Cops on Christmas Eve

Ryan and I have a new tradition of me going to work on Christmas Eve or as close to it as possible. It's a wonderful reminder for me to see what he does at work and also how busy he really gets.

One of my favorite blogs to read is LAPD Wife. It's about an officer's wife, Renee, and her husband Officer Jake and their life together. They are from LA and it's a wonderful blog to read. I've been following it since Ryan started the academy. There's a wonderful article that an unknown author sent Renee that she's posted that is a must read. Here it is. Let me know what you think about it.

Try again later.

When we were younger, mom and dad bought me and my sisters a really cool game called Mall Madness.  It was a shopping game where you'd travel around a board game to get to different stores and buy stuff.  It even talked and would tell you if your purchase went through.  If it didn't go through, the voice would say in a very funny tone "Try again later."  I'm suddenly reminded of that game this afternoon at work when our web server decide to crash.  Here's what displays when you would try to login to myWSU: 

Breakfast

Ryan has been working very hard over the past few days to finish tiling our kitchen.  His dad and step-brother Zach have both been a wonderful help.  Currently we have all the tile down in the kitchen and one half is still setting up.  This week will start the tedious task of grouting and scrubbing the floors.  Right now our stove, refrigerator, table and chairs are all camping out in the living room.  

Here's a picture of Fez begging for a bite of my banana on our beautiful tile floor.  He never lets Ryan or me alone when he knows we're eating one!

Lunch!

Today I had take out from Novelle Cafe.  Humus!  How wonderfully delicious.  They make humus just a yummy as Bella Luna.  Mmmmm!

I missed October?!?

So I took a small hiatus from blogging for the month of October.  New Year's resolution to start early: more blogs.  Here's what I didn't post about that happened in October:

Halloween!

Ryan got creative this year with the spooky town village that we have.  Michaels has Lemax Spooky Town buildings, figurines and accessories that we usually buy a few buildings and people every year.  It's growing so big that I think we have to have at least 2 if not 3 of the largest tuffy totes that you can buy.  (In all fairness, we keep the original packing so nothing gets broken.)  

This year my crafty husband went all out.  He bought the fake grass turf stuff that people use for train sets and glued that to ply wood.  He drilled holes through the ply wood so the cords for the larger buildings wouldn't show.  Then he stapled brown fabric around the ply wood to make a table skirt so the cords and stuff wouldn't show.  We had so many buildings and things this year that we had to have two locations!  There was a smaller set downstairs on the air hockey table.  Ryan covered it with brown fabric to make fake ground.  The larger set with the train landscape was upstairs next to the railing on two saw horses.  The kitties appreciated this location - Amy hid under the skirt almost the entire month of October and Fex kept walking all over the spooky town.  I guess he thought he would be the giant black cat that would rule over the town.

Kidney Stones!

Poor Ryan now knows what it's like to give birth.  He was working one of his part-time jobs when he felt like someone stabbed him in the side.  He drove over to the Wesley ER and I met him over there.  They scanned him, told him it was kidney stones and gave him some morphine to help with the pain.  I took him home to rest and sleep.  He couldn't eat anything for over  24 hours.  The morphine made him sick to his stomach.  Two days later he passed the stone: 3mm x 3mm x 2mm.  We took it in to the doctor.  It's a calcium stone which means he should lay off the protein shakes.

Scrapbooking

I'm actually getting somewhere with my honeymoon scrapbook.  I dragged Ryan into Scrapbook Garden one day to get some page refills for my book.  He notices these cute little clear pouches that you can put on a page and it can hold something.  We bought a few packages and I have used them so far to hold a map of Martinique and some Euros (both paper and coin currency).

Construction

Almost all the electrical is done in the basement.  All the walls are up where they should be and there's a few pieces of sheetrock hung so it looks like I have a hallway.  Our next home improvement project is to do the tile in the kitchen and then the carpet in the upstairs.

Meow-meow

6:00 a.m.

Me: Good morning Fez, do you want me to pet you already?

Fez: Meow. (No. I need to show you something.)

6:45 a.m. - done with shower, cooking breakfast

Me: What Fez? I've already petted you. (pet, pet, pet)

Fez: Meow-meow.  (Dumb ass, I'm trying to tell you something!)

7:25 a.m. - putting on my shoes, getting ready to look walk out the door

Me: (looking to the right at the monstrous pile of kitty barf by the front window) Shit. You've got to be kidding me.

Fez: Meow, meow, meow!  (Told you so.  Idiot.)

Adventures in Sushi: Part 2

Ryan and I made sushi last week and I now have even greater respect for the sushi masters.   

