Case of the Mondays

Well Thursday evening Bruce and I were talking about where to take his niece to eat. No matter where we went, we wanted some oysters on the half shell and since we’re on the coast of South Carolina, there were several good places to go. We settled on a restaurant to which we’d never been. Honestly, I would not mind if we never went back; not because the food was bad but because it was way overpriced.

We got our oysters! Topped with Tabasco sauce, yum!

For dinner I chose the sea scallops that were sesame seared and topped with hoisin sauce along with a side salad. Bruce ordered the sea scallops on top of vegetables and risotto. His niece ordered…hm…I can’t remember, something that came with lobster tail. (I guess that’s why I need to make these posts ASAP!). Whatever it was she got, she liked it. I really liked Bruce’s also (so did he). Well, we know when we have a guest and we go out to eat there is only one proper way to finish off a meal: dessert! Bruce’s niece wanted chocolate pound cake that came with vanilla bean ice cream. Bruce ordered the chocolate something with raspberry drizzle (duh, it has raspberry!). The three of us split those two desserts and they were so, so good! So good that I did not even stop myself, or them, from digging in so I could have a photo op!

Friday night. This was actually the first (and only for Bruce’s niece) night in for dinner. Bruce picked up his kids after school since this is his weekend with them. He and I made chicken satay with homemade peanut sauce (all made by yours truly). He also made homemade fish sticks. I had one and a half as I am not a fan of fish sticks. Maybe I would have liked them more if I had some malt vinegar. Well – the chicken satay was good at least! As a side we had some curried rice from Trader Joe’s – it has onions, raisins, apples and all kinds of other good stuff!

Friday evening, after dinner, the five of us packed into the car and headed for Ulta. Well, that’s not entirely true. Bruce’s niece and I went to Ulta and the three guys went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. We then went to a place called Yobe (like Pinkberry) were I indulged in some cake batter yogurt topped with oats, graham cracker crumbs and chopped reeses cup. Mm. So good. His niece and I had a mini girls night when we got back. We did a face mask and then we painted our finger and toenails.

Saturday morning Bruce’s oldest kid had a basketball game downtown so we all headed for that. They lost (boo!) but his son did a great job when he was on defense! None of us had anything to eat so we went to a local place called Your Pie. It’s like Subway, but for pizza! I got pepperoni with red onion with extra sauce and easy on the cheesy. You’ll learn, I have issues with cheese in general. I cannot explain it, it is not consistent, but basically I don’t like a lot of melted cheese. We just hung out at Bruce’s house afterwards before his niece had to go to the airport to go home. I took her to the airport as I had things to do here at home and the airport was (kind of) on the way. Honestly, I had so much fun with her here that I did not want her to go home! I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and got TONS of stuff to organize cabinets in my kitchen and bathroom. I came home spent two and a half hours (yes 2 1/2 hours) doing just that. Organizing. Moving stuff. Putting stuff up there (yeah, I actually just pointed) and putting stuff down there. I am really happy with the way it all turned out – it looks so much more cleaner and a lot more useful! I went back over to Bruce’s for dinner. He made parmesan chicken strips and homemade baked beans. They were so good! Gah, I feel so lucky to have a guy who likes to cook and is incredible at it!

Today (yes, to remind myself, it is Sunday) it was a pretty laid back day. Bruce, his sons and I went to eat brunch at a place just down the street from where I live (which is our favorite place to have brunch). Bruce and I split a carafe of mimosa, which was really good! I had quite a bit, so I had to hand my keys over.

Bruce and his youngest son went to the grocery store to get some popcorn and to get a movie from the Redbox station while his youngest and I went to Petco so I could get Welker a kong (which, by the way, she loves). We just sat around watching some movies and TV. Bruce and his boys went home and I took a nap to help soothe my upset stomach. I woke up and went grocery shopping. This is where I messed up. I got to the grocery store and I forgot my list, that I took a lot of time to make. I thought I could wing it and get what I remembered as I saw it. I was looking at produce and that’s when it hit me. I had to go to the bathroom (sorry about the TMI). Guess what. The bathroom was on the other side of the store. At least I made it there. Did my shopping, which I surprisingly remembered about 80%! I always ask for paper bags when I get a lot of groceries as I live on the second story and it’s a lot easier on me. I wheeled my stuff out to my car and I opened my truck. Stuff shifted in the back, that I thought was secured in with the bungee cord. Grr. I had to rearrange. Thank goodness I don’t keep a ton of stuff back there. I loaded my groceries and I pushed my cart to the return cart bin. Drove home. Opened the trunk and took out four (of six) bags, two to carry in each hand. I had my keys in my right hand; the same hand that I used to close the trunk. When I closed the trunk the keys fell out of my hand and I heard it hit paper bags – I wasn’t sure if it fell into one of the four bags. I stuck my hand in every bag. Not there. I moved one back and the keys fell, apparently they fell between two bags. I got those four bags inside.

Second trip to get the last two bags and the milk. I thought to myself walking out to the car, “I hope I don’t have the shoddy luck that makes the bag fall apart.” I should not have thought that. I jinxed myself. I grabbed my bags and milk, closed the trunk, locked the car and stuck the keys in my pocket. I get to the bottom of the stairs and the bag with all the boxes rips. Just the handle. I tried to grab the side to pick it up. No dice. It was too heavy so it basically completely ripped open. I stuck a few things from that bag into the good back then carried it like a baby with it in my arm, the milk in my hand and the good bag in my other hand.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it really felt like it was a case of the Mondays. I put up all of my groceries, ate my store bought sushi dinner and crossed off what I did buy from my list then made a clean list of everything I needed to buy. One thing I did this weekend was planned at least two meals that I’m going to cook this week. I’ll keep those a surprise until I make them.. One is a beef dinner and the other is a pork. I’ll also work on taking pics to share.

Well, I hope every one had a fantastic weekend! 🙂