Marley the "Marvelous"

Marley is a dern cute puppy - that much is certain. His puppy eyes will melt your heart every time! He is still bounding with energy and runs everywhere he goes... However, he is not a brave dog. He gets scared more than any canine I've ever met. Here are a few examples:

--He is terrified of the grill unless it's pushed up next to the house. When it's against the house, he delights in peeing on the wheels. However when D.J. pulls it into the yard so he can actually use it, Marley's tail goes between his legs and he refuses to go near the back door for several hours. It's flat out ridiculous!
--The other day, there was a flock of birds in the yard when we opened the door. Being the excellent bird hunters that our dogs actually are the leapt from the porch barking their greetings to the startled flock. Marley slipped on the grass and slid on his side. Granted, he took quite the spill and I'm sure it startled him at the moment. But the dog refused to go outside for two days. We literally had to catch him and carry him out the door. Once on the grass he usually did his business immediately and then bolted for the door. Nut case!
--Just as he was recovering from his fear of tumbling, I got the brilliant idea that I would scare the birds from our yard so they wouldn't come back. I banged a cookie sheet until they had all flown away and, in the process, instilled a solid fear of cookie sheets in my dog. Every time I pull one out to cook with, he goes running. Like I said, ridiculous!
--When we visit my parent's house (and occassionally at our house) he is terrified of the grass. He huddles on the corner of the patio and refuses to touch the vile green things! When we carry him into the middle of the yard he usually bolts for the concrete. Now tell me, why would a dog be scared of grass?!?!
--Last week we were taking a walk around the neighborhood like we usually do. Marley was looking at some children playing in a yard, and when he turned around there was a bicycle laying on the sidewalk a few feet from him. He jumped and refused to pass the bike. Again, we had to carry him. About this time, we were thankful we'd gotten a Maltipoo and not a Lab or a Golden Retriever.
--This weekend, we were watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" and there were several clips of dogs and cats chasing remote control cars. So D.J. got out all of his cars and began chasing Marley around the house with them. Marley was terrified of either the noise or the unidentified object coming at him full speed. I seriously thought he was going to wet himself! When the biggest car didn't move well on the carpet, we took it outside and he chased Marley down the street with it. Marley eventually got wise and hid in the grass. Crazy, I tell you! Flat out crazy!
--Last night, we were watching "The Wizard of Oz" on TV and he was terrified of the Munchkins - especially when they laughed. He kept climbing up me and eventually landed on my shoulders as he scrambled for my head. I couldn't stop laughing long enough to comfort him or turn the sound off. Crazy nut case of a dog!

As you can tell, life is not normal here in the Hammond House. We love Marley, and he provides plenty of good laughs, but he is one nutty dog!

Oh, and happy 3rd month-a-versary sweetheart!

Short and sweet...

I just wanted to let the world know how much I love my little sister! She stepped out of her comfort zone, stood up for her beliefs, stood strong when her heart was broken, and never stepped off the high road. (Goodness Meg-a-boo! You did lots of walking!) I am so proud of her and what she's done! My heart bursts at the thought of it all! Meg-a-boo - know that you made a difference. Know that you did the right thing. Know more than anything that you did not fail - you succeed with flying colors! I'm proud of you little sis! You are, by far, one of the coolest chickies I've ever known!!! Love you!

Fall weather and random thoughts...

