our weekend away (plus gorilla granola)

Last night, I took a long bath where I deeply pondered the meaning of life.  By pondered the meaning of life, I mean, I played a whole lot of Bejeweled Blitz and did my best impression of the deaf when I heard a baby crying for her daddy.  Oh, there was also a cupcake involved.  Because a) I have a cupcake obsession and b) I am selfish and didn't want tiny fingers asking for a bite.  Or big fingers, for that matter.

Our weekend away was amazing.  Not so much for my mom who got to experience firsthand what living with a newborn in a gigantic eleven month old body is like.  A needy one at that.  And like I needed to remember what this was like; I was up at five in the morning trying to find the slightest relief from our obvious rituals.  Eighteen ounces pumped at once, just to take the edge off.  Well over forty ounces thrown out over the weekend because of lack of proper storage.  I felt a little like throwing up every time that happened.  My grand plan for sleeping the hardest I have slept in the last year and a half came to a screeching halt before it even started.

Lest you think my needy baby stopped all fun from three and a half hours away.  Oh no.  Eating food while it was hot.  Not running through stores because of bored children, jumping in and out of taxis and mall buses.  The ease of carrying fifty pounds of shopping bags because I was missing fifty pounds of chunky baby and her belongings.

My love and I checked into our downtown hotel and made our way to dinner.  Not before being accosted on some streetside sex awareness convention.  Rolling the sexual dice (Jimmy got birth control, I got STDs.  Super comfortable conversation ensued).  Oh, but wait!  We were rewarded with gum and magnet words, which we would later discover were most definitely not appropriate for our littles waiting for us at home.


We ate at Bubba Gump's - my inner movie geek relished every little detail from the movie.

The Avalanche game didn't disappoint.  Bite size doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce and plenty of people watching opportunities.  I didn't realize it was Military Appreciation Night which made for some choked up moments all throughout the game, but I kept it together fairly well.

Bonus!  Avs scored with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime to break the tie and win.

I'm just gonna sum up Saturday with: IKEA.

I have no idea why I haven't made it a priority to break my IKEA naivety and visit HEAVEN ON EARTH, because seriously?  We spent two and a half hours there, and we rushed to make dinner reservations.

I will be going back in the very near future.

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We ate dinner at Texas de Brazil, a favorite where Jimmy only embarrassed me slightly with how much he can eat.  Sadly, no cupcakes were had as dessert, because I struggled to keep my eyes open and we went for Starbucks, round two.

The drive home was littered with blowing snow, new flurries, and a layer of fog; I finally made it to pick up my kiddos just before midnight.

I was happy to return to the world of WHY? and the land of imaginary friends who are all named Arubia and Dooyah.  We had a lazy day full of baking yesterday (and now my house is trashed, naturally).

Rubyisms

The night before we left, we had cookies after dinner.  I teased Jimmy for eating so many (five, to be exact).  He tried to pawn it off on Ruby, but after asking her how many she had (one), we discovered who the real cookie monster was and laughed.  My mom texted me to tell me that Ruby told her her dad eats five cookies and she only gets one.  Jimmy was only slightly mortified about the brutal honesty.

Last night, Jimmy tried to tell Ruby that when someone asked her about how many cookies daddy ate that she was to say "No comment."  Or a simple "One."  Ruby's answer, remaining the same and always getting louder, was, "But you had FIIIIIIIIIIIVE!"

My mom told Ruby that she loved her more than life itself.  Ruby said, "I love you all by myself!"

Last night, after Jimmy complaining of a sore back, Ruby said she'd "'ssage" it for him.  She did it for about five seconds and then said, "You're all set."

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Other random things:

Husband gets major brownie points for the fragrant red roses on my dining room table.  And for the bath made complete with the cupcake and near silence.

I made this granola yesterday.  When Ruby asked me to tell her what it was, I told her it was granola, and she said, "Ohh, sometimes I see gorillas in the zoo."  It will forever be known as Gorilla Granola in our house.

I have eaten it as cereal twice - it's delicious (and so easy).



Gorilla Granola


2 c. rolled oats
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. melted butter
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 c. slivered almonds
1/3 c. chopped hazelnuts
1/3 c. golden or regular raisins
1/3 c. dried blueberries (or other fruit)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease well.

Mix oats, cinnamon, and salt together in large bowl.  Melt butter in medium bowl, add honey, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Combine the honey mixture with the oats (this is easiest done with your hands).  Add the nuts, and continue mixing until all oats are well coated.

Spread evenly on the prepared pan.

Put in the oven for ten minutes.  Stir, flip granola over, and return to oven for fifteen additional minutes.

Add dried fruit, and store in an airtight container.