Weekend in Brazil

Wouldn't this be a great front door mat??!  I think it might be the next one after our "Go Away" welcome mat...

 

I shared all the amusing things I found on FB with Robb as we headed to the big city to celebrate our "anti cruise", as Maddy dubbed it.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites and pretended we were on the cruise.  

Well, except for the absolute stillness of the hotel with no pitching on the waves at all... and no warm view from our window.  The temps were in the negatives most of the weekend.

There was a whistling wind outside our window though.

And to our chagrin, I got paged this weekend with a HUGE issue on a client's server.  Uggg.. I put in a lot of hours here and there babysitting it until late Sunday when I realized why there were so many files to process...  AHA!  That dropped it from 150,000 files down to a reasonable 2600...  

If only that extra work magically appeared as more money...  We would SO side the house.

Anyway, this is us this weekend in the almost exact same place we took the one from 3 years ago.

2018

2021

Robb noticed he had a lot more gray and was wearing the same shirt.

Our room was right off the elevators and apparently that's where the cool kids hang out.  If we were in the living room of our suite, we heard them laughing and talking.  I'm not impressed with the language of modern kids...   But I guess they impress themselves.

A couple teen girls knocked on our door and when I answered it they said oops - wrong room.

Robb thinks they'd dared each other.

FUN GAME GIRLS!!!

If they would have knocked again, I'd have made sure they were embarrassed greatly by their "mistake"... Where's my negligee?

On Saturday, we ventured out in the cold and saw a movie made for video gamers.  We were the only ones in the theater except for a couple young nerdy guys in the back.  Milla Jovovich kept things interesting tho and I enjoyed the movie!  Robb thinks I hated it.  This is the man who picked out No Escape for our anniversary one year and then wanted to take me to John Wick Chapter 2 on a date.  I've just grown accustomed to action packed movies with a lot of people killed.  It doesn't HAVE to be a romantic movie when we're on a date weekend...  

After the matinee, we went to a restaurant with a Brazil theme, that was AWESOME!!!  We didn't drink any wine but the rack of it behind Robb's chair was REALLY cool...

And I almost said it had a Brazilian theme, but that's totally something else, right?

This restaurant had a huge salad bar and on our table, we had a little wooden stand.  Red on the bottom and green on the top.  If we had the stand with green on the top, the waiters came by every few minutes with various types of meat on the skewer...  It was wonderful!  Better than the breadsticks hand outs at Fazolis and a LOT more frequent!  KEEP IT COMING!  We were stuffed by 4pm when we finally flipped it over to the red side.  So we didn't need any supper at all.

We'll need to take all the kids here sometime, but probably not Leon.  They don't sell hotdogs here.

It was a great weekend and now we're home...

Toss Up Tuesday

On Friday, I was at Meri's house earlier in the day and as she walked across the room, I saw something akin to a bandage on her back. 

Um... Meri ???  Please tell me that that's not a bandage for a tattoo on your back!

Happened to be a bow for her shirt!  Whew!

But then she was concerned that with her hair down, no one would see her bow and think it was a bandage also, so she decided for an up-do for her Valentine's date that evening.

I came back after picking up the boy at the bus stop and did a quick french braid starting from the nape of her neck, up.  

She dolled up her do with makeup

and Shub completed the look with roses.

And who doesn't love a good martyr meme for a Facebook Valentine card!?!  Robb posted this and tagged me.

OOH Chocolates!

We also got each other new frying pans.  Aren't WE romantical?

That night, Robb and I used our Christmas present and went to a movie!  Of course, he had to tease his Facebook friends earlier with this.

"Suggested to Val that we see the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie for valentine's day. I guess the derisive snort means she is considering it."

(I was not considering it)

We got some supper quick at a local Subway before heading over to the movie.  The gal there gave us free cookies!  Woohoo!  SCORE!

So when we got to the theater, Robb made sure we took a selfie in front of the Sonic movie poster.  It will be a cold day in Hell before I see that movie.  Not that I hate Sonic...  I just don't want to see it.

