At 25, It's Time to Eat Like a Big Girl

If you were following this blog for our honeymoon, you know that I ate my first half salad at a restaurant on the beach during the trip because we were the only ones at the restaurant and I didn't want to send the salad back.

It may sound crazy, but in watching me eat the salad on our honeymoon, my new husband realized that I was eating it wrong.  I've always had a severe texture aversion to eating leafy vegetables, but we discovered that's partly because I was chewing it with my front teeth.  (When I was a kid my back teeth didn't line up right until my second set of braces, so it's not as crazy as it sounds that I didn't chew with my back teeth correctly.)

Well, ever since my adventure on the beach, I've been wondering if I might actually enjoy a salad that's better than the pre-dinner beach restaurant side salad.  Today, I final got up the nerve to give it a try.  I ordered a salad at Cotton Patch that had lettuce, cucumber, tomato, cheese, bacon, and chicken with Ranch dressing.

My Dinner Tonight

I took the before picture because I wanted to show off that I ate the whole thing... but it was huge... and I got full.

I was too full to eat the whole thing, but there's just as much chicken as lettuce left... that proves that I was actually full and didn't give up.

I don't think it was my favorite dinner ever, but it was pretty decent... I'd do it again.

So, I'm official a big girl now.  I ate salad for dinner, of my own choosing, and I enjoyed it.  :)

I'm Thankful for...

It seems a bit cliche to write a thanks list on Thanksgiving Day, but it's a good cliche, I think.  I feel very blessed in my life and I think it's important not to lose sight of the many things there are to be thankful for.

So here I go; I'm thankful for:

• 26 (almost) years of good health
• Loving parents that encouraged me to be the best that I could be
• A solid faith community that not only taught me about God conceptually but also showed the love of Christ in their daily lives.
• A school system that allowed me to cultivate a love of the arts, gave me an opportunity to experience the classics, and challenged me to grow while giving me the educational foundation to build upon the rest of my life.
• A brother who knows and loves me deeply, and who, despite some sibling rivalry growing up, I cherish as my childhood companion.
• Sisters who welcomed me just as I am into the fold of Alpha Delta Pi.
• A culture where, as a woman, I am encouraged to go far in my career without giving up who I am as a woman.
• Baylor University, of which I have many fond memories.
• A great young career where I am both challenged and respected for my contributions
• My extended family that I love dearly... and all of their beautiful children (my brother and I are the only cousins who have yet to add little munchkins to group)
• The many friends and family who supported, encouraged, attended, and/or thought of us from a far during our wedding this year.
• The ability to own our own home despite economic turmoil around the world.
• Many close friends that join us for basketball games, Hot Springs trips, tailgating, poker nights, and any other general merriment.
• The best in-laws one could hope for.  I look forward to many new memories I'll make with the Hansen family.
• A great Thanksgiving dinner... and Chocolate Pie!

And I cannot summarize in short bullet the many ways that I'm thankful for the man who changed my name this year... he is my rock and my right hand.  I often joke that he must be psychic because he knows what I'm thinking before I say it.  When I was young, I often dreamed about getting married, but I never imagined how much I would love the man I married or how much fun it would be.  So, I am thankful for Mr. John Hansen, my husband (still not tired of saying that... "my husband"... he's my husband... sorry everybody else, he's taken).

I am truly blessed, and I cannot say thanks enough to "deserve" any of it... Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I'm glad to take a moment to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Getting Crafty

Since discovering and introducing me to Pinterest, several of the football wives* have decided to have craft days to actually do some of the things we've found on Pinterest.

*Football Wives - The wives that come with their husbands to North Texas Football Games, including pre-game tailgating.  Several of us may never have met each other if our husbands had not been football buddies.  We've all gotten to know each other pretty well from Saturdays out in the heat for the last 3 football seasons, and we're now excited to do something outside of tailgating... and without our husbands. :)

Our first craft weekend was in October, and we made flower necklaces from a Necklace Tutorial that Kim found on Pinterest.

These came out great.  They're just felt, fabric, a chain, and hot glue.

