Owning a Home, Always an Adventure

First, I want to talk about my cake baking skills. Ahem, I mean lack of skill. Well, I guess it is more of a need to be more patient and not pressed for time when it comes to fancy cake baking. How about that?


Anyhow, I found a recipe (via Pinterest, duh) to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. The pictures were so pretty and mouth watering and I could not wait to make it. Granted, I was a little nervous. Making something so pretty seemed daunting and some of the ingredients I had never used before in baking. I hadn't baked many real cakes (just mixes), but I had baked plenty of cookies and brownies over the years so facing sour cream and distilled vinegar as ingredients just made me think I was making something really weird. 


Either way, the cake was actually very rich and yummy. Even with a couple of mistakes in baking (the batter ended up actually being thicker at the bottom of the pan and I didn't realize that until too late and I ran out of powdered sugar for the icing, oh, and not using parchment paper). The cake sections were very fluffy and light, but rich. Because the cakes were so light, I really should have followed the recommendation to freeze the cake in the pans before trying to remove the cake from the pans. So, because I didn't use parchment paper, and, due to the delicateness of the cake, getting a perfect round out of the pan didn't happen. Which led to the cake collapsing on one side later, after putting some of the icing, lacking some powdered sugar, on the cake. Anyhow, mom ended up having to make the glaze for me because Asher became demanding of my time, and she and Brandon made executive decisions on how to glaze a collapsed cake. Well, here is a picture of the cake.

And here is a picture of what one of the slices of the non-collapsed side looked like. Not too bad, right? It still tasted great. It actually tasted better after being refrigerated because the chill to the cake made it feel less delicate and just seemed to mesh better with the cake as a whole. Oh well. I may not try it again. Not because it was too much for me but because we prefer the torte that I made to the cake, so, if I'm going to pour my time into a dessert, might as well pick one we freaking loved versus liked a lot.

This is the torte we love so much.

Moving on to home ownership. This year we have a lawn mower, weed eater, and edger of our own. Actually, our weed eater and edger are all one machine, you only have to switch out the end section to change the function. It is pretty sweet, to tell you the truth. Since Brandon is very allergic to freshly cut grass, most of the time I'm taking care of the yard (I don't mind! It is exercise, sunshine, and a sense of accomplishment!). Wow, have I had to learn a lot. I had to learn how to use the choke on one of those 2 cycle engines, how to start them, mixing gas and oil, and I can now tell you what a lawn mower sounds like when it is about to run out of gas! However, my yard is pretty awesome. It still has some weeds to it, but it looks pretty trim. I'm having to maintain it weekly (which is expected, honestly) but it is so much cheaper than paying someone to do it. And better for us, really. We just need to add some dirt to one side of the house since the rain has washed it away from the foundation and add some to the back yard to even it out. We are also venturing into a little gardening. Our parsley (2 different versions) seem to be thriving. It is too early to tell on the other stuff.


Also, our garage door broke. Sigh. I can't stand when things break. No worries, I thought. We still had that home warranty thingy from buying the house since it hasn't been a year yet. Oh, it doesn't cover the garage door. If we would have opted in for a special coverage, we would have had the door opener covered, and I think she told me there was some special coverage that would have covered the door, and if the electrical system broke we would have been covered, but not for the actual door. Turns out, the pulley system failed and one of the cables got loose, which made the door get lopsided and the roller pop out...making the door not functional. Luckily, my dad is awesome and was able to come and fix it for us. He can't figure out why the pulley system failed and thus caused all the trouble, but, for now, the thing works like a rock star. We almost had to spend money! Gasp!

Lastly, I'm trialing a daily chores set up. I found some links on Pinterest of people who had put together little game plans of chores to take care of every day so the house is basically always clean, but instead of torturing yourself in one day, you do little bits of maintenance and cleaning every day to create an altogether clean house and not killing yourself in one day. I would post them, but I think I'll post my finalized one that works for us when we have created it and feel that it works. For an example of why I think one won't work out for us is I don't understand why someone would separated deep vacuuming and mopping/swiffering the floors by like 3 days. I see no point in mopping or Swiffering the floor if you hadn't vacuumed first. I do understand asking someone to do both of those in one day, plus working and cooking and whatever else, is too much, but you should follow deep vacuuming day with Swiffering and mopping, in my opinion. That way the floors are still mostly clean and you won't be just mopping around the dirt. Also, not on the lists I've found, is wiping down cabinets and the fronts of your appliances, like the refrigerator, dishwasher, and oven. Even in the bathroom the cabinets seem to get dirty from toothpaste or shaving cream and such. Our refrigerator is stainless steel, so when it's dirty, it is extremely unattractive (of course when it's clean, you feel like the kitchen is sterile!). Point being, we're working on managing our lives of work, play, home maintenance and cleaning, child rearing, and dog ownership. I would like this to work out with me managing graduate school and little projects I like to take on, like Pinterest projects or finally unpacking or organizing the left over boxes in the garage since I've finally recycled all the other boxes. 


