Yeah for Friday's!

Friday's are the best day of the week I think. Especially if I get my cleaning done on Thursday. Which I managed to do. That leaves Friday for doing whatever...whenever. And plus, it's such a good feeling knowing that we're heading into a weekend and my honey has a few days off. Yippee!

This morning the Maxter and I did some errands. We were on a hunt for some cute photo albums to put wedding photo's in. We never did find any. Go figure. But let me tell you what we did find. Massive clearance sales at Winners! Looks like they are trying to get rid of spring stock to make way for new things. Every department (from the toys to housewares to clothing to shoes) had tons of stuff clearanced. I found a couple of great skirts. One is black (surprise surprise) and the other is (my favourite colour) chocolate brown. Although when I brought it home (chocolate brown skirt) and looked at the tag it said "hand wash. dry clean only". UGH. Normally I would take it back to the store pronto without another thought. (I'm not into high-maintenance clothing) But I loooooooove this skirt. And it's staying. I'm just going to have to be super careful when I wear it. Which I will because it's dressy and really, how disasterously dirty can it get after wearing it for a couple of hours to church on a Sunday morning? Hopefully not much. I also found a cute creamy-taupey-summery purse to use around town. And lastly, there was an adorable pair of black slides that caught my eye and they looked amazing. But I left them there. Because, well, I don't really need them. I mean I do (you can ALWAYS use a new pair of shoes, right?) and I would wear them. But not that much. And I have a nice pair of black slides already (even though they are from a few summers ago) so they stayed on the shelf. I know, I know... take my temperature, something is wrong with me. I think another (working in the workforce) lady will find them and be able to wear them and put them to good use. Or so I tell myself.

Go to Winners my friends and see for yourself...betcha won't be able to walk out the door without finding just the perfect thing (hopefully it's been clearanced too). That's the way that store works.

Since the sun is shining and the warm summer breezes are blowing, I did some work on my flower planters. I think I over-bought on the flowers though. So tonight I want to step out and pick up a few more planters to use them all up. (Just like purses and shoes....you really can never have too many flowers, right?!)

While we were pretending to know what we were doing planting those purple coloured, non-perennial plants in the planters, (talk about excessive use of words starting with "p" - that last sentence sure covers it) we had a fun surprise. My friend Michelle and her two little girls showed up to drop something off. We convinced them to stay and play for a while so a fun playdate for the kiddo's and some good chatting-with-my-wonderful-friend time was had by all.

Tommorrow is the BIG SURPRISE day. We have been promising Max a big surprise on Saturday for the last few weeks and we haven't told him what it is or given him any clues. He's pretty excited about it. And my oh my, it sure works wonders for getting him to listen and cooperate and help out. I think we may try this again down the road. (Yesterday he wanted to help me clean...he polished windows with window cleaner, he scrubbed the kitchen floor alongside of me, set the entire table for our evening meal and picked up ALL HIS TOYS that were ALL OVER the house.) It was seriously impressive. Yeah for surprises! And as for the surprise....well you'll have to wait and see because after all, it is a surprise. I'll post photo's tomorrow night when we are back home. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

And finally, let's talk dinner preparation and making meals. Wanna know my secret trick for making a tasty and yummy meal spur of the moment - as in takes 15 minutes? I'm only posting this because it happened to me last night. I called Keith about 5 minutes after he was due to be at home from work (he was running late) and said "I've been busy cleaning and now it's dinner time and I have absolutely no clue what to make. What do you feel like eating?" (Hoping he wouldn't suggest bbq'ing or grilled cheese because I just wasn't in the mood for that.) And do you know what my brilliant hubby said? "How about I stop at the Superstore and pick up one of those roasted chicken dinners?" FABULOUS! I had totally forgot about them. They totally work in a pinch. The Superstore has a great deal. There's a coupon and for $9.99 you get a roasted chicken, your choice of two different salads (coleslaw, potato sald, macaroni salad, etc.) and a french baguette (bread) to go with it. It also really helps if your hubby drives directly past the Superstore on his way home from work every day. Very convenient. So 20 minutes later, my dear honey was walking through the front door with the items listed above. AND....And....and...I had made spanish rice to go with it. Mmmmmmm! Because I used minute rice it only takes about 15 minutes IN TOTAL to make this dish. Here's the recipe...just in case you should ever find yourself in such a pinch. Which, now that I think about it, probably never happens to other people - only me. But if it does....well, now you're prepared.

Mexican Rice
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
vegetable oil
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa
season with salt, chili powder, pepper
1 & 1/2 cups uncooked instant rice
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, saute pepper and onion in oil until veggies are crisp tender. Add the corn, broth, salsa, salt, chili powder, pepper (if desired); bring to a boil.
Stir in the rice; cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Yield: 6 servings.

Bon Appétit!