Thanksgiving 2011

We had lots of plans for Thanksgiving week and luckily most of them fell into my "we MUST DO THINGs" mindset.

For Thanksgiving on my side we went to my Grandpa's and also celebrated his 93rd birthday.  My mom and aunt mentioned needing a small cake and I volunteered - with hesitation - because I always seem to get myself into things I shouldn't.  But it actually turned out nice and I was glad I did it.  Tuesday I baked and Wednesday I decorated.

I didn't do a big announcement about it being a girl and just kinda told people.  That just fits with that side of the family.  Then we went to Bear's family and he asked his Mema to tell everyone.  We had other plans to tell everyone, but then didn't end up doing any of them.  But it was still fun!!!

So Thanksgiving was very nice, except of course the football game we shall not speak of.

Luckily, Bear has been very cooperative about things I want done around the house, but it may end soon as I continue to think of things that "need" to be done.  However, the we did accomplish quite a few things on our time off after Thanksgiving.  I almost exhausted myself, but dang it they got DONE.  And some have been waiting forever!

• The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got the TV mounted over the fireplace -- by professionals!  We needed power and cable on the other side of the room, plus the mount, so I really wanted it done correctly and Bear didn't object.  This way we have a clear walkway to the other part of the house AND we can have more options for rearranging the living room furniture.  Also, I want a recliner and that was the only way to fit it into the furniture grouping.  Now this gives me another thing I have to do which is decorate the very large empty living room wall that is now blank.  But... not before we paint the entire room - or so Bear suggests and I won't object!  Not sure when that is exactly going to happen yet ... to be continued.  

• Friday we of course shopped!  Until I almost dropped and I didn't even go out until lunch.
• Saturday we continued with the projects.
• We bought a new dining room light fixture to replace the yucky brass and white ceiling fan.  Bear hung it and also centered it to my liking.  

I tried to take a picture, but it was really hard to get it right.

See!?  Anyway, I like it.

One without the light on in the daylight. 

• And we also got a pendant for over the sink and he hung that too.

• He almost got to hang the mantle back under the TV, but we needed more things from Lowes, which we did get, but we were too tired by the time we got to that. 
• THEN we got all the Christmas decorations down from the attic.
• Then, side break while I cleaned out my entire closet and put together things to give to goodwill. (I SWEAR I hope this energy lasts!)
• And then, I did fluff and put all the lights on the tree.  And that is where I had to call it quits.  I was so tired and my hips and feet hurt!
  

Project: Backyard walkway

This weekend Bear and I completed a project from start to finish. Can you believe it?! I know, I can't believe it either. But something I can't believe even more is that we didn't fight ONE TIME! I guess we have worked it out while discussing this project a million times over the last (at least) 4 years. So we knew the expectations before we got started.

This is what we tackled in the backyard. As you can see it needed some H-E-L-P.




We started by moving all the rocks out. And then we added a black rubber border and started leveling the dirt.

Then put down paper to prevent weeds and then we had to put all the big rocks back in. We only ended up with 2 big rocks that didn't fit. I thought that was pretty good!

And then we worked our butt off hauling in 5/8 inch pea gravel from the back of Bear's truck. He shoveled it into buckets and I hauled the buckets to the needed places. That is probably the biggest reason I can barely walk the last few days! I am still sore too.


And we have 1/4 of a yard of pea gravel left over... sigh... anyone need any? Because it is currently riding in the back of Bear's truck. Probably not so good for the gas mileage.

Then to finish it off, even though we were tired, we went back to Lowes and got flowers and mulch to finish up the flower bed. It looks pretty nice if I say so myself!!

Voila!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone is having a good Valentine's Day. Mine is going OK, got up and went to church WITHOUT my valentine which didn't make me too happy... but ya know I guess that is how it goes. At least I went and it is the third time in a row. Sadly a record for how it has been going lately.

Not much new to report. We haven't been up to much on the weekends which has been sooooooo nice. I love it. So please no one need us to do anything for a little while longer.

One thing I do need to do is finally decide on a paint color for the bathroom. It has long been driving my husband crazy that I put putty in the nail holes and never painted it. Now it is currently driving him crazy that I put test paint colors on the wall but haven't just chosen a color and bought the paint. Sadly, I spent $10 on sample paints, which are HUGE at Sherwin Williams FYI, and I still don't really like either color. But I don't want to spend any more $$$ on the samples either! I mean what am I going to do with what is currently left already? Sigh. Maybe next weekend I will decide.

Here is the current state of affairs.... note the new light fixture, I did finally put 2 new light bulbs in it. The colors are hard see in the pictures but I think we will go with the one on the right. I don't know. It is too dark for me but the one of the left is too bright baby blue. GAH. SEE THE PROBLEM!? It's just that the tile in there is brown, and I don't want it to turn out looking country brown and blue you know? I plan to put beachy stuff in there like some black frames with white matts with B&W beach pictures. I am hoping to use some of our own pictures and then I also have some cool star fish we found at the beach when we went on our trip over Christmas (except currently trying to get them to not smell so bad!). Then white rugs and shower curtains. And also a conch from our Bahama trip. I just hope it ends up tasteful and not 1980's beach condo. We will see.

lazy L A Z Y

GAH the motivation today is the lowest of all time I think. Well maybe not of ALL time but pretty darn close after a 3 day weekend.