So, standby for all of that! 


Thanks for stopping by!

Ribby (and you can see JJ on the left and Hunter on the right) chilling

If you look close, you'll see Ribby's nose. He still fits under the bed!

Blogs + Me ≠ Frequent Updates

Ya, ya, broken record, blah blah blah. I've been busy!


But, speaking of being busy, things that have happened since my JANUARY post (oh my, I suck!). Lets see...I went back to work on the dreaded DAY SHIFT! It's not so bad, really. It is sorta nice and weird to feel and see the sun again. Everyone on day shift is wonderful, but I have to admit seeing the night shift at report time is bitter sweet because they were my friends, support, and teachers for three and a half years. But this is a good change, honestly. I'll be around with Asher and can take him to day time activities, I'll be able to more easily do graduate school, and there are many more learning opportunities on day shift. Here is to moving in the right direction!


Speaking of work...I might change how I work. I'm considering moving to the weekend program, where I work weekend days only. The positives are that I will get 10% increase in pay, have a set schedule, and will get weekend shift differential most of the days that I work. I had been considering going part time for it, but I really think I'm going to be able to do full time for it (thanks only to my Momma and Daddy for being willing to baby sit for me). Also, since I'll be staying full time, I can reapply for tuition reimbursement through my hospital and get them to pay for some of my schooling (win!). All I have to promise to them is that I'll work for exactly one year after I receive payment. Done! So, we'll see what plays out. I'd be excited to be home with Asher 4 days in a row during the week days, so I would be able to do activities with him and such, as well as it will make it easier for me to do graduate school (maybe I can up my schedule to part time instead of less than part time like I am right now), and can still always pick up extra as needed. Also, whether Brandon actually gets moved to night shift again or not, I think it'll be the best way to spend time with him (as it is, we get maybe one day off together every 2 weeks, but we get nights together). The cons of it is I would never be able to go to Sunday morning church, nor would I be able to start Asher in a Sunday school when it is time. Also, I am DEDICATED to those days. Come hell, high water, holiday, whatever, I need to be there. I get less wiggle room in sick days and such as well. Right now, I think I'm ok with this. Maybe as Asher approaches 3 or so, if I'm still on the weekend program, I'll consider leaving so I can get him in church. For now, I think this is a good plan to be with my little buddy, take care of my personal life, progress my professional life, and enjoy life at the same time. We'll see how this goes!


Hmm, my first test for the semester went alright. I could have done a tad better, but I really can't be too upset with how I performed. Here is to doing a little better next test!


I've learned to mow and weedeat! My dad has had to help me a lot to get the danged contraptions started, but it was pretty satisfying doing it! Now, this thing called milk weed...I shall declare war on you! You are evil, ugly, sticky, prickly, and just not welcome in my yard! Hopefully I can have positive updates on this war. The first battle is a small one and I don't expect many results, if at all, by the weed and feed we just put out. But you have to start somewhere. That little skirmish is just to fool the milk weed that we are weak. Just wait...I'm building my arsenal. You shall PERISH!


Oh! Projects! So Pinterest has helped me to try to add some decor and less boringness to my home! I used a combination of links to basically use foam board, ribbon, spray glue, and velcro to hang prints of pictures of my family! It isn't as perfect as I'd like, but, honestly, I could fix it. I just haven't done it yet. But what do you think of my wall? It was huge and bare and now it has a personal touch!

Oh, how do you like this flipping awesome tart I made? Yep, Pinterest helped me find the recipe. It was ridiculously easy to make and holy crap, yummy! It doesn't last very long around here... I have a cake I hope to make soon to show off, too.