When we let the dogs out this morning it was a beautiful 54 degrees outside! We actually had to turn on the heat to knock the chill out of the air. The first run of the heater is always accompanied by a lovely smell that fills your nostrils with its beautiful uniqueness. Something about it is so exciting because you know you've actually survived the worst that the TX heat is going to doll out for the year... However, this year I find my nose completely plugged up thanks to a cold my husband was kind enough to bring home from school and share with me. He got to enjoy the lovely aroma while I sniffed and snorted my way through the morning. Oh well! There's always next year! (Or even the random cold front in the spring...)
I love the dishwasher simply because it's use of bleachy soap and heat makes me feel like every germ in there is obliterated. I tend to stick everything in there just to make sure it's clean. Since D.J. and I have both been fighting the aforementioned colds, I stuck our indestructible Nalgene water bottles in there over the weekend. A bit later, we began to smell an odd smell that was quickly filling the house. We traced it to the kitchen and then to the dishwasher. We opened it mid-drying cycle only to discover that the lids on both bottles had fallen through the grate and landed on the heating elements. Sadly, little remains of them. On Monday, I opened the dishwasher to find one of the lids from our cheap Glad "Tupperware" had melted from the heat. It was on the top rack, so I'm still not sure how it happened. I just know it no longer fits on the Glad ware it's supposed to tightly seal. Yesterday, I put my pink "Creative Cottage" water bottle in the dishwasher along with all of the Gatorade bottles from the tennis team. I opened the dishwasher a few hours later to find that my wonderful pink bottle had melted and was now "ergonomically designed" and fit the curves of my hand perfectly! Maybe the dishwasher is smarter than I think!!
Yesterday as I was getting ready to go on a walk, the dogs followed me around looking very excited. Cua (the older, grumpy dog) had visited the vet earlier that day for booster shots and hadn't been feeling well so I was excited to see some life in her. Marley (the hyper-active puppy) hadn't played much during the day because his best friend (Cua) had been sleeping. I felt sorry for them and so I took them along. What an adventure it turned out to be! So I grabbed my partially melted water bottle, the iPod, put the dogs on leashes and bounded out the door. The water bottle leaked everywhere and attracted every mosquito in a four block radius. Marley pooped on the sidewalk, did a complete flip (head over heels) when he got tangled in his leash, and knocked Cua over (literally) in his excitement to run up the driveway. Cua was more sore than I thought and limped through much of the walk. She survived, though. What a trooper! (We went 1.3 miles. That's a lot of steps for two dogs that weigh less than 10 pounds each!) When D.J. got home we decided to go walking together before his mom came over to show us all of her new Mary Kay inventory. Once again, the dogs saw tennis shoes and water bottles and came unglued. I felt sorry for them and agreed to bring them along for another 1.3 miles. Marley ran the entire walk. Cua's knees were dragging the pavement. :- ) When we got home, Marley proceeded to run in circles with his toys for another thirty minutes solid. (He was still running when we went to bed at 10:00 last night!) Cua collapsed at the door and didn't move until we fed her dinner. I think she's still trying to sleep it off even now...
My best friend and I finally put the finishing touches on our points/reward system for the weight we intend to lose. D.J. says it's the beginning of a new trend in weight loss and is already thinking up book titles. He is sure that we've hit on an amazing idea that will sweep the obese nation and make everyone healthy once again!! I'm sure that by the end of the day he'll have the first chapter written. I told him to wait and see if it works for us before we start contacting publishers. :- )
Now it's time to get off my duff, finish the laundry that's been waiting all week, and get myself to the gym! Or maybe to the grocery store... We're out of almost everything and if I don't go we'll have cheese and coffee for dinner tonight! But first, BREAKFAST! That is, if we have any...

My Husband

I love that my husband always tells me "Thank You" for everything. He thanks me for making coffee in the mornings, for doing laundry, for cleaning the house, for cooking dinner each night, and for getting up when he goes to work each morning. He usually stops me in the middle of a task, looks me dead in the eye, and tells me thank you with a voice full of sincerity. I know it seems small and insignificant, but it means the world to me. I get lonely staying at home all day and it's wonderful to know how much he appreciates what I do!

Making Progress

It's been almost a week and there have been big changes around the Hammond Household! We're both determined that this is the perfect opportunity to change our lives and are both determined to loose some serious pounds. So far, we've walked for at least a mile every day (some days almost 3 miles!) and I know that I've seen a huge difference! I feel better, I'm more confident, and I finally have the desire to get moving. I haven't made it to Curve's yet, but each day I get stronger and more determined that I need to give up my pride and go. Today I promised myself that I'd get there by October 1st, but I'm wondering if I'm being too easy on myself. After all, the only thing keeping me from going is my own pride and stubborn shame. That's really lame, isn't it?
In other news, we spent all day Saturday working on the house. We cleaned and got another room clear of all boxes. We FINALLY got picture frames hung on the wall and dug all of my cross collection out of the boxes and hung them up. The difference is phenomenal. It feels a million times more homey. My sweet husband knows how much I love decorating for fall and willingly climbed into the attic to hunt down the decorations. He then climbed back up to put the mis-labeled Christmas decorations away and to stash the Thanksgiving stuff until November. What a wonderful guy! Every time I look around the living room, my heart soars knowing that this is OUR home and this is OUR new life together. We still love every second of married life and I am daily amazed at how my love for him grows. (I just typed "how my love for him growls" and had a good laugh! Oops!)
I still wrestle with missing people - especially my mom and sister! We're getting to know a few people at church but it's not the same as those friends you've walked with for several years. At least, not yet! I love my husband and I wouldn't trade him (or living in the same city as him) for the world, but I miss my family and friends...
The puppies are doing well - they love that we're walking more. Marley loves to chew on anything he can get his mouth around - the drawstring on your shorts, the chew toys, the toilet paper roll, your ears, etc. Sometimes he drives us crazy, but usually we just laugh and love him all the more. (He does better when we walk him regularly. He has way too much energy for his own good!)
67 days until Thanksgiving! Woo hoo!

