Fun Week

What a busy week we've had...it all started Saturday while I was making cheese soup (and since many of you have asked me for the recipe, I will give it to you: Drive to Fredericksburg, buy a box of Wind & Willow cheese soup mix, mix with water, and serve!). It was all ready and I was waiting for my husband to come out of the bathroom. It seemed to be taking awhile so I went to go call him. Charlie had been barking at this banging noise we had been hearing. Come to find out, the banging was my husband. The doorknob on the door to our bathroom had broken and he couldn't get out! I felt bad because I never bothered to investigate this banging sound Charlie was hearing. I just assumed one of the neighbors on our street was doing some kind of remodeling (I later realized that didn't make sense since it was 30 degrees and misting outside!). Once I rescued my husband, we enjoyed our soup and watched some March Madness basketball.

As you know, later on in the week Charlie had his surgery to have his little tumor removed. It was probably a good thing that my husband had to take him to the vet and not me. I think I would have had a hard time leaving him knowing what was about to happen to him. But, everything turned out fine and they said he did great! I'm not sure who was happier to see who when I picked him up later that night. We go to a wonderful vet and I know they took great care of him. I'm just relieved it's over with and hopefully he won't get anymore of these little tumors.

I've also been busy with this woman's consignment sale (www.mysistershousesale.com) they are having in Abilene this week. I decided to consign some things since I had some things I didn't want anymore. I took a bunch of clothes, a bedspread set, and some home decor stuff down to the sale. The sale started Thurs. and I've been stopping by everyday to dig through all the good stuff that is there. Last night started the half price sale so I got some good deals (which kind of defeats the purpose of getting rid of my stuff only to bring more stuff back into the house!). Today I'm getting ready to go down and work at the sale for a few hours. If you work at the sale, you get to keep more of your sales from the stuff you consigned so I figured I'd try out 'working retail' and see how I like it.

I'm excited because to finish the week off we are going to Perini's for their Sunday brunch tomorrow! And then I have a 4-day week and it'll be Easter weekend. We are looking forward to seeing my parents as they drive through Abilene on their way to visit my brother and sister-in-law in NM, and then we are looking forward to having Dan's family over for Easter dinner. That is just the beginning of all the fun things happening in April this year...stay tuned for all the other good things to come!

Sweet Charlie

I'm a little nervous tonight because tomorrow this cute little dog is going to have some minor surgery. And as his 'mother', I am very worried about it!! He has a small tumor on his face near his eye so we are having it removed because we don't really know what it is. My husband is going to take him tomorrow morning since I'll be at work, and then hopefully I can pick him up tomorrow evening. Since they are putting him out he can't have breakfast tomorrow so I wonder what he will be thinking when we all wake up and no one feeds him (which is an extremely regular routine in our house!!). Hopefully he won't think that we are starving him. I've been trying to explain to him that he's having surgery but who knows if he really understands! I gave him an extra treat tonight after dinner so hopefully that'll hold him over until tomorrow night.

Pray for my sweet Charlie tomorrow (and that I make it through the day without worrying too much about him!).

Spring Break Trip, Part 2

I am always excited about going to Fredericksburg because it usually means lots of relaxing! We stayed in a cabin about 5 miles from town so it was out in the country. The cabin was on a bunch of acres so we spent a good part of the first afternoon exploring. This is a place we would love to come back to because it was so peaceful out in the middle of nowhere.

It had several of my favorite things, too...a swing and a jacuzzi! The cabin was interesting because it was an original cabin built by settlers back in the 1800's. The owners have added rooms over the years, but the original outside walls are still there so that was kind of cool. We had dinner at one of our favorite spots, August E's, the first night. My favorite part about the evening was when I beat my husband, not once, but TWICE at Trivial Pursuit. It never happens at our house, so I think the cabin must have been lucky!

We spent a good part of the next morning shopping on Main Street. I was looking for some stuff to hang on our bedroom walls since I have yet to completely finish the redecorating process that I started around Christmas time. And of course I had to buy Charlie some doggie treats at his favorite doggie bakery! We ate lunch at Beja's. Then we went to a few wineries in the afternoon and stopped by a huge peach farm on the way home.

Before dinner that night we just relaxed and enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon. Our last night we ate at another one of our favorite spots, Cabernet Grill. It started pouring while we were there which was perfect because the cabin had a tin roof...and what better way to spend the evening than inside a cozy little cabin with your husband listening to the rain on a tin roof!

Even though it was a little chilly and drizzly the next morning, we still went to the Pioneer Museum that we've always wanted to go to. It was neat to see all the little buildings and to see how pioneers lived. I always say that's the time period I was born to live in! I especially enjoyed the one room schoolhouse as you can imagine a teacher would.
We ended our trip with a few quick stops to the Amish store to stock up on good cheese, jams, and beef jerky and Rather Sweet Bakery (where I may have accidentally spent $11 on a mixed berry dessert bar, a lemon-blueberry muffin, a cranberry-oatmeal cookie, and a maple oatmeal scone...Dan dropped me off and I was supposed to run in real quick and pick something out...I may have gotten carried away. For future reference: don't ever leave me alone in a bakery). After lunch at Auslander's we headed home to see our sweet Charlie who I missed very much!!

