From Frustration to Tennis!

I had one of those days today.  One of those days where somewhat frustrating things just kept popping up. I got seriously frustrated in traffic today.  I've never used my horn so much in all my years of driving.  And the worst part about it is that my major "horn blowing" moments all happened during a 5 mile drive.  Seriously, only 5 miles and yet so incredibly frustrating! Don't you hate when the guy at the front of the left hand turn lane is "sleeping".  Oh and he "wakes up" just in time to be the only car that gets through the light before the arrow turns red.  GRRR!  This happened to me today.  I would venture to say this guy at the front of the lane had at least 10 cars blazing their horns at him yet he still stayed "asleep" until the light turned from green to yellow.  I would love to know what the heck he was doing that he was unable to hear mulitiple cars honking at him.  Next up was the gas station....big mistake! Here's my tip of the day!  For future reference folks, when you pull into a station that has a bunch of Mack trucks waiting to get gas...LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!  That's my best advice to you.  Those Mack trucks were nearly impossible to get around.  Not to mention watching out for the company workers directing each other next to the pumps.  What a mess!  Never again will I stop at a station that has that many Mack trucks occupying it at once.  Nightmare!  People were honking to get next to and away from different pumps.  People were yelling to get to pumps.  I'm telling you it was a nightmare!  After I got gas I couldn't get a clear enough path to get out and away from the pumps.  More and more cars just kept crowding in.  I was sitting in my car gesturing that I simply wanted out and for people to stop moving in to the pump lane.  Before it was all said and down I had to drive up on the grass to get out and around the last line of pumps to head towards the exit.  Did I mention it was a nightmare?  I was extremely happy to be home once I arrived home!  Home to my little boys!

One thing that has been great all week is the weather.  Today was a beautiful 84 degree day.  Simon panted a bit on the afternoon walk.  I'm still not sure why because it wasn't really hot enough to pant in my opinion.  Then again, I'm not Simon!  So perhaps he should be the one to judge when he needs to pant and when he doesn't.  LOL!  We've had some rain this week as well.  The last 3 days have featured a rainy portion of the day.  All last night was a stormy one.  Luckily the rain stopped before time to take the boys for their morning walk.  Weather forecast calls for warmer temps for the weekend then followed by cooler temps for next week.  Sounds good to me!

My boyfriend has his first tennis tournment of the year that he'll be playing in this weekend.  He plays his first match tomorrow night.  If he wins he plays again on Saturday morning.  There's a consulation round so even if he doesn't win he gets to play another match at some point on Saturday. Similar to a double elimination type of thing. So with his matches and the French Open going it will be a tennis filled weekend for us! As for the French Open the Americans are dropping like flies as my mom would say!  An American lost tonight to a French player in a 5 set tie breaker.  The match went for more than 5 hours total.  Yikes! Needless to say I didn't watch all 5 hours of the coverage. I do have a life and I do have traffic woes to get frustrated with. ;) 

Long Weekend and French Toast

It was nice having a long weekend.  I think I powered through the weekend so much that by the time Tuesday rolled around I was feeling sleep deprived.  We had a big get-together on Sunday that went on for the biggest percentage of the day and night.  Lots of fun!  The Xbox Kinect especially added to the fun!  Despite that it allows 4 players at a time we invented a team system so we could have all guests that were there playing. 

I made a new dessert for the get-together.  So simple only 4 total ingredients.  Some time soon I may have to post that dessert recipe!  One of the kids that came over was allergic to nuts, I'm thankful both desserts we had available did not have nuts of any kind.  I think that's the first person I've actually known with a nut allergy.   

On Monday I looked forward to getting up leasurely and making a more involved breakfast.  As I don't normally take much time for breakfast.  I completely planned on pancakes served with turkey bacon but at the last second I thought I'd try my hand at French toast.  I'm not sure why but I'm not great at French toast.  Sounds simple enough yes, but my problem is I read to many recipes that are drawn out and very involved.  And quite frankly they don't enhance the French toast a bit.  This time I decided to not use a recipe just do my own thing...viola...it was a success.  Though I've gotten somewhat used to the wheat bread being used with French toast I think deep down I'll always prefer white bread for French toast. This was the first time the wheat bread French toast actually tasted good to me, not just decent but good.  Oh wait a minute maybe it's not the first time.  It's the second time!  Last year during the French Open I made peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast for the two of us.  It was more like lunch time when we ate it, which didn't bother us a bit.  We enjoyed French toast while watching the French Open coverage.  We called it "breakfast at the Open".  Obviously it was the French Open so I had to make French toast.  That stuffed French toast did turn out pretty well.  And my boyfriend gave me a high score on presentation!  LOL!  As I did my best to garnish just as a restaurant would! I've got a little something up my sleeve this year for our "breakfast at the Open" either this Sunday after church or the following Sunday.

