Trains and Lights

This weekend was fun, productive, delicious, and relaxing.  Dave was home with Eddie on Friday...I'm not sure what they did since I was at work, but I'm sure it involved watching some Dinosaur Train, collecting the chicken eggs, eating lots of snacks, and a nap for at least one of them.

That night I finally made Buffalo Chicken Dip...sorta.  Instead of mixing chicken into the dip, we made sandwiches with sliced breast meat, cheddar cheese, and crunchy lettuce on French bread, using the dip as a sandwich spread.  Lordy, it was goooooooooood.  I didn't take a picture because we were starving and ate the sandwiches right up.  Although the sauce was spicy, even Eddie liked it!

Saturday morning baby Josh came over to hang out with us for a few hours while his parents did their taxes.  We got a late start heading off to the train museum, so Dave asked if we could keep Josh for several hours instead of just a few.  Surprise, surprise, his parents didn't mind!

First, we got corn dogs and fries near the museum and ate on a bench in the warm sunshine.  Then we headed inside...which was a little tricky since the double BOB stroller doesn't fit through the regular entrance doors.  Dave asked inside and they showed us a side double door to use.

Once inside, Eddie ran over to the gift shop entrance and played with the turn stile.  It popped up and smacked him in the nose, making him cry and bleed a little.  Hopefully that'll be the only time it happens. 

Dave has taken Eddie to the museum several times but they've never gone upstairs to where the big Thomas and Friends play tables are.  Since Josh can't walk very fast (he just learned), I figured playing upstairs would be good since he could hold onto the toy trains and the tables for support.  I don't know what it is about playing up there, but EVERY SINGLE TIME we do, Eddie poops and I have to change him there.  It doesn't bother me, but it is weird that this area makes him poop (and it isn't a "time of day" thing because we've gone to the museum at all hours of the day).  This time, BOTH boys pooped (so it's not just MY child this happens to!).  Dave and I each got to deal with one. 

By this time Eddie had missed his nap and was getting a bit cranky.  We went downstairs to check out the tunnel and the wheelbarrow (normally Eddie's favorite downstairs attraction, oddly enough).  But this time he just wanted to climb up on the displays, which is not allowed.  So we told him that if he either walked calmly back outside or let us buckle him into the stroller, we could get some ice cream.  He hopped right up into that stroller without a fuss!

We got cones for us adults and a cup of chocolate for Eddie (Josh had a pear and about 10 million fishy crackers), which we ate while meandering over to the water.  That side of the river is pretty ghetto and nasty but it was a nice change of scenery.  We let Eddie run around a bit, careful to keep him away from the steep slope leading down to the gross water. 

At about 4pm we dropped Josh back off to his parents and then headed to Home Depot to buy some lights for the living room.  I had hoped Eddie would fall asleep in the car, but he didn't and was therefore a bit of a terror inside the store.  He and I ended up hanging out in the van watching Robots while Dave finished getting all the supplies.  Like most projects, however, he ended up making a few phone calls to my dad and making another trip back to Home Depot the next morning to exchange something.

Sunday morning he installed lights on top of the bookcases and rigged them to some of those remote-controlled outlets so I can turn them on and off easily (from our holiday lights stash).  I wanted more light in the living room so I can see more easily to fold laundry and knit while watching TV.  With our TV now mounted up on the wall, the ceiling fixture reflection is smack in the middle of the screen.  It is SO ANNOYING.  And since I rarely do nothing while watching TV (like, just sit there and watch--I'm nearly always doing something else as well), I end up sitting in the dark.  We had a pole light in there, but it wasn't enough for knitting (maybe THAT's why the cabled section of my legwarmers doesn't look right??).  The light fixtures are ugly and the bulbs are bare (read: super bright when you look right at them) so Dave will cut and stain some wooden trim to put up on the bookcases to hide them.  For now I am using the cardboard boxes the lights came in.

I still can't believe just how bright it is in there now--it's like daylight.  And it brightens the kitchen considerably.  We were going install 6 canister lights in there, but this is better since we can take the lights with us when we move (and they don't require a building permit).

That afternoon I took Eddie out front with me while I weeded the winter veggie garden bed (carrots, turnips, diakon radishes, and red cabbage).  He was a good helper, emptying the buckets of weeds for me whenever I asked.  It was sooooooo warm outside in the sun that we wore hats and I took off my sweatshirt.  When Dave was done fixing the phone line in the backyard, he brought each of us a Popsicle.  Yum!

For dinner, I defrosted 3 Indian dishes from the deep freeze (butter chicken, brinjal (I added paneer cubes before serving), and veggie vindaloo, to which I added some lamb).  I used up an acorn squash by making one new dish, which was super yummy.  And of course I made naan, but tried using half whole wheat flour this time. 

 

Would it be weird for a while girl to open an Indian restaurant in Gualala?  Just kidding.  I'd really love to open a twice weekly cafeteria, though.  One of those restaurants that serves only one meal any given day, whatever the chef chooses to make.  So it'd be like eating in my house and I could vary the menu however I wanted...Thai one day, Indian the next, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Southern, etc.  Dave's grandmother used to own the local hotel and operated an Italian restaurant downstairs.  It'd be fun to carry on that sort of tradition, don't you think?  (Now I just need to figure out a way to be a scientist, mother, wife, AND restauranteur all at the same time...)