Can I get a Hallelujah?

I woke up this morning, and it was so chilly I actually wore long sleeves! It's warmed up to the 70s (78 degrees by the weather channel), but it's beautiful! Air conditioning off, windows open! Tada! The beautiful weather has made me feel productive, so I've been cleaning the kitchen, going through piles of junk mail to find my kitchen table, sucking up dog hair from seldom seen corners and roasting a large pumpkin to make pumpkin puree. Next I'll be roasting the seeds ... ah, pumpkin seeds.

We tried to take Spencer to a pumpkin patch, and he hated it. My little man who never really fusses would cry every time I set him down next to the pumpkins. I might try again next week so that I can get cute pictures, but this is the only one I got:

He's crying here, but since he's looking at the ground, it was an okay shot. I tried sitting down with him, but he wasn't having it. Sat him on a pallet (since when did everyone start putting the pumpkins on pallets? So un-halloweenish), he cried. It was a disaster. But we bought a pretty pumpkin anyhow, and we'll hopefully carve it tonight so I have more seeds to roast. Mmm, roasted pumpkins seeds, my little tasty friends. Sorry, do I keep going back to that?

We also got a new GPS this weekend, since my old Tom Tom broke coming back from Gainesville last week for work. We got a Magellan Maestro 4040, and it's great! The only thing I don't like is that I got a refurbed one, which has old maps on it and they want me to pay $80 for the new maps. So I haven't decided if I'm going to pony up the extra money for the new maps or if I'm just going to take it back and get a lower model that has updated maps.

Anyhow, back to work! Woohoo for productivity! It doesn't really happen often, so I need to relish the feeling :)

Promotion granted.

So last week I interviewed for a position I really didn't think I'd get but coveted greatly. I thought I'd be good at it. I thought the job fit my skill set. There were other applicants, and all were qualified, but differed greatly. If they wanted great negotiation skills, there were applicants that fit that. If they wanted someone who had good organization skills and was thorough with paperwork and behind-the-scenes sort of things, there were applicants for that. If they wanted someone who had been doing that type of job for 8, 10, 25 years ... they were there. If they wanted someone who was relatively new to the scene and maybe therefore adaptable, yep, they applied.

Okay, so there were five applicants. But really, whatever they wanted, they could get . We all filled different needs, so it really depended on what they were looking for to fill the position.

I got the job.

I'm super excited, but still a little shocked that I got it. It's not that I don't feel qualified; on the contrary, I think I'd be excellent there. And I thought the interview went very well. I just thought that the other people were equally qualified in different ways and I didn't know that I would prevail.

Here's my only issue right now: I knew there was travel, but somehow I didn't know it would be so soon or for so long. I may have to go to Ft. Lauderdale for 3-4 days in a week or two. I can't imagine leaving Spencer for so long! I'm nervous about the job, I'm nervous about leaving my family for so long.

Cooked out.

I, my friends, am exhausted. Except that I drank tea too late in the evening and forgot to take my Unisom an hour ago and if I take it now I'll be drowsy in the morning.

The plague seems to be making its round in the household. Christen is now sick, and I'm not letting him so much as touch me. I seriously pick up everything, and I'm finally feeling like my regular self.

I'm feeling so much like my regular self that I overdid myself tonight. Since the hubby is sick, I took to taking care of Spencer while trying to cook. Thankfully I got home before they did and was able to start dinner ... I made that white bean chicken chili, and was really good! Not something I'd usually make, but damn tasty. If you follow the recipe, I say this: don't be scared of the peppers because it wasn't spicy at all; use every bit of what it says. Also, it needs salt and pepper, so ... salt and pepper liberally (but taste it, don't oversalt). Then I made four dozen Pina Colada cookies, fed Spencer his dinner, and then made a triple recipe of baked macaroni and cheese. Why all the cooking? Our favorite support has macular degeneration and had to suddenly retire, and tomorrow is her last day. We've decided to do a potluck for her, so I volunteered for the cookies and mac & cheese. One day I'll start only signing up for one item. One day. I always make a double batch of mac & cheese for potlucks, but my sick husband told me I couldn't tease him like that, so I had to make a single batch for home as well.

Thankfully, tomorrow is Wednesday, and Wednesday is Restaurant day. I'm voting for Mexican (Guadalajara here I come!) but I think that sicky over there is going to want to go somewhere he can get soup, so we'll probably end up at some chain restaurant. Oh well. A girl can dream, right?

A week goes by ...

It's been a crazy week. Spencer is sick, again. Part of it is because of his teething, but I do wonder if he has allergies or something. He's always sick more than I'm always sick. Monday his second tooth popped through, and he was in a good mood despite it. Then he stopped sleeping. Christen was up all night with him that night, but Tuesday he was still in a good mood for my in-laws. Tuesday night he kept me up super late, and Wednesday he cried all day at daycare. I had to be in Gainesville for work that day, so there was no staying home with him.

He finally got some sleep Wednesday night but then he was still crying at daycare, and he started to get a bad cold so she made me come get him (I'm done whining about how a daycare provider should be used to a teething child). I took him to the doctor to confirm that there was nothing seriously wrong, which there wasn't, and then kept him home the rest of the day so he could catch up some more on his sleep. Friday he finally started feeling better, so he was able to stay at daycare all day okay.

