Updates!

I've been MIA and I'm so sorry about that! I have been a tad busy with other stuff, which I'll update you on now!

This biggest and most important thing that has happened is I gave birth to our son! It was, actually, a wonderful and funny experience, at least for Brandon and I, marred with me basically going through anxiety slapping me in the face a few days before his birth, and hanging around, in a small form, for about a week afterwards. Either way, you can read up on that, see pictures, etc, on the blog dedicated to him. 

Along Comes A Minion

I've, also, been finishing my first graduate class ever! So far, I have a very solid A, and I'm so excited about it! I wish my hospital system had a better tuition reimbursement benefit, and, on that note, obviously wouldn't mind if they paid for grades. I've heard of some hospitals that pay more in reimbursement based on what grade you obtain. I would totally get the maximum! Now, I still have a paper due Saturday that I've mostly completed. The caveat to that is the part I haven't completed is the part that seems most daunting to me...so, ya, I might be dragging my feet a tad on it. 

This is what the bed looked like before Asher came.

We sent Bella, one of our dogs, to stay with my parents for a little bit. I'm super sad about this, still, but it was my idea. She likes to sleep with someone, and cries so much outside the door if she's not included. With Asher being so little and needing to be with us in our room, we decided to let her stay with her second favorite people, Mom and Dad, and play with their Golden Retriever, Chewy, until we were ready for her to rule the roost back here again. Personally, I'm ready to bring her back, but I think Brandon wants to wait a little longer. Maybe when we transition Asher to his actual crib, instead of sleeping in our room (if not before), we'll bring her back. While we were at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving, she was a perfect doggie! She just sniffed him a little and went about her business. However, what I predicted, and still find funny, is she is very protective of him. Anytime Chewy went anywhere near where he was, she went to intervene...and may have caused 2 fights (or almost fights), but, still, she's my little protector! Brandon is worried she'll protect Asher from the other dogs...but I think we'll be ok. Yes, we may have issues of her with the other dogs, but she usually is much more aggressive towards Chewy than JJ, Hunter, or Ribby, and, given they've been here and she hasn't, I think we'll work out just fine.

Her last day at home :(

We didn't do much for Halloween. We worked and stayed at home. However, I did carve some pumpkins! It rained on them, so they rotted super fast (I should have lubed them with Vaseline, but I just never remembered to buy any at the store.) We took Ribby, the beagle, to pick out the pumpkins.

At the pumpkin patch

On the table after being carved...

Outside with LED tea light candles in them...

Thanksgiving was nice. We went to Brandon's uncle's house and had a lovely dinner, then went to my Mawmaw's house for our second Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was really good, as usual! Friday, we went to my parent's house because Mom had her mother, my Grandmommy, and her brothers over for dinner. She had been hoping to combine Mawmaw's dinner and that one, but Mawmaw had gotten sick the week before and just didn't feel up to being around too many people outside of her home (we totally don't blame her for that, either!). Mom ended up having to go in to work, though, and left Daddy with all the last minute preparations. So, when Brandon and I got there, we tried to help out as much as possible. But, that dinner was very yummy and Mom joined us right when it all got ready! Perfect timing!

I found my little 4 foot Christmas tree I had in college and set it up in our house this week! We'll probably just stick with our little 4 foot tree as we don't need a bigger one (although it would be prettier...) and can have a humble little Christmas this year and go bigger next year. I think it is kinda cute, myself. I, also, took some Christmas decorations from my parent's house (with their blessing! Daddy, actually, probably would've been happier unloading more Christmas stuff to me, but we don't have the time or places to put too much stuff this year so I kept it minimal). Here are some pictures of my little bit of Christmas decor.

Oh! And, while looking for my Christmas stuff I had when I lived in College Station, I found a box with lots of my Pyrex dishes from college! Total score! Brandon and I so need to pick a day to got out to my parents and pull out boxes from the garage to find all our stuff! It was way too hot this summer to do it. It would be better on a day Mom is off so she can get her Gran-ma time!

Well, I think this post was long enough! Until next time! (btw, I don't expect too many updates, save the holidays, because all I'm doing is finishing school, playing with my infant when he's awake, and doing family crap. But I'll let you know should something exciting happen!)

Wow! Long time, no update!

So sorry about that! Looks like the last blog I had was August 30. Coincidentally, I believe grad school started about then. Hmm, interesting...


Anyhow, if this looks long to me, I'll break it up!


First, Blogger has changed things up a tad and I am playing with how my blog is viewed. This may or may not affect you depending on how you view it anyways. Tell me if you hate it, though, and I'll totally change it back. But I have to say, with the way it is now, I giggled a lot because, with the Magazine view, there is a wonderfully inappropriate picture of my dog (inappropriate if he was a human, that is) with the title "Future ACNP Here" for the blog post. Awesome!


