Texans are playoff bound!

Big day in Houston!!!   By beating the Bengals and the Saints beating the Titans the Houston Texans win the division, wohoo!!   First time to go to the playoffs.   Kevin has his tickets purchased in case we get a home game :)


I actually didn't watch the game, I spent a great day with Gwendolyn and baby Stella to finish up some Christmas shopping and have some long overdue girl time.    Gwendolyn and I were college roommates for 2 years, and I still thank my lucky stars that I was matched up with such a wonderful roommate!!!  We really did 'shop til we drop' and both got a lot of items marked off our lists...

 I tried to find some division champs shirts on my way home, but both stores I went to were sold out - once said they sold out in 10 minutes!  I'll be on the lookout for them, guess you just had to be in the right place at the right time to get them.

PS If you are ever at Sam's, their 4-berry milkshake is delicious and a deal at less than $2, just don't look at how many calories it has....shopping counts as cardio right??

Thanksgiving, weeks later

Long overdue.....We had a great, family-filled weekend for Thanksgiving!   My whole family came to our house, and we had a great time.  It was a quick trip for my brother and his wife, they both had to work on Black Friday so they came in late Wednesday and headed back home early on Friday.   I'm glad they made the trip to be with us!!

We ate too much (who didn't), but did pretty well.   We had one snafu with the turkey, my dad cooked it at their house before coming up and he either miscalculated the time or the smoker (electric) malfunctioned, because the turkey fell completely apart.  He rescued enough of it for us to eat, it was very smokey tasting...We'll try again at Christmas.

That weekend we even did a home project (made good use of my handy-man dad's help), so we know have a cabinet (storage!) in the master bath, we love it already!


It was an eventful weekend for Rockey too, he got a new home with my brother and sis-in-law.  They took him home with them and he now has a roommate - a little feathered friend.  We enjoyed having a bird for a while, I think I'll stick with 4-legged pets.

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Reindeer

Its probably just a baby deer (fawn), but I like to think its a baby reindeer.   So cute...

at our neighorhood Christmas event - 2009.

thunder alert system

We have a thunder alert system. Our big, tough (ha!) dog, Smokey, jumped on the bed in the middle of the night, he was scared.  I just thought he was trying to get some snuggle time, but K said it was thunder and later I saw the lightning.  I didn't even know it was raining again...

I'm a softie, so I let him stay on the bed with us.   I was feeling especially soft towards dogs since we'd seen one in the restaurant earlier in the day that was bleeding.  We are speculating, but think that it was a stray that a person saw outside and brought into the place to get it cleaned up.  Several restaurant workers were helping him, they finally coaxed the dog onto a large tray and carried it out, I assume to a car to get it some medical help.  poor dog, it was odd to see a dog in a restaurant but I'm glad some people were trying to help him (or her).  

December snuck up on me

The days keep getting away from me!   I still want to do a Thanksgiving recap and here we are almost a week into December.  So I don't get too far behind, I'll talk about this weekend and then come back to Thanksgiving a little later.

We had a busy, wonderful weekend.

On Friday, I went with my sister to my first ever Cirque du Soleil show at the Toyota Center.   The show was called Dralion.  I loved it!   My favorite parts were the trampoline artists and the girl  performing on the ring hanging from high above.   I was amazed at how people can move around and how beautiful and effortless they make it look.  I want a big trampoline now, but I know that even when I'm on a trampoline I look nothing like how they look.  They would go from one to the other and up the wall and back down looking like they defied gravity.  I could've watched them for much longer.   In my opinion, they could get rid of some of the clown act, but I think they serve as entertainment during costume changes and did serve as comic relief.   I'm so glad my sister invited me to go, she had an extra ticket and invited me over her new boyfriend :)    I'm excited for her and her new relationship and know that there will come a time when he's her go to +1 but think (hope) that some things - like Broadway shows - we may always be each other's date, it allows us to go and spend time together and doesn't force the guys who may not want to go to sit through it.  Kevin often surprises me, but I doubt Cirque is something he'd want to see much of.    Before the show, we even had time to see her office, looks pretty much like any other offices except for the trophy cases and lots of Rockets paraphernalia, there are even cubicles!

We spent Saturday doing chores and K worked on school, and I did some Christmas shopping, even my car got a gift - 2 new tires that were long overdue, and thanks to my livingsocial deal I saved $70!  love a good deal.

Today I was able to go with Kevin to the Texans game.  I thought I'd be watching it from home, but I was able to use his uncle's ticket because he had gotten a SIDELINE PASS to the game so he could shoot photos for a nearby paper.  We brought our binoculars to be able to find him on the sideline and had fun finding him - sort of like a "Where's Waldo".  I am sure he got some good photos!  It was a great game to get to attend.   They played, and beat, the Atlanta Falcons!  The team is now 9 - 3!   We spent a lot of time cheering on our defense and being LOUD to mess up the Falcons' offense.   We succeeded!


We're both tired from the game, you wouldn't think cheering would be that tiring...but it sure is.

To add to the fun, we also had a COLD front come through today, woohoo!! It made for a rainy day, and a cozy evening, with cocoa and addressing Christmas cards.