Crock Pot Take 1

Today I tried out my new Crock Pot! There's good news and not so good news...


The good news is:
1) The house didn't burn down
2) The dogs didn't find a way to get on the counter and get into the crock pot
3) The house smelled pretty good, and dinner was ready when we got home (well, it only took a little while to get the green beans and biscuits ready)
4) That brown stuff on the side of the pot was actually pretty easy to get off :)


The not so good news:
1) The chicken tasted kind of funny (I think it may have been the wine... perhaps I should have gone with a "cooking wine"... I'm not sure)
2) The chicken was kind of dry and chewy


But, all in all, I am excited about starting to use the Crock Pot! I just need to find a better recipe, I think.

Here's the recipe I used:
6 Boneless skinless Chicken Breast
Black Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Lemon juice
1/2 cup Garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon Seasoned salt
1 teaspoon Poultry seasoning
2 dashes Tabasco
1 cup White wine

Generously pepper chicken breasts.

Combine with other ingredients in Crock Pot.

Set on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Anyway, in other news, we had a good weekend. Rented a couple of movies (Hancock and No Reservations). Got some shopping done. Went to church. Jason washed the cars and aired up the tires :) What a sweetheart!

And now, because I can't think of anything else to write about... here's a random picture from my phone:

Only in Texas...

...can it be 81 degrees at lunchtime and be snowing by bedtime.


On Sunday, Jason took me downtown to Spaghetti Warehouse for my birthday dinner. We had planned on going on Saturday, but we were stuffed from lunch and cake! We had a great time and then walked around downtown for a while. Jason decided Sunday is his new favorite day to go out to eat because it's not as busy. Isn't he handsome :)


This is not what I wore to my birthday dinner:


We finished decorating the house. Here is our tree in all it's glory:


And we managed to get the lighting just right in the living room and get all the dogs to look at the camera at the same time! Good enough for Christmas cards :)


Tonight we found a pretty good place for tamales.


Even the tamale aficionado approves!


We also got all the aforementioned Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail!

What a great birthday!! :)

First, I found my hat! Then, since Jason was in the other room doing secret birthday stuff, I had to celebrate by myself. So, I ended up taking a million photos of myself on my phone in celebration (actually, the total ended up being 28, coincidentally). Hooray hat!!!


Then , my sweets came in and we took a few pics together:


Then we went over to my brother's house and got to celebrate with my parents and nephews and niece! Mom and Jason took most of the pictures over there, so I'll have to post some of those later. Plus, Jason got a few pics of the kids that are cute, and I don't want to post them without asking my bro and sis-in-law (they are getting back from their cruise tomorrow).

We had lunch, played "Ticket to Ride" (Jason won!!), ate cake and ice cream and enjoyed the visit!! Mom and Dad got me a crock-pot, which I am totally excited to start using!! Need to go look up some recipes...

Then, when we got home, I got to open the cards and gift that my sweets got me. The dogs got me a card and reminded me that I'm 193 in doggy years (which makes 28 seem REALLY young) :)

And Jason had ordered a customized jigsaw puzzle that we put together together (that makes sense, right?). I love it! It's one of my favorite pictures and I can't wait to get a frame for it and put it on a wall!!!


It was a great birthday! I love spending time with family!!

Here's a picture of Jason's new hair-do (I'm the stylist). I'm still not sure he likes it, but he's being a good sport about it. He's a cutie, isn't he?


That's pretty much it for the day. I was hoping for a Missouri win over Oklahoma, but pretty sure it wouldn't happen. I was prepared for the OU win, but it really does make me sick that they were ahead 55-21 with 5 min. left in the game and their starters were still in. Seriously? Classless. Something about being the first team with so many games over 60 points... which translates to the team with the least class of all time. Bleh. Hope the Gators win the National Championship!!

Oh, and I don't have to act my age yet, do I?

Has anyone seen my hat?

I made a hat a few years ago. I like wearing my hat in the winter-time. I can't find my hat. If you see it, can you tell it that my ears and my noggin miss it dearly?

