Arkansas...

Tonight is packing night for the trip to see my parents. They're moving this week, so we'll help some with that, but it should be fun! I'm looking forward to their new place! It's roomier and nicer than the last place! Plus, it has central A/C, two bathrooms and a dishwasher! They're moving out of my Grandpa's house (where they lived when they took care of him, before he moved to Florida) which had a window unit, one bathroom and no dishwasher! I'm so happy for them! They've been "roughing" it since they moved into the house, and especially after he moved in with them and they started taking care of him (it's been two years of caregiving). Thankfully, that has been lifted from their shoulders now and they can get back to their lives. My grandpa is happy in Florida, he's getting in-home doctor/nurse care, which he couldn't get in Arkansas and all his prescriptions are free! Thanks to Florida and their "elderly friendly" laws! Please keep my family in your prayers!

Raining...

Hi Everyone! It's still raining here in Dallas, but I'm thankful to God for the rain because it's kept temperatures down and it's watered the area, which was in drought before! It does make for a longer commute, but it's worth it to not start the drought so early this year! Hopefully, water restrictions, etc. won't be so tight if we have a rainy summer. Woohoo!

Final Cake...

Hello! I had my final class of Course 1 tonight! I received my certificate of completion, and here are the pictures of my third cake! It's a lemon cake with buttercream icing and lemon filling! This is the first cake I "torted" which made it have four layers! It was really lemon-y and moist! My roses and shells need work, but who says a cake has to have either? This is Fisher's favorite cake so far!

Chores...

Chores are finally done! Now, it's time to start packing for this weekend. My parents are moving, so we get to help unpack and move things! At least we'll have some fun "shopping" to do we have a big family gathering on 7/1. I'm making red, white and blue potato salad...and red, white and blue cupcakes. I'll post pics of both. The cupcakes are already baked and are freezing...they look awesome! Tonight's the final night of cake class. Pictures to post tonight!

On the Border...

So, there's a new On the Border opening in White Trash land. In addition to WT Cheddar's, Outback, Olive Garden, Texas Road House and Chuck E. Cheese. There has been a big sign hanging on the OTB that notes "training in process." Fisher and I drove by there today after church and the place was packed. We decided to go for dinner, and figured that they were serving people and just making sure people were aware that service isn't perfect yet. Well, we get there and a manager and greeter are outside welcoming people. We were asked for our invitation! Of course, we didn't have have one. I gave Fisher the big "I told you so!" Which, is really mean of me.,,and I shouldn't do that. The manager said he could let us in if we sat at the bar or on the patio, and that our food would be free! He asked if that was okay, and we said SURE! We had a limited selection to choose from, but we both found something we liked...there were multi-colored menus and Fisher ordered from blue and I ordered from yellow. Our appetizer was selected for us...Queso Live! Since we got an appetizer, we didn't get dessert! But still, it was a good meal and it was free! There were also plenty of leftovers! As we were leaving, we heard the manager asking other people for their invitations. We think that invitations probably weren't sent out, or that employees gave free passes to their friends. Either way, it was great! I'm sure the manager didn't turn anyone away because he wouldn't want to create bad feelings toward the restaurant before it even opened! Especially in White Trash land where the competition is stiff!

Dallas Drivers...

I'm really on a roll tonight! As I was trying to leave work tonight, I managed to get blocked by people turning out of a lane that is clearly marked with a double yellow "do not cross" line. This lane is for the trolley to use downtown, and people think since it's the far right lane on a one way street that you can make right turns out of it. Not true! It's pretty obvious! So, after getting blocked out of my correct right turn, I ended up in a straight only lane because the driver of the car next to me would not let me change lanes! Granted, it's very close to a light and some people do wait until the last second to change lanes, so I can understand her aggravation. But I wasn't one of those people! So, she drove as fast as she could onto the entrance ramp to Woodall Rodgers/35 and blocked me from making my left turn. I had to take a couple other turns and just decided to get on the tollway. After all, God made a point to make it difficult for me to get on 75. He must not have wanted me on that highway! Oh, and all this was after I found out that I could have left work 45 minutes before but I wasn't told! My coworker joked that by not telling me, he was "saving my life." Who knows, maybe he was!

Long Week...

Wow! This week seemed to go on forever! After being off on Monday and in a meeting all day Tuesday, this week just seemed to creep by! Also, softball was cancelled because of rain, which decided to start around 4PM as always. Just in time to cancel softball and make my commute wet! But now we're at home and being lazy! I practiced making icing roses, shells and stars tonight. I think made the icing too thin, but I did figure out the right consistency for shells! So, one thing is improved!

Next Week's Menu...

Another part of being the boy and girl is menu planning...we plan ahead menus for dinner the next week! Motivates us to eat at home and eat "better."

