Lime Chifffon Pie

This recipe was in the most recent Kraft magazine, and it looks so yummy and summery (and easy!) to me! I'm picking up the ingredients to make it this week. Enjoy!

Lime Chiffon Pie

Ingredients
2/3 cup boiling water
1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Lime Flavor Sugar Free Gelatin
ice cubes
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups thawed fat-free Cool Whip
1-1/2 tsp. lime zest
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 ready-to-use reduced-fat graham cracker crumb crust (6 oz.)

Directions
Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir with whisk 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to cold water to make 1 cup. Add to gelatin; stir until ice is melted. Stir in Cool Whip, zest and juice. Refrigerate 15 to 20 min. or until mixture is very thick and will mound. Spoon into crust. Refrigerate four hours.

Saturday, Saturday

We got up early this morning and headed off to run errands at Target, Walmart and Costco.... by the time we were wrapping up at Costco, the place was getting nutty. Now we are home trying to put our living room back together, and I'm getting ready to go to a verrrrry pink, verrrrrrry big baby shower (50+ girls!). Should be fun, and I'm looking forward to celebrating my friend!

Did you see Leno's last show Friday night? We recorded it and are watching the best of jay-walking now. These people are DUMB! Seriously. But it's entertaining. :)

Hope you are having a good Saturday!

It didn't rain, but it poured

Yesterday I arrived home from work to a very unhappy husband who was sitting in the middle of our living room watch water drip through the ceiling. Whaaaaat?

Turns out the toilet in our master bath has had a slow leak for awhile, and the water finally made its way through the floor and then through the ceiling. We could see almost the entire outline of the framework in the ceiling, water was dripping, paint was falling and the place was a wreck. Rob had taken one of the can lights out of the ceiling and water was really coming out through that hole. He went out to buy a dehumidifier, and I put buckets out everywhere and covered up furniture.

We had a home owners' association meeting that we had to go to (another long story, but every house in our neighborhood is being assessed $1200 and we wanted to know why), so Rob turned off the water and we left for the meeting. We got home at 9 p.m. -- starving at this point since we hadn't had time to eat -- and the water was still dripping.

After talking to my Dad, Rob hit a hole in the ceiling with his hammer and gallons of water poured out into the giant trash can he was holding. It flowed for a good 30 minutes and then dripped for another 30 or so before finally stopping. I made us some grilled cheese and we finally ate dinner at 9:45 p.m.

We slept with all of the house water turned off. This morning Rob went downstairs and turned on the water, then we listed for dripping. We didn't hear anything, and the ceiling is significantly drier, so we showered and turned it off again for the day.

Now we need to get a plumber to fix the toilet, and we'll need a contractor to replace our ceiling. A mess!

Not Much New...

Nothing new is happening this week... just plugging along with work and stuff at home. To Rob's delight, I'm mostly back to making dinner and am able to do some stuff around the house. Everything, that is, except laundry because I can't balance well enough to carry the basket up and down three flights of steps. Boo hoo for me. :)

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Do you watch American Idol? I know Adam strikes a cord with many of my friends (maybe its his guyliner?), but I like him and hope he wins. He just more dynamic and more entertaining than Kris.

Something about Kris rubs me the wrong way. He's like every bad devo leader rolled up into one, with his cheesy smile and "aw, shucks" attitude. Sorry, Kris fans!

And how about that little Olympian Shawn taking DWTS?? I thought for sure Gilles would win, and I could barely keep my eyes open for the winner to be crowned.

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My ankle is doing better every day. I bought a brace to wear that supports it, but wouldn't you know that our crazy cat made off with it last night? I left it on the table, and this morning it was gone. Rob and I turned the place upside down looking for it, but to no avail. Guess I'll have to buy another one.

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I love Tootsie Roll Midgies. The perfect little treat.

Monday Again

I don't know about for you, but our weekends seem to go so fast! I can hardly blink my eyes, and it seems like Friday afternoon has rolled right into Monday morning.... ugh.

Sunday's geocaching picnic was fun, and I enjoyed meeting a lot of the people. There were about 70 people there, so the crowd, conversation and food was plentiful. Rob won the 50/50 raffle!

After we got home, Rob tossed in some laundry (I finally made my first visit to the basement in seven weeks!) and I baked up a batch of peanut butter granola. We eventually made dinner and I watched Survivor while Rob watched more basketball.

So, all in all, a good weekend.

Can anyone else believe that Memorial Day weekend is coming up in a few short days?!?

Picnic Planning

Rob and I are going to a picnic tomorrow hosted by the geocaching club members in Northern Virginia. I'm intrigued to meet some of these characters. These are people from our area who enjoy placing and finding caches, so I'm imagining a unique collection of fun people who enjoy puzzles, challenges and being outdoors. And since my hubby fits that bill, I'm hoping I like everyone else too.

It's a potluck picnic (they are supplying burgers and hot dogs), so we're taking a pasta salad and a mocha chip bundt cake. Yum! I had more batter than fit in my bundt pan when I was baking today, so I put the rest in a small dish and baked us up a sample cake. Delish.

Not much else happening here.... we finally made it to a burger place tonight for dinner that we've been wanting to try, and while it was good, it wasn't much what I'd expected. I'm walking a little bit better and managed to cram my swollen foot into a different tennis shoe today. Whoo hoo.

Hope you're having a good weekend!

