SoberLeigh

You are a hale and hardy soul, GC.

Dinner sounds delicious.

Gonnachange

Some may say foolish. The reality is that while it was cold I knew it would be easy to avoid any ice so my mindset was what I would have if I was preparing for a race even though I don't have one on my docket. And, as I wrote before, I didn't go out for very long.

Thanks as always.

Vacation

Although we don't leave until Sunday morning I'm mentally more than ready to spend time in a warmer place, relax, and see some friends and relatives. Within about a half hour radius of where we'll be I could probably spend a month visiting all that I know so I'm letting very few of them know we're going to be in the area.

As it is, almost every day either lunch or dinner is spoken for, and I still have some "must sees" such as my uncle. Each interaction will be nice, but it would also be nice to have one full day that is totally unstructured and we can just sit by the pool and read. Certainly not a problem and I'm not complaining; it's all good. Very good.

SoberLeigh

Agreed; it's all good - all very good.

Gonnachange

I'd be the last one to disagree with that statement.

Tonight

My wife and daughter are about to leave for the gym so I'll be eating dinner alone because I'm not going to wait for them to get back. I'll hold off on cooking there steaks until they're home.

I can't definitively write what the rest of the evening will be about. Maybe some music, may some reading and (gasp) maybe some TV. I doubt the last one. :-)

Gonnachange

I'm about to head to the gym; I've already taken the puppy on a cold 1.5 mile walk.

Dear daughter's boyfriend is coming here tonight and she asked if I could make tacos for dinner so, of course, I will. Beef tacos, cheddar, onion, jalapeno pepper, tomato, black olives with a side of black beans and rice.

TGIF!

Gonnachange

The gym was empty this morning. Could it be that the cold kept people away? Hard to believe. Anyway I had a good workout and since my last post have taken the puppy for a walk of about a mile.

Gonnachange

Looks like there's going to be a party at the house tonight because my daughter invited some friends over to hang out after dinner. Just like old times. When my kids were younger my wife and I always encouraged them to invite their friends to our house and did all we could to make it a comfortable, fun, and safe environment for them which really means after saying our hellos we just left them alone. It was a win-win. They had a place to hang out with lots of food and appropriate beverages and we knew that as long as they were in our house they wouldn't be getting in trouble.

Now that they're all in their early to mid 20's they can go anywhere they want and have cars to get there so a night like tonight is much more of a rarity, but it will still be the same M.O.: Greet, engage, and let them alone. And I'm sure I'll be in bed way before they leave.

SoberLeigh

Hope all have a wonderful time in the warmth and welcome of your home, GC.

Gonnachange

Thank you SL. There's no reason why they shouldn't. The friends who are coming over, including my daughter and her bf there'll be about six kids in total, have been doing so since they were in 1st or 2nd grade (they're now all 22-23) years so they know the deal and probably know the house as well as I do. The person most reluctant to help himself to something in the refrigerator or pantry will be my daughter's boyfriend although every time he comes here I tell him he doesn't need to ask permission to get something to eat or drink.

Tonight For Me

Yes, there will be the BF and others in the house; I'd like to start my book club book that I got from the library yesterday, but may do some magazine/newspaper reading and save the book for when I'm on a poolside lounge chair. The book is short, only about 250 pages of normal size type, so I'm going to have to find another book to read during vacation.

Dee74

have a good weekend guys

D

Gonnachange

Thanks Dee and the same to you. We're leaving for vacation Sunday morning so some of tomorrow will be spent getting prepared for that. My daughter and her bf will be going out to dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day; I'm not sure what me and my wife will be doing. Knowing that we're going to be having a lot of restaurant food in the coming week I'd prefer to stay home and cook, but my wife may have other ideas and I'll defer.

Gonnachange

Because last night's taco dinner had more sodium than I normally have I thought I was going to wake up bloated and with some extra (temporary) pounds, but I'm the same as yesterday. Lots of hydration for the win!

I was either going to run today or tomorrow. When I woke up the wind chill was 5F so I was faced with the difficult decision of running in that, doing so on the dreadmill at the gym, or waiting until tomorrow and running in sunny Florida. All decisions should be so easy.

Wifey wants to go out for dinner tonight so technically our record of only going to a restaurant once on Valentine's Day is intact.

Gonnachange

Dinner plans have changed; we're staying home. I'll be making shrimp scampi served over some homemade Old Bay infused pasta and there will be a salad on the side.

SoberLeigh

Sounds absolutely delicious, GC.

Homemade Old Bay infused pasta - can't go wrong there.

Gonnachange

Thanks SL. Between the shrimp and the seasoned pasta there's that reddish thing I always do on Valentine's Day; yeah I know it's not until tomorrow, but we're acknowledging it tonight.

Making my own pasta isn't as easy as opening up a box, but I get to flavor it the way I want so it's well worth the effort IMHO. And that feeling goes up big time when I make raviolis.

Gonnachange

Car is rolling in about 15 minutes.

Have a great week!

SoberLeigh

Safe travels, GC.

Have a great time!!!!!

Gonnachange

Thanks SL.

Vacation Ends

After a much delayed flight south we had a fine time and very nice weather. All in with arrived 7 hours late so we lost the half day in the Sunshine State that I was hoping to have to start our vacation.

Tomorrow we'll be back to reality and I'll spend some time catching up around here in the afternoon after going to the gym and picking the puppy from the kennel.

SoberLeigh

Welcome back, GC.

Gonnachange

Thanks SL. Lots of restaurant meals and less activity than normal when we go down there, but for the first time in history I actually lost a smidgen of weight while away. Doesn't feel that way, but I'll take it. :-)

I saw a lot of family, including the 94 year old first cousin of my grandmother and his 92 year old wife. They've been married for 72 years and are ambulatory, healthy, and have minds that are possibly better than mine. Just incredible.

Visiting My Son In Barcelona

This week we really need to hammer out the framework of our travel plans to Europe in April. I can't believe we've been procrastinating so much. Anyway, the current thinking is that instead of flying into Barcelona where my son is and then having the four of us fly somewhere else the next day, me, my wife and daughter will fly to wherever and have my son fly to meet us so that we can then save on 3 air fares on that leg. The fly in the ointment is if he can't get a flight from Barcelona, but we'll know that before we book our flights and will plan accordingly.

Our reason for not spending our first weekend in Barcelona is that my daughter has already been there, my son knows the place, and my wife and I will have time to do local things when he's in class.

Dinner tonight is going to be a ricotta chicken pie with a side of roasted asparagus.