Project 52 2K13 ~ Week 12 {Focus}

Yesterday morning my beloved asked me what my plans were for the day.  I told him that I was going to a kitchen supply store with my mother. 

She wanted to.  And, to be honest, so did I.  I've had flat whisk dreams for a while now.

And he said,  "So, you'll probably want some money, right?"

You know...like we live in 1955.

And I said, "Money is always appreciated."

Because, why fight it if it's workin' for ya'.

So he asked how much I thought I needed.  Which is just a ridiculous question.    I've never been to this store.  I don't know what they have.  I don't know what they're charging.   What I do know is that it's completely embarrassing to be standing at the register and not have enough money....so just give me everything you have and I'll bring you the change.

This is my thinking and my reasoning for responding with,

"Hundred bucks."

He laughed.  Then he rolled his eyes.  Then he looked at me like I was crazy insane.

But I stood strong.  Ask for the moon and all.

So he says,

"Oh yeah right.  Here's $40."

"Fine.  I'll see what I can get with this," and I put it in my wallet, although I really only wanted to satisfy my flat whisk dreams and maybe a few fantasies about a french rolling pin.

Truly, I would have taken $20, but I didn't want to tell him that because then he would say that he would have given me $60 and then I would have had to put on a strapless, red velvet dress and a sparkly diamond necklace and fly off to San Francisco to see the opera and rescue him right back.

And it was too early in the morning and I couldn't get my hair to curl right.

Besides, I've never been much of an opera fan anyway.

When he got home last night he asked me what I bought and we played Kitchen Toy Store Show and Tell. 

"How much did it come to?"

"$37 and change."

(because the first $20 did, in fact, cover the whisk and the rolling pin, but maybe a few things jumped into my basket that I wasn't counting on)
(3 ladles in graduated sizes are always useful)
(one professional spatula beats the crap out of two plastic ones)
(a red, silicone basting brush that stands heat up to 500 degrees?...come on!)

"Well, it's a good thing I gave you forty."

Right.

Saucy

One of the things my beloved really loves to do with me is cook.

You totally thought that sentence was going another way, didn't you?  I know.  I did too when I first thought it.

He loves to be in the kitchen together, which is actually really sad for him because I rarely let him in the kitchen.

He tends to be one of those controlling, over my shoulder, "You sure you know what you're doing?" types of cooking partners.

And it sort of pisses me off, but in a quiet, passive aggressive kind of way.  Most often I turn into a psycho Ghostbusters demon floating four feet above the stove, growling

"You want a piece of this?"

and then I shove a hot spoon in his mouth.  Backs him right up.

We haven't been together over the stove since right after Thanksgiving when we spent all day making 47 gallons of stock from the leftover turkey carcass.

A couple of weeks ago he came home with 153 cans of diced tomatoes.

"You know.....I don't know...If you feel like making sauce or something."

So, I put them on the shelf in the garage and waited for my Pizan inspiration to hit me.  Good sauce takes all day and I have to be in the mood.

Then he brought home a three pound wedge of parmesan.

"Look at the rind!  I thought it would be great for the sauce!"

It was.  It was a beautiful rind.  I cut it off and put in a plastic baggie in the fridge, then ate the rest of the wedge for lunch.

He kept asking me about it.

"Sooooooo.....what do you think?  Sauce?'

And then my mother made sauce and it became abundantly clear that I hadn't broadcast any new episodes from Mama Lisa's Kitchen in a while,

and he said,

"Okay...tomorrow.  We're making sauce."

He was very excited.  He prepped all the fresh ingredients,

and set our pots side by side, like they were holding hands,

and I showed him how to make sauce.

It took all day, and we ended up with two gallons of sauce.  He was happy.

And full.

And for the record, the only person I've ever heard call sauce gravy is Tony Soprano. 

There's regular tomato sauce and there's meat sauce.

You can get fancy and call it Marinara or Bolognese.

You can forget what you're doing and write "Meet Sauce" on the container.

You can pour in a bottle of wine and make it drunk sauce.

Just don't call it gravy.  It's dumb.

Buon Salute!

My Weekend In Status Updates

Time at the beach means days on end without technology.  We have TV's, and MP3 players and stuff, but no computers and no internet access, which is always a challenge for my mind because I've got a real problem thinking in status updates.  I always come up with them and then they just get wasted because I've got nowhere to put them.

Sometimes I say them to Prince Charming.

Sometimes he laughs.

Sometimes he just looks at me.

Sometimes he makes a sandwich. 

Anyway, this past weekend, I decided not to let all of this magnificent 1-3 sentence thinking go to waste and I wrote down all of my status updates so I could share them with you:

Yay, Beach!  Let's go have some fun!  Have a great weekend!!

 

I thought the whole point of leaving a day early was so that we could miss the traffic.

Okay, 3 hours in the car without DVD players.  We seriously need to get new DVD players.....and some wine.

Beautiful.  Gorgeous.  Wish you were here.

 

Hangin' 10 in the waves with my girlie.  No, 10 toes.  What were you thinking?