Lets talk about grad school. It's going great! I have an almost perfect grade. I just turned in my first paper and I had it complete almost a week ahead of schedule! Woohoo! I also have my homework for next week almost complete. I have 2 more major projects and, I believe, just 2 more weekly group discussions. The last part I'm actually quite thankful for because it is getting harder and harder to come up with things to comment about on my group members' posts. I'm thinking I'll get next week's homework done and start seeing what I need to do to start my next project, though currently I feel that I need a little more direction on it, but maybe not.


Good friends of ours got married at the end of September! We are so very happy for them and hope they've enjoyed their honeymoon! (I honestly can't remember if they were taking a 2 week honeymoon or what the deal was...but it had more to it than just going away for the week after the wedding is all I remember). It was quite a long weekend, though. I had worked four days that week (or was supposed to, I can't remember), then Friday night was the rehearsal dinner which was just FANTASTIC. It was held at a place called Duo - All Things Culinary. I don't quite understand their gig, but it seems that you can have cooking parties or work team building events there, but the food that was served to us was ah-mazing! It was very nicely set up, as well. Possibly my favorite part of the weekend. What didn't hurt is that we were sat with the groom's family and we felt just like we were part of their family, and it was a right good ole time.


Saturday was the wedding and the bride and groom were supposed to come out for drinks at the Ritz afterwards, but, as I do NOT blame them, they didn't make it, so we left soon after that text message came across. Let me tell you, though. Never have I ever thought a hotel bar would be so hopping...and holy plastic women, Batman! Fake boobies, injected lips, Botox, skin tight, way too expensive clothing, oh my. Some of those girls seriously needed to rethink their shoes. Yes, they were cute shoes that I could never pull off...but they weren't pulling them off, either. When they walked, they looked like they had hip dysplasia or something because it was the most unnatural posture I've ever witnessed.  There were other girls with taller or more complicated shoes and walked like normal human beings...good for them. But I was surprised at how many girls had on shoes that they truly looked awkward walking in. Oh, and we're pretty sure that some dude from that show Most Eligible Dallas was there (side note: we don't watch that show, we just heard some chick gushing over some dude about how she loves him on tv or something). What we definitely did NOT enjoy was the fact that it took the hotel valet almost 20 minutes to find my stinking car and bring it to me. Some ditzy young chicks (who were kicked out because they were under drinking age) managed to get their Beamer BEFORE me, even though I handed my ticket to the valet way before them AND they couldn't find their ticket. They just described their car. We may have possibly left without tipping the stupid valet. Call me a bitch, but I just expect more out of the Ritz, even if my car is 11 years old and ghetto compared to the other cars. Spare me.

This was one of the beautiful chandeliers hung in the trees for the reception at the Nasher Sculpture Center.

One of the sculptures at the reception. You should have seen how nervous the guards were when people were inside LOL. There was an open bar...

So handsome. :)

The next weekend was my wonderful friend's 30th birthday!!! Happy birthday!!! (again) I was not able to participate in all the wonderful events she had arranged for the day, but I did get to have the most awesome lunch with her and her family and we all went to the Dallas World Aquarium afterwards. Aquarium was a bit of a misnomer, I thought, as it was more like a little zoo, but tons of fun. We'd never been there so we didn't know what to expect. Brandon and I lost the whole party because we spent too much time in the fish tank area, but we caught up (mostly because I think they took a sitting break lol). I hope she had a wonderful rest of the evening, but it was super fun going out and celebrating with her. I fail and didn't take pictures...but I'm sure they're out there. I'll see them eventually.


My 30th is next week, but I have decided, given certain events, I'm postponing having an all out celebration until next year. In case anyone wanted to know the plans...


We had a couple of uh-oh scares with the dogs. First, my JJ got hurt. I was worried that the wooden spoon we'd found decimated (it was taken off the kitchen counter) was stuck in his tummy, so off to the vet we went. Turns out, it looks like it was just a musculoskeletal injury. He's all better, but, poor guy, had to be sedated to have his xrays taken and looked like, as Brandon described it, Bambi on ice as he was basically drunk walking when the sedation wore off enough for him to stand again. He had a rough day, but, no worries, he feels MUCH better. We've already found another wooden spoon dead (someone needs to quit leaving them out!) and he has been quite verbal letting us know his opinions on this and that, per usual.


The other uh-oh happened after we tried to kill the ant bed that looked as if it was the hub for all ants to enter the house. We really don't see ants in the house, but it looked like they were getting into the bricks, so, dead they must become! Ribby, the beagle, isn't the brightest. He's the only idiot dog who tried to eat the ant bait. Well, I was stuck at work when it happened and Brandon called me worried to death. All I could think of was we need to find a way to make him barf. Apparently dogs can have Ipecac syrup to induce vomiting, but hydrogen peroxide will do the trick, as well as tossing salt on the back of their tongues! Brandon salted Ribby, he emptied his little tummy 3 times (apparently ALL on our carpet, which we have more tile and laminate flooring than carpets, but, whatever Ribby, as long as you're not dead, we're not mad), and then drank a ton of water. Of course, by this time, I had googled the active ingredient in the ant bait and found that inducing vomiting was not encouraged as it might burn him on the way back out, but oh well. He is fine. Still raising beagle hell around the house. But that was just another lesson learned.

