Nursery therapy

I forced myself to get up Saturday morning around 8:30am. Mindy really wanted me to stay in bed, but like the tug of the moon on the tides, I was driven to get up and get going with my day.

It took a few to shake the cob webs, but after my calisthenics I felt fine. As promised, it was cold and blustery. Where in the hell has our beautiful spring weather gone? Ykraps and I made quick work of our walk. I was eager for coffee. The coffee went down nice and easy. I spent about an hour teaching myself about the various moon phases on the internet. I found a really cool link that had three simulations that helped me visualize what’s actually occurring. As always, I learned some thing new. The gravitational pull the moon exerts on our oceans is also tugging away at dry ground but with less obvious effect. Still, it has a ‘slowing’ effect on the earth’s rotation. Cool!

Just before 10am I got ready and left for my run. I left without waking Mindy. I hoped to be back before she found her way out of bed. I stayed within the confines of the subdivision, not feeling like worrying about dodging traffic. I was back by 10:35am. Mindy was already up and working on our breakfast. She reported a moment of confusion when waking to find me missing only later to realize that I was running.

We enjoyed a quiet breakfast of scrambled eggs and maple bacon – favorites of ours. We talked about our day and how it might unfold. I shared my desire to visit DeMonye’s Greenhouse and to shop for new patio furniture. Mindy wanted to grocery shop & put together Easter baskets. I convinced her that we shouldn’t waste our coveted daylight hours making the baskets when after all we could do that after the kids go to bed later that night.

After cleaning up our breakfast dishes and showering we left for a day on the town. Our first stop was DeMonye’s. I was particularly interested to check out their selection of Wave petunia’s. However, I was interested in checking out their entire offering as well. Fittingly, it was snowing heavily as we entered their greenhouse. Inside it was like a warm wet summer day. Aside from several Latin nursery workers, I think that we were the only customers walking about the various greenhouses. The visit elevated both our moods.
We got lots of ideas for landscaping projects too.

We left DeMonye’s for Target, but instead of heading back towards familiar turf, we decided to visit Easton. We drove up Sunbury Rd – a scenic drive past my “nourishing mother” – ODU and the back way into Easton. It didn’t take too long at all. Target is under construction. I think that they’re making it the first Super Target in our area. Before looking at their patio furniture we stopped by the pharmacy to visit Mary Ann. She was working but just about to go to lunch. We said a quick hello then carried on with the task at hand.

We slowly made our way towards the patio furniture stopping in home furnishings. Before I knew what hit me, Mindy had an expensive sofa cover in my hands. Boy is she good! Her tactic was asking me which color I liked. Damn! I walked to the outdoor furniture area with a $100 sofa cover under one arm. We didn’t care at all for their patio furniture collection. We left after paying for the sofa cover and went next door to Lowe’s.

Lowes selection left a lot to desire too. We left Lowe’s and headed towards what we thought was the Easton Home Depot. We never found it. We ended up driving back to Grandview and towards the Chambers Rd Kroger. We were both hungry and badly wanted lunch. We ended up at Aladdin’s Eatery in Grandview. Mindy had never been there before. I was sure she would like it. We each had a bowl of their chicken chili and then split a beef kafta. That was plenty. Leaving full, we proceeded to Kroger.

We spent a good hour at Kroger getting a week’s worth of groceries, the fixins for CMR’s jalapeño scalloped potatoes, and a few things for our special Saturday evening dinner. Mindy spent $226. Ouch! We headed towards home. It was darn near 5pm. The kids would be home around 6pm. We unloaded the groceries quickly, and just after the kids got home I took Ykraps on his evening walk. We hung out with the kids through the evening. While Mindy bathed the children, I began prepping the scalloped potatoes. I got the recipe off of CMR’s webpage. I took my time because like any good recipe, it didn’t have the step by step instructions just general ingredients and such.

http://www.camerons-steakhouse.com/recipes.cfm

Once I had the taters under control, I began working on tonight’s steak and sea scallops. We bought some giant sea scallops at Kroger. They looked delicious! Meanwhile, the potatoes were coming along even better than I had hoped. They looked mouthwatering good. The plan was to take them to Craig & Jeff’s Easter dinner party. I was eager to share my latest concoction even if it was borrowed from Cameron.
After the potatoes were completed I placed the min the fridge.

While I toiled in the kitchen, Mindy put together the five main Easter Baskets. She did a masterful job.

I had the scallops and steak ready to go. I cooked the tow T-bone steaks first. After cooking just to perfection I placed the giant scallops in a broil dish after bathing them in a garlic butter concoction. Mindy made the green beans. 15 minutes later we had a delightful dinner for two. The only thing to make it even better was a bottle of champagne, which we bought at Kroger. We splurged. We bought a bottle of Cooke’s Spumante’ for $5.99. For my money it’s perfect!

As the photos will attest, our dinner was fabulous. The steak and scallops were cooked to perfection and I wasn’t over stuffed. We finished out meal late – probably around 9:30pm. After cleaning up the kitchen & polishing off the bottle of champagne we decided to hot tub. It felt wonderful. We went to bed just before 11pm.