tater test run

okay, so i took those cake balls i made last week and did a test run on one of them to see how complicated it really is to make mr. potatohead out of them.

of course, i couldn't find the black candy-coated sunflower seeds called for in the recipe.  so i improvised and bought a roll of soft, chewy black licorice and cut tiny strips to form the moustache.  not wanting to waste too much of the peanut butter candy melts, i poured a few into a mug and melted them in the microwave.  while i waited, i gathered all the other stuff to work on my masterpiece.

when the candy was ready, i speared the bottom of one of the cake balls with a lollipop stick, dipped it into the mug - and it was a big ass FAIL.  there wasn't nearly enough candy in there to dip the entire cake ball in one smooth motion, and i hadn't stuck the stick far enough in either.  i went to pull it out and the whole damn potatohead fell right off the stick and into the mug.  crap.

but i poked it again with the stick, used one of the bean's baby spoons to try and coat the bottom of the cake ball, and then couldn't stop laughing at the mess i'd made.  he was all lumpy and bumpy and shit, and looked almost nothing like the beautiful, smooth-textured finished potatohead i was using as an example.  bah!  so i moved on and started sticking sprinkles and candies on him to give him a face.  look at how pathetic this is:

muahahahaha!  pretty bad, huh?  but i at least had the gist of how it should go, and felt fairly confident that when the time comes to melt a whole bag of peanut butter candy, i'll be able to do a better job of dipping in one fluid motion.  hence, the test run - see?

i whipped out my black edible ink marker and drew on his eyes and brows and added the rest of the decorations.

obviously, the licorice is a bad idea.  i'm going to have to order those damn black sunflower seeds online - preferably in a few weeks, when the weather [hopefully] is a little cooler and i'm not having to add cold packs and pay for 2-day service to ensure that they don't melt in transit. 

the bean was entranced with my creation.  after all, she's still 2.  she doesn't care, she thinks it's pretty darn cool, lumps and all.

i set him in a cup and placed it against a canister in the kitchen to rest overnight.

but it wasn't enough.  the next morning, we found this:

tatercide!  so sad.

i don't think we're in l.a. anymore, toto

believe it or not, i've actually had some folks ask me if i'm ever going to recap the rest of the east coast road trip extravaganza.  and since my posts have been pretty much photo-free for the last couple of weeks, i think i'll oblige.  plus, it'll be nice to relive vacay again, as i prepare to return to the courtroom for jury duty again tomorrow.  yahoo.

so we left off in washington d.c. right after the 4th of july fireworks spectacular.  after we checked out of the hotel, we headed down to virginia to do a little bit of drive-by historical sightseeing.

we bypassed the cheese shop (i'm told this was a bad move, but there was a seriously long line for sandwiches in there).

in favor of aromas coffeehouse, across the street.  it was so hot and humid and gross that i didn't get a shot of the joint, but we enjoyed our lunch.

the bean decided to pull turkey out of her sandwich and make "beds" for her goldfish crackers.

we walked around a little and didn't find much that caught our attention, aside from this:

so we hopped back in the car and headed off in search of pocahontas.

sadly, since much of the town was burned down during various wars, there wasn't much to see.  the only thing to do was a self-guided driving tour, with signs like this placed randomly throughout the path:

the girls were excited to see that we had to board an auto ferry to cross the river and continue our road trip.  okay, i was a little stoked too, since it earned me the "i'm on a boat!" badge on foursquare.  ha!

and then we were surrounded by a gazillion trees again as we hopped back onto the 95.

i might've turned on the drama queen in me to get the hub to turn around so i could get a picture of this:

and pretty much everyone in the car (except me) echoed this sentiment.

as we moseyed on down the highway, these signs started popping up every, oh, about five minutes or so.

this one caught the hub's attention:

and then i was finally swayed by this one.

heh.

so of course, we had to stop.  the place was giant.

the store inside was pretty much what you would get if walmart, dollar tree and big lots had a threesome and produced offspring.

before the three-toothed, 75-year-old security guard spied my camera and warned me that there were "no photos" signs posted throughout the store (which i never did see, btw), i managed to get this last shot.

at least the hub was a happy camper as we stepped back out into the heat and then into the air-conditioned comfort of our hoopdie.

