Headaches

I don't want to be a chronic complainer, but man oh man have I had a headache for like the last few...WEEKS! I am taking the meds, the allergy meds, getting enough sleep....you know all the junk you are supposed to do and yet...headache still. I wake up and it's there. It gets worse all day long until by night-time I can hardly keep my eyes open for fear that the pain in my head will force my eyes right out of their sockets. Have you ever had a series of headaches like that? What did you do that worked?

Happy Birthday!

Today my friend Amy f. joins the 30 club. Happy Birthday Amy! 30's not so bad, really. I think I feel more grown up and people seem to take you more seriously when I say "I'm 30."

Sickie Man Update

So, the doc says it is not gallbladder for Drew. He says it's acid reflux. So, there ya go. Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes!

Happy Anniversary

This is a shout out to our friends Nathan and Amy - today is their 2nd anniversary. Congrats you guys! May God contine to bless your marriage.

Sickie Man

Please keep Drew in your prayers ya'll. He has been a sickie. Over a week ago his stomach started hurting. He missed 2 days of work, worked to 2 days and then on Friday it was worse than it had been yet. SO...he went to the doc. Doc ran some tests and made him have an ultrasound for gallbladder. He goes tomorrow to discuss the results with the the doc. Pray for speedy recovery and knowledgeable help from the doctor.

It is time

It is time to start going back to school to prepare for my next crew of students. I am having some difficulty getting motivated this year. I think it's because of the classes I took in June. I really don't like taking classes in the summer, but...alas...I must. If I don't, I will never finish this degree I am workign, oops...make that WORKING on. Sigh. Anyway, I have spent a few hours up there trying to get back into the swing of things and there is always an excitement that comes with the onset of a new school year. I mean, new students, all blank slates...new clothes, new pencils, new haircuts and shoes. It is exciting. So, wish me well as I go spend some time in my classroom today.

Ipod Woes

Drew gave me an IPOD Shuffle for Christmas this year and have I said lately how much I LOVE it?! Well, I do. Here's the only problem with it, well a problem as I see it. Whenever itunes wants to update my software on my computer or my ipod, my shuffle goes on the fritz. Seriously...it fills itself up with random music that I never gave permission to place there...AND...it puts the songs in a RANDOM order that I cannot make sense of. When I try to erase the mess the naughty little ipod created and rebuild my playlist (which is currently 12 hours long...whoo hoo!), it reorders the songs to it's liking. Anyone else out there had similar problems or is it just that I have a testy ipod shuffle?

20 Years Goes By So Fast

I was reading over at DCOE and saw that it has been 20 years since the movie The Princess Bride came out. Eileen has a link to an ABCNews Now and Then photo comparison of all the actors adn actresses in the movie. Enjoy. (Links Courtesy Eileen and ABCNews)

Garden Fun

Folks, we have officially tasted sweet success from our garden...yup. Cabbage and summer squash. It. Was. Devine. I don't know if it REALLY tasted better or if I just think that it did because of all of our (by our I mean Drew) sweat and hard work weeding and watering. All I can say though is Yummmm. We have so many squash that I don't honestly know what we will do with all of it. OH oh...and we FINALLY have young melons (watermelon and honeydew melon to be exact.)

Did I ever tell you my honeydew story? I haven't? Well, when I was young my favorite fruit was honeydew melon. Wait, it still is my favorite....anyway, I digress. I loved honeydew so I would shamelessly beg for it at the grocery store. Mom would rarely get it becuase she had to feed 7 kids and 2 adults and, frankly, honeydew is expensive. So, one day (when was about 3 or 4) I was standing near the honeydew and Mom had said "No" a few times already. I reached up and grabbed one on the botton and pulled it out. As a result, several honeydew fell to the floor. One broke open and Mom had to purchase it. oops. I thought "Hmmm. That's an easy way to get honeydew." So, I did it again the next time we were at the store. My mom caught on pretty quickly to my little ploy and started parking me in the cart as far away from the honeydew as she could. I used to cry and cry....sigh...oh the memories.

Well, NOW Drew and I are growing our own and I can have all the honeydew melon my little heart desires...I CAN'T WAIT FOR ONE TO RIPEN! That....and I am just dying to taste a tomato off of one of our our 14 tomato plants! Yes, I said 14. That's just ours...with ma's we have 23 plants. Yeah...we will be canning 'til the cows come home when they rippen.

Burned

Did I mention that I have a sunburn? I didn't? Well, I do. And so does Drew. We used this spray on sunblock when we were at Lake Michigan with an SPF 50 in it. We reapplied after swimming...we rubbed it in...we applied it generously...and we still burned. (Drew worse than me.) While we were gone the area got, like, 3 inches of rain and so it is SO HUMID here today. Well, I was thinking about this and noticed that Blogger has a new feature that you can add a poll to your blog. So, I did. Right over there on the right of your screen is the question. Humor me and select an answer so I can see how this tool works.

Back Home, Home on the Plains!

Well, ya'll, we are back hom again on the Plains. We had A BLAST on vacation. We left on Thursday and drove to Bettendorf, Iowa where we stayed the night. We finished driving to Indiana on Friday and even had supper at the Town Square in Howe, Indiana (yummmmm) with Mom and Clayton.