Ribby, after barfing, not feeling so well.

Ribby, the next day. OBVIOUSLY recovered.

My dogs teach me so much, I swear.


On a side note, I'm on our laptop using my Bella as a mouse pad...

I think I'll end this with I finally was "forced" to sign up with Pinterest. I feel like I sold my soul all over again like I did when I got an iPhone. However, I believe the recipe I was able to acquire by signing up for Pinterest was well worth it. I haven't made it yet, so you'll probably hear about it later, but it looks amazing and things I've heard about it do not disappoint. I'm not sure how many other things are on that site that I'm actually interested in, but there is a crap ton of random things on that site. So we'll see. I refuse to become addicted, however. REFUSE!!!


Let me leave you with a link to a really yummy recipe! It was easy to make and was very tasty! Brandon found it and I made it one morning. Since I usually cook in the morning and eat later that night, I eat everything re-heated and not fresh off the heat, but it was still awesome that way. We just paired it with a Caesar salad kit from the store and French bread. I'll add it to my recipe list. I was most definitely generous with the Fontina cheese, and, if you don't like some warmth to your food (as in spicy heat), cut back or leave out the red pepper flakes. I like spice, but I found the amount used to be subtle in the sauce, honestly. That is up for you to decide for yourself! Oh, and I used a random Pinot Grigio as the white wine. It was a good recommendation by Brandon.


Chicken Scallopine with Sage and Fontina Cheese


For the record, I do not recommend using your dog as a mouse pad.

Restaurant Week!

I'll start off by apologizing. I did NOT take pictures of our food. I didn't forget, but here are the reasons why. First, some of it was just not that interesting to take a picture of. I'm not saying it wasn't good, but, well, we've all seen tons of plates that has meat and sides on it. They just weren't picture inspiring. Plus, the lights in both restaurants were dim (I'm not complaining about this) which makes taking a picture without a flash difficult...and I didn't want to pull out a flash and be way obvious. 


We first went to Reata. The menu had one option for starters, a wedge salad with pico vinaigrette and crumbled bleu cheese. This was pretty yummy. I'm not a big fan of wedge salads, and am still not, but the rest of the elements were good. I just don't get the point of having a big chunk of lettuce you have to cut when having it separated to begin with helps mix the other elements for a better bite. But, that's just my opinion. 


For the second course, I got the airline chicken breast with fire roasted hatch chili salad and Brandon got the 6 ounce bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin with porcini mushroom demi. Mine was alright. The chicken was just plain chicken. No real spices on it or anything. I don't remember the fire roasted hatch chili salad being spicy, which it sounded spicy, but it did have some yummy veggies to eat with it. Overall, I was underwhelmed with my meal. Brandon's tasted good, I don't remember how much he liked it, but he didn't seem very impressed, nor did he seem upset. What was upsetting is they overcooked his meat. We kinda think it was because there was a douchebag behind us who sent his meat back to have more heat put on it, so they ended up overdoing Brandon's. The waiter and manager apologized, and Brandon didn't want to deal with having another piece of meat cooked, but we were comp'ed nothing for having overcooked meat. 


For dessert, I chose the molten chocolate cake and Brandon got the bread pudding tamale. He won dessert. The molten chocolate cake was good, very rich, and nothing very special from any other molten chocolate cakes. I expected this, though, but just add that to the underwhelming options for restaurant week they had. Brandon LOVED his dessert. It was amazing. I tasted it, and it was very good. That dessert helped make up for some of the other pitfalls. He also had the wine pairings, and I'm assuming they did decent with it because he never complained. 


I looked at the regular menu while we were waiting to be served our drinks, and their prices for their specialty items were pretty high, but the other items didn't seem out of this world at all. I think that even though we were paying what we paid for the restaurant week menu, we should have gotten a little more out of it. It's not like they were losing that much money on us. I still had a great time, though, because it was going out and seeing a new location and food. Just, next time, I'd probably avoid Reata for restaurant week and just order off the regular menu.


The other restaurant was Lavendou. This was a much better experience! The only downsides was it was HOT! Of course the weather here is atrocious, but our table was sat between the hostess station and the kitchen, so we received heat from 2 directions. The overhead fans were too far to the side, over the main dining room (we were off to the side a tad), so they didn't help at all.


For starters, I got "Timbale aux Fruits de Mer," (mixed seafood with a chardonnay sauce served in a pastry shell). Brandon ordered "Pethivier d'Escargots a la Creme d'Ail," (snails with garlic cream). We both loved our starters. Coincidentally, they were both in pastry shells, but they were both good. The sauces were yummy.


