Not Dead Yet

Jeez, it's been forever since I had something to say. Thanks to school and a cold I've been pretty busy. I slept something like 15 hours yesterday, thanks to Nyquil and the illness that necessitated it. Since I last posted I've started school {hate it}, had the house's foundation examined {gotta repair it}, celebrated Josh's birthday {huzzah}, and seen The King's Speech three times {love it}. Okay, technically I've only seen it twice, but I've got plans to see the pre-noon showing with Mom tomorrow. We're smuggling in donuts {shhh}. I'm actually hoping {needing} to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Tonight will be math homework, but I'm hoping it will be accompanied by a side of pizza or queso. Post morning movietimes tomorrow will be birthday shopping with Josh. He said he wanted clothes for his birthday. I also need to do some reading {Comp II and Govt}, some research, and some writing {History}. Our Service Learning Project this year is writing to an authority on behalf of a local historic building in need of preservation. I also desperately need to make a big batch of pancakes {Cinnamon Oat, mmmm} to stock the freezer for school days. There's the usual grocery shopping and laundry to be done {oh joy}. And on top of all that we need to get to work on a home inventory. There have apparently been several break-ins in the neighborhood, so that is on the urgent list- along with replacing the burned out bulb in the backyard and safety latches on the exterior doors that don't have them yet. It's beautiful and in the 70's outside today. I wish it could stay like this long enough for me to enjoy it, but it's supposed to be back to winter tempt by next week {sigh}. I'd love a picnic right about now.

News and Shoes

Hey duders! Things are really getting hectic around here these days. We managed to survive our three Thanksgiving dinners last week, and we're headed into a busy weekend. I go in for my 6 month glaucoma exam this afternoon. Really not looking forward to that- especially since I'm well aware of what all it entails now. Lots of poking and poofing my eyeballs, and the darn dilation drops that make me soooo sleepy- they contain a decongestant. They conveniently don't tell you that part, so thought I was going crazy when I felt all drugged up after the first time. Following the eye exam we'll be heading to a surprise party for Josh's stepbrother Alec. That should be fun on the sleepy eye meds, ha.

We have our nephew, Alec's son, Griffin's birthday party early tomorrow morning and have to leave it a little early to make it to our haircut appointments. We adopted a Fort Worth Zoo animal in his name for his present. Josh tells me that he's going to put the Christmas lights up on the house this weekend, so I'll probably put the other outdoor decorations up too. We were invited to another party tomorrow evening, but it's not looking likely that we'll have time to attend. Oh, and I have to write a short paper with 2 outside sources analyzing portions of the film Wag the Dog. And History notes to catch up on. And about 5 loads of laundry. And grocery shopping. Haha, I can't wait until the semester is over, so I'll actually have some time for all the housework instead of homework.

This week I got an A+ on my Network paper for English, and a 100 on my Service Learning Project in History. Josh had me put my English paper on the refrigerator, haha. :) And I paid for my next semester's classes, so aside from books I'm all ready to go for the Spring.

So, that's the news portion of this post. For the shoes portion- well, it's technically the boots portion- I got these great gray boots in the mail this week. Ordered them from Piperlime and they came quickly and well-packed. And, best of all, only $69. I lurve them.

And The Days Go By

Okay, haven't updated in a week. Let's recap. Wednesday of last week we did the anniversary thing. Thursday I had school and went to the Writing Center after class to get help and extra credit on my history paper. Friday I worked, and Josh was off in Florida for a Back In Black show. My plan was to do homework, but it turned into eating junky and watching stuff off the DVR. I did however pick up "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" when I stopped by Half Price Books after work. Saturday I did a little housework, and spent a good chunk of the day in bed with the windows open, reading and watching the Rangers game. Josh got back and had another show that night, so we spent the evening grabbing a bite to eat at Benito's and at the Chat Room for Fate Lions. Sunday was some more chores, baking, grocery shopping, etc.

This week has been similar. Monday I went to work and made a big bowl of pesto pasta for dinner. Did some homework and watched/live-tweeted Hoarders. Tuesday was a rough day at school. The teacher read half of my paper aloud, luckily as a good example. It was anonymous, but it was still awkward. History class was canceled, so I had some waiting around to do. Then math class was super hard. I just wasn't getting it that day. Luckily that night when I got home from work I took a walk, ordered some pizza, and tucked in to my math homework- and it was easy! I don't know what my problem was in class, but I managed to even work a whole section ahead rather easily. Yesterday though I stayed home most of the day, only coming in to work for a bit in the afternoon, due to a lack of sleep induced headache. Worked a bit more on my next English assignment last night, and then relaxed by getting caught up on Glee! (I can't WAIT for the Rocky Horror episode!) That brings us up to today, when I got even more work done on my paper in English class, found out I got a 110 on my history paper thanks to that extra credit visit to the Lab, and breezed through a quiz and got out of math early.

Now I just need to make it through today and tomorrow at work. I'm looking at this weekend and I'm seeing lovely things. Possibly:

-a bike ride
-a museum visit
-a trip to IKEA
-Fall/Halloween decorating
-hanging out with some friends
-playing some badminton
-a teeny, tiny, smidge of homework

Fall in Texas, I think, brings the best weather of the year and I love being able to enjoy it when we can!

