Easter's Gift

The holiday weekend was nice and so sweet (and I don't just mean the jelly beans). Boyfriend and I found the area we're looking to buy a house in - it's beautiful. We saw sheep and llamas nearby and a place that sells chocolate covered bacon!! It's about an hour outside of the city, still a lot of farm land around. So serene and peaceful - lots of lakes and forest preserves as well.

I fell in love with the riverwalk and the black ducks with white bills, the gaggle of geese and the noisy flock of seagulls.It'll me a heck of a commute for both of us but we are pretty sure it's worth it. One of the houses we're interested in backs up to a preserve - it has a nice looking back yard and a deck.

The other gift I received was a piece of information - and all I can say is thank you! It was beyond funny and watching it made me so very thankful for the way things have turned out. Not that I wasn't before but this was just icing on the jelly beans!

Recipe

I'm always looking for easy and quick recipes that I can bring into work or use for gatherings. This looks versatile - think I might try it with some veggie sausage... 

Breakfast Sausage Ring 

1 roll of bulk Jimmy Dean sausage (any flavor)
2 7.5 oz cans of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
2 cups shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Brown sausage in frying pan, drain. Open one can of biscuits and flatten each biscuit into larger circle. Place in bottom of greased bundt cake pan, overlapping each biscuit so that it makes a ring around bottom of pan.

Top biscuits with 1 cup of shredded cheese, next place cooked sausage on top of cheese then top sausage with remaining 1 cup cheese. Open second can of biscuit dough and flatten out each biscuit, repeat placing dough around the top of bundt pan so it looks like a ring.

Cook for 25 min or until golden brown. Let sit in pan for 5-10 min before inverting onto a plate. Slice and serve. This makes a gorgeous centerpiece for a breakfast buffet!

Spring

Hasn't quite sprung but I am ready and willing. Boyfriend and I went and wandered around the mall, looking at furniture for our imaginary house - we're looking for an area, since I refuse to live in the city. I want to move out - I don't want to hear about or smell my neighbors dinner. I don't want my parking space to be the recipient of 100 tons of snow.

I want a yard and a garage. Boyfriend calls it Picket Fence Syndrome or something to that effect, thankfully he suffers from it as well. Last weekend we drove out to a 'burb to have a look around. Next weekend, we'll be on to the next until we find a couple we like. And then it will be finding the abode. This is a bit daunting but exciting at the same time.

Last night, we went to a dessert bar to celebrate a friends birthday. Wow. That place was amazing. I had some kick ass hard cider and banana bread pudding. Boyfriend had Beer of The Gods and banana ice cream. Soooooooooooo good. So good. OMG SO GOOD!!

I guess this is it. I mean The It. The husband, the house, eventually the kid(s)? It's....scary...and exciting...and...idk. lol. It's not official until I have the ring but still...And weirder still, it all feels so natural. Guess this is what growing up is. Lol.

My boyfriend..

...is awesome (and not just because of this):

3 years...

It feels like a lifetime without.

I know it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all but there is still this hole in my heart, my life.

I love you, my Abby - always.

Denied....

I was told no, I could not have one for my birthday....So much for having the perfect Boyfriend...

On the second day of Valentine's....

My wonderful Boyfriend decided that we should have dinner in the adorable little Italian restaurant where we had our first date. It's a charming little place, oozing ambiance. We toasted with sparkling water and ate amazing pasta dishes.

It was very romantic and I do appreciate the romantic efforts! He insists that I will be the girl in this relationship - one way or another. Though while we were recreating our first date, kinda, I couldn't actually recall the date of our first date - apparently, I am supposed to know these things because I Am (not) The Girl....We agree it was in August but that's about it. I'm all for winging it. We can celebrate the whole month of August annually, I suppose.

Anyway, after our romantic dinner, I had a craving....A craving for thick, sweet Turkish coffee...We went to a place just a few blocks away only to be turned away ( I won't go into a rant but you can be sure I won't be going back). So I found a Bosnian place not too far away, Boyfriend indulges me so. Sometimes I just need a coffee you can chew. And plus, the tiny little cups and spoons are just too cute.

