7 Years and Counting

On the prettiest of September days, 7 years agom the day I had almost given up on finally arrived. I had pretty much been ready to get married since college...maybe even earlier. I remember asking my mom if I was mature enough to get married...I was 16 at the time and didn't even have a boyfriend. I don't remember what she said, but hopefully she was honest and said "no way" but in a less blunt way :)  One would hope I was plenty mature enough by the time my husband and I finally found each other. I was 42 on our wedding day.

We got married in the lodge at the state park where we had our first date. My husband was a martial (not to be confused with marital) arts teacher and my sisters' family were his students. We were introduced and spent a little "together" at my sister's house. He was invited over to watch football...he didn't see the set up. We seemed to like each other, but he didn't make his move. I finally broke down and made my move. I invited him to go hiking at the state park. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the weather was absolutely perfect. I think I was officially smitten when he arrived to pick me up with bottled water for our hike. Such a little thing, but I found it incredibly thoughtful.

If I had a dollar for every time he has given me this look, I would be retired. He'd still be working, but I'd definitely be a full-time housewife.

I am looking forward to all the days with this man by my side with your hands and hearts entwined.

This year we celebrated our anniversary with a mini road trip to a town about 1.5 hours south of where we live. I've been intrigued ever since I heard the creator of Popeye was from Chester. I am always up for exploring a new town, so off we went.

Thankfully, my husband got us a little lost. According to the map, it appeared we were to go straight-ish south, but turns out in one of the small towns our road took hard right, but we went straight. Had we not taken this "detour" we would not have discovered this cute covered bridge. We actually passed it and I made him go back to take pictures.  If he had a dollar for every time I made him turn around so I could take a picture of something...he would be the retired one...actually, I'd probably claim the money and be the retired one :) 

 We finally arrived at our destination.

The town is decked out with statues of various characters. "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"

We didn't have anyone to take a picture of us both, so just superimpose the picture above on this one and you will see me gazing lovingly at my Popeye :)

I insisted on a quick peek in this store. It was filled with Popeye merchandise. While inside the clerk asked if we were with the boat.  With the boat?  Turns out a large riverboat was stopped in town on its way cruising up the Mississippi. She mentioned it was scheduled to leave in about 15 minutes, so off we dashed to find the American Queen, largest of the Mississippi cruising riverboats.

It took us a little bit to find the landing, but we made it in time to see the American Queen. Tour buses were still unloading passengers to reboard the riverboat boat after their day of exploring.

It might be fun to take a river cruise one day...but I am thinking maybe one in Europe.

 We were fascinated by the lowering of the smoke stacks.

 Under the bridge with room to spare.

 Then back up they went.

 We saw a few more statues on our way out of town.

On the way home we decided to stop in one of the little towns for dinner. We dined at the Opera Bistro.

I can't believe I ordered a salad with blue cheese. I've never been a fan, but it might be growing on me. I loved the idea of the poached pears, but didn't love the seasoning on them. I think they would have been much better poached plain. My husband loved the raspberry vinagrette and claimed what I didn't use to dip his fries or should I say pommes frites?

He ordered a steak sandwich and was very happy with his meal.

I ordered the macadamia nut encrusted chicken on mashed potatoes with shoyu sauce and papaya marmalade...and was very happy with my meal. I wasn't sure what shoyu was. It is a soy sauce. The sauce had a hint of soy sauce flavor, but was not the least bit overpowering.

Our first Crème Brûlée.  It was delicious, but I was a little disappointed it didn't have that hard layer you can crack with your spoon. It was more of a sticky chewy layer on top. I have watched enough cooking competitions to know it would be very harshly judged. But again it was delicious. 

It was a lovely day of celebration with my love.

Probably my favorite decor element in our house is in the bathroom. I found the "love" picture at Michael's. The hydrangea reminds me of our "relationship bush: - the first birthday gift my husband ever got me - it too is still growing strong, if not a bit wild. I believe the collage frames were from Walmart. I had bought them for something else, but changed direction. I filled them with pictures of our adventures. I love how it turned out!

A closer look.

I look forward  to so many more adventures with this great love of mine.  Seven years is just the beginning.

Never So Happy to See A Friday

It has been a crazy busy week at work.

You all are so complimentary of my cooking, but I have to admit, some days I don't have much of a cooking vibe and I phone it in with something I know my husband will like but takes no effort....Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  He is very particular about his mac 'n cheese - Kraft Original only - no homemade, no other brands, no other flavors, no different shapes...Kraft Original. And he definitely is NOT going to eat it leftover. Thankfully, I am not so picky and no leftovers were wasted.  I simply added a packet of tuna,  some frozen peas and mixed it together.

