The Simple Things

Fresh Tomatoes

2012-02-11T08:34:00.001-05:00

On Thursday evening/afternoon I was home for a few hours to regroup, do some laundry, and grab a quick dinner before heading back into work around 5:30. I was making myself a ham sandwich with swiss cheese, tomato, and fresh ground pepper and after taking the first bite was completely blown away by how much the tomato really made the sandwich. Seriously, it was amazing, the best sandwich I've had in a while.

This epiphany reminded me of a conversation Caton and I had on the way to our Sushi Making Class on New Year's Eve.

Caton: I hope the have the freshest cucumbers. Like really fresh cucumbers
Me: I think it's pretty safe to say that the vegetables will be fresh.
Caton: Fresh vegetables are really important. It's like tomatoes; they can really make or break a sandwich. You know when you have a really great sandwich but the tomato is just not fresh and it completely ruins the sandwich. That's why I never get tomatoes on my sandwiches because it's just not worth the risk.
Me: You know how you have a theory on something that you think is really good and you've pretty much perfected it so you have to seize every opportunity to slide it into conversation...
Caton: Yeah! That's kind of what that tomato one is.
Me: I know, I've heard that speech from you about tomotoes already.
Caton: Really? It seems like that one doesn't really fit into conversations very often so I really need to take advantage when it does.

Sea Turtle

2012-02-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

On Saturday night we went to a charity bowling tournament. Martin's mood improved a lot when he learned that a "no tap tournament" does not imply that the tournament is dry and he has since declared that he is going to start going to a lot more charity bowling tournaments. My bowling skills are seriously lacking and I regrettfully report that I didn't even break 100. Martin managed to break 100 in two out of the three games despite his first four rolls going straight for the gutter and a few wasted rolls on tricks between the legs that also, headed to the gutter.

Aubrey came with us and spent the majority of the evening trying to walk down the track. So I spent the majority of the evening chasing after Aubrey and scooping her up before she could get onto the bowling area. Martin said she was like a sea turtle who just keeps going back to the sea no matter how often you pull her away. As we were leaving, a band was just starting to play and Aubrey was mesmerized. She stood inches away from the players, not losing concentration and clapping her hands and shaking her body to the rhythm.

This Made Me Smile on a Thursday Evening

2012-02-09T19:29:00.001-05:00

Martin: Go to work quick and then come home so we can snuggled and spoon on the couch and watch How I Met Your Mother and be in love. I mean we're in love all the time, but.... we'll be especially in love then.

You're A Donkey

2012-02-09T06:27:00.000-05:00

Now that Aubrey is really becoming quite a sponge you have to really be careful what you say around her or it might become her new favorite word to say. Luckily, doggy is stilling reigning champion as her number one word to chant over and over again, but without a little conversational self restraint, it might quickly be replaced by something a little less cute and more inappropriate.

Gabe: random talking....shit....
Martin: Hey, you gotta watch what you say. We're really trying to cut the swearing out.

....

Martin: random talking....ass....
Me/Gabe: Hey, watch it.
Martin: I don't think that's really one of the bad ones.
Me: Yes it is. It's one of the really bad ones.
Martin: Well what happens when she finds out what a donkey is?
Me: She'll call it a donkey.

....

Gabe: You're a donkey's donkey.

Bestowing Blessings

2012-02-08T06:35:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday morning we were driving and it was lightly snowing. A car blinked their headlights at us to remind us that our headlights were not turned on.

Me: Oh, you're headlights aren't on.
Martin: Ugh. You know there was a time when this type of anti-inclement weather wouldn't mean you had to turn your headlights on. There was a time when everyone would be driving without headlights in weather like this.
Me: (rolls eyes)
Martin: But.....because it's Sunday I say...Thank you kind sir. And I bestow happiness and blessings to you and your family.

Superbowl

2012-02-07T06:41:00.001-05:00

The superbowl this year was fairly anticlimatic. I don't really know much about football, but until the last three minutes of the game I thought it was a pretty boring game. Things really started the pick up when the Patriots let the Giants score a touchdown and the Giants were really trying all they could do to not score but fell into the endzone.

For the most part, I just really enjoy the company and the food. My sister-in-law Megan came over with her to adorable daughters. My brothers, Alex and Garrett, joined us. Gabe stopped by to cheer against me. Matt Fry stopped in and Kerri Mckenna. A nice full living room, which is all I really wanted anyway. Aubrey and I both wore our Buffalo Bills jerseys to show our support for the home team.

And the food.....gaucamole.....chicken wing dip....buffalo chicken fingers....salsa.....chips with a hint of lime....and shocktop.

