Empty Nest Menu #8

 I opened my planner for this week, saw empty spaces, and thought "that can't be right!"

Monday - Buffalo Chicken, roasted carrots, side salad
Tuesday - Pulled Pork (crockpot), baked potatoes, vinegar coleslaw
Wednesday - Tuna Salads on Toast, melon slices or fruit salad
Thursday - Schwarma Salads (schwarma slices, romaine, tomatoes, red onion, olives, feta, chick peas)
Friday - Broccoli Cheese Soup with garlic toast
Saturday - Something super easy at Highlands - we are building a storage shed today!
Sunday - Probably omelettes, cheesy grits

Gina

5 thing Friday - creative space, Hubby, friends, nostalgia, anniversary

 This is where I've had to stop on my desk and creative space project:

 It was actually an off-shoot of my Summer bucket list.  Left to do is

*replace the knobs
*Sand and stain the tops of the desks
*add a panel behind both desks so you don't see cords

I replaced the mini blinds in here and washed the curtain panel, as well as steam cleaned the carpet and organized the closet.  But I also want to maybe add a relax chair and ottoman to this room.  

 Hubby at his nephew's dentist organization shindig dinner.  He says his suits are still tight and we are working on getting healthier best we can!  A process, for sure.

 Found this gem in the box of high school memories I was going through.  It is the last school photo of me when we lived in Lubbock, so I was 10 years old.  This "granny style" dress was very popular and one of my favorites.  My mother made one for each of us girls.

A co-worker friend I haven't seen in a long time enlisted in the reserves.  She sent me this sweet photo and it made me feel a little nostalgic.  Friends have a habit of coming and going, so enjoy them when they stay  Its ironic to me that texting and emailing and all the social media sites don't really do all that much to keep people connected.

Hubby and I celebrate our 34th anniversary on Saturday.  It happens to coincide with my 40th high school reunion, and I can't be two places at one time. So we are going to 2 events on Saturday up near Marble Falls, eating out, then maybe putting together a storage unit at Highlands so we can get started on finishing out the barn this fall. 

I am scanning some old photos in to share with my friends so I don't miss out on all the excitement.  I mostly had a great high school experience! and can't wait to see all the pics posted for the reunion!

Gina

We did the Thing

I wasn't really looking forward to Monday, because although I knew I could get my mother safely to Austin and back, 8 hours is a LOT of driving for one day.  However, I left my house at 7:45 and I made it to her house by 9:30, and we were at Olive Garden in Austin by 11:15.  Made good time on the road!

 Olive Garden is one of her favorite places to eat lunch

We both cleaned our plates.  And we even shared a dessert.  Lately I had been taking her lunch whenever I visit because its less chance she will fall anywhere, and I can make her a nice lunch in the comfort of her own home.  Turns out, what she looks forward to is eating out and if she's with me or one of my sisters, she feels safer.   I guess its true you can't truly enjoy life if you think too much about bad things happening - might as well go OUT to eat.

 Members, Clean Plate Club

We were at the eye doc by 12:35, seated in the exam room by 12:50, and out of the door just 30 minutes after her 1:20 appointment time.  So we stopped at Walgreen's for a cold brew coffee for me, and we hit the trail, headed back to Brenham.  And we had zero problems.  She might even have slept a bit.

 Please note that she is reading the label...

When we got there, she wanted to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things - I think she is worried about driving herself anywhere.  After we unloaded everything at her house, it was late afternoon.  Gus was hungry for lunch and Mother was late for a real nap.  And I needed to head back to Austin to do my own grocery shopping!  After putting up all of MY groceries, making dinner, and putseying here and there, I pretty much crashed.  But I was up bright eyed the next morning, well-rested.  We got her to the follow up appointment and everything with her eye is going well, so far.  Next appointment: 4 weeks.

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #7

Just me...trynna catch a sunset in a stairwell at work...

Monday - Brinner with eggs, ham, English Muffin toast (bringing my mother to Austin and back for her follow up eye appointment - lots of driving today)
Tuesday - Greek Rub Rib Chop, cheesy broccoli, twice baked potato
Wednesday - Meatballs and Rice Skillet with peas and carrots
Thursday - Sliced Mexican Pork dinner salad with romaine, fava beans, tomatoes, green onion, queso fresco
Friday - Brown Sugar Chicken, Divine Asparagus
Saturday - Our 34th Anniversary and we have two wine pick-ups so who knows what we will eat - probably grill something
Sunday - Fish Tacos with cabbage, monterrey jack, salsa, borracho beans

*Can it really be the end of September?!