Jason has been on a blogging spree lately. There have been 5 days in December and he has 4 posts. I feel like a slacker :-P

On the other hand, I am currently attempting to accomplish an un-slacker-ly goal of rowing (on the rowing machine) 100 km between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm currently up to 16 km and probably needing to kick it into high gear sometime soon.

I thought I had more to say, but my brain has apparently leaked and I can't remember what it was. This must be a symptom of almost being 28. That's tomorrow. I'm excited about going to see my parents and nephews and niece! My brother and sister-in-law are on a cruise, so we're going to have a party at their house :)

Gonna go play cards with my sweets, right now. I'm going to try to keep my blogging ideas in my head next time... maybe my hat will help... where is that thing?

It's December!

I haven't blogged in a while, so this will be a bit of a catch up post.

Thanksgiving was good and having an extra long weekend is always nice.

We ended up going to a high school playoff game on Friday night and got a look at the future UT quarterback. He was pretty good and it seems like he'll be a good fit for the offense. The fans we sat in front of were... interesting? No, annoying is probably a better word. Their team could do no wrong and the refs were "trying to give the game to the other team". As an impartial observer who was originally pulling for their team to win (they are closer to home and the team that has the future UT QB), I found myself hoping that the other team won just to spite the poor sports behind us. Does that make me a poor sport?

My high school alma mater won their game this weekend too and is one step closer to back-to-back state championships. Woohoo!

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Begin College Football Rant

And then there's college football... sigh. In a system where "every game counts" apparently games played on October 11th, 2008 don't, in fact, "count". Beating Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl almost always means a trip to the conference championship game... except this year, there was another good team in the Big 12 South. Now, ultimately it was up to Texas to finish out their gauntlet with a win in Lubbock. They almost did, but they didn't. It was a three-way tie, but the top two teams in the BCS rankings (and the only two who had a shot at the National Championship) were Texas and OU. And Texas beat OU 45-35 in the Red River Shootout.

Sooners like to say "but we beat Tech soundly and they beat Texas, so it doesn't matter that Texas beat us". Well, if you really wanted to use that logic, we've already beaten Florida (Texas > Arkansas > LSU > Ole Miss > Florida), but that's not how it works. Heck, if it was, all we need is for Florida to beat Alabama and we should be declared the National Champions.

But it is what it is. Now all the Longhorns can do is sit back and watch the "Can't Beat Texas Bowl" (otherwise known as the Big 12 Championship game) and hope that perhaps Missouri can pull the upset (not likely). And when that doesn't happen, put on a dominating performance in their BCS bowl game and then watch Florida stomp the Sooners.

I hope Colt McCoy comes back next year...

End College Football Rant
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The Sunday before Thanksgiving we got a new grill. The old one was in pretty bad shape. So while we should have been cleaning the house and getting ready for company, we were putting together the grill and cookin' up some burgers. But it was worth it, and it was fun, and we got the house clean anyway (because I have a sweet husband who helps out a lot!). :)





And yesterday we got the lights put up outside:



It's December!

I've neglected the blog.

I haven't blogged all week. Oops.

I can't really thing of much to blog about. Hmmm.

I cooked a whole chicken on Monday. It was pretty good, but for some reason was even better when I had it for lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I climbed up on the roof and re-aligned the satellite dish this morning. :)

We're watching the OU/Tech game. It is now 65-14. It has been a fun game to watch. It will be interesting to see how this season pans out.

That's really all I've got right now. Exciting, I know. :)

A Great Day!

We had a family get-together at my brother's house today, and it was great! We ate yummy spaghetti and meatballs, watched the Longhorn game, played a neat new board game and had a nice visit. It was tons o' fun! We have a wonderful family and it's always great to hang out with everyone! :)

The new game we played is called "Ticket to Ride". It's a nice little strategic game, but one that won't drain your brain. It is also slightly fast-paced and doesn't take hours to play like a lot of games.

After dinner Jason and I played again... until he won... it took three times :)

Here are the pictures of my two victories (I'm red and Jason's blue):




And here is Jason's conquest:

Canadian Math

We went to Chili's last night, on our way to purchase a new remote control (see previous post), and when we got our receipt there was a chance to win $1000 for taking a survey. The chances of winning are probably slim, but they're better if you play than if you don't, right? So I got online and did the survey.