Losing...

Yesterday was quite the emotional day! D.J. was at a tennis tournament until 9:40 which left me to watch the Biggest Loser Season 8 Premiere all by myself. I luckily had my mom and best friend to text with the entire time. As is my usual, I cried throughout the whole show. This particular show served as quite the wake up call. My eating habits are leading me down a path of death and destruction and I'm doing nothing to stop it. A few seasons ago, one of the doctors sat a contestant down and explained that some of the lesser known side effects of obesity are miscarriage and severe birth defects. I remember crying in horror as I realized that my children might never have the chance to live because I liked to eat hamburgers too much. I kicked into high gear and lost over 45 pounds. Then I met D.J. and my world turned into a whirlwind. I was struggling to survive a difficult school year and spent most of my free time on the phone with my boyfriend. Throughout the year, I steadily re-gained the weight. Over the summer I enjoyed getting a moment to rest from the frenzy of the last year and did nothing to curb my eating.
Last night while I was watching Biggest Loser I realized that I weighed more than 4 of the contestants. My heart broke. I was also texting my mom and whining about being a "Tennis Widow" when one of the contestants shared the story of her husband and two children being killed in a car accident. She had to fight to get up each day and was choosing to fight for life. For everyone else, they were fighting to for life and avoiding death. However she said that in her life, death was the easy choice. I felt so selfish! At least I knew my husband was coming home and would be there to hold me.
As the show progressed, my best friend and I decided to make a plan. We knew we needed to take action and change the course of our life. We need to get healthy now so we can have a healthy family in a few years. We're still trying to iron out details of our plan but it's time to take action NOW! So this morning, I walked/ran over a mile and a half. When I got home, I wrote out a million encouraging note cards and put them all over the house. So now my rooms are filled with words of encouragement and reasons to lose weight and fight this huge battle. Every moment of the day I've had to work to overcome the shame of letting myself get to where I am. But I've fought and I've fought hard! I've scrubbed both bathrooms until the sparkle and then did a rousing round of Tae Bo. This time, however, I held cans of green beans in my hands. The extra weight made me work extra hard and actually helped me feel a little more coordinated! (Sadly, I don't think using two cans of green beans to work out counts as my vegetable intake for the day.)
So now I'm exhausted but so very proud of myself for starting the road to change. I can't let this cycle continue another day. It's time to change the way I live and forever change my life. Enough is enough! I know it's going to be a long road, but I'm determined to be different forever.

Vegetables

I have never been a fan of vegetables - except for broccoli. I have learned to like a select few, but not nearly enough. (And those that I do like I usually eat drowned in butter, dressing, or cheese.) My husband shares my opinion, but is a little better about eating veggies than I am. However, because of my aversion to anything veggie related, I rarely put them on the table at dinner.
I've had the cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" (by Jerry Seinfeld's wife) for a while now but have never really looked at it. I've occassionally snuck a can of baby food into a maccaroni casserole, but I've never been serious about it. The other day, I opened the cookbook for some reason and began reading. I got very excited about the possibility of getting the healthy foods God designed for me to eat without gagging down the leafy boogers.
So last week I bought cauliflower and carrots with the determination to make healthier meals. Yesterday, I busted out the new pressure cooker and got to work. It was by far one of the messier things I've done in a while! After a lot of work (read - mess), I managed to get everything measured and bagged and into the freezer.
So for dinner last night we had spaghetti with 1/2 cup of carrots and a small container of baby food squash in the sauce. It was delicious!! We both loved it!! I was so excited to know that I'd made one of my favorite dishes just a bit healthier. I was also excited to know that I'd eaten the dreaded veggies without having to force myself to put them on my plate.
Today, I'm going to try mixing some of the cauliflower puree into the bottle of ketchup. It sounds horrible, I know. But I've been told that you can't taste it at all!! I'm a bit concerned about spoilage so I'll have to do some research. I'm also going to look into the other cookbook that was published around the same time as the one I already own. I've heard it has more recipes and more ways to get veggies into food. We'll see...

