Hunger Games

My weekend was a lot of fun but way too short.

Friday night I had some steaks in my freezer and I wanted to grill them but two things...there were two steaks equaling 3.5lbs of meat and I don't grill well. We have a charcoal grill and I'm not good at judging things on it cooking wise. J rocks at it he really is the grill master but I do better with a stove and an oven. So I asked my wonderful neighbor if I provided the steaks would he do the cooking. So I took my half cow over to their house and the three of us had steak, crab cakes, sweet potatoes, and garlic bread. It beat any steak place hands down. So good.

Saturday I was a bump. I got up to take care of the dogs and to pick up the yard so the same neighbor could mow. Then I napped on the couch. But I needed it. Then Mom and I went to see Hunger Games (with everyone else and their aunt and uncle). We went to a 3:00 showing and it was sold out. A few observations...

• You don't have to have read the book to enjoy the movie.
• The story line feels oddly familiar to me like a book I read in high school familiar but I can't place it.
• I think because I hadn't read the book I was missing some background material that would have been helpful.
• I liked the fact that it wasn't so graphically violent which I knew it wouldn't be because it is PG-13.
• I love that the main character Katniss is such a strong female character.
• I enjoyed the "love triangle." 
• I haven't been in such a quiet theater since I saw World Trade Center.
• The cast was perfectly picked. Each actor portrayed their role brilliantly.

For now that is all I'm going to say because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. But I recommend you go see it.

Then Sunday was the usual church and errands stuff. 

How was your weekend?

Bikes, Blood, & Birthdays

You may be asking yourself what do these have in common....they were all involved in my weekend.

Friday - We rode the bike over to Bayside to watch Ghostrider on  their lawn. It was fun! We like that movie and watching it out in the open was a lot of fun and we had a nice evening for it. We did determine that drivers on the interstate (most of them) don't pay enough attention to bikers. They didn't realize we needed space too.

Saturday - We woke up and took care of  then I made breakfast. Then we took the bike back over to Bayside for their 12th anniversary. They had three ways to help the community...you could give hair to locks of love, you could donate food to the Food Bank, or you could give blood to the Red Cross. We decided to give blood...but J was too close to the last time he gave so he couldn't. I gave and had the worst experience with them finding a vein that I have ever had in my whole life. It took three people digging (literally) to find a vein. And then they commented it was slow...gee maybe because you stressed the vein. But I gave my pint. We ate some lunch and headed home.

A dear friend of ours was throwing a birthday party for her Mom so we went to that for a while Saturday afternoon. It was a lot of fun we saw people we hadn't seen in a while. And got to celebrate with her Mom. When I got home I realized I was quite sunburned on my back and shoulders.

Sunday - We had a relaxing morning. Then we went grocery shopping. Then we came home and fixed lunch. We spent the evening watching John Wayne movies...J loves them. I sewed a couple things. One of which didn't work according to plan. I'm not sure what happened so I'm going to have to revamp that one a bit. I don't know if I'll tear it apart and start over or if I'll just leave it and cut out new fabric. We'll see. I hate ripping things out.

So how was your weekend?

P.S. There will be three giveaways this week...a fabric one, a bead one, and a finished project one. I'll have pictures and entry options up tomorrow for the fabric one, Wednesday for the bead one, and Thursday for the finished project one. I haven't decided if I'll draw all together or if they'll be separate.

Weekend Review

It was a good weekend for us but Saturday was a busy one.

Friday was a relaxed evening for us at home.

Saturday involved a trip to Fresh Market to stock up for our next two week menu. It was a bit busy but not too bad. We decided to take the bike to a couple of gatherings. One about an hour away the other was about 20 minutes away. It was a nice day for a ride although we did hit a bit of rain on the way home. We got home and relaxed a bit.

Sunday was a laid back day. Laundry in the morning. Lunch with my parents at a local German restaurant. A "quick trip to Lowes" that lasted an hour. (pretty usual for us) Then home to relax. We finished the night with True Blood.

This week is Vacation Bible School at work and my co-worker is off this week. She claims it was coincidence but we're not so sure. ;-)

Weekend Update

So this weekend was nice...quiet...no big plans. My kind of weekend.

Friday I got off work almost on time. Whoo hoo so I go home and find J on his way out the door to go get lumber for building an arbor around our hot tub. (more on this later) I decide to relax on the couch with puppies. Good decision. He gets home and unloads stuff I decide I should start dinner. We eat dinner then I spend the evening inside while J spends the evening outside with our neighbor. Worked out well for all involved. Early to bed for me. Late to bed for J.

