Marvelous Monday: Week 5

Wow, the weekend flew by. Yesterday was the annual White Elephant party at my parents' house to celebrate the winter birthdays on my mom's side of the family. I wrote about it last year and am glad I peeked at that recap, because we called both last year's party and this year's the 29th annual. Is this intentional, like saying someone is turning 29 for the fifth time? Or did we mark the 30th annual party without realizing it? I hope I was just getting ahead of myself last year.

Anyway, I made (and ate) a ton of that warm black bean dip, visited with my extended family, and also won a community-compiled cookbook from 1986 (in addition to a gift basket that include two floppy disks, a pacific and a Koolaid spoon). Then we went to a Super Bowl party!

Is it any wonder I enjoyed a little bit more coffee than usual this morning? What a weekend! Onward with Marvelous Monday:

1) It was beautiful this weekend: light, fluffy snow and even some periods of sun and very blue skies.

2) Some orange tulips found their way into my cart at the grocery store today.

3) I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight. I've been on a good roll of having luck with new recipes lately, and I really thought the streak was screeching to a halt tonight. I tried spicy sausage pasta, linked to from another blog I read. (Just to be clear: my fault, not the recipe's fault!) Halfway through I realized I wasn't even sure I liked sausage, and no lie, I shattered both the bowl holding the chopped onions and the jar of minced garlic within five minutes. The words...they weren't pretty ones. I just had accepted that a successful dinner wasn't in the cards. And then the recipe called for cheese mixed in, and then cheese on top, and then a pile of chopped green onions on top - and little did it know that cheese and green onions are two of my favorite things. And I liked the final product!

4) After a few days away, I got back to the pavement today over lunch with a five-miler. I was not feeling it pre-run but of course ended up being glad I went - and got a couple of good ideas out of the quiet time, too.

5) I printed pictures courtesy of a Shutterfly offer that I think I mentioned on a previous Marvelous Monday, and they arrived today. I got to look at photos of Wish's birthday hat and Wish playing in the December with Josh, and it made me laugh out loud.

HEY! I keep forgetting to mention that if you see a weird-looking comment in the comment section with a link at the end, don't click on it! I read that Blogger's spam filter is stumbling a little bit, and while the strange comments kind of make me giggle (and usually disappear on their own), I hope no one actually clicks on the links.

But you are welcome to comment, Reader! What'd you do for the Superbowl? Do you have a hard time resisting tulips at this time of year like I do? Do you love poppies and ever wish that they were hardy enough to include in a wedding bouquet? No? Just me? Carry on, then, and have a good week!