Random v10.13

Today is going to be bullet style:

• Yesterday as I left work, I noticed that I had a missed call from my brother and a voice-mail to go along with it.  I usually will listen to those vm's right away as it's family and I want to be sure everything is okay.  Upon listening to this message I hear my brother in the background say 'say, "hi auntie"', then I hear Jordan say "hi auntie"
  Brother: 'tell her you were thinking about her and wanted to say hi'
  Jordan: 'thinking about you, hi'
  Brother: 'tell her you miss her'
  Jordan: 'I miss you, auntie'
  Brother: 'tell her you want to have a play date with her'
  Jordan: 'SHE ISN'T TALKING DADDY!'
  Brother: 'you are leaving a message for her to listen to later'
  Jordan: 'I love you auntie, call me, bye'
  
  Sweetest kid ever, my niece! I called them back and talked with her for a bit, she was so excited to talk to me I couldn't understand what she was saying.  Then I talked to my brother and he said 'we were just sitting here watching one of her cartoons and she said she missed you and wanted to call you and make a play date'.  melt. my. heart.  So I am going to cruise over there for a bit after work and love her to pieces!  She was so cute 'SHE ISN'T TALKING DADDY!' oooooh, voice mail.
  
  
• A couple weeks ago I made dinner for boyfriend, it was nothing super fancy; I just took chicken cutlets and breaded them, baked them and served them with a side of my semi-homemade pasta sauce for dipping and rigatoni on the side.  After that meal I gots to thinkin'... boyfriend and I eat out way too much and when we do cook, it's usually things we feel comfortable making, the times we branch out become a huge ordeal and we usually spend a lot of money to do it.  So I suggest to him that maybe he wanted to make dinner for me the next weekend and we could make a habit of it - we switch off weekends and cook at least one of the nights for the other person.  He liked the idea and he made a delicious beef tenderloin roast with super garlic mashed potatoes and garlic lemon broccoli on the side. He even went to the liquor store by himself and picked out a bottle of red wine to serve with it.  It was way impressive.
  So after this weekends meal (I made scallops over sticky rice with a veggie side), we gots to talkin' about how maybe we should be tracking these meals and wines that we are using.  Again, he liked the idea and we now have a shared google spreadsheet (still a semi-WIP), that will detail our meals and our wine selections along with tasting notes.
  At times, I think Steve is more excited about this than I am.. it's extremely rewarding for me to see him like this about sharing this with me and cooking in general.  Steve is so laid back and when he is excited, it doesn't show much.  So far with this, I don't see excitement in his face, but I can see it in the meals, the time spent, and his actions.  I feel like in a few short weeks we have opened up a whole new world to ourselves and not only come closer together,  but forced ourselves to think outside the box in the way of cooking.  We don't need to spend a fortune on meals (sometimes sprucing up a grilled cheese sandwich is a-okay), but we can if we want.  I tivo a few cooking/food shows that really help get our minds going.
  
  
• On that note: boyfriend is getting his wisdom teeth pulled out this weekend and I'll be taking care of him - it's his weekend to cook, but I'm giving him the weekend off.  Instead, I'll be making Jello.  Yay.
  
  
• To end this random post on a positive note - let's talk about the Minnesota Twins!  Obviously we already covered them being in the playoffs - what we haven't covered is the details and the games I could be going to!  The Twins will be playing the Yankees again in the first round and that's only because the Yankees are the Wild Card team (which basically means they DID NOT win their division)... in overall standings they have 1 game up on us, overall.  This comes after we rested most of our players and had a few minor injuries after clinching our division.  Had we been 100% and played our top dogs... things would have ended different, for sure.  Not the point.  The point is, we are a better team than the Yankees regardless of what the numbers show.  Some people worry about having to play them again; I don't and it doesn't sound like the Twins are too worried either.
  Now... for games... we have home field advantage for the first round, which means 2 games here, 2 games there and 1 game here, this assumes it needs to go to a 5th game.  Should it be tied 2-2 and we do play a game 5, Steve and I will be sitting at that game.  Imagine the excitement entering the series tied, at home, and shoving it down their throats.. walking away knowing we are one step closer.  It would be a fantastic game to be at.  HOWEVER, as I stated yesterday on my facebook page, I'd gladly give up those tickets to know that we've eliminated the Yankees in less than 5 games.
  Taking it one step further and assuming we do make it to the next round - Steve and I will be going to the first home game, which depending on who wins between Texas and Tampa Bay, could be game one of the series or probably game 3 or 4 of the series, depending on home field advantage.
  In all, it's really exciting stuff here people!