This weekend has been a bit up and down. I've been irrigating his nose so that he can breathe, which he hates, of course. Saturday we did a bit of needed shopping (although I realized this afternoon that some of the things I really wanted I didn't get). We did get Spencer a Halloween costume, which is adorable. It was hard to find one that we both liked, and even though Christen still wanted the penguin one more, this is pretty damn cute. Today we did our grocery shopping and spent the rest of the day hanging out watching football. Well, Christen has been watching football, and I have been puttering around the house cleaning and pruning the trees out front and doing some weeding. I hate yard work. I like the end result, but I hate the heat and the itching (the weeds rubbed my arms and legs and gave me a light rash) and it's hard! I asked Christen to bag my scraps and he said he'd do it tomorrow so I raked it all into a huge pile and left it in the driveway for him -- boy is he going to be surprised! It comes up higher than his truck bumper ... hehe.

Saturday night I went out to Ceviche for Stacy's birthday -- yum! I ordered the duck in chocolate port sauce (my absolute favorite), the stuffed artichokes and the snails with tomato and pastry. There was lots of sangria, and an almond croissant for dessert -- we all had so much fun!

I made Publix's Apron String recipe for Buffalo Chicken Chimichangas tonight and they were delicious and super easy! I substitutes black beans for the refried because I don't like refried but they were wonderful. Not something I would normally even think to try, but Other April made them a couple weeks ago and told me how good they were. I recommend -- two thumbs up!

I subscribed to Rachel Ray's magazine a last month, and this makes Christen happy because I can try out more of her recipes but he doesn't have to listen to her. And I have to admit, reading EVOO and Yum-o is much less obnoxious than hearing it. This week I'm trying her White Bean Chicken and Poblano Chili which looks tasty and super easy. Also making the Twice Fried Chicken Wings (Asian sesame wings) and September's Coconut Curry Chicken.

Also because of RR's magazine, I've found what I want to get Shea for Christmas! Now I just have five million other people to figure out and figure out how to pay for it all.

Pasta Milano a la Macaroni Grill

I don't usually post my own recipes, but I was so excited by how good this came out that I had to. I just had to.

Pasta Milano

• 12 oz farfalle pasta (bowtie)


• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream


• 1 1/2 cups fresh grated parmesan cheese


• 2 oz cream cheese


• 3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 1/2 heaping tsp minced garlic)


• 1 pint sliced mushrooms


• 4 oz julianned sun-dried tomatoes in oil or dry (if dry, soak in water to hydrate and drain)


• 4 Tbs butter


• 1-1 1/2 lbs grilled chicken, roughly chopped


• salt and pepper, to taste


• fresh grated parmesan cheese to taste

1. Grill chicken (salt and pepper to taste), roughly chop and set aside.


2. In a large pot of salted water, cook bowtie pasta as per directions.


3. While pasta cooks, combine cream, parmesan cheese, cream cheese and garlic in a sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until cheeses are melted. Add a little salt and pepper as you see fit.


4. In a large pan, melt butter over high heat and saute mushrooms until almost tender. Add sundried tomatoes and continue to saute until all are cooked.


5. Take pan off heat, add cream sauce and stir to combine.


6. Once pasta is cooked, drain and return to pot. Add mushroom cream sauce and grilled chicken to the pot and stir to combine completely.


7. Serve with a little grated cheese over top.

Enjoy! Serves at least 4 hungry mouths.

Seriously, I know there's a lot of steps and it used three whole pots, but make this and your SO will gladly clean the kitchen. I think mine is deciding which day next week we're having it again, and he hasn't even finished cleaning the kitchen yet!

I don't have any pictures -- We dug in before I had a chance to take one, and leftovers are already set for lunches tomorrow.

Unamerican and feeling ancient.

At the risk of sounding (or feeling) un-American, I have to say that I am already getting seriously sick of football. This is coming from someone who actually likes football. My problem is this: I hate college football. I always have, I don't know why. I'll watch an occasional Gators game, and as USF started getting national recognition, I've watched their games. You know, alumni spirit and all that. Otherwise, give me my NFL or give me death.

But somehow this season somehow football has exploded onto my television. I think at this point if the only football on was a local high school game, it would probably be on my tv. Especially if it was broadcast in HD. Please won't someone make it stop?

I am sick again. I know it's Spencer's fault. But really, it's not. I have a terrible immune system. I don't know why, but if I brush up against someone with the sniffles in Target I come down with the plague. I think this one came on because of the new holes in my mouth, because when the dentist was yanking them out of my head it bothered my sinuses. This really isn't very farfetched; those roots were crazy deep.

Spencer's getting his second tooth. He's not nearly as cheery about this one, and I can see it under the skin so I'm hoping it cuts tomorrow. He's a whiny cranky mess this weekend. He would only nap laying on me, which meant I had to deal with hand sanitizer so hopefully I keep my plague away from him.

But (okay, I'm going to say it), yer darn right I'm going to get some sleep tonight. I've taken Sudafed and a Unisom, and I better get a full 8 hours of sleep tonight. Christen will just have to get Spencer when he wakes up 10 times through the night. Sadly it's 9pm and I'm thinking of hitting the hay. I do this every night. When did I turn 60?

A Mouth Full of Ow.

I went to the dentist today. My first visit in five years or so. I was a little worried. I needed some work done last time I saw a dentist, but all they did was berate me for not taking good care of my teeth so I didn't want to deal with it. So ... I just ignored it.

Over the past five years, I've had two cavities that have gotten worse. I knew they were worse. If I left them alone, they'd be fine. But if I did something to them, like chew on that side, it was not good. It didn't help that one was on the left, and one was on the right.

So finally I got up the nerve to see a new dentist. I've never been scared of the dentist, I just don't like being "yelled at". Tell me how to fix it. Let's make a plan. Don't just sit there and tell me how all my teeth are going to rot out because I don't get them cleaned every 6 months. But I chose a new practice near my house in a good part of town.

I went today. And for $12, they kept those two teeth.

Surprisingly enough, I still like them, and I'm going to go back to get the rest of the things done that need doing.

Now, if only the gauze would stop the bleeding.