the goose loves tuesday's ten (#12) - on friday

Just ignore that Tuesday's post is three days late and that Friday's Garden post is nowhere to be found. Yet. Just enjoy what you're getting when you get it.

1. SUNSHINE. Yes, for a whole freaking-ly awesome week. YES.

Sunshine = painted toes and cute sandals. Painted those babies myself, mind you - still saving the big bucks for loans. Pretty sure that when we're done paying loans, I'm getting monthy pedicures and manicures. Take that, budget.

2. Sunshine = dogpark. Let's play where's Waldo Bentley again.

Found him!

3. Easy = ideal. Curried goose goose cous cous. The longest part of this dinner prep was finding the craisins in the back of the pantry and toasting the pitas. Yes it was that easy. (Looking to make some of your own? Boil your water, then add to cous cous in a bowl, let steam for 5 minutes covered. Mix curry (or other spices) in a cup of plain yogurt, mix into fluffed/cooked cous cous. Add toppings. Eat.)

4. Warm nights = party on the town. I ignored my 74-year-old ways and stayed up past 10pm, and it was so worth it. Hung out with Carolyn, Caryn, and Caryn's cousin Jenny from Michigan.

That was a delicious pitcher of McMenamin's Ruby Ale we shared.

5. Dog + dock = summer. We went with Billy to his drum lessons at Willamette Park, and enjoyed ourselves on the dock at the boat launch. Bentley almost got the geese.

He also almost jumped into the water.

I stopped him, before he grew an extra tail from all the contaminants and diseases in the Willamette River. Even though two tails could be useful, I guess.

Go grab your sunglasses before my pale skin blinds you.

6. Quinoa=TASTY. Want to put in slightly more effort for dinner than the curried cous cous above? Make quinoa (20 min) and then add salsa (0 min), feta (0 min), pumpkin seeds (0 min), and sliced avocado (1 min). The taste to effort ratio on this one is perfect.

7. Sunshine = BBQ. After having a fabulous craft day with the girls (Allison - send photos!), we let them stay for some BBQ action. Billy mastered ribs, and we also had chicken, corn, bread, pasta salad, and a little lot of alcohol. Here's Monika and her bf Josh. At least one of them is happy in that relationship...

And the gang. Allison loves the food, Carolyn is wondering where the dessert is.

The ribs were devoured pretty quickly.

8. Bentley = weird. Who sleeps like this? I do love that his relationship with Moose has left the agression stage and is entering the cuddle-buddy stage.

9. Bentley = psycho. Look at those crazy eyes!

A. We finally bought more dog food.

B. No, we don't usually let him eat dinner like this, even though he loves it.

10. Heart Walk = Success!

Thanks to many generous donations from you all, we've surpassed our goal! Big shoutout of gratitude for a generous $500 from Dad & Mom, and to Carolyn and Allison for raising $$ and walking! And to family members Peggy & George, Monika, and Grandma & Grandpa, for your generous dollars too!!!



Also a big thank you to my coworkers for helping me raise $300!

I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night making 75 chocolate chip cookies and 50 red-velvet-cheesecake-brownies, and sold them at work on Wednesday and Thursday. I roped in $250 in cookie sales and another $50 from generous coworkers.

Here are the brownies:

 And the packaged baggies:

It was lots of fun, and I probably only spent an hour (between the two days) peddling my goods. Cookies may not be entirely heart healthy, but they sell FAST!

We're gearing up for the walk first thing tomorrow (Saturday) morning, so think of us and walk in your own neighborhoods in support! Photos will follow...

the gooes loves tuesday's ten (#11)

Welcome to Tuesday. I hope it's sunny where you are, too.

1. Friday night was celebration time for me - major work deadlines checked off the list, too many hours of overtime complete, and an "excellent work" comment from the CFO. Yesssss.

Billy and I took that opportunity to try happy hour at the Doug Fir Lounge, a classically-Portland-weird place. We enjoyed drinks, snacks, and a white man dressed in full middle-eastern garb, robe and headpiece included, all for $25 (including tax!) What a steal. 

 2. The sun is back! And we are all happy. Especially my cat dog, who loves naps in the sun. 

 3. Billy worked the UP graduation all weekend, so as a congratulatory treat, I made him salted chocolate peanut butter cookies that I pinned. They turned out pretty good, but they don't look quite so hot. The cocoa powder makes them a funny poop color. After Billy worked graduation last year, I made him Boston Cream Pie. And although he loves cookies, he really wants me to recreate that delicious-ness. We'll see.

 

 4. It's not really fair to make Billy cookies but not make Bentley cookies, so I ended up making treats for both my boys. Bentley's were slightly less tasty, though. :) 

 Are they ready, yet?! I'm waiting!!! 

 I made a bunch of bone shapes, and then a few paw, fire hydrant, dog house, and heart shapes too. He loves these things. I can get him to do 10 to 12 tricks in a row before giving the treat to him, except that by that time, he's drooling all over... 

