Not so sweet

My sweet basil has been eaten alive. What could it be? I think I will grow sweet basil inside from now on. That or plant marigolds.

15 degrees colder

We took a hike up the canyon the other day. Beautiful stuff. I walked through some snow in sandals and we enjoyed the views.

get a move on!

Yesterday, while driving home, I was taking a 25 mph road.  I was going about 29 mph.  A teen tailed me for most of it, got fed up, and passed me using the oncoming lane.

I didn't get all that bothered.  This surprised me.  I mean, a while back, that would have really bugged me.  But not anymore.  Ha!

About three blocks after the teen passed me, he had to stop at a stop sign.  I saw him slam on his brakes.  Sweet justice.

Okay, maybe I was just a little bugged.

Interpretation

Some of Ollie's latest word interpretations:
He calls drool tears, as in, "mom, there are tears coming out of my mouth!"
Bonus features on a DVD are called bonus "futures."
He says prinkle for crinkle.
The other day he spelled human, hyoomin.
And buckled, bucld.

3 minutes of very good

Landfill Harmonic | Juliana Penaranda-Loftus & Alejandra Nash from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

thanks to my brother-in-law for pointing out this little film

Happy Fathers Day

This guy here is a great dad.

Happy Fathers Day to good fathers everywhere, including the ones I love!

4.01 K Business Run

My brother-in-law came up with a run that’s 4.01 kilometers, goes down Wall Street, begins with clever business banter, and is run in business attire.  Jess participated in the event a few years ago and this year it was my turn.  It was a good time.  The onlookers to the event were one of the best parts of the race; that, and the clever comments that came from the event organizers and participatees.  I couldn’t stop laughing while running.  We ran through the Salt Palace, some with coffee cups and keyboards, others with notepads and office tech gear.  I just came with a dress (light blue, below) and running shoes.  The race finished at the Gateway fountain with grape juice.  The organizers never know if they are going to keep going with the event, but it just keeps coming back each year.  I have to yell "success!" to that.

photo courtesy of said brother-in-law

Correct punctuation

Help me out here, does the period come before or after the quotation mark in a sentence?  I thought it was one way and then at work a few years ago I was told it was another way and since then I've seen it both ways.  But which is correct?

John said, "I like spaghetti with meatballs."

OR

John said, "I like spaghetti with meatballs".

I've always thought it was the former, but at work they liked me to use the latter and with all of the autocorrect going on with smart phones and tablets, I am confused.

I've heard that the former way resulted from back when they used printing presses.  The typesetter would place the period inside the quotation marks because if he didn't do it that way, the period could possibly get bent.

Hmmm, what do you think?

The gardeners before us

Lucky for us, our yard came with some beautiful perennials. It has been a fun surprise to see what spring means for us. Tulips, iris, peonies, and the yard just keeps on giving.I take no credit but thank the gardeners who came before us. We’ve been trying to make sure we can keep up with it.

The art of supplementation

I'm pretty sure at one point in everybody's childhood their parents added stuff to boxed macaroni n' cheese for dinner: peas, corn, hotdogs, craw fish (yes, we had that once).  Now tell me, as an adult, have you done the same thing?  At the age of 8, I never thought I'd add a thing to mac n' cheese.  That would be a travesty! A shame!  A true detriment to the cheesiness of the boxed meal!  But as an adult I have done the unthinkable, I have been guilty of adding peas to my mac n' cheese.  And it was, well, still not that great but a bit healthier (peas are not my favorite).

This brings me to the art of supplementing a dish to make it taste better and/or become healthier.  I find that it is an art.  Maybe peas in your mac is not an art, but other supplementing can be quite delicious and sometimes very necessary.  But it takes experimentation and honing.  Take for instance pre-made ravioli or tortellini.  For some reason, I buy the stuff thinking it will taste good on it's own.  This is never the case.  There is a reason the food company uses the word "delicate" when describing the taste of it's seven cheese blend.  How can a blend of seven cheeses be so bland?  I don't understand it nor can I believe it, and that is probably why I keep on going back for more.  I think another package will prove the blandness wrong.  And each time, I eat a serving and think, this really tastes like nothing but paste. Then I salt and pepper it in hopes of saving the meal.  I've been known to add marina sauce as well, and that's an improvement.  But I've finally come upon something that's really good at turning "delicate" into "delicious".  Cook up that tortellini, then add tomatoes, artichoke hearts, pesto and stir.  Like I said, delicious.

Other good supplementing that I've discovered includes adding stuff to your bottled marinara sauce.  I like to add balsamic vinegar (my sister taught me this one), a can of tomatoes, fresh spinach, and Parmesan cheese.  And lately, I have been adding Greek yogurt to anything sweet for a kick of protein.  Try this recipe for waffles.  It includes yogurt as well as oatmeal.  Fiber, here we come!

Is there any creative supplementing you do?  I'd love to hear.