Exceedingly Mundane

Mondays are apparently the only time that I think to blog! Well, that’s not true, but since I am back to blogging to mostly remember what is going on with us, and we mostly just stick close to home during the week and do “fun things” on the weekend, Monday is logically the time for me to do a catch-up type blog post. 🙂 There. That’s why!

Last week was another busy one for Tim. I went to get my hair cut on Wednesday, and then to run errands and grocery shop. That was it for me leaving the house during the week! Tim never set foot in the car until Saturday. He worked all day, every day, and several nights. He’s got a big project at work, and they’ve suddenly decided to hit him with a lot of other issues, so he’s stayed really busy. He works from home, but I’ve gone almost all day, every day and not seen him at all. He only ate lunch one day last week. He did eat supper, albeit late a few nights. I even planned burgers for him to grill out one night, but he was busy, so I bit the bullet and cooked them inside in a cast iron skillet. Owie, the mess from the grease! They were good burgers though (turkey ones!).

Anyway, that is good news, him being so busy, since his foot is still bothering him and he’s not playing golf. It’s about to kill him mentally, but he realizes his foot is not 100%, so he’s not going to play. So, I know it bothers him. Not enough to go to the doctor, but enough to keep him off the golf course 🙂

Friday night, we didn’t go out for date night, since the Saints were playing a preseason game and we could get it on TV. Tim finished work a few minutes before it started (poor thing), and we watched the Saints struggle and lose to the Jaguars. Sigh. I hope preseason is not a sign of things to come. 🙁

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and then decided last minute to drive down and visit my dad for the day. We got there around lunch and visited a bit, then took him out to eat at the new-ish Cheddars there in Hattiesburg. We had tried to take him on our last visit (Father’s Day weekend), but the wait was over an hour, so we went to Logan’s instead. This time, the wait at Cheddars was about 25 minutes, so we stuck it out. Good food (I had salmon, broccoli and carrots, Dad had salmon, broccoli casserole and loaded potatoes and Tim had a sirlion/rib combo with a loaded potato). Some of us were obviously trying to eat healthier than others! LOL! We had planned to visit more after we took him home (I’d asked if he wanted to go anywhere else, but he didn’t… I think just going to a restaurant wears him out), but on the drive home, it was cloudy, dark and lightning. We had left Beau on a stake outside, so I was worried he was soaking wet. Thankfully, that smart puppy had the presence of mind to stay up under his deck, so he was mostly dry when we pulled up. Dad had asked for Tim to help with something on his truck, so after we did that, we headed out. It was pouring rain, and there was apparently a wreck on Hwy 49, for traffic came to a dead stop. Tim does NOT like to sit still, so we made a U-turn as soon as we could, ventured off and took back roads a while till we could get back on the highway. The back roads were slower, it was pouring rain, and we ran through two big places of standing water on the road, a good ole flash flood! Anyway, it took about 45-50 minutes longer to get home, and we were glad to make it home safely!

We had that big lunch at Cheddars, a bit late, so we weren’t overly hungry. Tim was good with eating leftovers, and I had a big bowl of cereal, and we settled in to watch the last Harry Potter movie. I am still missing the books and am now ready to watch the movies again. Tim, however, says that is not going to happen, that I’ll burn him out, and he doesn’t want any more of Harry, Ron and Hermione for a while. Sniff sniff. 🙁

Sunday was church, and then we came home and changed and headed over to my pick, Mr Chen’s for lunch. We ordered a bunch of good stuff, all dishes we have had before, and enjoyed every last bite. We got steamed buns, I ordered a veggie combo to share, Tim got sesame chicken and I got fish in black bean sauce. Deee-licious! Enough left for lunches for a couple of days too! I asked Tim if he wanted to go anywhere else (I had a couple of returns I could have made), but he didn’t want to walk much more on his foot. So we came home and had a mini movie-marathon. We watched some I’ve recorded on the DVR… The Core, then Hancock (both of which we’d seen), and then finally Real Steel.