 5. Saturday was my beautiful mother's birthday! She just turned "35." What a young thing! Look how beautiful she was on my wedding day (almost two years ago, back when she was "33"!). 

Love you, Mom, and Happy Birthday! I swear I'm going to put your package in the mail today tomorrow!! 

 6. Saturday was also Cinco de Mayo. Billy worked a long day at UP, and I worked a long day at home, so we went out for a drink and a snack to celebrate the day of Mexican victory over something. We went to our local Cha Cha Cha, where we enjoyed drinks, chips, and tacos. It rocked. (Like my instagram shot?)

 7. Saturday was not as nice as Sunday, so Bentley and I spent most of the day inside. By about 4pm, though, he was driving me crazy so we went out for some fresh air and energy-releasing. We walked around Cathedral Park, under the St. John's Bridge.  

Bentley had fun - he pooped once and peed about 15 times. Gotta show that lamp post who's boss, you know.

 8. Sunday was much sunnier, and Billy was finally done working around 6pm, so we pulled out the BBQ and grilled up some burgers. We didn't have buns, but we had pita bread, so we had a burger-building-with-pita station. Mmmm avocados!

 FYI - toothpicks make any meal look fancier. Before, it was a pita-burger falling apart. Post-toothpick, it's a fancy deli-style pita burger.

 9. In less-fun news, we are on a mission to pay off our student loan debt in the next year. We were halfway through our 5-year goal when we decided that loans suck and we're wasting way too much money on interest and far too much of our income is stuck paying loans. So now we're paying them off very aggressively, which means even more of our income is stuck paying loans. But not for long.

Sallie Mae alone has about $15k. And then you add in the other four places between Billy's loans and mine, and you're looking at close to $45k. But we're determined to get rid of this fast.

10. Which leads me to last night's dinner - healthy and easy on our budget. I made falafels from Peas and Thank You, the same book I made the Blueberry Muffins (#5) from. They were pretty good, but I think I over did the garlic a bit lot. It's good that garlic is good for you!

Any of you making healthy garlick-y things? Or spending all your money on stupid loans? Or taking naps in the sun with your dogs?

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#7)

Well, friends, I've done it again. I've managed to post nothing for a whole week, and I haven't even been able to have a timely Tuesday post. But we'll pretend it's Tuesday instead of Wednesday and get to the good stuff.

"Today" is Tuesday, April 10th, and so I have Ten Tuesday Things on the Tenth for you! Yay alliteration.

1. Last Friday was Good Friday, and here is what made it good.



Shrimp Po'Boy at Miss Delta



I know that Good Friday is about reflection and quiet time and understanding the weight of the day - and don't worry. I did that all day. Work was busy and stressful and we were working hard. I was reflecting on strength and patience and sacrifice!

So then, by the end of the day, it was time to spend a few peaceful moments with the one I love over a tasty meal. And that's just what we did.

2. After driving up to Seattle on Friday night, I hung out with Monika while Billy went to Canada for a drum competition. Mon & I went to her friend's baby shower, and we wrapped up two onesies (one is below) and a little clutch/diaper case/pouch for the soon-to-be-mom-of-two.

3. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, we walked Greenlake - a three-mile path surrounding a giant manmade lake in Seattle. The weather was gorgeously sunny, so we soaked up the rays and enjoyed the fresh air.

4. And it was Easter! So we said goodbye to Lent and ordered ourselves some delicious coffees - a latte for me and a (soy) mocha for Billy! Mmm lattes never tasted soooo good. (We got the regular 16 oz, even though I did talk earlier about getting a super-grande 64-oz-er...)

5. Here's your Easter post teaser - we celebrated with Monika on Sunday, and then had a little extra fun on Monday with the dog... details coming soon. 

 6. While Billy was still in Canada, Bents and I took a walk through Carkeek Park, a nice trail near Monika's house. LOVE the sun. 

I tried to get the dog to get up on the rock and lay down so I could photograph him, but he was way too interested in the bird/squirrel/leaf/stream noises to sit still. 

And why wouldn't I try again when we got to the field of daisies? 

 7. While I took pictures of the dog hung out in Seattle, Billy met his band in Vancouver, BC for the first competition of the season. He looked a little bit like this. Click here for his performance!

 8. One of these days, I'm going to get crafty again. And one of my first projects will be turning these beads into a gorgeous necklace for work. I'll add it to my long list of weekend projects.

 9. I made more cookies. Billy is a spoiled lucky boy! 

 10. Finally! Remember when I got that spraypaint (#10)? Well, here's the results! Spraypainted hampers. Those suckers used to be plain-old-ugly white. And now they're gorgeous!

I covered them with a layer of primer first, to make sure the paint wouldn't flake off. I covered the insides with plastic and newspaper to keep the paint only on the outside, and that worked well. I also let each of them dry for at least a week in the garage so they fully set. Oh and there's Billy's teddy and the art I made awhile ago that's waiting to go on the wall... 

So there you have it - another ten down for Tuesday. And I promise - food and Easter and Bentley posts coming soon!