Saturday I get up to deal with dogs. J stayed in bed a bit to catch up from his late night. The morning was relaxed and that was nice. We watched Miracle and Invincible (you know I'm a sucker for sports movies). J decided he was still tired so he took a nap. I decided to go run some errands on Saturday. I stopped to get a cupcake on my way to getting a pedicure. I stopped by this salon and decided to try a bite of my cupcake before going in.(side note it was an amazing cupcake) All the sudden there is a guy in my side view gesturing for me to roll down my window. So I do...and he is asking me questions about how to get to a street that is less than a block up the road. So I tell him keep walking it is your next street with a traffic light. He goes on to tell me he's new to the area and isn't familiar with the area. Will this next street take him to Jefferson (another major street). Yes I explain then he says he is really trying to get to this 7-11 on Jefferson close to rt. 17. I explain to him that it is a long walk (15 minutes by car) and he might want to call his friend to see if he can come get him. He proceeds to ask me if I'm married. To which I respond "yes happily." He says he respects that. He asks me if I live at the house I'm stopped in front of. No. Then he asks if I work there. No. Then he asks me if I'd be will drive him to Jefferson the next major road. I say I'm sorry but I'm not headed that way so maybe he should call his friend. He walks off. I check the salon it is closed. So I get in my car make a u-turn and head elsewhere. If J had been with me maybe but not by myself. Weird. I go home and tell J the story. He agrees with my decision not to pick him up. We ordered dinner. Watch the movie The Cowboys. Then we decide to go out to a local putt putt and arcade. We play putt putt, then a racing game, then skee ball. My favorite. I love it. Seriously even as an adult I love it. (as a side note I beat J by one point in putt putt) This urks him.

Sunday was an equally leisurely day. Woke up. J went to work in the yard. I met Mom for lunch at Olive Garden. Came home relaxed. Made dinner. Finished the night making cookies and watching True Blood.

So what did you do this weekend? Any interesting stories?

Weekend review...

We had a nice quiet weekend. But we needed it. We'd been busy busy busy with going out of town and so we needed a down weekend to catch up.

Friday...
I got off from work a bit late then had to go to the bank and the post office. When I got home J was relaxing with the puppies. We decided to go out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant. (J doesn't get my love of oriental food but he works with it) It was very yummy. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to use a gift card to buy the curved shower curtain rod we wanted. (more on that later) We also went to The Fresh Market to buy groceries (I love their bulk coffee). Then we came home and watched some tv with the puppies and then headed to bed.

Saturday...
We got to sleep in which was nice. Then we made coffee and J watched "Axe Men." I don't see the draw but he loves it. Then we went to a local farmers market that we hadn't been to before. We were a bit disappointed at the selection...not a lot of produce, etc. But I bought some yummy homemade sourdough bread. Then we walked around the town there and then came home because it was warming up. We stopped at Bloom to pick up a few items we missed at the Fresh Market. When we got home J started working on putting up the shower rod. This required a new drill bit. Once it was all done it was nice. More spacious.We had bought some steaks at The Fresh Market but after looking at them we decided we only needed to cook one. We grilled the steak after marinading it in a Blackberry & Chipotle marinade. We also grilled our sweet potatoes. And I fixed some corn on the cob. Very yummy. We watched a Back to the Future Marathon. I got a craving for some ice cream so we went to Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. Very yummy!

Sunday...
We woke up and made breakfast then we sort of lounged around the house a bit. I was really tired so we napped for a bit. Then I got up and watched Pearl Harbor such a good movie. I fixed dinner and we relaxed around the house a bit. Then we watched the season premiere of True Blood. We love that show...and this season brings werewolves. Very exciting. Then we headed to bed.

As I said a very relaxing and laid back weekend but we needed it.

Monster Trucks and Cinco de Mayo...

Or what I did this weekend...

Last time J's sister M and her fiance J were over my J offered to take him out this past weekend for his final hurrah of sorts. So Friday night M's fiance came over and the guys went out bar hopping. They had a good time even though some of the bars were a bit dead for a Friday. While they were out I finished the jewelry I was making for J's sister for her maid of honor. It was a good night for the puppies and I, they laid around and I got a lot done. Normally Ares goes in his crate and Eva just roams the downstairs but with M's fiance spending the night on the couch we realized that they would need to sleep upstairs. I made up the couch and headed to bed. We (the puppies and I) were all peacefully sleeping when the guys got home. The dogs went nuts barking and whining. So needless to say it was a late night with little sleep. M loved the jewelry and thinks her sister (the maid of honor) will love it too.

