I wish I could report this bet was made in a drunken stupor on New Year's Eve, but alas, no. It was simply my trying to be a good wife and provide for my husband right before I decided to call it a night. Yep... I said, "My New Year's resolution is to cook for you six of the seven nights a week."
It only gets worse.
Not only did I make a resolution that I'm fairy certain I will renege on later, I agreed to the following terms: "I'll bet you can't make it past this week." I said, "Sure, I can. I can do this until June..." Then I followed that empty promise to myself with "... at least." Dumb.
I kinda feel like the character from Julie and Julia. I've taken on a task I'm not sure if I can accomplish, but I'm hellbent on doing my dead level best to make it to June... fingers pruny, pots and pan worn out, dishwasher lagging, and garbage disposal choking.
Now if any of you really know TB, you know that there's not a bet in this world he's certain he won't win. And he usually doesn't make bets he can't win, but I mean business, folks. Tonight, we decided on ground rules for this bet:
1. I get two sick days a month that will not count against me in addition to my one night off each week.
2. It has to be 6 of 7 week days. If I cook 7 days a week, good for me. Meal 7 will not count toward the
next week. As he put it, "This isn't AT&T... you don't get rollover meals."
3. Three times each month, I get to cook something he may or may not eat. I won't know until he decides
to try it or head to Whataburger.
4. If Troy or someone else decides to go out to eat, and Troy agrees to this outing, it does not count
against me.
So far, I cooked chili on New Year's Day, and tonight we had chicken biscuit casserole with sides. When I say I mean business, I roasted a chicken. I have enough chicken to cook a meal for a small fleet of warships. He's going to be so sick of home cooking come June, we may not eat one meal in this house for a month!
You may be giggling, even busting out laughing (that I doubt, however), but we're not kidding, people. We placed our wagers... put up our stakes. If I win, I get new cookware. If he wins, we get a weekend at a casino so he can play poker (see... I kinda win either way!).
I'll keep you posted on my progress. I plan to keep up the menu on the page appropriated titled "Chopped: TMB Edition." I'm think that I may turn over my one night off to Willie's Ice House this weekend. We'll see... I definitely know I will think twice before using my one free pass!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Merry Christmas from our Family!
After a tumultuous year, we've settled into our new place... our new home... our new life. We are very thankful for the riches we've been given this year--family and friends. We love each and everyone of you dearly and wish you a very happy, healthy 2011. May it rain luck, love, and may all your wishes come true.
Troy, Mandy, Max & Marlee
Troy, Mandy, Max & Marlee
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Up, Up and Get Me Away From This Heat...
This past weekend, Troy ventured to Lubbock for his fantasy football draft, and I spent Saturday with Dave & Teresa, and my favorite mode of air transportation, their Cessna Skyline. We flew the I-10 Corridor to Galveston and then home by way of Sugarland. It was a beautiful morning for a beautiful plane ride over the greater Houston area and beyond. I was able to get some fantastic pictures from our 1,300 feet view, which are posted on my Picasa site.
I told Dave that flying with him is on my top 5 reasons that I love living in Houston, and I can't wait for the next trip!!
Enjoy the pictures... These pictures are fab... if I must say so myself! :)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Vogue.
So, Max & Marlee decided to sit... and shocker... be still for the camera. Max, as always, tries to have the upper hand, and must perch on the sofa for all pictures. Not sure if it suffices for having small dog syndrome, but we'll go with it. Marlee actually smiled instead of running from the big bad camera. I had fun. Here are a few more!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Long Time... Know What's Going On?
Wow. A year. It's been a year since I last posted. This is neither good or good! I am so sorry, readers, that I haven't written in so long. Well... let me catch you up!
As of Troy's 36th birthday, things were going great! We loved our jobs... were tolerating Philadelphia... and dreading, more than you know, the impending winter. We make it through winter, my birthday, cursed the unseasonably warm Spring, and May rolls around. Long story short, we both quit our jobs and decided to move to Texas.
So on June 5, we said our last good-byes and see ya laters in Philadelphia, and started the 1,500 mile trek through eastern United States to the humid, hot, and happy South. We drove through Pennsylvania; took a quick trip through the northeastern most corner of West Virginia; hit Maryland; and entered Virginia. Oh boy did we enter Virginia. From on end to the diagonal other, we drove through the Lover's state, and we hated it. Every mile marker just screamed how much longer we'd be in the that state, and finally, we entered Tennessee where I've never been so happy to see a hotel. Thanks to VIP member points, our free room cost us $100. Well... actually our pups cost us $100, but they are worth every penny!!