Saturday I went to help Dee paint her bedroom. Had fun with her and her friends Rachel and Sima. And I was home by noon on Sunday. I did not do much the rest of the day and the hubs took me out to TGI Friday's for a $5 salad that evening. Nice deal, they also have $5 sandwiches, not sure when it ends. Yesterday we cleaned the house and that is about all. I was happy I didn't sleep too late and that we got alot done PLUS relaxed some. I tried to watch the movie Ru.nnin.g with Sc.issor.s. I am either really stupid or this movie really does suck. I turned it off - way too wierd for me.

So nothing too exciting going on. I just want to do anything but actually work today. All I can concentrate on is our upcoming vacation. I hope I can make it that long!!!!! 41 days and counting.

Random things I am thinking about/doing rather than doing what I need to be doing:

• CRUISE CRUISE CRUISE
• Online review of cruise ship: not stellar, kinda scared now
• Online review of previous ship we have been on: food great, now more scared of our new ship
• STOP STOP STOP freaking out about reviews, mostly cranky old people write them.
• You are not cranky and old. You will have fun.
• Bear will eat anything so no need to worry about food quality. HEHE
• You forgot to take the wine that Dee gave you out of your car.
• It has been in the heat for 2 days.
• Hope the cork stays in.
• I will probably drink it no matter what. (as long as it is not on the floor board of my car)
• I really want a piece of chocolate. (K gave me toffee, YAY!)
• Matt invited us to the lake.
• DO NOT WANT TO WEAR SWIM SUITE.
• DO want to ride on new boat.
• Need to run, run, run, run.
• Did walk 3 miles last night with hubs. That was nice.
• Need a tan. BAD.
• Have lots of moles and scared of tanning. Will get cancer.
• Too bad, must have tan.
• HUNGRY for something really good and yummy.
• Don't want to feel guilty for eating something yummy.
• Want Ninfa's tonight.
• Want margarita with salt*.
• Need to run, run, run, run.
• Already have leftovers and hubby has softball practice.
• Hubby's teacher softball team is going to suck. Might be entertaining to watch for once.
• OOMMMGGGG it is only 4:06. Torture.
• Will have wine instead of margarita.
• With my leftover turkey natchos.
• Turkey tacos were great last night!!
• Do not buy all white ground turkey, the mixed was way better.
• I did accomplish at least 4 make that 5 things at work today despite my lazyness. I feel proud.
• Need a haircut and highlight.
• My eye is still twitching. When will it stop?

Review of fast food salads in light of diet for CRUISE CRUISE CRUISE:

• I had Schlotszky's today and my half a BLT was burnt. And my salad was a little old. Don't really recommend the small garden salad because of that. HOWEVER, after I ordered I saw that their larger salads are only $3.99. And they looked fresh. Next time I guess.
• I also don't recommend the Whatabu.rger salads. Crispy chicken is yummy, old lettuce not so much.
• Yes, I know, Whataburger is not known for salads and crispy chicken is not so healthy. But I am trying. I haven't had a hamburger in 3 weeks. And I only broke down and had fries ONE time and that was at McD's and they were small. I feel like I have turned over a new leaf (hehe).
• I DO however recommend the Subway $5 salad with black forest ham. Yummy and filling.
• I DO also recommend the Chick-fil-a salads. They are 6.99 but have broccoli and fresh tomatoes on it. Of course I go with the crispy chicken on it instead of grilled. I have to have SOME satisfaction. Plus, as K says, Chick-fil-a is practically all health food. (YES IT SO IS).
• TGI Fridays pecan crusted chicken salad. VERY yummy. But from what I find online, packed with lots and lots of calories. No wonder if was so good. I find anywhere from 750 to 1,360 in calories. I only ate half so I won't feel too bad, but probably could pick something much better.
• Cheddar's salad - always always always good.
• Only 4:35. For the love.
• Forgot that the Wings N More grilled chicken ceasar is wonderful. LOVE. And probably was high in calories too, but come on. All that green stuff. Has to be at least a little bit good for you.
• 4:41. Sigh.

** Can you believe that the last 2 margaritas I have had, I cut the SALT? I know. I am a crazy wild freak.

Mid-May Weekend

This weekend was pretty fun. I find it successful that I went out on the town twice, so to speak, and woke up feeling fine both times. Maybe I am finally learning? Well probably not, but we will add one to the win column for now anyway.

