Monday's mumblings...

I am up and going on this still dark morning of Monday, February 1. Hard to believe that January is already over - it feels like the month was just a dream. Like I went to bed on December 31 and woke up on February 1...I remember bits and pieces of the January dream, yet I cannot put my finger on everything that I accomplished or did. I guess that is why I blog, so that I have the ability to look back and remember all the things I did and that I shared with you.

I had a nice weekend - and I hope that you did too. Robert (older son) didn't officially have any hockey practices this weekend because the majority of his teammates were at the second round of the Select Camp Tryouts, which unfortunately when he participated in the first round (back in mid-December) he was just getting over bronchitis and didn't perform up to his potential; therefore just earning an alternate spot (which he wasn't needed). However, Matthew (younger son) had hockey practice on Saturday - which Robert (older son) was allowed to skate at; so DH and I had fun watching the Brothers skate together. Matthew's current coach was Robert's coach back when Robert was a 2nd year Squirt (the age division containing 9 and 10 year olds), so Matthew's coach loves to have some of his past players come out and skate with him.

After practice was over, we all went out to dinner at Scott's Seafood restaurant at Jack London Square in Oakland. It has been a very long time since we enjoyed a nice sit down restaurant dinner as a family. We do periodically go out to dinner as a family, but to the local sushi restaurant or the salad bar place (either Fresh Choice or Sweet Tomatoes) - so going out to a nice restaurant was a treat. I enjoyed a mixed grill fish entree which consisted of a few prawns, salmon and mahi-mahi. The restaurant did a great job of grilling it without any butter or oils; even the server came over to let me know that the potatoes on the side were cooked in butter and asked how I wanted to deal with that. He suggested dry baked potatoe, but since I allowed myself to enjoy the plentiful sour dough bread I asked about just giving me a helping of the steamed veggies, which they did without any butter too. I know what works and what doesn't work with my aging body and it is nice to come to a restaurant which will work with you and even assist in the matter. They even accomodated Matthew (younger son) with a plate of noodles (without oil & butter) and the marinara sauce on the side.

After dinner, we walked over to the Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop so the boys could get their milk shakes. DH decided to try their new hot chocolate shakes. Hot Chocolate shakes...not a good idea, so save your calories dear readers. They take milk, warm it up, put in chocolate syrup and then the ice cream of your choice, a little whip cream and a cherry. Well, there is something about warm milk and ice cream...let's just say that by the time the lady handed DH the cup, no ice cream could be found and the taste wasn't very good. Maybe it was because of the strawberry ice cream DH requested, I don't know. Me? Well, like I said I enjoyed the plentiful bread that was brought to the table during dinner...so ice cream was not for me.

Sunday, Matthew (younger son) had a hockey game in the late afternoon, so I decided to get out the crock pot and make some swedish meatballs for lunch...great pre-game meal: protein from the meatballs and carbs from the noodles. This is a really simple recipe...just get a package of meatballs (not the italian kind, just a basic meatball - I get the cocktail meatballs from Trader Joe's) tossed in a crock pot with some beef or chicken gravy, wortersire sauce and chicken broth. Let that cook on high for at least 5 hours. Then I take out the meatballs, stir in some sour cream and then put the meat balls back in. (if interested in a more detailed receipe, please leave a comment and I can get you the specifics).  Since each kid likes the meatballs with a different noodle, we needed to go out and get some egg noodles...so we decided to take a family walk to the grocery store. It is about 2.5 miles round trip - nice to get out in the sunshine.

Anyway...the boys enjoyed their lunch and the rest of the quiet afternoon. We left for the game around 3pm - which Matthew's team won.

I did get some stitching in over the weekend and about ready to put the finishing touches on the CindyMae design I have been model stitching. Hoping to have that complete by this week.

Thank you for visiting...hope I didn't bore you too much! Have a great week and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa