Tag: Weekend

Friday Notes, Dexter Vet Update, Making Enchiladas, and Weekend Ahead

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello lovelies! Just a quick pop in here. I think I have a couple of updates to share. Not much going on other than working and taking care of Mr. Dexter. But here are a few updates. Just rambling here today!

Dexter’s vet appointment went well. They were amazed that he looked as though he had doubled in size in two weeks. We got him at 11 lbs and now he’s at 16lbs – or he was a day or so ago, lol. The fecal test showed some puppy parasites. She said it was common and usually clears on its on. It was clear on the last test so I thought we’d done something wrong or something had come from my house, but she said he has had it all along and it just wasn’t in the sample they took. So hopefully in two to three weeks it’ll be better when we go again. But he got his 2nd round of shots. He felt bad I think because after playing a bit, he became a limp noodle and didn’t want to do anything but lay around. Next morning though he was back to being a spastic puppy and was ready to get up and eat and play. He’s been a good boy this week other than he learned how to break out into the other areas of the house so we are having to beef up perimeter security, lol.

It cracks me up when a dog lays like this. It’s like the doggie splits! lol

Hello Fresh has been delicious this week. The enchiladas were so good. I am failing at taking pictures but I’ll try to do a better job next week of the final product. I’m learning how to make a lot of Mexican food. I made bean paste (pretty much just mashed 1/2 the black beans and seasonings) and you put the bean paste on tortillas and made the filling (meatless this time but with the other half of the black beans, half tomato, poblano pepper, and half the chives). The other half of these things were put on fresh on the top after the enchiladas baked. It had me whisk together a Mexican “crema” sauce out of sour cream and that drizzled over it also after baking. The “crema” was made by adding southwestern seasoning and then warm water enough to make it drizzle consistency.

I love learning how to cook these things. I love that I can roll things in a tortilla and bake them w/o it falling out. You put your filling on one half of the tortilla – not the whole thing. You start rolling from the filling side and it scoots over as you roll tightly. You bake with the seam side down. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake it. These were baked just until the cheese melted on a high heat of 450. And it gave the enchiladas a steamed effect. It was sooooo good!

I think I have cooked three days this week! I cooked spaghetti last night. George has had to work over a couple of nights so he gets 1/2 day on Friday. He will enjoy the minimal Friday (today). So will Dexter. But on those days I have left to get home with dog and have started dinner as he also has had to work in the yard some. The heat has been horrible and his riding mower died. The man that works on them has retired. ::sigh:: So he ordered the part and I guess will try to fix it himself or find someone else to. Meanwhile he used the push mower in 102 degrees heat – I’m not sure what the heat index was but he started in the shaded area first and the other areas as the sun was lowering in the sky. He had water and popsicles ready to go.

I’ve been faithful at the 15 to 20 minute exercise routine – mainly steps and arms – but it’s nice to do this inside. Dexter is good while I do this. If not I throw tennis balls in b/w steps. George wakes up to dance music, ;-). I try to start it down low but sometimes it is really loud til I get it lowered.

I went to Chic Filet for breakfast yesterday. I got the “egg white grill” and I was pretty impressed. It had grilled chicken on what appeared to be a whole grain or whole wheat muffin and it had cheese on it and the egg was good. I think that is awesome. I also get fruit and unsweet ice tea. I try to go once a week. Can you believe that it’s $10 to get that so that is $40 month. I might have to quit that. But it is nice to have that treat once a week. I usually also eat out once in while for lunch.

I am going to be curbing expenses some in the coming months because of all the increases in prices. I’m working on my list to share with you. I haven’t had time to go through my blog notes to blog on various topics as I do sometimes. My life has been dexterized so I’ve spent less time in my office. lol lol lol

I am trying to hold things together though and looking forward to another relaxing catch up weekend. George is taking Mom to church Sunday. It’s working well for now with the new doggie to take turns so that we minimize his time alone so he doesn’t become neurotic, lol. It says on line Beagles can have issues if left alone for too long. We already hope the work week is not damaging to him. Anyway once he gets settled a bit we can do more things. We are trying to spend time with him though so he doesn’t have too much separation anxiety and all. This swapping of time allows us to have more time for home projects and getting things done.

