Monday Minutes...

It's Monday, and as you all can see, I have survived Saturday's trek through the wilderness with all my digits in tact.  In true cub scout fashion, we were all well prepared with several changes of clothes, various sizes of hand warmers, and a roll of quarters for the hot chocolate and coffee they were selling at the dining hall.  In fact, the only really bad part of being 12 miles deep into the State Forest during the first real snow of the season, was getting out of the forest in a front two wheel drive station wagon.  And, while there were several white knuckle moments, I am happy to report that the 14 mile, 2 hour drive, home was without incident.

Chinese New Year was great as always.  Mom really out did herself this year on the decorations, and the Chinese food was very good.  This restaurant doesn't add MSG to it's food, so the majority of it (rice, meats, veggies, etc.) is gluten free.  However, they do have some items that are totally GF and their take out is carefully labeled on the outside of the box.  Great, right?  Except one of the GF labeled boxes contained noodles, which I presumed to be rice noodles.  Wrong.  Needless to say, I'm not feeling so hot today. All and all though, the food was great and I would eat there again, sticking to rice and meats only.

Now, on to the really important stuff.

I have finally made it to the big time!

LOOK --------------------------------------------->

Yup.  I am now Fishducky approved!  I can not tell you how excited I am!  Fishducky is a fantastic commenter on several blogs that I follow.  She is so fantastic, that Melynda decided she needed her very own blog, and MADE her one!  You can visit it here....

Thank you so much Fishducky, I love it!

These may be my new favorite food. Yes, move over Cadbury eggs, these chocolate covered orange jelly beans are my new favorite Easter candy. I know!  I can't believe it myself!  I would have inserted a photo for you all but Jelly Belly hates me and won't allow me to pirate the picture.

Besides, it may cause mass cravings.

The paint is on the walls!

That would be Youngest working on his blog among the primed walls.  This is the view from the stairway looking up into the room.  Saturday, while I was walking in a winter wonderland, Tony took the liberty of painting the actual color....

It's Benjamin Moore Shaker Gray.  And trust me when I tell you, the photo doesn't do it justice.  Just ignore the hideous boob light on the ceiling. Originally we were going to do recessed throughout, but then I thought a pendant would be nice for over the table.  Deciding on a pendant has been much harder than I thought, so my $6 solution was this for now.  There's still one more coat of paint to go, and then we're on to the floor.

I wanted the look of wood, with the wear of tile, so this is what I found on the internet...

Beautiful right? Yes, now let's see if it has a beautiful price tag.  The hunt begins....


I finally finished reading The Golden Sky and I must say it was wonderful.  Elisa did such a fabulous job with editing and publishing, that I felt like I was not reading a novel, but rather talking with an old friend.  So many times I wished I could have just called her up and asked her stuff, or highlighted it and said "Yes, I totally get this!".  And, I must say, Elisa, if those are your children's real names, I think I love them even more!

On a final note, the Patriots are going to the Superbowl.

The boys were so excited that when Oldest jumped up in excitement and held out his hands, Youngest replied "Awe, what the hell..." and hugged him back.  Since there was hugging involved I'm letting the language slide on this one.  

I will say however, that I could care less about the Superbowl.  I have no care who's in, who's out, yardage or pregame rituals.

I do care about the food though.

The chili.

The homemade tortilla chips.

The 7 layer dips.

The chowder.

Good Lord, the chowder.

Let the game begin.