A Little Breather

It's that time of the semester. Mid-term time. Cory has been chained to his desk, completing assignments and studying his tooshie off for the past few weeks.

He finally had a little breather this weekend and we got to go on a date. A real date! I wore pants and everything. 

We hit up Momo's Pizza, where they make pizzas the size of tractor wheels. We ordered a medium this time, (Margarita style: Basil, Tomato, Feta and Mozzarella. My absolute favorite way to eat pizza ever. Sooo good.) but once before I have ordered the "XL". I seriously had to clean out the trunk of my car and open up the back hatch to get it home (where it was shared with many, many people). 

Cory hates taking pictures. I got him to agree  to take one picture with me, and this is what we got:

This is the face he makes when I ask him to look pretty:

Saturday morning I woke up early and finally tackled one of those dirty jobs you avoid for as long as possible (if you're really good, you NEVER have to do these ones. Ours was too gross though. I couldn't put it off any longer): Cleaning out the underneath of the kitchen appliances. I pulled out the oven, and cloroxed the heck out of many nameless horrors. There was a rusty 7 inch knife down there! We suspect foul play.

Saturday night we went on ANOTHER date! Two dates! Ah! We met up with Danny, Joanna and little Ava for dinner and game night (Sour Apples to Apples. I totally dominated). 

I also recently indulged my inner 85 year old lady (I also strongly support cardigans and floral print.) and bought this tiny gnome for my herbs on the porch. The basil has never felt so welcoming! 

Happy Leap Day week! Let's do something crazy, okay?

I love chair

We did it. We went back and bought the chair today. The man running the little barn/shack place told us he'd sell us the chair for $60.00 on Saturday. They only took cash, and we didn't have any cash, so we didn't buy it then. I dreamed about it all day Sunday. 

A different guy was running the joint today, and he told us he'd sell it for $35.00. SOLD. 

My parents are going to bring it down to Florida when they come visit in April. Until then, I'm posting this picture of it so I can can just sit and look at it throughout the day while we're apart. I love chair.

Sometimes I just get on planes and leave.

I decided on Friday morning that I really needed to come to North Carolina to see my parents. (Everything is okay, don't worry.) So, I talked to my boss, arranged my schedule, bought a plane ticket, and arrived around 11:30 Friday night. Apparently, I do what I want.

Cory is stuck at home studying his little tooshie off. Sorry babe. I miss you!

I so needed this trip. I really, really love my Mom and Dad. My mom and I can just talk and talk. People listening to our conversations probably thing we're crazy (i.e. my Dad.) but oh well. It's what we call a cyclical conversation. We find ourselves starting one conversation, interrupting each other, moving on with the new conversation, and four hours later, "Oh, so like I was saying about food storage..." and never miss a beat.

I might buy this super awesome mid century arm chair tomorrow. Amazing things are so cheap here! America's best kept secret, ya'll.

We made some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon after church. We always double the recipe, because we're awesome and can put them cookies away like there is no tomorrow. My mom always tries to "save" the cookies by putting them in the freezer. They've never lasted past a week in our house. And now my family has developed a very particular taste for frozen cookies.

Here is the recipe, as Betty Crocker intended. (Double it if you're awesome and can handle putting 2.5 sticks of butter into one recipe. I know. )

2/3 c. shortening
2/3 c. butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 package (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven the 375 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Cream shortening, butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together. You want this part to be light and white and fluffy.

Stir in remaining ingredients (flour, soda, and salt). Combine thoroughly but do not over mix. Finally, add chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown on edges, still a little gooey in the center. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire cooling rack.

Betty says this will yield about 7 dozen cookies. Betty's cookies must be the tiniest little things. It would make about 4-5 dozen Hansen style. Also, when I think about it...we eat a lot of the cookie dough before it even gets a chance to be a real cookie. So, maybe Betty's right. I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

Back to reality on Wednesday, but for now I'm just going to enjoy some family time while missing my boo.

Things of Note

1) I painted our dining room table yesterday. I've been talking about it for the past 7 months, and yesterday, I up and did it. Cory wasn't too excited about it but...I've learned that you can't stop it if you're not awake for it. No pictures yet--its not quite ready. Fingers crossed I'll be getting some new chairs at the end of this month and I'll do a big reveal then :)

2) Cory took me out to dinner on Friday night. After driving a huge loop around town for about 30 minutes and passing multiple options, we decided to eat at a sushi place called Mr. Roboto. A place that is pretty much within walking distance of our front door. Nice. It was delicious.

3) I got a new calling at church today. Second Councillor in Relief Society. I'm nervous and excited. Can I really do this?? Cory thinks so. He says, "Now maybe you'll be too busy to paint all the things in our house." Don't count on it.

4) Have you ever cried in front of your boss at work? I hadn't until this week. It was a pretty bad day. Luckily I have an awesome boss. And my girl Freya works just down the hall so I was able to cry it out in her office too. Thank you! I wish I could promise that would be the last time but...I can't. 

5) Cory and I both love a good murder mystery. Castle, Bones, Lie to Me...all over it. We've started watching the crime documentary show "Wicked Attractions" on Netflix and now I'm pretty sure I'm never going to let my kids out of the house. Ever. But I can't look away.  

That pretty much sums out the past week. Bring on the month of love!