Chacos Adventures

Friday afternoon before I left, I spent some time reading in the back yard. I wore my Chacos out there and then took them off and used them to hold the book open.
Camden was out there too, generally chasing squirrels. Except for the moment he came and sat on my book (and Chacos)- still watching the squirrels of course.

Almost Midnight

Are you ever too excited to go to bed? For example, if you're taking a vacation, possibly getting on a plane early in the morning. Or taking a day off work because you can. Or taking a day off to start a mini-vacation to see one of your best friends and hang out with 4 girls all weekend!
That's me.
Annual Girls Weekend starts tomorrow!

It began two years ago at World's of Fun.
photo no longer available

Last year we took our dogs camping.
photo no longer available

This year we're headed out-on-the-town.

The group of girls changes from year to year, but it's always a reason for one of my good friends from college and I to get together.
photo no longer available



One other thought at this time of night, this is still a great book!!

And again

Road construction again tonight. But this time no crazy passers or rule followers. There was a dead skunk, though. Ew.

Construction Zone

On my way home from work today, I witnessed something that just made me smile.
I drive about 1.5 miles on a 4-lane divided highway, that at the end of that mile and a half splits and exits onto the interstate. There was a lane closure today at the split that had one lane of traffic backed up to where I get on. I pulled onto the highway and merged into that one lane, proceeding at 10mph although the left lane was still open. A car came speeding on by (or at least what looked like speeding while most cars were only going 10mph) in the left lane, passing all the cars in the right lane that were kindly obeying the 'Do Not Pass' signs. In my review mirror I saw another car approaching in the left lane, when the guy behind me proceeded to move into the left lane and continue driving as if he were in the slow lane. He was blocking the 'speeders' from getting by.
I admit I really like rules and I really like playing by the rules. To see someone make everyone play by the rules was great. I continued driving in the right lane for the next mile, watching that car behind me with a huge smile on my face.

Sand Volleyball!

My favorite sport! Good exercise. Fun with friends yesterday! Playing in a tournament today! Lots of exclamation points! It's true - I'm excited!
(Unfortunately no pictures)

Something new

I'm trying a new look with a photo at the top of my blog. For the fall it's sunflowers. Thanks Mom & Dad for stopping in Nebraska to take this picture of the Kansas state flower

CVS this week

Another week, another trip to CVS for some good deals.

Transaction #1
What I got
Aleve-D - $3.99
Excedrin - $3.99
Purex - $2.99
2 Glade @.99 each - $1.98
How I paid
$2/$10 CVS coupon
$1/1 Aleve-D coupon
$2/1 Excedrin coupon
$.50/1 Purex
$1/1 Glade
B1G1 Glade
$5 ECBs
$.90 OOP
ECBs received
$7.99

Transaction #2
What I got
2 Covergirl Lipslicks @$3.99 - $7.98
1 Covergirl Eyeshadow $2.99
How I paid
$2/$10 CVS coupon
B1G1 CG lip product
2 - $1/1 CG coupons
$3 ECBs
$.45 OOP
ECBs received
$3

My house smells like Apple Cinnamon now. :)

The Rain

It has been raining here for at least 5 out of the last 7 days and I'm loving it! I really do enjoy the rain. I took a short walk around downtown this afternoon with no umbrella or hood. It was great! Although, I enjoy it, rain makes the sky quite gray and the days a bit dreary, so I picked a few things from by photo albums that are not so dreary.

Happy baby

Mountains and bright blue sky.

photo no longer available

Dandelion :) and green grass

Dogs having fun in the pool.Christmas!!
And shoe golf, of course. :)

Wow! That was an interesting thing to do. There were so many un-dreary things to choose from.

Bikes and Balloons

The Huff N Puff hot air balloon rally was in Topeka this weekend. My parents came down and we went for an early morning bike ride that began with the 7am balloon launch and continued around peaceful Lake Shawnee.

Early morning launch

Reflections

This balloon pilot had skill. The basket skimmed the water for several hundred feet and floated back up just before hitting a dock.