Also, Momma and I got some curtains hung in my living room. Not a whole lot of sunlight came through those windows anyway, so we added some color to the room. Sorry this picture is not of just the curtains, but I didn't feel like taking one lol. Why would I when I have this cute one to show off!? (sorry it is a little yellow, I seriously hate the iPhone flash, so, no flash + indoor lighting + ignorance in photography = yellow picture)

We planted a little herb garden. No pictures yet as it is really only some green crap sticking out of some dirt right now. I hope to have herbs and peppers to show off before too long. This is really Brandon's project, but it is nice to have little projects like this. Something that we can work on and hopefully get results out of! If it goes well, we plan to expand next year.


Alright, I'm sure there are other things, but I'm going to cut this off right here.

What's Been Going On

Since I last wrote was NOVEMBER, I have a tad short of 2 months to account for, so here we go.

Christmas was wonderful! We were really blessed by our families who definitely did too much for us. I'll have to see if I have enough pictures. If I don't, I'll come back and show them off later.

Managing being at home with Asher has been interesting. But the house stays relatively clean, the yard scooped of poop, the dogs happy and hyper as usual, although Bella is still with the parents, and way too much tv watched. I try to watch Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire because I figure trivia shows will turn my brain to mush slower than the other ones I might get in to. Also, I watch Paranormal State. Stupid and silly, I know, but it entertains me and I don't mind deleting one if I never watched it.

I just recently got over being sick again, though I think it was an almost mastitis issue. I felt CRAPPY! But, feeling better is always good.

School starts Jan 18th. I have to attend class that day and 3 other days (those days are for the exams for the class). I'm scared crapless of this class. Did I mention the books I have are the same ones my brother used for medical school!? Scary!! So, wish me luck and pray for me if you think about it. I'm sure I could use it. On that same note, I'm considering changing my major. I'm currently under Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, and I'm thinking of changing it to Family or Adult Nurse Practitioner. I think now that I'm officially a mother, I'm not going to want to be in the unit of a hospital all the time. I love it...but I do love being home with my dogs and my son and my husband a lot, too (not in that order). I'll have more freedom of choice of schedules, I think, if I change my major. I'm a little sad about that because I would really have loved the Acute Care side, but there are so many opportunities and experiences as an FNP or ANP that I'm sure I'll never look back once I get there. Also, since I want to change majors, the only reason I really seriously pursued going to UTA was because it was the only school in the area that provided an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner degree. If I change majors, I could possibly attend TWU, which would be closer (especially if they have classes available in Denton...it would be WAY closer!). I need to make this move like, NOW, so I know, if I am going to change schools, what school I will be in come Summer or Fall. Otherwise, switching my major will be a tad of an issue remaining at UTA, but less of a problem, especially since I'm doing it so early in my degree. But, that is what is up with school.

I go back to work Sunday. Maternity leave is finally over. I'm sad. I've really enjoyed being home. I know it sounds lazy, but it has been nice. At least I only work 3 days a week. 3 long days...but three days nonetheless. I am considering moving to part time come May, which is driven by a couple things. One, Brandon may be moved to night shift, again. I could easily move back to night shift, but then I'd have to worry about changing my baby's sleep/wake schedule. It sucks enough doing it to yourself. I do NOT even want to consider doing it to an infant! Also, school will quickly become more demanding (required attendance, clinicals, etc), so part-time will be more beneficial in that avenue as well. The main hang up is money. We need some bills paid off and to lessen some of our bills to even make this work. I'm nervous about it, but hopeful. I'll have to have this decision made soon, though, I think, because I just can't wing it last minute like I do some things.

Other than that, I'm enjoying that stupid website Pinterest. I've made a couple recipes from there but have a couple projects I'm still working on. I need some better ink for one project, and I'm waiting on feedback from a family member for another. I'm going to attempt home-made wipes tonight! I'm excited about that since they're sorta expensive (lovely, but expensive). Making them at home would be so cool. I'll let you know how all that goes with links to where I found the instructions. I'm really excited about some shelving DIY I just found today. It'll involve my dad's assistance, but, as my mom just told me he's turning in his retirement letter, maybe he'll have some time to help me after a few months! Hello, shelving in Asher's room

Ok, picture time! I hope I didn't make this too long!

Baby's first Christmas ornament

My new wall decorations. I have 2 of them.

Playing with the camera and my 2 big boys

Our new robot vacuum! I love it more than you could ever know!

Getting some Bella cuddles while at the parent's

Some JJ love. Yes, I'm wearing Brandon's boots and VS pajama pants. I have serious style.

Why our baby gates aren't very effective.

Our garage! It's almost clean! Maybe we can fit 2 cars in before summertime!

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!