Gina

5 thing Friday - garden plans, Stubby, cork art, owl pillow, homebody me

Recently we visited my sister in Georgetown and were admiring her Pride of Barbados shrubs out front.  She never even planted them there - she says they just appeared and started growing!

The birds or wind must be scattering the seeds.  She gave me several seed pods and I hope to grow some of my own at Highlands since they are deer-resistant. 

Last weekend, the little dog that belongs to our neighbors at Highlands showed up to beg for breakfast scraps.  So much whining and shivering.

Stubby, I like petting you and all, but you don't belong to me!  We placed a table and some folding chairs in a little shady spot a ways down from the barn.  I hope that every time we decide to eat breakfast al fresco in this spot, he doesn't arrive to beg.

The new winery we joined, 7 Creeks, has this amazing cork art displayed in their tasting room.  I mean come on - this woman's cork creativity takes it to a whole new level!!  Her daughter-in-law said she just free-handed it, gluing and placing as she went, no plan. 

I splurged on this owl pillow from PB. Since it takes a gigantic pillow form and I am a cheapo, I folded a large out-of-season blanket to stuff it with.  By the time we need the blanket, it will be time to decorate for Christmas.  Brilliant, no?

This week, I pulled my trusty crock pot out and made a chicken stew of sorts.  Then I cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped the house, did all of the laundry, and made my bed.  It was so nice to come home to the house smelling wonderful and clean. 

I'm still a homebody at heart.

Gina

Weekend re-cap: winery goings and doings

Last week seemed to go on forever, so by the time we got to Saturday morning, I made it a point to get moving early enough in the day so that we could head to Burnet and eat breakfast at El Rancho.  Afterwards, we did a few smallish projects at Highlands.  I can't even remember what we did for lunch.

But for dinner, we headed to the wine club pick-up party at Torr Na Lochs for sunset views, hot dogs, popcorn, and theater candy.

 

I haven't had hot dogs that good in a long time.  Everything tasted great!

The movie was pretty cheesy {A Walk in the Clouds}, but the breezes were blowing, owls were hooting, and the evening was quite relaxing. We were back home to Highlands by 10 p.m. and though I tried to stay awake in my lawn chair, enjoying the cool breezes and stargazing, I pooped out by 11.

 

The next day after lunch we headed to Wedding Oak - since it is on our way out of town it will likely be a regular stop off on Sunday afternoons.

The views from the second story lounge look out over the booming metropolis of Burnet.

And there is a "members only" lounge downstairs that we relaxed in for quite a while, until the friendly owner happened by.  Hubby and he talked each others' ears off for a bit.  Turns out Hubby won a bottle of wine in the drawing they held on the last pick-up event. 

 

He gave us a bottle of 2015 Tempranillo Reserva to take home.  On the way, we may or may not have stopped off at yet another winery and we joined their wine club, which I have some remorse about.  But they have delightful wine, delish charcuterie, and the friendliest owners ever.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that they have chairs on a breezy yard underneath giant oaks overlooking a vineyard.  And each time we visit, we enjoy a complimentary glass of wine.  So, we have staked our spot out.  

We enjoyed a bottle of Alicante Bouchet - a new fav - then headed home to meet up with Firstborn so I could cut his hair.  We tried to get him to stay for dinner, but he had already eaten so we made plans to take him and LA to La Grange in a couple of weeks.  Its shaping up to be a fun Fall, full of going and doing on the weekends!

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #6

Hubby and I had a restful and fun weekend all rolled into one.  

Let's get this week started!

Monday - Grilled Chicken, twice baked potatoes, spinach (using my Kohl's cash to order Hubby some new clothes today)
Tuesday - Stuffed peppers, corn (need to install some computer updates)
Wednesday - Crockpot Chicken Stew, garlic toast (hanging mini blinds in 3 bedrooms)
Thursday - Fajita Dinner Salads  (continue shaping up my home office and write a post about it!)
Friday - Soyaki Salmon with fried rice (study up on the new winery I will be investigating tomorrow, and I am on call tonight)
Saturday - Visiting two wineries in Fredericksburg, then to Highlands to make pizza
Sunday - Winging it - probably something from the freezer at home (taking my mother back to the eye doc tomorrow)

Gina