bii

4 weeks and counting! i swear i look bigger in pictures than i do in the mirror, or even how i feel! :)

the weekend was great.

friday, i left work early, as i had finished everything i needed to do and my brain was totally fried from working hard all week. got some cleaning done, and finally committed to hanging pictures on the walls in the hallways. i had bought a ton of nice new frames but just couldn't figure our how i wanted to arrange them on the walls. so they sat on the piano for 3 weeks. now they are finally on the walls and they look great!

we headed out to southridge mall so bryan could return his loaner phone and give them his old phone (his broke so they had sent him a new one). we hit up the disney store, where i got ollie a couple of cute sweaters, and a great christmas gift for hannah. they have the CUTEST halloween costumes too. they're pretty expensive, but they're all exceedingly nice. they all even had cute matching shoes!! my favorite one was the elizabeth swan as pirate captain from pirates of the caribbean: at world's end. too bad hannah won't be with us this halloween. i really enjoy making her a special costume every year, but these were so rockin' i would have totally sunk $100 to see her in one!! yes, she's super spoiled.

we then attempted to go to a nearby sushi place for dinner. there was a small line when we got there, and it became apparent that they were pretty unorganized. there appeared to be 1 waitress and 2 busboys running the front of the house. the waitress was not taking names but rather just asking the assembled group who was next. it didn't take us too long to be seated by one of the busboys, though. however, no one brought us menus, so bryan grabbed some off an uncleared empty table for us. we sat there for 10+ minutes and no one even brought us water. i understand there was 1 waitress and the place was pretty busy, but there were less than 15 tables in the place. someone could have brought us water. after being there for about 20 minutes we decided to leave. way lame. so we walked out and headed to a different sushi and hibachi place, fujiyama. we elected to sit in the sushi room instead of the hibachi room, which turned out to be a good choice. someone was celebrating a birthday at one of the hibachi tables, and there was lots of loud yelling. there also seemed to be something to do with loud music and strobe lights, though we couldn't see what. we assumed karaoke but couldn't see and didn't really hear drunk people singing. bryan ordered a sashimi and sushi plate, and i ordered beef negimi and an asparagus roll (in an attempt to find the asapragus and cream cheese tempura maki that was my favorite at ru san's - it didn't have cream chese but it did have toasted sesame seeds so i was able to get by). overall we enjoyed our dinner very much. i had just been thinking how we needed to find a new sushi place. ta-da!

i had vowed to sleep in saturday morning, and hoped to stay in bed until 8. unfortunately, i woke up around 6:15. i tried to stay in bed but just wasn't going to fall back asleep, so i got up just after 6:30. oh well, i tried. i puttered around the house for a bit, then bryan and i headed out to run errands just after 8.

our first stop was krispy kreme. while we waited to order, one of the girls gave us a free hot glazed donut right off the line. let me tell you, those who don't understand the krispy kreme phenomenon have never had a piping hot, glazed donut fresh out of the fryer. it's like melted butter, vanilla, and sugar. so that was a great way to start out the morning.

we make a quick stop at home depot to get some grass seed, and they were holding one of their workshops. only this one was for kids! the kids were going to build wooden fire trucks, and on our way out we saw some real fire trucks pulling into the parking lot, presumably so the kids could see them. what kid doesn't love a fire truck?? i hadn't known that they held workshops for kids, so we got pretty excited over the though of attending some with oliver. even though that's still a few years away. :)

our next stop was target, and wouldn't you know it, they happened to have one wii in stock!! i figured we should buy it just because, well, there was one, and i knew we'd get one eventually, BUT i put my foot down and said no. however, we were all of 10 steps away from the gaming aisle before bryan managed to convince me we should just go ahead and buy it now. so, we are now the proud owners of a wii (merry christmas, bryan!!!!!). we did some quick grocery shopping and rushed home to set it up.

after a few rounds to familiarize ourselves with the controls (yes, i played, and yes, it was fun), we drove out to sam's club. we thought it would be worthwhile to become members considering the amount of diapers and formula we will be purchasing over the next few years. we are officially middle america. let me tell you, the people who work there are extremely dense. bryan started joking around like he always does and i told him to knock it off because not only did the employees there not get it, but i'm pretty sure they were in danger of hurting themselves by trying (that saying "don't squish the pea" comes to mind). once we got signed up, we wandered around and looked at the giant products. we bought some chicken wings to go with bryan's homemade hot sauce, and bryan found the biggest barrel of cheese puffs you've ever seen. mostly we were excited about the large cuts of meat (whole beef and pork tenderloins, bone-in prime rib, semi trimmed brisket).

then it was back home, where i made a cassoulet to freeze, roasted a chicken for chicken pot pie filling to freeze, and started thawing 2 big beef roasts (one for shepherd's pie and one for irish stew - both for freezing). somewhere in there i also made baked masticcoli with roasted patty pan squash and garlic bread for dinner. once dinner was finished, so was i. cooking all afternoon in the kitchen after shopping all day meant my feet were DONE, plus it was nearly 90 degrees AND humid out (which is totally abnormal for this part of the country this time of the year). i crashed on the couch to watch some of our programs with bryan before bed.

sunday afternoon, we headed down to the lakefront with mom to see dad finish his 14th or so marathon, the lakefront marathon. there was a fantastic breeze coming off the lake and no humidity, so it was a perfect afternoon on the lake (even though i did get a little sunburned). unfortunately for the runners, they didn't get to run along the lake until 6 miles or so left, so the run pretty much sucked a bunch for everyone. apparently the officials were telling everyone to run slow, and lots of people were passing out because of the heat and humidity. around mile 16, dad realized his pace was not quite on target, so he took it easy the rest of the way in. his wasn't happy with his time but knew it was the heat. unfortunately he didn't feel too well the rest of the day because of it as well. as we were sitting around chatting, we saw a big rain cloud coming across the lake from the south towards us, so we headed back to the car so we wouldn't get wet. we got a quick 5 minute downpour soon after we got home, but then it was right back to sun and heat.

i spent the afternoon roasting a lovely beef roast, and making the other roast into the best beef and guinness stew i have ever tasted much less made. i must say, i am pretty proud of the stew. i'm not 100% sure what i did (but i have some guesses and won't be sharing my secrets), but the broth turned out so perfect - silky, rich, and with the most amazing flavor. all bryan could say was wow - i didn't know it could taste so good. i am happy to have that recipe up my sleeve! i packaged the stew in 2 different ways (one dinner in a freezer bag, and the other in a deep aluminum tin), so we'll see which works out better.

after a quick nap, we went to mom and dad's for a steak (bryan's request) and burger (my request) dinner and the packers game. i didn't make it too far into the start of the game before i was dozing on the couch, so we headed home. while i really just wanted to go to bed, i shredded my roast beef, and proceeded to make shepherd's pie. i had made my mashed potatoes earlier in the day (bryan gallantly peeled them after the boiling - fingers are for burning!!). instead of mashing with a masher or a whisk, i put them through the food mill. and mmmm they turned out so light and creamy. so i prepped my veggies, made my sauce, and packaged them up (2 in total). so that was another *5* dinners in the freezer this weekend, and i've still got all the bits to put together for our chicken pot pie filling yet! i've filled up the freezer above the basement fridge and have started to fill up the back half of the chest freezer. thank goodness we have so much freezer room!

after that, i was pretty much cooked. i took a cool shower and crashed in bed. didn't want to get up this morning. probably could have stayed in bed until 8 today, go figure!!

the plan for next weekend? relaxing. taking it easy. no errands. no pushing myself. no, seriously. i'm going to try. i can totally do it... as long as i have enough to keep me busy. ;)