which side of the hump (day) are you on?

Isn't Wednesday an interesting day? Even at 8:00 am I feel myself hopping on my sled and starting to slide down the other side of the work-week hill. If you think about it's a really ridiculous thought. My week isn't anywhere near being over on Wednesday at 8:00 am, but I guess the psychological release of looking at it that way helps me cope. Today I need all the coping mechanisms I can muster, this rain is making me feel blah.

Well this weekend was a blur, and it's turned into a blurry week. Friday we made the soup I mentioned. It was good, I changed it up a bit, but nothing worth recounting here. On Saturday... what did I do on Saturday? Ah yes I kind of did nothing. It was sort of blissful, sort of boring. I made (frozen, shame on me) spanikopita and a lovely brie for little Gabriel and Zoe's baptisms on Saturday night.

The brie deserves a paragraph to itself. I wanted to do something different. I thought about the ever popular brie with honey and walnuts and decided to do something different. I caramelized some onion, and added some roasted red peppers, garlic and rosemary. I piled the jewel toned mush on top of a warm wheel of brie. It was pretty good if I do say so myself... I think I'm allowed to like what I cooked, right? (Brandon gets angry at me for my constant negativity about my own food, it's hard for me to like what I cook.)

Sunday was another blur, we had church followed by a wedding shower for Gigi, followed by a very small nap, followed by young adults.

My brother is still in the hospital, he has a pleural effusion, a condition where fluid is gathering between his lungs and his chest wall. They're thinking he may have to have surgery to correct the problem, since a chest tube that was in his chest over the weekend did not completely correct the issue. He is very depressed right now. Please continue to pray for him.

I'll talk to you soon.

it's friday... thank you!

After a long and pretty eventful week it's Friday. Caleb is still in the hospital, he has a tube connected to his chest draining the excess fluid. It's painful, and quite frankly this sucks for him. He's mad, and rightly so. Please pray for him.

Pray for my wonderful parents as well. They've been putting in very long days and taking turns sleeping on a hideous vinyl sofa-like contraption. Tonight is dad's night to come home. This sucks for them too. My sweet sister has been coming home, at night too. She has been at the hospital continuously. This is tough for her too. She doesn't complain, but I have a feeling she would rather play with her best friend Ashton.

Tonight I'm taking Clare home with me after work. (Caleb's hospital is next door to my office.) I just reserved Kit Kidridge an American Girl at the RedBox for her. I've never used the RedBox before, but the deal is: $1.00 per day rentals you pick up from kiosks at various locations such as Wal-Marts and drugstores. How great is that? So we shall see how many days I end up keeping them. I haven't always been the best renter. (oops) I'll give you a full report on our RedBox experience.

I'm planning on cooking a white bean soup with escarole served along with some baked polenta. It should be pretty good. I glanced at a recipe, but I'm not planning on using it. I hate to use a recipe for a soup, soup is simple people! I gleaned inspiration for the soup, but I can guarantee Caitlyn's version will have a whole lot more soul!

I AM planning on using a recipe for some vegan gingerbread cookies tonight! I've been craving them lately and I love to dip a spicy, sweet, crisp gingerbread cookie into black coffee. Wow, my mouth is currently watering. I cannot wait for tonight!!!

Speaking of coffee. I just found Ruta Maya coffee at Costco. If you're a Costco person check this stuff out. It's the kind of coffee served at my beloved Cafe Eclectic. It's amazing. I liked it more than Starbucks coffee even when I worked there. (I still love my Bux, but I really like this coffee a whole lot!) Plus the costco bag is a steal compared to buying the whole beans at Cafe Eclectic. Mmmmmmmm.

New hobby alert! Caitlyn has given up the two needles for the hook. Wow, that sounds wierd. What I meant to say was, I have taken up crocheting! I love knitting, but it makes noise. I like to take my work with me to social settings, young adults group, etc. but I hate to disturb others. Crocheting is easier for me, and the results are more consistent. (For me that is, some people are awesome knitters, and I do not plan to abandon the art form forever, we're just taking a break from one another.) My mom taught me to crochet at the hospital the other night and I've almost completed a scarf for my sister. I love having something to do with my hands.

Oh, here's my theory about why I took up crocheting: Knitting has become a very hipster thing to do. And you know me, I like to think I'm unique, so being a hipster just won't do. Crochet is much more counter-culture, hehehe. That's right I just called a grandma hobby "counter-culture." Whatever... I like to think I'm on the cutting edge!

Bon weekend!

Caleb

Please pray for my brother Caleb. He has developed pneumonia because of his surgery. He's currently in the hospital, and should be able to come home soon.

I'll keep you updated.

favorites...

I am, once again, inspired by Laurin to write a favorites post. It's getting a little chilly. There are so many great perks associated with this time of year, but there are also some other exciting things I wanted to tell you about.