Saturday we woke up around 8:00 AM with the puppies ready to go. So we got up made coffee, etc. J had a to-do list of stuff he wanted to get done around the house. But he wasn't really motivated so he sat and sat. We had a friend's son's birthday party to go to at 2:00 PM that day so he felt his day was shot time wise and he postponed the list to Sunday. So we went to Lowe's to get supplies for the projects and then to Target for a birthday present for our friend's son. He is a four year old boy...what does he like Monster Trucks...so we got him a monster truck race set with an additional monster truck. We also bought his older brother a monster truck so he could play too. It was fun shopping for him. Then home to get ready to go to the party. We got there and it was a nice quiet party. Good food of hot dogs and hamburgers and a yummy cake!!

Then we came home to let our neighbors dog out and get ready for our next event. We headed to our friends' annual Cinco de Mayo party. We had so much fun. J was the designated driver so I had a few (too many) margaritas. It was a lot of fun that night but not so much fun the next morning. It took me most of the day to feel normal. J however felt great and got his list knocked out including installing an awesome new fan in our living room. Oh what a wonderful difference it makes. And he makes it look so easy to just throw it up there and go. And it has a remote (we have high ceilings) so you can adjust the speed easily. It helped cool down the house but we still ended up turning on the AC to help cool down the puppies. We ordered in dinner and watched Celebrity Apprentice.

I'm trying to get up to date on previous seasons of Lost before the series finally. And thanks to Netflix I can get all the previous seasons instantly. It is great so we watched episodes all afternoon. I know I'm a little behind but it seems fitting to catch up before it goes off.

Weekend Update...

We had a pretty busy weekend this weekend but we got a lot done so that was good.

Friday I ended up working later than I thought because we had a partial power outage and then a church member came in and needed to talk. That is a part of my job that I can't always account for...sometimes things come up last minute. And to be honest it was one of my favorite members so I didn't mind. Then when I got home I woke up J so we could go grocery shopping. We decided to go to the commissary... a bit crazy because of the fact that it was pay day weekend but really it wasn't too bad. We got everything we needed and headed home. We planned to unload the groceries and then start cleaning up the house. Best laid plans...we got home and unloaded the car...worked a logic puzzle to pack the freezer...cleaned out the slightly overstuffed fridge. And then I hit my energy wall. I was hot and tired and in no mood to clean house. So we decided to take it easy and get a good nights sleep and start fresh in the morning.

Well he got a phone call from a friend who is going through some crap and so I got an energy spurt and cleaned up the kitchen counter and the bar. With my new favorite product...fabuloso. That meant less to do Saturday.

Saturday Ares woke us up at around 7:30 AM...we got up got he and Eva settled and started cleaning. I worked on shampooing the couch and cleaning the cushion covers while J worked on vacuuming the kitchen and mopping the kitchen floor. Then we moved upstairs to vacuum the stairs, the hallway, etc. J cleaned the bathroom while I changed the cat litter and shampooed the carpet in the craft room. Then we went back downstairs to put the couch back together and vacuum. His sister was coming at 6:00 and we were cutting it close. They got there early and I didn't have dinner done so M and I talked while I fixed dinner and the guys hung out outside. We had a nice dinner of Chicken Parmesan, salad, and bread sticks. Followed by a Kahlua layered dessert that was really sinfully yummy. We had a great time with good food and conversation. I may or may not have set the oven on fire due to some residue grease. But I'm not fully admitting fault on that one. We ended up staying up late so I could get dishes cleaned up.

Sunday We let Eva and Ares sleep in our room Saturday night and they let us sleep until 9:00 AM Sunday. We got up made coffee and J cooked breakfast. It was delicious. We were going to try and go to church but we didn't quite make it. We watched Ghostbusters and Fools Gold. Then we napped for a bit before we had to go to an event for my work. We went to the event which included wonderful food and excitement over our new building campaign at work. It was an enjoyable evening. I look forward to seeing what is ahead for work. We got home and watched the last few minutes of Minute to Win It  and Celebrity Apprentice. J did some laundry and we headed to bed.

A busy but fun weekend and I have a clean house!!!