A Break In The Weather

I don't want to jump the gun, but I think we've possibly made it through another Texas summer. The ten day forecast here has highs in the upper 80's. That's damn near fall, right there. I might even be tempted to sleep with the windows open, if these 60 degree lows turn out to be fact. These temperatures have me looking forward to the weekend. I'll be doing homework tonight, but think I'll be doing some of it while lounging on the deck. While I'm at it, maybe breakfast will be enjoyed on the deck this weekend too. I've got chores and the like to get done this weekend, but no reason I can't fit plenty of outside time in there too. Actually I could probably get a few outdoors chores done as well. And I'm thinking a bike ride will be in order at some point. Josh's playing at the House of Blues tomorrow night and I'm excited because Stephanie & Rodney are going to come hang out with us. We'll get into some backstage shenanigans, no doubt. And I'm looking forward to the extra day off, even though Josh will be gone to play in Houston Sunday night. Yay outside times! Been cooped up all summer long!

Weekend Hopes

Here are a few of the things I'm planning, or at least hoping, to find time for this holiday weekend. Happy Fourth!

.Make some Whole Wheat Peach Muffins
.Measure my NYC map for framing
.Do breathing exercises twice
.Do pilates thrice
.Get a Small Time Cooks blog post up
.Finish reading 2 books
.Grocery shopping
.Bit of house cleaning
.Hang out time with Josh
.Hang out time with friends. Possibly a party?

Entertaining is Fun!

We've invited some friends we haven't seen for quite a long time over for a bit of a last minute dinner Friday night. I was already going to make Vegetable Enchiladas and Mexican rice for dinner, which serves 4, so there's no problem there. There's a pineapple upside down cake from Smitten Kitchen that I've been meaning to try for a long time and I have all the ingredients for it on hand. I was already planning on making a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream this week, so no extra cost or work there and it will go great with the cake. I've decided to make some guacamole so I'll need to stop by the store for the ingredients, and also pick up some yummy Mexican beers, extra tortilla chips and flowers for the table. Since it's all a bit last minute I've made a little schedule to make sure I'll be ready on time.

Last night: Made ice cream
Tonight: Take Mom out for birthday dinner, stop by store for missing ingredients/supplies, prep 1 pan of enchiladas for the oven and put 2nd in the freezer, arrange flowers
Friday: Finish cleaning by 3 (4 at the latest), make the cake, shower and get ready, make guacamole, make enchilada sauce, finish up any last minute things, put rice on the stove, enchiladas in the oven, and welcome our guests

Good thing I just finished re-reading Entertaining Is Fun!

Weekend Fun

I am looking forward to a weekend full of fun and hopefully some progress too. Just what am I anticipating?

Tonight- Packing up our picnic supplies and heading out to Concert in the Garden for an evening of jazz, food and fireworks.

Saturday- Heading to Goodwill and HomeGoods with Holly and getting several projects around the house wrapped up (some of them quite literally).

Sunday- Seeing Josh's band, Fate Lions, and many others at the Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards Festival. If you're feeling very generous today you could do us a favor and zip on over to that link and vote for Fate Lions. They've been nominated for Rock Band, Rock Album of the Year, and Rock Song of the Year. They were also recently the feature story in the Weekly's Music section.




























Pic from last year's outing to Concert in the Garden.

Busy Bees

We're heading into one busy weekend. We'll definitely be ready for our vacation to start on Tuesday. So, just what's on the agenda for us?

-Tonight: Show Mom how to use our washer & dryer, go to Target with Holly while Josh has rehearsal, Scotchguard livingroom rug(?), make ice cream for Sunday, a load of laundry (?), get together with Josh's fam for Drea's birthday, run soaker hoses, water compost pile a bit

-Saturday: Possibly hit farmer's market early with LeAnn, Nikon class at Fort Worth Camera, Ashley's 30th birthday party in Grapevine, Jason's birthday party back in Fort Worth

-Sunday: Up early to start digging ditches, installing yard drainage, make lunch/dinner after a hard days work (Nathan's hot dogs, grass-fed beef burgers w/ homegrown onions, roasted corn and homemade ice cream, I think), probably collapse, run soaker hoses

-Monday: Buy Nelson/Dylan tix on presale, clean house, finish laundry, pack clothes and carry-ons, notify Ann when we'll get to their house in the morning, spray the house and deck for springtails, get entertainment for flight together, pay mortgage/water/electric/gas online, decide on what sightseeing we'll do during our (rainy) visit to DC, decide best way to pack S&M's wedding gift.

Sadly, I'm sure there's more that I'm just not thinking of. But, when I leave today there'll be no more work 'til June! Yeah!

Weekend Plans

I am very excited for this weekend! We have lots of plans that I am looking forward to. Tonight I've got a lot of chores, including laundry, but I'm going to make some tomato soup and grilled cheese and make some time for a little relaxing too. Tomorrow we're borrowing John's truck and heading up a caravan to IKEA with Steph & Rodney and Holly. Can't wait to grab some lunch and finally get a chance to take my time there. Hoping to get so much stuff- patio furniture, a desk, frames, plant pots, a rug pad; the list goes on and on. We might stop by Jen & Jason's garage sale before we have to be at Steph's at noon, but not sure. And then Sunday we're going to make time between assembling all that the frustrating IKEA furniture to go to the Amon Carter Museum. There are three photography exhibits going on that I really want to see. One ends in just two weeks and then a week or so after that they are closing part of the first floor for renovations, so I want to make sure to catch them all while I have a chance. Hope everyone has a great weekend and that mine turns out as fun as it seems!

Weekend To-Do List

Lots to try and get done this weekend!

-Build dining room cabinet
-Get hair cut, bangs how I've missed you!
-Smooch Josh, 11 years!
-Unpack at least 4 boxes
-Put doors and shelves back on built-in
-Clear rocks and sticks from yards
-Weed and cut backyard
-Cut front yard
-Clean house, especially vacuuming
-Grocery shopping
-Make enchiladas and cilantro-lime rice for Josh's boss for recovery dinner
-Try and get at least one room ready for some photographs
-Finish laundry
-Drop film off for development