For the meal, I ordered "Cotes de Porc Normande," (sauteed pork chops with a Calvados cream sauce). Brandon got "Steak au Roquefort," (beef tenderloin with Roquefort sauce).  We both enjoyed this as well. The pork chop I had was quite thick, but cooked well. Can't say enough good about it. I ended up getting full pretty fast!


For dessert, I won this round! I ordered the "Crepe Souffle au Grand Marnier," (crepe souffle with raspberry coulis), and Brandon got "Flan au Cafe Pur Arabica Caramelise," (Arabian coffee flan with a caramelized top). Mine was so yummy. I could have used just a touch more raspberry sauce, but, it was very well balanced. Brandon enjoyed his, but he felt this was more of a custard than a flan (to which I said I thought a flan was a custard...he had an educated response, but I don't remember the specifics, let's just say he may be right). I could NOT eat all my dessert, so Brandon finished it off for me. 


We definitely want to go back to this restaurant, after I can start drinking again, and have some more food, bread, and wine. And I'll say my apologies now. I did not add the appropriate accent marks the the French titles of the food. I do not have the patience this morning to figure that out!


Other than that excitement, the next big thing was graduate school started. I just got my grades for last week (which was all of 2 days but worth 30 flipping points out of I'm not sure how many, honestly, but week 2 is only worth 15). I got 30 out of 30 points! Yay


Also, the fantasy football draft for the league at work was last night. I left Brandon in charge of that. He feels great about the team he got, so I'm excited. I'm doing a free league with my friend (well, both Brandon and I are doing it) and that draft is Saturday. I think that league is still on...I haven't re-logged in a few days, but she'll tell me if things change. 


I feel like things are crazy busy lately, so sorry for crappy blogging and long updates. Hopefully soon things will settle. Until then, here are some random pictures!

JJ taking his liberties on the bed.

I call this one, Where's Ribby? (like where's Waldo?)

He's on one of the blankets Mom got us that the dogs shredded.

Ribby and Bella still enjoying the shredded blankets.

Where JJ chose to lay down after cleaning up the shredded mess.

Future ACNP Here!

I'm starting with a picture of JJ, totally comfortable. He's my main main.  Well, who walks on four legs.

Oh, and this picture.

That is totally what you think it is.  The couch knocked over on it's back. The two culprits, Bella and Hunter, seen in the background in the kitchen, were playing really hard. I wasn't at home, but Brandon was watching the whole thing play out. He said that they were hyper and play fighting like they always do, both decided to run for the couch, both jumped and threw their weight into the back of the couch, as always, and then the couch fell over! He said they both stopped playing right there and looked at each other with faces saying, "What the eff just happened?!" Of course, Ribby has walked in to investigate what happened while the other two are probably pretending it wasn't them who did it. And don't mind the floor...we have some blankets they keep tearing up, and letting them, and just hadn't swept.

Well, I did it. I went ahead and accepted my acceptance (that just sounds wrong) to graduate school in the Fall, went to orientation, and registered for a class! (just one, lol) I'm still nervous and excited and all that jazz about it, but I think it's the right thing to do!


As long as I can stick to the plan they gave me, I'll be an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner by the year 2015! I'm going to school part-time (there were 2 part-time choices, 2 classes a semester and the 1-2 classes a semester, and I went with the slowest one, the 1-2 classes a semester). I'll still be working full time throughout it all, and hopefully can manage to stay night shift where I like it, but we'll see what time hands me.


Why do it now? I know a couple people have asked this, especially when we just bought a house and are having a kid in the fall. I even had one nurse (only that one nurse, all the others said go for it...and probably added I'm crazy a few times) told me she thinks I really shouldn't do it and wait 6+ months. Here is why I made this decision:

• If I keep waiting for the money to be right, it will NEVER be right. Gotta move on it now.
• There is a lot of competition to get into these programs, and I was deferred last semester due to a high amount of applicants. If I put it off, how many more times would I be deferred? 
• My life will only get more complicated from here, with kids and everything else. I want 2 kids eventually. It would be much easier doing school with them little than with them big. 
• There is a push for all nurse practitioner education programs to be doctoral and not master programs by the year 2015. If I wait much longer, I would have to do a doctoral program, and that's super scary!

Besides, doing it this way allows me more time to get my 10 years vested total state time at work (I could received benefits when I retire this way), and allows Brandon to go back to school, too. He's working on his application in hopes to do the fall semester as well. I'm really proud of him for this!!!  What is pretty cool is both our jobs offer tuition reimbursement (mine says I have to work for them for a year after I've received the money). So we will have monetary help with our schooling, too!