Friday we went over to my BILs GFs house to celebrate her graduation. YAY Cookie!! In her own words, she is a big girl now ;-) Which to me being a big girl is not toooo bad. Yes sometimes I wish I could choose to skip out on work like you can on class, but otherwise big girl status is pretty good in my book. So Bear played washers and I tried to find people to talk to and eventually we ended up over at another graduates house and hooked up with Dee and Jason and went to North Gate. (or them Gates as Bear calls them) We went to the Corner and it was fun and surprisingly cool up on the rooftop bar. Time flies though and we didn't go to bed until 2 which is very late for this big girl.

Saturday we had a slow start, coffee helped all. Then after D&J took us back to our truck, we ended up going to the Longhorn Tavern in Bryan for lunch. Bear has never been there! We used to eat there at least once a week when I worked out at Riverside Campus in college. It hasn't changed much and is still pretty good. I also managed to find something decently healthy on the menu - grilled chicken - and it was excellent. Unfortunately the only thing available as a side is either a baked potato or FF. So that took it down a notch. Oh well. It's not like the beer I drank all weekend was helping the diet status anyhow.

Saturday evening, after watching it rain all afternoon, we headed over to the annual Walker crawfish boil where it was most unfortunately still raining. I LOVE me some crawfish though so we didn't let it stop us. Like I am embarrassed that I really can't stop eating it. And most especially when they have so much of it. I watched Bear and Chris play beer pong and drank from a Dos Equis KEG! I love that stuff and I never even thought to get a keg of it! And I am happy and surprised to know that it does not give me a headache. Good to know.

So then today, Sunday, I slept till noon. Gotta love that!! And not sure what else today has in store. Maybe a movie. And I definitely have to go to the mall and to Kohls. But I think that is about it.

Oh and this it the swimsuit I ordered from VS for our trip.




I am so happy - it fits!!! And is really cute. The bottoms even cover my extra large bootie and that makes a gal ever so happy. I did order medium bottoms though and while they do fit, with the skirt over them it is just a tad too tight (you can see the waist line under the skirt) I am going to exchange them for a large. AND as an added extra extra bonus when I called to get the exchange - the whole suit was even more on SALE!!! So I got an adjustment on all the items. SCORE. Now I just have to do an excessive amount of situps everyday before the trip and we will be good.

Una mas cerveza por favor senorita!

Sernorrrrieeeeeetttaaa! That is the song playing right now. (country, so not everyone may be familiar... but eh) And how appropriate since I spent a major part of my evening looking for an all inclusive beach vacation. Hee, we can all dream can't we?*

The hubby is out of the house and it's just me for the weekend. Wow, I am so excited with all the things I want to do. And I was feeling sleepy (I guess after this long work week!) and I even made coffee so I could stay up and do all the things I have wished I was at home doing all week. So with that said, this is a caffeine induced post, so fair warning right now to watch out. Keep reading at your own risk. But I need to do a lot of updating so here goes... I think I might break it up into a few posts now that I think about it....

First, I opened this blog to the public so you no longer have to be invited to read it. What can I say, I was shy at first. But what the hey, whoever wants to read can read. What I talk about is really not too informative or interesting for the most part. But it is fun for me and that is what it is all about. So if you know someone that knows me and might be interested, feel free to invite them to read. I would like to get more comments, but then wouldn't we all I guess.

Second, I am having a garage sale next weekend with nonsoccermom. And I finally went through some clothes earlier this evening. The sad part is that some are so ragged that they will not even make it to the garage sale. I have a a throw away pile and then "I suppose it is good enough for goodwill" pile. So sad! I am scared I will not actually have enough for the sale, but nonsoccermom assures me she has alot. I hope so!

Third, I have some pictures to post. I was going through all previous posts before I opened this up to everyone and realized I never posted pictures from our Christmas break beach trip. So I will do that in a separate post.

* Bear is going to teach summer school. I KNOW what you are thinking! WHY WOULD HE DO THAT. HE HATES IT and needs a break. That is what I said too until he said we can use that $$ for vacation!! happy, happy dance :-) However, by the time we go I must be more photogenic (ie less fat). But I say that all the time... I just hope this is the time I really do something about it. -sigh-

I know I am random and totally hopped up on caffeine so this is more than a little spastic.

Ok, OK, OK!

I know I suck at posting. BUT, luckily I am not as lazy as my other friends and you can see what I did for Valentine's Day at Dee's blog. It may not be fun for her to read, but for the rest of you maybe it will be!

Maybe after Spring Break I will have something interesting to say and pictures to post about what we did. Until then...

Project: Sorry that I left you hanging

The project is over and turned out OK. Excuse the the whole porch and columns on the house because I did those in 5 minutes. The 5 minutes AFTER I arrived at the party so go figure that they look kinda dumb. But I was DONE and that is all that mattered. Then I had a couple of cold beers. Love being from a small town German family where it is OK to have a keg at a 90 year old birthday party ... and drink with or in front of your preacher. HA!