We actually saw Knives Out!  It's been out since Thanksgiving and I'm glad we got to see it on the big screen.  Later Robb noticed that we could have rented it to stream at home, but why would I miss out on theater popcorn with extra butter?  Plus, it's been a LONG while since I'd been to the theater.

And actually, if we HAD to see Sonic, as long as I had plenty of popcorn, I might be down with it.

Fun movie!

On Saturday, I attended one of my ASG sewing meetings.  So refreshing and inspirational!  Besides learning new skills, I also brought home three bags of fabric...  I haven't cut into any of it yet, but the week is young...  There were over 50 women at the meeting!  Our little group is growing!

Later that afternoon, Leon went to a birthday party at a neighbor boy's house.  You can't celebrate your birthday until you break open a pinata with a stick!

Leon's birthday is this weekend.  I am thinking about what we'll give him.  It'll be a theme...

AND Jen is housesitting for her aunt so Frank is spending some time with just us.

I think he wants me to pet him...

nope.  

Well maybe later.

I have been sewing lately too.  Shub's birthday was yesterday so I made him a shirt, almost identical to the one that I made Matthew for Christmas.  AND I made Leon one for his birthday that is almost identical too!  

Meri said that it fits Shub great and he wore it last night.  I hope he liked it!

This one was Matthew's from Christmastime.

Anyway, gotta get some work done.  Have a great Tuesday!

WHEW!!! and it's HOT!

It's Thursday?

It's Thursday!

It's Thursday, is it?

Shoot.  It's Thursday.  and I haven't gotten much done this week except HANG on!

I did have a birthday coupon that expires this weekend for the HuHot... So Robb and I went on a date last night and ate out!  And then stopped at Aldi while he waited in car.  We have the craziest dates! :)

And this morning, all the jalapenos I put in my HuHot delicious concoction is coming back to bite me.  sigh...

Ok - best recipe at HuHot ever!  *but it will bite you back the next morning*

Meats

pork

spicy sausage

Noodles

eh - whatever kind you want

Veggies

a little shredded carrots

water chestnuts

green peppers

mushrooms

pineapple

tomatoes

and duh - jalapenos!

Sauce

1 scoop Khans Favorite

1 scoop The new BBQ HuHot special sauce

1 scoop Lemon juice

1 scoop Sherry

1 scoop garlic oil (with lots of garlic bits)

Then let those real authentic Mongols cook it up!  And then, of course, sprinkle a scoop of shelled sunflower seeds over the top.

mmmmmmmmm.....  

Usually if I pick a dud combo of sauces or whatever, I use the chili sauce at the table to doctor it up, but not THIS time!  In fact, when we went back for seconds, I did the exact same combo and it was still delicious!

Of course my taste buds may have burned off a little by that time and it was the company that was awesome.  

So anyway, HuHot rocks! 

And the temps going to reach 3 digits by this weekend...

So there's that.

No Clue...

Robb said that the 30th anniversary gift is traditionally getting a free meal paid by someone else.

I have to BELIEVE him...  Because the Bagpipe band paid for our meal last night!  They typically do every year about this time, but we missed out last year.  Don't remember why.

So I enjoyed Steak and Guinness pie and Robb had roast beef.

DELISH!  If you're ever in Des Moines, go to the Royal Mile and get some British food.

Back on the diet today...

We celebrate 30 years this Monday!  Hard to believe but then some days I wonder, "is that right??!"

When he asked me out for our first date, he said, "You're going to know where this is leading in a minute."

I had NO IDEA!!!

3 kids, numerous dogs, a grandkid, a ceiling that needs painting, cars that just keep needing work,

and so many other things.  

I had literally, no idea.

The MOM, that's WHO!

 A good weekend always starts with spending a lot of money!  and spending a lot of time with the one you love.  On Friday, Robb and I dropped off the boy at his mom's, then checked into an Embassy Suites hotel.  What a nice time! 

The weather was terrible outside, but we didn't care.  We ate in the hotel restaurant and didn't even venture a look outside. 