The next morning, we headed even further south and drove until we got to my parent's house where a very happy family and friend get-together was waiting!! It was great to see everyone, and ate and ate and ate until our bellies were full as ticks. Life already seemed better just being around our family. Our leap of faith paid off!
On June 7, we pulled into Texas and ended our trip at Prairie Clover Lane. For the next 6 weeks, we resided and played house with Dave and Teresa. It was a circus... a wild trip of 5 canines, 4 adults (sometimes 5 or 6), and 2 kiddos!! We had the time of our lives... until we found our new place!
We now have our wonderful apartment in Cypress, Texas. We are very, VERY happy here and are looking forward to starting our new lives in our new state in our new jobs!
Our third anniversary is approaching, and we're hoping for a great first year in Texas. A first year together where we can start anew and with family. That's the way it's supposed to be.
As of Troy's 36th birthday, things were going great! We loved our jobs... were tolerating Philadelphia... and dreading, more than you know, the impending winter. We make it through winter, my birthday, cursed the unseasonably warm Spring, and May rolls around. Long story short, we both quit our jobs and decided to move to Texas.
So on June 5, we said our last good-byes and see ya laters in Philadelphia, and started the 1,500 mile trek through eastern United States to the humid, hot, and happy South. We drove through Pennsylvania; took a quick trip through the northeastern most corner of West Virginia; hit Maryland; and entered Virginia. Oh boy did we enter Virginia. From on end to the diagonal other, we drove through the Lover's state, and we hated it. Every mile marker just screamed how much longer we'd be in the that state, and finally, we entered Tennessee where I've never been so happy to see a hotel. Thanks to VIP member points, our free room cost us $100. Well... actually our pups cost us $100, but they are worth every penny!!
The next morning, we headed even further south and drove until we got to my parent's house where a very happy family and friend get-together was waiting!! It was great to see everyone, and ate and ate and ate until our bellies were full as ticks. Life already seemed better just being around our family. Our leap of faith paid off!
On June 7, we pulled into Texas and ended our trip at Prairie Clover Lane. For the next 6 weeks, we resided and played house with Dave and Teresa. It was a circus... a wild trip of 5 canines, 4 adults (sometimes 5 or 6), and 2 kiddos!! We had the time of our lives... until we found our new place!
We now have our wonderful apartment in Cypress, Texas. We are very, VERY happy here and are looking forward to starting our new lives in our new state in our new jobs!
Our third anniversary is approaching, and we're hoping for a great first year in Texas. A first year together where we can start anew and with family. That's the way it's supposed to be.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Time Has Come My Little Friend...
Today is Troy's 36th Birthday!! We are so excited to celebrate another terrific year together and reflect on the years past! I can't believe that 5 years ago, we met and have not been apart since. I know it's just 5 years, but it's been the best 5 years of my life!!
Our fun will start today when Troy leaves for Dallas. He has a class at Headquarters until Thursday, then we will meet up in Houston on Thursday!! From Houston, we'll head over to Las Vegas for our anniversary and his birthday celebration, and then I'll head home. He'll stick back one day so that he can attend another seminar for work. Great fun!!
I'll post pictures and stories from our travels next week!!
By the way... fall is falling, and it's GORGEOUS here right now. I definitely know why I live here when Fall and Spring come around!!
Have a great week and day, and I'll write soon!!
Our fun will start today when Troy leaves for Dallas. He has a class at Headquarters until Thursday, then we will meet up in Houston on Thursday!! From Houston, we'll head over to Las Vegas for our anniversary and his birthday celebration, and then I'll head home. He'll stick back one day so that he can attend another seminar for work. Great fun!!
I'll post pictures and stories from our travels next week!!
By the way... fall is falling, and it's GORGEOUS here right now. I definitely know why I live here when Fall and Spring come around!!
Have a great week and day, and I'll write soon!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Amarillo By Morning... Or Whenever We Can Get There!
Following our eventful July 4th, we headed southwest on Southwest for Kevin and Kim's wedding in Amarillo. This trip started as an adventure but luckily, it ended quietly with our making all connections and landing safely in Philly.
We started trying to get to Amarillo at 3:25 PM EST on Friday via a stop in St. Louis and connecting flight in Dallas. We would have arrived in AMA at 8:40 PM CST and been fully rested for the following night's festivities, but did this happen as planned? Nope... not at all. You see, I insisted on working that Friday, and the All Star game was being played in St. Louis, so we took the last available flight out and well, missed it. It was completely full.