Invitations and the Secret is Out!

By now my secret is out!  Cat's out of the bag, as my mom would say!  I knew I wanted to give my mom a 60th birthday bash for many months now, and I mean many months.  Back in February I started to formulate my plan.  I'm a bit of a planner! By the time March rolled around things were very much up and going with the party planning!

Keeping this quiet has not been easy!  I have almost tripped up on several occasions when chatting with my mom.  When my boyfriend talked to my mom during Mother's day I must admit I was a nervous Nelly, as I anxiously hoped he would not trip up and say something like "see you in a few weeks!".  Just last week before she knew of the party I almost asked her if she would make us sloppy joes when we come to town, I quickly bit my tongue to continue keeping the secret.  Since I'm planning all this from another state, which is a bit of an extra challenge, I knew there was no way I wanted to attempt pulling off a surprise party.  Instead, I had the idea to simply send her an invitation to her own birthday party to inform her of my plans for her bday.  I thought it would be a pleasant surprise and a somewhat creative way to tell her. The good news is...she's already RSVPed! LOL!

I still have a lot to do for the party.  A good percentage of it is planned but many more details are left to do.  So I will be increasingly busy in the coming weeks.  It'll all be worth it.  I'm super excited to give my mom this party. I think I'm getting more excited by the week.  She deserves a big bash to celebrate number 60! 

The Switch!

I have counted the months, the weeks, the days until I could switch cable/phone/internet providers.  Finally today was the day.  I am now an AT&T U-Verve customer.  I don't have anything good to say about my previous company, Time Warner.  I was locked into a 2 year agreement with Time Warner so it's been a long wait.

With my previous services I had the HD package I was paying for each month however, I wasn't using it because I didn't like the way it made the TV appear when I was on HD channels.  Well, get this, AT&T told me this morning Time Warner didn't finish connecting it so the HD channels were useless.  Can you believe it?  I actually tried a long time ago to have Time Warner take the HD package off my service plan but they wouldn't because I was locked into a 2 year agreement.  I checked this time with AT&T concerning the useage of HD channels. If I find I'm not using them I will have it discontinued this time around. I have a 1 year agreement this time with AT&T which I already checked on the fee to break if I'm not satisfied. 

Here's the best news of all with this switch...I now have NFL Network!!!  Yippeeee!  I can't tell you how excited that makes me.  It's not even football season and I'm excited.  Oh and get this....prepare yourselves!  I have FSN Arizona as an add-on channel!  Sweet!  I'll get ASU games and Suns games.  Whatever is being shown on FSN Arizona in your living rooms will also be the same thing shown in my living room in big D!  Man, that's awesome!  After hearing this news my little Sun Devil (aka Simon) dug out his ASU shirt and uttered the words, "Go Devils!".  The last and final exciting part of the switch is that I got wi-fi!!! Woo-hoo!  Up until now I've had a modem which was okay but once I got a nook it wasn't the best thing any longer. There's wi-fi in my complex so I have been able to get a weak signal to use the nook.  Having my own wi-fi will be great though.

So even with my little add-ons I'm actually going to pay less than I was with Time Warner.  I'm thinking it's a pretty decent deal at this point.  I just hope I like the services better.  I only have two choices: Time Warner or AT&T.  Hopefully, AT&T will be satisfactory because I'm out of choices.  This will be the first time too that I've had a receiver box in the bedroom.  In the past I've just had basic cable from the wall in the bedroom. It will be nice to be able to have all channels available to me even no matter which TV I'm watching in my house.  While I'm folding clothes or putting on my make-up I'll be able to still watch Tennis channel in my room.  I can guarantee that will happen in this house during next week since the French Open starts Sunday.  Soon both TV's are going to be stuck on the Tennis Channel. 

Now here's something I learned today concerning the NFL network.  Why do some cable coompanies have it and some don't?  I finally got a real explanation today.  Directv is owned by AT&T.  When Directv started they wanted a few channels that could be exclusively "theirs".  Channels that would be appealing to help lure new customers.  One of those "appealing" channels is NFL Network.  Directv and the NFL made an exclusive agreement with one another.  Since AT&T and Directv are in partnership, Directv allows AT&T to offer NFL Network to their cable customers.  But they do not allow any other cable competitors in the area the right.  Now if you happen to live in a place that doesn't have AT&T cable then it's possible to find at least one cable provider that has the right to the NFL Network.  For example in Phx there's no AT&T cable so Cox cable has the right to broadcast NFL Network.  Should AT&T decide to come to Phx most likely Cox will lose their right to the NFL Network and Cox cable subscribers will be shaking their fists in the air at the blackened screen when they turn on the NFL Network. I know that frustration!