It was spring inside!

On Saturday we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and wondered how to spend the day until we needed to be somewhere that afternoon.  I chose browsing at a JoAnn Fabric store that had a used book store next door to it.  How were we to know that the book store had closed shop a while back?...  darn.  Kindles kill all the fun. 

So Robb stayed in the car and read a book on his phone while I browsed.

While we were gone, Meri had had a board game night with her friends and had a few girls stay over.  But on Saturday, we met up with her at a Jazz competition in the same city as the hotel.

Then we headed home and I sewed.  I can see where I'll need to take in the vest just a little more on the sides.  Since this photo, I've removed the temporary zipper and am waiting for one to arrive from Amazon.  

She was smiling not 10 seconds before this picture.  She actually REALLY likes how it's turning out!

The blouse is from Meri's yodeling days a few years back.
I think it's a LITTLE too German -y for this outfit, so we'll figure out something more French-ish.
Wasn't Leon SO LITTLE???!

Here is the skirt hemmed, with the lining, apron and little bags.

I've decided it's not going to be one piece of a costume...  Too complicated!  She wears it until the middle of the castle stuff, then changes to other outfits until the end of the play so Belle will have a little more time to get dressed before the play starts.  She can tie a few straps and zip a couple zippers before the play starts...

Robb picked up Leon earlier on Sunday, than usual and he got to attend the birthday party of a neighborhood friend of his.  They then traipsed around their backyard and across a snow covered corn field until the birthday boy's mom caught them.

This is Leon whacking the spiderman.  He didn't break it open though.  

Tons of candy and sugar later, I dragged him away and since he'd been SUCH a booger to us before and after the party, we insisted on a nap.  He slept for 1.5 hours.  wow... I guess he needed it.

So the logic here is...  if I act like a booger, someone will tell ME to go take a nap?  

hmmm

We had a great DUO call with Maddy while she was making a ton of popcorn for her classroom for today.  Didn't get to see Matthew but we look forward to seeing them both this weekend.
Fake birthday for Leon.

I spent the rest of the day yesterday sewing and got a majority of the outfit done.  Just waiting on that zipper for the vest.  Need to figure out the blouse situation and maybe make some knickers for underneath.  Meri's not sure she needs that tho.  

I think she does...

But who am I?

Sweet Date

When you've got kids, grandkids, you kind of have to go with the flow, right?  

Our Valentine's Day date turned into a date for three.  Ryan got called in to work.  SO what do you do then?  You find a place that all three of you will enjoy.

Fong's Pizza!  Leon had seen so many commercials on tv for this place and had always talked about going there, so we thought "Let's do it!"  He was asleep the entire way there and we thought we'd surprise him.  Oh he was... and angry.  

"I changed my mind and don't want to come here!"

He changed his tune when he saw the awesome decor and dragons on the wall.  

The pizza here is special.  Well, LEON got pepperoni but Robb and I got the types of pizza that they're known for.  Chinese food as pizza toppings.

Fongolian Beef pizza! 

YUM!

  

We knew the kids would love to try this out, so we brought a few pieces home for them.

It kind of reminded me of when you want to make pizza but don't have the fixings, so you put whatever leftovers you have on pizza crust and bake it.  But this was better.  Plus I didn't have to clean out the fridge.  OR make it myself.

If I'd made this based on my reminiscence, it would have been leftover beef stew or spam on a pizza crust.  Yeah... no one is going to make a restaurant based on that!

If you're ever in the Des Moines area, check out Fong's!  Ryan had already had some of their food and had the crab rangoon pizza before.  

Doesn't that sound cool?

Wearing skirts

We went on a date last night!  Well, sort of.  If you count having about 10 other  bagpipers and their spouses along counts as a date.  

I think it does.

Dressy casual, a Steak and Guinness pie and iced tea.  You bet!  

Robb got a Cornish pasty.  Pronounced Past (short sound a) ee.  

Because a long A gives it a totally different meaning.

