Sunday Din Din - Keeper Recipes

Bean and pasta salad, grilled sirloin with chimichurri sauce, leftover taters browned off with some garden zucchini and at the end I put in a bit of the chimichurri sauce. Should have worn goggles . . . 

 

 

Happy Birthday John!

John was home today for his birthday. Had a pleasant day. Mom seemed shocked when I reminded her that John was 47! LOL And she doesn't even have dementia. She made a kick-ass German chocolate cake for him. Yum. 

It was a great day for Dad. Brother Pat was here from Coal City (John); Sister Noreen was here from Mazon (me); and his mother was here (my mom, his wife).

We had an interesting ride tonight.

Bernie: "Did you ask mom to come with us? I hope she is around a long time!"
Kay: "What do you mean Dad?"
Bernie: "Well she is getting pretty old!" (Bernie has 18 years on Jo Ann!)
Kay: "Do you mean my mom or your mom?"
Bernie, laughing and with his patient look: "Same mom!" lol

Bernie: "Sometime after I get used to this place I won't have to ask so many questions. It's just my first night here so I have a lot of questions. I'm pretty old you know. When you get to be 90 you might have questions too."
Kay: "I don't think I'll make it to 90 Bernard."
Bernie: "That's what I used to say, and look at me now!" lol

When I'm Dad's sister, I call him Bernard, just like my aunts. When I am his daughter I call him Dad. Just like Kay. I'm very strange, I know.

Trying a couple of new recipes tomorrow. That is the extent of my boring weekend. And still nursing my sore knee. Grrrrr.

Kay :)

Independence Day

The Sisters.

Isis the contortionist.

Hera the wall hugger cat. She likes to sleep behind the curtain.

John's cats are beautiful and healthy and active. John says Hera is like a 40's pin-up girl,solid as a rock. Isis is the high fashion model.

Saw a doe and triplet fawns frolicking in the park by John's house today. At least I'm assuming they were all hers. She was disciplining them all. The fawns were racing and playing and it was lovely to watch.

Dad was all full of stories this a.m. He told me that he was not going to come to the courthouse to see me again. Very interesting, because he has NEVER come to the courthouse to see me. He told some rambling story about he came to see me and some man told him I was asleep somewhere. What the hell? I can't even sleep in my own bed! Then Wimbledon was on and he said that he had tried tennis one time but a man took the racquet out of his hand. I wonder if it was the same man who told him about me sleeping in the courthouse? Who is this man? Hmmm.

John came home yesterday for lunch, and Dad kept asking him how are things in Coal City. He thinks John is his youngest brother, Pat. I am still Noreen. It is good that we are family.

Clearance smoked salmon. Marked down hard salami. Yum!

Prairie dog alert!

Vocalize your concerns over your non-flowering, non-productive zucchini plants and, seemingly overnight, they will go crazy!

That's all folks.

Kay

July

I can't believe it is July already!

Nothing too exciting going on. Same old same old.

We had a good storm last Monday night. I thought I'd take Dad for his ride early so we'd be home before the storm. Oops, that sucker came in fast. I was hustling home, branches and debris and all kinds of stuff (no cows) were blowing across road. It was scary. It was so windy I was afraid to go on the overpass. Dad said, "Gosh I hope I didn't bring this on! This is some welcome my first night in Morris!" lolol.

Storm blew over some of my tomato cages. Plants seem to be OK. In fact, it looks like a jungle out there . . .

LOL It's kind of funny, that sunflower there in the middle of the veggie bed. I did not plant one there. I must have dropped that seed! None of the razzle dazzle ones from the seeds I bought on Ebay have come. And the holly hocks I dug up a couple of years ago have reappeared! It's OK though, they are not all buggy like they were a couple of years ago.

Peppers, yum!

Future zucchini, yum!

Future taters! Yum! LOL Midgie was digging furiously in the tater bed, and I really was curious if there were any taters in there. One year I had glorious tater tops and no veggies. Well I snuck my hand in the big hole Midgie had dug, I didn't disturb the hill, and I can confirm that there are taters down there. And I can confirm that they are 100% organic . . .

Can't wait for a garden tomato!

My paralegal position came through. I'm very happy about that. Same office, same boss, etc., just more and more varied things to do.

I have to lose weight in order for my knee to feel better. I got a cortisone shot and some Celebrex. It is feeling better. Did you know if you lose 10 pounds of body weight, it takes 50 pounds of pressure off your knee. I think I need to tattoo that somewhere.