I'm glad to finally get a real answer concerning why some cable providers have the NFL Network and some don't.  Best new thing I learned all day! As of right now I'm pleased, hopefully it stays like that!  Like I said, I'm out of choices!

Week in Review

The week in review.  Well, lets see what has been going on?  My boyfriend's dad had surgery earlier this week.  He's doing well!  Full recovery is supposed to be around 3 to 4 weeks but he already says he's feeling much better.

We went to see the new movie Avengers in 3D shown on the Imax screen.  It was awesome!  One of my friend's plans on seeing it this weekend so I already gave her a great report on the movie.  Good actors were in it!  That seems to matter to me more and more.  I used to be able to watch just any movie not caring who was in it. Now though I'm a bit leary when they show all these great scenes in a preview and then not a single known actor is in the film.  It makes me wonder!  Yes, I think about things too much!  Anyway, the Avengers is definitely worth seeing.  And that's coming from a girl that knows little to nothing about comic books. 

Tonight is taco night.  This former AZ girl needs some Mexican food.  I'm making chicken tacos.  My chicken tacos were a total experiment one night and we both loved them. Now they're an interesting option when I want to spice things up a bit.  I'm planning on making some guacamole too!  Which I'm truly looking forward to!  Since the Byron Nelson PGA tourney is going on in the area we thought we would have our own golf challenge.  So tonight we will have an 18 hole Xbox Kinect golf challenge.  I hope the computer doesn't dress me in something ridiculous.  The outfits can be a bit laughable at times on the Kinect.  Oh get this, so I mentioned that my bowling game has gone far south.  Not sure what is up with me but my bowling game is suffering.  Last time we played however, I did better.  I'm still not completely back to where I was but it's better.  Well, during the game I had a few issues and once again my bowling ball went flying into the audience.  After the flying bowling ball incident each time my character stepped up to bowl the audience put on football helmets.  LOL!  It was and still is funny to me!  Watch out I'm a danger when it comes to Kinect bowling!!!

Chirpy!

I have a bird problem!  It's a unique bird problem!  There's a bird that has taken up residency in a tree in front of my apartment.  I have appropriately nicknamed him Chirpy!  

Chirpy comes alive at night.  I never hear him during the day because he's likely catching some zzz's somewhere.  He sings and/or chirps all night long.  It can be 2 in the morning and Chirpy is still chirping away.

A few nights ago I went thru my entire apartment trying each room to see if I could avoid hearing him.  It was no use!  Last week I was completely exhausted by the time the end of the week came because I couldn't get any sleep at night.  This week has been better, he's still chirping away but I think I'm starting to get used to it somewhat.  Soon I might have to bunk with the boys in the hallway, which is likely the quietest section of our house when trying to avoid the sounds of Chirpy.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to all that are mom's!  I'm a mommie to only Cody and Simon so I'm not exactly in the same league as others.  Nonetheless, I'm still very content being a pug mommie. Last night I jokingly predicted to my boyfriend that one of the pugs if not both of the pugs would would have some sort of mess for me to clean up....it's their way of thanking me for being their dedicated mommie! :)  Well the day no more than started and I had to clean up a mess.  It was at least a minor mess as I'm pretty darn quick to react when one of the pugs gives off a warning that he's about to get sick!

I want to of course say Happy Mother's day to my own mom!  Hopefully she's having a good day!  I didn't actually ask what she was planning on doing for the day.  However, I assume she went out to eat with members of her family in celebration of today. 

I have to say I am very excited for her to open her gift!  I know she received it on Friday but was waiting to unwrap it today.  I was telling my boyfriend I wish there was a hidden camera or something like that to catch her expression when she opens her gift.  I had the idea for her gift for quite some time.  It's actually been somewhat on display in my own home until time to ship to Phx.  I know she will love it and I can hardly wait to hear of her reaction!!!!!!


Once again, Happy Mother's day to all that are mom's!   

AZ Foods!

So I was out shopping for groceries recently.  When I decided to get some oranges a thought crossed my mind.  That thought was, 'what AZ foods do I miss?'....the answer list is short!