Now that I should be sleeping but I'm wired from my carafe of Bosnian coffee, I suppose I'll go find something girly to do with myself. Like split some logs or rotate my tires. Or find the inventor of fingernail flowers and go superglue them all over her face.

V-Day

The ever thoughtful and dutiful Boyfriend sent me flowers at work, a beautiful mixed bouquet that arrived shortly after lunch. It was nice considering my clients must have gotten hornets in their bouquets because they were simply boorish. 

We ordered a feast of Indian food and settled in for a movie - he's determined to make me a girl. We watched a romantic comedy - he did warn me that there were no aliens, no massive explosions, etc - I reminded him that my idea of romance was Pitch Black or Terminator, a six pack and NIN on repeat while having carnival monkey sex.
I think the idea of gender roles is fascinating. The things we associate with male and female - assigning acts, mannerisms, and the like to one or the other. I think the lines have blurred significantly in the last 100 years, most certainly, but there is still this divide between the sexes. 

This isn't to say I cannot enjoy a romantic comedy, there are quite a few that I like but it's not my default desire when it comes to movies. Apparently, my desire is typically more masculine - things that blow up, drive fast or are from another planet. But what makes those things particularly masculine?

The whole idea of Valentine's Day is sweet but I really could care less. Don't get me wrong - I love the flowers and they brighten up my desk (sitting next to the pile of Quaker Oatmeal single serving containers) but why is appreciating beauty, like flowers, a generally female thing? 

Woman Problems...

So, I spent - oh, let's say 2 hours, painting my nails a lovely shade of blue to match my new shirt...I went as far as to affix little white flowers to the outer corners of each one...Cute, right? Yeah, until you actually do things, like sleep, or drink coffee or breathe....Then, their little petals rip, or they decide to go on miniature journeys.

According to my boss, Generals don't wear fingernail flowers (he decided that I was behaving like a General lately - apparently it's a compliment). Well, idk about Generals but this girl likes fingernail flowers. Except when the petals tear, or the whole thing gets stuck in your hair or you find one has flipped off and is sitting halfway across your bosses desk....

Boyfriend wasn't particularly sympathetic. He said "Woman problems" - as if I were popping Midol and freaking out about the latest episode of Glee, or some other such nonsense.

Is it asking too much to just have my fingernail flowers last for one whole day? Apparently.....Next time, I'm going to staple them onto my nails. I'd use superglue but that has been banished for fear I'll affix some body part permanently to some other body part. Or some other body entirely.

*sigh*

I give up. I am now going to spend two hours scraping the remaing petals off of my nails - go figure, about a third of them are seemingly cemented on. Between fingernail flowers and pantyhose it's no wonder I think I'm more alien than girl....

It's the end of the world as we know it....

And I feel fiiinnnneeee!  Ah, good old REM....

Well, being that the world is going to end in a few days, I figure I should say something. Other than I'm bringing the stuff to make s'mores on Friday. :-) Or at least some marshmallows for toasting. Mmmm. Toast. I enjoy toast.

I wish I had some parting words o' wisdom, or at least something witty to say but none of it will matter as of Friday. So, I think this says it all. I love you - my friends, my family, all of you. I'd like to say I'll see you in some afterlife but I don't believe in one....

What really pisses me off is I spent like 9 hours shopping last Saturday for Christmas gifts that I won't be able to give or return. Stupid End of the World. Could have at least waited a few days beyond Xmas, you know? Or have been a month ago. But NOooooo.

And I'm still not done shopping but this whole end o' the world will be a really really really good excuse when I don't show up with a present on xmas eve. :-) So not my fault! :P

I've not had enough coffee yet today.

If anyone knows what time the apocalypse is taking place, please let me know. I don't want to be late.

Alrighty, either the world is ending this week, or it's not and the holidays are in full swing. Either way, I'm a busy/dead girl and probably won't have much to say until the new year. Between now and New Years I have shopping and parties and such to get to - as I know you all do too. Or I will be a crispy critter and won't have anything to say/do.

But text/call/email and let me know how you and yours are doing. *Before the apocalypse, please* Undead to undead calls are very expensive!

So let me say this, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to each and every one of you. I am happy to ring in another new year with you or die in a horrible burst of flame with you. :-)