I have to admit to something, though. After grad school orientation, they told us they had put advisement holds on all of us and that our holds would be lifted the next day at 5pm, so we would be able to register at 5:01pm. Ok, cool, no problem. Before I went to sleep that morning, I had a ton of alarms set and had already added the section I wanted to my plan, all I had to do was have no holds and press enroll. The section I wanted (because they already basically told me what classes I'll be taking every semester until I graduate) is the only ALL INTERNET class offerred. The other sections are considered blended classes, mostly internet with a few mandatory class days on campus. I could swing probably all of them, except one. There is one that hits right around my due date, so I would have to get special permission or something from the professor should that actually be a problem. Well, I wanted the all internet class in hopes to avoid that. I'll still be up front with my professor about having a baby this semester, but that I'm sure I'll have all the work accomplished, but to let her know JUST IN CASE something comes up and alters turning something in or meeting online. Anyways, the point of the story is I went to sleep and woke up in the middle of the day for whatever reason. So, I go to the bathroom and decide to check if holds have been lifted already (this is about 2:30pm). I figured...she can't just click us all and say release holds all at once..I bet she releases our holds throughout the day...

I was so right! Omg, I nearly freaked in the bathroom. From my little phone I try to press enroll and when the screen loads, finally, it says I wasn'ttmi, but it is so true!) I almost feel bad about it, since they TOLD us we COULDN'T register until 5:01...but not that bad. I'm sure I'm not the only one who checked early. Come on, we all went to undergrad and know how that crap worked...

Moving on. Not much else has been going on, actually. Next week we'll be going to Reata and Lavendou for restaurant week. I had so much fun last year doing this, and can't wait for this year. Brandon picked Reata and, well, sorta picked Lavendou, but it was the type of restaurant I was looking for to try, so he led me to it so I could pick it. Thus, I'll say I picked that one! lol I'll let you know how it goes, and hopefully will remember to take pretty pictures of the food.

I'm also doing fantasy football through work this year. Hopefully, Brandon will actually be doing most of the work, but, we'll see. I have the team name and picture set up, and the draft will be at the end of the month. Last year we all went out after the draft...this year, I'm not sure if there are any plans. But I bet I won't be as willing to go out like last year...as we went to bars and played pool. Just don't see myself as being up for that this year, especially since my next few months are starting to fill up. Blah.

We went to Studio Movie Grill for the first time ever last night and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was as I expected, sorta sad at times, but it was decent. Brandon felt it wasn't as he expected, though. Either way, I had fun. Studio Movie Grill was interesting. Brandon managed to find the one chair lowered all the way to the ground and me the chair taller than ALL the other chairs around it. Neither of us could figure out how to adjust the height of the chairs (trust me, we tried lots of things and it just wasn't working!), so I switched to a chair next to me. Well, it was still sorta tall...but wobbly! I instantly felt stupid because now I really wanted a different chair and Brandon was probably getting embarrassed his wife was switching chairs multiple times. Anyhow, there were empty chairs in front of us, I sat in one that looked really low, wasn't wobbly, and I switched the one last time. I was still taller than him (and, being tall as it is, I felt super high in the tall chairs. very awkward for me!) but much more comfortable.

The food there, at least what we got, is nothing to write home about. I equated it with bar food. It probably would have been awesome if I had any of the beer that was on the table, but I didn't. Brandon ordered a pitcher because he said it was more cost efficient...so I hid the obvious with my purse so I didn't look like a chick getting her unborn baby drunk, and ordered a Dr Pepper along with my supposed beer. I'm sure they totally knew, but they didn't cause a stink about it.

Either way, I don't know if we'll go again. We went because of the Groupon deal that was going on. $10 for us both to go to a movie and have a soda is a good deal anywhere in my opinion. We'd probably definitely go again if their food was something more to speak about...but it wasn't.

However, I've learned recently that whenever we go somewhere we haven't been before, whether Brandon says he knows where it is or not, I just bring it up on my iPhone's Google maps, just in case. So I brought it up and nearly died near the end of the directions. Screen shot below. Yes, I'm aware I'm being a total teenager about this, but, really, how often does this NATURALLY happen in real life?!

Alright, well, that's it. Maybe I'll have something more fun to talk about later. In the mean time, stay cool! This summer heat is redonculous!

Hot, Hot, Hot (and Tasty!)

I just heard that this summer is the hottest summer since 1980. No wonder I've been feeling a little more complainy about the heat (usually I enjoy the heat, to a point, especially after ICY winters). 


Well, Monday we woke up to get ready for work and I was pissed off at the air conditioner. I started thinking I'd somehow set the thermostat wrong (it's a smarter thermostat where I can program times and temperatures that I want it to change to) and had it set to be 80 while we slept. Oh well, I got ready for work and that was that. Then Brandon text messaged me when he got off early saying it was 84 degrees in the house at 1am! Holy crap, that is unacceptable! When we're not at home, it's set to never get above 80. Our a/c was busted! (by the way, that took less than 3 months of living here to have a major malfunction!)


Well, part of the home buying process is the sellers provided for us a year long home warranty. I couldn't remember where I put it, so Brandon couldn't find it to call and get them started on finding someone to fix it for us, thus we had to wait until I got home to take care of it. By then, Brandon had already loaded up 2 of the dogs (can't carry all four at once, that's insane!) and headed to my parent's house to escape the heat and sleep for work that night. I called, reported, and hung around for 2 hours for NO ONE to call me back!