All in all, another good weekend!

It seems like most of them do, but this weekend really flew by in the blink of an eye! My weekends are always a lot more fun and a lot more filled when Tim does not play golf. His plantar fascitis in his foot is still bothering him some, but mostly, I think my darling husband is just making a concerted effort to spend more time with me lately. Either way, I can’t complain, I love to be with him and do things together.

Friday night, we had date night at home. I made crockpot Chicken Santa Fe, which I normally make a lot during football season, but decided to start early this year. Tim thinks of them as nachos, since he eats his over chips with a lot of cheddar cheese on top. We watched a Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows part 1) and some of the Olympics. Team USA is still doing well!

Saturday, we ran a bunch of errands. We went downtown to pick up some motors for Terry and the new store (a fan in one of the coolers needs to be replaced), and we went to the Farmers Market. We also made stops at Marshalls and Academy Sports, before heading over to Tacqueria La Guadalupe for lunch. This time, we decided to eat in (they only have 4 booths and they were all filled, but we stood around and waited for one to open). We also decided to try their tortas for the first time. Delicious. Huge, homemade buns, sort of a Mexican burger. Tim got carne asada and all the toppings, including jalapeno. I got pollo (chicken), but without tomato and cilantro. They were delicious and so big that we each only eat half and brought the other half home to eat for supper. We stopped at the house for a bit and checked on Beau, then decided to go to a late afternoon showing of “Total Recall” at Malco. Better than I expected, and we both really enjoyed it!

Sunday was busy, we went over to Tim’s parents house for Emi’s birthday. We all ate and hung out, then went to the store for several hours to help out. They had a lot of stock to unload and put out, and Tim and Mark helped move a few heavy things. Terry replaced the motor we had brought, in one of his coolers, and we did what we could to help with arranging stock on the shelves and stuff. It had rained as soon as we got to his parents, hard, and rained for a while. Poor Beau was soaked to his bones but dried out some while we were at the store working, so he didn’t stink too bad (wet dog smell is the worst!) on the way home. We got home late, but had set the DVR for the first Saints preseason game. They played the Cardinals last night in the Hall of Fame game from Canton, and won!

Tim had to work late last night, and said he was going to stay up afterwards to watch the Mars Rover “Curiosity” land on Mars. I told him to wake me, and he came in to wake me up, but I was so sleepy that I passed on that opportunity! He watched it all on NASA tv and then told me all about it today, I was good with that 🙂

Back to the grind on a Monday, cleaning, laundry and trying to figure out what to cook all week! Just another day in paradise 😀

Another quick update…

Still enjoying the Olympics! Tim is watching some with me, and I’m watching a bit more during the day. I’m playing along on Viggle (on my iPad) and earning lots of points. Should be able to cash in a couple of $10 iTunes gift cards soon. We use iTunes money to rent movies through our Apple TV. We discontinued Netflix a while back, and have just been mostly watching tv shows and also recording movies on the DVR from the premium channels we get with our UVerse package. With the “free” iTunes movie from the Viggle points, we get free money for movie rentals. 🙂

Speaking of movies, we always go to a few movies at the theater in the summer. This year, so far we’ve seen The Avengers, The Amazing Spiderman and Dark Knight Rises (sensing a superhero theme?!). It’s still hard for me to go with my tinnitus (I look LOVELY in my yellow ear plugs), but it is a bit better than it has been the last two summers. I’ve also learned to sit as far away from the speakers as I can, in the middle, between the rows where the speakers line up! LOL! Anyway, Tim is also really looking forward to going to see the Total Recall remake and the new Bourne movie (Legacy, I think), soon. Hopefully this month.

The Saints play in the first preseason game this Sunday, the Hall of Fame game against the Cardinals! Football season cannot get here soon enough for me! Who Dat!