So we headed down to TB's office to wait for the next flight to HOU that would take us to DAL for the night to meet TB's parents then we'd get to AMA by 9 AM CST the next morning. Once again, no such luck. We made our listings for the flight only to find out that the flight was delayed due to mechanical problems in Pittsburgh and was scheduled to be in PHL for take off 2 hours late! At this point, we started looking for alternate route to get to Dallas on Friday, and our other option was to go through Chicago. Sounds like everything is set, right?! Wrong again! That flight departed 10 minutes prior to the news of the delayed flight from Pittsburgh. UGH!
Meanwhile, I am on the phone with Dave and Teresa and trying to decide what to do with their flights. We decided that it was best for them to head to DAL, and we'd stay in HOU overnight. So... I call the best B&B around and luckily, TKA&I had one available bed and 2 available couches to put us up for the night. At 10:30 PM CST, Todd picked us up from Hobby, and we headed to Missouri City. The girls were sleeping, but we got to spend a little time with T&K and got to see the girls for a few minutes on Saturday morning. It was great to get unexpected Abby and Izzy love!
So... at 8:00 AM CST, we were on our way to DAL where Troy's parents were anxiously awaiting our arrival. We checked in for our flight to AMA and landed safe and sound (and tired already) around 11:30 AM CST. By this time, we'd been trying to get to AMA for 17 hours. We headed into town for Teresa's hair appointment; my brief shopping excursion at the Amarillo Mall; and then for lunch with Dan, Mary Helen, and Tamara. Nothing is as good as Mexican food in Texas... you just can't beat it! After lunch, we headed back to Meadowland Drive for wedding day preparations.
Since we've made it to AMA, things seem to be headed down the right road... until we open my luggage. My face wash punctured a hole in my quart size baggie and then proceeded to leak all over the inside of the baggie and because it was so squished in my luggage, it leaked OUTSIDE of the plastic baggie. Gross, right?! Not as gross as the nice spot it left on my brand new red shoes (purchased solely for this event). They are unwearable except for with long pants to cover the spot where the face wash ate the red dye off of the leather. Great fun. Teresa ironed all of our clothes, and Dave and I set out for the mall, again, to look for shoes. I didn't' find any, but was glad that I was able to wear the extra pair that were stowed away in my luggage. I guess Clinique means what they say when they call it scrub the day away face wash... some of their makeup could be considered dye, so that mess would have to be potent to get it off. I'm just upset that it works so well!!
Clothes ironed... check. Shoes in tow (all 4 shoes with 1 ruined and 1 without a match now)... check, check. After all was taken care of, we loaded up the rental and headed to our suites over looking the power plant at the La Quinta Inn. The rooms were nice and sufficient for what we needed. We showered, dressed up and headed out for the brief journey to Canyon, Texas and Whitaker Ranch where the blessed event was scheduled at 7:30 PM CST.
We got to the Ranch and made our way to the water fall and barn area where the wedding was set up. It was a beautiful day and the scenery just as lovely; HOWEVER, it was hotter than the core of the Earth, and we were baking in God's convection oven with the blistering breeze that was blowing our way. Although it was a bit stifling out, it was hard to focus on the heat with all of our family close. We haven't seen everyone in a while, so it was nice to visit with everyone.
After the wedding, we headed to the baseball field for the family picture... yes, you heard me correctly, the baseball field. There are about 1, 237 members of Troy's family... not really, I think Dan said that Kim made #40, but unlike my teeny family, this crew won't fit on a park bench for a picture! The setting was fantastic, so we all gathered around and the photographer snapped the picture of our crew. We ate, visited, drank lots of Gatorade, and watched the newly weds dance with each other and the kids play in the fountain. Needless to say, it was a great day!
Around 10:00 PM CST, we headed out to get ready for our return trip home. We packed our bags and laid the day to rest. We met Mary Helen and Dan for breakfast at Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning, and then headed out to the Amarillo airport (where TB was selected to be searched... hehe!) for our trip home. We were headed to DAL then to STL then to PHL without getting off the plane. What a trip! It was scheduled for 6 hours and 35 minutes. We were nervous that we'd get pulled off in STL and would have to re-route through MDW, but thankfully, we made it through!!
We got home, had dinner, and settled in for the night with two very excited pups to have their pup-parents home.
To sum it up... a 52 hour trip, with 19 hours of travel time, and 33 hours of actual feet on land time = one really nice weekend with family. We'd do it again in a heartbeat!! Oh... before I forget... per her request, this is a shout-out to Grandma! We love you both!!
We started trying to get to Amarillo at 3:25 PM EST on Friday via a stop in St. Louis and connecting flight in Dallas. We would have arrived in AMA at 8:40 PM CST and been fully rested for the following night's festivities, but did this happen as planned? Nope... not at all. You see, I insisted on working that Friday, and the All Star game was being played in St. Louis, so we took the last available flight out and well, missed it. It was completely full.