It was another great vacation with my husband and a fun way to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.

Spring Break Trip, Part 1

As soon as I got out of school Friday afternoon, we hit the road for San Antonio and Fredericksburg. This is our favorite spring break destination and while it may seem strange that we go to the same place every year, we love it! As soon as we got checked into the hotel, we went to the Fig Tree for dinner. We had never been there before and really enjoyed it. I was tired from a long day at school, so we just headed back to the hotel after dinner.

The next day we went and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3-D at the IMAX theater. The 3-D part was pretty cool, but I didn't particularly care for the movie...a little too dark for me! We went to one of our favorite riverwalk restaurants, Acenar, for some drinks and a little midafternoon snack after the movie. Then we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and the Palace of Wax. We had never been to either of the museums before so that was fun.

As we were getting ready for dinner that night, we noticed there was something going on outside of our hotel. It turned out to be an arts festival with all kinds of live music, art, dance performances and other artsy things. We had fun walking around there after our dinner at Biga on the Banks, another new restaurant that we really liked.

Our hotel had an amazing breakfast buffet which we enjoyed both days we were there. (I may have enjoyed the cheese blintzes a little too much...) After we checked out of the hotel, we went to North Star Mall which is a few minutes north of the Riverwalk area. I was hoping that with all the stores they had that Abilene doesn't have, I would at least find one thing to buy, but after shopping for a couple of hours I ended up with nothing and Dan walked away with some new pants and new shirts. Oh well! The shopping trip ended with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and as I was enjoying the Tiramisu cheesecake, I pretty much forgot that I had found nothing that I was looking for!

Anniversary Time!

Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary. Since we got married around spring break time, we always celebrate our anniversary with a spring break trip. But we did still celebrate a little yesterday with lunch at Olive Garden. I had a workshop so I didn't have to be at school yesterday and I got to have an actual 'lunch break' instead of the usual hurried 30 minutes at school. Then I met him up at the restaurant later that night and had some of the amazing bread pudding they have up there (it's actually better than Perini's bread pudding and I LOVE Perini's!).

Here's us 3 years ago yesterday...such a wonderful, happy day!! I love my husband dearly and I love our relationship. He is truly my best friend and my number one fan. We make each other laugh and have such a good time together. I am looking forward to many more years and many more anniversary trips, too!!

And now, I better get back to the laundry, packing, and other last minute things I am so nicely avoiding right now!

Just had to share!

So I went to see how to wash this new shirt I just bought (what a surprise, I get to handwash it...) and I found an interesting warning on the label. Do you see it?!? It reminds me of the warning on my ice cream container to "keep frozen"...DUH!!!

My two least favorite words

HANDWASH ONLY

I see those words and I cringe. My problem is I find a shirt or a pair of pants I really like, and I forget to read that tiny little tag until I've already worn the outfit, and by that point there is no turning back. I have to handwash it! Who invented handwash only clothes anyways? And why does it take FOREVER for me to get motivated to handwash something? I mean it's not like it takes that much time or work to handwash something.

My poor husband has several shirts that he loves to wear because they are comfortable. Unfortunately for him, they are handwash only so he only gets to wear those shirts on average, 2 or 3 times a year. Yeah, that's how long it takes me to get around to the handwashing. (*You may be thinking well why doesn't he just do his own handwashing? Well, I'm a very domesticated wife and I like to be in control of the kitchen, the laundry, and the baking)

I always say that I was born in the wrong time period. I would have loved to be around during 'Little House on the Prairie' times or during the early 1900's. But I think I need to take all that back...because I'm pretty sure those ladies had to handwash EVERYTHING! Yuck!

Babies and Olympics

So my mom gave me permission to have a baby tonight because she found this baby bedding set on Craig's List. My promise to her: buy it and I'll do it!!
My Olympic thoughts:
1. I'm very sad they are over...1438 days until the next winter games! (although I do need to get caught back up on my shows before my DVR erases them!)
2. The Canadian figure skater who won bronze was my favorite athlete. She was so pretty and graceful, and there is no way I could have done what she did under those circumstances.
3. I may have gotten addicted to hockey. It doesn't take much to get me addicted to a sport, (example #1: football, example #2: baseball) and I think that may have happened yesterday. I won't become an avid fan until they get rid of the fighting which I know will probably never happen. Other sports don't allow it and it's such a bad example for kids. But I did watch that whole game yesterday and it was very entertaining!
4. I love Olympic sportsmanship. Most of the athletes are so grateful to be there and do their personal best. I hope NBA, NFL, and MLB players were watching the games. They could all learn a lesson or two!
5. I am considering either a move or a vacation to Vancouver. I loved all those opening shots of the scenery. And I think those Canadian people seem nice.
6. And finally, I think I'm going to try curling. I tried a figure skater's triple lutz in my living room and was unsuccessful. I have bad knees so skiing and snowboarding are out for me. I'm too clumsy to attempt speed-skating. Bobsledding and the luge seem dangerous, so I'm thinking curling may be my ticket to Sochi 2014! I mean, come on, how hard can that really be!?!!?