A weekend at home

I got to stay home this last weekend while Scott left at 4 a.m. Saturday to take our 10 replacement heifers to the feedlot owned by a friend outside of Thermopolis. I had hesitated to commit to the trip, as earlier in the week I still had the nasty cough caught in Iowa, and my stomach had also not been feeling well.

By Saturday, however, I was feeling much better on both accounts, and the kids - meaning Link, Lucy and Foxy - and I got some work done around the house.

But first, Friday night started out with leaving the office an hour early - a nice treat on a Friday afternoon - and heading to the grocery store. I emptied the refrigerator before we went to Iowa for Christmas, and I had yet to stock it again.

When I got home and put all the groceries away, of course the girls were on hand to help me cook supper.

This is part of what I picked up for dinner. Earlier in the day I had seen Pioneer Woman's recipe for Quesadillas de Camerones, and it looked so good that I made it for supper a few hours later.

In addition to the shrimp, the recipe calls for a healthy dose of red and green peppers and onions. Pretty hard to go wrong with a start like that.

I cooked them in a skillet on high heat for not too long. Just enough to start to soften, but not get too soggy or mushy.

On Scott's way home I had him stop and get the enchilada sauce for the shrimp, which I somehow left off my grocery list.

Yum! Butter, tortilla, cheese, veggies and shrimp get topped by a little more cheese and another tortilla. I always use whole-wheat tortillas for my creations.

Looks promising! Even though I did have some trouble getting the whole thing flipped. A bunch of the stuffing came out, but that just provided a prime opportunity to sample. The second one I made I didn't fill as full, and had more success.

Add a little bit of low-fat sour cream, and we were in business. Scott also really liked them, so I think they will become a quick-and-easy staple for supper. These shrimp weren't frozen, but I might try to find a frozen bag so I can keep the ingredients on hand for last-minute preparation. I just about always have the peppers in my refrigerator for one use or another.

The next morning, after Scott left at 4 a.m., I went back to sleep for a few hours, then got up and started taking down the Christmas tree and outdoor Christmas decorations since it was warm out, and forecasted to snow Sunday.

Link helped, of course, until I unceremoniously bumped him off the porch rail into the rose bush with the shovel handle. He was not very impressed with me as he hid under the car and watched me finish up.

Of course the girls also had to be a part. When I'm working in the front yard they usually tear around in circles of all manner, to the extent that there's a puppy racetrack path around one of the trees now. They're very good about staying in the borders of the yard, so usually I don't have to worry about their wild fighting and chasing. It's a good way to wear them down a little.

The bare front porch. No flower pots, no autumn decorations and no Christmas lights and evergreen boughs.

Every so often Scott brings home a load of 2x4s from his work that we cut into lengths to fit in our wood stove and stack on the front porch. The lumber comes to their yard with loads of steel, and it's only about four feet long, so not much good for anything else. It's free, and easy to get, and we burn these little sticks in the evenings when we can keep the stove supplied, saving our larger chunks for during the day and overnight.

The little pile of evergreen is part of what came off the railings, and it's the pieces that are small enough to fit in the stove. Again, there's a couple evening's supply of burning right there. I'm all for not running the furnace!

This tree that we chose from one of the mountain pastures at the Association was my first real Christmas tree since being out on my own, Scott's and my first tree together, and the first one in the new house. And now there it is, unceremoniously resting in my truck. I hear there's a tree drop-off location by the Extension office here in town, and that's its final destination. I thought it was very pretty, and enjoyed it very much.

So now there's quite a vast space that's opened up again in the front room. My eight-dollar Salvation Army desk will eventually come in to occupy the space as the landing spot for mail, bills, etc. I'd like to paint it first, but I suppose I could always haul it back outside come warmer weather, if even just to the front porch.

More cooking of favorite recipes on Saturday. These are the Marinated Tomatoes, which I find addictive with their oil and red wine vinegar marinade. Add a little bit of grated mozzarella, and it doesn't get much better. I ate the equivalent of probably four tomatoes that afternoon.

My stomach only felt really upset for about a week from the pregnancy, and now I'm pretty much back to normal, save for the fact that I still don't want any really heavy meals to eat, and nothing at all sweet. I find that the things I want to eat are all the things I should be eating, so we're in good shape. On my grocery trip I had also picked up salad ingredients, including this endive.

Add that to some curly leaf lettuce....

And some baby spinach...

And I have two big containers of delicious salad, which I top with mushrooms, olives, croutons, onions and whatever else I have in the cupboard/refrigerator and top with oil and vinegar with some salt and pepper. Delish.

Sunday afternoon the girls were driving each other and myself up the wall, so I bundled up against the cold and five inches of fresh powder, and off we went to the golf course for exercise for all three of us.

They love playing in the snow.

Much time is spent running and growling and fighting in crazy circles when we go to the golf course. I'm glad there's a place so near the house where they can run off-leash. Usually we play fetch, and I brought Foxy's new ball in hopes that there would be some areas blown clear on the greens, but no luck. I threw it once and they promptly lost it in the powder, so that was the end of that.

Trudging through the snow for a mile round-trip was great for all of us, and the pups slept peacefully most of the evening after their romp.

Scott arrived home as I was shoveling the sidewalk and driveway after our walk, and after going inside I finished making this Roasted Tomato Basil Soup and we had it with beef roast and vegetables for dinner.

As with all good weekends, it ended too quickly, and here I am back at it, working on the Jan. 15 edition of the Roundup. And it was -24 degrees this morning! I didn't even try to start my little diesel car, and my truck didn't really want to go, either.