I’ll take every Monday off please.

I had such a great day off yesterday.  I was able to sleep in a bit and enjoy my coffee and half an egg bagel while I blogged before heading to my Mom’s house.

I mainly ate the egg with cheese – the bagel was bought last week and sat in my car for a day before I remembered to bring it in.  It was pretty stale.

I went to my Mom’s house to pick her up for lunch.  We tried to get a picture together, but my head was so big in all the pictures – it just made us laugh!

We headed to Oak Park to wait for my daughter Hannah to get there on the L.  My Mom and I had time to thrift at a consignment store.  My Mom always thinks I look good in hats – I don’t think so though.

I am not the biggest fan of consignment shops because I still think the merchandise is overpriced.  Check out this t-shirt – it was $99!

Hannah texted she was a couple stops away, so we met her at the exit.

Then we headed to Scratch in Forest Park.  Super cute place, the server was excellent. 

My Mom said her friends said not to miss the macaroni and cheese – we split a small for our appetizer.  I can’t imagine what the large would look like!

Super creamy with a crunchy bread crumb topping.  It’s hard for me to ever pass up a macaroni and cheese though!

And after all my drooling for the past several days for the Fire Burger, it did not disappoint!

Here’s the deal though.  the toppings made this burger – the cherry peppers, roasted jalapeno and poblano with the spicy cheese sauce – to die for.  The more I thought about it though, the burger part was . . . just okay.  The server said that they make their own burger mix with brisket and beef – mine was supposed to be a spicy Italian sausage patty, but it tasted just like a regular burger.  She said because of the type of meat they use, you can’t order to temp – she explained that the burgers are cooked to medium – medium/well, but will still be juicy.  Mine wasn’t that juicy.

That being said – the toppings were wonderful – I had salt and pepper chips on the side instead of fries.  What was amazeballs though?  The mustard!

I don’t know if you can see in my basket, but the mustard was very vinegary and peppery.  I’ve decided I need to make this mustard at home, I have no idea how yet, but that may be a football Sunday project for me.

We then dropped my twin sister off back at work – wish you could have stayed out with us!

My boob looks really big in that picture – ha!

I texted Tony my meal and these were his comments – made me laugh

He wouldn’t have touched either thing I got with a ten foot pole.

Then we headed towards downtown LaGrange – a couple thrift stores and some cute shops – it’s really a nice downtown area.  I know where to go now if I need any glassware!  Most of them were priced .85 cents, which seemed a bit odd to me.

I almost bought these twin dolls – one for me and one for my sister – why do they have mustaches though?

And Skippy, there were so many snowmen – I kept thinking of you!

And Shelley – I am kicking myself for not buying this yard for you – only .25 cents a skein (spelling?) – but I know nothing about yarn and it could have been all crap.

And Rhonda, totally thought of you when I saw these cast iron door stoppers – a bit pricey at $75 though!  (p.s.  I miss your blogging and recipes!)

We went into a children’s store and they had bins and bins of tiny things – not even sure what they were for?  The bin of babies was kind of creepy.

And before we knew it, it was time for Hannah to get back on the train to go home – it was great seeing you and thanks for taking the day off to spend it with Nana on her birthday!

It’s getting darker earlier these days – by the time I drove home and I got dinner started, it was already dark at 7:15.  Makes for interesting grilling!  I grilled up two chicken breasts and added some of the copycat Rudy’s bbq sauce.  And I heated up some of the leftover risotto – quick and easy dinner!

The Monday night football game was a blow out, so Tony only watched the first half.  Lori, you must be happy about last nights game!   Then we caught up on some stuff from the DVR – Ray Donovan is getting so good!

So if you guys could just talk to my bosses for me and tell them I’d like to take every Monday off, I would appreciate it!

I am looking forward to getting back into my workout and eating routine – it’s been off for the last few days and I need to reign it back in.  (is it rein or reign?  Helen, you would know the answer to that one I think!)

Thanks for the compliments on the new layout – I do like that the comments are at the end of the post so you don’t have to scroll up.  It’s just a basic form so I’ll be working on a new header, etc. in the next several days. 

Alright, time to get my gym bag packed and my food together – make it a great day!