What? I Can't Hear You

Last night Rick and I went to see Daughtry play at the Sundome. That's right, I went to a real live concert....for the very first time. That's not weird is it? Good, because I was starting to feel old having a couple of 10 year olds sitting next to us. But I'm pretty sure they were just there for the food...and to spill soda on my purse.

We had a great time. The music was a little louder than expected, but it was still pretty enjoyable, for the most part.

The first band to open was Cavo. I didn't think I even knew who they were until they played that song from the Transformers movie. Then I thought 'Oh, I have heard of Cavo'. Even though I only knew one of their songs, I still thought they put on an excellent performance.

Next up was Lifehouse. Let me tell you a secret....it was my favorite part of the night. I hate to say it, but they definitely performed better than Daughtry. But that's just between you and me.

After 2 hours, Daughtry finally took the stage. I was so excited, but then I heard the music and I was practically ready to leave. It was terrible...it really was. The music was too loud. I mean ear-piercingly loud, to the point where everything sounded muddled and full of noise. It was hard to enjoy the songs.

After about 45 minutes, we got up and left. We would have stayed to the end, but we told the sitter we'd be home at 10:30, and 10:30 it was.

A snip-it of Life After You...one of the quieter songs.

And Lifehouse. I swear they sounded better in person! I think I had my finger on the mic, while I was recording. Not intentionally...I was just trying to hold the camera still. Next time I go to my very first concert, I'll try not to do that. Sheesh!

Mother's Day

The boys were up and at 'em early this morning. Tyler had picked a recipe out of his Gooseberry Patch cookbook to make this morning and Rick had good intentions of helping him with it.

Tyler started by mixing up the pancake batter.

But before I knew it, both boys were busy trying to figure out the new coffee maker and suddenly I was in charge of making breakfast by myself. What!? I thought I was supposed to be waiting in bed.

The breakfast was delicious....chocolate chip pancakes with a strawberry sauce, scrambled eggs, and a few pieces of turkey sausage. The coffee wasn't bad either.

Speaking of which, that was my gift from Rick....a Tassimo single serving coffee brewer.

Plus lots of coffee to try.

And Tyler unveiled the gifts that he made at school. Some hanging paper plate art and a keychain that says Tyler ♥ Mom.

After breakfast, I headed out for my weekly grocery shopping trip. I was feeling all nice and loved until the cop pulled me over on the way home....and by 'on the way home', I mean 4 houses down from my own. That's right, I was disgraced on my own street, right in front of my neighbors. All because our car doesn't have a front license plate, which apparently carries a $150 fine. Nice. He let me off with a warning, but seriously, doesn't that guy have anything better to do?

It's Mother's Day, for gosh sakes.

A Good Deed

Today was the Stamp Out Hunger food drive where you leave canned/non-perishable food at your mailbox for the mail carrier to collect. I try to participate in this food drive and also the Operation Harvest the happens in the Fall. Usually I go to the grocery store and buy a few things for the food drive, but since we didn't have much notice this year, I just went ahead and raided our pantry instead.

I think I did okay. I found some decent things in there.

Then with Tyler's help, we brought the food to the mailbox.

At first I thought maybe we had the wrong day because I didn't see any other donations at our community mailbox or at the others up and down the street. So I ran back home and double checked, and sure enough, I had the right day. Strange!

After that we headed over to Lowe's for yet another building project.

I knew the project was a trellis planter, but I didn't know that it was a Mother's Day project! The two ladies that ran the clinic also filled it with dirt and a small plant and threw in a $10 off coupon. Neat!

Okay, now it's confession time. I'm just going to go ahead and say it because Tyler's just going to blurt it out anyway. I was helping him build the planter today and in the process told him to hammer the wrong pieces together at least three different times. So I'm not the best builder....gimme a break. It still came out fine in the end though. Probably because Rick was there to help pry the pieces apart so Tyler could put them back together correctly. Sigh.

Meals Of The Week

Looking back on the week, it seems that all our meals centered around either seafood or Mexican food. That doesn't sound like much variety, but actually every dinner was uniquely different.

First we tried Shrimp over Coconut Rice, a recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine.

