Normalcy

I am FINALLY feeling back to about 90% after suffering from a nasty stomach flu most of this past week, and I couldn't be happier about eating (somewhat) normally again. I had a typical girl moment where for a split second I thought "I think I probably lost about 5 pounds this week from not being able to hold any food down, nice!"... and then quickly settled in for the pancakes and bacon Dan made for me yesterday for breakfast, celebrating my almost back to normal stomach. I am forever grateful for my insanely fast metabolism - - it is clear that I would never do very well on a diet.

Either way, I'm rested up and thankfully feel ready to go back to work tomorrow. I was out of the office in Ohio on a press check last Monday and Tuesday, called in Wednesday and Thursday with my flu, and although I sucked it up and went in on Friday I only lasted until the early afternoon before deciding to go home again. I think it's a good thing that I honestly missed my work, but I'm already expecting to feel a bit overwhelmed with getting back in the loop tomorrow.

Although yesterday was supposed to be full of party hopping, we decided to skip my cousin Ryan's birthday get together and continue resting for the day. Since I was feeling up for it, we decided not to miss our friend Jeff's dinner and auction event for Catholic Charities, which we also went to last year and really enjoyed. Maybe it was the fact that I was actually OUT and not cooped up in the house anymore and maybe it was just spontaneity, but I managed to convince Dan that I should bid on 4 Sox tickets for this Wednesday night... and I won them! The seats are behind home plate and I am SUPER excited to go to a game so early in the season, even if we are bound to freeze our butts off while we're there.

After the entire auction was over and people started to clear out, we realized one of the most popular prizes from the "pick-a-prize" raffle was still sitting on the table, unclaimed. We had already put several raffle tickets in the box trying to win it, so thanks to a little help from Jeff's friend James, we offered a donation for the amount of the item, and ended up taking it home... leaving Dan and I the proud owners of a snazzy new 8-bottle wine fridge!


The lady who took the donation happened to be the person who had put together the prize package in the first place, and kindly sent us on our way with the fridge AND the 6 bottles of wine that were originally going to go with it. YAY! Dan set the cooler up on top of our fridge this afternoon and in my opinion, it makes the whole kitchen look a little fancier.

In other news, I haven't made any fun new recipes lately but did manage to cook up a pot roast with veggies for Dan and Jeff while I was home sick on Thursday. Just like when I made pork chops for the first time, I was excited to introduce a new meat besides chicken or steak to the meal rotation. I'm not sure about it being a regular weeknight meal since it is pretty big, but it's perfect for weekends at home! I used the largest of my new Pyrex dishes, and the McCormick seasoning and bag package that does all the work for you, and added onion, baby carrots, and potatoes. The guys loved is so I'm sure I'll make it again, and hopefully next time I'll be able to stomach eating some too.

I am planning to try several simple recipes I saw on Food Network during my 4 days on the couch, and this week I'll be looking for some new appetizer recipes to make for Dan's birthday party this coming weekend!