Life lately according to, well, me...:)

Has been rather hectic and crazy. Enough so that I've decided boring and sane sound pretty darn good. After Kevin coming down with the flu and Jason catching it, they were both coughing for two solid weeks. I truly am not sure how I missed out on this lovely illness other than I had something very similar New Year's Day that lasted almost two weeks. 


After going back to work and Jason getting back into school, we spent a weekend in Denver. Now let me assure you, my dear gentle readers, that we love Denver, we truly do. It's a fantastic city with everything you could possibly imagine to eat, see and or do. We opted to spend Saturday at the zoo. 87 degrees, sunny, and HOT. I managed to somehow NOT get sunscreen on my left shoulder and ended up with a nasty sunburn on it. YUCK. We had fun, it's a nice zoo and we plan to go back once they get their new elephant deal going later in the summer. We finally ate at Maggiono's and it was awesome! Best Italian food I've ever eaten. Hands down. Back at our hotel I started feeling cold from the sunburn and ended up falling asleep around 8:30. I know, I'm such a party animal.


Sunday we enjoyed the hotel breakfast and then headed to Coors Field. Sunday was not 87, sunny, and hot. Oh no. Sunday was a high of 57, cloudy, and cold. That's right. We had a good time though and the Braves won so of course we were glad we went. There were a ton of Braves fans there. A ton. Almost more of them than Rockies fans. We stopped at our usual Starbucks in Castle Pines on the way home and then arrived home around 7:00. Everything was fine. Went to bed at a normal time. And. Then. Then it happened. Around 10:30. I have not been that sick in a very, very long time.  It was violent. Best word to describe it. Around 2:30 I got super, super thirsty and my wonderful husband who I'd already awaken from being sick, got me ice and water in separate cups. I gulped the water down and sucked on and chewed those ice cubes til they were gone! Then I had him get me more. All the while, still being violently ill. At 7:00 he called the doctor and the nurse said water is a bad idea. NOW she tells us. :) Gaterade she says. Kevin went up and got some and once I started sipping it I really did start to feel better. And then. Then he got sick. Exactly the same. Very violent. Turns out we had food poisoning from pizza from the ballpark. Jason didn't eat any, so he didn't get sick. We are jsut feeling normal today, a week after. It was brutal.


This past Saturday night we had date night. We had dinner at Colorado Mountain Brewery and it was excellent! Tried to see The Avengers but it was sold out. Piddled around Barnes & Noble instead and went to Starbucks.


Mother's Day Kevin made buttermilk chocolate chip pancakes for me. YUM. Michael made a throw pillow for me and his friend Kelly, made one for me, too. Kevin got me pink roses and a coffee mug and Jason gave me a card and a coffee mug. Chris, Michelle and Sable did facetime last night. We ate dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery and again, excellent food.


Today Jason and I finally got back to school and Kevin is at work, so hopefully everything will settle down from our illness. 


For now, it's time to make dinner because Kevin will be home soon from work. :)

Life lately at our house.....

While it seems like forEVER since I blogged, it truly probably hasn't been THAT long. It seems that long. 


We really enjoyed Chris, Michelle, and Sable being here on their way to HI. We were able to do a few things with all of the kids which was very nice. We had dinner at Hu Hot one night(YUM), saw a movie, went to It'Z, ate at Red Robin and also Poblanos. 


We had Sable for a few weeks after the kids left in order for her to be able to go right to her new home when she arrived. We enjoyed having her. She is one funny, sweet, and smart puppy. :)


Michael spent Easter weekend with us and as it turned out, it was actually a wonderful weather weekend! No hiding eggs in the snow this year!


Then. Came. Flu. And man did it hit hard! Kevin started feeling bad on his birthday(not fun) and by Sunday we were sitting in the ER. He missed two days of work and probably should have stayed home a day or two longer, but well, if you know him, you know that just wasn't going to happen. By Thursday, Jason had it, but to a lesser degree. So he missed a few days of school. Both are feeling much better now and Kevin's cough is all but gone although Jason does still have some of his. Someone it decided not to take up residence in me. Thankfully.


This past weekend we ran errands and finally got to have Kevin's birthday lunch. :) 


We are having quite odd weather out here with above normal temps for over a month. Everything is green and blooming and that hasn't happened since the spring of 2001. We even broke some records a day or two. I am loving it,  personally. I love spring. Normally our spring is cold and we get the bulk of our heavy, wet snow. Not this year. We've had rain and thunderstorms and a tornado touch down near us that did some damage. 


Weight Watchers is going great for still. I made the decision when I joined again for the 3rd time that I'm in it for life this time. I've lost 15 pounds in a little under 3 months. I still have 10 to go,  but I know I'll get there. Jason and started walking each day and were really enjoying it and then the flu hit. Today we are hoping to get back into that. I am very glad as I hate the treadmill!!


