Wacky Wednesday!!

On our last night in Vegas, the girls and I lined up for our habitual evening photos. This time I put a chair in the area where we usually stood and told everyone to get comfy.

Aren't we cute? Then I yelled "SWITCH" and set the timer again...

Now I've got Gina laughing...SWITCH!

Now we're having a good time!

OK... one last time... SWITCH!

Awwww... we lost it! But now we are ready to go see Carrot Top!!

Top Ten for Tuesday

1. Mark and I drove to San Francisco on Sunday afternoon where we stayed in a pretty posh little boutique hotel in San Bruno. We walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant for dinner. SF really is the best place for Chinese food. The wonton soup was none of that broth in a cup with one wonton floating around... It was this big bowl with huge, meatfilled wontons, prawns, mushrooms, pea pods (super fresh and tasty!), carrots, and sliced pork. We also had chicken salad, mongolian beef and prawns in lobster sauce. It was great.

2. The reason we were in SF was so that Mark could fly to Santa Ana (south of LA), to pick up the boy's new Mazda RX8. It is an awfully sweet car. So yesterday Mark went to the airport at 6:00 a.m. for his flight, while I slept late, did yoga in the hotel room and missed the complimentary breakfast by a half hour.
This is the car he got...

3. I ended up on the road by 10:05 and made it home at around 4:00.

4. Mark ended up on the road by 10:15 and made in home at around 10:00.

5. We are both tired today... He at least deserves to be tired, I am just pitiful! :-)

6. I stopped in Pepperwood at my parents' house on the way home and picked up the first bag of zucchini of the season. I will be generously supplied with more zucchini than any one family could possibly eat for the next couple of months, so any good zucchini recipes would be greatly appreciated!

7. I have been plotting all weekend to make plans to see my sweet Michelle before summer is out, and we had a plan all worked out. I was floating around... so looking forward to spending the weekend with her... Then, BANG! my brain actually kicked into gear and I realized I have a cousin getting married that weekend! I really hope we can reschedule. I miss her smile and voice and laugh.

8. All of my boxes of school stuff are officially INSIDE my new classroom now. I took the last 2 loads over today. I couldn't unpack anything, though, because the 2 foot wide strip of linoleum in front of my wall of cabinets had just been waxed.

9. I am still reading One Hundred Years of Solitude... It feels like it's taking 100 years to get through!

10. It was actually raining here in Eureka this morning. I couldn't believe it when I let Pepper out and saw the wet patio. Pepper wasn't too thrilled, either! It did get sunny later in the day, though. Now, the sun is setting, and it is lovely.

Happy Tuesday! Love, Nancy

Thankful Thursday

I am trying to get back in the habit of practicing gratitude as often as possible. So, if I find myself in front of the computer on a Thursday, I might as well make a list.

1. Thankful I got to babysit Sophia again this week (and will get to see her again next week). She's just getting to be so much fun!!

2. Thankful my friend Cindyanna came over with her 2 kids while Sophia was here. It made the time fly by!!

3. Thankful I have finished cleaning out my Fieldbrook classroom. I turned in my keys today. It's bittersweet. I will definitely miss my friends there, but hope to keep in touch as much as possible. It just feels good to have accomplished something between vacations.

4. Thankful for a weekend of catching up with the girls in Vegas. We laughed and danced and chatted. It was good for my soul.

5. Thankful for the Tour de France. It is something Mark and I are both interested in, so we watch it together and talk about it.... so important to share interests in a marriage. Who would have ever guessed I'd become a cycling fan? I didn't learn to ride a 2 wheeler until I was 11 or 12! I am considering asking for a new bike for my birthday which is coming up soon.

6. Thankful for completing the editing of the Cabo pictures. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. I am considering a pre-made photo book. That would be something I have never tried before. Here's one of my favorites...