Angry and now hot, I got on the phone to check the status, packed my crap for sleep for the day and work that night, and loaded up the remaining 2 dogs. Right when I got on the road, they answered. Oh, it seems because I didn't say it was a medical emergency (why didn't I say that again? Oh ya, I'm only pregnant, not about to DIE!) they just sent the request to some sort of purgatory in their system to await only God knows what. We changed it to an emergency, but the only company they'd been able to find so far could be here Wednesday, not same day. I could hold out and see if anyone could come Tuesday, or just get a guaranteed visit Wednesday. I agreed to that since we'd be an hour away sleeping, hopefully, and went about my business. 


I tell you, Wednesday when Brandon and I got to the house to wait out the "We'll be there between 9am and 1pm" electrician crap, it was hot. By 11:30am it was reading 90 degrees INSIDE! But then the a/c repair guy showed up, and about 20 minutes later was paid and gone with the a/c working. We decided to leave, go get the dogs, have lunch, and then come back to a hopefully cooler house. I tell ya, that was NO FUN. Even when we got back, it had decreased only to 84...but oscillating fans can be saviors, and our one and only most definitely was. It was a nice thing waking up because I was looking for the covers that had been previously removed...then waking up and turning the fan off.


That's been about the biggest load of crap we've dealt with lately.


Good stories are that I've been doing decent at a sort of weekly meal plan idea. I try to only go the the grocery store once a week and load up on fruit, veggies, and things for dinner for the week. We alternate weeks where I try to have 3 home cooked meals one week and 2 home cooked meals the next. (there are always leftovers, and Brandon and I do enjoy going out to eat on occasion, so I think it works out decently) This is week 3 of trying that plan, and, even with the hot house, we've done well! Our only set back this week is that the grocery store we went to didn't have a couple things we wanted, so we'll go and pick up those things tomorrow. 


I've also been trying recipes that sound really yummy and easy from Food Network.com and 2 out of the 3 have been amazing, one was meh. I forgot to cook the rice with it, so maybe that would have made a difference, but I think we needed to add some more spice to it. One recipe I've already posted on my recipe list, I need to post the other because it was sooo flavorful! (seriously, the chicken alone was amazing, mixed with the tomatillos and other parts, omg sooo good!) The meh one was sweet and sour pork. VERY easy to make, just needed some more kick. And all of it healthy! (I set a personal goal of at least one veggie or veggie medley per meal, except breakfast, and these have satisfied my request) 


The meal that was just superb this week was found in a Good Housekeeping that somehow found its way to our mailbox. It's called Spicy Chicken Corn Chowder. For me, it wasn't so spicy that I needed tons of fluids to cool the heat, but sort of like Hot and Sour soup, warm enough to make your nose run a tad, but still tasty. And it was very, very good! I'll post that one later, too. I believe it was easy to make (Brandon actually cooked this one). Only chopping the vegetables and such was the long part, really, as I find it is with any other recipe. I would definitely recommend getting some French bread to dip in the sauce. It came out perfect and hasn't broken at all for us. 


I didn't take any pictures of these, though, because I forgot. But trust me, YUMMY! And easy! I'm pretty lazy and they make enough for left overs (which means food to eat at home and take to work), don't take more than an hour from start to finish, and are mostly good for you. I slacked off a little this week because the remaining two meals we plan on cooking are steak, baked potatoes, and salad and then using the Kraft Tangy Spaghetti mix and making spaghetti with meat sauce. But that crap is good for a box! (although it seems Walmart and Target don't sell it, boo!)


Since I suck and didn't do any pictures, I'll just show you some cute puppy dog pictures I have. 

Bella...she sleeps with us 90% of the time...she loves her cuddles!

Handsome Hunter. He loves to play!

Ribby...not so much a fan of the baby gate keeping him from us in the computer room.

JJ, practicing his dramatic look. Aww, he's finally getting a tad of white on his chinny-chin-chin.

Arbonne Reviews!

This post is a tad different than my usual posts.  It turns out my cousin, Robyn (of Run Flores Run and See-to-it-Fitness, and probably others I don't remember), sells Arbonne and sent me some samples to play with and asked me to review them (I think especially after that I love Mary Kay post in the past)!  So, I tried the products and am going to share with you what I thought about what I got!  


Once upon a time I might be resistant to change, but I'm trying to be open to new experiences, new products, etc. So, I took this Arbonne challenge to heart (especially since I remember how Mary Kay converted me once upon a time, why not see what Arbonne has to offer, too?).


The samples:

The gist of the Arbonne company, I believe, is natural and environment friendly. They make their products on botanical bases.  That is what I'm gleaning from browsing the website. Always something that is good to look for in products, I think. They even have a Green Commitment. All things that sound nice.