Here's our attempt at Spicy Tuna and California rolls.

The sushi wasn't bad.  The California roll was pretty darn close to what they actually taste like (crab sticks, avocado, cucumber, mayo).  The Spicy Tuna was close in look and content.  The spicy mayo that we picked up didn't have quite the taste that the professionals have, so that didn't impress us too much.

Overall I'd have to say that this was a good experience.  We started at 6:30 and we started eating at 8:00! That's too much time for me to wait to eat sushi.  The rice was very sticky and the nori (seaweed) was a little difficult to cut through without mutilating the sushi roll.  If I want sushi again, I'll just order take out!

I have walls!

Ryan's been working non-stop on finishing our basement.  His dad also comes over to help frequently.  Their work has resulted in the framework and electrical work on a bedroom, bathroom with linnen closet, hallway, laundry room and a hall closet.  

The latest addition they have made is to install an outlet on top of our closet in the living room.  Ryan hooked up a time and a rope light and presto we have a really awesome night light.  I'll post a picture here tonight (after the light turns on!)

Adventures in Sushi: Part 1

Due to the unfortunate sushi coux at our favorite sushi restaurant, I have decided to do something possibly messy and stupid. I have decided to try and make my own sushi.

I have most of the materials: nori (seaweed), sushi rice, crab sticks (fake + real crab ... kind of like hot dogs, I don't care what's in them, they just taste good), avocado and tuna.  I think Ryan and I will make out first attempt tonight. You'll hear more about it later!

Picnic in the Park

I decided that instead of working on the house or running errands that Ryan and I should take a day off and go to Sedgwick County Park for picnic. It was one year ago on Friday (August, 31st) that Ryan proposed to me on a beautiful beach in Grand Cayman and I was feeling a little sentimental. I packed a wonderful lunch including fresh chicken sandwiches, deviled eggs, noodle salad, tomatoes and his favorite pink lemonade. We set out for the park with our picnic basket and blanket in tow and found a fairly secluded corner of the park. The weather was perfect and the geese weren't too loud or annoying. It amazes me that we didn't think of having picnics in the park earlier. It's a good thing that it won't get that cold very soon. I can see more picnics in the future!

Sushi Evolution

Ryan introduced me to sushi when we first started dating. Our favorite place to get sushi was Sumo's. Back in the day before they moved to 13th and Greenwich this place was like Cheers for us. We know the owners, so everytime we came in we were greeted by name and they would come over and chat with us.

So when Ryan and I moved from the east side of town to the west side of town we were pushed farther away from our favorite sushi restaurant. We would occasionally go to Sumos, but it was always planned and never a spur of the moment decision. It was our delightful surprise later to discover Tokyo Steakhouse had expanded to include a brand new sushi bar which helped with our sushi cravings. The food was just as good as Sumo's but quite a bit cheaper.

Well, change is never easy. Imagine our surprised when we tried to go eat sushi on Monday and the sushi bar was closed. We tried again Tuesday night and they were back in business but with one very surprising change. According to the hostess, the assistant manager, the head sushi chef, along with his other sushi workers all walked off the job over the weekend! At least the new replacements made good sushi.

It's the simple things in life ...

Yippie! Today I traded in my 3 year old faithful, but battery-sucking phone for a classy new Sanyo Katana. Think a Motorola Razr but Sanyo makes it. Oh how wonderful it is to have a new phone! I just love how you first get it and it's all fresh and new. You get to change all the settings and get new ringers to identify your friends and family. Yes, it may be slightly geeky, but it's so pretty and shiny!

What a way to start the weekend!

I went out of town last weekend with my parents to go to Arkansas to visit our family on Bull Shoals lake. I took off Friday from work so we could get out of town earlier. So what did the powers that be decide would the best way for me to spend the weekend? Twisting my ankle Friday morning on the way out of town! What a bummer. Good thing is that it didn't break and after a few days on crutches I'm almost like new!

Quit it babe!

We had Ryan's brother Kiel over tonight for dinner and a few rounds of Wii Sports. The boys were setting up the game - Ryan is always player #1. When Kiel was trying to pick his character, Ryan chirps out "Babe, hurry up!" Kiel turns to him and says "Babe?!" How funny.

Living Room

How does this furniture arrangement look?

Tastes like kiwi!

I was able to find my dragon fruit this weekend at the Thai Bihn Supermarket.  It's a very strange and interesting fruit.  It was very easy to cut - a knife will slide right through the flesh like a knife through water.  The fruit tastes very mild and refreshing.  The seeds pop in your mouth!  This fruit is very similar to kiwi, but not as tangy.  It's also not quite as sweet as watermelon.  I'm going to try making dragon sorbet next!