Wagon Rides

2012-02-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

Hmm. So after having this phone for OVER six months, I have FINALLY figured out how to post from my phone!!!! (Cue exciting music). Anyway.....get ready for real time photo updates. Or possibly not, please don't hold me to that promise. In the meantime, here's a couple pictures of Aubrey from this morning. I had to work late so went in a little late. This gave Aubrey and I plenty of time to go for a wagon ride and to play in the swing this morning.

Boom Bamity Boom Boom

2012-02-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

Martin has been really into floor hockey lately. Well, Martin and all of his friends. They play every Monday night.....and Martin has the bruises on his legs to prove it (including one serious welt that is dangerously close to making future children out of the question) Last week he broke a blade and then shattered a stick. Needless to say, a new stick is a crucial purchase for tonight's game.

Martin: I think I'll just go to Dick's on Sunday and get a stick
Me: Well. I don't know if you're going to have time. There's that meeting after church and then our superbowl party.
Martin: It's....what...forty minutes from here. I think I could make the whole trip in an hour and a half.
Me: (looks at Martin with skeptism)
Martin: What! I'll be in and out of the store like boom bamity boom boom.
Me: (continues to look with skeptism)
Martin: I know you don't think I can move quickly, but I can do it.

Lights

2012-02-03T09:16:00.000-05:00

Our stove has a light function in it and it's one of Aubrey's new favorite pasttimes to watch whatever happens to be in there bake.

Dancing Queen

2012-02-02T09:12:00.003-05:00

Me: I tried to take a video of Aubrey dancing today. I only caught the tail end of it. It's so hard because you never know for sure when she's going to bust a move and she won't do it on command.
Martin: It's so funny when babies dance because you figure anything a baby does is a complete instinct and you wouldn't think dancing to music would be an instinct.
Me: Yeah. And it's funny to watch because they aren't worried about what anyone is thinking, it's just what feels good.

Caught

2012-02-01T07:22:00.001-05:00

Garrett refuses to let me take ANY photos of him. Not even in the name of preserving his wonderful relationship with his niece in photographic form. After six months of owning this phone, I've FINALLY figured out how to turn off that little click noise when a photo is taken. That feature has really helped my in my stealth photographer abilities. If Garrett knew these photos existed he'd probably attempt to burn my phone.

Snowstorm

2012-01-31T06:17:00.001-05:00

Driving to church on Sunday it was snowing, hard.

Martin: Sometimes I really like snowy days like this. It looks nice.
Me: I know (lifts up my phone to take a picture)
Martin: I can never really get a good picture though. It never looks as good and you can't see the snowflakes.

Me: Yeah, me either.

Suck It

2012-01-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

On Saturday afternoon my sister-in-law, Megan, came over with her two daughters, my adorable nieces, for lunch. Before we went into the kitchen for lunch we were catching up in the living room. Martin was tossing Aubrey around and she very lightly tapped her head on the computer. Because she has this uncanny ability to be super resilient if she hits her head while doing something she is not supposed to be doing and then crying hysterical if someone else is to blame for her injury - she, in true form, started to cry.

Kendyll: Aubrey....that didn't hurt.

*Aubrey crawls over to me and continues to whimper*

Kendyll: Suck it, Aubrey.

*everyone breaks out into fits of laughter*

Martin: Did she just tell Aubrey to suck it?
Megan: I think she was going for Suck it up because that's what I usually say to her, but she was just a lot more direct.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

2012-01-29T05:42:00.001-05:00

*conversation over the phone between Martin and Gabe*

Martin: Ok. Well I"ll let you go, I've got to eat dinner
Gabe: What are you/Jenna making?
Martin: It's already made. Stuffed Pepper Soup
Gabe: What is it?
Martin: Stuffed Pepper Soup
Gabe: What?
Martin: Stuffed Pepper Soup - I'll have her do a blog post on it.
- Honey, do a blog post on this soup
Me: Oh! Don't eat it. I have to take a picture of it then.

Recipe taken from here, found on pinterest

Words With Friends

2012-01-28T03:24:00.001-05:00

I recently discovered Words with Friends. I say discovered in a very loose sense because it's basically scrabble on a phone so its been around for centuries. Anyway, I had never heard of it until I heard about Alec Baldwin refusing to stop playing it at the airport. My interest was slightly peaked by a game that was clearly so good it couldn't even be put down to fly through the air but I still didn't bite the bullet and seek it out.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I was watching the Giants beat the Packers and I decided to look it up. And then I decided to start a game with Caton. And then I was apparently supposed to make the first move but the game had given me all consonants and I couldn't form a single word. So I had to pass. On my first move.

