A lesson learned...

at Perkins at 1 am.  What is that lesson, you ask?  Don't order breakfast from Tina!  Here's how the breakfast date went down:

Joshua and I get there at 12:45-ish and we're the only customers in the place.  I decided (and pointed) I wanted the Country Sausage Scrambler (one of my faves), with a side of pancakes to share with my sweetie.  I get the Sausage and Veggie Scrambler - one of their new items.  I let Tina know that this isn't what I had wanted despite her stating sweetly "oh, this is what you ordered..."  I politely let her know that no, it's not what I had ordered and that I wanted the Country Sausage Scrambler with sausage, gravy, etc.  "Ohhh!  I'm sorry!" and she said she'd go fix it.  In the meantime, she brought a muffin free of charge for the mix-up.  In a few minutes, she brings me my "correct" order but this is now the Chicken Fried Steak Scrambler.  "Is that right?"  "No, but that's fine."  "Well, this has the gravy that you had wanted"  "Yeah but I wanted sausage with it, not chicken fried steak".  Still confused she says she's going to go get the menus so I know what to order next time and so that we're clear.  So AGAIN, I point to what I had ordered in the first place and she says "Ohhh!  so this (pointing to my second attempt) is the Country Fried Chicken Scrambler"  "No, this isn't chicken, it's country fried steak"  Ugh!  So around and around this went for another minute or so and I said it was fine, I'd pick around it because I wasn't going to waste ANOTHER plate of food.  She brought me my sausage on a separate plate and I picked out the gross chicken fried steak and finished my breakfast.  She came back awhile later and says "Oh, I'm so glad you liked it" to which I replied "Well, I didn't really.  I just picked the other stuff out"  She thanked me a few times for being "so cool" about the mix-ups and how sorry it was she couldn't get her only table's order correct.  While Tina was very nice, she couldn't have had much more than a few marbles rollin' around up there in her head.

Oh well.  It gave Joshua and I a good chuckle.

Until later...

It's a Monday for sure...

I'm a little tired, a little sad and a little unmotivated.  No worries, it's all par for the course today.  :)

I worked this morning and got home a little after 10 am.  Joshua and I hung out for a bit, ran some errands and had lunch then came back home to cuddle for a bit before he had to leave to work.  Today is his first day at the same job but with a new schedule - 3pm to 11pm.  This means he's got to leave our house by 1:40pm and doesn't get home until around 12:15am.  Bummer.  HOWEVER... we're trying to look at it in a positive light.  While we won't have dinner together every night, we can have lunch.  This also frees up a few hours during the day to get errands run or small projects done - things we didn't want to do in the evenings after a long day's work.   Joshua gets to sleep in each morning and I get to wake up extra early.  (well, I don't know if that part is a positive. (: )  I talked to my boss and she's willing to help me out by having me work mornings so I'm done by 10 - give or take an hour.  So that will be nice to have that time with Joshua before he leaves.  My biggest challenge will be dinners, er, I mean lunches.  I'll have to be sure that we have a good lunch so that he'll have leftovers to take into work.  Today we had Panera.  Oops.  :)  I'm thinking a yummy goulash for sometime later this week.  In the meantime, I have bought 2 boxes of cereal and some milk so I've got my dinners figured out for the week.  hahaha... sorta. Perhaps the 'bou gals and I can plan a few more Ladies Nights now...

That's about all I got for now.
Until next time...

Well, it's Sunday...

Which means it will be time for me to pack my bags and head back home from LAX before to day is over. Thus far it's been a splendid time with my gal pal and her beau.   We've puttered around the downtown area, did a little rummaging, ate some chinese and had some coffee, soda and beer.  :)
In addition to our shopping, we started a MONSTER batch of monster cookies last night.  Lemme tell you, this recipe will feed an army of cookie eaters.  :)  In fact, we're still baking this morning... and have dough to spare. :)  The cookies are dang tasty and I'm excited to try it again sometime.  Perhaps when I'm snowed in the house and it's not worth going out at all.  I'll include the recipe below.  My cookie source says it should make about 20 dozen cookies, depending on size.  Enjoy...  And until later...