So here is what it ended up looking like:

It was by no means perfect or an exact replica as I had hoped, but my husband did keep complementing me so that made me feel good. My mom thought I should have cut out all the places where windows and doors were so that they would be flush with the house "siding". I told her she could do it next time then.

Now, who wants a gingerbread house to decorate for Christmas? It is sitting on my kitchen table. I don't have the heart to throw it away but I don't want to keep it. Maybe this weekend I will finally throw it away!

Project: Why it is good to follow directions

With a title like that you might get the wrong opinion about this post. But I assure you I am probably going away from the obvious direction the title might take you.

It is good to follow directions. Things work when you follow them. Things go as planned as you follow them.

Which is why I am SOOOOOOooooooooooooooo thankful that my mom has let me stay at my house these past 2 weekends to do my part of this project on my very, very own. Hell freakin' yeah, people. I love her, she is my mom and I act SO MUCH LIKE her. Except in some ways that I hope are good ways. Like I DO READ AND at least try to FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS. And let me tell you. It works. My mom merely takes them as suggestions. And once she reads them she kinda just forgets that possibly whoever wrote them knew what they were talking about. Now maybe I am bragging a little early here... and I hate to jinx it, but so far so good on this project. And that is a wonderfully nice thing.

I finished the model and cut all the pieces apart this week. Then Friday made more gingerbread and cut out and baked all the pieces. I would like to credit some of the very good tools I used this time: A pizza cutter, a fang shaped knife I have, a Pyrex rolling pin and parchment paper. First, if I would have had the pizza cutter the first time I did this, things would have gone MUCH better. And second, parchment paper is the bomb and worth every.single.penny.

I also read online (See DIRECTIONS that might possibly be helpful to follow) that it is helpful to dry your pieces in the oven at 200 degrees over night. This worked great for a few pieces that came out softer than I wanted. However, when you do this, make sure that all your pieces are on a flat surface. I didn't have enough space in the oven so I stacked pieces on top of each other. So for most of them it was fine, but for some that were in between or on top of smaller pieces, they ended up unlevel and misshapen by the morning. So I had to redo those this morning.

Then I took a break and we went to lunch at Chili's. Gave the MIL our truck so she can finally get her wrecked car fixed this week. WOOHOO, I will be glad to no longer think about that. At least hopefully, it will all be done after this week. She has already gotten 6 warning tickets for driving like that AND anyone who wants to ride with her has to ride in the back seat. If you know her, you know this doesn't bother her in the least. Which, LOL!

So back to work... I made royal icing with meringue powder for the glue to hold all the pieces together. This is where, OMG, following the directions is amazing. A-maze-ing. It turned out perfect. Like cement! It is going to be so much easier just because of THAT. Last time I guess we tried to make our own royal icing with egg whites? Because we didn't have meringue powder or ran out or didn't want to run to town? I don't know. All I know is what we did do, IT DID NOT WORK FOR THIS PURPOSE. Maybe for flowers or something, but not this. I remember having it dripping everywhere and having to hold pieces together for 15-30 minutes to get it all to stick. This time, none of that. YYYYYAYYYYYYYY! I think there are 2 other factors here, the weather is not humid and I have an awesome mixer that made it peak like it is supposed to. I am going to have to get mom one of those.... I really think it might be an important factor.

Supplies:

I forgot to mention these supplies ;-)

The house I am trying to model. Yes is it very old... run down and dirty. I am trying to paint it in a different light. But, this is where my grandfather has lived his whole entire 90 years. So pretty cool if you ask me. If I had money, I would repair this house so it could make another 90 years.

Building.....

Done with the structural part. Sunday I will tackle the real decorating. I wish myself good luck!

Pretzels

Sunday night I made some soft pretzels. They were awesome. So awesome I ate 4 of the 6 myself. That was probably not good...

I made some with salt and some with sugar and cinnamon. The recipe is pretty easy.

1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Coarse Salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar and salt. Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time to form soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into six parts. On a lightly floured surface, roll each into 14 inch rope. Twist into pretzel shape. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Project: Not regretting it YET

So... all of you know, that I get myself into things. Somehow. Someway. I get in involved in my mom's "projects". This can be good. Or this can be bad.


I have agreed to help with the cake for my grandpa's 90th birthday. The day I agreed, I was all pumped up about it. But by the time this weekend rolled around, I was kinda dreading it. It just gets overwhelming and my mom never takes a break! She will just keep going and it eventually annoys me and then I get cranky and we get in a fight because I just want her to stop already. And she can't let some ideas go...


Saturday morning before I was supposed to leave she called to say she had my little cousin K (2.5) at her house because his mom had the flu. Well I was not happy that she wanted me to come and be exposed to the flu bug (which the doctor had said was NOT a strain they were vaccinating for this year) and I was upset with her for then taking K over to my Mema's (who just had heart surgery 2 weeks ago). So of course we got into over that. Am I alone here, am I the only person who takes the flu seriously? I do not blame my mom for trying to help KM, I am all for it, but then contain the kid who has been exposed. Sorry, but that is how I feel. BUT I was gonna go anyway.