but then it was my turn to get excited as we came upon the first of about 84709581730485 of these:

we'd never been to a cracker barrel before, and i successfully lobbied to change that.  i thoroughly enjoyed my "cracker barrel sampler," which was a platter of meatloaf (gave to the hub, meatloaf is yucky), chicken and dumplings (dee-lish), and hash brown casserole (nothing like my beloved tater tot casserole, but damn tasty in its own way).  the others weren't quite as stoked about their meals, but the hub was pleased to note that we'd managed to fill up for dinner on about $30.  happiness all around!

and then we browsed around the general store just outside the restaurant.  look at all this fun stuff!

we left with a bag full of snacks and treats, and the bean was over the moon when we handed her this gigantor sucker:

we drove for a few more hours towards our destination for the night, down the highway and through some majorly rural areas.  we sped through some scary ass looking corn fields, half expecting dead zombie children to come out at us, and were happy to pull into myrtle beach somewhere after 10.

priceline had come through again, booking us a room at the sheraton for under $100.  after doing a quick drive-by to see where we were staying, we decided to cruise down the main road to see what there was to see.

and let me tell you, there wasn't much.  there were about eleventy billion miniature golf courses (i think we counted at least twenty from the highway to our hotel), a lot of sleazy looking clubs, some cheesy souvenir shops, and a whole strip of gross-looking motels and inns.  ick.  there were lots of slovenly, drunken folks sauntering up and down the street, and we were happy to be in the car instead of being amongst them on the sidewalks.  ew.

this, however, was amusing to the teen and me:

"did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?"  brittany, glee

mini potatoheads, phase I

so since i had the last couple of days off from jury duty (courtroom was inexplicably dark for two days in the middle of the week), i got to go in to work.  for some folks, that would be a bummer.  but for me, that meant i got to be my happy, shiny self and be around some of my most favorite things in the whole world.

i actually got to work a closing shift the other day, which i'd requested prior to the jury duty thing anyway.  i needed the morning off to take the teen to registration at school, and then i had a junior league meeting that evening.  working a later shift meant i wouldn't have to drive out to pasadena twice in the same day.  i win!

and one of the perks of closing for the day is getting to take home any leftover cupcakes that didn't sell.  i gladly took a box of tiramisu goodies (coffee flavored cake, topped with fresh whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles) to the meeting and then kept a few to take home for the family to enjoy. 

well, and of course i held onto a couple to crumble up and use for my mr. potatohead test run!  i grabbed a couple of the "mostess" - chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, a white buttercream swirl on top, and whipped cream filling - and got to work smushing them up.

that's a cookies & cream and another tiramisu still in the bag.  it took no time at all to get them all smooshy, mixing the frosting in with the cake, and then i used my cookie scoop to form a few cake balls. 

they're in the fridge now, and later i'll gather the rest of the supplies to try my hand at creating mr. potatohead and hamm the piggy bank. 

of course, that's after jury duty's over.  i have a feeling it's gonna be a looooong day.

and so it begins.

serious party nazi mode here.  with the toy story theme in mind, i've been scouring the interwebz for ideas on how to make it a super cute party on a budget.  it's also my goal to incorporate the theme as much as i can without commercializing it too much - like, no preprinted paper plates and napkins and goody bags and stuff like that.  i want it to look really cool, but not cheesy, you know?

and one of the things i'm currently obsessed with is bakerella's toy story cake pops.  i've done her cake balls/cupcake pops before and am pretty familiar with the basic process - but never really done the intricate, detailed decorating before.  observe:

seriously, how cute are those??  and with the cake and candy supply store now just around the corner, it's super easy to gather the supplies and give it a go. 

of course, being a dork to the nth degree. i woke up in the middle of the night and realized that it would be a great idea to take home a leftover cupcake or two after a shift at dot's, smush it up and make a few cake balls out of it, and do a test run to see how hard it would be to make these mini potato heads. 

stay tuned.  you know i'll have a report within the next couple of days.  heh.

when will life be back to normal?

praise the lawd and hallelujah, we finally have internet at home!  it only took four weeks and about 65 increasingly frustrated and annoyed phone calls back and forth with time warner.  oy vey.

yay! 

but of course, we've been so busy with other shit.  between my jury duty and getting the teen ready for school and continuing with the bean's potty training and keeping the dog from shitting and pissing on the new carpet (which finally came after two weeks of living in limbo), i've had zero time to get the office organized or even find my cords for uploading photos and whatnot.  ugh.  i actually had no camera for about two weeks, because the battery died and i couldn't find the charger.  'twas like i was missing a limb.

