I consider myself to be a rather tolerant person. But not at the dentist's office. I've had some bad experiences sitting in the chair, if you know what I mean. At least once a week, I have some kind of dream/nightmare that involves damage to my teeth. I've definitely had my fare share of surgeries, extractions, root canals, replacements, and have endured many not-so-fun moments. Today was another one of those. I was going just for my bi-monthly cleaning, as far as I knew. But then again, from my experiences, most places offering healthcare don't usually tend to inform the patient what will actually take place.
1. I ended up having x-rays and a gum examination done. Fine, whatever. The fact is, just tell me what to expect!
2. My insurance (and most, for that matter) only pays for a dental cleaning once every six months. We went in February, and since we were scheduled again in JUNE, I figured that we'd receive our second cleanings of the year...although only 4 months apart, how was I supposed to know differently. So, since I wasted a second visit, I rescheduled my real cleaning in the month of October.
3. I waited an hour. Blame it on having to go to a dental corporation (versus a private practice, what I was used to growing up) or what have you. Regardless of the reason, that's just too long to wait. I struggle with this because I don't want to be the American that fights for my rights...however, we are all on a schedule and I typically expect to wait less than 30 minutes--that's from my experience thus far at Dr. Treat You Like Crap that I go to.
4. My dental hygienist was completely rude. And although I tried to ignore the inappropriate conversation that was occurring between her and my DENTIST, it was a little difficult since I had poking metal objects in my mouth.
This is a picture of a chair that I recovered. I am so proud of it since this is my first attempt of upholstery. I bought the chair at Goodwill for $20 several months ago. It was decrepit, ugly, and had torn fabric and scratched wood. I saw great potential in it, however, and decided to give it another life. When I ripped out the previous upholstery, I discovered that the "padding" was actually aged straw and definitely not comfortable. I was surprised not to find a little pack of rodents living inside. So, after cleaning and sanding it, putting on several coats of stain and polyurethane, affixing new, foam padding, and nailing down fresh fabric, I've got a new piece of furniture for the house. Voila!
One of my favorite pictures of us on our wedding day.
Reading his vows before the ceremony. We wrote our own and renew them every anniversary.
It still fits!
Besties.Wii Fit is comical to me. It "combines fun and fitness in one product. It can change how you exercise, how you balance, and even how you move." It's aim is to "get you off the couch and into action." You can check your BMI, your age according to how physically fit you are, and keep tabs on your daily progress of exercise using Wii Fit. Come on, people. Turn off the TV and move more.
Today as I was flipping through the channels, I saw a funny infomercial on QVC. It was advertising some sort of tan towel. Rub it on and you get that "natural sun-kissed look for the summer." Um, I don't think so. Orange is all I saw. But the funny part was that the model had half of her entire body "tan," or orange and the other half was natural and fair-skinned. One arm, one leg, half of her neck. It was hilarious.
Listening to the radio, I heard an advertisement for a car dealership in San Marcos. The guy's name was Jim Stanky.
We went to Chris's parents' house for the long weekend and just relaxed. We saw "Indiana Jones" in the theater, ate delicious brisket, and swam. Mostly, we just wanted to get away and have fun with Marlow. He is such a good swimmer.
I got three great, new books recently and couldn't wait to share with you:
1. The Art of Simple Food--Alice Waters
2. The Silver Palate Cookbook--Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
3. Mastering the Art of French Cooking--Julia Childs
I have a hard time going to bed at a decent hour because I can't stop reading!
So many people blessed me this week by loving on me through cards, emails, phone calls, gifts, meals, and attending my party. THANK YOU TO ALL! I felt really celebrated. The entire week was full of fun and it just built with excitement until my party Friday night. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to, but these will have to do.
One of the first things about this house that I loved was the unmaintained backyard. It almost feels like a mini state park. We feel very lucky to have so many trees for living within the city limits. I just watched a baby blue jay outside my front window. It was perched outside on the window sill, mommabird close by. And I've seen many baby birds in my life, but never a blue jay. This one looked very sweet and adventurous, even though it hadn't yet conquered the whole flying thing. I brought Marlow up close to look at it, and then he flew away a few feet until he touched down again. Also, right now there is a squirrel on our rooftop. It is caught inside the trap that was intended for the raccoon. It's loud, bouncing around the inside, trying to escape. Chris has come home everyday, having to release whatever non-target animal is inside then resetting it. We've caught doves, cats, and now a squirrel.
Thought a few of you might like to see our most recently completed room. What are your thoughts on the wall art?? Bold, yet simplistic is how I would describe it. It's nothing amazing, but fitting for the dining room. The clock was hand made by Chris's grandpa and given to us for a wedding gift. We've had it in a closet everywhere we've lived and finally it's up on the wall. Wine tower was purchased on Craig's List for a steal of a price. The hutch is a new addition and a perfect home for all of Taste and See's platters and serving pieces.