Looking ahead, we have a few things planned coming up that we're excited about. Some Sky Sox games for sure, including July 4th.  About a month ago we decided that with it being Chipper's final season, we really wanted to see a Braves game live this year. We knew going to Atlanta was out, so we found when they're coming to Coors Field. This weekend as it turns out and let me tell you it is a sold out event. All 3 games. I had to get whatever I could when I got tickets and almost gave up because there were only single seats/tickets available, and then all of a sudden there were 3 seats that opened up. Someone cancel or whatever, I don't know. I didn't care. I snagged them. :) So we'll be at Coors Field this Sunday watching Chipper and the Braves. Apparently, Peyton Manning was at yesterday's Rockies game.


For now, I will close up the blog and look at today's pointing for WW. Have a great week everyone!!

Ballgames, allergies and stuff....

I truly don't know how it got to be April 13th already. Wasn't it just March? The days and weeks go by so fast it seems. And we're actually having some pretty nice weather for CO in April, so I don't want time to go so fast. I want to enjoy spring.

Our week was filled with the usual work and school and such. Our tree pollen is super high and everyone is sneezing with scratchy throats. Ick.

Today of course is Kevin's birthday. :) He worked from home today partly due to his birthday and partly because Sable had an appointment with the vet. We had gotten tickets to tonight's home opener for the Sky Sox and decided to go after all. Not the best weather today. Of course, after such nice weather. Cold and windy. This is not prime baseball weather. No sir. It wasn't helping matters that the Sox were losing 9 to 0 in the 4th inning and the funnel cake fries line was an hour wait. The only real win of the evening was dinner from Chick Fil A. Tomorrow we'll be celebrating the birthday by going out to dinner at The Elephant Bar. :)

Next Saturday is when Sable will fly to be with her mommy and daddy. We are quite certain of two things, "first, she is NOT going to enjoy her day" and "two, she is going to be very happy to see her parents."

Kevin mentioned in passing, sort of, about possibly trying to do the "Bolder Boulder" or is "Boulder Bolder?" in May. We'll see. I've never been up to Boulder and it might be fun to walk in the race. You can do that, you don't have to run it. We'll see. We also found out that Reba will be performing at Frontier Days in Cheyenne this July. Love Reba. Loved her show and she is a pretty cool lady and we hear she puts on incredible concerts. Plus Jason might enjoy a real rodeo and seeing real cowboys. We also want to finally make it to Larkspur in June to the Rennisance Festival and that probably isn't spelled right. :) Jason wants to go camping.

I'm tired internet world and this will therefore end the babbling for tonight. :)

My life....

Life in the CO Lidh home has been fairly busy. March came and went and I'm not sure where exactly it went. :) Chris, Michelle, and Sable arrived in early March on their way from Biloxi to Hawaii. We enjoyed having them here for a few weeks. Especially knowing it might be a while before we see them again. While they were here we enjoyed dinner out at Hu Hot, TX Roadhouse, Poblanos and China Recipe. We also ordered pizza and ate at Village Inn once. We had a party for them the Saturday before they left and enjoyed that day, as well. We've already posted pictures from our month on here, so I won't bother reposting now. Kevin(daddy)took them up to DIA a week ago tomorrow for their flight to Honolulu. We were sad to see them go but so excited for them to be able to experience Hawaii! They were already lucky to experience Japan. Sable is with us until around April 21st. She's a sweetie. She cracks us up daily with her antics. At night she wants to be on the couch wedged beside me. We will miss her as well.

School is going fairly well. We'll be finishing up 4th grade in June, taking July off and starting 5th grade in August. I know I've changed my mind so many times regarding school, but we're thinking now July and December off for breaks and then a day or two here and there throughout the year.

I'm starting my 7th week on WW and I'm down a pants size. WOO HOO! I love that I am never hungry nor do I have to want for something. No forbidden food on WW! Somehow knowing that I CAN have anything, think chocolate....., makes me not want it as much. I could never be on a diet. I hate the word. WW isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change. I feel so much better and have more energy and sleep better.

That about sums up our March. We are in the talking phases of a Disney trip June 2012 and a trip to Hawaii in 2014. We also are starting the process of doing things to the house to get it ready to either sell, or rent in 1-2 years. So, we keep pretty busy around here. :)

Babbles and rambles of a tired mama....

I am in super babble mode right now. I don't know WHY I get like that, but let's face it, I do. I do indeed. :) Usually when I'm tired or sick, or both. I even know I'm babbling, and yet I can't stop myself. The past two nights or so I even had a hard time sleeping. My mind goes nuts as soon as my head hits the pillow! And my thoughts have no particular rhythem. They can go from vanilla ice cream, to weeding the garden to school lessons the next day. Last night it was my hair. I cut it short. Think Jamie what's her name.....Curtis? The Halloween and yogurt girl. Short. Now I'm letting it grow out and it. is. driving.me.NUTS!!

