How to spend a holiday weekend

Friday--I worked until 6 on Friday. I got a lot of compliments about this outfit. It doesn't look like it in these photos, but J's scarf is an exact match for my skirt.

Green jacket--not cold enough for a coat.

I swear--exact match!

Saturday--I went to lunch with M at Pita Jungle on Saturday. We took a walk in the gorgeous weather. I went home and did some housework and got some rest in preparation for the evening.

We went to dinner at St. Francis with R and his date. They have a gluten-free and dairy-free notation on the menu. I got a salad to start--they use olive oil in the dressing. And fries--they use canola oil. Then I had salmon with quinoa. It listed soybeans on the menu description but the waitress, whose boyfriend has a poultry allergy (bummer), said they could leave them out. And then they didn't. The runner who brought my plate even confirmed for me that there was no soy in the dressing and said the plate was soy free. Then my DH said it wasn't comped from the bill so I complained on the feedback card. And the waitress came out into the parking lot to make sure we knew that it was comped; she was really upset that we thought it wasn't. And that is why you don't listen to anything a man says.

R invited us out because he had extra tickets for Louis CK. It was being taped for his HBO special at Celebrity Theatre. Funny show, terrible area and parking. Then we went to Red Owl, a tiny bar that seemed like a chill college party. It had games and we played dominoes with the grossest dominoes ever. We managed to leave before closing (not by much) since we had plans for the "next" day.

Sunday--I slept in a little but then it was time to get busy cleaning and cooking. I couldn't figure out a scarf to match my shirt so Mick said "don't wear one." Huh. Okay. He went to the mailbox and came back with my recent order of tinted lip balms and solid lotions. I have had a lot of trouble finding tinted lip balms that don't have soy or some other nastiness.

So. Freaking. Awesome.

My dad was in town and wanted to bring his wife to see our house but when he arrived, she wasn't with him; she was sick. It sounded like my brother and family were sick too so she may have picked something up, but we weren't included in any of those visits. (Yes, I am annoyed that the family who lived 3 states away in the same area as my dad and his wife moved across town from us 2 months ago and my dad and his wife have seen the family more than we have.) I invited some others as well. Mick's parents came and my niece came with my nephew's baby, but not her kids. There is some yucky stuff going around!

We had some leftover pulled pork and barbecue sauce with salad. I made mashed sweet potatoes but they were lumpy; I think I rushed them. I also made apple honey chicken drumsticks for the first time. They turned out fantastic but definitely take enough time that I wouldn't try making them during the week. I'm glad I made them since my MIL doesn't care for the pork.

It's a "normal" recipe. I used coconut aminos for the soy sauce, left out the sesame seeds, and based on the comments, I generously salted and peppered (not fresh ground--not fine enough) the drumsticks, used 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes, and added 3 Tbsp brown sugar. Everyone loved it and I'll definitely make it again. I was surprised that they thought it was the right amount of heat since I didn't taste that at all, so I'd increase the heat if it was just me and Mick, and maybe reduce the brown sugar to 1 or 2 Tbsp.

That's all that's left from about a dozen.

The baby is walking and he wore me out. My niece talked about her mom who comes over and "cleans" and moves things, comments on her bad housekeeping, and throws things away. She has four little kids and works crazy hours in health care; I would be shocked if her house was ever clean! Why are moms so judgmental?

Cassi spends quality time with Jr.

Mick photoshopped my scar out of the photos but I'd rather no one see them anyway--my hair was super crazy for some reason. Blech.

Monday--Today, since Mick wasn't off work, I got up at the regular time, did some kitchen cleaning and taking care of the dogs. I ran out of the 125 mcg Synthroid so I took a previous prescription for 88. After my hour passed, I had leftover teff pancakes with Earth Balance peanut butter (with coconut oil) and syrup along with sausage. Throughout the day, I continued working through the laundry and cleaning but also getting some rest and catching up on my DVR. I napped for several hours. Then I headed to the garden to harvest some lettuce, collards, and herbs.

I bought a Ninja Bullet last week with a gift card my friend B gave me for Bed Bath and Beyond. After washing all the parts and skimming the booklets (mostly unnecessary "nutrition" advice but some recipe ideas also), I made a smoothie with collards, flax meal, frozen cherries, chocolate hemp powder and almond milk. Oh, yeah. That worked way better than my blender.