Tucked In
An utterly lovely weekend. Of course I didn't go to either party that I had wanted to. Is anyone surprised? Nah, me neither....I could have predicted it. Friday lunch with my husband---my favorite part of the week. That evening the boys proclaimed it Family Movie Night. They wanted a Batman movie. They let me pick so I chose the one with George Clooney. Even with that it was pretty awful but Owen was so happy, periodically yelling, "Do you like it everybody? Do you like it?" so of course I assured him I did. And it was nice, despite the wretched movie, to be snuggled up with all my guys.
Saturday of course was our anniverary. We headed out to the farmers' market---had a nice time talking to our friend Joy. Ernie bought me a bunch of red berried branches that I fanced and we scooped up more cauliflower, lettuce, green beans, spinach, celery root, red peppers and garlic...oh, and sugar snap peas too! We went home and picked up all the old electronics to take them to the drop off. Our friend Lisa had assured us the line went quickly but when we got out there and saw the line of cars we groaned and I said, "turn left, turn left!" We headed out into the country and admired the fields and watched the harvest.
Later Owen headed to his guitar lesson and we waited at Fries and Peanuts for him. He came marching in with his guitar excitedly telling us that he'd learned the beginning of Life Begins at the Hop by XTC. He's VERY excited. Then to top things off we ran into Dawna Nelson outside with Brad Elvis and his wife! So I got to give Dawna a hug and tell her I was sorry we hadn't made the party the night before AND I got to give Brad Elvis a hug as well. We had never met his wife/bandmate Chloe so that was lovely too. We got another hug AND a cd----what a nice anniversary treat, huh? By the way---the Handcuffs cd sounds great!
Of course we were supposed to clear out the media room so we could paint on Sunday. You can see the way the day was going though, can't you? We did empty one cupboard of all its glass (and tell me why Parker is SO much more helpful than my children? And if you don't know Parker you might try saying, 'oh he's probably just like that at home' but I know better). Then we tried it in one spot and thought, "eh." So we strategized and measured and remeasured and finally SQUEEZED it in a new spot. It was tight enough that we got down to taking the quarter round off the baseboard. It fit in finally and I think I like it though it means the grandfather clock has to go into the upstairs hallway. It's not that I need or want a bigger house....we just have too much stuff for the size of the house we have.
I don't even know what we did the rest of the afternoon....it just glided by. We decided to cook dinner at home. I never want to go out on Saturdays. We took some ribeyes and coated them with powdered shiitake mushrooms and salt and pepper, then cooked them in a very hot pan on top of the stove. Yes, of course I made the house smoky---according to the boys I always do. We took the steaks out and let the pan cool a bit, then sauteed some shallots and minced fresh ginger. Poured that, and the pan juices, over the steaks. Some Yukon Golds mashed with the skin on and butter and milk....and sauteed spinach and garlic. Pretty classic. The shiitake powder, shallots and ginger were not super strong but just boosted the steaks up to something special. It was a lovely dinner. I know this is rotten picture...oh, and my steak was much rarer than it looks here.... but carmelized shallots and ginger and shiitake and rare steak....nice.....
Today was biscuit day of course and then I spent a couple of hours working on my mother's taxes. Yes, it will never end. I think I'm at the end of what we can do though...now it's just up to the IRS. Yeah. I know. Anyway...that TOTALLY stressed me out....I could just feel my anxiety going up and tolerance going down....but I got through it. Ernie kept packing boxes of cds, I kept sputtering and Owen kept asking me to help with his costume. Eventually I finished the tax stuff and turned my attention to Owen. Good God....I may not survive him. I think I finally came up with solutions to his costume dilemma that met with his approval...I feel I must wait until Halloween day to show you a picture though....
I'm not at the Mayor's Halloween event which I'm sure will be great fun....but there are pumpkins to carve here, dinner to eat, music to listen to and even a little tv to watch. It's nice to be tucked into my little house.... Happy Halloween Eve all....