George is looking forward to Father’s Day weekend though. Even though he’s offered for me to stay home Sunday, he will take her to church and then help her some in the garage Sunday. She wanted him to come sooner rather than later but he was busy last week with working over, I had my hair cut one day which meant he had dog duty, and then he had yard work. So tomorrow his treat (since Katy is not here) is to go to McKay’s bookstore and do a few errands tomorrow. I’m sure he will enjoy working in a garage on Father’s Day, lol. But he will get Mom’s green chair out and load some goodwill up. A neighbor is helping her unpack some things. I’m so glad b/c after a year of moving mom (twice), packing, unpacking – we have got to catch up and have time in our lives. We have promised work days here and there but we usually give her 2-3 days of our time in errands and doc appts and church and store, so it’s just hard to keep her up and us too. But we do what we can. I think she doesn’t grasp sometimes how much time it takes to work full time, plus commute, plus take care of our own needs, store runs, pay bills, yard, housekeep. So when she needs a chair moved it’s hard to just drop everything and go move a chair. Now we have dog dog to consider and have to be here for him right after work – one of us does.

Anyway, time is always an issue but we are doing the best we can. When we say “ok but not today” it doesn’t mean we don’t want to help, it really does mean what we say it means, no underlying hidden meanings, it means “ok but not today”. So many of us don’t take things at face value because so many of us have hidden agendas and manipulations, lol lol lol.

Anyway enough on that. I gotta get ready and get out the door. Enjoy your Friday and enjoy your weekend. I’m looking forward to mine. What you gonna do this weekend. And has the weather been hot?

Take care.

Weekend Projects, Household Chores, and Life Updates

On By BackporchwriterIn Home, Life6 Comments

We went to church this morning and then George went on to Mom’s while we went and brought lunch home. George put Mom’s picnic table and chairs together today for her patio. The plan is to eat out there a lot when weather allows. It will be nice.

I have yet to spend a night at Mom’s but I will probably schedule a Friday night/Saturday “girls night in” lol, lol at some point so I can help her in the garage some. It might be June though. Our schedule…well you know. LOL

Mom’s Birds are pretty. She bought them on vacation when we went to Tybee / Savannah and dropped Mom off in Yulee, FL to stay at Aunt Martha and Uncle Ken’s. She found those there. They look good on her porch. And I like her peacock wind chimes.

Here’s a span of Mom’s back porch views. There are condos/cottages/villas being built behind her. The sky was very pretty today. Her mail box is not very far from the back porch. You can see them in the distance by the port a john, lol. Here is a left to right view. The grass is very pretty. It’s hard for Mom to walk on though because it is not even. There’s dips and holes and valleys where the sod was put down. We get her mail a lot for her, but in long stretches like this week when we won’t be there for 7 to 10 days, she will either walk from the front and pavement, or drive over.

I’ve always loved these jugs. Reminds me of old times in the south, mainly before my time.

We enjoyed Bellacino’s sandwiches for lunch – they are called “Grinders”. And all very fresh and yummy. I did not need the bread but it tasted like homemade bread so maybe it didn’t have all the preservatives.

After lunch George stayed and finished up and I drove home (we had separate cars) so I could do laundry, iron, vacuum the vinyl flooring (I did the carpeted bedrooms yesterday), get my wardrobe picked out for the next week (saves time in the mornings), change sheets in both bedrooms, pack a bag for Knoxville and then cook our dinner tonight. I offered to cook spaghetti. So I’m going to go do that after I get through blogging here.

Life updates…

I will try to sneak in another blog post or two this week if time will give permission. I’m having to go in early and work late. I think we will go to the store tomorrow, even if it is pouring rain. It will be late though, or I will at least work until I’m exhausted and of no good and then come home. We’ll see. I only have a bit of time tomorrow, a bit of time Thurs afternoon, and a bit of time Friday afternoon to get these 27 returns done.

My car appears to be leaking oil. I will check again in the morning and if it is, I’ll have to take the FlinstoneMobile into work again tomorrow. And we’ll have to drop the car off tomorrow night I guess before we go grocerying. I may just see if we can eat Pho or something for dinner as I don’t see us having time to cook tomorrow night.

George is still having a bout of a time with gout. He wore flip flops to church – bless him.