Happy 4th of July! I'm off Friday woo hoo!

Kay :)

Wee Visitors and Wee Garden Stuff

Had company this a.m. A mama possum and a bunch of babies hanging on fence. The cat fence that cannot contain Finnegan can contain a possum. I have gate open and am hoping she'll get out soon. Maybe one of her babies squeezed through fence and she came in after it and brought the whole family? Who knows. Midge and Finn are pissy about being locked in the house. Which is actually pretty silly because it is rainy and they'd be snoozing away in the house anyways. I should have known something was up anyway, the way Midge was acting. She was doing her "Come with me, Timmy fell in the well!" thing this a.m. If I got her an agent, I'm sure she'd have a good career in pictures. She gets a little shook up when something intrudes on her little back yard world.

Garden is going to town. I have some wee veggies coming along and had some nice cole slaw with garden cabbage.

A wee tomato . . .

a wee pepper . . .

a good size cat who likes to dig up zinnias next to a zucchini plant . . .

and John's perennials he put in for me last year. See the wee head of cabbage back there in corner?

Took Bernie to the courthouse concert on the lawn Thursday night. He enjoyed it, though he likes marching band music better than jazz band music. Next time it will be 50's and 60's music. That should be fun. 

Dad story from mom:

Dad was sitting in recliner, in "thinking" mode. He said to mom: "I need to ask you a question. What happened to all my women friends?"

Kay :)

Funny Bernie Stuff and Other Miscellany

Bernie Funnies:

I served Dad some kick ass fajitas. Dad was clearly dubious.What did he say about it?  Bernie: "Well, I'll just say one thing . . .  it tastes better than it looks."

Took Dad up to Hines VA Hospital for a neuro check-up. The nurses are so sweet to him up there, and he loves attention. One was particularly charming, and Dad whispered to me, "She bragged me up pretty good. Maybe she is looking for a tip . . .?"

In exam room with neurologist. Doctor points to Mom and asks Dad who is that woman and what is her name. Dad did great, said that is Jo Ann, my wife. Then doctor asked who I was. Dad said that is my sister, Noreen. LOL He even was close on the year, 2012.

On the way home we stopped at Del Rhea's Chicken in a Basket in Willowbrook for some lunch. Dad used to go there many moons ago with his brother, Pat, and cousin, Robert, after the stock car races. These boys used to really get around!  It was good and we had a good time. I think the whole trip tired Dad out. He has been a little more confused and a little wired since then. It's like when a little kid gets overtired I think.

Mom and Dad carried on the fine Mallaney family tradition of sneaking out a piece of chicken in their pocket/purse, etc. Sigh. Their discretionary tactics are somewhat questionable . . .

Another Dad story from Mom . . . The paper girl is terrific, a sweet, tiny little thing. Always puts the paper in the box. Yesterday Dad caught her at the door, he was having  a walk around and was taking in the view. Mom came around the corner to see Dad handing her something and telling her that it was all he had. I'm not sure where she'll spend that nickel! LOLOL  Mom just happened to catch the tail end of the conversation and sweetened up the tip a little bit with some one dollar bills she happened to have in her pocket from the washing machine. How fortuitous!

John's new furniture looks terrific and is super comfy! That's my recliner, over there by the tree. Ahhhh. Comfort. New sheers and drapes are on the list, but no hurry, the green drapes do not offend.

 

ANTM pose.

Do we have to share our bathroom with BIG CAT again?

I took a vacation day today and came to John's to see the new furniture. The cats seem somewhat alarmed by my presence. They are so independent now, not wanting to be on a person all the time. Though Hera does still have short nursing sessions while sitting with John. My vision of having a lovely, affectionate cat to share my new recliner with are not coming true. They are one man cats, John is their person. They tolerate and like me . . . I think! LOL

Ok, now a confession . . . I totally failed my Healthy Wage Get Paid to Lose Weight 10% Challenge. Instead of waiting for the miserable end, I decided to just start over. Paid my $150 AGAIN, took another video weigh-in (ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - John thinks we could win $100,000 with it on America's Funniest Videos!). So now I have to lose my 10%, just to recoup my $300 (penance, yikes!), and then I'll have to do it again to turn a profit. And so I shall.

Have a lovely weekend folks.

Kathleen

Would it be wrong . . . ?

Would it be wrong to disturb him so I could do some cleaning and sleep on line-dried sheets tonight?

Heck no! He got me up at 5:00 this a.m.!