Weekend Warrior #23

Weekend Warrior #23

 

Oh my goodness!  I am busy, busy, busy this weekend!  It is great to have things to do, but again there are too many choices to do EVERYTHING I want to do.  As a result, I have been able to do some things, and I will write about that.

Friday night right after work I had to get groceries for the house and a party I was invited to on Saturday.  There was a potluck, and I like cooking.  My friend was having a party at her house, and so the first thing on my to do list Saturday morning was to get the chocolate macaroons aka frogs aka mud pies aka haystacks made and in the fridge to set.  I have finally mastered making them with cashew milk.  At least I hope it wasn’t a fluke. I also used butter, white and brown sugar, vanilla, cocoa, oats and unsweetened coconut.  Other times I have made double batches, and they never set properly.  They stayed gooey and had to be licked off the wax paper as they wouldn’t come off cleanly.  Still delicious, but messy.  Sometimes I goof up on the timing and end up making chocolate granola.  But the ones I made yesterday had that perfect consistency, they were slightly granular, just past the gooey stage, but not dry or crumbly.  I am quite proud that they turned out so well.

As soon as I had them in the fridge I took the chicken I was marinating in Kraft Greek Feta and Oregano dressing.  Yes, I was going to be at a BBQ, but I wanted MY prep work to be as close to finished as possible.  I then popped to the store for a last minute beverage run.  I had bought myself some rum and key limes but needed the mix.  I got some Zevia Cola to mix, and some Gatorade G2. (That is my anti-hangover trick these days, and it seems to work really well!) I needed more coffee, so I decided to grab two of my favourites, Folgers Black Silk and Kahlua flavoured coffee.  I tried the Folgers Intensely Dark, as it comes in the larger boxes, but it doesn’t compare to the Black Silk.  So I had to buy 2 smaller boxes, at least they were on sale.

Rushed home to keep cooking.  I made the biggest batch of Greek Pasta salad I have ever made, as the hubby was wanting some for home too.  That was to go with the chicken that was in the oven.  While I was boiling the pasta, I picked up small pasta shells on Friday night, I started cooking the ground beef to prep for the hot nacho sauce.  It is hot off the stove hot, not spicy hot, and goes so well with nacho chips.  This recipe can be made with soy ground meat replacement for vegetarians.  I packed the rest of the ingredients, and the pot to cook it in.  At this point, my host was starting to get ready to pick me and another friend up to go to the party.  That was AMAZING!  I had enough time to get everything done and packed before he was here.

We had a wonderful time.  We had food, snacks, drinks, music blasting,  we played Backyard Yahtzee and had a BBQ.  I am a little sore from the 2.5 games of Backyard Yahtzee.

 

 

We did have to call interference a few times.  My friends have dogs, and one of them would steal a wooden die every so often.  We’d get it back, and allow re-rolls if needed.

When it was time for cake, we surprised the birthday girl with a minions ice cream cake.  She didn’t even know we snuck it in earlier at the start of the party. She got some presents, and cards, and it was a nice time.  For those of us that stayed after dark, our host made a nice fire in the back yard fire pit.  We gathered around it and just enjoyed the quiet, watching the flames and the fireflies.

Today started off with a little slower pace.  I went to an afternoon matinee with a friend.  I am now finishing this story, in the company of another blogger, we are visiting and writing at the same time.  I am going to be visiting another friend after supper.  In the meantime, there are dishes and laundry to be caught up on.  This has been another busy weekend, and from where I sit now, I think I won this round!  What did you do this weekend?

Weekend Warrior #23

Weekend Warrior #22

Please accept my apologies for posting this on a Monday. (Which is now Tuesday).  I was literally too tired to finish it before I went to bed last night.  The weekend was THAT busy and took ALL of my energy by the end of it. I started writing it yesterday morning and will leave it in its original format.

I am in the middle of a busy weekend again!  I find that it happens a lot in the summer.  The sun is out, and people want to do more things together.  Family and friends gather around, yard sale season happens, and there is always something going on somewhere.  Usually too much to be able to participate in all that you want to do.

Back in April, we took a road trip to visit Nanny Webber in Nova Scotia.  Yesterday was her 109th birthday, and we went back on a day trip to visit and have some birthday cake.  We got there and she was very happy that we made it.  We didn’t commit because sometimes things happen, and just in case we couldn’t go, we didn’t want to make a promise that we couldn’t keep.  I am happy to say that she was surprised to see us step through the crowd of people.  In fact, I would say she was delighted.

