The Czar Dictates: Best. News. Ever

The Czar Dictates: Best. News. Ever


My comment to Carl says it all.....

It Makes Me Wonder....

I had good intentions yesterday. It was a kidless weekend. I wanted to start cleaning out my basement - separate what goes from what stays, pick out the lumber needed to build a raised bed for tomatoes, peppers, herbs and green beans.  What did I do? Slept until 11. Laid in bed, reading, Ebbie curled up by my knees. 

This is Ebbie...

 

I watched a couple of DVDs that I bought a week or so ago, eating fresh radishes with butter (it's not gross - fresh, and I do mean fresh, radishes are not hot and bitter - they are a bit like watercress - peppery and crisp).   I stayed in my pajamas all day.

Finally, I made lazy woman's minestrone (thank you Nigella) and ate it. In bed.  Now, in my defense, I was out late the night before - visiting my best friend and her husband.  It's an hour drive away so I didn't get home until almost 2.  So my day was shot by the time I woke up. I was completely content to sit there with the kitties, reading a book - Water For Elephants - I realize that I'm a year behind in the best seller list, but I hardly ever get to read for pleasure and when I do have time, my brain is so full that reading a magazine takes effort. 

What makes me wonder is, have I learned to appreciate the luxury of doing nothing, or am I just so overwhelmed by life anymore that I need more time to recharge?  I used to pull days like this maybe four times a year.  Now, it seems that I need them at least every other month, if not once a month.  God knows, I need all the time I can get to stay on top of the housework.  Just to stay on top of ADD kid, Autism kid and declining parent is a full time job.  When I stop to think about house, family and work I sometimes feel like someone is forcing my head under water.  You can usually tell my state of being by the condition of my closet and my garage. Right now, you can barely walk through either.

I've been doing this by myself for a loooong time - it's been 10 years - maybe I'm just tired.  I used to do it all and balance a social life.  It's been so long since I've been on a date, I don't think I would remember if there was a way I was supposed to act.  I've discovered that my tact button broke a few years ago.  I used to be much more politically correct in what I thought or said, now, the five second delay is shot.  At my friend's house, their fifteen year old commented that I didn't censor my comments as much as his parents other friends did.  Our subject matter that night ran from how to get a teenager motivated to politics to the sixties to retirement to....... you get the picture.  His words..."It's usually an R rated conversation when Margo is here".   Ooooh boy. It's bad when the 15 year old calls you on it.  

What Kind of Flower Are You?

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

The Little Things in Life

.....Trader Joe's has the same truffle cheese that I found in Downtown Cheese - and it's about half the price! I'd rather support the local vendor, but when I can't get over there and I'm jonesing for it, I have a Plan B...... :-)

Fore!!!

Our ladies league "The Ladies Straight Shooters" kicked off our season with a nine hole scramble, a nine hole stroke play event and a clinic for new golfers. We have 182 members! I think there were fifty or so members when I joined several years ago. It's a fun, fun group. While we have a Division 1 for competitive match play (I play in that one), it's not a cut throat group at all, it's really just a wonderful opportunity for women to enjoy a round of golf and partake in the 19th hole and laugh. I don't think I ever laugh as hard as when I'm out there with my friends. Many of us have become great friends and enjoy each other's company in social events off the course. As usual, forgot the camera, but I'm going to make a point of taking it with me more often. I plan on walking each round as extra exercise. I have a ton of great golf clothes that don't fit (yet) and I need to get back into them!

BTW - due to a new job, my mom's illness and just...life, I didn't play at all last year. My team shot a 40, and I was really happy about that!

Bread Machines

With the cost of bread rising (pardon the pun), I'm thinking of making my own bread - I already have all of the raw ingredients.  Does anyone out there have a particular favorite they would recommend?

Lovely Weekend

I took Friday as a personal day.  I committed to the kids that I would leave the Blackberry at home and we'd take the weekend to do stuff that we'd talked about doing, but schedules or weather prevented.   

