Tales of Me and the Husband

small annoyances.

  • when william and lindsey finish the 2% milk moments after its arrival in the house and then i am forced to eat my cereal with steve’s skim milk (which is creamy blueish tinted water.  it is not milk).
  • hearing commercials like i did last night on the radio: “multi-room DVRS!  no one has to wait any longer to watch their show.  you want to watch something, your kids want to watch something.  no more waiting!”  what ever happened to patience?  waiting your turn?  what ever happened to non-instant gratification?  is there any character building going on when one never has to wait for what they want anymore?
  • when i lack motivation to go work out.  yes, that new year’s resolution… not going so well.
  • when gracie gets up at 6:30 am and starts playing with her collar (we take it off the night before for quiet’s sake) so that all the tags clink together and then i can’t go back to sleep.
  • when bloggers whose posts are like my morning coffee take a week off.  come back soon cjane.
  • having one nostril clogged while you try to sleep
  • dust/dirt inside
  • having less than 10 minutes to get ready to go work out because you kept thinking of small annoyances 
steve hates when i make this face.  
i think he finds it creepy or something.  
but alas, i declare it my small annoyances face.

happy birthday to the best dad.

Today is this tall guy’s birthday.  This guy is my Dad.  I seriously love him (so much so that I’m writing this even though I know he won’t read this blog since the one and only time he’s been to it is when I opened it for him on our computer).  I know most of us love our Dads, but I seriously love this guy.  He is the kindest, friendliest, most gregarious guy I know.  The man knows everyone, and those who he doesn’t know, he wants to know.  And not just on a surface level.  My Dad seriously wants to be friends with everybody.  Isn’t that sweet?
He has given me a love for camping–something we did more than once a year for as long as I can remember.  He has given me a love for my country, for music (we share so much of the same music taste that I must attribute my penchant for Paul Simon & James Taylor to him), for kayaking, for, as he always calls them, “shoot-em-up” movies like Braveheart and Black Hawk Down, and for good food (particularly breakfast food like banana french toast and hash browns).  He is always lending a hand to a daughter in need of a bathroom renovation, or electrician-question, plumbing, woodwork, you name it.  He’s a jack of all trades.
He is a great guy.  One of the best guys I know.  He cries, which I personally think is great.  If he hears a good country song, the man’s in tears.  When he thinks about his daughters, tears.  He is a proud man, a really good man.  He is such a dreamer.  He dreams of cabins in the woods, sailing trips across oceans, building his own canoe.  He loves deeply.  And, what can I say, we love him back.  

So on this birthday, I would like to say happy birthday Dad.  We all love you.
One sweet little story and then I promise I’m done.  My Dad was a volunteer firefighter forever in the town where I grew up.  I was at a freshman-year spring dance at high school when one of the balloons somehow set off the fire alarm.  We all had to leave the gym and wait until the firefighters came.  We all stood in our pretty dresses and painted nails outside the gym.  Then came the firemen and there was my dad, all suited up.  He smiled and waved at me.  I was so proud to be his daughter.  (Just as an FYI, sometimes he fought actual fires… not just rogue balloon “fires”).  
(He made that for us.  Just whipped it up for a Christmas present.  You want one?)
(Mom, would you print this out so he’ll actually see his b-day message?)

Three-Column Blog.

What a cop-out.  I didn’t post all day and now I am posting to ask for help.  But, here I go anyway.

I want a three-column blog much like you’ll see here:  1, 2, or 3.

I tried the directions here but couldn’t get it in the order column, posts, column (it was column, column, posts).  Once in layout version, it wouldn’t let me click and drag columns to be on the right side of the posts, in case that’d be your suggestion.  It also didn’t use the whole page, so everything sort of shrunk.

I know I could play with numbers all day and perhaps get it how I want, but the whole thing makes me a little nervous and the Edit HTML area is like Greek to me.  No, worse.  Mandarin Chinese.

I really want to keep my posts as big as I already have them (the pictures mainly) while getting three-columns.  Is this allowed?

Do I need a web-designer?

Help.

Thank you Elizabeth for your help so far!  

In the meantime, enjoy this picture that has absolutely nothing to do with this post.

{via}

Oscar Observations.

Best Dressed
                    

  • Zoe’s was risky (and I think she’s getting worst dressed in some places) but I liked it.  She is gooorgeous.
  • And Cameron Diaz wore red lipstick – what more can one say?  
  • Sandra Bullock looked good too.
  • Kathy Ireland was an odd pick to host the red carpet… the whole thing was, well, odd.
  • Was George Clooney actually pissed or was that a shtick?  Maybe it was because he realized his movie didn’t really deserve all the nominations it was getting?  
  • Finally Mariah Carey sort of toned down the boobs.  Only sort of. 
  • Maybe Rachel McAdams and Jake Gyllenhall would make a good couple (I like Reese though but it appears that they’re all done).
  • Where were Brad and Angelina?  I count on seeing them.  Angie always looks good.
  • I didn’t see the Hurt Locker, but I’m disappointed Avatar didn’t win.
  • I’m happy for Sandra Bullock, but Meryl Streep as Julia Childs was fab-u-lous.
  • Molly Ringwald seemed like she hadn’t been in the spotlight in years.  Breathe girl, breathe.
  • I liked seeing Ducky from Pretty in Pink though (click that–best Ducky scene evah).  
  • Overall I thought this was a sort of boring Oscars.
  • Can’t wait for next year!

