on the counter, and my sister-in-law joked that she might actually have a heart attack. (The rest of us laughed, but John pointed out that I would be equally unhinged if this were happening at our house. And he's probably right.)
We eventually got out the door and set up our chairs in time to watch the fireworks show (which included some strange new variety of explosives that were basically really loud pops accompanied by one big, blinding flash of light - I felt the need for some eye protection), and were one of the first few out to the car, thus avoiding a 30-minute wait to exit the parking lot.
On the way home, John and his sister reminisced about watching the finale of the fireworks show from the rear window of the car growing up...because they needed to pile back in and get started home before all the traffic commenced! I'm happy to report we stayed for the entirety of the fireworks show last night.
I hope your 4th of July was just as entertaining and full of laughter as ours was...although perhaps a little less crazy. If you have today off, enjoy your Day After Independence Day!
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