the jury duty has been helpful in the way of party planning for the bean's 3rd birthday bash.  i've found all sorts of super fun party blogs and websites, and now i have so many ideas that i don't know how i'm going to narrow them down.  i've also stumbled across a couple of new blogs that were so fun to read and had so many goodies to tackle (how about orange and birthday girl) that i seriously sat there and read them all the way back to their very first posts.  i now have so many fun projects and websites to reference for all sorts of stuff from cool free fonts to sewing tutorials to silly personality tests, i'll never have time to do them all.  yikes.

i'm on a two-day break from jury duty, which makes my boss happy, and i'm hoping to finish up next week.  and after i've been cleared from keeping my big mouth shut about it all, oh boy, have i got some fun observations to share.  heh.

in the meantime, i leave you with a couple of funny pictures from my phone.

happy hump day!

duty calls

got placed on a jury.  of course.

never been before, so it's kind of interesting.

and really effing heartbreaking.

am likely the most emotional basketcase they've had as a juror in a long time.

miss working with cupcakes.

now completely in awe of all my lawyer friends.  especially the one who works for the d.a.'s office.  don't know how you do it.

give me the strength to get through the next week.

effed up friday

i am so freaking irritated.

i sat through hours and hours of jury duty yesterday, got called up in the last group to be questioned by the attorneys, thought i'd be good to go.

um, no. halfway through the questioning, the judge broke for the evening and instructed us to return today at 9. mothereff.

not to mention, if i get picked for the jury, trial is next week - the teen's last week of summer vacation. and we had fun activities planned for each day.

and then, when i got home, i expected time warner to have come and gone, leaving wonderfully fast internet installed all nice and neat. they were scheduled to arrive between 1 and 3. but somehow, they managed to fuck that up too. when the doorbell rang at 5:30, FIL and i lined up to ream the guy a new asshole. even better, he claimed to be a supervisor. heh. who STILL couldn't accomplish what we needed - install the freaking internet without leaving wires and cables running exposed all up and down the walls. good gracious.

he ended up leaving with his tail tucked between his legs, and after letting the hub know what had happened, i'm pretty sure that dude got an earful from him too. now they're supposed to be back today, and i swear to all that is holy, if that shit isn't done when i get home from that courthouse, heads are gonna freaking roll.

i haven't been this frustrated in a long time. damn.

word to my mother

sixty *mumble* years ago today
the world was changed forever.
(your daughter's stuck in jury duty
and is trying to be clever!)

it's because of you i'm who i am
that's a good thing, don'tcha think?
you handled the teen rebellion years alone
and for that, you deserve a drink!

supportive, cute, kind and generous
you're all of those and more.
you appreciate all the good things in life
and the bad shit, you just ignore.

though life has had its ups and downs
now, happiness is key.
the hub should send you a big ass thank you card
because you gave him ME (hee hee)!

although i can't be with you today
i'm sure the day will be fab.
ooh! i know what you should do!
go and eat some crab :)

wow, that was really bad. this jury selection room is sucking the life outta me. sorry about that. i'll make up for it next year, i promise.

happy birthday, mommy! i love you!

birthday princess(es) in da hizow

so i've been doing a lot of bitching and moaning about our (still ongoing) lack of internet at home. it's been almost three weeks now, and i'm STILL blogging via iPad. so bitter. and as it turns out, we're going back to cable internet after all. the same one we should've had two weeks ago. and why? because verizon sucks. we're in their jurisdiction, but just barely - which means that we're on the far edge of their coverage area. the tech spent about an hour and a half trying everything he possibly could before finally determining that we would never be able to maintain a constant connection. ugh.

so now we've got yet another appointment on thursday for stupid time warner to come and do their thing. luckily, the hub got on the phone and complained so much that they agreed to basically do the install for free, gave us the fastest connection available for the same price as the shittiest one. granted, we had to pay for a year in advance, but i guess it'll be worth it. when it finally gets installed, that is.

in the meantime, i've been keeping myself occupied with other stuff, like organizing and unpacking our kitchen and bedroom crap, compiling a mental list of fabulous items i'd love to find waiting for me on birthday princess day - a mere 39 days away. not that i'm counting or anything. do you smell a fun post, complete with links and pictures, coming as soon as the cable guy shows up? i sure do!