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She and Roy’s father were happy to see us, but a little sad that it was just a day trip, and that we would be making the drive home the same day. She told me that she kept asking her son, Roy’s dad if we were going to make it.  He didn’t know.  She said she kept asking him because she knew that if Roy made the trip, that I would go with him.  What a nice thing to say.  Nanny Webber really is a special lady, and I like spending time with her.

I had made her a bracelet, for her birthday.  I made it too big for her wrist, but because I made it, I packed what I needed to fix it if I had to.  I asked her what colour to take out, and with a few minutes and 2 tries, I got it to fit better.

On the way back from the party to her place, we had a car full of party food, gifts, cards, and balloons.  I took a few selfies of me in the car with the balloons.  I mean, when I looked into the back seat, all I saw was balloons!  It was just screaming selfie!

We went back to her place and made a visit.  We had a plate of sandwiches and sweets.  Then we got her to open her gift.  What do you give someone for their 109th birthday?  Well, along with the custom made bracelet, we found a little crystal flower and vase decorative suncatcher in pink and green.  We also got her a piece of decorative art, themed with things grandma says.  She read some of it, as the words went in different directions within the frame.

Then it was time to go.  She said she had a good day, and I think she was a little tired but didn’t want to tell us.  So we said our goodbyes and went to our next stop.

We had a 4 to 5 hour drive in each direction.  We planned to have supper with a friend on the way home, to break up the drive. We had a nice visit and then got back on the road.  It was 1 am on Sunday by the time we got home.

We set the alarm and went to bed.  By 1 pm, we had divided to get some groceries and to start laundry, got a chicken in the slow cooker, put away the groceries, and started the dishwasher.  We were off and running to go see Spiderman Homecoming with friends. I enjoyed the movie, it was fun.

After the movie, we rushed home to get the house ready for company.  We were expecting guests and they were staying overnight.  We finished up after they arrived, and had a filling chicken supper.  We had strawberry shortcake for dessert and a visit before making up the bed for the guests.  I did not stay up much later than my company last night.  It was a full and busy weekend.

What did you do this weekend?  Were you a Warrior like me, running here there and everywhere?

Weekend Warrior #23

Weekend Warrior #2

 

It is Sunday.  I am gearing up to do all the things I haven’t done yet this weekend that are on my weekly list.  That is not to say that I have been lying around on my couch until now, either.  I have been out and about this weekend, spending time with friends.  That is important, too.

Friday night I was invited to celebrate a friend’s birthday, hosted by a mutual friend.  I need to make sure that I eat, and that I keep it healthy.  I made deviled eggs, Big Mac Salad, with regular meat and soy meat options, and I made dessert.  We played board games and just dance.

This was my second time making deviled eggs.  They were a hit both times, so I think it may become a potluck staple for me to bring.  They are on plan.  People like them. Win win!

The salad is a version of a THM recipe.  It can be found easily online.  The soy meat was for the vegetarian of the group, and he got the leftovers since it was his birthday celebration. The THM plan is not big on Soy products, but I wanted my friend to have the full Big Mac Salad experience.  So I improvised, and everyone seemed to like the salad too.

Dessert was an adventure.  I made Rainbow cake in mason jars.

I made Unicorn Rainbow Dip for a cake topping, and of course, added rainbow sprinkles.  I probably won’t be making this cake in mason jars when I make it again.  The dip was amazing, and not too sweet like icing would have been.  I think it would be wonderful for cake pops.  I made it the night before, and let it set in the fridge overnight.  This was a quick assembly after work on Friday.  It took longer to make the deviled eggs.  My friends added dips and loaded potato skins and bruschetta and deep fried pickles to the table.  It was a lot of food for a party of 4.

Yesterday I wanted to spend time with another couple that my husband and I are friends with.  We went out for supper, and back to their place to watch some movies on Netflix.  I had not seen the John Wick movie, and they all rewatched while I saw it for the first time.  Now I can be ready for the newly released sequel, that we want to see as a group if we can plan it that way.

I was busy, and now I am scrambling to play catch up before Monday rolls around again.  I am still working from lists.  Some things get done, and other things carry forward to the next weekend.  It is time to crank the tunes and get some chores done.  I have a few hours to spend on that, and then it’s time to get ready for another week at the day job.  Until next weekend, when I become the Weekend Warrior again.  Although I was more of a warrior of the social scene this weekend, there is still some time to make progress on the chores, if I hurry!  Time to Bounce the House once again!