Good things about this week:

• I worked out 3 days in a row with my new workout buddy Shaneka. We kicked butt. I hope I keep it up next week!
• Things were pretty slow on the homework front.
• We started a new research project at work where we don't have to collect data, it already exists, and it's mega-longitudinal. But...(see weird things)
  
  Weird things about this week:.
  
• The project is with my boss and another professor I am really unsure about. She always drops the door on me when I'm walking behind her.
  
• On Tuesday, my big water bottle leaked all into my purse and out the bottom, all over the classroom floor.
  
• In that same class, TWICE I tried to make a point and couldn't get the words to come out. I felt like a total idiot!
  
• Later that day, I got all excited about getting a good parking spot for my night class, then this old man drove up next to me, gave me a dirty look, and drove off.
  
• The internet was down on campus for most of Tuesday.
  
• So Wednesday, I tried to work from home in case the internet was down on campus.
  
• It was down at home instead. Grrrr!
  
• I was so freakin' irritable.
  
• So I went to school and got a little work done, put my head on the desk and accidentally slept for about 45 minutes.
  
• On the clock.
  
• I will make it up next week.
  
• I got a smoothie from smoothie king at the rec center after my workout. I didn't think about checking the prices because I used to get smoothies all the time for $5 three years ago.
  
• Apparently, smoothies at smoothie king cost $7 now.
  
• And the low-carb ones taste like vomit sweetened with too much sweet-n-low.
  
• I drank it anyway. Because I paid SEVEN DOLLARS for it!
  
• Finally, I found out that Weinerschnitzel in Denton closed. I'm pretty upset that we didn't get one last weiner-fest. Oh man, hot dogs and chili cheese fries. HEAVEN.
  
  So. I'm skipping my last class of the day, and I'll be home about 3:30. I'm gonna stuff some huge pork loin chops with my famous garlic, parsley, parmasan mixture and have Tom smoke em. YUM. Then we have last minute details for tomorrow's Halloween bonanza!
  
  I need to get some Vitamin C drops, everyone at school is sick or was sick.
  
  I'll have a huge bunch of pictures later this weekend from last weekend (pumpkin carving and decorating) and this weekend's party.

Well I have all my psych homework for our group project ready to turn in, and it feels good! I can't wait to get back what we turned in last week. Hope it's a good grade...

Tomorrow is pumpkin time. Tom and I are gonna carve up 4 pumpkins. I'm pumped! haha I'm going to gut one tonight so the seeds can dry overnight before I roast them.

The rest of my weekend is looking pretty darn good! The homework for next week looks easy like Sunday mornin', so I'll get to do some pre-Halloween cleaning. And I HAVE to do laundry. Our clothes are totally out of hand. I should feature them on "clutter...exposed!" but I don't think you're ready yet.

Tom picked up some stuff for me at the store today, which was really nice. And he gave me a massage last night. I REALLY needed it. The muscles in between my shoulder blades were freakin' out. Oh...note to self...check out Zune software to see if they have any halloween music we need.

This week was busy but uneventful. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend.

Welcome to what will DEFINITELY be the longest blog ever. I'll start with today's garden pics. We have a fall garden for the first time ever this year. Here is Goku chillin' on the porch watching the birds.



The vertical rows from left to right are brussel sprouts, broccoli, then cabbage on the higher tier. They are doing pretty well! It's nice not having to water everyday. We need to mulch though...


Closer look at some rockin' cabbage. Some of our plants are getting eaten - we're going to look for a pesticide at wal-mart today.


We got some sweet basil (top right) and cilantro (bottom) in some pots, and I threw a spare broccoli plant in one too. They are all doing pretty good.


We left a couple pepper plants in the garden, and they are still putting out like crazy. Look at all these!


Tom, Clint, Reade, John, and Greg headed out to Sharkathon the weekend of October 3rd. It's a huge, land-based fishing tounament on Padre Island National Seashore. I am definitely going next year. A woman won the whole shebang this time!

Here's John - love the shirt. LOL


The beach and our kayak trailer.


Clint staying wrapped up good so he doesn't come home purple (from sunburn!) like last year.


