Neal signed up to do the Ironman Texas on May 19, 2012. He will be swimming 2.2 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles all in one day. This little guy is his daily reminder of his goal. However crazy that goal might be.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
M-Dot
This is what I came home to find on the refrigerator today. The M-Dot man. It is the symbol of the Ironman.
Neal signed up to do the Ironman Texas on May 19, 2012. He will be swimming 2.2 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles all in one day. This little guy is his daily reminder of his goal. However crazy that goal might be.
Neal signed up to do the Ironman Texas on May 19, 2012. He will be swimming 2.2 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles all in one day. This little guy is his daily reminder of his goal. However crazy that goal might be.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Memorial Day Weekend
I'm always glad to see Memorial Day weekend come because it means summer is almost here. Back in the good ol days, the school year was finished before Memorial Day. Now thanks to silly laws saying school can't start in Texas until a certain date, we're going until the beginning of June. Back in the really good ol days, the 80s, school ended before Memorial Day and didn't start until after Labor Day. Since we have a house now, we decided to be patriotic and fly the Red, White, and Blue this weekend.
After work on Friday, we dropped the Fur Child off at the Doggie Hotel and then headed to Corpus. Neal was able to hang out with several of his friends and relive his glory days. It's a nice place to visit but I'm glad we don't live there. It's hard to explain but Corpus is a small town trapped in a moderate size town body. The dynamics and relationships of people are just strange to me.
After a couple of days in Corpus, we drove to San Antonio to see BJ, Vanessa, and our adorable nephew. I wish I would have thought to get a picture. He's turning into a little man right before our eyes. This weekend he got a new pair of boots, hat, cowboy belt complete with a gun holster. I realized he wasn't a baby anymore when he sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair at breakfast.
The following deserves its own paragraph. Our dining experiences in the 24 hours that we were in San Antonio are a comedy of errors. First stop was lunch on Sunday. We went to a little BBQ place with a cool playground for Coleson to play on. We got to the counter and the computers crashed so they werent' able to take our orders. The little girl didn't know what to do and told us we'd just have to wait until they came back up. After suggesting that she could actually write the order down and we'd pay when the computer came bac up, we were able to eat. It's really sad that our society is so dependent on computers that we don't know how to act without one. Later that night we went to a place called Buzz & Ozzy's to have dinner. Again, cute place with a cool patio and playground. We learned that this was the last night the restaurant would be open because they were closing for a week to remodel and change the name of the restaurant. I was craving queso and we chose that place because they had a wide variety of items on their menu. We sit down and the first thing the waitress says is "We have no queso." I may or may not have shed a little tear. Those words hurt my heart. She also informed us that they didn't have a "few" things on the menu because of the upcoming changes. We went to order, it turns out they weren't able to make about 75% of their menu. It became comical because everytime somebody would order something, she would say, "actually, we don't have that either." The boys ordered chicken fried steak. When she brought all of our food out, she informed that they didn't have any CFS left. Neal picked at my nasty nachos and BJ was eating Coleson's quesadilla. They did give us a discount but I'm emailing the owner to complain. To top it off, we were on our way to eat breakfast this morning at the Magnolia pancake house just to find it closed. We ate at Jim's which left much to be desired.
As if we hadn't spent enough time in the truck this weekend, this is what we dealt with all the way to Houston on I-10.
After work on Friday, we dropped the Fur Child off at the Doggie Hotel and then headed to Corpus. Neal was able to hang out with several of his friends and relive his glory days. It's a nice place to visit but I'm glad we don't live there. It's hard to explain but Corpus is a small town trapped in a moderate size town body. The dynamics and relationships of people are just strange to me.
After a couple of days in Corpus, we drove to San Antonio to see BJ, Vanessa, and our adorable nephew. I wish I would have thought to get a picture. He's turning into a little man right before our eyes. This weekend he got a new pair of boots, hat, cowboy belt complete with a gun holster. I realized he wasn't a baby anymore when he sat in a booster seat instead of a high chair at breakfast.