Grabbed a few apples and I had three yummy lunches. Yes, I confess, I break the cardinal rule of office etiquette and microwave tuna at work. Fortunately, I mostly work alone and when I don't my co-workers don't mind.  In fact, I think my boss was legitimately envious of my lunch the day he was in :) 

Being wiped out from work all week I was grateful for easy familiar meals. Before you say "oh no, there is the sweet potato hash (oatmeal, etc.) again." I would like to draw your attention to the glasses.  My husband took me out to eat one evening and the restaurant was right next to a flea market. I sweet talked him into popping in for a minute to look for a new glass...I ended up with 3 glasses and a plate that matches mine.  Score! 

I am a morning person, which is a good thing since I worked early every day this week. Monday, I worked 11+ hours on our office newsletter - 24 pages of information for our county teachers' institute.

Eating at my desk.  I didn't mind at all eating the faux tuna casserole three days in a row.

A long day on Monday, meant I got to see a pretty sunset on my drive home I would have otherwise missed : )

Next morning, up and at it again. My husband is claiming this glass for himself, but I had to at break it in, at least.

One final glass of water with a side of chicken tacos topped with fresh peach salsa.

Enchilada Turkey Stuffed Peppers are a go-to healthy comfort food. I always use poblanos for this recipe, but I only had three and needed five.  I substituted Cubanelles for the other two. It was my first time using them, They were good and like the poblanos they don't have that sharp over powering taste that green bell peppers can have when cooked.

I still had some of the egg roll wrappers left after making them for my niece. I made up some more egg rolls. This time I baked them instead of frying. I just sprayed them with a touch of cooking spray and baked until crispy. The turned out really well and I felt much better about eating them - both mentally and physically. I need to figure out the exact calories, but my educated guess is about 100 calories each.

Yesterday my co-worker and I decided to go out for lunch. She loves sushi. I've had it a couple times and like it, but never go out for it. My lunch special came with miso soup.

I was a little grossed otu by the way the soup separated as it sat. Reminded me of fat separating from broth. I was not a fan of the fermented flavor of the miso. At least I tried right?

I did however enjoy my spicy tuna and California rolls. I need to use wasabi more often.

Next to the sushi place was a cute store with home decor items. I was intrigued by this sign...I feel like it could have many meanings - live with excitement, run away, etc.

Perhaps the highlight of the week was finally getting our big dead tree removed from the front yard. We have been in desperate need for awhile, but I hate calling around for estimates and kept putting it off. I finally made a few calls last week and found a great price. I was super happy they could do it within the week (the service we used before was booked until the end of October!) Unfortunately, I was not home to see it in person, but my husband did a great job documenting the process! 

They were supposed to start before I left for work, but apparently they had a "tree fell on a house emergency" they had to take care of first. I was afraid to ask if the tree fell on the house when they were cutting it!  So, when I left for work...

They made it out in the afternoon and my husband got home just in time to see them get started.

He was super impressed with how the guy in the bucket was able to pretty much cut down the tree one handed. He just stuck out the chain saw and down fell the branches.I am sure it is a bit more complicated, but that is what it looked like.

 

My neighbor was impressed with how the other guy got paid for just standing around smoking while the guy in the bucket did all the work.

Our great deal on cutting down the tree was partially because they were not taking away the wood. I was told, however, the pieces they left would be a manageable size. I wonder who will be moving a 5 foot length of trunk with a 2+ foot diameter. I couldn't even roll it much less put it in a truck!!

I called the next morning to find out when they would be returning to grind the stump. I asked if when they came back they would cut a couple of those huge pieces another time. The office girl then put me on with the owner, who explained we were getting a free stump grinding because of the office girl's mistake when she wrote up our estimate. I was happy he was honoring the estimate, but was disappointed that he wouldn't send the crew back out to cut the logs again (cause he'd already lost money on the job). Apparently, the cutting and the grinding are two separate crews and the grinding crew doesn't carry a big saw.

I left Millie out to investigate. She was in 7th heaven - I've never seen a dog that likes to chew up sticks like she does. Hmmm...I wonder if she would work on those logs for us.

Millie weighs about 80 pounds so you can really get a sense of how big those logs are.

I am very much hoping for a relaxing weekend (other than cleaning up that tree mess) and a much less hectic week next week. What are your weekend plans?