Next week we'll be dining on:
Portabellos and Belly Buttons (new recipe, mushroom and tortellini, not real bellybuttons)
Orange Glazed Pork Chops (new take on apricot pork chops we've made before)
Pecan Crusted Chicken (The Boy's new favorite breading, on chicken this time!)
Boyfriend Bait Beef Stroganoff (new recipe)
Broiled Parmesan Tilapia (this is yummy, and we've made it before

I get lots of recipes from allrecipes.com or from the fantastically aweseome Better Homes and Gardens cookbook!

This Thing Called Friday...

It's been a few days since I posted, so I thought I should. Let's see...since last post we've hung out with Mike and Jen and played A-Z, went to the Evil Places 1, 2 and 3 with Angella (NY&Co., Target, Michael's), had the "girl treat" from Quiktrip...aka "Crack" as Angella calls it. Showed Angella the correct way to make the treat. She now "gets" it! Tonight is softball, hopefully! I don't want another rain-out because this will turn into the season that never ends, again! Tomorrow I have to get up early ON A SATURDAY to get my hair cut. It needs cut very badly. I'm contemplating taking the car for an oil change at lunch, but I'd much rather have the new car that I dreamed about last night. That was at my parent's old apartment, then in Dallas, then in Atlanta and then turned into a bicycle...this dream had other random things that I won't bore you with. Wow, my dreams are weird. Some of you know this, but others don't: they are building a new, well, building across the highway from my office and I get distracted by what's going on over there. Since they've taken down the big crane and the freight elevator, I can no longer watch the guy climb down in the afternoon or try to figure out if he had a bathroom in his cab. I know he had A/C! Now they're just moving these fan (the kind you wave) shaped things to the top of the building. Nothing exciting, but I do like to see all the teeny tiny construction workers. Plus, they watch people all the time...and whistle.

Cake Number Two...

Clown cake and the boy who eats it.

Family of the Future...

Here's a cute pic from this weekend...no, these aren't our children, durh, but they are our sweet little nieces Tayven and Violet and it's a glimpse of what we would look like with two little girl babies! Tayven played dress-up with Uncle Dave quite a bit yesterday, and we played on the swing set and flew paper airplanes. Doesn't Uncle Dave look pretty?! Such a good time! Thank God for a great family!

The Crack...

We have to get up at the crack tomorrow to catch our flight home, just wanted to say goodnight!

Class Reunion...

Friday night we went to Fisher's 15th class reunion. It was fun! Service at the restaurant was slow, but we had a good time. On Saturday we toured his old school which had been nicely remodeled (great big gym) and was very different from what he remembers! He also took me around to the house where he grew up and to all the schools he went to. We went to the "Loud Thunder" forest preserve where he would camp and fish. It was so beautiful and peaceful, I'd love to see it in the fall! We also saw the signs for a small ski hill in the area...maybe we can try that at Christmas! Then we went to the class picnic at a pavilion on the Mississippi river...it was really hot...I thought it would be much cooler here! Then we hung out with family at Torie's...Violet has a "gym" that she bounces in and it's pretty entertaining! I played Barbies with Tayven and we played with sand from the sandbox on the driveway! We walked through the duplex to check for things that the inspector will catch...that was the only "work" we had to do that day! Talk to you later!

Chi Town...

We're getting ready to head to Illinois today! Thankfully, we're flying this time and not driving! Woohoo! Pray for a safe trip!

For those of you that have seen Fisher's scrape on his arm, it's getting better but I have to tie a big soccer sock around it each night to protect it from harm while sleeping!

Busy Week...

This week has been pretty hectic. With baking cakes like crazy on Sunday, icing cakes on Monday, decorating cake on Tuesday and icing yet another two small cakes, then icing the small cakes again and covering with almonds before taking them to Angella's! This doesn't include the failed batch of chocolate ganache! Fisher's been making dinner all week, his skills are really improving! He's made a crock-pot pork roast, beef enchiladas, BBQ-glazed chicken and pecan crusted pork chops! The chicken and pork chops were the best! I'm so thankful he's helpful around the house, and that he volunteered to cook for a whole week! Well, minus the night we had dinner at Angella's (Wednesday) and the time we're in Illinois. Angella and Michael made yummy chicken/shrimp/pineapple skewers with mashed potatoes and the best green beans ever! Fisher and I brought "Almond Joy"ish cake! Talk to you soon!

Cake Class...

Tonight was my second cake class, and my first attempt at decorating 'for real!' We learned to make stars, curvy lines and zig zags! Here's my first cake! Am I on my way to being a professional, or what?! Don't say what...please...you'll crush my spirits.

Fine Day to Start a Blog...

It's your typical Tuesday in Dallas...why not start a blog!?

Fisher and I are doing well, and enjoying married life. We're going to Illinois this weekend for his 15th High School reunion. We're also meeting our niece, Violet, for the first time and celebrating our other niece, Tayven's, third birthday...oh and Father's Day too!