Date Night

Yesterday I called my sweet husband at work and told him that I was in desperate need of a date with him. He took my request seriously and told me to be ready to leave when he got home at 4. Words cannot express how excited I was! I was thrilled to shower, cover myself in lotion, and carefully do my hair and make up. I even had fun picking out what to wear! When D.J. got home, his jaw dropped. I was just wearing blue jeans and a cute top, but his reaction made my heart soar!
We went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and enjoyed a delicious dinner. (The manager even came to the table to ask me about my food allergies to make sure my food was safe! That never happens!) We then went to the smoke free Bowl-A-Rama in Rowlett. On the way I learned quite a few things about this man I thought I knew so well. Like the fact that he has a custom made bowling ball, was in a bowling league with his father when he was 14, and he used to be the bowling coach at his school! For those of you who don't know, I usually bowl following the rules of golf - the lowest score wins the game! I've never broken 45 - much to my father's dismay. Needless to say I was quite intimidated. I made it clear that I didn't want to be coached and that I could care less about the score.
It turned out that I had nothing to fear. Yes, D.J. beat me every time and is a really good bowler! (The lady in the lane next to us was quite jealous.) However, I am happy to report that the only strike in the first game was mine. (It was also my first strike ever!) We played five games - and only followed the rules once. We played using our non-dominant hand, we granny bowled, we switched bowling hands, and we bowled with our eyes closed. I must say that my highest score was when we bowled blindfolded! (Well, we walked up to the line and closed our eyes and let it fly down the lane.) Until the 9th frame, where I'm convinced D.J., peeked I was smoking my oh-so-talented husband!
We came home and curled up in bed with a movie - something we've never gotten to do after a date! I LOVE BEING MARRIED!!!
All in all, it was a delightful evening. It was even raining the whole time - so it was just like our honeymoon! On a random side note, it is still raning today (at 2pm) and my sweet puppy refuses to go anywhere near the door to go outside. I fear she just might burst!! Oh well, what's a girl to do?

Cooking Adventures

D.J. and I tried a new recipe last night. It did not go very well. We used garlic for the first time so I had no idea how strong or weak this recipe would be. I learned that we need to ease into the garlic thing very slowly! Other than having way too much garlic, the rest of the recipe was a complete disaster... I'm posting it here so you might find a way to redeem the leftovers! We have a ton of food in the fridge and I hate to throw that much food away. (My original hope was to freeze some of it so we'd have an easy dinner in the next few weeks...)

Frozen package of 5-cheese ravioli
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 10 3/4-oz can condensed tomato soup
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
2 c mozzarella cheese
1/2 c finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook ravioli, keep warm.
Brown meat, onion, and garlic.
Stir undrained tomatoes, tomato soup, basil, and oregano into mixture.
Gently stir in cooked ravioli.
Spreak mixture into an ungreased 9x13 dish.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes or until casserole is heated through.

Generally, our complaints were that there was too much garlic and onion, so I may use half that amount next time. (If there is a next time!) We also thought it needed more sauce. The original recipe called for a pound and a half of ground beef. D.J. loves meat and turkey is a little cheaper so I bought a pound of beef and turkey. I didn't increase the amount of tomato soup or tomatoes at all. So what would you do to redeem the leftovers? Add tomato soup? Spaghetti sauce? Marinara? We need more sauce and we need to cover the garlic taste just a bit. We're open to suggestions! What do you think???

I'm sorry...

I must confess that I was mistaken. Mom reminded me last night that she did not say I needed to spice up my blog. She said details would spice up my blog. I'm sorry for the mix-up folks! This will attempt to correct my mistake...

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark. It is often confused with other similar speceis and the similar spices derived from them, such as Cassia and Cinnamomum burmannii, which are often called cinnamon too. (Cinnamon is also my current favorite spice. I tend to crave it daily!)