Reade acting like he knows what he's doing.


Tom and Greg and the camp.


The guys didn't catch any good fish during the tournament, but Tom won the best raffle prize, a $2500 gift certificate to have one of these fishing stands fitted for the truck. It will have 8 rod holders, cup holders, and a place for an umbrella. One advantage of being up higher is your lines stay out of the seaweed better. We are going to pick it up the weekend after finals and staying 4 nights in Port Aransas to try it out.



Tuesday, I ditched class and went to the fair for Dr. Pepper Tuesday. I found out from my friend at school Jessica that you can get in for $3 with a Dr Pepper can on Tuesdays, and Tom and I figured saving that much was worth skipping class. Here is Tom and his favorite Egyptian thingie, Anubis. If Tom ever gets a tattoo, it will be Anubis. (We picked a beautiful day, as you can see. It only rained on us on our way in though, the rest of the day was nice!)


We revisited fried queso, one of our favorites from last year. Can you tell that one that I bit into is still a little frozen inside? Ugh!!!


Here were some cool carved pumpkins. That dude did demonstrations on the weekends, so we didn't see him.



Here is Tom's friend the fountain, which he famously ran through after many beers and a visit to the whisky tasting area at the Irish Festival this year.


Next, we tried Fried Grilled Cheese, one of this year's featured foods. We weren't thrilled with it. We expected more like Monte Cristo style. I think this was breaded with potato chips because it was SO crunchy. And it was too greasy. The pidgeons got a good bit of mine. I thought it was cute serving it with tomato soup to dip in.


Neat train setup on wooden tracks under Big Tex


Some sand guy made this King Tut themed display. It was cool! I had the urge to knock it down and play in the sand, but I'll wait til our December trip and knock down my own sandcastles.




Tom is patiently waiting for me to take a picture of the Chicken Fried Bacon so he can eat it. This won "Best Taste" at the fair this year. We liked it OK, but it was nothing to write home about.



Here is the deep fried truffle (after I bit into it). When they say "deep fried truffle", they really do mean a singular truffle. LOL We were a little surprised. But it was a tasty snack. Oh no! I didn't take a picture of the fried banana split! It was good too.


We watched the dancing dogs show, which was pretty cute. We also saw birds of the world.


We saw a cool golf cart.


The highlight of the fair was probably this, the last float in the parade, full of singing Shriners. LOL


Finally, here is a shot from the pyrotechnic show. It was pretty neat, I think I would've preferred a good ol' fireworks show though.


Let's take an intermission from the pictures. Another cool part of the fair was looking at cars because we've been considering selling GiGi for a small SUV of the Ford variety. We loved the Edge, but I'm not sure I can justify not buying the cheaper Escape. The Edge is more comfortable, but it's also more expensive and has worse gas mileage. It's like Tom said, that's why we got the Dodge truck even though the Fords were fancier. The Dodge was $10 grand cheaper, and we just couldn't justify the extra expense for a fluffier seat.

Crock Pot Monday was messed up this week because Tom's friend's birthday was that day. He originally planned to go out Monday, so we didn't have dinner at home. Instead, they went out last night. We ended up having Crock Pot Wednesday with this recipe: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/crockpot-peppercorn-steak.html (I just figured out how to get the links to work again!!)
It was tasty, but I thought the Worchestershire sauce was overwhelming, and the recipe didn't, ahem, sit well with me both nights I ate it.

Did you see McCain and Obama roast each other last night? Again, you'll have to copy and paste the link, but here they are:

McCain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ql1RLDVWzY

Obama Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKv7a9Om7cs
Obama Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SkFjTCscM4

They were both pretty funny, but if the race were based on hilarity, McCain wouldn't be the underdog! He was SO good!

Finally, here is one blog segment that I have on schedule this week. Clutter...EXPOSED! *insert dramatic news music here* Today I'm featuring my mantle. Right off the bat, you'll notice a bottle of water that's been there so long I don't even remember when we put it there.


Here is a baggie full of new pics of Emma and Alex that I need to put up, and my temporary drivers license from when I had my name changed.


