Sometimes Kitchen Duty can be FUN!

My friend Patrick.. (see below)

The chick there with the RED ARROW above her head is #1

Patrick or “P*Trick” as I like to call him… thought it would be a great idea to have dinner at Buca di Beppo. (and it was)… Here’s a look into our adventures there..

Buca di Beppo is located on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

At Christmas time the Plaza is beautiful!

It’s all lit up like… well a Christmas tree. Speaking of Christmas Trees,

see that red arrow on the left hand side.. those were some carolers.

If you look close you can see #1 and P*Trick in the lower right corner.

Before they sat us down at our table.. I saw this sign.. cute huh?

P*Trick had reservations for the Kitchen Table… that was well,

in the kitchen! All of these photos were taken from our “kitchen table”.

If you’ve never been to Buca di Beppo you should know they serve

everything family style. This chef is preparing a to-go order.

All night I tried to get a photo of this LARGE Lasagna. You can ge

just a glimpse of it here. It has to be 7″ high and 10″ long. It’s HUGE!

These are 2 smalls. They are about 6″ long!

While I was there I fell in love with their platters and bowls.

I want these!

Or these..

They brought us french bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I’ve never had olive oil with vinegar. It was pretty good!

I’m not sure why I took this photo.. but I just loved the stacked

tomatoes and apples.

The Man had Penne Arrabbiata: Spicy Italian sausage and crushed

red pepper in a zesty marinara sauce with imported Italian penne pasta.

#1 had spaghetti and meat sauce. If you look at the top of the photo

you can see the chicken cannelloni that P*Trick had. Buca describes it

as “stuffed with chicken ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and baked on

a bed of rosa sauce.

I ordered this.. Chicken Parmigiana.. it was delicious!

Do you see these meatballs? They HUGE! Like as big as a babies

head huge! I read they are a 1/2 pound each.

This guy here is Roger.. he is the chef at Buca di Beppo.

If you go I recommend you sit in the kitchen! It was

lot’s of fun and so interesting to see how fast they move.

Black Friday.. It’s not for the tired..

Black Friday… one of the days #1 and I look forward to all year long. We love the bargains, and people watching.. but mostly love the time we get to spend together. We make a list on Thanksgiving Day of all the things we need, and figure out what time we need to be there to get those things.

You didn't really think I was going to show you the list did you?

This Black Friday morning we left the house at 3:45AM and

headed up to Target in Olathe, Kansas. Target was

having a sale on a couple of things we needed and one thing

Patrick needed.

We arrived at Target around 4:30AM. There was already a HUGE

LINE. The white arrow is where the corner of Target starts…

the red arrow is where Patrick and #1 are waiting. The line got

even longer as it got closer to 5:00AM. (When Target opened)

Here's #1 and Patrick waiting with their SUPER COOL bags

Target handed out to the first 500 people in the store.

Here's Patrick loading up "the beast". I highly recommend having Patrick go shopping with you.. why? He loads the car,pushes the cart through the traffic jams (so we can go on ahead and shop).

We shopped at several places.. Target, Old Navy, Avenue, Starbucks, Michael's, Mardel, Hobby Lobby, S Scents, Apple Store, and Costco.

I think when you go to bed as late as we did (12:30AM) and leave as early as we did.. you are pretty tired. That is what I'm going to

blame what happened next on.. being tired. Around lunchtime we

headed to On The Border restaurant. Like most Mexican

restaurants they serve chips and salsa.

Patrick thought the chips were rather large and decided to

karate chop them in the bowl.

Patrick (being exhausted) didn't realize how funny that was to

#1 and I.

He still doesn't realize we are laughing because of his "karate".

I believe he get's it now…

Really.. It was funny.. or maybe we were exhausted and that made

it funny.

Some of our loot.. This year I'm sad to say we did not go to Toys R Us.

We've gone every year.. but this year, we decided there wasn't anything

we needed THAT bad. You see when we go to Toys R Us one of us stands in the already formed check outline.. while the other shops! There is always a line to get into Toys R Us, and a line to check out. This check out line wraps and weaves in and around the store.

I told you she was tired.. She's sleep walking! Rest up #1 you have 364

days until your next Black Friday adventure.

Spending other peoples money OR Looking at Houses in Ottawa Kansas..

One of my favorite things to do is look at houses. I’m not crazy about doing it for myself.. but for other people.. I love it. With five children and a grumpy husband it’s too much work to find the “perfect house”.

Enter my friend Patrick. He is looking for a house, and he asked ME.. to give him my opinon. Can you believe it? Someone WANTS my opinion..?!?! On a house!

Here we are on the glassed in screened porch. For some reason I never took a photo of the

front of the house..

I love the “shoo fly” design they did in carpet squares. One of the coolest things

(I forgot to take a photo of) is the mail slot that opens up on the other side of the door.

Here’s the old super cool front door.

A view from the Living Room into the dining room (check out the built in china cabinet)

View from the dining room into the living room

Check out the window seat in the dining room! (charming huh?)

This is the guest room

One of the bathroom’s with the original tub!

The den.. with a HUGE closet. Patrick is standing in the hall…

From the Den looking into the master bedroom

Master bedroom with a WINDOW SEAT! The window seat opens up and is lined with cedar!

Charming kitchen…

One of the garages…

The garage has a “drive thru” from front to back this is the back.

Standing on the HUGE DECK… you can see part of the french doors.

View of the second garage, backyard and alley.

I’m not sure what kind of tree this is.. do you know?

Morning Glory.. I love them!

This was growing on the deck.. any idea what those potato looking things are?

Cute little house huh?