GIRLIE:  My feet are getting pricked by the grass

ME:  Yeah, that happens.  I get pricked all the time.

GIRLIE:  Does it hurt?

ME:  No.  Not really.

PC:  {Laughing hysterically}

ME:  What?  Why are you.....Oh.  Real mature.

 Okay...seriously?  I cannot be the only one who sees Winnie The Pooh in this lemon, right?

My children are chasing a snake and I'm not stopping them for three reasons:

1.  I love that they're playing outside.

2.  I love that they're playing cooperatively together.

3.  I have no plans in the near or far future to take them to a reptile house or allow them have any kind of pet without legs that slithers, so go for it, man.

ME:  Hey!  Let's make margaritas!

PC:  We don't have any tequila.  We have wine.

ME:  Oh....Hey!  Let's make sangria!

I never said I wasn't easy.......to please, sicko.

A quiet house, a cup of coffee, a lovely sunrise, and my new magazine.  Mornings were made to be spent like this....

Since when does having 1/8" of TP left on the roll mean that a new roll gets put on the counter?  TP does not get stored on/put on/used from the counter.  It's this kind of stuff that leads to the break down of a civilized society, people....

This is how seagulls get high enough to see over tall buildings.  No...that's what they're doing.  No.....Yes, it absolutely is.  Yes...and I'm pretty sure I don't want to talk about this anymore....

GRANDMA:  Oh!  I am so stiff.
ME:  {looks at PC}
PC:  {looks at me}
GRANDMA:  That walk made me so stiff.  
ME:  {starting to snort}
GRANDMA:  I'm just so stiff.  Aren't you stiff?
PC:  Uhh, no, not really.
ME:  {can't hold it in any longer.....} Bahahahahahahahahaha!
GRANDMA:  What?....Oh, you guys! 

Ahhhhh....sitting on the sofa sipping sangria in the sunshine.  S...ssssssssss....

Too sangria buzzed to read, but not buzzed enough to be able to watch golf.  I hate it when that happens.

Mmmmm....S'mores.


Me in a hubcap.  I don't know.
Must be time to head home.

Great beach.  Great weekend.

A Morning In The Life....

Prince Charming and I took his mother and the kids on a super-secret clubhouse field trip over the weekend because it was my niece's 21st birthday.  Not that one thing really has anything to do with the other, I just wanted to give a  

Great Big 21st Birthday Shout-out

to my niece.

Moving on...

So, we planned this secret outing, my beloved and I, for his mother and our children.

THEM:  "Give us a hint!"
US:  "You'll need your tennis shoes and your scooter."
THEM:  "Give us another hint!  How long will it take to get there?"
US:  "About a half an hour."
THEM:  "Oh.  So, it's not Disneyland."

My mother-in-law just never gets tired of Space Mountain....ever....

9:27 a.m.

The kids and I in the back of the car, Daddy and Grandma in the front of the car, Daddy calling me a fly, me telling him to shut it because these are my sunglasses and I like them, Daddy going "Buzzzzzzzzzz", the kids and Grandma laughing 'cause he's just soooo funny.

(And P.S....An artistic note here ~ I love, love, love that you can see the front seat of the truck reflected in my glasses, which, you would not be able to see if my glasses were smaller...Just sayin'...)

9:28 a.m.

Officially on the road.

Let the super-secret fun begin!

9:50 a.m.

We're in the city.

9:53 a.m.

Here's where the Mariners loose all their games.

Okay...they don't loose loose all their games here.  They loose some in other ball parks, too.

I'm kidding!  I'm just kidding! 

Sheesh!!

10:05 a.m.

Know where we're going yet?

10:17 a.m.

Parked on a side street in front on some guy's house because there was, like, no parking ANYWHERE!! and walked across to the park. 

Green Lake!

10:28 a.m.

Beginning our motor around the lake

"Stay right on the line!"

"Watch out.  There's a lot of people around you!"

"No crowding!"

"A little more space, please!"

"No, get back over the line!"

"Don't run over my foot!"

"Get out of the way!"

"Wait.  Grandma!  Why are you running ahead?"

Sooooo much fun.....

10:36 a.m.

Enjoying the sights around the lake.

Ahhhh.....No, I'm fine.  You guys just go on ahead..... 

Really....you don't have to wait....I can catch up.....you know.....later.

10:42 a.m.

Turtles.

I wasn't going to photograph these.  I'm not a turtle virgin.  I've seen them before.  Taken pictures of them.  But, then this woman standing there on the edge of the path turned and saw me and she said,

"Oh!  You have a zoom lens.  Take their picture!"

So....I did.

10:52 a.m.

Walkin' the scooter.  Man this is getting tiring....Anyone else feel like sitting down?

10:57 a.m.

Taking 14 pictures of a crane.

"MOM!  Let's go!  You don't need to take 14 pictures of a crane!"

"Yes, I do.  I've never seen one of those in real life before.   You don't see that everyday, you know.....Oh wait.  There's a duck.  I need to take some pictures of that."

