The Good, the bad, and the Absurd

So much has happened since I last blogged, I hardly know where to begin. So, I have broken the last five days into several different categories: the good, the bad, and the absurd. 

The Good:

Thursday it snowed! Finally! It was so pretty. One of my favorite things about snow is that I get to wear my special fur boots, which I was able to do with abandon the last several days.

Thursday, Melissa took me out to dinner as a thank you. A few weeks ago I helped her out by watching her boys when she was sick. Also, I helped her take them to the doctor, which was so horrifying I almost started laughing (or crying) amidst the boys' breakdowns and the other doctor office chaos. It was so nice to just hang out and chat. Sometimes you need a good girl chat and some friend support. Our night out came at the perfect time for me. We all need our friends sometimes.

I made some super tasty vegan black bean and sweet potato enchiladas in my new apron. Lindsay, my sister-in-law, made the apron! How crazy is that? I can't sew, so her skills are very impressive to me.

Saturday we went to an all day marriage conference and learned a lot.

Jake had Monday off and so did I.

I needed to print some stuff off on Monday. We don't have a printer (or the room for one) so we went over to Lauren's. Boy am I glad we did. Her Monday was like my Thursday. I'm glad we were able to pay her back for the use of her printer and paper, if only through moral support. 

The Bad:

Sunday we had a football party at our house. Danielle made a lot of great food. I made an onion dip. I made it look so fancy with the tomatoes, olives, and extra parsley. The recipe was from the same book as the aforementioned enchiladas. I had high hopes for this dip. They were dashed with the first dip of my chip. So, so, so very bad. Nobody even tried to fake that they liked it. I blame it on the red onion crop. I'll try yellow onion next time instead. 

The Packers lost. Which, as a Bears fan, wasn't as sad for me as it was for our party guests, Danielle and Lauren. 

Jake and I went to the gym and he worked me out within an inch of my life. Also, my push-up and plank attempts where just pitiful.

Monday it rained, melting all the snow.

The Absurd:

My brother, Eric, and his wife, Lindsay, are moving from New York City to Portland. They were able to stop by Saturday for some dinner and then breakfast before continuing on their journey. (Which belongs in the good category) We took them out for Chicago style pizza in a neighboring suburb. While at dinner Jake became convinced that Brian Urlacher, a Bears linebacker, was dining in another part of the same restaurant. What would lead a man to such a conclusion, you ask? Why, he saw a kid running around, (of a different race than Urlacher) whom he thought looked like the linebacker. The ever fearless Danielle scoped out the area. No Urlacher to be found.

As mentioned we had a football get together. Between their house and ours, baby Ben had a complete blow out in his diaper. What did we (four adults) do? We (all) got him undressed, washed him in the bath, dried him off, and threw together an outfit for him. He had a change of pants but no shirt, so he wore one of mine. It was pretty much the most funny thing ever, looking back now. We were all so wrapped up in the moment of getting him clean and dressed, I turned into a picture snappin' fool, you would have thought Ben was baby Jesus himself or at the very least the center of the universe. It didn't occur to me then, but looking back at the pictures I just laugh... Look at all of us, and just picture me giving photo direction amidst the madness. There were more pictures, but I didn't want to embarrass Ben by uploading bath tub photos. 

Ben in his Ben Folds tee, so perfect

As part of our party decor, Danielle brought her custom made Rogers discount double check championship belt. Packer fans will never cease to amaze you in their displays of team spirit.

Potato soup not pictured

Future quarterback

Today some packages arrived for us. One we were expecting, the other was quite a surprise: 120 booklets on the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. What are we to do with all of these? Well, I hope you can all make our informational meeting, on traveling this beautiful area, next Sunday. Or, maybe I will put them in the seat back pockets on the planes at work. Or, take them to a local hotel and replace their "Willis" tower brochures with something of the great outdoors. There are just so many options. I just don't understand what intern took "I would like some information on your area and maybe some maps, please" and turned it into this...

To sum it all up:

Everybody needs everybody. Family visits are nice. Cute babies and football make adults loose their minds. Red onions are bad. We have lots of information on the Blue Ridge Mountains, incase you are planning a visit.