and more importantly, i'm trying to think of a fun theme for the bean's upcoming 3rd birthday party. toy story is a front-runner, since it's currently her favorite movie. and how cute would the decorations be? woody and buzz and mr. potatohead and slinky dog and barbie and all sorts of fun, nostalgic toys everywhere! i already found some super cute fabric to make a birthday party outfit for her to wear, and eyeballed the back yard to make sure we could fit a jumpy bouncy house back there. i'm thinking the food will be super easy, too, because we can transform the kitchen into our very own...wait for it...pizza planet! i'm getting all worked up into a party nazi frenzy over here.

i sure hope i'll have located my stupid camera chargers and cables and things by then.

losing weight ain't all it's cracked up to be

i can't even believe you fools didn't comment on my THOUSANDTH post (well, aside from my buddy nanette!). i am so not feeling the love. hmph. haha!

okay, on to more important things. i know i've mentioned my beloved aunt florida before. she and her two adorable girls visited us two houses ago, during their last trip home, and i've missed her in the years that she's been gone. she's my mom's youngest sibling (there are seven of them total!), only six years older than me. we basically grew up together, giggling and arguing and sharing everything. she was my hero, and i wanted to do everything she did. as the years went by and we got older, the roles were reversed somewhat. i found myself being the influence (often a bad one, heh), and it was a lot of fun. she and her now-husband found each other online at around the same time that the hub and i started dating, and i was the maid of honor at their wedding. i'm also honorary ninang to little flo, her firstborn. sadly, as time and distance took their toll, we've grown apart and haven't been in touch much recently.

through the family grapevine, AKA my mom, i found out that she's been having some health issues lately. it sounds like she's under a lot of stress - with two very active children, a household to run, a husband, and diabetes to boot - and she ended up in the hospital. apparently, she hasn't been eating much and has lost a whopping 30 pounds in the last two months. after some frantic phone calls from her husband, my mom and her sibs sprang into action, looking for solutions and booking plane tickets to take turns going out there to help out with the kids.

the latest news is not great - her kidneys are only at 20% right now, and a biopsy is scheduled for tomorrow to determine whether dialysis is needed or not. yikes. my cousin r, who works in public health, is doing some research on locating some help for them. with the husband a former military man, they're hoping to find some sort of program or aid that will help them on a long-term basis. after all, the sibs can't exactly keep taking turns going out there.

i was finally able to reach her on her cell this morning on my way to work, and it was a rather puzzling conversation. she sounded super duper chipper, and when i told her i was working in a cupcake shop, she said "oh, i need some of those!". i said "yeah dude, that's what i heard! what the hell is up with that?" and she said "i'm SKINNY now, girl, like 98 pounds!" she sounded almost excited, proud even. i couldn't tell if she was joking around or trying to sugarcoat her situation, but it just hit me wrong. i think i may be even more worried about her now than before i spoke to her. oy vey.

i personally think they would be better off if the husband started looking for a job closer to home. both of their families live here in southern california, and it sure sounds like they could use as much support from their loved ones as they can get. i know that's probably easier said than done, but it just seems like the most practical solution out there.

send some healthy vibes to my dear aunt florida, will ya please? we all need her to be well.

it's my thousandiversary!

i'm so sad that we STILL have no internet at home, which means that i can't even celebrate my 1,000th blog post properly. how much does that suck?

i have so much to catch up on, like finishing the road trip recaps (i think i'm throwing in the towel on that one), a super fun alien encounter with some pals, the photoblogging extravaganza that left me with an intense craving for more thinly sliced prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, a trip to five guys on the west coast, my first food truck, a fun kiddie birthday party, and all sorts of other cool shit.

plus there's the blog sale for baby (and mom too)! i keep finding more and more stuff to throw in. oh, and a potentially squicky conundrum: i came across a handful of really cute bras from a now-defunct high-ish end line from victoria's secret. i'd scooped up a crapload of stuff on clearance a few years ago in preparation for a once-in-a-lifetime boudoir session and didn't end up using a bunch of it. so i'm left with brand new ling-er-ee with tags on that i can't return and have no desire to wear.

would it be super gross of me to throw that into the sale? selling on eBay was suggested too, but it would be so much easier for me to just include it here.

yay or nay? you decide.

and YAY for blog post #1,000! i even have a giveaway lined up, but it's gonna have to wait. post #1,005?