Today was the best Saturday I've had in a really long time. After a long night of getting up every couple of hours because Marlow was sick, I was able to sleep in some. We headed to Town Lake for the morning to work out with friends. Marlow came along, of course. The weather was great! High '80s and mild sun. The trail was packed, but not so much that you couldn't enjoy it. The guys ran and Lydia and I walked with Marls. He got to swim a few times throughout our walk. We met the guys back at the water coolers and stretched. Then we headed out for lunch together. Our original plan was Flip Happy Crepes, however the line was way long, so instead we ended up at P. Terry's. And can I just say a shout out to P. Terry's? It was our first time eating there today and we loved it! Yummy food. It's Austin's version of In 'n Out Burger, I believe. Local, organic beef (although I had the veggie burger that was oh-so-delish), fresh cut fries from real potatoes fried in canola, fresh squeezed lemonade, etc. For a burger joint, you can't get much better than that. We topped off our meal with Coronas, of course. Only fitting for a hot, sunny day. And after stuffing ourselves with such a feast, we just had to go eat cupcakes at Hey Cupcake. What a day!
In the last week and a half:
I found a great baking supplies store in town.
My sister-in-law had a birthday.
We've been enjoying our outdoor dining area this season.
Critters are still present.
We enjoyed our first Seder Dinner.
I made 2 Tres Leches cakes for a Latino friend.
We took our Singaporean friends to church last Sunday.
I've been catering a lot of showers.
Today:
It was my day off.
I assembled a piece of furniture and installed shelves.
I took Marlow to the park while I ate lunch.
We dropped off our car to get some repairs.
I had so much fun putting things in my new cabinet.
I made tomato soup and parmesan toast for dinner.
I did laundry.
I dusted and organized.
I watched part of a movie.
I ate ice cream.
I am blogging.
I've been craving them. Roast 'em, chill 'em, peel 'em, dice 'em. Mmm. If you find yourself making a sour face or gagging because you think you don't like the friendly root vegetable, you may be missing out on something you might actually enjoy. Just TRUST me. Buy one and put it in a salad with oh...say, some red leaf lettuce, honey roasted pecans, Italian blue cheese with sherry vinaigrette (tonight's feast) and you might just be glad you did. Or like me, you'll know you like them from the color of your hands. They are oh-so-good.In the last two weeks:
- lawn mower
- leaf blower
- printer
- dead car battery
- 4 flat tires
- stereo receiver
- car side mirror
- power steering
AND
- cell phone
- garage door
- iPod
- freezer
- laptop
- water hose
- coffee table
- bedroom lamp
- office door hinge
- hallway door hinge
I'm sure I could think of more things if I tried.
This is why we take vacations. To run away from life falling apart.
For the last couple of nights, we get to lay in bed listening to some kind of critter in our walls eat or scratch or dig or something. Not comforting. It happened last summer, too, but it went away over the colder months and we forgot about it. But it is back with full vengeance. So after midnight sometime, we just couldn't take it anymore. Every half hour or so, Chris would get up and bang on the walls really hard, hoping to scare it away so it would stop, because besides being REALLY loud, we hear it's not good to co-habitat with an unknown animal in your walls. But it wouldn't stop. It kept getting louder and louder and I could just imagine a little claw or rodent mouth of some sort finding it's way through the insulation and eventually the drywall and seeing it eat its way through. We wouldn't have it! So we jump out of bed, run through the house, turn on all the lights, and Marlow runs after us. Chris grabs the biggest flashlight with working batteries that he can find, and I grab--what else but a broom. The famous weapon of women, right? (Even though I was a sharpshooter with my M16 and qualified as expert in grenades!) We book it outside in our pajamas, dog following. We circle the house, shining the light, looking for a massive hole of some sort that such an animal could get through. To help, I bang on the house or gutters every three feet or so to make sure they're not hiding within eyesight. We find nothing. Marlow is running around with his nose to the ground, sniffing away, because he knows something is up. Chris is pissed at whatever it is and ready to kill and destroy. (You have to understand that we've lost sleep over this thing.) We're basically yelling at it from the perimeter of our house, looking like fools with a broom and flashlight in our Sunday's best. I'm sure our neighbors were appreciative. We find nothing and go inside feeling defeated. Chris goes into the garage and up into the attic for one last chance of finding it. He climbs up with his flashlight (I've still never been up there and don't care to. It's a little crawl space hole and can't be pleasant.) and shines it in every corner of the attic. Finally he sees him! First little yellow eyes, then as the light comes to his shadow, he realizes it is a raccoon indeed. Luckily no man-sized rat or anything rodent-like, which makes me feel a little better. But we had no way of killing it, so today it is my job to find a pest control company who insures attics and is willing to crawl up there and hunt it down. Too bad we can't just send Marlow up there to get him.