Dragon Hunting!

I was watching some cooking show on TV the other day and they were discussing different types of fruit in energy drinks. There's this fruit called a dragon fruit that has become increasingly popular. I haven't tried any of the energy drinks, but there's a very yummy kind of gum that contains dragon fruit flavoring.

I've decided to go hunting for dragon fruit this weekend. I've read from the web that the fruit can be found at Whole Food stores or at Vietnamese supermarkets. If I'm successful, I'm going to try my hand at making dragon sorbet, dragon jam and dragontinis!

Star Gazing

Ryan and I brought our telescope out last night in the backyard. We live just on the edge of town, so we get away from much of the city lights.

The telescope we have is pretty awesome too. It has a remote control that you can select what you want to look at and the telescope will automatically move and locate it. A few of the highlights from last night's viewing included Jupiter and six moons, Andromeda Galaxy, Vega and a few other stars and galaxies.

We can't wait until later in the month for a meteor shower (August 12) and a lunar eclipse (August 26)!

Good Genes

I received this picture from my mom of when she was younger (not sure how old she was).  

What a cutie!  

I can see where some of my features come from. Especially the freckles!

Strange Plants

We went to Lowes this weekend and found this odd looking plant on the shelf.  We couldn't help but buy it.  It's a pineapple plant.  The pineapple looking part really does smell like a ripe pineapple.  This plant is going some place where the kitties can't reach it since there's a nice warning that the fruit isn't edible.

We also purchased a pony tail palm tree on our trip.  In addition to our strange new plants, we have hostas planted in the front yard with towering 5 foot flower blooms!  I called these "alien cabbage" before we learned what they were.

The bar is done!

Our bar is finished! The tile just got installed this weekend and it looks marvelous. The grout was still drying when I posted this picture, so I'll post another soon. Our bar has racks for wine glasses, wine bottles and we even have beer on tap!

Tech Call

I work in the technology field, so it irritates the crap out of me when I have to make a call to the Help Desk to get help. Here's an exert from my most recent call:

After being on hold for 20 minutes, someone finally picks up the call ...

Me: Hello? My computer takes too long to turn on.
Tech guy: How long does it take?
Me: About two or three minutes. That's not really normal is it?
Tech guy: Well, lets try some stuff.
(30 minutes later)
Tech guy: So, your Anti-virus software is causing the problem. My suggestion is to turn it off and only start the Anti-virus when you connect to the internet.
Me: Well, I have cable, so my internet is always on.
Tech guy: Oh! Then I strongly suggest that you turn on the Anti-virus now!
Me: Ok. Thanks for that hour of my life I just wasted.

And then there were two

My younger sister, Amanda, (left) is the first to spread her wings and leave the proverbial nest. She recently got a job in Arkansas at a local paper. She stayed in town long enough to help with my reception (which I greatly appreciated).

I went over to my older sister Lori's house (right in the picture) last night for puppy playdate (we're babysitting my father-in-law's dog for a while). As we were talking on the phone I thought, "Hey, why don't we invite Amanda to come over too?" Oops. Miss you Mandy Pandy.

Reception

Ryan and I celebrated our wedding with a reception in July. We had dinner, cake, dancing and poker.

The highlight of the evening was when my teenage cousin came trotting in to the reception hall. He and my newphew were screwing around outside and my cousing got sprayed by a skunk! After being stripped down to his boxers on the dance floor he got sprayed down with Febreeze by the bartender. Not everyone can say they had an underage stripper at their wedding!

ATV's can't fly!

We had an exciting day last Wednesday. Ryan was assigned to do a week of volunteer security work in Greensburg, Kansas. (On May 4th, an F-5 tornado leveled 95% of the town.) FEMA had ATVs that they let the volunteers use to patrol the grounds as it provided greater access to some areas in town.

Ryan was driving his ATV, hit something on the ground and flew off the ATV. Luckily he has great instincts to tuck and roll, but he got knocked out (for about a minute or two) and banged up quited a bit. When he came to, he couldn't remember his address, where he was or that we were married! The entire month of May was wiped out of his memory.

I drove to Greensburg to pick him up and ended up taking him to the ER in town. The trip back to town (2 hours) was spent repeatedly reminding him what happened, where he was, why he was down there. Poor thing! It reminded me of Ten Second Tom from "Fifty First Dates." 12 hours after his accident, his memory fully returned. A few bruises and scrapes, but thank goodness no serious injuries or after effects.

We're married!

Ryan and I were married May 2, 2007 on a beach in beautiful St. Lucia. We couldn't have picked a better place! What a way to start our new life together.