To say that Caton crushed me in this game is a huge understatement but I felt like I really learned a lot about strategy from her and when my sister-in-law, Jenn, started a game with me - I felt like I was much more equipped to play.

The great thing about Words with Friends is it really doesn't require any time - I mean, other than the massive vocabulary that is in a constant swirl around my head now (hmm. what words do I know that end with x? What about q? Is there anything I can add to the end of that word other than an s to elongate it as I am typing another word? I feel smarter already and I haven't even typed anything) but time commitment wise - it's not there. You play when you have a minute. If you don't have a minute until 24 hours after your opponent last played NO BIG DEAL. It's pretty amazing. It took Caton and I almost two weeks to complete our first game. Which sort of leads me to wonder why was it such a huge deal for Alex Baldwin to shut it off? but that's a whole other question.

The other amazing thing about Words with Friends is I feel like I'm really communicating with these people that I, otherwise, don't talk to enough. If someone were to ask me if I'd talked to Caton lately my gut reaction would be to say yes, even though the most interaction we have had during the entire month of January is placing letter tiles back and forth, and virtually at that.

So....Words with Friends....Yipee!

A Day with Daddy

2012-01-27T08:01:00.001-05:00

On Saturday I had to work all day and Aubrey spent the day hanging out with Martin. I think it was a really good bonding day for both of them. Martin sent me the picture message of the "creeper wagon" they played with in the shop and when I got home they were both really engrossed with perusing facebook together.

MySpace Photo

2012-01-26T07:57:00.001-05:00

The other day it was really cold out and we couldn't find Aubrey's absolutely adorable pink winter hat. So Martin graciously removed his hat and put it on Aubrey. Then he took a picture because she just looked so cute! When he sent the picture to his brother, Gabe, the response was that it looked like a Myspace photo. If you're not familiar with a "myspace photo" it can basically be characterized as a photo that you have taken of yourself. Most often in the bathroom in a really cutsey seductive pose with your head cocked to one side. Something that says.....I am super hot and I have tons of friends, I just couldn't find anyone to take headshots of me so I had to take them myself.

Aubrey's reach for the phone isn't helping her case.

On Heeding Warnings

2012-01-25T02:33:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we had to purchase a new bottle of canola oil (if you don't remember the catostauphic circumstances in which I parted ways with my last bottle read more about it here ) It was sitting on our countertop and Martin started reading the side

Martin: Wow. If you had just read the side panel of the bottle we probably could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble. You basically did the opposite of everything it says here.
Me: What do you mean?

*taken from the side of the bottle*
WARNING: Oil will catch fire if overheated. Damage or serious burns may result.

DO heat oil carefully, uncovered, on medium heat
DO reduce heat if smoking occurs
DO NOT leave unattended while heating.
DO NOT refill bottle with hot oil.

IF OIL CATCHES FIRE:
DO turn off heat
DO cover pot until cooled to room temperature to avoid reignition
DO NOT carry pot until cool.
DO NOT put water on hot or flaming oil.

On the plus side, I DID NOT put water on the hot/flaming oil and I also DID NOT attempt to refill the bottle with hot oil.

Reader

2012-01-24T08:07:00.001-05:00

I love reading so, naturally, I want my daughter to share that feeling with me. I want her to gobble books up, to get lost in stories, to really get caught up in the characters in a book. Before having a baby, I had a really idealized idea of reading books with children. In my head, every night before bed we would cuddle up and read a couple of books. It would obviously be a great bonding experience and the favorite part of both of our days. Since having a child, all my previous notions on a short attention span have been revised. Aubrey will rarely sit still for a single page let alone an entire book. On top of that, the children's books that contain few enough words that I can actually get through them before Aubrey greedily turns the page are really boring. And, right around bedtime, Aubrey usually wants to go to bed and I'm usually ready to put her to bed and neither of us are really in the mood for sitting through some boring story. Needless to say, I was discouraged. But I persevered. I say that in the sense that I kept books around Aubrey. We read books during the day. And there are always books available for Aubrey to thumb through or to bring to me to read to her. And, I don't want to speak too soon, because who knows, maybe she'll hate reading. But for right now, she really enjoys books! Every morning when she wakes up and sees the baskets full of books in the corner of her room she screeches and chooses a book to read/play with. And multiple times throughout the day I'll find her thumbing through a book and intently taking in the pictures (intently meaning, as intently as possible in the four to fifteen seconds before she loses patience and turns the page)

Footies

2012-01-23T07:46:00.001-05:00

Martin: I tell you what, if those footie pajamas ever really make a comeback and they start producing them in adult sizes I am definitely going to buy some. Those look amazing
Katie: I have some upstairs. They would probably fit you. You have to try them on.
Martin: Ooooh! Do they have a backdoor? You know for really cold, lazy days?
Katie: Ha. I'm not sure you'll have to check

Like father, like daughter.