She called back a little later and said just don't come and I know she was mad, but I said that is fine that I will stay at my house and work on it. Have I mentioned what it is yet? A gingerbread house replica of my grandfather's farm house. I have actually done it once before and I think I can do it better this time. But it is a lot of work. Luckily, we have 2 weeks to do it. So since I didn't go home, I told my mom I would get the ingredients and make the pattern and gingerbread pieces. So yesterday I made gingerbread and it has been in the fridge since then. The pattern is quite complicated and it is taking way more time that I thought it would. Which is how it goes with this type of project. However, it has been nice to just be here working on it alone. I know that sounds horrible, but I think it has been the best thing. I seriously doubt we would have gotten anything done with a 2.5 year old running around and "helping", as much as I do love him so.








So here is what I have so far. Got to use the ridiculously RED kitchen aid mixer. Oh ye-ah!







And then, I was almost done with my model. And then mom sent me the picture I needed and now I have to redo it. Oh well. I have the part without a roof all wrong. Better to know now though.


Stay tuned. This is bound to turn out interesting. There will probably be tears. And yelling. But hopefully, my grandpa will secretly like it. He is a man of few words. So if I get a smile, mission accomplished!

So far so good...

October is going by fast but there is also still alot left. Seems like a long month.

Last weekend I went to Fedor to spend the weekend with my mom for her birthday. Bear went to a bachelor party and we rounded out the weekend with a couples shower. We had a pretty good time for mom's birthday making Mexican martini's (wish I had one NOW) and then making fajitas. The couples shower was ok. It was a who's who of G-town and I was over it within an hour. I hate meeting people that think YOU should know who they ARE without introduction. I could care less who you are or what you do, you stuck up snobs. But whatever. I am glad to do a shower for Z&E but I think in some respects we got ripped off. I added up that we ended up spending $55 for our part. There were 15 couples. That's right, I said fifteen. We should have been able to give a shower for less than $20 per couple. But again, although this is very whiny, I was glad to do it for Z&E, we just could have done it much more economically in my book. I mean we ate hamburgers! Anyway... better move on.

This weekend mom and dad came over and dad and Bear cut down the dead tree in our back yard. It is nice to get it all taken care of. The neighbors might mind though that we have it all stacked out in front on the street and trash pick up for yard waste is not under Friday. BUT they do it too. Today we went to church and then we went to breakfast. Just been chilling since then piddling on the Internet. Such fun... no I found Hope Floats on TV. I really love that movie!

I found something cool on SouthernLiving.com. If you have a hard time finding new recipes to make for dinner and you want a grocery list that will make 5 things without off the wall ingredients then try these:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/gallery/0,28548,1844985,00.html

I made the Shrimp Salad and the Chicken with asparagus recipe. The salad was good once we got it all together. The chicken recipe was great! Except I ended up putting sugar snap peas in instead of asparagus because after the asparagus was in the fridge for ONE day it was already bad. I was not happy about that. But the chicken and the sauce are excellent!! Next up is the pasta salad.

Goodbye September 2008

Well... what can I say. I haven't felt like blogging lately. September kinda got away from me and I only ended up with one WHOLE post. Woweee.

Let's get a recap (if I can remember everything):

• First Weekend: Aggie Football started. Dee and Jason, and Maegan and Jett came to stay with us. I went to my friend Sarah's Couples Shower, without my couple of course. I saw old friends Mandi and Ashlie. I had a good time and then went back to the house to play Wii with my guests. FUN!
  
• Second Weekend: Then Hurricane Ike made his appearance. We didn't get any evacuees this time, D and J stayed in H-town. For some reason I was quite glued to the television during the 'cane and then we did discover that at our house we are really blocked from at least 30-40 mph wind by the trees in the back yard. And luckily, the dead tree in the back did NOT fall on the house. Score.
  
• Third Weekend: This is where it gets interesting. Bear went to NYC for the second to last Yankee's game at Yankee Stadium before it is torn down. I went to S's ring dunk Friday and night and we tried to go to NG but it was WAaayyyyyYYYY too crowded so I went home. Saturday I shopped with mom before she took me to DB for a baby shower for W and S. After the shower MIL was nice enough to let me take her car to Fedor. BUT, as luck would have it, I hit a deer (BIG buck with at least 8 points) with her car. Car needs repair, I am OK, but I naturally feel horrible. Sunday after church we went to Mema's to lunch. Then I had to head back to DB for a surprise bday party for Aunt A. (Yes I had to go to all this family stuff without MY HUSBAND. This never would happen had I been out of town and my family was having 2 things, but typical I suppose.) Husband calls just before the party starts to tell me he booked the wrong return flight and now has to find another way home. So needless to say, it was the most expensive weekend we have had in a long time.
  