Cast Your Cares to the Wind

Or in my case, my cast to the wind. :)

Yesterday was my six-week check-up with the orthopedic surgeon, and he was very pleased with my healing. So much so that he's taken me out of the cast. Wow!

It does feel really strange to not be wearing it, and because of the swelling, I can only get my lovely gray New Balance sneaker on my foot. These are the shoes I was wearing when I fell, so I guess I've come full circle.

Walking is a little awkward and it's still pretty achy, but I'm doing my exercises and am grateful to be on the mend. Thanks to you for your good thoughts along the way!

Photos from a birthday....

On our way to a great birthday dinner in Arlington...



The fun "geocaching" cake Rob's mom made, complete with a clue to find his presents...



Blowing out 34 candles!

Recipe Sharing: Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Since I've not been doing much cooking in the last six weeks, I haven't had many recipes to share. However, a friend recommended this one recently and it is a HIT! Thanks to Martha Stewart, I'm sharing it with you here. Enjoy!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients
* 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate
* 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
* 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
* 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
* 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.

3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.

4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Customer Service?

I just called a salon up where my parents live, with the hope to get my mom a gift certificate for Mother's Day. I just wanted to buy it over the phone (and pay for it with my credit card), and then Rob can just stop in there tomorrow and pick it up.

When I explained this to the woman who answered the phone, she told me to "call back in a half-hour, hon" because she was swamped.

What??? What kind of crazy customer service is that? I'll call back in a little bit.... wonder if she'll be too busy again and ask me to call tomorrow? :)

To My Husband

Today is Rob's 34th birthday! Last year, I listed 33 reasons why I love him, and all of those (and more!) remain for this year.

However, given the mess of our last six weeks, there's one thing about Rob that really stands out in my mind. He cares for me.

I can't say enough about all of the good and thoughtful things Rob's done for me since our fateful bike ride on March 31. He's been my feet and hands; my nurse; my chef for all meals; my chauffeur; my housekeeper; and my errand-runner.

He's been my number one cheerleader.

Rob has helped me do things that are totally unromantic, like changing my bandages and helping me put on my socks -- things he probably imagined he wouldn't have to do until we are old and gray.

These aren't the things that I thought we'd be doing as we approach our third year of marriage... but then I realized that these are the things that make a marriage. We are partners, good or bad.

Happy birthday, Rob!

An Interview

Finally, Elizabeth Edwards is sitting down and offering some insight into the life and struggles she's faced in the last two years. Her recurrence of a now incurable cancer, days on the campaign trail and the news that her husband of 28 years was unfaithful... and worse yet, lied about it for months... are bound to be touching.

I've readily admired Elizabeth Edwards since she came into a greater public role during the 2004 election. She's seemed to have grace under pressure, and I've been touched by her work on behalf of her family.

Her interview tomorrow is with Oprah, and what's already been released shows that she talks deeply about her challenges and heartache. She also has a new book coming out next week, which I look forward to reading.

Everybody loves a burger...

.... even apparently our President and VP, who dined today at the local burger hot spot that Rob and I enjoyed a few weeks ago.

This should make for even longer lines at this already crowded place!

Rob and I are having dinner Thursday at the steak house owned by this same guy, so it will be interesting to see if the buzz spreads down the strip...

Weekend Round-Up

Our weekend was pretty unadventurous, which is fine by me. Friday night we ran some errands (I zipped around Costco on my knee scooter!), hit the REI sale for Rob to get a Camelback and picked up dinner at Chipotle.

Saturday I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas while Rob was out on a hike. As sad as it was, I really, really liked it. We had dinner at Red Robin on Saturday night and watched The Wrestler when we got home. It is a very odd movie, and I liked the second half far better than the beginning.

Sunday was church, relaxing and yummy French Onion Dip Pizza for dinner.

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I've been shocked this weekend by the murder of a fellow HU grad, and the sister-in-law of a friend of mine. On Friday, reports surfaced that she was missing after a jog, but details have come out that her husband shot her. It's just senseless and heartbreaking for all involved.

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Just as an aside, I'm so over Susan Boyle. And while we're at it, let's get rid of the word Twitter, Saturn car commercials and the fourth hour of the Today Show.

I'm a Walker!

I've gone up and down the steps a few times, and walked from our living room into the kitchen, just using one crutch. Whoo hoo!

I can't tell you how much more enjoyable going up and down the steps is, not on my backside. Although I do think I was giving my upper arms a workout with that maneuver!

We celebrated with dinner at Red Robin. We hadn't been there for ages, and it was so good. Love those fries.

As another punishment reward , Rob rented The Wrestler to watch tonight. Oh, boy. :)

Walking Day

Today is walking day for me. This is the day that my surgeon said I can begin walking on my cast.

The only problem, you see, is that I'm a total chicken.

I don't know if I've psyched myself out or if I'm just crazy, but I'm petrified.

I have dreams where I'm walking all over the place, but when it comes time for me to do it in real life, I freeze.

I know it's going to hurt. I've accepted that. But I know that it's not going to get any better by not testing it out and stretching what I can do.

I'm taking baby steps. In the last two days, I've gone up the steps in our house on my feet. Granted, I pushed down A LOT on my crutch and the banister, but I did it. And this morning I took two steps (right next to my big, comfy, padded armchair, in case I wiped out).

So, wish me luck. Cluck, cluck.