Anyone have apricot recipes?

Our first harvest from our apricot tree in our backyard. When we first moved in our landlord said that the tree might just be ornamental, but we tried one last week and they are really good. Now I am thinking either jam or crumble with these. I think I would need a few more for jam so it may have to be crumble. :)
This might entice me to set up some vegetables in the backyard as well. At the moment it is all landscaped, but if I decided to move one of the plants and maybe start some beans or something else, I do not think they would say no.
I also need to remember to start a friendship bread bag. A person at work requested one and I have not started it just yet. Maybe this evening would be a good time to do that. I have decided that most of the friendship bread should be completely given away so as not to temp me.

At this precise moment, I am trying to figure out if the neighbors out back (we share this lot with a garage that has living upstairs) are going away this weekend or if they are staying in town.....the reason being is that they have a granddaughter who likes to have parties while they are gone and she brings all sorts of unsavory characters around. Personally I think they are all pretty good kids, from good families, but who knows what kind of shenanigans they can get into. I think I am starting to sound like that old lady neighbor on Bewitched who always used to look through the curtains. Next thing you know I am going to start setting up neighborhood watches and take in all the stray cats in the area.

This weekend does not hold any huge events, which is pretty nice. Tonight I am thinking a low key dinner and movie.

Update on neighbor watch 09: the truck has moved, but the grandlady is still in the nest, repeat, still in the nest. Looks like it might be a full weekend at the ranch.

Oh, shout out to my sister....she just turned another year younger yesterday. :)

New Home

So, we have finally settled into our new place. Here are some pics:
It looks a tad bit gloomy on the day we took the photos, but it is a cute little place and we have tons of parking off the street which is nice. The backyard has an apricot tree in it and it used to have a pepper tree as well, but the landlord took it out while putting in a new fence, which did not make our neighbors out back too happy. Our most favorite piece in the house right now is this addition. We have had to use quarters for way way too long. :) In other news, I am trying to piece together the last preparations for our golf tournament which is this next Monday. I will be so happy when it is over. We have two flights at one golf course which means I have to be at the golf course at 5 am and we will probably not finish until 10:30 pm or so. I will be one cranky person at the end of that evening. I am also pretty tired of dealing with all the golfers. Boy are they particular on all the little aspects of the game...hello people this is a "charity event".
After the tournament it is time to reevaluate what I want to do. I think it might be time for me to step out of special events.

Bizarre Month

The Open Road:The month of April was a complete blur. We moved into a new rental on April 1st. It was a fast move and I feel that we are now pretty much settled here. We also took a road trip across country to retrieve some family heirlooms that we were meaning to bring out.
Our itinerary was to fly into Chicago, see my family in Illinois, visit Jon's sister and brother and pick up the furniture pieces we wanted. Drive to Kansas City where we would visit friends and then pick up another important piece of furniture and then head home with some fun stops in between. We did pack a lot of visits into that short trip, but I wish I had had time to see some of my other friends that are back in the midwest and I hope to be back soon to visit them.
Trip Highlights: Friends that we did see, Family that we saw and caught up with, the steaks at our friends place in KC, the Vapor Caves in Colorado, and the Hoover Dam. I think Jon might also like to add the Comfort Inn's free waffle breakfast to that as well.
We were able to see a friend before he went off to the Peace Corp in Africa which was nice considering it was literally right before he left and I am sure everyone was vying for his time. We spent some quality time with my parents and had a nice lunch with Jon's Aunt who drove up from Iowa.
We then drove to Jon's sister's place where we picked out the pieces of furniture that we wanted. Once the car was all packed up, we headed to KC where our friends grilled the best steaks ever and let us crash in their comfy guest room. They also had a cat that was so similar to Woody, we could almost mistake them. Mr. Grimace (Woody's twin):The next morning we met Jon's cousin who handed over an antique table (early 1800s) that was brought from Haiti by Jon's great great grandmother. We had lunch and then hauled it across the state of Nebraska. That was the longest drive day...a total of 11 hours. We made it all the way through to Glenwood Springs where we went to the Yampah Caves and relaxed in the sulfury heat. Absolutely lovely. We then headed out to Nevada where we stayed at the Comfort Inn and went on the Dam Tour at the Hoover Dam.
We finally made it back to the West coast with no big issues, just a ton of dead bugs on the windshield. We came home to Mr. Woodrow who greeted us warmly and said he did not have too many parties while we were away.I promise to soon write about our new nest and fill you in on the copious amounts of laundry which we are doing in our fantastic "doesn't require quarters" washer and dryer. Hope everyone is doing well.

Busy Bees

Well, after seven years of living at the Beach, Jon and I are moving inland.
A ghastly 4 miles inland to be precise.

Oh the tragedy of moving so far away. It will now be a 10 minute drive to get to the beautiful sands of Redondo.

Actually, I am still getting used to the fact that we are leaving this neighborhood. So many things I will miss. The pier, the quiet neighborhood, the wild parrots, the drugstore right up the street, and the amazing beach sunsets that we got so used to that we started taking them for granted.

The new neighborhood is a cute tree lined street with little bungalow houses, one which we will be renting - yes, we are still renting....prices are still insanely ridiculous out here for homes. There is a small downtown area nearby with a Fosters Freeze, a small town bakery, and some nice non-chain restaurants. Jon will be able to walk to work as he will be so close to the office. The one thing that I believe is the icing on the cake is the fact that we will have a washer and dryer....one that I will NOT have to feed quarters. YEAH!!!!!!
I wonder if I will still collect quarters like a squirrel collects nuts. There have been times at the store where I will hold up a line just to count out the change in smaller denominations to save the quarters in my coin purse....No more...I will hand over that quarter with glee, unless I find out it is a rare quarter from some special year that is worth more. And I will still hold up the line with coupons.

The place we are renting is a small three bedroom with a fireplace, a little backyard and a HUGE garage. The bedrooms are very small, but I am hoping to fit all the furniture into them.

Well, that is also why I have been so lax on updating the site.
We are in the midst of packing:
Right now I am shoving things into boxes a little haphazard. I dumped all the drawers from the kitchen and living room and labeled it combined junk drawers. Hopefully the movers we hired will know exactly where to put that valuable box.

Trying to purchase new items:
We must find a washer & dryer to buy before April 1st when our sales tax in this state reaches an all time high...what was it again, 90%? I also want to buy an area rug, curtains, and a huge bottle of Excedrin.

Writing a list of places I need to make sure get my change of address:
Whew...so many, I cannot believe we have been in our place for 7 years....too much has accumulated.

Setting things aside for Yard sale:
Well, a couple of days ago a few very expensive items that we could have probably sold to a collector were taken to the goodwill. I tried not to get too upset as I should have said something before, but blast it, they was worth monies.

Stay tuned for pics and for things I will NOT miss! :)