Hello Monday!

Whether I want to see it or not, it's here....MONDAY! We had a great weekend full of nothingness! Stayed home Friday night, had friends over for dinner on Saturday and Meet the Teacher Orientation yesterday. I tried to prepare dinner last night and it seemed like everything I did turned into a mess. I hate nights like that. I've never cooked purple hull peas and I was unaware that they smell kind of funky at first. I thought I had bad ham, so I threw it out and rinsed the peas off. I put them in another pot with a new piece of ham and the weird smell wasn't as strong. I normally cook black eyed or cream peas, so this kind of freaked me out. My cornbread came out good, my okra was okay, and I managed to dump more macaroni on the cook top than back in the pot....it just kept getting worse :) Alls well that ends well and no one got sick from food poisoning!

I'm completely pissed off, though. Gary bought me a turquoise cuff bracelet in Terlingua last year and I wear it constantly. It has disappeared and I'm furious...and sad. I love that bracelet!!! It's beautiful and I'm so mad because I can't find it. I know I had it on Friday and I always put it in one of two places in my bedroom. It's not in either place and I've torn the house upside down looking for it. I can't imagine what I've done with it. I hope it didn't get thrown in the trash while I was cleaning on Saturday. That would completely suck.

I met Paige's first grade teacher yesterday. I always get nervous when Paige starts talking to adults when I'm out of earshot. It never fails that they look over at me and smile while she's talking. I just kind of smile back and nod my head while I cringe inside wondering what the hell she's saying. She'll finally walk back over to me and she'll tell me what she was telling them. Things like, "I was telling Mrs. Reyna about the aliens in our attic." Or, "I was telling Mrs. Jodi about Waylon and Eddie lovin each other all the time." Things like that, you know...just little Pageisms that I love so much :)

I wanted to post some recipes today but I don't dare share the catastrophes that I prepared last night! Mark and Vicki came over for dinner Saturday night and brought some of the tuna he caught a few weeks ago in Matagorda Bay while deep sea fishing. It turned out really well. I marinated it in a Honey Jalapeno glaze for about an hour and then seared it for about 3 minutes on each side. I served it with a mango pico de gallo and avocado relish, salad and roasted potatoes. The potatoes were easy. I quartered about 8 large red potatoes and drizzled them with olive oil, salt and pepper. I roasted them for 25 minutes at 425 degrees, turning them once. Those are the easiest potatoes to make and they always come out crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.

We're having wood flooring put down in the dining and living rooms this week. I finally gave up on carpet in any room other than the bedrooms. Our dogs have not been kind to the carpet, so it's going bye-bye. All of my dining and living room furniture is in the kitchen, so I won't be doing any cooking for a few days. Paige starts school tomorrow, so we'll be eating out for a few nights this week. She's so excited to go back to school and I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine. I know I'll start cooking in earnest next week and I'll have lots of recipes to share.

Have a great Monday!

Kelly