First lets cover foods that used to be free to me.  It's a short list too.  Pecans and oranges.  I rarely have to buy pecans because my mom sends me some from her backyard pecan tree.  As for oranges, well I've become an expert on buying oranges.  Never buy any from out of the country.  Australia has some of the worst oranges I've ever tasted.  Yuk!!!!  I prefer oranges from the West coast!  Florida's oranges are okay but just okay!  I wouldn't rate them much higher than so-so.  It's the flavor and taste you grow up with.  I'm sure Florida oranges would taste better to me if I had grown up from there. 

The food I miss the most?  Cheese crisps!  Texas has no clue what a cheese crisp is.  They aren't offered here at all!  The only substitute would be a quesadilla but then that's something completely different in my opinion.  Cheese crisps are definitely the most missed food for me.  Another food that is only found in AZ are the rolled tacos at Filiberto's.  Those are good!  Every once in awhile I think about the Filiberto rolled tacos, it is a rarity though for me to think about them. Three rolled tacos covered in cheese, guac, and sour cream.  And when I say "covered" I mean COVERED.  Good luck finding the rolled tacos they pile on so much guac, cheese, and sour cream usually. Now however, when I do think about the rolled tacos a thought of what my boyfriend's reaction would be if I ever took him to Filiberto's enters my mind.  It makes me laugh just thinking about it.  LOL!  Back when I lived in Phx the Filiberto's I used to frequent was located in a rather rundown area(aren't all Filiberto's located in rundown areas though?), it had a gay bar next to it and lets just say "English speakers" stood out.  Yep, that type of scene is definitely not TX! Off the top of my head, Filiberto's and Honey Bear's are the two restaurants that would have my boyfriend wondering if we were still in America or did we cross a border! 

At the end of the day, I am perfectly content living without cheese crisps and rolled tacos.  I'm also just fine with buying oranges and having my mom send me pecans.  I'll gladly trade those things for the awesome barbeque TX has to offer.  Barbecue ribs, queso fries, and the best burgers I've ever had are all right here!   Not to mention the authentic Tex-Mex style of Mexican food is quite yummy too!        

The Weekend

I have failed to mention this up until now. Here it is...this past Friday the 4th, Cody, Simon, and myself marked the occasion of our 3 year anniversary in TX.  Yep, it's been 3 years since the boys were taken against their will from the Valley of the Sun.  Alright, so it wasn't exactly against their will.  They saw me packing days in advance and once the car was loaded their minds were completely focused on going too.  I didn't have to convince them!  Wherever their mommie goes, I believe they are happy to go! 

Alright so my horse yesterday didn't win.  He was one of the better odds but yet finished 15th.  Geez!  However, I happened to look up a few horses and my boyfriend ended up putting our bets on a couple of the horses I did research on.  So we didn't win on my main pick but we won on another horse.  Bodemeister got 2nd therefore we won a little.  I don't think we'll quite break even though compared to what we spent but it was still fun to watch to see what happened.

The Mavs season was over as of last night.  It wasn't easy to watch!  We actually decided we could only stomach the 2nd half so we took a Blockbuster and take-out run while the 1st half was going.  In a weird way I'm kind of relieved.  Now they have lots of time to rest. Plus plenty of time for executives to work on next year's team.  I think next year's team will be much more focused and ready to play than this year's team.  I believe Cuban will work on getting players that can build a good chemistry together.  Chemistry was the absent ingredient this year! 

After church today our plan turned to relaxation.  We were both very busy last week.  The movie we got last night wasn't watched yet, we decided to play games last night after Mavs game. Let me tell you I used to be excellent at Xbox Kinect bowling.  Lately however, I'm horrifying to watch.  I've had issue after issue.  During one game recently my ball flew out of my hand and into the audience.  Then on last night's game I put a hole in the bowling lane floor. That poor video game doesn't know what kind of a terror I am when I step up to play!  Man!  So tonight will be our Blockbuster movie night.  It'll be nice to kick back for a quiet evening.  

Kentucky Derby Betting and NBA Playoffs!

I've never bet on the Kentucky Derby.  I actually didn't even know you could bet on the Derby if you weren't in Kentucky or Vegas.  This year though I have $20 on Gemologist!  They're taking bets at the racetrack in Dallas and a friend of my boyfriend's is putting our bets in for us.  It should be interesting!  I'm willing to gamble $20 on the Derby.

I watch the Derby most years but I'll admit I'm not an avid horse racing fan.  Once again, I fear for the horses!  I sit there nervous that one will get hurt and have to be put down right there on the track.  Some years back while watching the Derby I saw that happen.  I was sad for the rest of the day! 