Terry got the Pineville store this past weekend. They opened on Saturday, and he’s been on vacation all week, at the store. Tim took a day of vacation today for us to go over and help out and see the store. On the way there, the warning system on the Explorer went off, saying “Check Charging System”. We stopped in Pearl at a gas station and Tim checked a few things, and decided it was probably the alternator. He decided to turn back and come home and go get parts (alternator and serpentine belt) and get it fixed. By the time he got it done, he decided it was too late to head over, so we stayed here. He’s gone to play golf and I’m catching up on stuff on the DVR.

And lastly, I finished the last Harry Potter book yesterday. Sniff sniff. I have been reading them pretty quickly the last couple of months, and I am quite sad to have them end. I’d gotten quite attached to Harry, Ron and Hermione. I will admit that the epilogue was wonderful, showing us what happened to the characters (although I knew from the movie). Very satisfying. All was well. 😀

Last week was a pretty awesome one for me – it was cloudy or rained most every day! Just my kind of weather. Not as hot, cloudy and rainy, I don’t have to spend a lot of time outside, watering the grass, flowers, plants, herbs, etc. I am able to spend more time inside, reading 🙂

A quick recap of the weekend, since that’s when we get out and run around the most. Tim again didn’t play golf on Friday night, so we could have “date” night. Except that it was raining, so neither one of us really wanted to get out. Tim offered to cook rumien for me, so I always take him up on that offer! We watched the next Harry Potter movie (Goblet of Fire) and really enjoyed it. I understand them so much more now, having just read each book.

Saturday, Tim finally got to play golf. He had an early tee time with his buddies. Beau *really* wanted to go for a walk, but I decided to be lazy and stay home. Poor Beau. With all the rain, he hasn’t been in several days. I caught up on some shows on the DVR and read some on the new book I started on my Kindle, “Lion of Babylon” by Davis Bunn. Tim got in around lunch time and wanted to go out and eat, so we headed out and went to the new Newk’s near our house. We got shrimp po-boys and caesar salads, it was really good. I was surprised that their po-boys had steamed or boiled shrimp, instead of the normal around here, which is fried shrimp. After Newk’s, we headed to Sam’s to pick up a lot of items. When we got back, I had an email from the library saying that the next Harry Potter book (#6 Half Blood Prince) was FINALLY available. I have been waiting a while for it, so I went ahead and downloaded it and started reading. Around suppertime, Tim didn’t seem to want anything that we had in the house. So “we” decided to get pizza. 😀 Instead of our norm (either me making homemade pizza or us ordering from Papa Johns), he wanted to try Dominos. We placed our order on the web, then drove to the pick up spot a few miles from our house. We were both surprised that it was pretty good! The last time (years ago) we tried Dominos, it wasn’t good, but this was pretty good.

Saturday night, Tim wanted to rent a movie, and he really wanted to see The Grey with Liam Neeson, so he watched that while I went in the bedroom to read. Afterwards, I asked him if he liked it and he said NO. Which is not like Tim, he usually likes movies. He said it had a bad ending, so he was not very happy about it. I hated wasting the money to rent it (through Apple TV/iTunes), but at least he got to see something he wanted 🙂

Sunday was busy with church, then stopping by Fresh Market to pick up some figs, blueberries and a few things. Tim headed out again to play golf, and shot his best score to date, a 74. He was really happy when he got in!

Today will be “back in the saddle” day! We got up early to go walking, so that helped get us back in our routine. I’ve got a dirty house to clean and have to figure out something to cook for supper, so I guess it’s back to normal around here 🙂

Another busy weekend, at least by my standards! Tim again took off from playing golf on Friday, so we could have “date night”. We decided to go back to the new Greek place we tried and just loved, Krilakis in Ridgeland. This time, Tim tried a “mixed grill” gyro (lamb and grilled chicken), and I took the advice of the guy behind the counter who said his favorite was the smoked turkey gyro. It was good, but I think I like the lamb better (and next time I want to try grilled chicken). We also tried their hummus and it was good. Good food, as we’ve already come to expect from there 🙂 We came home and watched “The Help” on the DVR. I had seen it, but Tim had not.