So we headed down to TB's office to wait for the next flight to HOU that would take us to DAL for the night to meet TB's parents then we'd get to AMA by 9 AM CST the next morning. Once again, no such luck. We made our listings for the flight only to find out that the flight was delayed due to mechanical problems in Pittsburgh and was scheduled to be in PHL for take off 2 hours late! At this point, we started looking for alternate route to get to Dallas on Friday, and our other option was to go through Chicago. Sounds like everything is set, right?! Wrong again! That flight departed 10 minutes prior to the news of the delayed flight from Pittsburgh. UGH!
Meanwhile, I am on the phone with Dave and Teresa and trying to decide what to do with their flights. We decided that it was best for them to head to DAL, and we'd stay in HOU overnight. So... I call the best B&B around and luckily, TKA&I had one available bed and 2 available couches to put us up for the night. At 10:30 PM CST, Todd picked us up from Hobby, and we headed to Missouri City. The girls were sleeping, but we got to spend a little time with T&K and got to see the girls for a few minutes on Saturday morning. It was great to get unexpected Abby and Izzy love!
So... at 8:00 AM CST, we were on our way to DAL where Troy's parents were anxiously awaiting our arrival. We checked in for our flight to AMA and landed safe and sound (and tired already) around 11:30 AM CST. By this time, we'd been trying to get to AMA for 17 hours. We headed into town for Teresa's hair appointment; my brief shopping excursion at the Amarillo Mall; and then for lunch with Dan, Mary Helen, and Tamara. Nothing is as good as Mexican food in Texas... you just can't beat it! After lunch, we headed back to Meadowland Drive for wedding day preparations.
Since we've made it to AMA, things seem to be headed down the right road... until we open my luggage. My face wash punctured a hole in my quart size baggie and then proceeded to leak all over the inside of the baggie and because it was so squished in my luggage, it leaked OUTSIDE of the plastic baggie. Gross, right?! Not as gross as the nice spot it left on my brand new red shoes (purchased solely for this event). They are unwearable except for with long pants to cover the spot where the face wash ate the red dye off of the leather. Great fun. Teresa ironed all of our clothes, and Dave and I set out for the mall, again, to look for shoes. I didn't' find any, but was glad that I was able to wear the extra pair that were stowed away in my luggage. I guess Clinique means what they say when they call it scrub the day away face wash... some of their makeup could be considered dye, so that mess would have to be potent to get it off. I'm just upset that it works so well!!
Clothes ironed... check. Shoes in tow (all 4 shoes with 1 ruined and 1 without a match now)... check, check. After all was taken care of, we loaded up the rental and headed to our suites over looking the power plant at the La Quinta Inn. The rooms were nice and sufficient for what we needed. We showered, dressed up and headed out for the brief journey to Canyon, Texas and Whitaker Ranch where the blessed event was scheduled at 7:30 PM CST.
We got to the Ranch and made our way to the water fall and barn area where the wedding was set up. It was a beautiful day and the scenery just as lovely; HOWEVER, it was hotter than the core of the Earth, and we were baking in God's convection oven with the blistering breeze that was blowing our way. Although it was a bit stifling out, it was hard to focus on the heat with all of our family close. We haven't seen everyone in a while, so it was nice to visit with everyone.
After the wedding, we headed to the baseball field for the family picture... yes, you heard me correctly, the baseball field. There are about 1, 237 members of Troy's family... not really, I think Dan said that Kim made #40, but unlike my teeny family, this crew won't fit on a park bench for a picture! The setting was fantastic, so we all gathered around and the photographer snapped the picture of our crew. We ate, visited, drank lots of Gatorade, and watched the newly weds dance with each other and the kids play in the fountain. Needless to say, it was a great day!
Around 10:00 PM CST, we headed out to get ready for our return trip home. We packed our bags and laid the day to rest. We met Mary Helen and Dan for breakfast at Cracker Barrel on Sunday morning, and then headed out to the Amarillo airport (where TB was selected to be searched... hehe!) for our trip home. We were headed to DAL then to STL then to PHL without getting off the plane. What a trip! It was scheduled for 6 hours and 35 minutes. We were nervous that we'd get pulled off in STL and would have to re-route through MDW, but thankfully, we made it through!!
We got home, had dinner, and settled in for the night with two very excited pups to have their pup-parents home.
To sum it up... a 52 hour trip, with 19 hours of travel time, and 33 hours of actual feet on land time = one really nice weekend with family. We'd do it again in a heartbeat!! Oh... before I forget... per her request, this is a shout-out to Grandma! We love you both!!
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"Play the music, not the instrument." -Author Unknown