Good time visiting with everyone!  I almost didn't recognize them without kilts.

Scottish Bat Wings & Sporrans

Wow.  What a full weekend! 

* Friday night.  Sewed and hemmed.  Got my outfit done!!! 
 

 And then made Snicker fudge.  One of my FB friends had found it on Pinterest and posted it last week.  I thought it would be perfect to take to my ASG sewing meeting on Saturday! 

Let me just say... Delicious!  However I improvised on the caramel layer and will probably follow the recipes directions next time I make them... and I will make them again...  I still have half a pan in the fridge though.  Possibly a problem.  Click on the photo to get to the recipe if you so desire!

* Saturday morning.  Took the Snicker fudge and wore my new outfit to the meeting.  Felt glamorous!  The ladies seemed to like it.

* Saturday afternoon.  Felt like I should have taken a nap, but didn't.  Too much to do and just a little time to do it.  Instead of napping myself, I got Leon down for a nap, ironed my outfit again and ironed Robb's bagpipe shirt and then attempted some housework. 

* Left around 5pm to go visit a sister-in-law who was at another SIL's house briefly.  We don't get to see them much so it was a good, although quick, visit.  We'll see her at Thanksgiving too.

* Left there and headed to the Scottish dinner.  The GPS tried to tell us that the party was in the middle of a thoroughfare, but we were close enough to see the Country Club sign, so we drove through looking for a bunch of people wearing kilts.  Found them!

The dinner was a lot of fun!  I sat for two hours... That in itself is a feat for me!  As soon as we got there I saw myself in the huge mirror in the lobby.  Dang!  My arms are fat!  and pasty white!!  I cannot wear sleeveless shirts I guess...  So instead of feeling glamorous, I felt dumpy.  Oh well!  A whole evening with my sweetie was ahead of me and I wasn't going to let that get me down. 

We enjoyed beef fillets with a side of Dauphinoise potatoes, which is a very intricate scalloped potato.  Not your moms scalloped potatoes...  But tasted very similar.  And after the ceremony of the Haggis and a poem to honor the Haggis, we tried some of that too.  I am a saltaholic... so I think I should have salted it more or even had ketchup handy...  BUT I don't think Scots believe in ketchup.  At least not at a black tie affair such as this.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the rush out of the house so only took a few blurry dark photos with my cell phone.  A friend took a photo of Robb and I with her camera and my bat wing arms positively glowed in it!  She doesn't know how to send photos, so I may or may not get a copy.  We'll see.  Robb sees her today so maybe he can retrieve it.  I can always crop my arms out!  The pipers played several selections towards the end of the evening that they'd been working on.  Sounded great!  They've got a competition coming up.

Had a great time getting to know the other pipers and their wives at our table.  Learned a great deal and possibly helped one get her daughter into a sewing class!  I'm chatty that way...  Also found out a LOT about a lawyer wife, with a 70s hippy past, who was sitting next to me. 

Oh!  Something you don't want to say too loudly at an affair like this, "Did you SEE the size of that guys Sporran??"

Button it with Bagpipes!

You know what??!!  I'm not going to make the button holes and YOU can't make me!  I did the front corners of the shirt yesterday over lunch and ironed up the hem, haven't hand stitched it into place yet, but I will today.  

As I tried it on, I realized two things...

1) I have no buttons yet, so how on earth could I do the button holes?!  You need the buttons to find out how big to make the holes!  AND I have no time to buy them.

2) The shirt looks better without a bunch of button holes anyway!  

I rummaged through my jewelry stash and found a broach that will do the trick.  Also, I didn't like how the front of the shirt goes so far up on one side to button.  Folded down, it looks so much better.  Maybe it's just this fabric.  AND one button/broach will work.  I think I'll safety pin it for now behind the broach so I don't scare a few Scotsmen tomorrow night...

Started in on the skirt last night, but Leon didn't let me get far.  