The following deserves its own paragraph. Our dining experiences in the 24 hours that we were in San Antonio are a comedy of errors. First stop was lunch on Sunday. We went to a little BBQ place with a cool playground for Coleson to play on. We got to the counter and the computers crashed so they werent' able to take our orders. The little girl didn't know what to do and told us we'd just have to wait until they came back up. After suggesting that she could actually write the order down and we'd pay when the computer came bac up, we were able to eat. It's really sad that our society is so dependent on computers that we don't know how to act without one. Later that night we went to a place called Buzz & Ozzy's to have dinner. Again, cute place with a cool patio and playground. We learned that this was the last night the restaurant would be open because they were closing for a week to remodel and change the name of the restaurant. I was craving queso and we chose that place because they had a wide variety of items on their menu. We sit down and the first thing the waitress says is "We have no queso." I may or may not have shed a little tear. Those words hurt my heart. She also informed us that they didn't have a "few" things on the menu because of the upcoming changes. We went to order, it turns out they weren't able to make about 75% of their menu. It became comical because everytime somebody would order something, she would say, "actually, we don't have that either." The boys ordered chicken fried steak. When she brought all of our food out, she informed that they didn't have any CFS left. Neal picked at my nasty nachos and BJ was eating Coleson's quesadilla. They did give us a discount but I'm emailing the owner to complain. To top it off, we were on our way to eat breakfast this morning at the Magnolia pancake house just to find it closed. We ate at Jim's which left much to be desired.
As if we hadn't spent enough time in the truck this weekend, this is what we dealt with all the way to Houston on I-10.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Up and Down
Seems like my whole life I've struggled with my weight going up and down. True to form, I have found myself once again up in a range I don't want to be. I knew I would gain some weight after the wedding. Now that its been almost 2 months, can't use that as an excuse anymore. I've been here before. I reach that point where my clothes are getting a little tight and I don't feel as good as I know I can if I eat right and exercise. So I can either choose to continue bitching about it or do something about it (again). I choose the latter. With that said, here we go, once again.
My friend Susan is doing the Ironman race as we speak. 2.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. All in one day. I've been trying to wrap my head around the endurance it takes to do this, but I just can't seem too. My first (and only) marathon took me 5 hours, 32 minutes and my body behaved in ways that were in no way natural. And yet these people will be running a marathon late in the afternoon after completing the swim and the bike. If that's not inspiration, I don't know what is.
My friend Susan is doing the Ironman race as we speak. 2.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. All in one day. I've been trying to wrap my head around the endurance it takes to do this, but I just can't seem too. My first (and only) marathon took me 5 hours, 32 minutes and my body behaved in ways that were in no way natural. And yet these people will be running a marathon late in the afternoon after completing the swim and the bike. If that's not inspiration, I don't know what is.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
PW Cinammon Rolls
Here's the story of the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls. Since we've gotten married, I've been feeling more domestic. Hence the idea to make cinnamon rolls from scratch was born. The recipe makes an obsence amount of cinnamon rolls so it made sense to do this when I knew people would be here to take most of them home. We ended up with 10 pans of ooey, gooey, buttery, sweet, cinammony goodness.
So first step was to make the dough which took a couple of hours with all the scalding and rising going on. This is what it looked like when we "put it to bed" Friday night. By Saturday morning it was just about ready to come out of the bowl so we punched it back down until it was time.
We all took turns rolling out the dough. Yes, I own a rolling pin. Karen was the best. It took a lot of elbow grease to roll it out.
I think this is the best part: making the filling for the rolls. Anything that calls for 2 sticks of melted butter has to be good, right? In went the filling. Butter, sugar, cinammon, oh my!
Roll it up, roll it up.
Slice the rolls and put them in a pan in which the bottom is covered with melted butter. As the PW says, this is definetely not Non-Caloric. 
