Blow off Friday

So, I totally blew off my Friday, which has been my plan since Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, let me rephrase, I dutifully went to my scheduled appointments and TOOK phone calls. But when it came to making calls that I had planned....well, let's just say they got pushed to Monday. I love being boss of my own schedule!! But on with blogging business as usual....

Sean and I are pretty good with what we eat, at least 75 to 80% of the time, and one of the best books we have found for this is Cook This, Not That by David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding, who have also written the very popular Eat This, Not That. What is awesome about this book is that it takes popular resturant dishes and breaks calories and nutrition facts down (SCAREY!!), and then shows you how to make the alternative at home, and shows you how much better it is for you. Not sure how it works, but it does. And the food is delightful! I made this particular sweet treat for Sean on his birthday last year. Warning: This is involved, don't start it unless you have the time to finish it.
Ricotta Cheesecake with Warm Blueberriers (inspired by Cheesecake Factory's Strawberry Cheesecake):
8 oz graham crackers
6Tbsp butter, melted
1-12oz container par-skim ricotta, drained
2-8oz packages ligh cream cheese, softened
3/4C + 2Tbsp sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1-16oz bag of frozen blueberries
Cover the size of a 9" springform pan with tin-foil
Grind the graham crackers up and add the melted butter (whiz it around in a food processor for a few minutes, or something else to get it mixed up good, it's your crust). Pour it over the bottom of the pan (not up the sides). Bake for about 15 min, or until golden brown.
Blend the ricotta, cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and lemon zests until smooth. Add eggs and blend again.
Pour the micture over the crust. Place the pan in a baking dish, and pour enough hot water into the dish to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
Bake about 1 hour, until golden brown and center of the cake moves slightly when gently shaken. Cool for an hour on the counter, then refridgerate for about 4 hours.
When the cheesecake is ready to be cut, combine the blueberries, lemon juice, and remaining sugar in a saucepan. Simmer 5-7 minutes, until the blueberries begin to pop and become syrupy. Cut the cake and serve blueberries generously over the top.
Delish!!

Proverbs 31:31
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
This is on my Facebook because I love it so much. It's the end of Proverbs 31, that talks about the Ideal Woman. We studied this chapter in my Women's Bible-Study this fall/winter, and I very much enjoyed it. I recommend the chapter to any woman who wonders how God pictures man's perfect mate. Going through this chapter while going through my engagement was really nice, because I think it allowed me the time to prepare myself to be Sean's partner in the most Godly way (or at least on my way to being Godly) that I can be. And I just love how it's wrapped up. In the end, people will see through your charm, and your beauty will fade; but loving the Lord is always something that will perservere (one would hope) and will keep you true and accountable.

Soooo.....back to this blowing off of my Friday. Oh, and what a perfect day to blow off work, you know?? It's been so BLAZING hot lately. And it wasn't as super cool today, but it also didn't reach the 90's by 6am either, like it at least seems like it has been doing the last few weeks. SO I hit the gym, as planned, because I did have a 10am. But, my appointment was with a 14 y/o girl that loves animals. So what did I decide to do? Load up the lab, and take her and my client to the park. Can I say that one of the best parts of working with kids is that most of them LOVE animals (duh, the unconditional love that some of these kids are lacking is personified PERFECTLY through animals), and my dog loves to go; so naturally, I mix business and pleasure, and Abby becomes part of the "therapy" I do with some of these kids. Let me say I am not a licensed therapist, nor have I got the degree/qualifications for it, but I'm human. I understand what other humans need. So there is a certain amount of implied therapy that happens when you work with kids and families....that's just how it goes. And, it a job that isn't ALWAYS the most relaxed, it's good to have my buddy with me sometimes, too. And I don't have to worry about HIPA with her. Nerdy. So we take my dog to the park, and she's playing in the water, and running and running and running with her tongue hanging out, and what looks like the BIGGEST smile on her face. Sometimes as she comes galloping across our path, she stumbles just a little. Animals really DO fit the disposition of their owners at times. And she behaved perfectly, which is always a relief, as with any 3 year old. After taking my client home, and proceeded straight back to my house, where I turned on John and Kate Plus 8 (that persective thing) and took exactly two phone calls before I had a 3 o'clock transport. From there, I got to go to my dad's house and assist him in buying tickets to the Ducks/Cougs game on Oct. 9th. Hello, front row of the Ducks side, right by the band. WOOO!! My dad found it appropriate to tell me that Jan will be wearing a Cougs shirt. And I found it appropriate to tell my dad that Jan can sit elsewhere. Now, really....I love Jan. I would never tell her to sit elsewhere. Except in this case. NO COUGS ALLOWED! She's not sitting by me, anywhow. I'm going to buy her a Ducks shirt as a pre-emptive strike. Dad says she already has a Cougs shirt....but again, I don't care. No. Cougs. Allowed.

Sean and I have also chosen this blown off Friday as the opportune time to seed our yard. Which means pulling the massive amount of weeds that has consumed our giant sand box in the back of our house in the last 2 months that we've been here. If grass grows like weeds, then we are in business. I started this project on my last lonely Wednesday, but burned out when my older sister called to "spoil the Christmas suprise" (ok that she did, I already knew what it was, or at least I THOUGHT I knew, turns out I was right) and I became consumed with talking to her. Welcome end to an evening of weed pulling. So we finished up tonight. I haven't had allergies all season, but spending an hour, give or take, upside down, pulling weeds, brought them on like magic. At least I know they'll clear up by morning. And now Sean and I have a giant pile of weeds in the back of our yard that we are not sure how to get ride of (too many for the trash can!). So we've decided that it would be fun to call the sheriffs department to ask if it's legal to burn the massive "weed pile" in our back yard. Imature jokes. So fun. So we've got the rest of the weekend to rake up some rocks, wed the sand down, and then seed the thing. Hopefully we'll have grass for the puppy to at least sniff around in a few weeks, and then be able to get her home SOON.

As for now, Eat, Pray, Love is calling my name, and I'm suseptible to the distraction.