Days Off....

GUESS WHAT?!!!!

  Guess where we get to go on some days off this summer?

So excited!  Flights officially booked for a trip later this year! 

 

Send suggestions on sights to see in Seattle.  Soon.

 



 

 

It's my week off and I really have nothing profound to say.  I worked my fair share of shifts this month and held tightly to my upcoming week of days off.  Oh the things I'd do around the house. 

 

I joked on Facebook on Monday....

 

"Ah yes, my week off, the week where I clean the house, shop for groceries, go to the basketball game, bake the cookies, clean the house, have a couple of meetings, clean the bathroom, fold the clothes, cook supper, make lunches, clean the house, run errands, go watch archery, clean the house, sort the junk, supervise homework, make breakfast, sort clothes, pay the bills, put away piles of junk, drive kids to, drive kids from. Yup, sit down and relax on my week off."

 

 

So far, I have shopped for groceries, gone to the basketball game, baked the cookies, cooked supper, made lunches, watched archery, supervised homework, attended two meetings, made breakfast, paid bills, and driven the kids to and from.

 

I have NOT cleaned the house at all.

 

Epic fail on the house cleaning to-do list.  In fact, I looked at the floor and thought to myself "I wouldn't mind sweeping that floor IF I had a better broom.  You know, a dry dust mop with a 3 foot head that swivels....."  Methinks I'm just not that motivated to sweep the floor.  But now I'm rather embarrassed to actually have admitted to delaying the floor sweeping, so promise you that I will sweep first thing tomorrow.  Or thereabouts.

 

Yesterday, I managed to fly right past the urge to deep clean the house (even though it hit my to-do list no less than four times on Facebook) and headed right in to a crochet project that I'd been thinking about for  a long time  three days.  I spent 30 minutes in Michael's, trying to find the perfect yarn.  How fun is that?!!

 

Today I went to grab my case of crochet hooks .... and came up empty handed.

 

This result caused me to enter all 3 rooms that I think know need a deep cleaning.

 

And there is a good chance that tomorrow, instead of crocheting, I will finish  deep cleaning at least one or two of the rooms that need it because I moved heaven and earth and piles of 1999 junk in each of those rooms, trying to find my crochet case. 

 

And.  I.  Can.  Not.  Find.  My.  Case.  Of.  Crochet.  Hooks. 

 

I'm annoyed.

 

Because once I get through deep cleaning these 1-2-3 rooms that need to be cleaned, I probably won't feel like crocheting anymore.

 

I don't know about you, but I always want to do exactly what I can't possibly do at the moment.  When I'm at work, I want to be at home; when I'm home, I want to be out; when I'm out, I want to be reading a book.

 

Last week at work, I watched one of our residents as she lay propped up in her bed, coloring, and I thought to myself  I WANT TO LAY IN BED AND COLOR!!

 

Oh dear.

 

You know it's time for a few days off when you start thinking that lying in bed, coloring in a coloring book, watching people walking by sounds like fun.

 

There's a really good chance that I won't come close to completing my to do list and I think I'll be sort of okay with that.  I guess the luxury of having days off is being able to pick and choose how to spend the moments.  And so far, my moments have been  kinda laidback  dull   somewhat unproductive    fairly restful!

 

 

Here's a recipe that I found in the Krafts "What's Cooking" magazine, Festive '11.  I made it around Christmas time and it's definitely one that I will add to the family favorites list.  I always rebel a bit at buying special ingredients for new recipes because I really like to cook out of my pantry and I think it saves money, too.  But I have to say that the specialty item here (the flavored cream cheese) really wasn't very expensive and when it comes to cost savings, when I consider how much cheese I add to other pasta dishes that wasn't required here, I probably came out fairly comparable in the cost end of things.

 

Creamy Salmon Penne

 

3 cups penne pasta, uncooked

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic minced

1 salmon fillet (450 g) cut into bite sized pieces

3 green onions, thinly sliced

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Philadelphia Dill Cream Cheese Product

 

Cook pasta as directed on package.

 

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet on medium high heat.  Add garlic; cook and stir 30 sec to 1 minute or until fragrant.  Add fish; cook 2-3 minutes or until lightened in color, stirring occasionally.  Stir in onions.  Transfer to bowl and cover to keep warm.

 

Add broth and milk to skillet; whisk in cream cheese until well blended.  Cook and stir on medium heat for 1 minute (don't let it boil).

 

Drain pasta.  Add to sauce along with the fish; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until fish flakes evenly and pasta is evenly coated with sauce.