I Break For Errands

I had a sitter this morning...for 4.5 hours! Free time, all to myself. Yes, I have a regular sitter weekly, but part of that time David and I have a date. Don't get me wrong. I love our date nights and I am so grateful we've been able to make it work. But, having such a huge chunk of time to myself was heavenly.

Yeah, I ran some errands, but I also got to do something I've been itchin' to do for some time now, which is browse through City People's, the merchantile store in Sandpoint. It's not one of those places I'd take my kids into. In fact, there was a woman leaving with her two children who are older than Vincent and Tyler, and though she was nice and calm, I could tell it wasn't the most pleasant experience for her. It was just so nice to take my time and look at every little knick knack in there. I came out of there spending less than $20 on a kid's birthday gift, a potato scrubber, and a couple of cards.

The remainder of the day was pretty chill. Actually, Vincent was being rude to me at naptime, but we had a little talk about his behavior, and later that David and I decided that we will be scheduling a family meeting in the next few days to discuss some of these rudeness issues, including those revolving around naptime.

For dinner, I made this corn chowder recipe I got from www.Cozi.com. Actually, I adapted it, but this was a good guideline. Even though I didn't follow this exact recipe, here it is:

Prep time: 35 minServings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 large potato, peeled and diced
• 2 ½ cups water or broth
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 stalks celery, chopped fine
• ½ red bell pepper, chopped fine
• 5 cups fresh corn (or 16 oz frozen)
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• ¼ tsp dried thyme (or 1 tsp fresh)
• ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

Preparation

1. In a medium saucepan (not the one you will use for the final soup), bring potato and broth to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are just tender.
2. Melt butter over medium-low heat in large saucepan/soup pot. Add onions and salt and cook for 5 minutes. Add celery and cook 5 minutes more. Add cooked potatoes and liquid, red pepper, corn, basil, thyme and pepper. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender in the soup for a few seconds to lightly blend the soup, leaving some of the corn unblended. Add milk, peas and spinach and simmer until heated through. DO NOT BOIL. (Milk may separate if boiled.)    

After dinner, we tried to get cupcakes at Cupcake Royale in Madrona, but they were all out! What? But, we ran into Vincent's old tots class teacher on the street and she hot tipped us that Molly Moon's just opened up in the neighborhood. They're not my favorite ice cream in town, but when you've hyped up cupcakes to your toddlers and end up without, not-my-favorite ice cream becomes my favorite at that moment. And, those people at Molly's sure are clever. This is just a little stand, selling popsicles, single, pre-scooped, cups, and pints. Lots of flavors, so there's plenty to choose from. Clever indeed. And, my boys were happy. Not to mention the hour+ of playtime at the park afterwards.