Saturday was Andy and Becca's Wedding. I am sorry to say that I forgot my camera in hotel room all day Saturday and, therefore, have NO PICTURES from the entire day. The wedding was beautiful and unique. I just know that they will be very very happy and blessed. That afternoon we went to a BBQ hosted by my sister and her soon-to-be sister-in-law. It was loads of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the time to spend with family and new friends.

On Sunday we went to the Warren Sand Dunes in Sawyer, MI. We spent the WHOLE day on the beach and in the water. We didn't feel like climbing the dunes, so we didn't. We were tired and were quite happy to lay on the sand and soak up the sun. That evening Todd and Cindy met us in Michigan City where we ate at the Texas Corral. It was DELISH! Then, on to Joliet for the night and then the long drive back home. It is good to be back (and eat a meal I prepared in my own kitchen rather than ordered someone else to prepare for me.) It is good to be home.

It's Official...VACATION TIME!

It's official, we are on vacation! I write to you this morning from Davenport Iowa. (I know, I know...how exciting). Anyway, we travled all the way across Iowa yesterday and are just about to enter Illinois. Nice.

Anyway, I checked out Kris' website this morning and she had this quiz about passing the US Citizenship Test. I scored a 95%, how about you?

Fun times?

So, as you know, July 3rd was our anniversary. We decided to go to Ruby Tuesday in Kearney to celebrate. When we arrived we ordered the cheesy bacon fries (yumm-o) for an appetizer and we both ordered a burger. Well-done. Mine with no "special sauce." When the meal arrived, mine was slathered with "special sauce" and just decided I would be a sport and eat it. So, I cut burger in half so I could pick it up easily...and, folks, it was RAW! So, I called the Assistant Manager over and showed her the sandwich and she says "So, (pause) are you wanting a whole new one?" Duh. Yes. So, she sent it back and I waited probably another half an hour while they remake my order. The second time they brought the sandwich there was no hint of extra sauce, so I fixed it up, cut it and picked it up to eat it and....IT WAS RAW AGAIN. This time was worse than the first. So, Drew showed the waitress and she was grossed out and said she was going to let the cook know. She left to find the manager, and apparently to let the cook know. Now, I have to tell you that we were seated about as far away from the kitchen that we could be and we HEARD here rip out the cook. (It was a little funny actually.) So, then the manager came over and said that the meal was on them AND he GAVE US a $25 gift certificate to come back. We have generally had good experiences at Ruby Tuesday, but they were just having a bad night. I have to hand it to them, though, they went out of thier way to try and make it right with us. About 1 1/2 hours later we left and came home. Fun....Times?

It's Already Been Three Years!

Three years ago today Drew and I stood in front of friends and family and exhanged vows of comittment before God. I just want to take this opportunity to say how much I love him and how these three years have been a blessing beyond my dreams!

In honor of our anniversary, I have created a little quiz to see how well you know us!

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

Weigh In - Week 8

So, my weigh in is neither gain nor loss. sigh. Oh well. This week we are going on vacation AND to Andy and Becca's wedding. I am hoping for a loss next week, but we will see. It his SO hard to resist wedding cake. YUMMM...and, and, ooooh pie at the Town Square in Howe, Indiana (Where I grew up.) My plan is to move move move every day this week. I just want to see a one pound loss (minimum) this week. Anyway, happy weight loss to all of you out there, I am hoping for a loss next week.

We're Smokin' Baby!

When we got married our good friend, Ryan, gave us a smoker as a wedding gift. I think it was, secretly, a joke on me and an ENORMOUS blessing on Drew. See, I usually can't stand smoked food. I told Drew this and he kept telling me that I might like it if the right wood was used to smoke the food. I have, honestly, been very skeptical in the past about this. My biggest problem with certain woods is that it smells like a giant cigarette. yuck-o. That cigarette smell wafts its way into the house and then...well, you get the idea. A few years ago a storm knocked over an apple tree in Drew's sister's back yard. AND, if you know much about smoking meat, like my lovin' hubby does, you know that fruit woods are the best to smoke with. So, we then went over and harvested all the apple wood that we could get. Drew has been slowly making smoked foods with it ever since. About a month ago, I came home and he had been smoking ribs for the greater portion of the day. When he brought them in, I really, REALLY wanted to try them. I did and thought that I had died and gone to heaven! They were so tender and I couldn't even really taste the smoky flavor. YUMMMMMM... Earlier this week I bought some spare ribs at the grocery for him and specifically asked that he smoke them this weekend and, ya'll, today's the day! Whoo Hooo... we (by we I mean he) are smoking the yummy ribs all day and will be eating them tonight. Maybe I will post pictures for ya! Are you drooling yet?

UPDATE WITH PICTURES!

These are all the parts of the Smoker. You have the base with the heating element, the main part, the lid, the grates, and the water.








First, you have to soak the wood in water so that it doesn't catch fire in the smoker. (you want to SMOKE the food, not char it.)









Next, you put the wet wood around the heating element, but not ON the heating element or it will ruin the electric element.








Place the meat (in our case, ribs) in the smoker and put the lid on top. Check the time and DON'T mess with it for about...mmm...4-5 hours.










This is what you get if you let it alone for a while. Yummmm. We took them off the smoker, added BBQ sauce, and warmed the sauce in the oven (350 degrees for 10 minutes.) You can just add the sauce while they are still on the smoker if you want.









This is what the ribs looked like cut open. Can you see the juices? Can you see how tender they

were?????







This is our dinner. As you can see, we had corn, watermelon, and smoked ribs. It was so good and I highly recommend it!