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.

Parsley is a bright green biennial herb, often used as a spice. It is common in Middle Eastern, European, and American cooking. Parsley is used for its leaf in much the same way coriander, although parsley has a milder flavor.

There ar emany varieties of basil. That which is used in Italian food is typically called sweet basil, as opposed to Thai basil, lemon basil, and holy basil, which are used in Asia. While most common varieties are treated as annuals, some are perennial in warm, tropical climates, African Blue, and Holy Thai basil. Basil is originally native to Iran, India, and other tropical regions of Asia, having been cultivated for more than 5,000 years.

Is this what you're looking for Mom? Is that enough spicy details? LOVE YOU!

(Thank you Wikipedia!)

Spicing it up!

My mom thinks my blog needs a little "spicing up". Therefore, I provide you with the following:

all Spice
aniseed myrtle
avocado Leaf
basil
bay leaf
borage
black mustard
brown mustard
candle nut
chili pepper
chili powder
chipotle
chives
cilantro
cinnamon (my current favorite, by far!)
cinnamon myrtle
clove
cumin
dill seed
dill
elderflower
estragon
fennel
fenugreek
fingerroot
galangal
garlic
ginkgo nuts
golpar
grains of paradise
green tea
ground ivy
hops
hyssop
Indian bay-leaf
Inodnesian cinnamon
jasmine
juniper berry
jalepeno
lavendar
lemon basil
lemongrass
lemon myrtle
licorice
lovage
luohanguo
mace
marjoram
nasturtium
nutmeg
olida
oregano
orris root
pandan flower
paprika
parsley
pepper
peppermint
peppermint gum
pink pepper
poppy
saffflower
saffron
sage
sassafras
sesame seed
sloe berries
smoked paprika
sorrel
talinum
tamarind
Tasmanian pepper
tea
Thai basil
tumeric
vanilla
Vietnamese cinnamon
wasabi
wattercress
wattleseed
winter thyme
wormwood
yellow mustard
za'atar
zedoary

There you go Mom! Just for you! Enjoy your spicy blog!!

What a weekend!

We spent this weekend with my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday (as well as D.J.'s belated birthday) and to enjoy some much needed rest. It was a wonderful chance to get away from To Do Lists and to get a little soul-food as well. I attempted to make a cake that looked like a Bible for my dad and D.J.'s birthday. However, it broke in half, lost a corner, and looked more like a field of Easter grass. It was quite the disaster in my opinion. D.J. says it is a beautiful cake and tastes wonderful with all the extra icing used to glue it back together. Never the less, I will not be posting pictures.
Since we got engaged last December, I've been trying to grow my hair out - mainly because it gave me more options at the wedding. I finally had enough of the length, the heat, and the hassle. So this weekend I cut 3-4 inches off and added some layers, much to my husband's dismay. It is nice to have short hair again and I love how bouncy and light it is!
This weekend, we also got to visit the church I attended when I lived there. While most of my friends were out of town, it was nice to see several of them again. We had a delightful lunch afterwards and got a chance to laugh and catch up as only old friends can. (Who else can tease you about that one time you lost the egg toss with your own special flair?)
Over the past few weeks, I've noticed an alarming trend - all of my friends are having babies!! I remember when I was in college feeling like everyone was getting married except me. (One summer alone, my roommate and I received 32 invitations!) Now all of those friends that got married several years ago are having their first (or second) child. In the past week and a half, I've looked at 7 or 8 Facebook albums of new babies. I'm very excited for my friends and their spouses and know that they have been born into wonderful, loving families that will raise them in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. It makes it very difficult sometimes to wait and trust. We want to wait a while before we have children as we learn to be husband and wife and I know that's best - for us and for our future family. I just have to remember that God's plan is perfect and I have to trust Him for the details...
It's time now to shower and get some errands and laundry done. Three day relaxing weekends produce excessive amounts of dirty laundry!

Marley in the Morning

All of my life, our dogs have been somewhat mellow in the morning. Happy to see you, anxious to go outside, but willing to wake up slowly or lay around for a bit until you've rubbed those annoying sleepy crunchies out of your eyes. Cua is more than content to let us sleep in all summer and each Saturday. (She's let me sleep until 1 p.m. before! She's a good sleeper...) Each morning, she wakes up, goes outside, and curls up next to the couch. She'll wait for hours before she demands breakfast.

