School days

Kevin is going back to school! He's been accepted to the MA in history program at Sam Houston State University.

Its going to be quite a change for him to be a full-time student again. We were both in grad school while we were dating, and working - sometimes I try to remember how we saw each other during those days....weekends, that was about it. There was at least one semester our classes were on opposite nights, but I digress. Going back to school will be a change for the better, and a HUGE step towards his ultimate goal of being able to teach at a community college. I'm so happy he got in and that he'll do well in this program.

I finally had an excuse to buy some school supplies (just notebooks and highlighters). A fun excuse for me since I LOOOVVVVEEE looking at all the school supplies.

I also found an orientation day, I need to find out what the heck a bearkat (school's mascot) is and all the useful things to help him in his program.

This good news came the same week that my brother accepted a job offer. He and his wife will be moving to Nicaragua for the job, so it will be a VERY busy month of August for them. They leave September 1. He has been unemployed for a long time and this job is such a perfect fit for him that it really is the answer to many prayers. As soon as I read the job description, I knew that it would be a great job for him.

I know that each of them were walking on air they were so happy with the news they received this week. Getting out of IT seems to be the theme of the week.

Wii workout

I wanted to get a workout game for the Wii so that I can have more variety in my workouts - anything to keep the motivation to work out is a good thing. Thanks to input from Allison and my sister, I decided on EA Sports Active. I received it in the mail yesterday and could not wait to try it out!

Once I figured out how to get the resistance band put together (I've never used one with handles, always just held onto the band) it went really well. I did have issues getting the nunchuk in and out of the strap on my leg, but got the hang of it by the end of the workout.

I like the variety - I did running, inline skating, punching bag, and weights reps all in one work out (favorite so far: the punching bag), and it tells you what you'll do in the next workout - tennis will be added. It'll keep me coming back and let me do something different than just walking, elliptical or the bike (which isn't an option when its raining).

What do you do to stay motivated to work out?

The joint birthday party went well. The kids all loved playing in the pool and would run back and forth between the pool and the bouncy house. The guys who came to take it down were NOT happy it had gotten wet, but what do you expect when its that close to a pool? AND they had said not to worry if it started raining so its not like it hasn't gotten wet before. oh well, its nothing some towels couldn't solve...

Kevin and I went into the bouncy house briefly before the guests started arriving, it was fun but made my legs feel like jello.

Our niece is walking, so that was quite a sight to see!

We completed another project at the house - installing dimmer switches for the light above each table. Now we can control how bright it is, which will make it much more pleasant to sit at the table. The project was quick and worked out pretty easily, we are definitely getting better!!

I feel like I need to prepare myself for today. We're attending a joint birthday party for our niece (turning 1) and nephew (turning 5), and there are going to be lots of kids, a pool and a bouncy house. It is sure to be chaos. hopefully it won't rain so that at least it can be chaos in the pool and bouncy house, otherwise it'll be all of us cooped up in the house.

I'm excited to see everyone - first time we get to see her since she started walking, and our nephew is a hoot. We'll also get to see some of the cousins and their kids. It'll be a lot of fun and nice after it all to come back to our quiet house.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dining Table

We got our new dining table!

The saying that you find something when you're not looking for it was so true in this case. The weekend before last we went to a few furniture stores looking for a small table for Kevin's study. We decided to stop into a consignment shop to see if they had anything. While there, we were talking to the owner and mentioned that we were also looking for a dining table. She said that a man had come in recently wanting to bring his table there and she had photos of it.

We looked at the photos and both thought that it looked like what we were looking for. We talked about it more on the way home and called the woman back to find out more about it (dimensions, price). She gave us the owner's phone number and we contacted him to find out more about it. We made arrangements to go and see it on Sunday and liked it even more! It was just what we wanted - classic style, seats 8, and with cushioned seats. Even better than that it looks well made, with cherry wood and designs inlaid in the table and patterns carved on the chairs. It is gorgeous. We decided then and there that we wanted it, and made a deal with the owner.

Arrangements were made for delivery and we got the table on Saturday. Just like the day we moved into this house, we just beat the rain! On the drive back to the house (with the delivery truck following) there was lightning and lots of wind, but the table and chairs were safely in the house before it started to rain.

We plan to have lots of dinners and game nights on this table!

More pictures available here.