*Note - I cannot believe I forgot my camera, so these pictures are courtesy of Flickr*

Friday - We took the Patco train into Philly and walked through Center City by Jefferson Hospital - it was a gorgeous spring day. It was our plan to go to Reading Terminal - a nifty farmer's market that is near City Hall:

For those who aren't familiar with Philadelphia, City Hall is either incredibly beautiful and baroque or ugly as hell.  On the top of the watch tower (which has been restored to its original color - that's why it's much brighter than the main part of the building). A statue of William Penn sits on top of the tower. He has one hand down to his side and the other is held out in front of him.  Picture below courtesy of Paul Everett on Flickr:

 

 

 

*funny local note - if you're driving toward City Hall from the Art Museum area, it looks suspiciously like Mr Penn is, um, excited.   You have to get quite close to City Hall to see it's his hand.  It's been a running joke for a long time in this area.

 

Anyway, I digress.  We strolled to Reading Terminal:

The market is a wonderful mixture of Pennsylvania Dutch, Italian, Korean, Greek, French and Mexican vendors (I'm sure I'm only touching on a third):

The market, as always, was bustling:

We stopped by my favorite cheese store - Downtown Cheese.  DiBruno's is the most highly rated and well known cheese store in the city - but to me - Downtown meets my needs and I just love the folks that work there, they love what they do - are happy to take you through a 'cheese journey' and happily recommend pairings and give plenty of samples!

I bought a cumin scented Gouda and a Monteviore that had black truffles and anchovy ribbons through out - WoW!! We also went to the produce stand and picked up a couple of pieces of fruit to pair with the cheese later.  There are so many choices for lunch, it wound up being too many. It was a little too crowded for the kids so they opted to leave and head to Caribou Cafe for lunch - frankly, it's just because they LOVE it there:

These pictures are courtesy of Caribou's website; it's a beautiful and very authentic bistro. We started with Potato Leek Bisque. The kids had steak frites and I had a duck breast with ligonberry sauce with a potato Lyonnaise and because it was a day off, I enjoyed a Chimay red beer with my lunch.  Yummm.  It was pricey, but the conversation was relaxed and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We skipped desert and walked up Walnut Street to Rittenhouse Square  - a lovely part of the city.  We shopped for clothes (for the kids) at Urban Outfitters and bought some toiletries at Lush.  We then headed over to Samson and back down to Reading for one thing I forgot. All in all I think we walked 25 blocks! We stopped at a little place for gelato - I tried the basil and it was fabulous!  By this time it was late afternoon and we were tuckered out. 

 

Saturday - errands, haircuts and home made paninis for dinner.  We watched "Across the Universe" on pay per view (no one felt much like moving).

Sunday - Matt decided he'd had enough of the "girls" and elected to stay home.  Rachel and I headed out to the Art Museum to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum. The Art Museum is undergoing a face lift and I forgot my camera, so these pictures are courtesy of various photographers on Flickr:

Well, this was the last day of spring break for this area, and most of the schools in the area must have had an assignment to review and comment on this exhibit because the place was wall to wall teenagers.   It took a half an hour to get in.  But it's always worth it because I love this view of the museum:

There's a huge Calder mobile hanging in the lobby and a statue of Diana from the old NY Life building. Our favorite parts of the museum are the Asian galleries with it's tea building:

Picture courtesy of

Englekins

 

There was a wonderful exhibit for Lee Miller, a woman who began her photographer just before World War II - her work was amazing.  But the goal of the day was to see Frida:

Despite the crowds (it was on average 6-7 deep at each painting), it was an incredible show - the colors, the collection, getting to see everything up close.  We just loved it - and we're going to play hooky and go back during the week. 

To wrap up the day, we went together to Samosa for Indian food. Rachel and I love it; unfortunately, we're the only ones in the house that do, so it was a great excuse to go to what was one of my favorite places in the city.  Unfortunately, Samosa ain't what it used to be. Most of the dishes, while flavorful, where difficult to distinguish from each other and everything was a bit overcooked.  The day, and the meal, however was saved by the best palak paneer I've had for a long time and dynamite samosas.  Great wrap up to the weekend!

 

Final note - I'm adjective happy - guess a good weekend will do that to me....;-)