So today I will watch the Derby with nervousness yet I'll have a horse to cheer for!  Another thing I'll be watching with nervousness is the Mavs game.  Geez, it's so frustrating!  I think the Mavs could possibly be done tonight!  They could go from winning the Championship last year to being swept in the first round this year.  I know everyone thinks their team is unfairly picked on by the refs but in the case of the Mavs it's really true!  The refs have made some terrible calls against them.  Really quite incredible!  Not only that but they've had bad luck this year. They've lost numerous games in the last seconds when the other team makes a lucky shot or the Mavs fail to make a lucky shot.  The intensity to win is not there for the Mavs this year.  Different team that's struggled with a lack of chemistry all year long.  Well, at least we have last year's awesome playoff championship still rather fresh in our minds.  That'll help us cope!

I must admit though something is missing from the playoffs this year for me.  I'm just not that into watching basketball.  I've watched the Mavs this season and caught some of the Suns games.  Now that it's playoff time, for some reason I'm not fired up for it.  Too much Miami!  Miami has an easy road!  Knicks are banged up! The Magic don't have Howard!  Chicago lost Derek Rose in the last minute of playoff game 1.  So please tell me who's going to challenge Miami?  They're going to walk to the Finals with little to no trouble!  And it's annoying as heck to me!  I fear the Heat will hoist the trophy up over their stupid overly arrogant heads when it's all said and done in mid-June!  GGGRRRRRR!

Random Story Time!

I've had to drive through downtown Dallas a few times this week.  So it's official....I'm ready for my Nascar tryout. Seriously, I've gotten some good practice in this week.  Best of all, no one flipped me off in all my trips through that portion of the city!  I don't think I ever mentioned this on my blog but the last time I got flipped off was back on Valentine's day.  Oh this is a good story!  So there I am sitting in the left turn lane waiting at the light.  When a 4 door sedan comes up beside me and completely crowds into my lane nearly taking my front bumper with her.  I gave a slight honk mainly because it freaked me out that she cut it so close.  She instantly raised her hand up and gave me the finger.  But here's the real kicker with this story....in the back window of her vehicle was a sticker that read "drive safe, baby on board".  As we continued to sit at the light I couldn't help but notice the small child in the backseat which the lady turned around to assist at one point.  As soon as we turned she was gone.  I mean GONE!  Like she was shot out of a cannon!  Breaking speed limits right and left!

Here's another random story.  The other day my boyfriend found a tooth in his apartment.  It was obvious to both of us the tooth was not a feline one it was a canine.  Now it's not the entire tooth but a large portion of the tooth for sure.  Now I was incapable of just casually throwing this tooth away I had to investigate! Well there's two pugs so I set out to find out which one broke a tooth.  I instantly thought Cody.  So he was first up to be checked.  There I am poking around in his mouth.  He was completely calm.  His attitude about it was, "alright...whatever...go ahead, if you must".  Next up, Simon!  You've heard of a drama queen, well he was a little drama king!  First he acted like he was gagging.  I know I wasn't really casuing him to gag.  Then he made a few choking noises.  The whole time he was swinging his little head back and forth so much I really couldn't do much of anything. Next thing up with his routine was to give me a panicked look.  It's kind of a tie as to which pug has the more desperate panicked look!  Most of the time I would say it's Cody but this particular time Simon had quite the panick on his face. During this entire mess I was somehow able to determine it was Simon that broke a portion of his tooth.  It's still a bit baffling to me that he made such a fuss and Cody didn't.  Cody is normally more dramatic.  Then again, the mouth and the teeth are directly related to the consumption of food which is Simon's #1 priority.  So perhaps it makes sense he was freaking out when I was attempting to poke around in his mouth.  What a little drama king!

Update on Cody

Cody's injured leg seems to be doing better.  He actually jumped up on the ottoman to catch some zzz's today.  Something I haven't seen him do in awhile.  I haven't given him any pain meds for the last couple of days.  I decided to try to see how he does with less pain meds, so far so good.  He's still on a vitamin that's supposed to help his muscles not be worn down from the sprain. 

I kind of think when his sprain is "healed", arthritis will begin to set into that leg.  I'm thinking from time to time he'll likely walk with a slight limp. Probably just a little limp when he first gets up. 

It's only been a little more than a week so I'm very pleased with his improvement at this point.  We'll see how he is by the end of the month.  In late May I'll take him to the vet to be checked again.