After our first success, we got back together today for Craft Day Take 2.  This time we tackled 2 projects.

1. Washer necklaces.  Randi found this Washer Tutorial on Pinterest.  I think they make cute necklackes.

Take a washer, glue on paper (like scrapbook paper), trim off excess, and paint with a clear coat.  Once they dry, I'll tie a cord on it, and viola: simple, unique necklace.

2. Decorative Letter.  This is probably my favorite craft yet.  Mine is going on my front door once I get a wreath hanger.

Letter (from Hobby Lobby), twine (190 ft for $3 from Lowe's), ribbon, fabric flowers, and hot glue.

I found this Letter S Inspiration on Pinterest.  The S is from Esty, so unlike the other crafts we've done, there was no tutorial.  It was still pretty simple though.  And I found this Fabric Flower Tutorial that made a nice adornment for my 'H', and I think I like these flowers better than the paper flowers on the S from Etsy.

We've had a Ton 'O Fun being crafty.  I'm looking for Craft Day #3, but that's probably not until after Christmas.

Homecoming

I love Baylor University.  It makes me giddy just to be on campus.  I have many fond memories of my time there, including many great people I met and the first few months of dating the man that is now my husband.

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of returning to Baylor for Homecoming.  John and I rolled into Waco around 6pm Friday and took a stroll around campus.  We met up with friends for dinner in the sub and spent some time taking in the pre-bonfire festivities.  Before the bonfire was lit, we came across several other friends... we enjoyed getting to see everyone, but ironically, most of the people we found on Friday night live near us in Dallas and we see more frequently than just at Baylor Homecoming.

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early at the Alpha Delta Pi tent along the parade.  Poor John got abandoned with another ADPi husband, and I had a blast catching up with many of my wonderful sisters! 

The ADPi float was the Mad Hatter Tea Party. Each of the 10 schools currently in the Big 12 was represented by a chair.

The Baylor chair was, of course, at the head of the table... and the A&M chair was appropriately placed.

After the parade, we had about 7 hours to kill before the football game, so we took in a few Waco favorites:

• A visit to the Alpha Delta Pi chapter room - I had a great time talking with some alumnae who were ADPi's before I was born and hearing about their experience in the sorority.
• Lunch at Fazoli's - Yes, I know it's fast food, but the Waco Fazoli's is still the closest location to my house even though we now live in Lewisville.  We don't have much of a fast-food Italian option in the Dallas area. :)
• Drive around Cameron Park
• Cameron Park Zoo - We went with some friends and their 7 month old daughter - who fell asleep somewhere between the lions and the reptiles.

The Homecoming game was a nice experience.  I was a student at Baylor for the 2004-2007 football seasons, during which Baylor football resulted in the following:

• 2004: 3-8 record on the year, including a 26-25 Loss to Iowa State for Homecoming
• 2005: 5-6 record on the year, including a 28-0 Loss to Texas Tech for Homecoming
• 2006: 4-8 record on the year, including a 36-35 Win over Kansas for Homecoming
• 2007: 3-9 record on the year, including a 38-7 Loss to Texas Tech for Homecoming 

That brings the overall record while I was in school to 15 wins and 31 losses, no winning seasons, and only 1, very close, Homecoming win.  Anytime I can go to a Baylor game and see a win is a good game in my opinion, but a homecoming win is all the sweeter. (It was a 42-39 Win over Missouri, bringing Baylor to 5-3 so far for 2011)

John modeling the give-away foam helmet at the game.

To all the friends I saw: It was great to see you!
To anyone who was there and I missed: Boo!  We need to coordinate next year!
To Kristen and Nick: Thanks for being our homecoming buddies again!  We had a great time... also, Clare was definitely the cutest little Baylor fan and ADPi legacy! :)

Spectacle of Spectacles

John and I have a minor obsession.  Okay, maybe it's better said that John has a minor obsession, and I come along for the ride.  John and I both have poor eye-site without the aid of glasses or contacts.  John is not able to wear contacts, so it's all glasses for him.