This is not the case with Marley. (That's an understatement!) He woke up at 1:30, 4:30, 5:30, and 6. Each time he was convinced that it was time for us all to play! At 6 when we finally rolled out of bed, he was more than happy to see us! It took several moments to get my feet on the ground because there was a little white blur jumping and yipping around me. Cua growled and snapped at his perky greeting. (She's clearly not a morning dog!) Marley insits on5r4a23sd Oh look! Marley climbed on the lap top and licked the keys... Let's try this again! :) Marley insists on greeting you face to face and eating your pants, fingers, toes, nose - whatever he can get close to. This morning he actually bit my ear! As we get up and get the day moving along, he gives up any form of walking and runs all over the house. He'll run laps around the house with his toys, your sock, the flip flops from the closet, the paper towel you didn't pick up before it hit the ground... You get the idea! For example, this morning he was running around with his twisted rope giraffe and it got caught underneath him. He went tumbling head over heels for several complete flips! It didn't phase him at all. He just kept right on running!! While we sit down on the couch and eat breakfast, he runs from across the room and leaps onto our heads. (Not our laps, our heads!) We have to act fast in order to save the food from his hyper-activity. This morning I was trying to get him off the couch and he just sat up like a human. He was trying so hard to stay on the couch with us! We often comment that he's a very cute dog - when he's alseep.

Now that he's had breakfast and has run an equivalent of 2.6 miles he's curled up next to me on the couch. I could drop kick him to the next county and he won't wake up. (Not that I plan on drop kicking him anytime soon. But I could if I wanted and he totally wouldn't know it!!) How is that fair? He wakes us up all night long and then sleeps when I need to be up and doing stuff.

We've also come up with several new names for him in the past few weeks. He is now Lickey McLickerson, Hyper McHyperson, Dorky McDorkerson, Whiney McWhinerson, and Crazy McCrazerson. Likewise, Cua is Snobby McSnoberson and Crabby McCraberson. We seem to be lacking some creativity... But that's okay! We have fun with it!

New Discoveries!

Discovery #1: Last night D.J. and I were sitting at the kitchen table grading papers. We looked up and realized that our puppy, Marley, was staring at his reflection in the dishwasher. The way he cocked his head you could almost hear him thinking, "Oh my! I don't know who that dog is or where he's from but he sure is a ridiculously handsome fellow!" We had a good chuckle, until D.J. picked him up and said, "Aw, like father like son!" Then we had a good belly laugh!

Discovery #2: My heart was nearly obliterated last year as a result of the things that went on in my classroom. I've recently discovered that I put my pain aside in an effort to make it through the year. When the year was over, I cried a few tears as I moved out of my classroom. However, for the most part I packed the pain in a box and tucked it away in the closet of my heart. Yesterday, God flung open the closet door and began riffling through the box. I've spent lots of time thinking and remembering and re-living. God's doing some amazing things that'll be beautiful in the long run. I can't wait to see the end product!

Discovery #3: You cannot dump coffee grounds into a full trash can. They just fall on the floor and are then very difficult to clean up.

Discovery #4: If you walk to the end of my block, turn left, and start to walk down the next block (just one street over), it does not come out on the other end one block over. It comes out over a mile from home.

Discovery #5: Puppies that only way 6-10 pounds do not like walking over a mile because their mommy took a wrong turn.

Discovery #6: It takes three coats to cover a white cowboy with black paint. (I'm not sure how many coats of burnt orange it takes to cover the white bandana. I'm on the third coat and it still needs more. I'll let you know...)

Discovery #7: We've now rented two Redbox DVDs and have enjoyed them both. We've decided this is a great deal if you know you're going to watch a movie that night and you want to watch a recently released film.

Discovery #8: Lifetime changed their morning line up. I was sad to discover this fact this morning. Why did they change it on a Tuesday? What's up with that? Fraiser has come on at 9 since I graduated from college. Why put it on at 8 when I'm supposed to be watching "Less Than Perfect"?

Discovery #9: We made Monte Cristo sandwiches last night for dinner. They were wonderful! However, no matter how hungry you are two sandwiches is simply too much food!

Discovery #10: I can't type the word "discovery" without leaving out the "V" in the middle. I've had to go back every single time. That's enough discoveries for today!!