7. As always, thankful for YOU... someone actually reading my blog!! Would love it if you'd leave a comment!!

Love, Nancy

Tuesday's Top Ten

1. I have been plugging along steadily in my new classroom this week. I have a vague idea of where most things will go... Now I just need to figure out if they will fit where I want them.

2. I got to babysit Sophia yesterday. She is so funny now. I was chasing her around the house saying "I'm gonna get you!", then I would catch her and hang her upside down. Every time I tried to stop she would look over her shoulder and say, "Get oooo" and run away. Who can resist that?

3. Tonight we had kebabs for dinner. They were really good. I made some with chicken marinated in a lemon pepper marinade and some with shrimp. I also made two veggies (which I ate). I sauteed the mushrooms before I put them on the skewers. I think it made all the difference.

4. Of course, the difference could have also been the garlic butter. I was worried that the shrimp kebabs would be plain, so I made garlic butter with a whole cube of butter. Mark put so much on his that his rice was swimming in a lake of butter. He looked pretty happy while he was eating it!

5. I have been meaning to edit my pictures from Cabo all week, but I seem to keep getting caught up playing Bejeweled Blitz or Zen Bones instead.

6. Tomorrow I am heading out to Fieldbrook to pack up my classroom there. My whole Volvo is filled with the boxes I have emptied at the new classroom. I wonder if I will be able to fit everything in one load or not?

7. I am officially un-addicted to Diet Mountain Dew. I couldn't have any of it while we were in Cabo because they don't sell it there. Then when we got back I decided to just keep going with Coke Zero. Some days I don't even have any caffeine. I just have a Minute Maid Light Lemonade. Shocking, I know!!

8. I have been reading this blog I found called "The Organized Classroom". It has some pretty good tips on it and many links to cool (FREE) stuff.

9. I had a really sore throat and extreme sneezing earlier in the week, and I was worried I was catching a cold, but my hearty immune system seems to have fought it off. All those years of teaching Kindergarten still come in handy!

10. Tomorrow I'm leaving to spend the weekend with 3 of my dearest friends in Las Vegas!! It should be a blast!! Hopefully none of us will suffer from heatstroke!

Happy Tuesday. Love, Nancy

Savory Sundays... The Senor Greenberg's Edition

So before we went to Cabo, Kyla said to me while riding in the car one day..."I am so excited to go to Mexico! I will get to eat Mexican food every day!" Little did she know, her favorite Mexican food (bean and cheese burritos) would not be on any menu in Mexico, and waiter's would all look completely perplexed when she tried to order them in fast English.

One night when we went shopping down at the big mall at the marina, we were hailed by yet another host trying to convince us to eat at his restaurant. Kyla looked at the menu and was sold when she saw that they had "burritos". So, being my carb loving daughter. She ordered bean and cheese burritos with a side of mashed potatoes. Here is her dinner:

Mark ordered the Filet Mignon which came with mashed potatoes and asparagus:

The boy had steak with Ranchero sauce. He loved it:

I went a little crazy with the tapas menu. I had Asian Beef Skewers with peanut dipping sauce:

Jalepeno Macaroni and Cheese

and Angus Beef Sliders with Swiss Cheese, Carmelized Onions and homemade pickles.

I couldn't eat most of my dinner! Maybe because we had gone to Hagen Daas a couple of hours earlier!!

Cabo Trip

Mark spent most of his trip golfing. He golfed 6 times in 7 days. We never set foot on the course, though. He found a friend who liked to go out at 7 am, so we were just getting out of the shower around 11 when he would get back from golfing.

The first day we spent quite a bit of time at the pool.

Kyla met the iguana.

Then we went to the marina for dinner. Mark and I shared this:

I had too much to drink.

The rest of the week was mellow, but nice. We shopped a little.

This is still my favorite store in San Jose del Cabo.

We spent a bit of time in the condo just hanging out and at the pool.

Our big event was going to on a Snorkel Tour on the Pez Gato.
I'll have to blog about that one later! Adios!!