Sunday Adventures

Anth has been gone since Thursday.

I applaud myself for the following:
-Not getting murdered
-Remembering to close the garage every morning on my way to work
-Getting out of bed no later than 7:30
-Not watching Dateline or 48 Hours Mysteries
-Watering the plants Remembering that I need to water the plants. I'm sure it will get done eventually.

It's been lonely without him, but I hear he is having a delightful time in St. George with his Dad.

Before we continue any further....

Lindsey's Weekend Without Husband Soundtrack:
(Because I love to be judged by my choice of music)

Rascal Flatts: Rewind
Christina Perri: Human (I sing this so passionately)
Justin Timberlake: Not a Bad Thing (Edited Version)
Lorde: Team
Demi Lavato: Let it Go (Don't pretend you don't have this on your player)
Danelle Bradbery: The Heart Of Dixie
Sara Bareilles: I Choose You
Dan + Shay: 19 You + Me (Who are these people? I love this song!)
Dierks Bentley: I Hold On

Now pull up a couple of songs while you read this. Picture me repeating the same 9 songs all weekend. I love them all right now, but give me another day....or so.....and they will all be highly hated. Just in case you care to know, I do this will all new music. I repeat it over, and over, and over over over again. Until I have the lyrics perfected and until I can hardly stand to hear it one more time. Then I listen 3 more times. Then I complain that all my music, my hundreds of songs suck. It's a vicious cycle.

Today I decided that the weather was just too beautiful. A walk/asthmatic run had to happen. I got all geared up and off I went.

Does anyone care to see the photo's I took while on my walk? Probably not, but I always feel the same way on this trail....."God is good!" The mountains, lake, horrifically moody deviled geese, and sky are just beautiful! I always feel so blessed to be surrounded by such beauty.

Half way on the trail I realized that the course was changed due to some housing construction. I wandered around some new homes, took a turn down a newly paved road and then abruptly realized that west, north and east were all closed off. I stood in the middle of the road while the wind howled and track #3 played in my ears again..."You get it J.T....You tell em!"

I stood in the middle of the road for a good minute or two turning in different directions wondering where to go and then realized that a couple construction men were watching me. I'm sure they wondered why I didn't just turn around and head back in the same direction, but that seemed...well not progressive. I ran around one house, two, three, four. Stopped to dry heave catch my breath and then saw more men give me the same confused look at me. In all reality it was probably the highlight of their day, watching me work this out in my head. FINE! I turned around in defeat. There clearly was no way around this mess.... The encounter with the men reminded me of my awkward moment on Friday.

I was returning to work. I had made a deposit at the bank and was walking from my car to the building when I came upon a man with a very petite dog. Does anyone else find it funny when you see a very masculine man walking a 1 pound dog....basically a rat? Anyway, as I approached the odd couple I heard him say, "HI!" I can't tell you how happy I was to be in the company of such a friendly person!

Bending down, I clutched my knees and in my most obnoxious baby voice I said, "WELL HELLLLO!" I was meaning to say hello to the dog.  What happened next was in slow motion....

I stood up......
He looked my way in surprise....
My face went hot and red....
He proceeded to continue his conversation with the person on the phone that he had called....
I quickly ran into the building.....

I'm sure he then told his significant other/Mommy/boss/rat groomer about the sad schmuck that misunderstood him.

Oh well.....

Today for late lunch/early dinner I tried a new recipe from a cook book I recently purchased. Every Friday night I plan our meals for the following week and then purchase all the goods on Saturday morning. Tonight was Spaghetti with Spicy Red Sauce. It was delightful!!!

-Recipe from, "Cook This Not That".

Lucky for you, I'm going to give you the recipe. It is healthy and it you use wheat pasta like I did, it won't weigh you down like normal pasta would leave you feeling.

THE GOODS:
4 strips bacon (I used turkey bacon...which is sad but it really tastes just fine. Go ahead and give me cyber brownie points for not getting juicy fatty tasty regular bacon (mmm brownies)
1 sm yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or just buy a big jar of diced garlic like me. I used one heaping tbl.)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
salt and black pepper to taste
10 oz spaghetti (wheat yo)
parsley (to garnish)
parmesan (to garnish)

-Bring a large pot of salted water to boil
-Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until the fat is mostly rendered, about 5 minutes. Discard all but 1 tbl of the fat (if you use the turkey bacon you won't have much fat and won't have to discard any...bonus! Lazy people unite!) Add the onion, garlic, and pepper flakes to the pan. Saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion has begun to lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and lots of black pepper. Bring to a simmer.
-Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente.
-Drain the pasta and add directly to the simmering tomato sauce. Stir together so that the sauce and noodles are evenly incorporated. Stir in the parsley. Top with grated cheese.

It really is a delightful meal, which is good because there are a ton of leftovers that we will be eating for the next few meals. Also at the end you'll feel impressed with yourself, "Dude, I totally made my own sauce...not from a jar!"

Thanks for stopping by. It's time for me to get back to my singing (:

Have a happy first week of March!