After I completed the survey, I saw a link to the contest rules (they were probably available at the beginning of the survey, but I didn't notice them) so I thought I'd check them out to see what "catch" would keep me from winning. This is where the funny part comes in...

From the contest rules:
"If a potential winner is a Canadian resident, such person must correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question prior to awarding of prize."

What? My best hypothesis so far is that this is some ploy by the education system to make young Canucks pay attention in algebra. Brilliant!

Little Canadian: "Teacher, this is boring. I'm gonna be a hockey player when I grow up. I don't need to know the quadratic equation."

Teacher: "Well, little Johnny, you don't want to win the lottery and be disqualified for not answering the math question correctly, do you? That's a lot of money to miss out on just so you can take a nap in my class today. But, suit yourself."

Then I thought, "nah, that would make too much sense." So, I looked it up...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill_testing_question

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/01/72511

Still, I find it funny that a country that gives free health care to everyone only let's the mathematically inclined win contests.

More Incriminating Evidence

So, Jason showed me the pictures taken upon his arrival at the scene of the crime. Apparently, Lucy and Tucker are boring old dogs and don't provide enough entertainment for the little yipper-snapper. Here is the path of destruction:



I think she's guilty. What do you think?



This just in: 1 out of 3 little dogs prefer the taste of small electronic devices to that of dog appropriate chew toys.

Remotes are Yummy

This is what's left of our universal remote control:





Apparently it tasted better than the multitude of chew bones available to our little four-legged friends. Our little gray angel has unfortunately lost her new-found out-of-crate privileges for a few days. But how can we stay mad at this adorable face? Plus, we got a new remote out of the situation. :)

Today's a 2 Post Day - Post #2

A year ago today I married the most wonderful man in the world. We have had an amazing year and I'm looking forward to the many amazing years to come!

I love you, Sweets! Happy Anniversary! :)

Today's a 2 Post Day - Post #1

I haven't had a new post in almost a week, so I thought I'd post twice today. They'll probably both be short, though.

Topic for post #1:



I got gas for under $2 - woohoo! Not much more to say about that.

Election Day '08

Well, I voted. I could probably leave it at that and my post would contain about as much political fervor and insight as it will if I keep rambling on. But this is a blog, and blogs are for rambling (aren't they?).

With regards to the Presidential vote, I made my decision at the last minute. I wasn't particularly inspired by either candidate, so the reasoning behind my vote was interesting to say the least. I'll just leave it at that.

As for the Senate and House candidates, I either voted for/against the incumbent based on how they voted on the bailout. I don't think the government should be "bailing out" corporations that act irresponsibly and I think the market could have (albeit painfully) corrected itself given some time. At least that is what my non-political, non-economical mind parsed out of all that mess. I could very well be wrong.

I also made it a point NOT to vote for the candidate who's campaign called our house six times yesterday. Honestly, harassing me at home during my free time will not earn you my vote. Also, you will not gain my support by littering your name all over the street corners and roadsides. I really wonder if that works at all or is just another blatant waste of money.

I think there is much room for improvement not only in campaign reform, but our government in general. The problem is, most of us (myself included) wait until election day and grumble about our options while we cast our uninformed votes.

So far so good.

Ever since the "great escape" Maggie has been a good girl. She has been staying out during the day while we are at work, and we have yet to come home to any accidents or items mistaken for chew toys. She also seems to be worn out from all the excitement the day brings. See:



Lucy and Tucker probably don't get the sleep they're used to now that the little munchkin is out pestering them all day. Lucy after I woke her up for a photo shoot:



Oh, and we have a traitor in the house. Tucker is apparently an Aggie. He found this little hat and has been carrying it around the house. He does the same thing with a blanket he has, but I think the hat is more manageable.

Halloween is Scary!

Not because of the ghosts and goblins, but because of a little gray monster that is running loose in our humble abode.

You see, yesterday, Maggie was not in her crate when Jason got home (and no, I had not been home yet to let her out). Our little escape artist was out-and-about with big brother and big sister... and there were no accidents. Nothing was chewed-up, all was well.

