I'm it!

I got tagged and received my first blog award from Kristin!! Most of the time I would be totally annoyed to have to fill out one of these quizzes, but since it came with an award, I'm feeling pretty special today! :)

8 TV Shows You Watch:
Project Runway

The Real Housewives (of any city- hilarious! Especially loved Atlanta!!)
Barefoot Contessa

Dancing with the Stars

John and Kate Plus Eight

The Office

Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood (I love them too, Kristin!)

CBS Sunday Morning News (reminds me of Dad!)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Guadalajara

Taiko

This little place in Flushear with the best lattes ever- wish I could remember the name...

Los Cucos

Sandy Magee's

Cheesecake Factory

Anything Papa's

Ooh La La Dessert Boutique (not a restaurant I guess- but their cupcakes are to die for!)

8 Things That Happened This Weekend: (This Week)
Thanksgiving Dinner at Nee Nee's! Yum!

Put up Christmas decorations.

Did a puzzle with my mom and sister.

Found out one of my friends is having TWINS!! (can't say who yet and it's killing me... if you're reading this mommy-to-be I PROMISE I haven't told anyone who you are!! I hope you're not mad right now...)

Slept in- it was glorious!

Baked some home-made bread. Soooo good!

Snuggled with my hubby!
Snuggled with my puppy!

8 Things I Look Forward To:
Being done filling out this quiz- coming up with eight things sounds easy, but it's taking forever!

Reading more from New Moon- the second book in the Twilight series (yes, I'm one of those girls!)

Seeing all the Christmas lights up in my neighborhood.

Our Christmas hayride!

Making Nina's chocolate covered cherries tomorrow... I hope they turn out as good as hers!

Making Christmas cookies!

Parking in the garage again... sigh.

Starting a family with Sean.

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST: (OK this part was easy!)

Digital Camera
More of my favorite perfume

A new rug in the dining room

A maid, or at least someone to do my laundry and clean the bathrooms

A personal grading assistant

A winning lottery ticket

A new car!!

Oooh- and a new puppy! I want a little boy pug!

And here's my blog award with questions...
1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse.

2. Where is your significant other? With me, at the kitchen table, eating pancakes!

3. Your hair color? Blonde.
4. Your mother? At home.

5. Your father? With mom.
6. Your favorite thing? A lazy day.
7. Your dream last night? Running from vampires (too much Twilight for me!)

8. Your dream/goal? To enjoy life- no matter what is brings.
9. The room you’re in? Kitchen.
10. Your hobby? Reading, crochet, cooking, baking bread, sewing, playing with my dog.
11. Your fear? Picking out something to wear to a social situation (stupid, right?)
12. Where do you want to be in six years? I'm not sure! Surprise me!

13. Where were you last night? At mom and dad's.

14. What you’re not? Decisive.
15. One of your wish list items? A positive pregnancy test.

16. Where you grew up? Wisconsin and Texas

17. The last thing you did? Made hubby some pancakes.
18. What are you wearing? Pajama pants and a shirt
19. Your TV? On ESPN (Sean :))
20. Your pet? Laying on the floor next to Sean with his bone.
21. Your computer? On my makeshift desk at the kitchen table.
22. Your mood? Great!
23. Missing someone? All my out-of-town family and friends.
24. Your car? Camry.
25. Something you’re not wearing? Jewelry.
26. Favorite store? J Crew. (the Houston galleria gives 15% off to teachers!)
27. Your Summer? I will NOT be teaching summer school (I've said that the last four summers... poo!)
28. Love someone? Lots of someones.
29. Your favorite color? Green.
30. When is the last time you laughed? My last really good laugh was yesterday with my sister and mom!
31. Last time you cried? A couple of days ago.

OK now I tag Amanda!!! Sorry...but you're it! =)

Really, venison!

So, hubby's a hunter as we've already established, and we end up with a freezer full at the end of the season. The duck I just can't do. I've tried it at least a couple of times but I just can't get over what I'm eating. That shouldn't be weird, I know it's only meat, but it just is.

