Spoons!!

I have been collecting souvenir spoons for awhile now - can you tell? It has become one of the fun things on each trip - to not only locate someplace that sells spoons, but to pick a new and fun design. Some of the more interesting ones I have collected are:

• Alligator (Florida)
• Twister (Oklahoma)
• Bear (Idaho)
• Train tracks (Oregon)
• Dolphin (Oregon coast)
• Tree (Washington)
• Lapis inset in copper (Hawaii)

I'm getting ready to visit my sister in Denver, so I will need to get some new spoons from this trip. And I do try to get a spoon each trip, even if I've been there before. Which explains the entire top row... all Disneyland!

Audrey is 20 !

Busy day - and she actually isn't 20 until Sunday. We decided to celebrate her birthday on Saturday so we could go out to a restaurant.

We started the morning by going to Little Euro for breakfast. Audrey and I each ordered the Swedish Crepes served with sweet cream cheese. John got the pancakes. We all had the meal (bacon, eggs) to round out our sugar attack.

We went home and later opened presents. Audrey received some blu-rays, xbox games and music CD's.

But the biggest surprise was when she opened the note to the title of her "new to her" car. John had gone out to "run an errand" after we got back from breakfast and got new rims/tires put on the car so it was a little more sporty. He put a balloon and ribbon on it and had it set up on the back lawn.

To keep the party going, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and filled up on their delicious dinner rolls before our meal came... well, almost. Audrey and I each ordered sirloin and John got their ribs.

And finally we had birthday pie for Audrey. Since Marie Calendar's closed in our area, it was harder to find the chocolate satin pie she likes. I found one in the freezer section (also MC brand) but it definitely did not look so good. Started melting before she got the candles out. Happy Birthday Audrey!

More surprises in the mail !

On the left is the tortilla warmer. You place the tortillas inside and warm in the microwave, between 15-30 seconds depending on wattage. On the right is the potato warmer. And she said either can be filled with corn chips and heated for 30 seconds so you get warm chips like at the restaurant. They are lined with a special microwave safe moisture holing batting that is supposed to make the results better and of course, keep the microwave clean. Thanks Kathy!! We will think of you when we use these - awesome idea & wonderful gifts!!

Valentine's Day & Day After

Look what my sister gave me for Valentine's Day? Scrabble LOVE letters and heart shaped potholders! They came a few weeks before the holiday so I was able to use them for decoration.

On Valentine's Day we exchanged our gifts/cards. We each get something for each other meaning John will get a gift for Audrey and me; Audrey will get one for me and one for John; and I will get something for John and for Audrey. I think we have the most fun picking out the cards though... some years are funnier, especially from kid to parent. And sometimes Sidney gives one of us a card too : )

Valentine's Day fell on a Thursday, so John and I ended up going out on our date on Friday night. Went to Outback where I ran into some Safeway co-workers. The restaurant had a Valentine special going all weekend, so for a fixed price we got an appetizer, two entrees and a dessert to share. It included the salad (love their house spicy tomato dressing), the side (baked potato) and the yum-o brown bread.

Oatmeal Pancakes

We had Breakfast-for-dinner tonight and tried a new recipe  These were good, tasty and hearty. John covered his with peanut butter and hot syrup. Audrey and I just had with butter and hot syrup. I keep saying HOT syrup because evidently some folks think you don't warm your syrup before putting on your pancakes. My question would be - how do you get your butter to melt?

OATMEAL PANCAKES
1 & 1/2 cups quick oats
2 cups milk
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
2 TB sugar
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBS vegetable oil
2 eggs

In a large bowl, soak quick oats with milk for 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cook pancakes on a griddle pan over medium-high heat

Downton Abbey

We are officially addicted! Well, Audrey and I are. John watched it once and it was not his "cup of tea". Get it? Hah!  We were so addicted that Audrey "might" have forgotten to do some homework assignments during Winter Quarter... our favorite character?  Violet Crawley (played by Maggie Smith). She has SPUNK!

Movie and Symphony

Audrey wanted to see Les Mis again, so went with Laura F and Angela H to the movie today.  And then later that evening, Mom and I went to the Spokane Pops Symphony concert. Pink Martini was the guest artist. They are a 12-piece group out of Portland, Oregon, that crosses various genres (classical, jazz, pop) and multiple cultures (French, Turkish, Japanese, etc). So the music tonight was rather eclectic. We enjoyed some numbers more than others. And I think the concert was sold out. They are quite popular but honestly, I probably would not have chosen to attend if they were not playing with the symphony.