The title doesn't sound like much and it doesn't look like the prettiest picture you've ever seen, but I loved it...it was super good! The only change I made was to use frozen french cut green beans instead of fresh.

Next, we had California Sushi Wraps, a recipe out of the latest issue of Family Fun magazine.

Sushi is not something I typically eat, but the picture in the magazine looked so good that I had to give them a try. I thought they tasted alright, but Tyler and I both thought the Nori was a little strong. It's been so long since I've had sushi that I guess I forgot what Nori tasted like. I might make them again though, since I have so many leftover ingredients.

Now for the Mexican part....for Cinco De Mayo we had a homemade version of the taco grande pizza at Papa Murphy's.

Much better in my opinion. A lot less cheese and whole wheat crust. Mmmmm.

Finally, we tried Rosemary Shrimp Scampi Skewers and Carrot Couscous, both from Cooking Light.

I thought the shrimp was fantastic....definitely worth buying the fresh rosemary! The only change I made was to chop up some of the rosemary and add it to the marinade, otherwise it's only used as a skewer for the shrimp. As for the carrot couscous, I was a little disappointed. I don't usually have carrot juice on hand, so I went out and bought some just for this recipe. I didn't taste it in advance, but it's kind of.....bitter? It just has a funny taste that I can't put my finger on, which is strange because I like carrot juice, or so I thought. I guess fresh is best. Hmmm, maybe I need to get myself a juicer.

Rusty Putter

Today, much to Tyler's delight, we were finally able to play miniature golf again....well, Rick and Tyler did anyway, I just accompanied them. The place closes down for the winter and reopens around Easter, so this was our first visit of the year.

Tyler started out great, or maybe it was just a lucky shot, but he got a hole-in-one on the very first green. Things were looking up, and then this happened....

Actually, that's Rick's ball in the water, Tyler had already fished his own out. But in their defense, I'll admit that's a silly bridge anyway and I don't think any of us have ever made it over without the ball falling in the water.

Despite a few bursts of rain, the weather was pretty decent today. It was only in the mid 60's, but now that the winds have died down, it's much more enjoyable outside.

And with only two players, the game went fairly fast. I'll have to remember that and think about bringing Tyler to play more often after school. It's not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Birthday To Go

Today was Rick's birthday, but he had to work and Tyler had school. So there was only one thing to do....take the party on the road. After Tyler came home from school, we finished frosting the carrot cake and made some dinner. Then we packed it all up and drove out to Rick's work.

We brought presents.

And more presents.

Tyler made his own present. It's a tool to help you pick things up. You're supposed to use both hands to slam the paper shut and grab whatever it is you're trying to pick up. Pretty smart, huh? You wish you had one.

For dinner, we brought one of Rick's favorites....

Chicken Enchiladas. Mmmmm.

Then it was time for the cake.

We had to go outside to blow out the candle, so we wouldn't set off the smoke alarms, which are apparently very sensitive in the building. No biggie. We went right back inside and dug in.

Triple Whammy

In the time we've been taking Tyler to the kids workshops at the local hardware stores, we've never had more than two different crafts scheduled in the same weekend. But this Saturday, we had a triple whammy...crafts at The Home Depot, Lowe's, and Ace, all on the same day. That made for a pretty busy morning!

First we stopped at The Home Depot where Tyler made a picket fence planter. Just what we needed, another place to plant some more Zinnias.

Second, we stopped at Lowe's and made a gift card holder/school house. We're planning to get a Starbuck's gift card and some candy to go inside and then give it to Miss Alicia, Tyler's morning teacher.

And just in the knick of time, we made it to Ace Hardware where Tyler made a May Day flower. Phew! I think we need a break from all the crafting....except that Lowe's has a cute planter with a trellis scheduled for next weekend.

In other events, Rick hung our new bird feeders out back, in front of the kitchen windows. One of them holds regular seed and the other one is for thistle seed.

As you can see, we've already had several visitors. It only took them a few hours to discover the feeders and start eating. So far they're all eating the regular seed....no takers on the thistle yet. I guess we'll have to wait a little longer on that one.

I can't speak for everyone in the house, but I do know that a certain topknotted member of the family is particularly pleased with the new addition outside.

He sat in the window sill and sang all about it. Yeah, he's a fan.