 Aristocats and the theater chairs only worked for about 10 minutes until he pushed all the short chairs to the kitchen counter bar, danced back and forth on them while pounding on the counter and then dumped and scattered all his crayons to fly all around the room...  Have you ever seen a crayon angel being made?  Kind of like a snow angel but involves crayons instead of snow.  

OK!  Time OUT!  

He's been extremely clingy lately... only...  to... me...  He only WANTS me and will yell GRAMMA (sounds like mamma) as he tears through the house looking for me if I happen to sneak out to go anywhere.  Tomorrow is going to be rough on him.  I've got a sewing meeting in the morning and DATE night tomorrow night.  

Meri pointed out that the only time I sew for myself is when I go on a date with Robb...  

We need more date nights!

Robb is already planning to take Leon to his first R rated movie tonight so I can finish my sewing!  He won't really...  But he is planning on going on a milk run with him.  We're down to one gallon...  It's amazing how much milk we go through in a week!  

Sew...  So.  Have a great weekend and I'll regale you with bagpipe stories on Monday!

Romance is not dead...

Saturday was our wedding anniversary! It has been 23 years since we became man and wife at 6:20pm. And I know this because my sister-in-law, a bridesmaid, had a watch down in her cleavage and glanced at the exact moment.

Oh and from a sewing aspect, I made my wedding dress and 3 of the bridesmaids dresses.

Well, we had Saturday afternoon and evening free, so just Robb and I went to a late matinee and then out to eat at a new Mexican restaurant that just opened near by. And might I say, YUM! Very authentic, very good...

Several years ago, when our anniversary didn't also coincide with Mother's Day, we went on a movie/dinner date and saw the movie No Escape.


It was very action packed! I think it was the best option out of a bunch of bad ones, so we picked it.

This year we picked Battle Los Angelos. It's getting better! They may have worn boots and carried weapons, but there were women in it... Oh and were they tough?!



But you know what? Any time spent alone with my honey is good! And at least it wasn't a Disney movie or cartoon...

A funny thing happened on the way...

Robb was here when we got home from church yesterday! So that was a very nice surprise! As the kids got ready for their 4H meeting, Robb and I had a chance to talk and get caught up with what we'd been up to all weekend.

On Thursday he had come across a $25 gift certificate that a friend had given us for Christmas 2 years ago. Unfortunately it had expired in December 2009. So I had called the restaurant to see if they would still honor it and they said SURE! COOL! It pays to make a phone call on occasion! So if the weather was ok on Sunday night when he came home, we'd go out on a "date". I was definitely ok with that.

So on Friday, the friend that gave us the gift certificate, (we'll call him Todd), stopped by the house because he was catching a ride with Robb for the weekend. He had gotten here a little early so he hung out in the kitchen and watched tv until Robb came home.

Yesterday on their way back, Todd happened to mention that he saw the gift certificate sitting on the counter in our kitchen and saw that it was expired... oops! Thinking that this restaurant would never honor it almost 2 months past it's expiration date, he threw it in the trash!

Robb started laughing and told him what we'd found out on Thursday and Todd said, Maybe we can dig it out of the garbage then! And of course I went on a garbage run on Saturday morning and all the garbage was down at the reclamation center in a nearby town currently heating homes... (as you know from my garbage experience that is not to be mentioned again....)

So, Robb and I went on a dinner date anyway. The wind was blowing snow all over but if we weren't gone too long, we should make it home ok. We decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants that we hardly ever go to because of an obligatory 45 minute wait that we always get there. But last night, we got in immediately! It also pays to go in the middle of a minor blizzard!

Dublin Bay Restaurant! YUMMO! Irish pub/restaurant. Decorated with things from Ireland, which we love! Music that we recognize from an online radio show but couldn't tell you who sings it. It was very nice and relaxing. We studied some of the photos on the walls to see if we recognized anywhere. Some we did. I LOVE their shepherds pie and since I hadn't had it for so long, ordered that. Robb loves it too but didn't want to copy so he ordered something else. I'll try something new next time we go.
We've got another date scheduled in about 2 months. We got home before the wind got too terrible.

I hope you guys had a nice Valentine's Day!