A couple years ago, John discovered the concept of buying glasses online.  The glasses are significantly cheaper than buying glasses at the mall, not to even mention buying glasses at the eye doctor.  Since John wears glasses daily, he took these inexpensive glasses as an opportunity make the glasses he wears daily a part of his wardrobe that can change.

He watches for sales and new styles. Over time we've purchased many pairs of glasses and I've even gotten in on some of the action.  We've also shared our joy with many friends who now buy all their glasses on-line too.

An inventory of all the glasses in our house.  Though many look similar, most of the variety is in the stems, and we couldn't find an easy way to get all the stems in one picture.

Recently, John went to the eye doctor and got a new prescription, so we had to retire his old glasses and get new ones.  We did some thorough pricing, and even with an insurance stipend, it only made sense to get new lenses for 1 of his existing pairs of glasses.  For the alternative pairs, it was cheaper to just buy new glasses on-line.

We just finished replacing his alternative glasses.  Today, we went through the house and gathered up all the glasses in one spot.  We're going to donate the glasses that we didn't get new lenses for, and before we do, we wanted to take an inventory of all the glasses we have.

• 17 Total Pairs of Glasses
• 13 Prescription, Clear Glasses
• 3 Prescription, Sun Glasses
• 1 Non-prescription, Sun Glasses (for me when I'm wearing contacts, but I did buy them online with one of John's other glasses orders)
• 5 Pairs belong to me
• 12 Pairs belong to John
• 7 are in John's old Prescription (only 1 to get new lenses, other 6 to be donated)
• 1 in my old Prescription (going with John's to donation)
• 3 in my current prescription (though 1 pair I never wear, so it's going to donation too - lest you think this lessens the cost savings: In one order, I bought 2 pairs of glasses for $6 each, and one pair I didn't end up liking.  We just consider the pair I do wear to cost $12; still an awesome deal)
• 5 New Glasses in John's New Prescription
• If you're counting, that's a total of 8 going to donation, and 9 pairs we still use.
• Max Price: $120 (John's rim-less glass - this is the pair we're getting new lenses for)
• Min Price: $6 (We got 4 pairs of glasses for $24 in one order - that includes shipping - 2 were mine and 2 were John's)
• Total spent on all 17 Pairs, including shipping: $525 (That averages out to $31 per pair of glasses)

For those of you thinking, "Man, that's awesome; I want to get in on that!".  Here's a list of all the places we bought from.  There are a plethora of places online if you just do a Google search, but these are the ones we've used.

• www.eyebuydirect.com
• www.zennioptical.com
• www.goggles4u.com
• www.39dollarglasses.com

All you need is your prescription, just make sure it includes your Pupillary Distance, which is not always written in the default prescription format.  When we first started, we went to a mall store and tried on several glasses.  We weren't looking for a specific pair; we tried on a wide variety of sizes, styles, and shapes to get a general feel for what we liked.  Make note of the measurements on the glasses that look like a good size for your face (several of the websites explain the numbers - you can find them all on the glasses stems).

And that's our spectacle of spectacles.

Encouraging the Bears, the Mean Green, and the Weather

With football season starting, John and I are gearing for what we hope will be successful seasons for both our Alma maters.  One of the keys success in my book is surviving the weather at the games... it seems that no mater how miserable the weather (and the team), we do not leave North Texas games early.  Of course we left the 1 Baylor game we went to last year early just because of a little torrential downpour, but I'm not writing this post to discuss double standards...

This year we've got some new gear to cheer on our teams.  Now we just need the weather to cooperate a little to give us a reason to wear them... come on cooler weather!

Old and New, Part 3: Oven

The long awaited oven has arrived!!

This is part 3 of a series I started a while back.  I thought I'd be publishing this post soon after the first 2, but it turned into quite a saga.

First for a little history lesson, we bought this house in September of last year, and when we bought the house, as is becoming customary with all home sales in Texas, we got a 1 year home warranty from the sellers as a part of the sale.  We've used the warranty for a couple things (electrical issue and some piping problems in the attic)

In November, our oven started doing something funny... well "annoying" is probably a better word.  It started beeping.  It would beep about once a second for 15 minutes, and then flash an error message.  Pushing buttons on the oven made it stop for a couple hours, but it would start right back up.  John called the manufacturer help line, and they said to reset the breaker.  If it did it again, we should call the home warranty.