I'm also working on getting the house all ready for the going away luau Saturday. Lots to do. Lots to do. Cleaning. Cooking. Baking. Oh my. And Jason. Oh lawdy. He wants all the decorations up like a week ago. Still can't believe my kids, well, two of them, will be in Hawaii this time next week. I'll miss them but I am super excited for them. What an awesome assignment.

I also was saddened to learn Chipper is retiring. I mean, I think he should have retired a couple years ago, but still I'm going to miss him. He's the last "face" of the Braves we came to love. The great and mighty Braves. I suppose we'll learn to love whatever they bring us in the future, but I can't help but miss the days of Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz. Chipper and Bobby Cox. Even Giles and Furcal.

Now I've rambled on about a gazillion different things and I have a headache. Time to put this blog to bed.

Our St. Patrick's Day weekend....

We did wear green yesterday! Yep. While wearing said green attire, we braved Walmart(I hate shopping)and Kevin and Jason got the oil changed in the Nissan. I was smart and put dinner in the crockpot beFORE we left for our morning of errands/shopping. Traditional Irish Lamb Stew. YUM. Oh my it was good. I was a bit skeptical of it as I'm used to regular beef stew with the beef stew seasoning packets you get from the store! This had no such seasoning packet.....

We went for a walk after lunch but it was cool, not cold, and super windy so it really wasn't very pleasant, but hey, at least we went out and got some excercise!

I made Irish Colcannon to go with the stew and the dinner all turned out amazing!! I'll post the recipes on here. So good.

Friday night we finally watched the Tin Tin movie and it was really, really good. We all enjoyed it. :)

This morning Jason woke up sick. Tummy ache, queasy and fever. :( With the morning free, I decided to make a tart which I'd found the recipe for. Aspargus-prosciuto and fintina cheese on puff pasty. YUM!!! Poor baby is still laying around on the couch. Not feeling well at all. We're even still in our jammies.

Hope everyone enjoyed their St. Patrick's Day weekend. :)

Traditional Irish Lamb Stew:

Put 1 1/2 lbs chopped in bite size pieces, lamb(I had to end up using 3 shoulder chops)and 2lbs little carrots and 1 chopped/large chop, onion in your crockpot. Add about a half cup chopped cabbage, a cup of beef stock, 1/2 to 1 cup dark lager, and plenty of salt and pepper. Cook on low for 10 hours. About half hour before it's done, check to see how soupy it is. If it's a bit too much liquid, add some corn starch to cold water, mix well and mix in the stew for the last half hour.

Irish Colcannon:

Peel and chop 2lbs of russet potatoes and boil with 1 head of finely chopped green caggabe until tender. Add plenty of salt while it's boiling. Drain well and put in food processer with 1/4 cup of butter, pepper, and a 1/2 cup of half and half and 1 tsp onion powder.

Tart:

defrost one piece of frozen puff pastry for 40 mins. Roll out to a 10x16" rectangle, roll slightly and crimp edges. Brush 1/4 cup mustard and sprinkle with pepper. Boil 1lb asparagus for 5ish minutes til crisp tender. Drain. Spread evenly 2oz prosciuto(sp?) and arrange asparagus. Bake in preheated 400 oven for 20 minutes.

Now it's time for me to check on the wee one again and see how he's feeling.

Weekend in CO.....

We started our weekend Friday evening with some pretty kickin Thai chicken burgers! YUM. We were lazy the rest of the evening and only watched some tv. We had some shows adding up on dvr that we needed to catch up on. It was an enjoyable, and relaxing evening.

A glimpse into our weekend: I made some yummy cornmeal pancakes that were gobbled up rather quickly! Pancakes in general, aren't very pt friendly, but these were "manageable". Did some shoe shopping, running shoe to be exact, for Kevin. Finally found some in the mall. Managed a trip to Starbucks......tall nonfat latte DOES count as a dairy serving....=o) We watched some movies we'd put onto DVD, including the one sent to Michelle from her Grandpa Eric of Chris when he was 2 months old. We ate at Hu Hot Saturday for dinner and as always it was awesome! It is always nice when we can spend time with all 4 of our kids. After we ate, we had time to kill so we drove over to Culver's and got a couple of drinks and waited there. Eventually we made our way to the Cinemark for our movie, "The Lorax" and we really enjoyed it! And yep, we did have a wee bit of popcorn. ;) We took Sable on a walk this weekend which was fun. Ended up eating at Applebee's as well which was pretty good. And did a lot of visiting and just basically rested and were lazy.

Now this week we have two birthdays Wednesday! Chris and Jason, which you all know were both born on March 14th, 14 years apart! We have things planned for that and look forward to being with said 4 kids again. :)

And now, since it is Monday morning and all, I should probably get dressed and look at today's school lesson.