"MOM!  That is soooo not funny!"

It's a little funny....

11:13 a.m.

Made it 2/3 of the way around the lake and had to stop at the park.  Sent Daddy on ahead to get the truck and bring it back to pick us up.

Phew!  A bench....and evidently, a wait for the see-saw....

11:18 a.m.

Played 147 games of Where's Waldo with the children and all the other masses of people at the park.

Can you see him?

There he his!

The fun never stops......

11:24 a.m.

Discovering that the spinning thing is actually a lot harder to hold on to than it looks.

"Look!  I totally got a picture of you falling off!"

"Mom, that's not funny."

It's kinda' funny....

11:25 a.m.

Trying to trick his sister into falling off.

"Come on.  I'll spin you.  It'll be great."

She didn't fall off.

He was mad.

"Mom, it's not funny!"

Come on! It's funny!

11:42 a.m.

THE KIDS:  "Dad, can we go out for lunch?"

PC:  "No."

THE KIDS:  "Please?"

PC:  "No."

THE KIDS:  "Pleeeease."

GRANDMA:  "Of course we can!"

11:56 a.m.

Driving, a little crooked, across the West Seattle Bridge....

On our way to lunch.

We had to.  Grandma said.

12:14 p.m.

Spuds at Alki

Nice view.  Good call on the second floor table.

1:00 p.m.

Playing on the beach after lunch

1:03 p.m.

Admiring the view on the beach

Whoa!  How'd that get in there? 

I don't even remember taking that.  

Grandma must have taken that.....

1:06 p.m.

This was my picture.

Admiring the view from the beach....

1:12 p.m.

Finding out that beach combing is beach combing no matter what beach you're on....

1:26 p.m.

Back in the car.

Heading home.

The End.

"Mom, can we go to the park?"

Confessions From The Yard {Or....Let's Do 52 ~ Patterns}

I have a confession to make.

It's nothing scandalous, if that's what you're hoping for.  No real dirt or anything.  My life isn't that exciting.  I wish it was.  Kind of a Desperate Housewives meets Murder, She Wrote type of thing.  But it's not.  It's pretty boring.  Pretty mainstream.

Suburbia.

Anyway, I'll just tell you what it is.

I have absolutely no idea what Prince Charming does for a living.

If anyone asks me, I usually just say he owns a cable construction company.  If they ask any kind of follow up questions, I can drop really important sounding terms like "fiber to the home" and "innerduct" and "line truck".  I can say "commercial installs" and I even been heard talking about a "really big job coming up for the DOT", but...truly....it's just a big WHOOSH!  Right over my head.

I usually stay out of it.  Just let him chew it all over with his foreman and managers. 

So, when I asked my beloved if he maybe wanted me to come down to his office yesterday, he was understandably skeptical.

"Sure.  Wait.  Why?  What do you want?"

"Nothing.  I just want to take some pictures of the trucks.  And $40."

"What for?"

"I need to find a pattern for my project group this week and I'm having trouble seeing anything I like.  I mean I looked for something while I was walking home with the kids, and things around here.  But, I don't know.  I'm having a hard time.  I thought maybe something on one of the trucks might work for it."

"No.  What do you need the money for?"

"Oh.  Plants."

"You're photographing plants?"

"No.  I'm photographing trucks.  I'm planting plants."

Sometimes it's like he has no idea what I do, either.

"Whatever."

I guess finding patterns in tires is not as important to him as it is to me.  Which, I guess, is fair.  He has to focus on things like, you know, payroll...and...stuff....

Long story short, I went down to the yard, and took these pictures:

This is a tire on some sort of yellow vehicle.
"It's a forklift."

This is a big, heavy chain laying on a piece of wood.
"It's the back end of the flat bed truck".

This is a...big...green metal thing kind of leaning on a bunch of other metal things.
"That's a..."
Stop!  Okay?  This isn't a big, green metal thing lesson.  Just look at the pictures.

This one I know.  This is a reel of fiber.  And it's for sale, if you're interested in buying it.  I'm not sure what it costs, though.  The cost calculation based on how much is on the reel is pretty technical.
"It's $1 a foot."
Don't you have to go back to work?
 

These are more reels of varying materials.
"They're all fiber."
No...I mean some are wood.  That one at the back there is metal.  Can I get the door for you?

I'm not sure why they have these pots there.  I mean there are no flowers around.  Like...anywhere.
"They're not flower pots.  We use those for..."
Nope.  Flower pots.  Next.

Wheel barrow wheels.  That was an easy one.
"What'd you take that for?"

This could be another metal fiber reel, although it's pretty rusty.  Hard to tell.
"Don't show that!  It makes the yard look run down."
Okay, fine.  I Photoshopped it to look like that.  Really it's pink and shiny.
"It's not pink.  Stop it."

Hey, look!  You do have flowers here!
"Great.  More stuff that makes the yard look run down."

Annnnd this is us reflected in a piece of broken mirror.

Do you have nothing to say about that one?
"Here's your $40.  Go get some plants."
This was fun.  Thanks.