HP #5 Movie Tonight!

Tonight, traditional wings night will be cancelled as Craig and I head to the movies to catch one of the most awaited summer films-- EVER.

Thats right, the next edition of the HP sequence came out today (and I was asleep! at midnight) so we are off to see it this evening. I can't wait! I have decided that I probably shouldn't dress up as well... the cape and hat might be a little toasty considering the heatwave we are in the middle of. BUT-- I AM SUPER SUPER EXCITED! Plus... LESS than 10 days til Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows comes out... what a great July!!!


Other than that, a slow and somewhat blah day at work--- so I will keep trudging through the afternoon with the happy evening to look forward to.

Oh-- and a good recipe! We had Grilled Pacific Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice last night-- pretty tasty, quick, and even made Craig do the cooking! (that's my kind of meal!) This recipe was from Everyday foods. I have been a fan of this magazine for a few months now-- since Claud sent me a subscription. The recipes I have tried have all been pretty good-- and pretty easy-- I would recommend checking this magazine, or at least the website out! (even though it is by nutty martha stewart)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new car! Isn't she pretty.

All in all, a great day yesterday!! We got the Blazer traded in... and miraculously-- it started, and the AC worked and the 4-wheel drive worked when the appraiser was trying it out... and well, I guess the time we spent washing and waxing it on Sunday paid off-- cause they traded it for more than I was hoping for!!!! Yay!

So now the subaru is my car, and it runs nicely and the AC works, and it has a CD player and doesn't seem to drink near as much gas as the Blazer--- so I am overall pretty excited.

Plus it fit my basic car shopping requirements-- It doesn't guzzle gas, has modern safety equipment (eg- air bags and ABS) it would hold a 100lb golden retreiver (Murphy) and will hold a car seat. And as a bonus is has All Wheel drive-- so I am very happy with what I got-- oh and it only cost one arm and part of a leg-- so that was a nice bonus!!!!

Super great day yesterday-- topped off with yummy grilled hot dogs on the spiffy grill-- and even with the good hot dog buns for toasting-- the new england style ones. They toast so much better than the plain ones. YAY!

The Weekend

We were out in Jersey for the weekend at Craig's parents-- I went shopping, wandered Wegmans (I love that place) and baked a cake. Craig dug out old fence posts and replaced them in concrete, rewired a lamp post, and replaced a toilet-- so guess who had a more relaxing weekend?! (Ok, so I did help with the toilet)
Wegman's is sooooo cool, I wish there were one closer. We keep hearing promises, but they never materialize. They have EVERYTHING. I got the yummy aged primadonna cheese we got hooked on while dating and taking trips to the reading terminal market (another wonderful place for food), the cotija cheese I need to make Craig the chilaquiles he got addicted to for breakfast in Puerto Vallarta, green Thai curry paste, lemongrass, mirin, rose and orange blossom waters, and these super tiny red skin and white potatoes-- they are going to be yummy. Oh! And the very best thing--- Digestive cookies! I love those things, my madre in Spain had them out almost every morning at breakfast-- sooooo good. And I can never find them anywhere-- and they had them, both the plain ones and the chocolate covered ones. YAY!!!!

On Sunday evening we grilled dinner in... I took care of the baked potatoes (somehow everyone thinks mine are really good-- I don't do anything much special to them-- I just put some olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside-- though this time I used "Crazy Jane's Mixed up Salt" and then bake them for a while)-- made some bacon for them, sauteed up some mushrooms and then made a little foil packet of smushed garlic and olive oil and threw that on the grill while Roy cooked the steaks-- the garlic turned out very yummy that way. I also made that coconut cake that I make all too often now and filled it with some whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Yum... a good dinner-- but it made for us getting a late start to get home.

We left Murph there to get him a vet visit and groomed (he was starting to stink!) and Jane and Roy will bring him back next Monday or Tuesday. Tiki really misses her buddy... she just wanders looking for him. Oh well, is she in for a shock when he gets back-- winnie's coming with him to stay for a month--- poor kitten won't know what hit her!

That's it for the weekend. Not too big. Yesterday was Bachelor Season Finale-- I had correctly predicted the winner-- so that was super exciting and we had a nice girl's night watching the finale.
Today its back to work-- gotta get some data--- want to graduate before I am 50.

The Bridal Shower and Barbecue Night

Well... I forgot to get a picture of the food spread before it was demolished... but it was nice. We made kingergarten punch (Hawaiian punch+ginger ale + floating rainbow sherbet) and I made these veggie pizza things that mom gave me the recipe for (someone once told me that they "simplified their veggie dipping experience") and Kim made her extra delicious spinach dip. So that was out with some cheese and crackers and the cake for food.

Here are some pics of the day. Bride-to-be Leah had a good time and we all got a kick out of the ever popular TP bridal gowns.