1. My bamboo yarn and knitting needles. What's not to love about bamboo? It can be made into anything... including super soft olive green yarn. It has been a joy to knit with. I'll give you a full report on my little scarf when I complete it. I'm such a fair-weather knitter. I only get interested when it's chilly. Here's a funny story for those of you who know my buddy James. On Saturday night I babysat him and I was knitting, he looked at me and asked what I was doing and said "my Grandmommy does that too," (as many of you know his grandmother Corrine is a very accomplished knitter) so I responded by saying "yes she does, but she does a better job than I do." James looked at me very matter-of-factly and said, "yes, she is better." I just love children, you can't find honestly like that in adults!
2. My microplane. It has been such a great tool to use. I thought it was limited to zest and nutmeg capabilities, but it makes Parmesan fall like snow! It's a beautiful thing.



3. My Russian tea mix. I tried to make my own version after our first visit to Alektor Cafe, but they sell their own version, so Brandon got me some when we were there with Chase and Gigi. It tastes like Christmas, citrus-y, spicy, yummy!
4. Salted caramel hot chocolate. Yes this is shameless advertising for my previous employer, Starbucks. It is the most amazing hot chocolate in the world. It tastes like a chocolate covered pretzel. It is so so so good, and very cozy!
5. My pashmina. OK, it's not a real pashmina, it was from Target. But it's such great little comfort to have when I get cold (really cold) at work.
6. Instant sweet potatoes. I just found these. They're just like the instant mashed white potatoes, but much better. They're almost a little too sweet so add some salt. I can't believe I've just listed two pre-packaged products. They're both THAT GOOD!



7. My sweet little watercolors. I haven't had much time to paint since we came home, but it was just the thing I needed to flex my creative muscle. Next project, Christmas cards.
8. My heating pad. I love the thing. It's my cure all. No matter what hurts, I swear it can fix it!
9. "Ella's Story, The Duchess who Became a Saint" by: Maria Tobias. It's a children's book about St. Elizabeth the New Martyr. She is one of my favorite Saints. She is extra special to me because she was a convert to Orthodoxy, and she lived in the past 100 years. I think I'll write some more about her in the near future.


10. OCF. We have been having such a great time at Orthodox Christian Fellowship recently. This past Thursday Fr. Mark Sutton from St. Seraphim OCA church came to speak to us about monasticism. Fr. Mark's daughter is a nun, and he showed us some beautiful photos of St. Paisius Serbian Monastery in Arizona where she lives. I love that there are monastics all over the world, a topic I hope to write more about in the future.

Well, I'm home sick (again) right now, so I've used a couple of these creature comforts/ favorite things today. Now I'm back to bed. Goodnight.

well, we're back...

We're home now and back to normal. This is a fact I would prefer to forget.

The rest of our trip was very nice. We just spent some time relaxing and having fun. We watched Bee Movie and The Namesake. It's always so nice to have absolutely NO PLANS!

We went to St. Elizabeth the New Martyr Church in Murfreesboro on Sunday morning. Chase and Gigi were able to come as well. It was such a nice parish, everyone was so kind!

Would you like a recipe?

On Saturday night I made my Enchilada Lasagna. It's a recipe that was born out of some exploding enchiladas one night. I scrapped the neat little rolled enchiladas and layered everything lasagna style. It's very casserole-ish, but always a crowd pleaser. My 9 year old sister even liked it! I wanted to take a picture but the three of us gobbled it up before I got a chance.

Please forgive but you know this is a Caitlyn recipe, and my mother taught me how to cook. As a result, I don't have exact measurements. Learn to cook like this and I promise it'll always taste better. You learn how to use your chef instincts much better this way and you won't be as stressed out when you sit down to eat, I promise!

Ingredients: Sour cream, milk, salsa, cilantro to taste, small corn tortillas, whole kernel canned corn (drained,) canned black beans (rinsed and drained,) onions (diced and sauteed,) and shredded cheese. Lots of cheese!

• First I make a sauce, usually with sour cream thinned with a tiny bit of milk and mixed with some salsa. Sometimes I add cilantro, but it isn't necessary. This weekend we didn't have sour cream so I used white cheese dip warmed up in the microwave with the salsa and cilantro.
• Then I cut strips of corn tortillas with a pizza cutter they're usually about 1 inch in width. These will serve as my lasagna noodles.
• Then I layer however I want! Usually this consists of tortilla, sauce, corn, black beans, sauteed onions, and cheese.... Repeat. I think usually the lasagna ends up with about 3 layers. Just be sure to end with cheese, after all this is a lasagna.
• Also, be sure to use the sauce liberally, otherwise it becomes too dry.
• Then I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. This all depends on how many layers you make. I just watch for the cheese and take it out when it starts browning.
• This weekend we squeezed limes onto the our portions and it made the lasagna come alive! Doesn't lime make everything better?

Happy Monday!

travelogue...

I think I've figured out why I blog. It's because I have a really bad memory, and I'm not terribly organized... The CaitlynCosm is basically my filing system.

