Greens

Our salad greens have really taken off these past couple weeks. I wasn't sure when was the right time to pick them but after seeing their leaf size this weekend I figured today was the day. This afternoon I plucked enough greens for our dinner tonight. I washed and salad-spinnered them before putting them in the fridge a couple hours before dinner.

I must say, they tasted really good! With an unknown mixture I wasn't sure how the salad would taste or if there would be a bitter group in the bunch, but we were both pleasantly surprised. Apparently the more you pluck the greens the faster they grow, so we'd better get eating!

Glasses

So Chad and I are getting our eyes checked in a couple weeks. After I made the appointment I thought maybe it would be smart to see if we like the frames the office had to offer. Today we spent about an hour there (fun!) playing around to see what looked good on us. We have no idea if we'll need glasses or not, but we figured just in case we might as well be prepared. Here are the glasses we narrowed down for Chad:

And here are the choices for me. I really don't think I'll need any. Maybe for looking at the computer and for reading, but otherwise I think my eyes are fine. If I have to get some I'll get one of these two pairs. What do you guys think? I thought the first pair looked good but everyone in the glasses office (including Chad) agreed that the second pair was way better. By the way, neither pair are as dark in real life as they look in this photo.

Las Vegas

Friday evening we flew with my parents to Las Vegas for a couple of nights. The weekend was great! We stayed at the Hooters Hotel (I know, I know) and it was fine. Not great but not horrible either. The location was good and really, most of our time was spent at the Tropicana playing blackjack. I suppose we left with a bit less money than we arrived with but overall we did well and definitely had fun.

We didn't just gamble while we were there. We ate good food, including a delicious meal (I had a filet mignon, Chad had salmon--surprising, huh?) at Gallagher's in the New York New York Casino Hotel and healthy chicken wings at Hooter's.

On Saturday we took a side trip to visit Chad's grandparents. We were there for five hours and had a nice visit with them. Hazel is 91 and Walter is 90 and they're both doing really well. It was great seeing them again.

The weekend went by fast, like they always do, but it was a good one.

Weekend with Friends

On Friday our friends from the Bay Area came to visit us for the weekend. We had Indian food for dinner that night and had so much fun catching up. We hadn't seen each other since August. Saturday morning we hit up a few craft fairs near our house before heading to the cabin for the night.

At the cabin we cooked, played Scrabble, visited the town and had a nice time together. Saturday afternoon we also took a nice walk along the lake.

That night it rained pretty hard. Sunday morning when I woke up there was snow covering the ground, trees and rooftops. A little later it began snowing again but I was the only one up to enjoy it. By the time everyone else awoke the snow had stopped falling and most of it had melted into the ground.

Screen Doors

For our wedding anniversary my parents gave us screen doors for the house. Last week I called around for quotes and ultimately chose the company that gave us the best deal with the fastest installation time. We decided to get retractable screens for all three doors. On Tuesday the owner of the company came out and measured our doors and then installed the screen doors Saturday morning. We love how sturdy they are, how you can't see them when they're open, and how they retract into the frame when they're closed.

Seeds

Monday night we roasted the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins we carved on Sunday. I cleaned them, added a little butter, salt and sugar and then roasted them in the oven for 40 minutes. Last night I enjoyed them a little too much. I was sitting in my chair and clumsily dumped the bucket of empty shells on my lap. Here's me feeling stupid but still cracking up.

Pumpkin Party 2008

Last night Chad and I went to the Pumpkin Carving Party at our friends Jim and Kellie's house. We had dinner, drinks and candy before buckling down and carving our pumpkins. Because we used the pumpkins from our patch we brought three to work on this year. Chad has more imagination when it comes to pumpkin faces than I do so I let him carve two of them. Mine is on the left. Thanks to Kellie for the photo from last night.

Long Lost Project

I started this lap quilt way back in 2002 when my mom gave me a kit with the fabric. I chose the layout and sewed the pieces together. Why I chose this layout? Who knows. I probably would have done the pattern differently if I got the kit now, but that's OK. After finishing my place mats this week I had the confidence to finish this little quilt. Each time it gets a little easier and overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

Place Mats

This afternoon I finished the place mat set I started in a recent quilting class. I thought it was going to be a quick little project when I started but it turns out it wasn't. This class taught me how to make this fancy little block, quilt everything together using my new quilting foot and then bind it with mitered corners. The place mats definitely aren't perfect but I'm happy with how they turned out.

Pumpkins

Yesterday we harvested our first round of pumpkins. We found seven that were ready to be cut and left a handful of green gourds on the vine. Those should be bright orange just before Halloween. We delivered the largest ones to friends and neighbors yesterday.