Blog round-up.

I don’t have much to say today and I am on my way out the door.
I will however share with you some of my favorite blogs as of late.
Lucky, lucky you.
In no particular order (no getting your panties in a bunch)…

Cupcakes and Cashmere

Kendi Everyday

Pen.ny

Rockstar Diaries

Homemade Grits

Everyday Musings

You Are My Fave

(check out my ads in the last two!)
and there are others… and I love you too… 
I think I’m going to take Lindsey to see this this weekend.
Saturday all the boys are here, there, and everywhere!
So I’m declaring it a ‘girl’s day.’
It’s not going to be too scary for a brave 7-year old, is it?

A delicious bolognese.

I made this bolognese sauce last night and it pleased the tastebuds.  It is my first bolognese and it was very easy (I almost said super easy but using the word super irks me a bit.).  It is a true bolognese, a recipe from a friend of a friend who is Italian, so I think it’s a pretty legit recipe.  Either way, it’s really good.  It’s not chunky like other bolognese recipes, so if you like that, give this baby a try.

Bolognese Sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 carrot
3-4 cloves garlic
1 yellow onion
2-3 T olive oil
1-2 T salt
1/4 c merlot/cabernet
1 can tomato puree (28 oz.)
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz.)
1/2 cup-1 cup pecorino romano
optional: basil

Brown beef, drain, and puree in cuisinart.  Put aside.  Take raw vegetables (carrot, garlic, onion) and puree them really well.  They should be like a mush (sounds delish, right?).  Sautee them with some olive oil in the beef pan for about 7-10 minutes.  Now, switch the veggies to a pot of some sort because you’ll be adding lots more ingredients.  In the pot, add the beef with the veggies, and 1/4 cup of merlot or cabernet and 1-2 T salt (sounds like a lot but this is IT for seasoning).  Sautee 10 minutes until wine is absorbed.  Add whole can of puree and 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes.  Bring to boil and simmer.  After an hour, add the cheese.  Let simmer for 3 hours, or more.  Add the additional 1/2 can of tomatoes if you prefer it a little less thick (I did).  This recipe freezes well too.

Pour it over spaghetti, pair it with some delicious bread, a glass of red wine, and bon apetit (said in a Julia Childs voice)!

{quite possibly the best bread in the state of massachusetts}

Afterwards, you should eat these brownies.  

i’m gracie and i’m special.

gracie has no idea that her ear is flipped up.  
i would think it’d feel weird or uncomfortable.  
but no, it will stay this way until i fix it for her.  
funny how half the width of her head practically disappears when it happens.
she doesn’t look nearly as intelligent as usual
with half her head gone.
she’s posing for the toy i am holding above my head, 
otherwise she’d never be such a good sport about all this.
……………………….
random fact: did you hear that the chile earthquake may have shortened days on earth by 1.26 milliseconds because it was so big?  crazy, right?  it actually may have shifted the earth on its axis.  
holy moly, i say to that.

James Taylor is my favorite.

Since I was probably seven or so, Copperline has been one of my all-time favorite songs (click that link – you know you wanna).  When I say that James Taylor’s soothing melodies do something to my soul I mean they do something to my soul.  My friend’s Dad (Maria, this is you I’m talking about!) had the New Moon Shine CD and when I was at their house I used to pop it into the stereo and play Copperline over and over again.  I was like nine at the time, which looking back seems a little young to sit and bask in James Taylor’s glory, but I was a strange kid maybe?

Anyway, I’ve said that if I had to only listen to one singer’s music for the rest of my life, it’d be him (but how many people really are forced, at gunpoint, to choose only one singer/band to listen to for the rest of their lives?  I don’t read about that happening much on the news these days).  This is hard because I’m a lover of Paul Simon too.  And there are others.  But man, that James Taylor.  And it doesn’t stop at Copperline.

So, you can imagine the glee that would ensue if I were to ever meet James Taylor.  Well, lookie here.  I did.  And I was star struck.  Totally and completely.

(I was too embarassed to ask for a picture and I just didn’t want to be “that girl” so Steve asked for me and said that his daughter really wanted a picture with him.  That would be Lindsey.  She was oh, 4?  Do 4-year olds typically ask for pictures with old singer/songwriters?).

(Also, Jordan went up to him before the show and said, “I really liked that Route 66 song you did for the movie Cars.”  He said, “Well, I didn’t do that one, but that is a really good song.”  Can you imagine!?!)

So, here I am, just sharing with you one of the greatest days ever.

Now go listen to some more James Taylor.

I might be personally offended if you comment that you don’t like him.

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