On that note, on to part two of my travelogue:

Yesterday we made the trip to Nashville. We went just in time for a late lunch at San Antonio Taco Company. Meribeth recommended it to me a while back, and even though we pass it almost every time we go to Nashville, this was our first visit.

The ordering process is sort of intimidating. You have to fill out an order sheet, much like at sushi bars. It seems like one of those places where you should just get out of the way and let the regulars order. I had to ask too many questions before I could commit to my order sheet! Maybe I'm just paranoid about these places because I've seen the "Soup Nazi" Seinfeld episode one too many times.

Anyway, it was a very good taco. The tortillas were so good. They're soft and chewy, they reminded us of a thin version of a gyro sandwich. Brandon and I had guacamole tacos, and Clare just had a regular ground beef version. I think she liked it.

After lunch we took Clare to the Frist. After viewing the latest photography exhibit we went to Artquest, it's the Frist's children's area. I have to say it was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun for Clare, I'm convinced she's going to be a famous artist someday.

She made a rubbing with crayons. Then she made her own design and put it into the printing press and got a really cool print.

There was a clay section and we made clay creations. I made a tray of cinnamon rolls. (Honestly I didn't have any other inspiration other than food.)

Clare made a replica of the Lincoln Monument.
There was a watercolor section and we all painted. Clare doesn't like her creation so no picture. I made a picture of our lovely day at Sewanee...

Today we repeated our last Saturday. We had lunch at Alektor cafe again, but this time our friends Chase and Gigi were heading through Nashville. We're also planning on meeting them for church tomorrow. Our lunch was as delicious as last weekend, and I got some Christmas shopping done!Afterwards we went back to Gigi's cupcakes and I got a chocolate malt, lemon, Texas milk chocolate, and Scarlet's velvet cupcakes. I only actually ate the chocoalte malt this afternoon. It was very good. It was a chocolate cake with a malted chocolate icing. Then there were malt ball bits on the sides of the icing. The cutest detail was the tiny little straw peeking out from the top. It looked like a little milkshake masterpiece!
On our way back we stopped at Michael's craft store and I got some watercolors. I had so much fun painting yesterday and couldn't wait to do it again!

We've had a very fun past two days. Tomorrow's out last day. I'll let you know all about it!

My little brother is doing great. He's already standing (a day earlier than expected) and his back looks AWESOME!!! Here he is post-op. He's not the happiest camper at this point. He won't be eating for another few days, but soon he'll be the normal 17 year he used to be, but WITHOUT the not so awesome hump in his back.

One of the nurses asked him why he had surgery. He answered, "because I had a mountain on my back." Not anymore buddy. It's gone! Woohooo! Thanks for the prayers, please continue to remember him in your prayers.

Today.

Today was my brother's surgery... and it went very very well! Thank you so much for all the prayers. The toughest part is yet to come. The eight hour surgery is nothing compared to the recovery. Please continue to pray for him.

I am with my sister at my aunt's home. Clare is staying here with her until my parents come home, but this weekend my aunt and uncle had to go out of town. As a result I got to come up to hang out with Clare, and Brandon was able to join!


We drove here last night and have been hanging out. This morning we made whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and played chess. Then we decided to make the trip to Sewanee. We thought a picnic would be a wonderful idea since The University of the South is eye candy... it's like a really big dark chocolate bar of beauty.

Our picnic menu:

• Salmon paninis with a mustard spread, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, and sauteed red onions.
• Clare ate a turkey and cheese panini with onions.
• I made a red kidney bean salad: It consisted of a can of red kidney beans drained and washed, 1/4 of an onion finely chopped, 5-10 minced green olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and crumbled blue cheese. I just mixed it all together and refrigerated it. Very nice!
• Honeydew melon.

We ate our picnic on the campus and then went to explore the town. We went to a very sweet cafe called The Blue Chair Bakery and Coffee Shop. I got a 7 layer bar and their very yummy house blend coffee. Clare got a chair shaped sugar cookie made in the likeness of the famous blue chair with lemonade and Brandon got hot cocoa.

They also have a market/ restaurant adjacent to the cafe. It was a charming place, and today was a bit misty and it was a perfect place to spend some time up on the mountain. After we ate we spent some time exploring the town even more. They have plenty of cute shops and cafes, it's absolutely charming.

Then we headed to the campus to peruse. It is the most beautiful campus I know of. Their crowning beauty is the All Saints Chapel. (It's an Episcopalian church.) I'll let the photos do the talking.

We walked around for about an hour then we headed to a lookout to take in the very pretty views from the mountain. (Thanks Clare for the awesome photography!)

On our way home we stopped in another small town town, Cowan. It was also very quaint.

Now we're back, and a little tired! We just online ordered Papa John's Pizza... Isn't that the epitome of laziness?! I didn't even pick up the phone or stop my blogging, I just typed the numbers into the computer. Whatever, I don't care, I LOVE PJP! (And that garlic butter sauce... YUM!) I will make up for the laziness by making some banana bread per Laurin's recipe. I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!