everybody's talking about it

by now, unless you live under a rock (or maybe outside of cali, heh), you'll have heard the news about prop 8 being overturned by a federal judge. it's been all over my twitter feed and facebook page, and it's pretty awesome. well, aside from the incredibly judgmental replies from random people that have irritated the crap outta me.

i mentioned in my own facebook status update that although i don't generally like to talk politics, i had to throw my $.03 (of course, i think my opinion is worth more than average). i truly don't understand why anyone cares what other people do, especially if it has ZERO impact on their own lives. and my friend jessica also pointed out that it's not even a political issue (at least, it shouldn't be) - it's a basic human right.

seriously, folks, can't we all just get along? it's not the first time that a judge has overturned something that won by majority vote, and god knows it sure won't be the last. not to mention, i'm pretty damn sure that if prop 8 hadn't passed in the first place, the other side would've appealed the shit outta that.

just let people love who they love and be free to marry whoever they want to. who cares? it doesn't make your marriage/relationship any less meaningful. and if it somehow does, well, that's on you, now isn't it?

stuff i love

being able to blog even though we still don't have internet at home. thank goodness for 3G on the iPad. i miss adding visual aids and links, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

my new 'do. whee! i love having cute hair.

wedges by tom's shoes. i haven't gotten my hands on a pair yet, but pics tweeted by my buddy nabum have convinced me that i must get some, stat! maybe they'll be on my birthday list. plus, for every pair purchased of tom's shoes, the company donates a pair to a needy child. so full of win.

speaking of which, i'm stoked that birthday princess day is next month! are you ready? i sure am!

playing "just dance" on the wii with the teen. we're a little obsessed with that darn game, and find ourselves playing every day. it leaves me one sweaty ass monkey, so i'm totally counting it as a workout. heh.

seeing the hub's smile when he walks in the door of our new house every day after work. we're still in that fun, surreal phase of first-time home ownership, and it's just awesome. the joint is still in a shambles, but with the carpet finally coming this weekend, methinks the decor and furniture arranging will kick into high gear soon.

plastic storage/organizing boxes. i might be a wee bit obsessed with the idea of keeping everything all nice and neat in its own little spot, from shoes to cereal to our stash of travel-sized toiletries. if i even breathe the words "label maker," though, handcuff me to a chair or something.

foursquare. it's super silly, but i'm really stuck on checking in to all sorts of local establishments in my quest for badges and mayorships. i chalk it up to my competitive "only child" syndrome.

the bean amazes us every day with her ever-growing vocabulary and sentence structure. she's just such a cute little person now, and has really been emerging from her shell (at last!). she's been more vocal and sociable at her twice-weekly library storytime visits and a much more active participant at gymnastics class. i dig when we're out and she says "i wanna go to my new house, pweese." and when she whispers "i love you too, mommy" at bedtime, i melt.

ooh! she's quadrilingual now - MIL taught her how to count from 1-10 in german! i've gotta get that with the flip soon.

even mollydog has been extra endearing lately. she's been so confused lately with all the goings-on, but she's done a great job of adjusting (knock on wood).

i'm also considering taking a course to become certified as a medical coder. one of my aunts is currently taking it, and knows several folks who've passed the certification test and signed contracts to work from home for $25-$35/hour. i'm still debating and researching, because it truly sounds too good to be true. and we all know what to expect in situations like that. I just want to make sure it's something that makes sense for me.

i still love my job. no further explanation necessary. oh, and the boss is still mulling over an offer from a super persistent casting person who's trying to get us on "cupcake wars." i don't watch the show, so...got any feedback on that for me to pass on?

the new year of junior league is in full swing! i'm on the fundraising committee, which means that i get to help plan our annual "chocolate chip ball." it's our yearly gala and i had to miss it this year, so i made sure i would HAVE to go next year. heh. plus, some of my favorite JLPers are on the committee with me.

speaking of JLP, we'll be holding several open house events in the next couple of months to attract new members ("provisionals"). if you're local and have even a tiny bit of interest, let me know and i'll pass on the details! it's a great group of women working to better the community at large, and it's really a lot of fun. you already know how much i love it.

last but definitely not least, the blog baby sale will happen for sure! as winnie pointed out, my initial idea doesn't make much sense. i guess what i should do is post the minimum price i'll accept for each item, set a deadline, and the highest offer takes it.