Sean and I were talking about that at dinner... he asks why wild game freaks me out, and I say because I imagine what it looked like before it died, what it looked like dead, and what it looked like as he hacked into it. He then says, "Well do you think that beef grows in Styrofoam packages wrapped in plastic?" Well, no. Actually, I do know where beef comes from, and I know there are less than humane meat packing plants all over and my beef did not live a free life nor was it handled with as much care as Sean's duck and deer... but I still get grossed out!

I am trying, however. Since the duck is a no-go at this point, I'm giving the venison a shot. Tonight I made my usual turkey meatball recipe with venison. It was actually good. It blew my mind! Even after a couple of delicious bites, I was still expecting the next one to taste really, really bad! Ha! I guess I still have a way to go!

Here's a link to the recipe for all of you with husbands who hunt (it turns out really good with turkey as well if your freezer isn't full of ground venison). The only thing I do differently is instead of using scallions, I saute half a small onion. I also added an extra garlic clove this time because I figured over-powering garlic was better than gamy deer!

My husband, the romantic.

Well, for those of you who know Sean, this will come as no surprise. He's hunting! He came home at about 4:20 Friday morning, played with the dog for about 5 minutes, gave me a hug, then left to duck hunt.
This morning he's already gone, left about 4:00, and is duck hunting again. He'll be staying through the evening so he can try to get another deer tonight.
He has plans to leave tomorrow morning as well.
As my friend Matilde said yesterday, "At least he's consistent." Ha!

Homecoming

Sean is on his way home from Lousianna right now! He's been off-shore for 20 long days and Jet and I are so ready for him to be home! What's weird about being apart from each other is that we go through the same stages every time...

About 2 days before he leaves, we're both sad about him leaving and get into stupid little fights.
For 3-4 days after he leaves, I am a TOTAL mess. Depressed and lonely. Nothing seems to cheer me up and I become a couch potato.
Days 5-8 I'm finally starting to feel a little better, but end up eating total trash and leave the house a mess!
Finally I start to get into my own routine. I don't like it, but I have to basically move on and develop a single-girl lifestyle. So, when he finally comes home it feels weird, like we're getting to know each other again.
Three or four days after he returns we finally feel back to normal! It's exhausting!

I can't wait to see how Jet reacts when Sean walks in the door... it's SO cute! He gets so excited his whole body wags! Sean hates leaving Jet when he has to go out of town. While I know why he's gone and can talk to him on the phone, poor Jetters has no idea why he's not coming home and runs over to the garage door and barks and barks because he thinks he hears him. He'll do that for a couple of days, and then poor Jet has to start a new routine too and seems to forget about listening for the garage door, and just settles into life with mommy.

Sean should be pulling in the driveway at about 3:00 this morning, and plans to leave for the duck lease at 4:00. I guess we know what he missed the most! Poo!

Getting Healthy

Well, first, let me say thank you to Lorie, who has (can't really say inspired... twisted my arm?) convinced me to commit to "30 minutes of level 7-8 aerobic activity at least four times a week."

I was very grumpy about starting this which is probably why I've only achieved 20% of my goal these two weeks. Grumpy enough to earn a nickname- Hustleump. Again, thanks Lorie.

Today I decided that I would have to go for a walk/jog and take my dog since I really had committed to this exercise routine and so far have been an exceptional slacker. To motivate myself I bought a few new songs for my ipod and suited up. Of course the lab was thrilled! He almost ate my socks before I could get them on my feet!

We started down the street, and to my surprise, it wasn't so bad. We started jogging a little, still not too bad. Amazingly Jet was a gentleman and stayed perfectly at heel the whole time (stopped for a potty break, and finally found that missing baby sock- sorry Amanda!)

As we made our way around a loop that I had carefully chosen so as not to go over my 30 minute minimum, I realized that I was really enjoying myself. I just got lost in the music, the cool air, and fell in sync with that big black dog at my side. We got back to our house, and kept on going! Have I earned a new nickname yet- probably not. But it's a start.

Here's the play list- in case you need some motivation today!

Sanctus Real, Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)

Natalie Grant, I Will Not Be Moved

BarlowGirl, I Need You to Love Me

Casting Crowns, East to West

Brooke Fraser, Shadowfeet

Chris Sligh, Empty Me

Addison Road, Hope Now

Robbie Seay Band, Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down)

Casting Crowns, Praise You In This Storm

Brandon Heath, Give Me Your Eyes