• Last week and weekend: I went to Disney World in Florida with mom, KM and her kids K&K. It was a blast! I had the best time riding all the rides with big girl K. She is fearless and so it made it so fun!!! I even got KM and mom to ride some big rides too. I think mom forgave me but I don't know about KM. Saturday though, Bear called with bad thing #3 (please God let it be over now) that his laptop and gym bag was stolen out of his truck. So that was just great. Sunday after we came home, I crashed and I think it took me 2 days to fully recover from the trip. I was exhausted!

I don't have all the pictures that KM took, which are better than mine. But I do have these cute pictures of K&K getting their faces painted. TOO CUTE!

Much ado

about nothing...

It is Friday again and here I am for my weekly post.

Last weekend was fun and quite relaxing. We had a talk about money before our trip and I was told by my husband to stop stressing out about it. So after alot of kicking and screaming I have tried to take his advice. It made for a nice weekend where I didn't care what we did or how much it cost (to a certain degree). I think there were several factors that helped me do this. 1) Bears new job 2)excepting the fact we have bills that will not be paid off in the immediate future no matter how hard I try 3)Bear took care of all the details.

Friday we went out to dinner with D, J and C to Pancho's. Bear freakin' loves him some Pancho's and none of the rest of us can complain either. So then we went to the liquor store on the way home. We were planning on playing a game but ended up sitting on the couch watching the Olympics. D and I tried to drink a bottle of wine, but failed to finish it before we wanted to go to bed. Lame, well yes maybe, but I believe we were all totally fine with it.

Saturday D and J made us breakfast, which was awfully nice of them. Then later that afternoon Bear and I headed to our hotel and got ready for the concert with Coach G and his wife.

The concert was awesome, except for the fact that it was so LOUD. I don't mean to sound 80, but seriously it was MUCH louder than necessary. They were trying to blast the sound to China as far as I could tell and when we left I think a freight train could have been coming up behind us and none of us would have known. Bear says his ears are still ringing (let's face it, he acts 80 sometimes so are we surprised?). But, we had sweet seats on the club level of Reliant. That made things even more enjoyable. There was a bar directly outside the door. But I believe Bear and Coach G repeatedly went to this one bar where they found "the cheap beer". You know, as far as cheap goes at these things anyway.

Sunday we went shopping at the new outlet mall. We wanted to take advantage of tax free weekend and it was nice to shop without as much guilt as usual. The only thing was that I am still refusing to go up a size in clothing so I didn't walk away with too much. Bear racked up though which is good.

Work this week has been so so. Not alot going on which is both good and bad. If someone is not chasing me with a deadline, then not too much gets done. Bear has been adjusting to his new jobs and gives me either an upbeat report at the end of the day OR he has the "oh holy hell what have I done" speech waiting for me. The vibe can also vary between these 2 all in one day. I keep telling him to wait until Monday and he actually meets the kids and then tell me how he feels. On this one I don't know though... it might be an interesting year to say the least. WHO knows where he will end up next year if he doesn't like it.

So this weekend we will be out at the Fish Fry. I was more excited about it last week than I am now. Hopefully it is not too terribly awfully hot.

And I have no way to cleverly end this so BYE!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Well... mucho has happened in the last week.

• Bear took at new job with Bryan ISD
• Bear was happy and excited and we knew we would have slightly more money to spend this next year so in true Bridget and Bear style, we went and spent the MONEY before we even have it. Oh come on, you all know it is what we do and you are laughing RIGHT NOW.
• We bought a Wii
• And Wii Fit
• And Super Mario Kart
• Bear got sad about leaving his last job a few times over the week, but then we just play Wii and he is FINE then.
• Wii hhheeee heeeee

So much of the last week, I just played VIDEO GAMES. Yes, meeee, I play the Wii. Bear is amazed and so am I. I vehemently complain about him playing the Xbox (which YES we still have) but now I am so addicted. I mean I stayed up last night and played Mario Kart until 12:30 because I wanted to play every course in ORDER. So now I have done that. I think I got first in them all except for ONE. See I even keep score. And we can even play people online. WTH is happening?

Weekend please hurry up!

I am not down with being at work today. While I have a few things to do, they are not things I want to do and they are not urgent. I have a pretty big deadline coming up so I have been notified by most of those who will submit that day, but now they have all disappeared. Only to reappear later all at once demanding me to work! So I am trying to enjoy the downtime.

However, it is FRIDAY and I just want to go home.

And today is food day so I also want to go home to get away from all the food. I used to like food day but now it kinda puts me in a bad mood. It is just not fun anymore.
1) I don't feel like cooking for such a large group
2) we have groups for main dish, breakfast, dessert, ect. and sometimes I do not feel like making something that fits in my group (and the one time I was a rebel in didn't follow orders I brought the exact same thing as someone else)
3) I don't need to eat ALL DAY and it is really, really, really hard not to do that when the food sits outside my cube.
4) It is always at the end of the month when I have no extra money.
But everyone else loves it so I guess I am the only fuddy duddy in the bunch.

