Pirtlefest 2016… and 17

Pirtlefest 2016 & 2017 highlights coming at you today.   

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We believe 2017 made for year 11 of this nonsense, but the memory of its origination is slightly blurry.

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Pirtlefest 2018 is right around the corner, so no better time than now to dig into the ghosts of Pirtlefest past.

It might also serve you well to check in on your liver and start giving it a few pep-talks.

Perhaps even your off-roaders.

 

Pirtlefest originated all thanks to the Patriarch of the Family, Gary!

His birthday, his idea, his fun.

Let’s just say it has evolved a smidge since its inception, however, the underlying tone still stands.

Family, Friends, and good clean Fun.

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From horses …

 

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To Mud…

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To burying your prized possessions…

 

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To Music…

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To Family…

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And Friends…

 

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One thing is for certain…

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If you aren’t having any kind of fun…

 

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… we probably aren’t your people.

 

Cheers to Pirtlefest 2018! 

 

The countdown is on…

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Labor Day Weekend | 2015

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Three. Day. Weekend.   It’s like music to my ears.  Or was, anyway.   How does it always go by so fast?  Sigh…. and thus we begin our “Working for The Weekend” grind again.

Friday started with a Harley ride to work, as those opportunities are rare.  Being a girl, in a professional work environment, with 20 miles between home and work plus the need for gym attire, Harley attire, work attire… blah blah blah.  You get the picture.

Friday was a jeans day, with a fun Division meeting for the first two hours of my day (complete with t-shirt design competition), a few hours of work and an hour of Wellness Promotion (shameless plug for my fitness classes I start offering to staff on the 14th too)

😉

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FAW (Friday After Work) I was able to meet up with my girl Heidi for an impromptu early evening ride to Waterloo for some cocktails, live music and girl talk.   It was the perfect Friday night.

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Saturday

Clint was in C-town doing more Pirtlefest preps, so I decided to take on a few projects around the house.

Project A: Choose a new front door color.

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An early morning trip to Home Depot and I was well on my way.

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… with the Iowa game on and dogs monitoring my work, of course.

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Before | After

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I am in love!

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I’d love to change the hardware and light fixture above the door as well, but maybe another day.

In between coats of primer and paint I also spent a great deal of time trimming up all of the rose bushes and random crap growing in front of our house (Project B).

…And by trimming, I actually mean cutting down.

Oops.

Have I mentioned I hate clutter?  Guess that transfers outside too.   I hate rose bushes.

Project C: String patio lights over our unfinished back patio.

:p

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Earlier this summer, Clint and company poured a sidewalk and half of our patio in the back.   It wasn’t intentionally done this way, but measurements were a little off… NBD.   Eventually it will extend to where the dog houses are and curve back around.  Our fire pit (which is sitting on top of the ground for now) will go in the middle.

I thought patio lights would look sweet over the top of this, so did a little mock-up, made a trip to Target for lights and started stringing.

So, how about a little math?

$48 of lights +  secure starting point +  connecting point for the four strands + a little too tight of a stretch on the last strand = a big glassy mess.

Just add it to my pile of trash for the weekend.

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Nightfall came quickly so the dogs and I had to call it a night.  Clearly they were exhausted after all that work.

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Sunday

An insanely humid morning equaled a less than enthusiastic start to my day.  5 miles sounded daunting in that heat, so I pulled out my witty tank to garner some laughs out on the trail.   I always wave/nod/acknowledge anyone I meet while out on the trail, so figured adding a laugh would help keep me going, if not them too.

Side Note: Please excuse me while I hop on my soap box for a sec.  I rarely wear this tank, along with a few other “wordy” tanks due to how low they sit on the chest.  I have to roll it into my sports bra a gagillion times to get it pulled up.   I think showing the girls while working out is just weird.  I know – this is probably all just me as I find boobs annoying (anyone feeling awkward yet) but I just find it a little odd to have cleavage showing when at the gym, running, teaching a group x class, etc.   Are we there to get a helluva workout in, or to get looked at?  Mmmmhmmm… that is all.    *Hopping off my personal opinion soapbox.

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After my long and disgustingly hot run, I hopped in an ice cold shower… hello happiness… and then Clint and I stupidly (influenced by my stupidity) went back out in the 100 degree heat for a ride to Lake Ohana.

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A few ice cold brews and we made our way back to Omaha.   Moonshine was producing, which is a very manual project, so you can’t leave it unattended for long without risk of ruining an entire batch.  Not cool.

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We ended the night with fire grilled grub and a few more beers.  Pretty great Sunday, if you ask me!

imageThat fire pit sure works great sitting awkwardly out of the ground.  🙂

MONDAY | Labor Day

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Clint was gracious enough to bring an entire grocery bag full of apples back with him from Clarinda, so I filled up my day with baking.

Three batches of Apple Pie Bars with Salted Caramel (all made from scratch) and a large batch of Apple Crisp smelled up my kitchen.   One batch went to our neighbor, Carol, who broke her leg a few weeks back.  Another batch went to our neighbor, Harold, who hands-down, might be the coolest cat you could meet.  He is an older gentleman, with a love of old cars, rolled white t-shirt sleeves and strategically combed and slicked back hair.  Harold and Clint have become quite the garage companions when talking old cars and tinkering on old trucks.

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Recipe coming soon!

Another hot-as-hell evening short run followed by dinner and blogging has me thinking bed time soon.   Back to the daily grind tomorrow!

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Hope you all had a wonderful three day weekend with family, friends and doing whatever the heck you wanted to do!

Cheers!

Spinach, Feta, Egg White Casserole and Sunday Funday!

