For our first date we went to a baseball game. Larry suggested we “catch a game sometime” while we were talking during psychology class. I called him the next day to see if he was available. He said that he was, and so everything was set up. He then promptly called off of work for that night. Why didn’t he just tell me he had to work? I didn’t find out until much later that he had lied about being sick to go on a date with me. It’s a good thing he did…he found $20 laying on the ground at the ballpark…that came in handy since drinks are $3.50 each! We had a good time, and great seats behind homeplate with a head-on view of the 1st baseline…when it wasn’t obstructed by the “fathead” in front of us. They had fireworks after the game but it was raining lightly so we watched them in the car in between the windshield wipers. Oh yeah, and when we got to the game the ever so helpful parking lot attendant told me to back into the space he was directing me to…it was the first time I’ve ever had to back a car into a space…I was terrified, and even said “Oh my gosh, I’ve never backed up my car before,“. Of course I meant I had never backed it into a space…either way it probably wasn’t my most shining moment! We took our first ever photo together, ourselves. This is the scrapbook page I did to showcase that evening:
I used a now retired Stampin’ Up! sports stamp set (I can’t even remember the name of it now), and the now retired Quirky Alphabet stamp set (one of my favorites). The colors are Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Creamy Caramel, and White. I accessorized with twine and some Real Red star eyelets.
We’ve reached the end of an era in our household. We can no longer keep Pixel confined to the living room. Today at lunch Larry was doing dishes, and I exclaimed (ever so intelligently), “Dog over the fence!” Pixel came bounding into the room by climbing OVER the baby gate. She climbed. Over the gate. Gone are our days of eating lunch in peace. What did we do as responsible doggie parents? We put her back in the living room and coaxed her to climb the gate again. Then we applauded when she made it. Oh well, she was going to do it had we encouraged her or not.
Note to the irresponsible grandmother I saw with her grandchild at the post office today: Your grandchild may be wonderful and delightful when he’s not in public, but if he is splayed out on the post office floor screaming and kicking the person in line behind you, YOU NEED TO STOP HIM. You can’t just say “Ben, stand up and quit kicking,” a hundred million times without bothering to turn around and see if he has listened to you or not. While we’re talking about this, how nasty is it that you let him crawl around on the post office floor in the first place? And before you entered the post office…you know, when he was running away from you on the sidewalk of a very busy street…calling his name fifty times and telling him to stop…didn’t work. In the future you’ll probably want to give chase in some form because he could’ve been hit by a car before you called his name for the tenth time. One more thing and then I’ll be done with you: Ben needs to be in a car seat…or at the very least he should not be in the front seat. After witnessing this I made sure to tell my mother the following, “If you ever put my four year old, less than 40 pound child, in the front seat of your car where your airbag can kill him…it’s probably going to be the last time you babysit.” What is wrong with people?
Pixel’s favorite toy is her quadrapus. It’s an octopus with only four legs. Only now it’s missing a leg because she pulled one off. At any rate, she loves this thing. She’ll fetch it down the hall for hours…but only if she actually sees you throw it. If she’s looking the other way you can bet that you’ll be going after the dang thing. Larry was playing with her this morning when I captured this picture:
How yuck-o is that? After I took the picture I shrieked, “I can’t believe you put that nasty octopus leg in your mouth. The dog puts that in her mouth.” Icky.
Sometimes it’s the littlest things that make my day. Take today for example. Today is the first time in two years that I’ve had my hair in a ponytail. A real, acceptable-to-leave-the-house ponytail. I haven’t had a pony tail since before I donated to Locks of Love. So all day today I’ve been sportin’ my new ‘do! I even managed to take a photo of it:
PS: The other thing that made my day? Wearing a pair of jeans that I haven’t worn since my pre-Weight Watcher days. Ahh…the simple things…
Note to the chatty teller at the bank: When there are ten people waiting in line on a busy Friday morning, perhaps there should be less talky and more worky. None of us waiting care one stinkin’ bit about your cat that you had to give away because it kept going to the bathroom in your garage. Nor do we care about which of your kids is home sick from school. In fact, we don’t care if you have a cat that’s home sick from school and your kids have been going to the bathroom in the garage. Know what else? I don’t care one iota about the fact that the bank won’t let you ride your motorcycle to work because it “doesn’t look good”. I don’t mind chitty chatting (anyone who knows me will tell you that), but when there are ten people sardined into a bank lobby it would be nice if you’d take into consideration that we’d like to do our banking and get the heck outta there. Thank you.
Here it is folks, another “Courtney Original”. I don’t have too many recipes that I make up myself…I’m not quite that brave. But once in a while I’ve been known to combine a few aspects of different recipes to come up with something delicious. This is one such occurence. Part of this fabulous dish is from a recipe I saw on Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, and part of it is from my own head. Scary, isn’t it? If you don’t like green olives, I suggest you try this recipe anyhow. They add a salty-goodness that even non-green olive lovers will like. It’s yummy, I promise!
Olive Chicken
1 pkg. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed
2 eggs
1/4 c. (or so) flour
3/4 c. (or so) green olives, sliced
1 c. (or so) mozzarella cheese
salt & pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350.
Set up a breading station. If you don’t have one of those fancy-shmancy breading stations, you’ll need 3 dinner plates. If you do have one of those fancy-shmancy breading stations, just know that I envy you…I love kitchen gadgets! Dinner plate #1 will contain your flour, salt, & pepper. Dinner plate #2 will contain your two eggs, whisked. Dinner plate #3 will contain your crushed Ritz crackers. Please note: I rarely use Ritz crackers…I’m an off-brand girl…off-brand Ritz-like crackers will work fine if that’s what you use. Now the yucky part…dredge each piece (both sides) of chicken through the flour, then egg, then crackers. Place in a 13×9 baking dish. Top with a handful of the green olives. Now top each piece with 1/4 c. mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven for 35 minutes. It may take longer, depending on the thickness of your chicken. Bake until the juices of chicken run clear.
Note to my fellow non-raw-meat touching friends: I use my tongs to do all the breading. I don’t have to touch the chicken or the egg nastys. That’s the only way I’d do it!
Weight Watchers points tip: Use the mozzarella cheese that is made with skim milk. It’s only 1 pt. for 1/4 c. instead of 3-4 points for 1/4 c.
I have been known to pair this dish with Lipton Onion Soup Mix potatoes (cube a few potatoes and mix them with 2T. olive oil and a packet of Onion Soup Mix). It’s nice because both dishes go in the oven…pop it all in, and relax while the oven does the work! If you’re going to do that you may need to play with the chicken cooking time/temp. The potatoes go in at 425 for 35 minutes, so I’d do both things at 425…put the potatoes in for 10 minutes by themselves…add the chicken dish…bake for the other 25 minutes.
Weight Watchers Points: 1 chicken breast=7, 1 c. potatoes=4
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