Tonight a bunch of my highschool girlfriends are coming into town. We are going out to Ninfa's for dinner. It should be fun, it usually is. I always just have a wierd anticipation when I get together with them. I think it is a mix of guilt for never talking to alot of them anymore and then also just thinking will they still like me? Stupid, really, because then we get together and have a good time. And it is not like I purposely avoid them or that they do that to me either. But I still have an awkward feeling about it sometimes.

Sunday I am going to be a baptism sponsor for one of my friends little boys. I have never done that before. It should be interesting. I hope she does not ask me to hold him during the process! I don't know who the other sponsors are going to be.

Bear is going to San Antonio for a coaching clinic this weekend. I just wish it was not so far away. Gas it too expensive! But at least everything else is paid for... for once by the school.

Well this took up a few minutes of my time. Now I am going to see if I can sneak out early...

The latest events... and why I am a total loser!

This past weekend was Aunt D's wedding. It was quite lovely and I got all teary eyed as she came down the aisle and stuff. I hate it when brides cry! I mean you can't help but remember that very scary yet wonderfully joyous moment that it was for yourself. It just makes you cry...


After the ceremony the reception was at the church hall. They had it all decorated up with round tables and white chairs, table cloths and even nice folded napkins! Not the type of stuff I am used to seeing at most DB weddings. So it was quite nice (NOT that there aren't nice weddings in DB, there are, but you get what I mean!).


I was in charge of cutting the cake. S and A helped me get through that. I was nervous for some reason, but once I started cutting, I was fine. Or could it be the 2 glasses of wine I had before I started cutting? Hmm. So we cut most of the cake and laid it out for people to come and get themselves. Then we got in line to eat. I really did not eat enough... because then it looked like more cake needed to be cut and then we were asked to pass out the cake since the girls they had planned to do that for them didn't want to. So I got up and finished cutting and I must say I passed off the asking people if they want some to my MIL. Hey, she was good at it!


So then I had a few more glasses of wine and here is where things start heading in the wrong direction. Hence why I am a loser. Because the reception was at the church hall, we had to be out by 10 so the party was moving to Aunt D's barn (don't judge people, this is how we do it in the big DB and it is FUN). So we go to the barn and start playing flippy cup. Oh wait, FIRST, I get another glass of wine. And finish it while playing flippy cup with BEER. Do you see the direction we are headed here? That is right... drinking game = BB is so stupid and is a loser. She is not in college anymore, but somehow she thinks she is. Because after playing that game, I don't remember what happened. Certain people have filled in the details and so I have remembered a few things. But basically, the next hour before we leave and go to bed and all that... NADA. Nope I just wake up the next morning feeling like you know what. LOSER!

So now that it is finally Friday the guilt of that has finally worn off. Isn't that how it always happens? You swear off drinking for a few days after and then it doesn't sound so bad again. When will I learn? I am almost 30 and haven't learned yet...

Loving Life

Today is a good day.

(much better than the last day I posted, obviously!)

I am not sure why exactly today is so good. But it is. Maybe because I laughed alot this morning and that always feels great. Laughter is definitely the best medicine, always.

June has gone by without one post from me. So here is the low down on June so far... I am feeling listy today.

The first weekend in June was jam packed with fun.

• Friday night we went out for a bachelorette party. I didn't drink because I didn't feel good. We ate at Abuelo's and I sent everyone off to have a good time at Northgate without me.
• Saturday I slept in and cleaned house. Then we left for a wedding in G-town. It was a very nice, sweet wedding on the courthouse steps. The reception was basically a grand pasture party complete with BBQ, beer and a live band. I was still not feeling good and got a killer headache from the heat or something and so went home early. Again, no drinking because I felt bad. And I didn't get to dance to the great band. Probably saved me a hangover though!
• We stayed at the MILs and then tried to get up to go to church on Sunday. But, turns out our alarm clock was wrong by one hour in the wrong direction. So we woke up too late. Instead we went to eat at MY FAVORITE chinese place on the planet - Hunan's in G-town. OMG I love that place. I have never had anything anywhere else like it. Then I convinced Bear to take me out to my Grandparents in Fedor. I needed to visit but also had alterior motives: fresh veggies from the garden. When we go there I thought my grandpa was taking a nap and I didn't want to scare him or wake him up, so we got a few things from the garden ourselves and left. (Turned out he was at a family reunion which I did not know was going on that day down the road.) So then I said why don't we visit my Mema. We go there and she was not home either! I took some more vegetables and left her a note.
• Then we were off to DB again for a graduation party. The end. (and maybe it was not such a good weekend after all, nothing seemed to work out and there was no drinking! pooh)

On to last weekend....