Cooking class

I attended a cooking class through Leisure Learning on Monday, and it went really well! It was my first hands-on class, and I didn't really know what to expect. It was held at a house, but this is no ordinary house. The house has a large kitchen with the stove arranged so that it overlooks the next room where there were two long tables set up for us to sit at. Surrounding the stove is a HUGE counter, great for prep work. Above the stove and work space are mirrors set so that we can see what is happening in the kitchen from our seats. It is a demonstration kitchen owned by a chef and rented for such classes by our chef-instructor.

I love Asian food so chose to take a class called "Spring Roll Workshop" and I was not disappointed. First we made four different sauces (one person made each of the sauces). I made a sweet and sour sauce, someone else made a peanut sauce, classic sauce, and an oriental sauce. We did the sauces first so that when we made each of the dishes we could eat them with one or all of the dipping sauces. I tried all four sauces, and my favorites were the sweet and sour and the classic sauce.

Once the sauces were made we moved onto the food - we made spring rolls and also made classic Chinese eggrolls, and dumplings. I definitely need to practice the rolling, but was pleased with how well they turned out, and they tasted great too. I love that this food is forgiving, especially the spring rolls its really put in it whatever you like (glass noodles, shrimp, cucumber, carrot, etc). Here is a twitpic of the last of the spring rolls that I made: http://twitpic.com/251po4 I was so pleased with how they looked and tasted.

It took me til the end of the night, but I finally realized that the oriental sauce reminded me of the sauec they serve with dumplings at this great dumpling place in downtown Houston. mmmm, dumplings

I will definitely be practicing these dishes at home!

Sesame Chicken Fingers

I haven't been posting any recipes lately. Never fear, we've been eating (probably more than we should). Today I dug out my Cooking Light cookbook and made a recipe from it for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out, though next time we'll try a different dipping sauce. The next time we have it we may be able to eat it on a new dining table! We found a table through a consignment shop and hope to have it at the house in a week or two.

Sesame Chicken Fingers

Dipping Sauce
1/3 cup stone-ground mustard
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons lime juice

Chicken
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb skinned, boned chicken breast - cut into strips
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow bowl.
Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken.
Combine sesame seeds and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Dip chicken in eggwhites and dredge in seeds/breadcrumbs mixture.
Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
Arrange chicken in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turning once.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Mother Nature is so strange. They've been talking on the radio about being on watch for the 'corpse flower'. It looks like it will bloom this weekend at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Until I read about it I had no idea they were so rare - it will be only the second bloom in Texas and the 29th in the United States. I think I'll be happy just looking at the photos, but I am sure there are people out there who will brave the smell, described as "smelling like a decomposing carcass" to see this rare flower.

http://blog.hmns.org/?p=7119

I have to wonder why it developed this smell and also why it is so rare.....

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. Our friends came over for brisket and we had a good time hanging out. Nearly everyone brought a dish to share so I think we ended up with more food than we started with! For all the rain we had Friday and Saturday, it was a beautiful day - great for all the BBQs and fireworks displays.

It is our first 4th in the neighborhood and I wasn't sure if I'd get to see fireworks. I should not have worried! We're not in the city, so its legal to do fireworks (even though our HOA frowns on it) and I had NO idea how much everyone got into it.

On Saturday night (July 3), we watched the neighbors across the street set off some fireworks. They reminded me of what my family set off when I was growing up - roman candles, fountains, and a few that shot off into the air. I was surprised not to see sparklers, but they did have the little white ones that you toss to the ground and they pop. Half the fun was watching the kids and their reactions and interactions, there were several families together so it was about 6 or 7 kids and there were the usual fights - its my turn, no mine - and even a girl stomping off to pout...

It turns out that night was just a taste of what we were going to see. On the 4th, after everyone had gone home from our BBQ we sat on the back patio to enjoy the evening and started to hear and see some large fireworks being set off in the neighborhood behind us. To get a better view we brought our folding chairs out to the front yard and were able to see quite a show. Families all around the neighborhoods had some really wonderful, professional quality fireworks that they'd set off all over the area. With the echos it was hard to know which way to look, there was so much to see. I would just decide on a direction to look and watch that way until I'd hear the launch of something in some other direction. We even saw some guys with what looked like saw horses (fireworks launchers?) drive by on their way along the gully and they told us to look in a specific direction. We could tell when they set theirs off...I can't even describe how beautiful they all were...I love fireworks, and the smell and the smoke made for a great evening. I don't have to worry about not seeing fireworks as long as we live here, and when we were tired of watching we could just walk inside, no having to fight traffic or anything.

A great way to end a wonderful day.