I got the opportunity to spend some quality time with the nephew this week.  He's on his Easter break from school so he came and spent the night last night.  I took him to the store last night and we shopped around for some food and when we got back all he wanted to do was watch me play video games until it was time for him to go to sleep.  I had to go to sleep at a decent time too because I bought a new mattress and it was scheduled to be delivered in the morning - in fact, I had to set up my old mattress up in the guest bedroom and sleep up there for the night.  I hadn't slept in that room for quite a while.

Today, after more video games and pancakes and what have you, Phillip asked if I'd help him color egs with him.  It was quite a production and I took some pictures mostly to justify the money I paid for my new camera and it seemed like a good thing I could count as an update on this here blog.  Phillip experimented with different combinations of different colors and ended up with a few interesting eggs.

Then he used some stickers from the egg-coloring kit to give the eggs eyes and mouths - he got a little carried away with a few of them, giving some multiple eyes/mouths and giving some upside down faces... fun times.

And here is Phillip trying to blend in with his newly-created colored eggs by making his own crazy face...

 

While checking out Sarah's most recent blog, I decided a good way to make sure I'm making more regular updates is to take a quiz off of her blog every once in a while - why not.. it's like a freebie blog.  So turns out if I had to be a holiday, I'd be Christmas... seems a little cliché but I can't say they did a horrible job analyzing my personality in some aspects.

You Are Christmas

More than most people, you are able to find magic in life's small moments. Traditions mean a lot to you, and you tend to be quite nostalgic. You are a giving, kind person who really understands the true meaning of holidays. You inspire others to be as altruistic and caring as you are. What makes you celebrate: Tradition and a generous spirit At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The storyteller. You like to recount memories with everyone. On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Give a gift to everyone you know

Well, it's been a while eh?  I went down and visited Sarah in Alton this weekend, and I saw her posting a quick update on her Xanga and it sorta dawned on me that I hadn't posted in a long time (though I doubt the 3-4 people who probably read this noticed)...  So here we go.

I left after getting off work and arrived in Alton around 10 pm Thursday night and Sarah and I had our traditional trip to White Castle for some sliders.  I got 5 cheeseburgers and Sarah got the jalapeno cheeseburger combo.  It ended up taking quite a long time to get our food because we came to the drive-thru during a crazy rush - an entire bus full of some swim team and coaches had beaten us to White Castle and were cleaning them out.  The lady apologized for the wait and offered us coupons for 8 free burgers the next time we came - SCORE!

 

Then it was time to shower Sarah with gifts.  I had kinda flaked out this past semester because I used to send her some kind of card/package every other week or so during her first year and this year I think I've only sent her 2 things... so I felt it was overdue.  First off, I gave her the package that I had meant to send her but could never get to the post office... this consisted of some Cadbury Creme Eggs, a bunch of fruit punch Crystal Light mixes for her bottled water, and a few Dove dark chocolate candy bars. 

Then when we got back home, I gave her the rest of the stash... A while ago, Sarah mentioned that she lost her favorite pair of pajama pants so I asked Steve's girlfriend Angie if she would go to the mall and help me find a comfy pair of pajama pants and shirt/top (I can't go to those kind of stores by myself).  Well, we must have chosen a good time to go because practically everything was on a ridiculous clearance... like fire sale clearance.  I ended up getting Sarah more pajamas than she'll ever know what to do with - but oh well - we're talking $3 for a pajama set here.  Below are some pictures of Sarah's favorites... lookin' good.

Sarah in a new pair of pajamas and showing off the V-Day flowers I sent her.

 
Another set of PJ's


Same set, but this time I didn't cut her head off!

Well, there you have it... until next time that I realize it's been too long and decide to update this old thing.  Now it's getting to be almost that time for me to pack everything up and drive back up to Colona... I have a long day/week of work ahead of me.  Sarah's already hard at work studying for her tests for the week.  I was going to play some old school Mario Kart 64 with some of Sarah's college buddies but I think they may be recuperating from partying last night...  I suppose I ought to start heading back - argh.

Man I've been flaking out lately with the updates... sorry about that.  I've been meaning to get this update up for quite a while (over a month now) and I finally am mustering up enough ambition to do it.

During the last weekend of January, Sarah allowed me to drive down to see her for the weekend.  It was the first (and only) weekend in her schedule that allowed some time for distraction so I got some time off work and drove down...  The plan was to spend non-studying time together hanging out and whatnot and then when she had to study, I would do something to help her out. 

On my first full day in Alton, I went and got groceries for Sarah while she studied.  I had her make a list of things she wanted/needed and didn't leave until every last item was scratched off.

Sarah Studying

The Loot

I told Sarah before I came down that I would cook her dinner the two nights I was down there so Friday night, I made tacos... which basically turned into tostadas because we both liked the fried flour tortillas over the crunchy corn taco shells (plus the taco shells wouldn't be the best for Sarah's teeth). 

Sarah helped by making the beans and chopping a tomato.

Me displaying a perfectly-fried flour tortilla ready for toppin'

Sarah displaying a finished product.

The happy couple getting ready to enjoy a nice home-cooked meal.

The next night, I made the other meal that I know how to make: Spaghetti!  I plan on developing my meal repertoire in the future as we have happily come to an agreement for the future: I will cook and Sarah will clean.  Well anyway, I'm quite happy with this one... I sauteed onions, garlic and mushrooms with a pound of ground beef and a jar of Ragu to make one mean batch of spaghetti sauce.  The only thing I would have changed was to use more Ragu because after all the extra stuff I cooked with the beef, the sauce to meat/veggies ratio was a little low.  Nonetheless, we both enjoyed this meal quite a bit.

 
Me slaving away at a hot stove...

Sarah modeling the chunky spaghetti.

For dessert, I used a recipe I found online for cherry cheesecake.  No, not the cherry cheesecake you're thinking... It's a drink with some vanilla liqueur for a kick.  I felt quite fancy mixing a drink in a vodka shaker and it turned out quite tasty.  Below is a picture of Sarah's new favorite drink as well as of us toasting to a great weekend.