The last two days Chris and I both have been suffering from migraines. Not fun. It must be something in the air/allergies. We've been just laying around the house when we get home at night. But last night we decided we needed to get out and find something fun to do. We had plans to go to the finale of Austin's Poetry Slam, but ended up at a coffee shop where we just sat and looked at each other. No conversation. No dialogue. We felt like an old couple with nothing in common to talk about anymore, but really we were just feeling under the weather and fatigued from our headaches. So we left and came upon this quaint and exciting little stand; Hey Cupcake! I must say I was pretty excited to find a cupcake counter in Austin, selling exclusively cupcakes and milk in cartons. What could be better? Cupcakes sure are getting trendy these days, but whodathunk a little silver trailer could get such great business? So this is my shout out to Hey Cupcake! Also...while checking out the acclaimed Vanilla Bakeshop site, I found this little treasure for guys out there who also enjoy the cake.
From Bon Appetit: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/109248
I'm usually not crazy about using shortenings in my icings, but you really can't tell with this one and it's so creamy and delicious. If you have a strong aversion to shortening, omit it. You could replace it with butter and it will still turn out great. This recipe is definitely a keeper, and it does make a lot, so unless you are making a full sized sheet plan cake, then make half the recipe. That should be plenty, and if you have leftovers, just freeze.
I found a new blog today and I love reading about her adventures. It's one of my dreams to do an apprenticeship someday in Paris, home of my program, Le Cordon Bleu. Until then, I'll read on and live vicariously through Asima.
Taste and See Fine Dining now has its own checking account, domain space, and tax ID number. Business is slow lately, but I've been working a lot for the other biz and haven't had a ton of time, so that's fine by me. I have however been up to more baking recently. My neighbor placed a cake order, so Sunday I'll be working on the 60th birthday cake decorated with music motif. Should be fun to bust out my piping skills. That was a special talent I discovered in my P&B class in culinary school.
April is here as is lots of blooming. I forgot how much I missed green grass and humming birds and bluebonnets! Texas springs are really beautiful. Breezy, cool days, and more rain, which is always good. The Greenbelt is much more fun with water. Plus, rain means we don't have to water our lawn.
I may join a group of Turkish women tomorrow night for tea. There is an association in town for Turkish women. Our church has adopted Turkey as our "Samaria" and I want to fall in love with them. Sometimes certain people groups capture my heart and I can't help but love them. I hope that happens with the Turks. Perhaps then I will smirk. Or maybe I'll find a quirk. But then I'd be a jerk.
The laundry room status is: almost complete. The things left to do are put up the trim, paint it, and install the light. It is fully functional now, which is great, because my 8 loads of laundry really couldn't wait any longer. Eventually we will put up cabinetry and Elfa in the closet, but for now, I'm quite content with the cool tiled flooring and "toast" colored walls.
Chris took off the whole week this week to work on the house. He's done a great job! His dad actually was in town from last Friday until Tuesday. They worked hard and finished up the sanding/mudding of the laundry room, textured, finished electrical, and got a lot of little odd jobs out of the way. Chris and I primed the walls and ceiling (I forget how many coats we did--too many!) and painted both. Chris then tiled the floor all day on Wednesday from 10am until 3am! We slept in the next day and took off for a fun day away from the house, exploring our favorite Texan state park; Enchanted Rock. We went once when we first got married and vowed that we had to go back with Marlow. It was a blast and just a beautiful day. We both got a little sunburned, but it was worth it. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Thursday.
There are days that being so far away from family is difficult. And I've been in that season for quite some time now. They are roughly 20 hours away, too long of a drive over a weekend. I wish I could just hop on a plane for a few days to get my fix, but that's not possible. It's been months since I've seen them and it's just hard sometimes. I love my husband and his family that live close, but nobody can replace your own family. If you live near yours, I hope you're thankful.
Let me introduce you to some of my favorite people:
Mom
This woman's got it together on the inside and out. She is who I think of when I read 1 Peter 3:4 that talks about "having the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of worth in God's sight." I don't understand how I came from her because I can be such a loud, obnoxious, spastic person sometimes and she is so gentle with her words, careful to think before she speaks, and just naturally tender and calm. Those are great qualities in a mom. She has always put her family before herself. She is steady and constant. She is so good at making much out of little whether it be in entertaining children, cooking, camping, or budgeting. She is a friend to everyone and doesn't judge others. All feel welcome in her presence and even seek her out for advice. She is thoughtful and makes it her business to bless others.