if you have a better idea, let's hear it. i'm always open to suggestions!

no more! i need peace!

so, remember ages and ages ago when i got that stupid ass ticket on my way to meet up with the teen's counselor at school?  well, i'd signed up for traffic school and then completely forgot about it until i checked the calendar and realized that the deadline to get it done was, uh, yesterday.  d-oh!

and of course, our internet isn't getting connected until wednesday.  mothereff.  but as luck would have it, FIL has wireless internet for his laptop that works everywhere with a little plug-in thingy.  and he's always given me unlimited access to it whenever i ask for it.  i tried doing it with the iPad for a while, but i was stuck with text-only and it froze up a few times, so i sucked it up and borrowed the laptop.  i finally finished that ish on sunday afternoon, and got confirmation first thing yesterday morning that the completion certificate was faxed over.  phew.

to add to my current woes, i got a jury duty summons.  gah!  i've always managed to successfully dodge my civic duty - the last time i got called, i was still nursing the bean and couldn't be away from her for more than a couple of hours at a time.  this time, i have no way out unless i miraculously get dismissed.  why is it that i never got called when i wanted to (like, when i was working in a corporate environment that paid 100% for as long as i was needed in court), but when i can't really afford to do it?  blech.

i also got my official DMV notice that my driver's license expires on my birthday this year.  but at least the bright spot was that i can renew via internet and i don't have to take a new picture.  yay!  i remember spending an hour on my hair the last time i had to go in, and this license is actually pretty cute.  although i guess it doesn't really look like me anymore, as it wasn't long after our wedding and my hair was super duper long.  oh, well, whatever.  i get to keep my cute license!

the blog baby sale is still in the works.  don't lose faith - i keep finding more fun stuff to add to it, and i'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.  i'll likely just post pics of the items with a description if it's not obvious, and what i paid for it, and y'all can just make me an offer.  first offer takes it.  sound fair?

the mail also brought a fat envelope from the teen's school - registration for the new school year is in two weeks.  yikes!  where did the summer go??  even though we did the awesome road trip extravaganza (which i still have yet to finish recapping), it doesn't seem like we really did a lot, compared to other summers.  of course, we did have the big move to the new casa (still ongoing).

oy.  too much crap happening all at once.  i need another vacation.

time flies when you're having fun. sort of.

good god, it's august already.  yikes!  we have less than six months till the holiday season, folks.  and the teen is squeezing as much fun as possible into her last few weeks of summer vacation.  school starts again on the 24th.  where did the time go?

okay, i'm stoked to see that the idea of a blog baby sale is getting more "yay"s than "boo"s.  hee hee!  i'm working on gathering all the stuff worthy of such an event, and as soon as i can find the freaking cord to download pictures from my camera, we's in business.  not to mention, our internet isn't getting connected till wednesday.  boo.  um, don't ask me how i'm posting this right now.  heh.

in the meantime, a recap of my weekend, via iPhone dump.

the bean is definitely coming out of her shell at last.  at gymnastics this week, she was little miss social butterfly, scooting over to sit next to the other girls, chatting them up ("hi! my name is bean. how are you today?").  she's even getting bolder with trying everything out in the obstacle courses set up for their classes, and *gasp* letting go of the hub's hand when walking across the beam or going for a ride in the rope swing.  if we'd known that all it took was going on vacation...well, maybe we'd have gone sooner.  heh.

we managed to unearth the wii system, hook it up, and play a new favorite game:  just dance.  of course, i'm still an awful dancer, but i sure have a blast playing this against the teen.  even brother wan and his girlfriend had fun with it, and i was particularly stoked to beat the teen during a song that i OWN:

i attended my second phototasting event this weekend, too.  the goal was to go and be their assistant, while maybe picking up a few more tips and tricks here and there - but i ended up getting there about 15 minutes late because of stupid traffic.  wah wah.  i consoled myself with a lovely plate of imported buffalo mozzarella, beautifully sliced prosciutto, and lightly dressed arugula as i attempted to help as much as i could.  

the hub's grampa went in for knee replacement surgery on friday, and we headed to kaiser to visit him a couple of days later.  he's doing quite well and is expected to come home early this week.  he was pleased to see us drop by for a visit, and the hub entertained the bean with various items around the room.

and in the meantime, unpacking and organizing hell continues.  gah!