My Weekend Revolved Around le Tour

Well, it seems that most people (two of three anyway) don't have a preference as to how many Cooking in the Car posts are posted in one week. So, for now I will kind of play it by ear. Today I felt like rambling on about nothing in particular and so decided I would pass on another Cooking post for now. I do have something in the car today that I am pretty excited about. The temperature for today was forecasted at 100, but I'm afraid that it hasn't gotten that hot and so it may be a bust and if it is, then I will try it again because I just know in my Cooking in the Car heart that it should turn out fabulous. I will obviously keep you posted.

Despite the unbearable heat, the weekend for me was really great and I have no doubt I can contribute the greatness to the beginning of the Tour de France. Friday after work I went ahead and made my weekly trip to Publix and it turned out to be the best trip I have had in weeks because for the first time in a few weeks I was actually prepared for my grocery trip. I had actually set out all my coupons, etc. which is what I normally do, but for whatever reason haven't done it in the past few weeks and have felt like a scatter brained mess at the store. After my stop at Publix, I went by Starbucks because the Starbucks locations at Target were having buy one get one free frappucinnos! Ye-ah! I got mine with soy and I'm hear to tell you there was not one bit of difference in my opinion in the taste. I enjoyed one that afternoon and saved the other for Saturday morning. When I got home that night I made eight cups of homemade salsa. Normally this wouldn't be something worth mentioning except that I have already eaten all but about one cup. What can I say? It was good.

On Saturday morning I was up bright and early and made some French toast for the opening prologue of the Tour. I ate my breakfast and enjoyed the free frappuccino from the Target visit on Friday and settled in for about four hours of time trial watching. Thankfully all of my friends and family respected me by not placing any calls during that time. Actually no one usually calls during that time any way but I was afraid someone would and they didn't and I was thankful. Just being honest here, people. The remainder of Saturday was spent napping, doing a little cleaning, eating salsa and watching replays of the Tour. I finally broke away from the Tour replays long enough to bathe and eat a real meal and eventually watched a movie before being able to recite everything the commentators had said earlier in the day. Speaking of commentators, NBC Cycling has two new guys this year who are just atrocious! Seriously, I don't even have the words to describe how bad these two are. One is brought in during the pre-race report and the other is a "side-line" guy. Oh my word, worse ever!

Sunday morning I was up bright and early again and went ahead and got ready for church. I was able to squeeze in an hour and half of tour watching before heading off to worship. I was afraid I might not make it though. When I went to put my car into drive from park, it wouldn't budge. Apparently these 100 plus degree days had loosened up the duct tape that has been holing the gear shift in a manner that allows me to maneuver from park to drive or reverse. You may recall I had the same problem earlier this year. After several panicked minutes, I made a call to my granddad to see if he would come pick me up and let me use his spare vehicle. The call went straight to voice mail. I called my parent's and had to wait on them to call me back. I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned this before, but my phone will not connect to their land line. It rings once and then disconnects. For a few months after the April 27, 2011 tornadoes, the problem went away but it returned a few months ago. So, any time I need to get in touch with them I have to call and pray that they will realize the phone has rung and wait for them to call me back. Clearly I hope I never need them in an emergency situation for I will most likely be out of luck. At any rate, as soon as my mom called back and I answered the phone, the car miraculously shifted into drive and I peeled off the old duct tape and added a tighter new layer. So far, so good. I just need to remember to check that out every few days. I went to church with my aunt and cousins and I really enjoyed the service and sitting with my family. I didn't get to stay for class because I had to make an appearance at work that afternoon. So, after church, I made a run by Target for another round of buy one get one fraps and some sushi for lunch. I think Target has pretty good sushi as far as supermarket sushi goes. I actually think it's better than Publix. (I think I may have just heard a collective gasp from the readers).

I went home to eat, change clothes and watch another 45 minutes or so of the Tour before going in to work for a few hours to audit inventory. My feet were beyond tired by the time I left. Since I usually nap on Sunday afternoons, I think I was a little delirious having to count widgets. I finally finished up watching the day's stage that evening and may have even jumped off the couch towards the end. Yes, my friends, it was that exciting.

Monday morning I had an 8:15 a.m. doctor's appointment for a blood work/ general health check up and was able to watch an hour of the tour before leaving for the day, which was nice. I look forward to watching the remainder of the stage when I get home Monday evening. Speaking of Monday evening, I'm starting at a new gym Monday night and I'll be sure and fill you in on all the details later this week; because I'm sure you are just dying to know all about it. I had actually planned on mentioning it in this post, but I've already rambled on about watching the Tour for probably 1,000 words and I'm sure you are tired of reading at this point. So, I shall end things here and will be back later on in the week with a report on all things new gym.