We told the guys (Leah's fiance Mike and Craig) that they couldn't be in the living room, so they sat on the stairs and looked at us... then shortly decided to grab as many snacks as they could and some DVD about communists taking over Colorado and head to the cellar (and "check out" the beer fridge).

Jackie and Nekeshia won the first game and some "fabulous" prizes from Dollar Stores (and playdough)

Nekeshia won the "guess the kitchen white powder" game after finally believing that not all the bags were FLOUR... and that none of the bags were "crack". My friends are NUTS!!! Craig is sad to see the flower leave as he was quite enjoying wearing around the house as a hat.

Bride-to-be Leah with the two "models" in the Super-Biodegradable Gown Contest Kara and Jackie. Jackie and Nekeshia won by a close vote for their daring "bare the goods" neckline, while Kara and Candice received special note for their traditional gown, long train, and lovely veil.

Tiki was adorable all afternoon, but she then decided that all these gowns with the dangly trains were just big toys for her! She started chasing the gals through the house trying to pounce on the trailing TP trains. Cute... but she is a naughty little girl!

I had to pick her up to prevent further disaster to the "gowns" so here is one more pic of the kitten (and me).

All in all a big hit, and a lot of fun. When the shower was over, we let boys out of the cellar and sent them outside to fire up the grill. Craig cooked up hot dogs and burgers for everyone-- the gals and then our guy friends who came over just for dinner while we hauled all the chairs out of the house (we are still looking around for a picnic table set when we pass clearance stuff at Lowe's) and got chips and all that kinda stuff ready. It was gorgeous weather out and was nice to be able to sit outside. I got my hot dog perfectly burnt... and 3 other people asked for theirs burnt as well, so I proved to Craig that that particular foible is not THAT odd. It was a great evening and a really nice day.

Saturday...

Well... we got a little bit accomplished today... our house actually has a number as of this afternoon!!!! Yay! Now hopefully people can find our house and not be knocking on the neighbors' doors. We also got to play with the grill again and that worked quite nicely. I got the porch furniture covers washed and dried on the line and started the seeds for my summer garden as well. We're hoping that we'll still have some company for easter, but we're waiting for news to make that decision.... at least Mom and Dad should be coming.

In other news, I am continuing to do my homework on the whole planning to have a family thing... apparently I need to make sure my MMR vaccine stuff is still current, particularly that my anti-rubella titers are still good and all well in advance... so that's been added to the list (with the folic acid mom's been lecturing me on since 10 days after we got engaged!)

That's about it in news from Hershey tonight~ so I best go put some sheets on the guest bed and keep my fingers crossed that we still get some houseguests this coming weekend-- oh and find something appropriate/cute for a bridal shower that I have to go to tomorrow!

The scale was out to get me....

Ok, so I had previously set my goal for the whole losing weight thing based on what I thought was a pretty accurate measurement of my weight... I was wrong. The darned defective scale had misled me... basically it comes out to two of the "bars" being "burnt" out on the tens place on the LCD display-- this led me to believe I was 1olbs lighter than in reality... ugh, that was a depressing realization.. but it did make me feel better in that I was really bummed that watching what I'd eaten all week and exercising had lead to my "gaining" 7-8lbs.... but since I was off on my original reading, it actually works out to a small loss... so yay! (as long as it hadn't gone up that much I was more than content) SO I am no longer feeling like a complete loser, but I am contemplating purchasing a scale that actually has all the numbers on it to help protect my sanity.

In other news, we broke out the grill the other day and it is fantastic... so now Craig needed to get himself some "grill tools" (using my kitchen ones was too dangerous for him-- not long enough handles he kept complaining... sheesh.. all he burned was a couple fingers, and I didn't see a single blister or anything... jk he's just fine). Yesterday on a shopping run we found him some parts for the grill so he is a happy camper.

The blazer is behaving ok this week so far, but I need to get it to the mechanic before everyone comes up here for the holiday... not that I really have a clear idea of who is coming when... I know Christina is coming in on Thursday evening-- but outside of that-- John keeps changing his plans... and mom and dad are just saying saturday... so its a bit of a mystery. I did get the guest room pretty well ready for Christina, but I still have to get john to decide if he wants us to get the futon mattress down from the attic or just sleep on the couch so I can get that taken care of. And then that leaves the last dash clean of the house to get the leavings of Murph (well... roomba does the floors, and scooba will mop, and the auto shower thingy does a pretty good job with the shower, but I have to dust and clean the bathroom up and that kinda stuff). We still have a little paint to touch up and some junk to clean off the front porch--- the patio furniture needs to be hosed off, the cushions need to be laundered, and I need to get my garden cleaned up a little bit out front so we can hopefully enjoy the bulbs that are starting to come up-- but all in all, we're in pretty good shape. Yay for spring... and now, back to work.. the mice need me.