Saturday, Tim had an early tee time and played golf till around lunch or a bit after. I watched some shows on the DVR and also worked on some scrapbook pages while he was gone. After he got home, we went for a late lunch at our favorite Chinese place, Mr. Chen’s. More good food! No wonder I’m gaining weight, from all of this eating out at good places, LOL! Tim had originally planned to mow the grass afterwards, but he was exhausted, so we came home and he took a long nap. Very un-Tim like! We watched the next Harry Potter movie, Goblet of Fire (#4) afterwards. It’s so nice to have them on loan from my niece Elizabeth!

Tim hurt his hand playing golf, and said he was tired, so he took off Sunday. We went to see “The Amazing Spiderman” with Elizabeth in the afternoon, then tried out a new take-out place, Taco Del Mar. Tim and Elizabeth got tacos (Liz got hard shell and Tim got soft ones). I wasn’t hungry (had too much popcorn during the movie!), so I didn’t get anything. We’ll have to go back and try it again when I want something to eat, hahaha!

Tim had to work late Sunday night, so we didn’t get up and go walking this morning. He went out to cut the grass, and ended up having to work on the mower. He said it was the “magneto”, and of course, all I can think of is the character from X-Men! He didn’t go play golf again, is resting his hand and the rest of his body that hurts 🙂 I tried to pretend it was winter, and made a roast with potatoes and carrots, homemade bread and salad for supper. Now, we’re watching shows from the DVR. Just my kind of night!

I saw on the news this morning that writer Nora Ephron passed away. Sad to hear, as she is behind so many of my favorite movies. I have a lot of favorites, but many of them are associated with her:

Sleepless in Seattle
When Harry Met Sally
You’ve Got Mail
Julie & Julia

Some of my other favorites are older movies, like…

Casablanca
Imitation of Life
Out of Africa
The Sound of Music

I have lots of other favorites, but those are always near the top of my list. Depending on my mood, I love to watch movies like my beloved Lord of The Rings movies, Star Wars movies, and then more action type movies like The Bourne movies, Italian Job, etc. When I’m in a girly mood though, Nora Ephron movies can’t be beat!

What are your favorite movies? Do you have movies you love to watch over and over again? 🙂

Some various, random and assorted items:

I was reading an article in our paper yesterday about Blockbuster closing nearly 1,000 of their brick and mortar stores. I believe the same article is here. Anyway, it made me wax nostalgic on two things:

1) We haven’t wanted to drive to a video store in several years. We were already tired of slogging to the local Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, looking for the movie we wanted to be in stock, when we wanted it. We tried Netflix a couple of years ago and have been happy with them ever since. I don’t particularly like to get out and drive to get a movie, when I can have it delivered to me through the mail. And a plus for Netflix – we can watch a lot of things online.

Which brings me to my second point…

2) Just where the whole movie/tv watching thing is going. Waxing nostalgic – I’m old and apparently getting older all the time 😀 I remember the days when we had two rotary dial, plug in the wall phones in our house. There was no such thing as an answering machine, no phone you carry around with you. These days, my phone is always with me, I can text, surf the Internet, play games, keep my shopping lists on it, and a myriad of other things. We’ve sure come a long way. Same with TV and movies. Growing up, we had one tv and three channels. There was no such things as the remote control. Or more precisely, *I* was the remote control. If my dad wanted to change the channel, he just asked me to do it 🙂 My, how things have changed. Not only do we have the channels and programs we have now (not all good, in my mind, some of the stuff on TV is bordering on trash), and the chances to watch them. DVR’s, On Demand and soon, streaming video and movies will be the way to go. We already hook up my laptop occasionally to our big screen TV, and watch things from Netflix like that. I foresee us getting a device to stream tv, movies, etc one day in the not too distant future.