My elbow. A couple of weeks ago I hit my elbow. It’s one of those things where I remember the pain but I don’t remember what I was doing. I just said “crap that hurt” and went on. I could move it so I determined it wasn’t broken. I can’t even remember what I hit it on, but it was something like I was moving backwards with stuff in my hands and hit it on a door frame or something really hard that I didn’t know was there. And it’s been fine – until this weekend. Now I cannot remember what I hurt it on but it is getting worse. The odd thing is I press on the area and nothing hurts. But if I lift anything it hurts, so while the pain feels like bone pain, it may just be muscle. I have no idea. But I guess I’ll watch and see and if it gets worse I may have to have it x-rayed or something. It’s kinda getting in the way of my normal activities. I still worked my arm today but it hurt.

We talked to George’s sister about this weekend and made some tentative plans – mainly about arrival time which we are kinda playing by ear, but said “don’t expect us til after lunch” and we can do whatever in the area until they are back from a lunch event they are doing in their complex so they can meet and greet neighbors which they should do. Kevin, my BIL will pick out where he wants to eat his birthday dinner (which was in Jan). We are buying and I picked a really pricy but good place when it was my birthday (they were paying but they love to eat there too) and we are paying this time so I reminded my SIL – tell him to pick a good place as I did pricey so he gets to! Susan said she was cooking breakfast Sunday. All I know is I’ve missed them. I have thought of them so many times – (usually driving is when my brain has time to think) so I have not texted her to let her know I miss them. But I do and I am so looking forward to seeing them, spending time with them in their new place, and catching up. I will say that after our kiddo’s all grew up and away, we’ve had the best times hanging out. Not that we didn’t before but it’s just that our agendas were full fast and furious and now our time together is relaxed and comforting. Yes, that is it. We support one another in life’s challenges now more so than ever and it will be so good to see them again.

And when I leave Friday my chances at quarter end will be over. I don’t see how it will be done as I normally have two weeks left to do all the unemployment reports for both plant and transport. I only have one now. So I am only human and I will work long hours and do what I can and it will be what it will be. And if I’m not finished then I guess they’ll need to hire help for our department in the future. When I told my boss I was behind, I was told that they were too and so it just is what it is and I refuse to worry over it. I’m just going to throw time at it this week and see what I can get done. I still have to do payroll, and there is just not much time left after that. But at least after this Friday the time will be past. I’ll do what I can to finish next week and it will already be late at that point. I will at least try to make decisions to do the highest penalties first as a courtesy to the company, LOL. What else can you do when you are only human. I am not sure what made this quarter so different from the rest but we’ve just all been really slammed with work, with issues, with auditors, with other departments needing help or having inefficiencies, we have taken on extra coaching and helping and doing things that other departments used to do – every little bit adds up. Anyway, all that is about to end and I can live a normal person’s life for the next eight weeks until it’s quarter end again. lol.

So I’ll pop in if I can during the week and let you know what happens this week! lol lol. It might be at night time but you’ll see it the next morning I guess. And if I don’t get to blog until next week just know I am doing the best I can and will check in when I can. I can’t be away long.

All I know is that we did not get much time this weekend to relax. We have been moving and shaking all weekend long. George just go through mowing the yard and spraying weeds. I’ve not had time to do any spring planting. I may just go buy fake flowers and stick in the mail boxes garden box. I’m just over this not having time to keep my house up. I am happy though to sleep in clean sheets tonight and glad the kitchen and living areas are vacuumed. Now I have to go empty the dishwasher and cook. ::sigh:: lol. After a weekend like we’ve had on the go, I think we should eat out tonight, lol. But I’ll cook. George enjoys it but these days it is a chore for me. I just have a thousand other ways I’d like to spend my time. But he has cooked for me many days so I will go cook for him.

I saw this on Instagram yesterday and I had to save it. I think it is about my life now, as I am just trying to move with the flow and whatever happens just happens and I deal with it and try to find my way from there. I always have said “bless her heart” (in my head or to others) about those that have a hard time in this life. And I think I’m about to start “blessing my own heart”, LOL LOL. It’s a southern thang! It’s usually in place of some other thought like “she can’t help herself” or “she don’t have it all together” or “she’s losing her scruples” or “the world ain’t on her side at all”. And that would all be about right these days. Some days I’ve wondered if I’m losing my marbles as I try to figure things all out. In the South here people are passive aggressive about everything. So you spend half your time wondering if what someone said was a “jab” or had some underlying meaning. We are all walking around like “what did she mean by that?” and analyzing every word. It’s so tiring. lol And ya’ll wonder why I’m so sensitive? Oh it’s in my Southern blood. Born and raised that way and defensive as H- E -double hockey sticks to protect myself.