Missing a few pictures, but the rolls had to rise for a little while and then we baked them. The house smelled amazing when they were baking. While the rolls were arriving at their happy place, we made the icing. Again, anything that calls for 2 lbs of powdered sugar must be good. Mom had the job of icing them as they came out of the oven. I may or may not have caught her doing a little taste test of the icing. We ended up with 10 pans of cinnamon rolls. I had several over the course of the weekend and then managed to pawn the rest off on Mom, Karen, and Justin. I knew better than to have multiple pans of cinnamon rolls sitting on our counter. 
So first step was to make the dough which took a couple of hours with all the scalding and rising going on. This is what it looked like when we "put it to bed" Friday night. By Saturday morning it was just about ready to come out of the bowl so we punched it back down until it was time.
We all took turns rolling out the dough. Yes, I own a rolling pin. Karen was the best. It took a lot of elbow grease to roll it out. 
I think this is the best part: making the filling for the rolls. Anything that calls for 2 sticks of melted butter has to be good, right? In went the filling. Butter, sugar, cinammon, oh my! 
Roll it up, roll it up. 
Slice the rolls and put them in a pan in which the bottom is covered with melted butter. As the PW says, this is definetely not Non-Caloric. 
Missing a few pictures, but the rolls had to rise for a little while and then we baked them. The house smelled amazing when they were baking. While the rolls were arriving at their happy place, we made the icing. Again, anything that calls for 2 lbs of powdered sugar must be good. Mom had the job of icing them as they came out of the oven. I may or may not have caught her doing a little taste test of the icing. We ended up with 10 pans of cinnamon rolls. I had several over the course of the weekend and then managed to pawn the rest off on Mom, Karen, and Justin. I knew better than to have multiple pans of cinnamon rolls sitting on our counter. 
Mother's Day Weekend
Another weekend has come and gone. Neal had LASIK on Friday morning which gave me a good reason to take off a day of work. His surgery was at 7:15. Everything went great and were back home by 9ish. After dropping Neal off at the house to rest, I went to the DPS office to change my name on my driver's license. Boy was that an ordeal. Three hours later it was done. I noticed that my new license will expire in 2018 and it dawned on me that I will be 40 the next time I renew. 40! It was one of those "oh wow" moments. Here's a picture of Neal acting sad because of his surgery.
Mom and Karen both came to Houston on Friday. Nothing too exciting on Friday night since Karen arrived late. Mom and I prepared the dough for the Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls. More on that adventure in another post. Mom went with me to Jamie's wedding on Saturday night. I know Neal wasn't too upset that he couldn't go to a wedding. I'm still on a high from our wedding. I just love them! This one was at a beautiful farm way out in the country. To me, the charm of weddings is that every one of them is so different. This was my first reception to attend in a pasture. They had a tent set up and beautifully decorated tables. The highlight of the evening was when we saw what looked like a baby wrapped in a blanket. Upon further inspection, we saw a snout and realized it was a baby pig!
Sunday morning we all went to church and then to Guadalajara for lunch.
Mom and Karen both came to Houston on Friday. Nothing too exciting on Friday night since Karen arrived late. Mom and I prepared the dough for the Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls. More on that adventure in another post. Mom went with me to Jamie's wedding on Saturday night. I know Neal wasn't too upset that he couldn't go to a wedding. I'm still on a high from our wedding. I just love them! This one was at a beautiful farm way out in the country. To me, the charm of weddings is that every one of them is so different. This was my first reception to attend in a pasture. They had a tent set up and beautifully decorated tables. The highlight of the evening was when we saw what looked like a baby wrapped in a blanket. Upon further inspection, we saw a snout and realized it was a baby pig!