Dad
No one could replace him. Together, he and my mom are a unit. They are individuals, but they operate together and unity is really seen in their marriage. My dad is a hard worker. He doesn't complain often and can always find good in a situation. He is a jokester and though sometimes they are just too much for me to handle, he's always making someone chuckle. He's good at brightening your day with a hug or a back rub or sticking food in his mouth in a weird way that makes it just look gross and funny at the same time. Basically, he's a big kid. :) He is a great father and always worked hard to provide well for his family. He is creative and remembers in detail things that happened years ago. He can make up a themed song on the fly and has a endless appetite for all things chocolate. I love my dad.
Andy
My big brother. I am so proud of him. Proud of him for the small things and proud of him for the big things. He is a man of wisdom, always seeking answers to life's questions first from God's Word. He desires not to live life like an ordinary person, but to live radically for Christ, each day making a difference for His name. He is funny and always has a pun to share. He's intelligent and knows much more about computers and electrical things than I could ever want to know. He also has a good memory for random information. He makes much out of little and is easily pleased. He goes out of the way for you and likes to be the one in the background taking care of things while others are in the spotlight.
Mandy
I couldn't think of a better sister-in-law if I tried. She's got everything I've always wanted in one. She's got such a sweet disposition, a truly caring heart, she's funny when tired and funny when not tired, and best of all, she reflects Jesus. Her conversation and attitude and thoughts are align with God's. She is a great listener and empathetic to others. I love her spunk and the fact that she's so comfortable to be around. In fact, I'd say that she is a relaxing person to be around. You don't feel a need to be someone you're not, to impress her, or to entertain her. She's so talented at crafty things and I envy that. She's good with kids and very creative.
Aaron
Oh where do I start? In a sibling kind of way, I've been in love with him since I met him in the womb 23 years ago. It's been said that we have been the best of friends and the worst of enemies, but I'd say we have always been on each others' sides. If I think of someone I really love, he comes to mind. I've looked up to him for as long as I can remember. There is so much to admire about him. He's creative and smart. He is so good at problem-solving and thinking out of the box. He's loving and always seems to notice the unnoticed ones. I feel safe with him. I know he'd take care of me and look out for me. He's so thoughtful and a great helper. And he has a great memory, too. He's good at thinking up new inventions and alternative solutions. He's sweet and kind-hearted, always making me laugh. One of my favorite quotes from him took place in the spring of my Junior year of high school. I was trying on prom dress options at home and was determining which would be the one. I was frustrated because I wasn't exactly fitting into them as I would have liked. The zippers didn't zip and the clasps didn't clasp. I remember venting about how I felt ugly and fat. Aaron's response was unforgettable: "Carey, you're not ugly. It just doesn't hold all of your beauty."
Chris woke up and "went to work." He's in his office, but he's having to work from home. Ugh. Not fun on a Saturday.
I have been sprawled out on the floor every since I woke up, making cards. It looks like a disaster, but the finished products are fun.
Marlow has been cuddly and sad that we are not more active with him today. Hopefully later we'll head for the park.
It's cold outside and I've been going out to our wood pile every half hour or so to bring another load of logs in.
Also...here's a picture of our finished Dining Room. Eventually I'd like to get some kind of buffet or corner hutch, but that will be down the road. I also plan to put up three ledges with pictures.
Butternut Squash Risotto with Sauteed Edamame and Zucchini for lunch.
Last night after work we ran, ate a quick dinner (see picture below), and headed out to the Quik Laundry around the corner to bust out 8 loads. Since we are doing our Laundry Room right now, the washer and dryer are in the garage and we didn't want to keep bringing them in and out, hooking and unhooking. So, just like college days, we packed the car with dirty clothes and brought Scrabble to play. Chris is allergic to fabric softener, so it was a big deal for him to come with me and hang out for 2 hours. You can see that he was thrilled.
Take Two
This weekend consisted of work and play. During the day, we worked on the house a lot and got a lot of yard work done. Friday evening we met friends, Scott & Lydia, for dinner downtown at Bess Bistro (Sandra Bullock's restaurant--her sister is a pastry chef and created the dessert menu) to help celebrate Scott turning six years old on Leap Day! After dinner festivities took place at The Ginger Man and we celebrated for several hours more before heading home. Saturday evening took us to another friend's place for a wine tasting party. It was fun to actually be invited to one instead of working it as an event for my job. It was a Bordeaux/Bordeaux-style night, so every couple brought 2 bottles within the varietal and we enjoyed a horizontal flight, comparing and contrasting, being wine geeks, and enjoying the vine.