Bye til later!

Music City Brew Hop, Monday Night Brewing, and Easter Meal Menu

On By BackporchwriterIn Brewery, Weekend10 Comments

Well, George and I had a fabulous day yesterday. We’ve looked forward to the day for a while. I wasn’t convinced that I could endure the “number” of breweries we visited yesterday but I knew I’d enjoy the journey of it – as we were going by trolley with the Music City Brewhop! If I counted right, I believe we managed to hit five of them. :-/. Katy had given this to George for Christmas.

Well, so, what was my strategy? For me to enjoy this length of a day and get to experience each one, I only had 1/2 pints. And honestly I think that will be my strategy for any visit in the future as it worked well. We were at each place for about an hour. We started out at Tailgate East where we actually parked at a nearby Kroger, as had been suggested as we started our tour there. While waiting for the trolley we had our first beer of the day.

Our trolley tour line up included:

  • Tailgate East
  • Monday Night
  • Crazy Gnome
  • East Nashville Beer Works
  • Barrique Brew

Here were the choices but we didn’t hit all of them.

My favorite was “Monday Night”. I’ve never seen anything like it. The charm of it’s half torn down former meat packing plant – now open – in the state it was for a brewery. As we got closer to it, it seemed like we were in a live computer game. I know some of you are not into video, but you’ll see what I mean below.

It also had amazing views of the Cumberland River.

Monday night had tons of room. And a very unique place. Above are some inside photos we took.

The Crazy Gnome

We also went to one called the Crazy Gnome. I didn’t take pics at all places though. The crazy gnome was fun. Both inside and outside seating. Our day started off completely sunny and mostly without clouds. But as the day wore on layers of cloud cover developed and it never rained on us but we wondered if we would.

George got the sampler flight here. And then we were getting hungry. We ate a pizza at East Nashville Beer Works. I love the breweries that serve food too, even if it is just appetizers. But we went for the pizza and it was perfect! It was kindof between a small and medium size pizza. It was perfect. I forgot to take a picture of it as we inhaled it upon arrival. lol

East Nashville Beer Works had the Pizza!

So I have to explain going into the video below….I am laughing because right before I shot this, I had to wait until George finished “adjusting himself”. This is normally not something I would share, obviously. But being that I interrupted this activity and said “when you get through diggin’ in your britches, I wanna do a video”. So we are laughing here and then George makes this statement at the end…..well, I’ll let you watch the clip. All these clips are short so no worries on time. If you got time to read, you got time to see them and you don’t want to miss this. So I had to explain what was going on otherwise you’d think us to be nuts. We are anyway but…..you’ll see why I had to explain.

Barrique

So we also went to Barrique, which was our last stop. It was in Little Harpeth Brewing’s old building. Little Harpeth moved to “the Nations” part of Nashville where several other breweries are. We think we may do our own little tour over there in the Nations at some point. I was disappointed that the view out the back was covered up so you couldn’t see. That had been the perk of Little Harpeth – seeing the trains and the Nashville Skyline out the back warehouse door. Barrique is losing some charm by not allowing that view as a part of their setting. I tried to capture it in the video above! I was ready for a munchie here and all they had were pretzels. I could have used some carrots and hummus, lol. But no, expect no prepared food at Barrique.

Barrique is unique as it has more sours than anything. Matter of fact. I got water there which was nice that the gentleman actually gave to me at no charge. It was time for water as I’d not had much water. I’m not into the sours but I will say I have not given it much of a chance either. But yesterday was not my chance as it was our last stop and I was done for the day. I tried a sip of George’s and realized it was pretty good. So there is hope for me yet on liking the sours. And I’ll give Barrique another chance.

While my strategy worked for me yesterday of just 1/2 pint or 1/2 pour at each – it’s still important to stay hydrated and alcohol can be very much the opposite so I’d recommend having a water bottle or container with you for sips here and there. They didn’t seem to mind us having water on the trolley as long as we removed the trash.

At that rate, I was also going to be fine to drive. As was George b/c it was usually over an hour before each beer and you lose them at one per hour. So no intoxication in case you wondered. But we didn’t have to drive until the end of day. We looked into hotels and the prices drew us away. Too unreasonable!

We (the trolley) also dropped some visitors off in downtown Nashville and that was fun being on the trolley. There was a Garth Brooks concert only two hours from that point and the roads were starting to be filled with police set ups, road closures, and various traffic set ups for that. But we got in and out quickly.