Monster Batch of Monster Cookies:
1 T. corn syrup
8 tsp baking soda
12 eggs
4 c. sugar
2 lb bag of brown sugar
1 lb butter
3 lb peanut butter (I'll use a mix of creamy and chunky next time)
42 oz quick oats
1 lb M&M's
1 bag chocolate chips
 Get one big honkin' bowl and cream first 6 ingredients.  Add PB in stages, mixing thoroughly.  Add oats, M&M's and chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Eat!

Today is going ...

GREAT!  It was a good day at work.  Worked with girls I like.  Then got off a little early because my co-workers and boss are super swell!  Then was able to get the car gassed up.  Got home to a CLEAN KITCHEN because my husband is totally awesome!!!  Now I just need to finish up a few things before heading to Rochester to have lunch with Joshua and then on to LaCrosse (LAX) to visit a sweet gal named Weezie and her fella' B-Bear.  The day is just running along so smoothly. :)

Dinner with the in-laws went well last night.  We had a good time visiting and watching the game, despite the Vikings loosing.  And to top it all off, FIL came bearing a huge bouquet of flowers for me and MIL came with arms full of goodies from Illinois family!   Thank you Aunt Cindy and Aunt Donna and Grandma Rauch for the wonderful treats!!!  It was so sweet of you to think of us!  What a wonderful extended family I've married into! :)

Well, I'll end this now in case anyone is sick of reading the sugary sweetness of this blog today.

Until later...

My plans... part 2

So I thought I'd include my recipe for dinner tonight. 

Mexi-Veggie Salad
1 can of rinsed/drained black beans
2 celery stalks
3 green/red/yellow or orange peppers
1/2 an onion
2 tomatoes
1/4-1/2 c cilantro
1 jalapeno - seeded (opt)
All of the veggies get diced and tossed with the black beans.
Then you toss with the dressing and let sit one hour.
Dressing:
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp cumin
2 T. fresh lime juice
1/4 c. olive oil.
 I also eat this on chips sometimes or you could grill some chicken breasts, dice it up and put it all on a chopped lettuce salad.

For my mini taco burgers, I mix in a few Tbls of taco seasoning and a little grated onion into some 93/7 lean ground beef (sometimes I use turkey).  Then I grill or pan cook these until done and top with some grated cheese, a little salsa, perhaps some guac (mashed avocado, cilantro, lime juice and a tiny bit of salt to taste) all on a mini bun. 

I hope you enjoy... if you try it. :)

My plans...

I'm off of work and it was a successful day at Caribou.  I got some yummy snacks for Joshua to take to work tomorrow  and I'm drinking a latte with 1/2 dark chocolate and 1/2 shot of sugar free pumpkin syrup.  It's delicious and is really making me excited for this fall weather. :)

Tonight we're having Joshua's folks over for the first official football game of the season!  Vikings vs the Saints.  We'll have some mini taco burgers and some mexi-veggie salad and enjoy the game and company. 

This afternoon will have to be a trip to the grocery store, packing for my lil' getaway to LAX to visit Weezie, getting dinner prepped and the house picked up.  Ahhh, a woman's work is never done.  :)

Until later...

I'm a virgin...

... blogger that is.  :)  I'm not sure what to write but I thought it might be fun to scribble stuff about what's going on in my life.  Perhaps far away family and friends might find it fun to get updates.  I'll probably include things like yummy dinners (and perhaps not-so-yummy dinners) we've had, plans we're making, weekend happenings.... I'm just not sure.  I mean, do I start with, "dear, blog readers", or "dear, blog diary"...

Tonight Joshua (my husband) said he'd help me start up a fantasy football team.  It's been a friendly family competition between his mom, dad and brother and I've participated a few years.  All I need him to do is get me back in the mind frame of picking good players... I can take it from there.  I'd hate for him to think he had something to do with me winning the 2010/11 season.  Haha!  Perhaps we'll have some BBQ chicken breast sandwiches and corn on the cob for dinner as we contemplate football.  Hard to believe the actual season starts TOMORROW!  Go Pats!! 

Well, that's all I have for now.