achilles heel, and a list

At least it wasn’t MY achilles tendon that got torn this week…

Yes, folks, you heard that right. We had a major injury this week; Andrew tore his Achilles tendon at basketball Wednesday, which prompted a 4-hour stay at the local after-hours urgent care, in addition to a heck of a lot of craziness.

Not sure why I couldn’t manage to get a blog post out about it until just now–I do remember wanting to snap a photo while we were in the waiting room, except every time I thought about it, Andrew was playing with my phone. As in, the phone with the camera in it.

And I’m not sure why I couldn’t manage to publish any of the already written posts I have sitting in the queue (since that is precisely what they are there for)…busy week, I guess.

ANYWAY, Andrew is laid-up with surgery scheduled Tuesday. He’s definitely in some pain but has a hefty painkiller prescription, and is thoroughly enjoying Netflix’s instant streaming. (A service we cancelled awhile back and he re-ordered just this afternoon in light of his couch-bound state. Hmm…is that how things get done around here? What kind of ailment can I come up with that will get me a re-attached basement door and some furniture???)

Thankfully, it’s his left foot, which means that–technically–he CAN drive (heck, he drove himself to urgent care!), and will be able to to so at some point soon. Until then, he can bum rides to work with his dad and he’s pretty good on crutches. Gosh, it’s been a HUGE BLESSING having Andrew’s parents here.

And another thing: I’ve learned I’m not a nursemaid. Like, AT ALL. I’m just not a nurse. I’m not compassionate (not that I’m mean, I’m just not overly caring, I suppose) and totally thoughtless. Maybe I’m just distracted right now with school. In any case, pity Andrew–I love him to death and I do try to help, but it’s definitely NOT my gift.

So, that’s the biggest news of our lives right now. As early as the night it happened I was already considering it a blessing; it’s forcing us to stop our house projects and relax (well, he can; I still have school!) and spend time in the same room together. I mean, if Andrew can manage it I’d really like a couple quick things done here before we totally call it quits (like that basement door and the drapes), and maybe he can just talk me through some of these tasks, too.

We also postponed our house-warming party, which has given me such relief it’s not even funny. In all honesty, a couple days ago I started getting a bad feeling about the party–just that I wasn’t ready nor was I looking forward to it because of everything else on my plate–and between Andrew’s injury and finding out our new couch won’t be here until DECEMBER (Lazy-Boy, I am SO UNIMPRESSED I can’t see straight–probably a post all its own), in addition to school projects and the fact that we still haven’t gotten any more furniture or lamps….well, I was a bit stressed. We’re thinking January might be a better time for it.

I’ve already single-handedly raked and disposed of every leaf in our yard. Last night. For three hours straight. THREE HOURS.

I was out loading leaves into a trash can and hauling them to the curb in the dark. You bet I earned those BBQ wings I wanted!

In other news, school is–just like always–completely insane. If it isn’t one class, it’s another. In the past week or so, I’ve had two tests, the first part of a project (to be blogged about later, I hope), and a test, two more projects, a quiz and an essay in the next week. And an article to write. And packages to mail (sorry Heather–your b-day/care package will be in the mail Monday). And I’ve got to get to Wegmans tomorrow–we’re out of spinach! And I have to do research for one of the afore-mentioned projects. I love that I can do homework at Wegmans. Sort of.

Here’s a quick pic of one of my project groups:

I’m in the back peeking over two of the girls. We had to come up with 10 recipes (5 regular, 5 fat-modified), and had the rest of the people in our lab cook them and perform a blind taste-test. That was Wednesday, now THIS coming Wednesday we present our findings and a bunch of information as well as fat-reduced products you find at your grocery store. I made two versions of fried chicken, and I’ll blog about it later.

One more thing: we finally re-filled Hadrian’s bed.

The poor guy’s been sleeping on it almost completely flat for awhile now. We just use packing peanuts from the UPS store. You’d be amazed how they flatten over time…

Well, that’s a good summary of the past week or so. Prayers for Andrew’s surgery and my sanity are greatly appreciated!

mr. nye’s birthday, and other happenings

This post was originally supposed to just be about Mr. Nye’s birthday get-together (which was Sunday afternoon), but so much has happened since then! Note: This post is in no way chronological.

(Edited to add: Yet again, I’ve delayed a day… It’s now Saturday morning and mom arrived last night to visit. We already made a Bed, Bath and Beyond run for a couple small items–blast! Andrew took my coupons in the Pilot on his trip to Ohio this weekend–and are planning lots of house-y things today. We’ve already reorganized my small kitchen appliances and it’s not even 10 a.m.)

And speaking of the Nye’s… I took Hadrian on his first walk in the village yesterday–I can’t believe it’s taken almost a week–to their house to stop by their yard sale. I walked away with a well-loved cookbook of Mrs. Nye’s in which she marked some muffin recipes. Those are always the best kind to have–the marked-up and splattered ones.

Getting him in the shot was surprisingly difficult…

This…

…and this is what you see when you round the park (which is across the street) on your way to the Nyes’ house.