Before heading home, George and I went out to eat in Mount Juliet for a proper meal at Chada Thai Restaurant as the pizza had mainly kind of been an appetizer as it was small and we were ready for dinner as it was wearing off. We chose Asian for a hot meal. And we both enjoyed hot green tea as well which was very good.

I got the Bento Box as it had a lot of everything. But it was too much for me to eat. I loved the salad and the chicken dish and the sushi and the sweet potato tempura. The rice was a bit too dry and the egg roll was more like tempura’d instead of the egg rolls I am used to. I was not a fan. The crab sticks tasted really fishy as did the seaweed of course. But it was fun to try it all and I had plenty of it to eat. And of course as you see below, nothing would be wasted.

Overall, it was a great day. I failed to mention we started our day at Chic Filet so we’d have something on our tummies and I think that was important as not all the breweries had food. I think some type of food is expected and appropriate. But we are foodies as much as we love a good brewery. I think their beer sales increase also when you can get some food in you and stay longer. Sometimes we’ve opted out on restaurants because we ate the brew food instead. There’s just my plug for more food at breweries – not a complete menu lineup but a few things at least – salsa and chips go a long way as does hummus and carrots. There are a lot they could without having to cook a thing. Pimento and cheese and celery and pita chips. No stoves necessary. Come on. Just do it breweries! 😉

Weekend Outlook and Easter Meal

So, today is Saturday and our Brew Hop is over and I’m the one cooking the easter meal for tomorrow. George is cooking the ham. I’m fixing the rest. I am happy to say that it gives me great joy to be able to fix the meal for my family. For some reason George has not seemed invested in the meal like he normally is and that is ok, because it gives me a chance to cook and claim back some kitchen time. Here’s what we are having:

  • Honey Spiraled Ham
  • Macaroni Salad
  • Green Beans mixed with Speckled Butter Beans
  • Corn
  • Dressed Eggs
  • Sister Schubert Rolls
  • Lemon Ice Box Pie
  • Half Sweet Iced Tea with Lemon

Then we will have leftovers. So I’m fixing what I can today – macaroni salad, dressed eggs, dessert and tea. Then the other can be heated up tomorrow for dinner tomorrow night. I have to see what we are doing for lunch though because we’ll be hungry for something after church. Since George wants the Easter meal to be at night instead of lunch we’ll have to do subway or something. I wonder if anything will be open. I may need to run to the store again and get sandwiches to hold us over. If it had been up to me I’d do the Easter meal as soon as we got home and got it all heated up. But he wanted to do dinner I think so he could do yard work. So I will try to comply. ::sigh::

Anyway I have a lot to do today so I’m getting started. I will need to set the table decor for Easter and also want to finish cleaning up the sun room for sitting in there for the next six weeks or so before it gets so hot you can’t stand it.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Enjoy it because I’ve not looked forward to much of late.

  • I’m going to enjoy attacking the hell out of quarter end, lol – believe it or not. I’m ready to get it done and over with. And not much time left.
  • I’m looking forward to George getting my office file cabinet put together and it’s on his list, but then I can get my office back together for the first time in about a year. Everything will be accessible then and I can function and I plan on doing a lot of writing and creating after a bit of an organizational period.
  • I’m looking forward to having some reading time at some point
  • Working the puzzle from Christmas that I can finally begin to work on. Some of these things may not happen til May as I’ll be losing some personal time due to working more because of quarter end.
  • Working on a list of things I want to happen to manifest (bring to fruition)
  • Work on the Bucket List for Summer
  • Put out my summer wardrobe
  • Buy some new sandals
  • Watch some hair styling videos
  • Buy a new shirt or two for summer
  • Work on my new way of doing videos
  • Start my new video
  • Do some writing I’ve been wanting to do
  • Analyze a few things (good things no worries, lol)
  • Plan some things – we have a few things to get on the calendar for May and June – May is filling up fast and about to spillover into June now. (Company coming, Mom has some things she needs us for and then we have an excursion or two).

So as I long as I don’t get frustrated over the time pieces – we are good, but I’m trying to learn how to do more with less time and getting the office reorganized will help me with a few things. I’m tired of sticky notes and index cards laying everywhere! I’m ready to get back to being me and being functional with the little bits of time we can find!

Ok I better get on with my busy day. What are you having for an easter meal? And let me know if you made it this far in the post! 😉