Let me start by saying...I haven't tried the baby stuff yet. I wanted to wait on actually having a baby to try it on, rather than trying it on myself or someone else lol. So...come November or December I'll probably have my little write up about it...but I'm super excited to try it!  Here is a link to the baby stuff on their website:  ABC Arbonne Baby Care

The first thing I tried was the shampoo and conditioner she sent.  Granted, I could have used more in the sample sizes.  What I got just didn't suds up for me, but my hair was probably pretty dirty! Oops lol. Here are links to the products:  FC5 Nourishing Daily Shampoo and http://www.arbonnefc5.com/hair/nourishing_daily_conditioner/.

The shampoo did smell good and my hair felt nice afterwards. I only had enough for one wash. I generally need a weeks worth of shampoo to really see how my hair handles it, as my hair gives me fits (especially since it is subtly changing right now). Generally, since it's long, the ends seem to dry out and my roots get oily pretty quickly. But for the day I used the FC5 shampoo and conditioner, it did seem pretty balanced and soft. The kiwi smell didn't stick with my hair, no scents really do anyways, but it did smell great in the shower. I like fresh scents like that. I would definitely try it again. It is more expensive than buying something like Herbal Essences at Walmart, and is listed as more expensive as the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Special Brandon uses, but usually special items like this are that way. 

Brandon tried the bath salts.  I was really busy and so sleepy with work and other things that I didn't get to try them with him, but he weighed in. He said that it dissolved instantly and completely (more smoothly than other salts he's used), but had a very strong smell of salt to it. It felt really nice and relaxing, and definitely like it was working on him (it describes itself as purifying, nurturing, re-mineralizing). However, the website lists a 1.65oz package as $60. The sample pack was the 1.65oz package, and, upon asking my husband if he felt he had a $60 soak, he said no. That it was a great bath salt, but not for that price. (I believe comments like, "for $60 it should have unicorn tears in it" were mentioned...) Here is a link to the salts:  Sea Source Detox Spa Strengthen Purifying Sea Soak Maybe we're just too hick to understand it, but I do really appreciate my cousin letting us try this product. I feel bad that I wasn't able to try it, especially since it might have helped with my sleep and exhaustion, but I chose bed over bath. Bad me.

The other products I tried I was able to try for longer. They were from the RE9 Advanced line.

First up:  RE9 Soothing Facial Cleanser. I remember it smelling nice, oatmealy, and felt nice on my skin. It did leave my skin feeling supple and soft! (sounds kind of silly coming from me, I think, but it did feel very nice). 


I used it in conjunction with the RE9 Regenerating Toner, Intensive Renewal Serum, Restorative Day Creme with SPF 20, and Night Repair Creme. I, also, used the Corrective Eye Creme. All of them had similar scents, which were very pleasant and felt nice being applied. Never did I feel like I had oily or dry skin, never did my skin ever burn or tingle uncomfortable (with a couple Mary Kay products I have experienced this, whether it was the particular mix or what, I'm not sure). I cannot say that the night creme beat the Mary Kay night solution, but it was up there with it. 

In the end, if money wasn't so tight with me right now (sooo many things going on), I would switch to Arbonne. The environment goals along with the push for the botanical products, plus the just pure nice quality of the items, are all amazing, but they are more expensive. I really enjoyed getting to try the products and wish I could afford to use them more frequently (though purely on the price for the amount received for the salts, I might skip out on that one). Often times, green does mean more expensive (have you checked with your electric company lately? If you want more wind powered than the traditional way, it's more per kilowatt hour...). However, if you really want to try something that was very nice to experience, felt good on my skin, made my skin feel and look good, and seems to have a very healthy basis and goal, let me know and I can hook you up with my cousin, or find your own local Arbonne seller. You might be surprised!

Fourth of July and Stuff

Ok, I have pictures now to go along with my blogs! Yay!


First, I already told you we hung our curtains in our bedroom. I'll show you pictures, but, I'm certain I already warned you it won't be pretty as we have them pinned together and to the wall to decrease the amount of light that would come into the room. So, imagine these curtains, for normal people, being able to be pushed open to the side or tied to the side with a matching sash, but they're not and probably never will be.


Here is the curtain rod end:

The big window, with curtains pinned in the middle.

One of the little windows. You an see the extra light-blocking white layer behind it a little.

It sounds dumb, but they really have been a life saver. I looked at the pictures posted of the house by the previous owners and they didn't do curtains at all in the bedroom...but they got to sleep during the day, too, so I bet that made the difference for them.

The Fourth of July was a little over a week ago. I was on-call for work but managed to not have to go in! Woohoo! Brandon and I went to my parent's house for the most awesome ever ribs, smoked by my Daddy, and the absolute best sides and dessert made by my Momma. She made corn on the cob, which was crunchy, juicy, and sweet, potato salad done to perfection, and an amazing banana split cake. It has, I think, a graham cracker crust with a banana pudding custard or something, then a layer of strawberries, topped with whip cream and some nuts. It is so yummy!