For whatever reason, I woke up at 6:30am Sunday morning.  Who.  Does.  That?!?!

I took advantage of the early morning and ran to our local Hy-Vee to grab a few things for a new breakfast casserole I wanted to try out.  I LOVE Hy-Vee, and love it even more now that they have the Fuel Saver Card.  Seriously makes my heart happy.  My vehicle isn’t the most economical for gas mileage.  

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Before we get to the casserole, let me give a quick recap of my Sunday Funday.

1) Breakfast with my hubby

2) Church with one of my best friends, Tyree.  Their guest musician and speaker that day was Roddy Chong.  He was phenomenal and I could have listened to him play for hours! He currently tours with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  How cool would that be?  His testimony was interesting and entertaining and truly showed how the right amount of tenacity, perseverance and faith can get you where you never imagined. 

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3) Harley Time!  The weather will soon be against us in regards to motorcycle riding, so my husband and I took off for a few hours Sunday afternoon.  We toured a few Nebraska back roads to soak up the crisp fall weather and took a pit stop at Dog House Saloon in Waterloo for a bite to eat and a cocktail.  Their watermelons are seriously yummy!  And one is plenty if you want to think straight!  WOW!  I didn’t get any pictures of the two dogs my husband ordered, but they received high remarks from the man himself.  A traditional dog was topped with cooked onions, pickles and mustard.  The Italian Dog had roasted peppers, pepperoni and some sort of sauce.  They also weren’t your typical dogs… more like hamburger/sausage mixture.  He recommends highly.

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For the record, that stupid Styrofoam cup has been there since our Milwaukee trip.   Boys….

 

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4) After our afternoon ride, we returned home, I worked on a new TurboKick Round (I start teaching at the YMCA tomorrow), blogged and watched a little TV.  Great little Sunday!

 

Now for the recipe.

 

Spinach Feta Mushroom Egg White Casserole

100% Liquid Egg Whites, 16 oz.
Spinach, 9 oz.
Sliced Mushrooms, 8 oz.
Reduced Fat Crumbled Feta Cheese, 3 oz.
Diced Red Onion
2 cloves diced Garlic

In a large nonstick pan, saute onions, garlic, and mushrooms with a little bit of EVOO. Transfer to a bowl once cooked

Add spinach to same pan, cover, and let wilt (a few minutes)
Remove from heat. Drain liquid. Toss lightly before adding to mushroom mixture.

Pour half the egg whites into 8×8 dish. Mix in the spinach, mushroom, and onion mixture.  Sprinkle Feta Cheese on top.

Bake at 350-375 for 30 to 40 minutes or until light brown on top.

 

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Healthy, Nutrient Rich, Protein loaded.  Can’t ask for much more!

Hope your Monday has been a good one!

 

Do you have a favorite breakfast casserole?

The Weekend in Review

Why is it that the weekends just fly by?  Sigh…..

What a great weekend it was, though!

Friday, 4pm, Happy Hour.  Check Friday Faves for a recap.

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After Happy Hour with the girls, I met up with my husband at The Anchor Inn for some dinner and beers.  The Anchor used to be located on the Missouri River and was THE place to be during the summer months.  They had a large outdoor stage right by the river where multiple bands played every weekend.  On site was the main bar and grill where you could sit inside, or you could enjoy the outdoors and visit any of the Tiki-Hut bars (number depending on the size of crowd).  It was definitely a one-of-a-kind place to hang out during the summer.

Unfortunately, the floods of 2011 put the entire place under water for months, and in the end they were prohibited from re-building.  So sad.  They have relocated to an in-town location, which is still a fun place to hang out and we always enjoy our time there, but it is definitely a completely different ambiance.  The new building doesn’t allow for the crowds and atmosphere as the Anchor Inn once had, but I have to commend Junior (owner) for re-opening and continuing on.  Business is still booming!

Clint and I were actually supposed to be married in 2011 at the Anchor.  I’ll tell that story at a later date.  We found an alternate location, but it was a bit stressful, to say the least. 🙂

Below pic is an example of the old Anchor Inn parties.  So fun!  Click here for more pics.

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Saturday!  Woke up and watched my favorite Food Network TV Shows and started my BFY Chicken Tortilla Soup.   I love Crock Pot recipes!  Throw in the pot, close the lid, set the temp and walk away.  The house smelled SO good while the ingredients cooked down and melded together.  Delicious!

The end product:

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My husband worked on the house replacing a few boards and painting some of the trim.  Sure is handy when he has the proper equipment to reach our rooftop.

ImageChamp and I hung out on the front stoop enjoying the beautiful weather while the hubby slaved away.

What a cute guard dog.

He’s likely to lick you to death, so a little less guard and a lot more cute is probably the reality.

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ImageI took advantage of the gorgeous day and went for a nice 5 mile jog with a 1 mile walk to cool down and take in the sights.  There is a pretty nice trail (cement trail, not off-road trail) near my house, so I always like to hit it up when running more than 3 miles.  I maintained a nice and easy 9 1/2 mph pace which is right where I wanted to be since it’s been about a month since I have done any real jogging over 2 miles.  Needed a break after training for two half marathons.  My back was thankful for that break, but it was nice to be back out there again.

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We capped off our Saturday evening staying in.  We were planning on attending a Halloween Party, but in the end, decided to just stay home.  Sometimes we just need that down time.

Sunday morning I was up at the crack of dawn (seriously, 6:30AM), so I went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make the most delicious egg white, spinach, feta cheese casserole.  I will post that recipe and my full day tomorrow.

Now, it is time for BED!

Enjoy your Sunday evening whatever you do and wherever you are!