So today is her chance to prove that she can indeed be a big girl and stay out during the day (despite a rare accident Wednesday evening - on the bed - while we were there with her - what's up with that?)

So this Halloween we are crossing our fingers that we don't come home to any unexpected tricks or treats!

One of these days I'll learn...

to take adequate "before" pictures. I'm guessing it will probably be more effective. Luckily, I was able to get a partial "before" picture... this came from our freezer:




So, you don't get the full effect because I didn't think to take a picture of the entire freezer, but you get the idea. It was a mess (slight understatement).

And this is what it looks like now -- after my wonderful, sweet, superbulous husband got through with it:





Yep, that's right. While I was cooking dinner, my awesome husband cleaned out the entire freezer, got rid of the masses of ice, threw out the old cartons of ice cream (7 I think), and the frozen meat that had no identity. He's great about helping around the house, doing things I don't necessarily want to do, and just generally being a great guy. I'm one extremely lucky girl.

Thanks, Sweets!!

Close Call

The game today was a little too close for comfort. OSU has a very good team this year. I feel like we have a better team, but it seems like we weren't on top of our game today. Fortunately though, we were good enough (28-24).

Although I would have preferred a more definitive win, in retrospect, I think this is actually a better outcome in terms of preparing for next week.

Interesting facts:

#1 - this is the first home game this year we haven't scored at least 52 points :(

#2 - despite not having a "good game", Colt McCoy completed 84% of his passes (yeah, "good" is a pretty relative term here)

and most importantly:
#3 - The #1 Texas Longhorns are 8-0!!

Next week will be a tough one, but I'm hoping we will be ready for Tech. This might be the most difficult path to the National Championship game a team has had to travel in a long time.

That will make it all the more worth it if when we make it.

HOOK 'EM!!!

A Raggamuffin No More

Maggie got a haircut today:
I really should have taken a before photo because, though I'm sure you can agree that she is adorable, you truly cannot appreciate the improvement.

Can someone please explain to me...

why it is so hard to push a shopping cart to the shopping cart return area in a parking lot? I really don't understand it.

I guess in certain situations, I could see how it might be difficult. For instance, if you are shopping with more than one child under the age of five or so (and it's just you and the kids)... then yes, by all means, please get the children in the car safely and don't worry about the silly cart. The elderly, infirm, or other-wise incapacitated should probably also get a free pass, though hopefully they might have some help out with the groceries.

No one else has an excuse. You're busy? So is everyone else. You're tired? You had enough energy to go shopping. Take a nap when you get home.

And while we're at it, why not push a few stray carts back to the store on your way in?

I once saw a man exert more energy to lift a cart up onto a grassy median than it would have taken him to push it to the cart return not 15 yards away. What's up with that?

I just don't get it. So please, if you have any insight into this phenomenon, please share. Until I am enlightened on this matter, I will continue to cringe at the site of the parking lots littered with carts. To me it is a symbol of our societal laziness and disregard for others and it's not pretty.

I <3 the Longhorns

I believe UT was favored to win over Mizzou by 7 points. I predicted the final score would be 52-21. I'm not sure I can find the right words to describe the game tonight, so I think I'll try to express my feelings with pictures...

This guy:
Deserves one of these:


This guy:
Will be sacking your favorite NFL quarterback in the near future.


We need to figure out a way to keep this guy:

at UT.


And this:
is trying to find it's way back to Austin... and it just might happen this year!


Final score:
UT 56 - Mizzou 31

Texas is still #1 - HOOK 'EM!!!

I might just vote for Mack Brown over McCain or Obama.

I am blogging against my will :)

My husband said I should start a blog. For some reason, he thinks I have interesting things to say. This is good for us, since he gets to put up with me for a very long time, but the verdict is still out as to whether or not this will be of any use to anyone else.

We'll see.

These are our dogs (hence the "3 Dog" portion of the title):


They're cute, aren't they? Yes, we are crazy.

Here is my husband's blog. He decided he wanted to be cool like me ;)

That's all for now. Time will tell if this actually takes off. Oh, and one last thing...

HOOK 'EM!!!