What a beautiful view! I started off in a sweatshirt (can you believe you can wear sweats and pants here in summer?! I LOVE IT.)

In other news, we put our bed together. (I use “we” loosely here; I mostly watched.) And in true pet-fashion, Hadrian had to be in the middle of everything. We had to force him out of the bed so Andrew could finish putting the slats in!

Check out this pint glass. I LOVE pint glasses with fun logos and things, except that I need to curb my habit of ‘collecting’ things I love; my mug, glass, scarf and Le Creuset collections are getting dangerously large…

Anyway, I bought two of these at Hallmark (I much rather would have liked to have found them at some neat store or Goodwill or something, but oh well, Hallmark does have cute stuff) LAST SUMMER almost as soon as we moved into the hotel. I couldn’t bear to break them out until we were in our “forever home,” so they’ve been living in a paper bag shoved in a bin ever since.

I busted them out the other night as we ate leftover pizza and celebrated getting both the extra fridge and freezer into the basement. (There I go again with this “we” business; I had no part in that victory. Andrew, his dad, and a couple other engineer friends from Moog graciously helped move our appliances this past week.) And a victory it was! They had to take the doors off both of them, plus the basement door AND doorframe, and even get a special tool. But I’m happy with them in the basement, which is all that matters 🙂

Now, onto the party!!

We’ve been ‘adopted’ by the Nyes, especially since Alex had to go and move to Pittsburgh, just as we moved back to EA. We find ourselves over there once every week or two–invited or not–and Mrs. Nye force-feeds us homemade cookies and Kone King ice cream she keeps stocked in the freezer. We have it rough, I know.

So, when we heard Alex would be in town for his dad’s birthday and that his little get-together would be Sunday afternoon–as in, the Sunday we were in the middle of moving–there was no question we’d be taking a break to attend. These celebrations are always ‘intimate’ affairs–late lunches in which family (immediate, cousins and grandma) and Andrew and I–crowd into the eat-in kitchen. This time we feasted on steak, pork, potatoes, green beans, rolls and fruit.

I know posting this picture of Andrew is dangerous–what with the Nye boys being loyal readers and all–but I had to. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up on a blanket!

We sang and Mr. Nye blew out his candles before we enjoyed some of the best chocolate cake (or should I say best icing) I’ve had in awhile. Mrs. Nye, I’m (almost) ashamed to admit that I single-handedly ate all the leftover cake you sent home with us…in one sitting. Do you have more? I might need some soon.

And the event wouldn’t be complete without one of Adam’s ‘Andrew creations.’ This time, Andrew’s blanket presided over us, hanging from an upper window, akin to a poster of Kim Jong Ill or something.

You just never know what you’re gonna get with Adam. You just never know.

all stocked up

(An alternate title to this blog could read: ‘On why I might make an OK mother after all’)

Andrew and I are flying to DC this weekend to spend the holiday with my family, and we enlisted Abigail to come stay with Hadrian instead of kenneling him.

My first thought was of all the goodies I could have out for our houseguest. I can’t help it. It’s the pineapple in me.

(Hadrian is also all stocked up on toys, too.)

However, between all of the Layers being on ‘diets’ (some more strict than others), and my unwillingness to buy what I call ‘crap,’ (gosh, that sounds harsh) you won’t find Combos or Cheetos or anything of that nature lurking around here!

Bananas, apples and oranges, as well as a selection of pseudo-healthy cereal bars and things (just about anything is ‘healthy’ in moderation, I think), and some crunchy things like Quakes and multigrain tortilla chips.

In the fridge Abigail will find celery and baby carrot sticks, as well as strawberry yogurts and 100% juice boxes.

There are even goodies in the freezer!

I walked down the frozen section in search of acceptable popsicles, when I came across all these Skinny Cow treats ON SALE. I tell you, it was like the White Mint bars were CALLING to me. And I know one of Abigail’s favorite flavors is cookies and cream, so I had to get both. Of course. I threw in some lemon sorbet bars thinking Andrew would like that flavor as well.

And, not to out-do myself or anything, I included a selection of the things I’ve made with the abundance of overripe bananas we’ve had on hand: strawberry-banana muffins, my banana bread with coconut and walnuts turned into muffins, and King Arthur Flour’s Chocolate-Chip Banana Squares.

In making my favorite banana bread into muffins, I decided it needed to be even healthier! One and a half cups of sugar just seemed WAY. TOO. MUCH–even for two loaves–so I slashed away…again. Here is my updated page with the recipe. The muffins baked up nice and high; this is, hands down, the BEST banana bread recipe EVER.

I’ll also be putting out some of Andrew’s butter-flavored microwave popcorn bags, some of my favorite mac and cheese in a box (Annie’s!) and coffee pods.

I’m sure Hadrian will have a ball with Aunt Abigail (she calls him ‘horsey’), and we’re happy to have her come stay and keep the animals company. I just hope she doesn’t think all my ‘health food’ is too weird…