• We were off Thursday and Friday and went to the FRIO. I love the Frio! Except this year it was so very, very, very low. And we didn't stay where we normally stay, instead we "camped" at Bec's RV which is not on the river with A & M (hee!) and S & R from DB. We stayed in A & M's pop up camper. It was fun except for the water being so low. We couldn't really tube on the parts of the river we normally do. And my back got a really bad sunburn on the last day.
• Basically, we would get up and make breakfast. Then fart around until 11, then tube, then come back and take a 2 to 3 hour nap. Then we would wonder if we should go on another tube, but instead we would just cook dinner and eat AGAIN. I gained 5 lbs. No kidding. From 4 days. So 1.25 pounds per day. As if I needed THAT! ah vacations...
• 
  

What's up this weekend: Aunt D's wedding in DB, stay tuned.

I think part of my good mood today is also that work has finally slowed down and given me a much needed (and in my book dare I say deserved) break. I got done with some really big proposals and it feels nice to breath and you know maybe check the news while at work! Or just in general get a moment to breath! So YAY for that.

Breaker! breaker! you still there?

Yep, I am still here. But May has been flying by and not much has really been going on that has caused me to have a good reason for blogging. I guess that is good - nothing has happened that I needed to seriously vent about - but also bad - is my life really that boring that I have nothing to tell anyway. Well yes to both!

Let's see... since my last post, we had a college graduation and party for Bear's cousin, Mother's Day and my Dad's Bday all in one weekend. I actually have 2 stories on that weekend.

Interesting and funny story #1... We stayed in DB at my MILs after the graduation party for A and when I got up to go to the bathroom about 1:30 AM, I discovered we were locked into the bedroom. How does that happen you say? Well... here is how. She has those type of door knobs that you pull down to open the door. A few other times we stayed I noticed it was getting increasingly harder to get it open and would probably eventually break. Well when we went to bed that night I noticed it was definitely broken, no more handle at all, but if you pushed the mechanism still left in the knob hole, the open/close part still worked. I decided not to close it all the way, just in case, but MIL has 2 baby kittens in the house roaming around and they kept coming in the room. So I DOUBLE checked the mechanism AGAIN and it worked so I decided to go ahead and close the door. Well... fastforward to 1:30 and it would NOT open AT ALL. And I have to PEE! So I have to wake up Bear, we all know that did not go well. He is mad and proceeds to break even more of the mechanism to where I seriously doubt we are ever getting out. Well I grew up in a trailer house and I have to PEE and so I start eyeing the window. He is telling me I can't jump out the window and yada yada and I just put on my shoes and say watch me! I have done it a million times crawling in and out of the trailer house windows when I locked myself out. So jump, go around to the unlocked back door, let myself in and I finally PEE and then get the tool box. We keep trying and finally I get the door open. Yes, me, the GIRL! But at any rate... we were not stuck in there forever and also we did not have to tear down the down the door. And we slept peacefully until about 11:30 AM ;-)

Interesting Story #2... So on Saturday I go to my Mema's to hang out and do somethings my mom wanted me to do a their "Mother's Day gifts". Well I show up and mom is all "Where is your husband". She NEVER said he needed to come and I don't force him to because it is just easier and more fun for me if he doesn't mope around being bored. PLUS, it was all girls so I had a momentary freak out that why would he come hang out with a bunch of GIRLS (well and one 2 yr old boy). But the reason she wanted him to be there is because she wanted to make ribs for my dad's bday (which was on Sunday). But not just charcoal grilled ribs, the real deal BBQ with wood fire and sop and all that. You know the MANLY kind of BBQ. So my sister and I get the bright idea to try this ourselves. No we are not men, but we figured if they could do it while consuming a few cases of beer, we could do it sober. We made (uhm, my sister made) a fire and were pretty proud of ourselves. I made a sop for the meat. We got coals and put them in the BBQ and put the meat on. Well nothing was really happening and then my Dad shows up. Then Bear shows up. Of course, we had done it ALL WRONG but whatev. Basically, we just didn't build a big enough fire so we did not get enough coals. But we didn't do TOO bad considering we had never done it before and probably way better than mom trying it herself (sorry, ma, love ya!). So they built a big manly fire and we had some ribs about 8:30 at night. HEHEE!

Last weekend we went to a crawfish boil. That was so FUN and I wish I had some more crawfish right this very minute. So yummy.

And this weekend we have done nothing. It is lovely, really it is... but I am starting to get kinda bored and I have Sunday and Monday to get through. Tomorrow I will have to do some cleaning. Things are just kinda messy. And I need to straighten it all up because my parents are coming on Monday to make some grub after moving my sister. They are about to take her to Montana for an internship so it will be good to hang out with them before they leave this Friday. It is going to be weird for her to be gone for 3 months! But that is our only Memorial Day plan. Bear has to work. I do NOT feel bad for him considering he will not be at his "real job" for the next 2.5 months. Although he will be working since he has the meanest wife on earth.

So still here... just not alot to say right now. 10-4, I'm out.

Krista, I just googled "Breaker! Breaker!" and it is a 1977 film starring Chuck Norris. HEEHEEE!!!