Sunday morning we all went to church and then to Guadalajara for lunch.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Routines
Yesterday, we had someone clean our house. I've gone back and forth with this issue. I'm perfectly capable of cleaning our house. It's ridiculous how much time it actually takes to clean the whole house when you think about it. We finally gave in and took advantage of this awesome service. We found Fabiola through a friend. I might just start calling her Fabulous Fabiola. What a wonderful job she did. I've also been establishing some routines to help keep our house neat. Neal has actually jumped on board and has been helping. I pray that this isn't just a honeymoon thing. I figure we better give it our best shot setting some routines before we have kids that will turn our house upside down. One thing we've been doing is making the bed every morning. Something I never do but it really isn't that hard. My mom would be proud that I do now. Only took 33 years. The rule is the last one out of the bed is the one who has to make it. Since I get up earlier than Neal to get ready for work, he has had the honor of making the bed most mornings. He actually does it too. We also don't go to bed with dishes in the sink and spend about 5 minutes before bed putting things in their proper home to help with clutter. I fold laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer now instead of letting it pile up on one of the beds. I've heard it takes 21 days to establish a habit so here's hoping the next 3 weeks goes by fast!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
3rd Place
Neal had a triathalon bright and early Saturday morning in Baytown. The night before I had decided I wasn't going to go so I could go ahead and get my long run in on Saturday. I had second thoughts on Saturday morning and ended up going. I'm so glad I got up at another ungodly hour for a weekend and went. Neal placed 3rd in his age group. He's been trying hard to do this for a while and it paid off. The smile on face when get got on the "podium" was priceless. 
The rest of Saturday included a nap and some picking up around the house. We had made plans to go out on Saturday with some friends. After eating at Auntie Chang's and walking around Home Depot for an hour, we decided we had had enough fun for one Saturday night and cancelled our plans. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My how things have changed. I had a blast in my 20s but I am so in love with my 30s right now.
This morning we got up early to go run at Memorial. The humidity is definetely back. It was a painful 5 miles and we were pretty slow too. We went to church and I got enveloped in the sermon today. The senior priest did the preaching today. The gist of the message was that its ok to "jump" in life whether it be a new adventure or something that you're terrified of. Jesus will be there to catch you. He related it to a kid learning how to swim when their parents say "jump off the side, I'll catch you." Even God is telling me I really need to learn to swim better this summer. A very friendly couple talked to us after the service and it just confirmed that we're in the right place. I love that this church hasn't been pushy and has let us be as involved as we're comfortable. After church, we went to little Mexican restaurant by my school. Authentic and very good. Oh and cheap. We both had huge plates (hey, we ran this morning)and our bill was $16. Back home for a little siesta before our Costco/HEB trip. Neal worked outside in the yard. Our azaleas that we've had for 2 months are finally in the ground. He was also working in one of the flower beds and broke a sprinkler line. Luckily, it was a quick, easy, cheap fix. Off to bed and ready to take on this week. It's May and that means summer is coming. I can see it!
The rest of Saturday included a nap and some picking up around the house. We had made plans to go out on Saturday with some friends. After eating at Auntie Chang's and walking around Home Depot for an hour, we decided we had had enough fun for one Saturday night and cancelled our plans. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My how things have changed. I had a blast in my 20s but I am so in love with my 30s right now.
This morning we got up early to go run at Memorial. The humidity is definetely back. It was a painful 5 miles and we were pretty slow too. We went to church and I got enveloped in the sermon today. The senior priest did the preaching today. The gist of the message was that its ok to "jump" in life whether it be a new adventure or something that you're terrified of. Jesus will be there to catch you. He related it to a kid learning how to swim when their parents say "jump off the side, I'll catch you." Even God is telling me I really need to learn to swim better this summer. A very friendly couple talked to us after the service and it just confirmed that we're in the right place. I love that this church hasn't been pushy and has let us be as involved as we're comfortable. After church, we went to little Mexican restaurant by my school. Authentic and very good. Oh and cheap. We both had huge plates (hey, we ran this morning)and our bill was $16. Back home for a little siesta before our Costco/HEB trip. Neal worked outside in the yard. Our azaleas that we've had for 2 months are finally in the ground. He was also working in one of the flower beds and broke a sprinkler line. Luckily, it was a quick, easy, cheap fix. Off to bed and ready to take on this week. It's May and that means summer is coming. I can see it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)