Afterwards, we went outside to shoot fireworks. Daddy has a camera similar to the one he got me (mine is newer), so he and I decided to play with our cameras on the fireworks. Lets just say we both managed to freeze the software on our cameras, both managed to capture photos that were either too long in exposure or too much light sensitivity, and I managed to never really have a nicely centered photo lol. Oh well. Here are some pictures. 

Brandon playing "baseball" with the snap-popper firework thingies.

The package set of fireworks we bought.

Fireworks!

Ok, the picture below really sucks...but I had to include it. See Chewy on the right? Ya, he went RIGHT for the fireworks like he wanted to them and run. After this event, he bought himself some indoor time.

The one below should be landscape instead of portrait...but I really don't feel like fighting with the blogger photo loader to make it work right. I don't know why it changes it on it's own. A little dumb, I think.

Some last bits of updates...

I got an email that I was recommended for admission to the nursing graduate program at UTA! I applied for the Acute Nurse Practitioner program. All I have to do is accept my acceptance...but of course I applied before I got pregnant, and we're still talking over what the right decision is for us, but I'll let you know! I'm really excited about it...and nervous...but mostly about money lol. I'm sure I can handle anything it throws at me! So, we'll see!

Chewy is spending some time with us this week. Momma went to a nursing conference in St. Louis (well, she only went because it was in St. Louis and would get to see Jarod a little, otherwise she wouldn't have gone that far) and Daddy went with her. I hope they're having a great time, but the dogs all get a little excited when Chewy is around. The first night has gone ok. JJ got super hyper and we had to take a 2:30am walk with all of the dogs (2 at a time...we might have not walked Chewy, but that was because he got a super awesome car ride, complete with take out pizza that the others didn't get). That walked pooped them all out, thankfully, and they've been resting since. We have one more night with him while we're home, and he'll be here Friday night, as well, but we'll be at work. Momma and Daddy will fly in Saturday afternoon and pick him up on their way home. I hope he has a good time...as well as the other doggies. 

I've been a little more proactive at work about trying to obtain Clinical Ladder. Supposedly, clinical ladder is a way to further yourself in nursing, blah blah blah. I'm sure it's good, I'm not really trying to demean it, but some of the things on the list are a little dumb and some of them are really huge endeavors (getting published?! and it only counts for one point?! what?!lol). 

I'm adding a recipe to my recipe list. I took it from Food Network.com's website, but it was SO yummy! It's called Pepper-jack chicken with succotash. Oh, it was good. The melted pepper jack cheese (which, when I made it, was freshly grated) mixed with the grilled flavor and Cajun spices on the chicken was DIVINE! I might leave out the tomatoes on the succotash next time and replace them with something like green or red peppers. I think it was the tomatoes that added a sort of strange sweet flavor. I know red peppers are sweet, too, but I think it would be a different flavor of sweet. Just a side note on this dish...either for real grill it (I used a grill pan on my stove) or have super awesome ventilation going! It tasted amazing on the grill pan...but the SMOKE that was distributed from the spices on the outside almost killed me! Even the dogs started sneezing! We had to send them outside and open the doors and windows to air out the house! However...WORTH IT!

Pictures:

The stuffing. I used Romaine lettuce instead of arugula because I couldn't find the arugula. Spinach would probably do well, too!

Chicken just placed on the stove.

Lima beans, squash, corn, tomatoes, and lime.

If you look closely, you can see some smoke! The chicken was pretty thick, so we did end up putting it in the oven on the grill pan for a little bit at 350 to help it cook through. 

Cooking the succotash. Once again, I choose not to fight with the picture loader. Why it turns some of my pictures, I'll never understand.

The chicken is thick and large, so it is meant to be cut in half and be four servings. It really is filling.

The succotash. It made so much!

The last update I think I'll bore you with is we tried our first church since we moved here! We went to an 8:30 service (choices were 8:30 and 11:00 for traditional service and 9:45 for the "jazz" service). It was nice. The hymns we sung, for me at least, seemed REALLY old. Such as, they don't even really rhyme or have that great of a cadence to them, but I'm sure there are some folks older than I that appreciate those hymns. The congregation seemed on the older side, like parents of college kids and older. There were a few dabblings of not that old, but it wasn't much. We're thinking of trying the jazz service not this week but next (Brandon works both Saturday and Sunday night...not sure if missing sleep would be a good idea to try this Sunday).  We may also just stay up and try the 11am service sometime, too, where we think a greater number of people will be.  What was hilarious, though, was there was a youth choir from Northern Ireland as guests. They sang very well, but there was one gentleman in the back with a curious t shirt...a Jim Beam t shirt...in church! lol Brandon was the one who noticed it, of course. We did giggle about that. 

Ok, I think that is all for now. I really should shut up. I'll leave you with a cute picture of Bella and Hunter playing. You almost can't tell they'd been playing, but if you look at Hunter's stance...he is so doing the playful "bow." And his tail is wagging too fast for the exposure time the camera was on!  And check in with my baby updates if you feel like it! Along Comes a Minion