Anyway, it constantly amazes me about how far things have come in my lifetime. Yet, I get stuck in my ruts. I don’t like driving to a store to get a video, so we use the mail order one. So, we have not tried Redbox yet – have you? I understand the appeal, it’s cheaper and fairly easy, I’m assuming. I was not all that surprised to read in the article that RedBox is owned by Coinstar, the brilliant people who started putting coin counter machines in stores and stuff. I think it’s smart, as is Redbox. But, I just don’t want to have to get out and go to a store to get a movie. How about you?

Vote in the poll, if you want, and let me know!

[poll id=”16″]

Still not into blogging much lately. I do believe I prefer the “micro-blogging” of Twitter and Facebook more than this format. Or at least lately. I’m not ready to abandon my blog though.

My attempt to try to keep up, at least a bit. Here’s a few bulleted items, things just.right.off the top of my head! 😀

OK, well, that was a whole lotta nothin! I hope you’re having a great day out there in Internet-land! If you’re on Twitter or Facebook and we’re not connected, be sure to leave me a note. I’m definitely spending more time there lately than here 🙂

We always look forward to seeing a couple of “big screen” movies at our local theater in the summer. This year is no exception. In fact, I think there may be even more movies than usual that we are interested in seeing on the big screen! 🙂

How about you? Are there any movies you, or your family, are looking forward to seeing this summer? Leave me a comment, or vote in the poll. I’m sure there are more movies than this, but these are some of the ones we are interested in, or that I thought others might be interested in!

[poll id=”11″]

I think we’ll try to see Wolverine, Star Trek and Terminator at least, and maybe a couple of others. I’m sure there will be plenty that I’d be willing to wait on, for them to come out on DVD (for example, Night at the Museum 2). And I know we won’t see Harry Potter. I haven’t read the books and neither of us have seen any of the movies. I know, I know, we’re oddballs on the Harry Potter front 🙂

Have a great day 😀

Obviously I couldn’t think of a good title. I’ve used “Odds and Ends”, “Catching Up” and “This and That” so much that I probably have double digit posts under each of blog post names 🙂 But that’s what this is, a various and assorted post.

It’s cold here this morning and was pretty chilly all weekend. I feel the need to go buy warm sweaters and sweatshirts! We’ve done really good though, and have not turned on our heat yet. It’s cold at night, but we sleep under a big quilt, and we’ve just been sucking it up in the AM until the house warms up in the middle part of the day.

We went to see Quantum of Solace over the weekend. I had read a review that probably pre-disposed me to it before we went. The review said this was more “Bourne than Bond”, and I have to agree, although I love all three of the Bourne movies. But this one had a fair amount of hand-held camera work in parts of it and that bothers me sometimes. It was a good movie though, typical Bond, high-action, and we did enjoy it.

We’ve also rented a couple of new movies lately from Netflix. We really liked “Get Smart” quite a bit, didn’t enjoy “What Happens in Vegas” all that much, and Tim watched the newest version of “The Incredible Hulk.”. We also just finished Season 5 of The Gilmore Girls, and will start Season 6 soon.

We got a new window, courtesy of Tim and his brother Terry, a couple of weeks ago:

I spent a gift card I got for my birthday (thanks Mark and Amanda!) at Target, and got a small rice cooker to try out. I fixed some Chinese food over the weekend, and white rice, and it was good. I’m going to look for some new stir fry recipes to try. If you have one, let me know! Also, I think I may try to make some red beans and rice this winter and use it for that also. Here’s my little cooker with rice:

I’ve read several books lately, and have been entering them over at GoodReads. If you’re not hooked up with me there, and want to know more about what I’ve read, just leave me a comment and let me know. I’m currently reading the first book I chose for the Winter Holiday Reading Challenge, “Until Morning is Nigh” by Leisha Kelly. This book is part of a series I’m reading and that I’m really enjoying 🙂

And I hate to end on a sad note, but today is not the most joyous of days for me. Today would have been my mom’s birthday, so I’m a bit sad today. It’s always hard this time of year, through the holidays, and around Mother’s Day. I wonder if there will ever come a time when I don’t miss her…

Well. I hope you’re all having a good day! 🙂