Couldn’t sleep past 5 am today so the day has seemed endless, but in a good way since the weather was so nice. I made breakfast tacos, and then baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. We took Wookie with us on drive around the neighborhood and accidentally made her excited driving through the parking lot of Northside Park. Apparently she recognized it and thought we were going for a walk but there were too many people out so we left. We grabbed Culvers (our second take home meal since this whole lockdown started; the first being Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza last night). After lunch we took Wookie for a walk and then I cleaned the windows while Joe put out the Malibu lights.
Category: Food
Mariano’s
The highlight of our weekend was a trip to Mariano’s on Saturday. We rarely go there, but decided to check it out since ham was on sale. Their bakery section is amazing, and I couldn’t resist a strawberry rhubarb pie for only $4. It didn’t have as much filling as the Bakers Square pie, but it was tastier and a 3rd of the price. I definitely need to keep Mariano’s in mind for future parties due to all the yummy cakes, cookies, and pastries they have. Their prices are pretty reasonable too. Maybe not as much on the produce, but on a lot of other things. We ended up grabbing a deli sandwich and a cup of cream of chicken soup from their soup bar to take home for lunch. The soup in particular was really good!
Roasted Veggies & Easter Decor
I made the mistake of decorating for Easter on Friday (03/22), when Easter is still a full month away. Two days later I was already tired of looking at the stuff, so today I ended up removing some of the decor and spreading some other stuff elsewhere so it’s more minimalist. I feel much better. I’m finding that I prefer a more minimalist look in general, like I had going for St. Patrick’s Day. This is great because I’ll save money owning less decor in general. Incidentally, I finally found something I’ve been looking for since last year – white ceramic bunnies!
They were in the Target dollar spot for $3 each and were sitting in random spots so I’m not sure whether they’re supposed to be more poses. Nothing ever seems to be organized in the dollar spot. I used to think it was laziness on the part of the employees but now I’m convinced it’s a ploy to make people spend more time in that section hunting for treasures, because you do tend to miss the best stuff if you do a quick once over.
Saturday (03/23) we took a big bag of old paperwork to a neighboring village to be shredded. I’m so relieved to have that out of my house. I’m getting ready to donate some of the stuff I have listed on Offer Up that isn’t selling as well, just to get it out of my house. I’m tired of it sitting in the spare room / office.
After the shredding event, we had lunch at BonChon in Schaumburg and it wasn’t as good as the first time. The spicy and soy garlic chicken was just as good as before, but I opted to try the pork buns… and while they weren’t terrible, they aren’t something I’d order again. Joe didn’t care for them either.
Sunday (03/24) I discovered the deliciousness that is roasted carrots. Can you believe I’ve lived 43 years not really loving carrots? I don’t mind them in soups or stews but I’d never eat them on their own. I tossed them in olive oil and sprinkled them with salt and pepper before roasting them at 400 degrees for about a half hour. The best part? I added some honey to melted butter and drizzled it on the finished carrots. OH MY GOD were they good. I enjoyed them more than the main course! I have been roasting green beans for a few weeks now too, so now I need to try roasting other vegetables that I thought I didn’t like. Apparently the cooking method really does make a difference when it comes to taste.
Saturday Brunch
Saturday (02/09) we headed to the Oak Lawn area to have brunch with the kids and ES. We went back to the same restaurant where we ate in August with Joe’s dad, aunt, and cousin. I ordered the same thing too, although it wasn’t quite as epic as last time. That being said, it was good to catch up with the kids since we mostly only see them on holidays.
We all gave E grief about his lack of communication skills (between him not answering texts, and not letting his sister know he was actually at home and not busy like she thought, they were about twenty minutes late arriving since they drove together). I think for our own sake we’re going to stop showing up early (or even on time) when it comes to them because there’s almost always a reason they’re late and it’s aggravating waiting around. We’re two very punctual people and don’t understand how they manage to make it to school and work on time. In any case, we have tried not take it personally and chalk it up to poor time management skills. The lack of response to texts is more frustrating, though, because it’s just plain rude. It’s especially so when we’re forking over (see what I did there?) $75 for a single meal, you know? Of course, E always takes the teasing in stride (everyone was getting on his case, but in a good-natured way) and he even gave us two copies of Aggravation he found at thrift stores. We now have 5 copies of the deluxe edition and 1 copy of the original and only two of them we’ve purchased ourselves. He spent $25 on one of them which we think is too much, but neither of us can think of a way to tell him to stop buying them without sounding ungrateful.
After brunch we ordered a pizza at the place where my brother, B, got me the Hawaiian for my birthday earlier this month. We did half pineapple and canadian bacon and half sausage and took it home for later. Came to find out later that it was national pizza day so that worked out nicely!
We didn’t do much on Sunday other than shopping and a trip to the library.
Glass
Last Saturday (01/19) was my birthday party at my parents’ house, if you can even call it that. For some unknown reason my mom didn’t have any desserts or sing happy birthday to me even though she does for my brothers and even Joe. I only got presents from my brother, J (B did buy me a very delicious Hawaiian pizza), although J claims some of the presents were also from my mom. I didn’t get any cards, either. I am not sure why I’m dismissed so much by my family, but I’m rather sick of it. Everyone cares about B and J’s feelings but mine aren’t even considered. I had even purchased my mom a gift for MY birthday, although once I told her about it a week or so beforehand, she insisted I return it without even giving it a chance. She’s been having trouble with her Netflix so I bought her an Amazon Fire Cube which is the only device that allows you to hard-wire your internet. I explained the situation to Woot and luckily they allowed me to return it with a prepaid label which is not the normal return process for items you just don’t want anymore. I’m done trying to help her with her technical issues. It seems she’s more interested in complaining than actually finding solutions. She’s all pissy about not being able to choose her own items so she takes it out on me when B bought her a DVD player and TV a few years back and she didn’t insist he return those. But that’s how it goes in my family – other people do things she doesn’t like but she takes it out on me.
ANYWAY….
Sunday (01/20) we went to a movie and dinner with our friends, K & E. We saw Glass, which all of us but K enjoyed. She actually turned to us once it ended and said, “is it me, or did that movie SUCK?” Um, just you. She really doesn’t use a lot of tact with things as you can see. I still love her, but sometimes it’s a bit hard to take especially when she’s ripping on something you like. I actually thought the movie was one of the best ones I’ve seen in awhile. We went to dinner at a local place called Anyways which we’ve never been to before. I had the avocado shrimp tacos which were delicious. After dinner, despite it being something like 10 degrees out, we got frozen yogurt. I’m not sure if it was the flavors I chose (pineapple and strawberry) or what but I didn’t particularly care for it.
Monday (01/21) We enjoyed a free breakfast at Chick-fil-a. Well, not entirely free. We got their egg white grill sandwiches for free but also tried their yogurt parfait and Joe got a coffee. Their greek yogurt is actually really good but it’s kinda pricey at $3.45. After breakfast we did a bit of shopping before heading home. Joe put up a new sign over the front door I had gotten at Kirkland’s late last year. He also cleaned his new office chair which I had gotten for free from work.
We didn’t do much this weekend other than run errands since it’s so cold outside.