Me and My Pretty

2012-01-22T03:35:00.001-05:00

On Thursday I was off for the day because I'm working this weekend so I got to hang out with Aubrey all day long (and I also got to see a couple great friends from college. Michelle! Ranatta!) In the morning, after breakfast but before we had really gotten up the energy to put actual clothes on Aubrey and I were playing together in the living room and decided to do an inpromptu photo shoot. Aubrey loves to take the picture and then immediately look at herself.

Dinner Time!

2012-01-21T03:13:00.001-05:00

I've been really organized with my meals this year. You see - I typically have this problem wherein I kinda sorta think about meals I want to make as I am walking through the grocery store. This means that I am basically just randomly grabbing at an assortment of items that I think might make a good meal and throwing them in my cart. Then when I bring them home I realize on the night of said meal preparation that even though my cupboard is full I have none of the correct ingredients somehow, even though they're all very basic and are ingredients that food bloggers describe as things you always have on hand.

Basically, we end up eating spaghetti at minimum twice a week.

Another persistent food problem of mine is that I often buy some item because I am really excited about making one particular thing with this item and then I forget about the remainder until it is growing something in my refrigerator. Not the most economical cooking strategy out there.

So THIS YEAR I am turning over a new leaf. I'm so organized. I have all these amazing dishes that I've heard about, or seen on pinterest, or read on other blogs and I'm excited to actually have the organization to try them out.

So I created a memo in my phone and I have our dinners planned out into February. And then when I'm shopping I can look at the memo and make sure I get the appropriate ingredients. It also eliminates me forgetting to use the remainder of items that I purchase because I make sure if I know I am going to buy a pack of zucchini for grilled zucchini one day that I use the remainder to try making zucchini pasta that I saw on pinterest sometime later in the week. It's really brilliant.

Fish Tacos with a Greek Yogurt sauce. I had previously used the Greek Yogurt to make a different topping for Chicken Gyros.

French Dip. MMmmm. There's really no other way to describe French Dip.

Martin: This is great. I don't know how everything that comes out of the crockpot can be so good.

I don't know if I would go so far as to say everything is great from the crockpot, but I will agree that I'm pretty good at choosing the great recipes.

Your Bag

2012-01-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

*Packing for my company Holiday party out of town last weekend*

Me: Whoa! You're packing all this stuff?? I thought we could maybe just take one bag plus the hanger bag with your suit and my dress.
Martin: I'm just throwing my stuff together.
Me: We're going for ONE night. Do you really need two extra pairs of boxers and three tee shirts. You're going to be in your suit most of the time.
Martin: Ok. I'll take some stuff out.
Me: Also, I wanted to put our shoes in the bag first so they don't get our clothes dirty.
Martin: Ok. Does my duffel bag work, or do you have a particular bag you want to use to?
Me: ...well....I actually do like my duffel bag better.
Martin: Of course you do. Well, find me this AMAZING bag and I'll fill it up.

Cotton Candy, Anyone?

2012-01-19T02:09:00.002-05:00

On Friday afternoon when we first arrived in Chicago, we immediately headed to the outskirts to spend the afternoon, evening and night with my previous co-worker and peer advisor whom has since been promoted. Her husband, Bill, was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. When you leave Midway airport and head towards Bill and Stephanie's home you drive through some areas of Chicago that are.....well, definitely not well known for tourism.

Martin: Oh, look there's an office chair on the side of the road. Anyone need an office chair.
Bill: Somebody will kill you for that office chair around here.
(seconds later we see a man scurrying down the underpass to retrieve his lost office chair, looking up we find an entire home set up under that underpass)

Me: What is that guy doing walking down the middle of this highway.
Martin: Oh my gosh....he's selling cotton candy! We really should buy some
Bill: That is honestly the first time I've ever seen anyone peddling cotton candy on the side of the road.
(we then watched as a truck stopped in the middle of the intersection to purchase some cotton candy, causing all the cars behind him to miss their opportunity to turn left.)

...
Bill: We really should have purchased some of that cotton candy. It would have been a great story and really added to your Chicago experience.

Fast Friends

2012-01-18T07:54:00.001-05:00

Aubrey and Amanda made fast friends over Aubrey's dinner of rice and beans on Saturday night in Chicago.