Friday Night Photos #136

It has been SO long since I did an actual Friday Night Photos. I've sprinkled posts here and there with lots of pictures, but now I don't even know how far back in my camera roll to go, haha. I'm sure I've posted a few of these already, but I can't remember which ones.

We are currently getting dumped on with snow, so tonight is a nice night to get cozy and look through my pictures. Here goes...

This was one of the gifts I was most excited to give to the kids for Christmas. Jerry and I have always enjoyed Bill Burr, and we even went to see him in Detroit a few years ago. My kids really like him now--he's their favorite comedian--so when I saw he'll be in Detroit in March, I just had to get tickets for the four of us! They were so surprised and they can't wait to go. It's another mom way of sneaking in family time with the teenagers ;)

Just a picture of Duck climbing falling off the top of the Christmas tree. I have a million of these.

Phoebe adores Noah and when I saw this cat bed, I thought it would be cute to put in Noah's room for her. Well, since he moved out, we put it next to the heating register (her favorite spot) in the dining room. She spends most of her day there. She looks so tiny in that big bed!

We got a new dishwasher (finally) and Jerry installed it. I was standing at the island and when I glanced over, this is what I saw, hahaha. I couldn't help but take a picture ;)

Eli hasn't been letting Joey in his room as much as he used to, so Jerry and I felt bad for him. He was so excited when we let him up on our bed!

Jeanie and Shawn were in town for a couple of days after Christmas, and we took all the dogs (her three basset hounds and Joey) for a walk. I learned I could never be a dog walker--how do people handle more than one dog at a time?!

Ever since Noah moved out, he and Eli have been closer than ever. I love it!! They like to watch movies on Eli's bed. Tonight, Eli is going to Noah's apartment to hang out. I always hoped they'd be good friends when they grew up, despite the fact that they are polar opposites, and it's so nice to see them getting along so well. Noah actually told me yesterday, "Eli is my favorite person to hang out with." <3 

I know I posted about our NYE "party" with Luke and Riley, but I like this picture of them. We had so much fun! (And I'm still finding confetti in random places, haha.)

Duck has been driving me SO CRAZY with his constant need for attention. I feel guilty all the time because I can't spend all day entertaining him. I discovered something called Cat TV for 99 cents a month and it literally just plays videos for cats to watch. I love this picture of Duck! But unfortunately, he's not very into watching Cat TV. Chick, however, will watch for hours--he loves it.

I can't even tell you how excited I was to find these Asian pears! Jerry and I went to a different grocery store than our local Kroger because we were looking for one particular ingredient. As we walked through the produce section, I saw these Asian pears--and I flipped out. I said I don't care how much they are, I'm buying all of them, haha. They were listed as $2 each, so I didn't get all of them--but I did get 10.

Then, when we went to pay, they came up as 99 cents per pound! I was stunned. I went back and got about 10 more. (You have no idea how much I love Asian pears. Or maybe you do, considering I've been trying to grow them for over a decade!) We ended up getting 20 Asian pears for about $12!!!! They were really big and they looked so good. I let them ripen for a couple of days on the counter then put them in the fridge and I've been eating one every day. They are heavenly!

Noah's girlfriend makes jewelry and she had tiny little spoon and fork earrings that she wore to Thanksgiving dinner. My mom mentioned that she had a ring that was made out of a spoon that she'd gotten from her mom (Gobby, my grandmother). She said she never wears it and asked if I wanted it--of course I did! I thought it was cool to have something that belonged to my grandmother.

Later, she asked me to look inside the ring and see if it was engraved with a T. Yes, it was--which meant it was actually from my great-great-grandmother! Gobby's grandmother had these sterling silver spoons and Gobby had them made into rings for each of her daughters. She was born in 1868 and immigrated here in 1936. I'm not sure how old the ring is, but it's certainly up there in age! It happens to fit me *perfectly* and since I don't wear a wedding ring, I put it on my left ring finger.

This is a picture of the kittens while they were watching Cat TV (I called their names so they'd turn and look at me).

I wanted to make something special for Eli's 18th birthday dessert, and since I have been avoiding sweets, I made a (non-vegan) surprise for him: Sloppy Brownies! This is a horribly unhealthy but delicious dessert that we made up one time when the kids were younger and, to this day, they still talk about them. To make them, you simply layer: chocolate chip cookie dough (pressed all over the bottom of the pan--I just use a tube of refrigerated dough from the store); then a layer of Oreos; then a layer of bite-size Reese cups; and finally, top with brownie batter. Then bake until it's no longer jiggly in the middle. (I was told) they were ahhhh-mazing. (This small pan was for Noah to take home. I made the rest in a larger baking dish.)

Noah likes tofu, and when he was here one day, I put some in a marinade for him to take home. I'd given him instructions on how to cook it and I was so happy when his girlfriend sent me this picture--look how pretty it looks! They said that it turned out really good. (I made a "How to Prepare Tofu" guide for Noah--at his request--so I'll post that this weekend in case anyone else is interested.)

This is from Monday, when Jerry and I took the kids and their girlfriends to La Pita. Family time is getting more and more rare, so I was thrilled to spend time with them.

I had just taken this blanket out of the dryer and as soon as I laid it on the bed, I set Duck on there. He was instantly taken to the warmth of it and, naturally, laid in his sploot position. So cute!

I took this photo this morning when I was running. At first glance, it just looks like a blurry accidental picture. But do you see Joey??

Yesterday, I had to take Joey and Phoebe to the vet for their check-ups (and to see how Phoebe's kidney disease is progressing). Joey is perfectly healthy, and other than the kidney disease, Phoebe is just fine as well. She's even gained weight! Since she refuses the kidney diet food, the vet said she just really wants to make sure she's eating, whatever it may be that she likes. Her numbers aren't actually much worse than they were two years ago, so I'm going to just continue to do what I've been doing. Spoiled cat ;)

I wanted some stickers for my phone and my computer, and I got a cute pack of vegan ones on Amazon. I was so excited to see that there was one with the Friends logo! So I put that one on my phone.

I love this picture of Riley and me. Her smile is so heartwarming. 

This is the Impossible kafta that Jerry ordered at La Pita. "Impossible" is a brand of a vegan ground meat substitute and Jerry was so excited to see that he could get it at La Pita. They actually seasoned it really well to match the beef kafta; I was impressed! I may try a dish with it next time.

And that's all I've got. I'm going to get snuggly under some covers and watch a movie while the snow piles up outside. My run tomorrow morning is going to be awful, I already know it. I hope the roads are salted tonight!