We reset the breaker, and for several weeks, all was well.  Then, it happened again.  We were a little lazy, and we didn't want to deal with the warranty for folks for such a small nuisance.  It got to a point where it might go off once or twice a month, and we were busy with wedding planning stuff, so we just let it happen.

The original oven wasn't much to look at.  I never really liked the white and black mixture, and there was no window in the door to see how things were progressing in there without letting out heat.

By early April, the behavior changed; it would go off sometime within a 24 hour period after we used the oven.  (Not the stove thankfully, only the oven, which I use far less than the stove).  At this time though, we were very close to the wedding, and couldn't be bothered to deal with it.

When we got back from the honeymoon, the oven was one of many things we had put off to "after the wedding".  In late May, we submitted a ticket with the home warranty.  A technician was on the phone with us the next day.  Over the phone, he was able to determine that the oven's mother-board (for the digital display) was going out, and they don't make that part anymore.

We thought, "Sweet, we'll be getting a new oven", but the warranty company took their time making that final.  It was a couple weeks before they finally decided to get us a new oven.  When they did, they gave us three options, of which, straight cash was definitely the best, but also took the longest for processing.  We finally got a check for our oven in late June.

In the mean time, we'd been looking at ovens online and determined which model we wanted.  Several reviews had told us that Frigidaire was the best brand for low-end ranges (there's no reason that we need more than a low-end range).  I knew that I really wanted a coil top stove (Call me crazy, but I've had the smooth top and the coil top in the various places I've lived since I left my parent's house. The smooth tops are a lot of fuss, and unless you've got the separate stove and oven thing going on - not a range, I don't think they improve the appearance that much).  However, the majority of the market has now moved to the smooth top, so coil tops are reserved mostly for bottom of the line models in the stores.  We also wanted stainless steal with black accents because we plan to eventually replace all the aging appliances in the kitchen with nicer stainless.  Though stores don't carry nice coil tops in stock (by "nice", I mean just not the very bottom model of the line), the manufacturers do make them.  I found a Frigidaire, coil top, that is stainless steal with black.  The best price for that model... Lowe's.

Thus, on July 4th weekend, we went to Lowe's.  As was to be expected, they didn't have the model in stock, but they ordered it and setup a delivery and haul-away.  Unfortunately, since it wasn't in store, we'd have to wait 2 weeks.  The delivery date was set for July 18th.

On the morning of July 18th, Lowe's called to tell us that the oven hadn't been delivered yet, but would be delivered to Lowe's that night.  They rescheduled the delivery for Thursday (July 21st).  On Wednesday, July 20th, we got another call from Lowe's telling us that the oven wasn't delivered to Lowe's on Monday, and in fact was on back order.  Needless to say, we were quite upset, and let them know as much, particularly given that they had lied to us the previous Monday about it being delivered that night.  However, we still wanted that model, and the soonest we could get that was now August 15th.

Sometime during June and early July, the oven had deteriorated further.  It no longer beeped, but it also no longer had a display.  Thankfully, when you turn on the oven, it did flash the temperature for a few seconds before shutting off again, so I could at least confirm the correct temp from the dial.  Also, thankfully, the problem was isolated to the digital display, the stove and oven still headed appropriately (well mostly, one of the coils only half heated, but it's rare that I needed all 4 coils).

Notice the nice big window! Our first step in moving from a white/black kitchen to a stainless/black kitchen.

On August 15th (last Monday), we were told again that the oven was delayed. John called several complaint lines with Lowe's and got a firm confirmation that we'd have our oven this week. On Wednesday morning, Lowe's called wanting to deliver that day... of all days, the day John started his new job. We had to schedule a delivery for Thursday evening because Lowe's delivers late on Tuesday and Thursday and we could have it delivered after we got home from work.

It took what seemed like forever to get, but it is a thing of beauty to have a fully functioning oven again!