Summer summer summer time...(Do you remember that Will Smith song???)

It is SUMMER!  My favorite.  All around the best season for me; it means fresh food from the farmer's market, looooong days, good sunshine (I even like the heat, don't judge or wrinkle your nose, I'm allowed to like the heat), LOTS of birthdays...including mine, and a bustling social calender!  The hubs and I have been packing every week/day/month with lots of food, friends and activities, which is why I haven't explained yet why dads are just as great as moms, what our meal plans have been, or shared any marriage anecdotes. 

Summer activity=Chicago Contemporary Art Museum

Good food a good husband makes before a good outdoor date....SUMMER.

Cute summer Hubby...it's blurry, but so what? It's summer.

But the past two weeks of meals have been too good NOT to share :)  Thank you Ferguson Farmer's Market!  We love you...like, truly.

Look at the bounty!!  For only $20!!

July 11th-15th (a true feat of brain power as I recall the last weeks food. Go me.)
All veggies and some fruits from the F.M.

Monday:  Delish grilled turkey burgers on toasted bread with fruit salad and chips.  Made even better by the company of Foleys.

Tuesday:  Scrambled egg hash that included potatoes, kale, and cheese with whole wheat toast

Wednesday:  Birthday dinner surprise for Mrs. Dukes; crispy chicken, with sour cream mashed potatoes, and green and white string beans.  Dirt Cake for dessert :)

Thursday:  OH YUM!  Grilled pork and hot pepper enchiladas that Hubs baked on the grill...We heart our Weber.  


Friday:  Vegan coconut curried kidney beans, mustard greens and carrots over rice.  We so healthy.


July 18th-22nd

Monday:  Margarita Pizza; fresh basil, mozz, and tomato on home made pizza dough; and a blue cheese dressing, bacon, squash and red onion pizza.  It was worth turning the oven on....

Tuesday:  Another egg scrambled/hash thing with potatoes, mustard greens, bacon and red onion with toast.  It's our new favorite meal.  Really.

Wednesday:  Hubs made the most amazing pesto he's ever made, and we ate that on a grilled chicken sandwiches that I can't even talk about because you won't understand how great they were.  Along with grilled squash and chips.

Thursday:  Grilled ham steak, potato pancakes (from last weeks leftover mashed potatoes), green beans

Friday:  FOOD TRUCK FRIDAY in Tower Grove!!!!  The possibilities are endless...

~The Wifey 

 

Court in Session

"Well, I guess you're a grown up now."  Hubs said this to me on the car ride home from downtown where I'd been serving my civic duty as the member of a jury for the past three days.  Clarification, I was selected to serve on a jury Thursday after the day long affair on Wednesday when you're moved all over and told to wait a lot and sit for many hours on end.  It's the sitting that gets me.  My knees start to ache.  I'm not made to sit.

Twelve other upstanding citizens and I were selected to jury a criminal case involving drugs and possession of drugs and police officers.  Honestly, it was really interesting.  I learned more about the judicial system than I thought I would, realized I knew more about the judicial system than I thought I did, and met people I would probably never have met otherwise.  As an inquisitive, people person, all that adds up to a good time for me. 

But, it definitely threw off the schedule of our lives for the week, and it made me reflect on the domestic/life system Hubs and I have in place...and how great it is.

Things I Realized about My Marriage and Life While Serving Jury Duty; a Brief Account:

--Hubs wakes up everyday to drive down town and work in an office.  After day two of getting up and going down town to 'work' in an office type setting (indoors, sitting a ton, bad lighting), I WAS EXHAUSTED.  My hubby works hard for us.  I'm blessed to work part time at a job where I can be active and look out a window whenever I want to.

--being away from the house for the hours between seven a.m. and five p.m. make it difficult to maintain order and lack of clutter throughout the home.  I'm usually home enough during the week to keep things pretty tidy and clean, the way I like it.  I like to tidy and clean when Hubs is at work, so that I can spend time with him when he gets home.  I know that many wives don't have this luxury.  I am so blessed to be able to maintain our home on my schedule with plenty of time leftover for being with Hubs.

--Hubs doesn't use drugs of any kind and doesn't lie to me.  This is great.  Once again, I am blessed.

--My life was interrupted for three days, but the man who was convicted of the crimes he committed will spend a long time with his life interrupted.  Perspective in place, check.

--I can talk to anyone.  Like, it's okay to talk to anyone. 

--Everyone has a story.  Each story is unique and beautiful in its own way, just like the person each story is attached to. 

--I also had all kinds of thoughts about my relationship with God in comparison to what I was a part of in the judicial process...but that went way deep and would be way long to write about here. 

--I don't get tired of being with husband.  I can do anything and go anywhere with him.  He's good company, that guy.  Even at seven in the morning when he doesn't like to talk much.

~the wifey

Monday

First waking thought, 6:05am:   I wish Hubs could come back to bed.

Second thought:   Now, I am cold.

Third:  hmmm, I love the sound of trash pick up early in the morning...
                               

Conclusion?  Today is Monday.  Have a good one everybody.

~The Wifey

Unexpected Daaaaate

At 3:50pm, Hubs called and said, 'if I leave work right now, we could go to the 4:50pm showing of The King's Speech at Ronnies for only $4 a ticket.  Do you want to go?' Um, surprise date with my hubs on a dreary, winter-yuck, Monday night when I had no dinner planned and no prospects?  Let me think about that...

After a record showering/getting ready on my part we made it to Ronnies just in time for opening previews and enjoyed The King's Speech with approximately five other couples.  All in their mid seventies.  That's how we roll.

Happy Monday everybody : )

Purple Lemon Photography

~Wifey

Thursdays

Our blog still remembers our log in.  Huh.  I am impressed.

This marriage successfully celebrated Holiday Season number two, with record joy and merriment.  We were so joyous and so merry, we would have made Santa look melancholy.  Goooooo, Team Oros!

Today is Thursday.  Thursday means laundry.  Laundry means camping out at Mama Lu and Papa Frank's house for roughly six hours, while five or six loads swim away, and we cram our brains with Food Network and the Travel Channel.  Today is Thursday...

~Wifey