Bikes and balloons. :)

The botanical gardens at Lake Shawnee

Silly Six

Hey! It's the first time I've been 'tagged' in the blogosphere. Thanks Kelly.
Because I do just happen to enjoy Random Things this is right up my alley.

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.

1. I'm a picky eater. Earlier this week a small group was planning our next dinner. One couple wanted to bring salsa and guacamole. They were talking about making the guacamole when I blurted "Now the salsa, will that be fresh or canned?" And everyone there laughed because they knew I would only eat one of those options. Just one example among many.

2. I can plug my nose from the inside. Meaning I do not have to pinch my fingers over my nostrils to stop smelling. This comes in handy around nasty trash cans, gassy dogs and baked beans (ref #1)

3. Sometimes, if it's a nice day and I'm in a good mood I'll do some dance moves while walking through the parking lot of the store I'm at. Then I remember I'm 25 and wonder what other people might be thinking. I've also been known (only by me) to break out some ballet moves in my office when no one is around.

4. Until about 3 months ago I pronounced aspartame as "a-spart-a-mee". I still have to concentrate pretty hard before saying that word to be sure I get it correct.

4. And I do say aspartame a lot, that's another thing I prefer not to eat... I can taste it.

6. I'd like a pool with a diving board in my backyard so I can learn how to do 'prettier' flips in private.

Bonus: my first initial + last name is "smellen". (say the word out loud) I thought of that back at number 2.

I'll follow Kelly's lead and tag Sandy, Kelli and Shannon -who should write 6 quirky things about coupons, since her blog has a purpose. :) Most of my friends are on Facebook. If you read my blog, have a blog and would like to be tagged, leave a comment and feel free to post your Silly Six.

Flop

Well, the breakfast casserole in a Crockpot was a bit of a flop. I had such high hopes and kept such an open mind. I've had a few other breakfast casseroles that I haven't really enjoyed but this recipe looked to have good simple ingredients. First, I cooked it too long cause I went to bed early last night. There were some charred edges but lots of good stuff in the middle. Then I tried it for lunch and it tasted like single flavored mush.
I started telling a co-worker about my experiment. Immediately after I mentioned that it was breakfast casserole in a crock pot, she made this face and expressed her thoughts that it would not be good. "You have to be careful what you put in a Crockpot", she said.
Ryan said it was okay. It's his kind of food. I figured he would.

I still think using the crockpot is a great idea... so I'll be trying some other recipes!

A Day in the Kitchen

Labor Day. Why exactly is it called Labor day when most take a break from their labor? (rhetorical question) I remember having a quite confusing conversation about this once over dinner in college. I had planned to get some free Chik-fil-a, but plans changed last night after reading La Cucina Italiana and found some recipes to try. With a day off, I had the time today and thought I'd try my hand at a couple recipes.


Enjoying my camera as I do, I also documented my day in the kitchen.

And it was just about a whole day. When I thought the bread recipe would be fun, I failed to notice all the kneading, transferring,resting and rising the dough required.
A photo of the second kneading session.


It was still fun. It made the house smell wonderful. There's something about yeast, flour and cinnamon that I seemed to really like.

The finished product. Maybe all the kneading and resting took all the 'lift' out of the bread. This doesn't quite look like the picture in the magazine. Then again, does it ever? This bread was made with ricotta cheese and cinnamon. It has a good flavor, just wish it wasn't so dense and crusty.

For lunch I made

pasta al ragu di funghi from the magazine. Not normally a fan of mushrooms, this just hit the spot.






Here's a secret, I ate my very Italian meal with an American Dr. Pepper.:)


For supper, I made one of my all-time favorites, Spanish Tortilla. Simple to make, simple flavor - oil, potatoes, onions and eggs. Mmm.



The day in the kitchen still isn't over. I found this blog about a woman using her Crockpot everyday this year. I've come to realize this could

be a very practical thing for me to prepare a meal in the morning, let it cook all day while I'm at work and have it ready to eat when I get home around 6:15. She shares a good variety of meals. So one of the first dishes I decided to try is a breakfast casserole. Rather than dinner, I told Ryan it would be ready for breakfast when he gets home tomorrow morning. I'll take it for lunch at work.