That's a Christmas ornament there on top of that candle - might as well leave it there until we drag the tree out again this year! Also a case for glasses, and a box of long matches for lighting the fireplace.


Who doesn't need a map of Ray Roberts State Park on their mantle? I also have Jonas Bros tickets from July up there.


Finally, dental floss and an empty envelope that used to have my NYC plane ticket from March.


*sigh* I know, I know.

Anyway, school is good, work is good but crazy, and overall, life is great for Team T&A. Have a great weekend!

I accidentally started a tradition here by trying a pot roast in the crock pot 2 weeks ago. Clint was lonely because his girlfriend was outta town, the Heroes season premiere was coming on, so we invited him over for dinner, and I wanted to make something extra tasty knowing that the diet of the poor single male isn't always that good. Luckily, his roommate works at Dominos, so at least the kid isn't going hungry. I think Clint is the type that might forget to eat if someone didn't remind him. I know Tom's that way. Tom married a food lover though, so he isn't allowed to forget meals anymore.

I have never used my crockpot consistently. I always associated it with soups, stews, chili, and Rotel dip. But now I've taken a renewed interested after some recent successes.

Anyway, I made this pot roast from Kalyn's Kitchen (my links aren't working lately, sorry you'll have to copy and paste): http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/01/crock-pot-recipe-for-southwestern-pot.html

Sunday night, I browned the roast, reduced the broth, and stored them separate in the fridge. Monday morning, I threw it all in the crockpot and it sat on low while I went to work. It was sooooo good! It was ridiculously tender, and I loved the sauce. The guys loved it too.

So last Monday, I tried an even simpler one, Sour Cream Salsa Chicken. I don't remember where I found it, it's so simple that I already have it memorized. 1 lb of thawed chicken (or whatever amount really...I just had a bag of 3 breasts that I'd divided from one of those huge value packs, I assume it was a lb) goes in the crockpot. Sprinkle a packet of reduced sodium taco seasoning on top, then top with 1 cup of your favorite salsa. Cooked all day on low while I was at work. Pull the chicken out and stir 1/4 cup (I used more like 1/2 cup) sour cream into the saucy leavin's in the pot (the recipe called for cornstarch, I didn't think it needed any extra thickening, so I left it out), then eat that sauce with the chicken. It was devine. It was the most tender, fall-apart, delicious chicken ever. It would've been great in tacos or enchiladas. We ate it alone with some veggies.

So it's my new Monday thing. This week I'm going to try this one:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/crockpot-peppercorn-steak.html

This week I'll post pictures of the deliciousness.

We bought costumes today and a few other halloween decorations. We're adding a little each year. Here I am in my purple witch thingie. I'm going to add a wig, fish net stockings, and shoes.



And here's Tom with his scary cloak and his minions, Sasha and Goku, complete with scary eyes.


We have a lot of fun on Halloween. This is our third year doing it up. We make the house pretty scary. Here I'm just gonna paste from Tom's blog last year: "Did the usual small tombstones, spiderweb, lights and stuff. This year i found some severed heads on spikes. And for the scare factor, we rigged up some weed eater line from a tree to the corner of the house. On a pulley, i tied a demon bat thing, and attached to the pulley above the bat is 50 lbs. fishing line to the kitchen window to control it. Here is a video from my phone that explains it a bit more."



"At the entry way, i have an "angel of death" hidden, and after the kids get thier candy, it will drop infront of them. Last year everyone said we had the best house in Corinth. Some parents wouldn't let their kids come up cause they thought it was too scary."

So there you have it. This year we'll have more tombstones and I'd like to get some skeletons that look half buried, like they're coming up out of the ground. We found some today at Party City 2 for $25, but we had sticker shock from buying costumes. Amanda has been charged with the cake this year. I haven't decided about food yet. I might crock pot some beef or pork for barbecue sandwiches, then do chips and dips. Or I might go all appetizer, who knows. I usually make a sangria with white zin to drink.

I'm starting a new blog segment called "Clutter...EXPOSED!". Ideally I'll update every week, I think Friday is a good day for it. Basically, Tom and I are the king and queen of clutter, and I'm going to take a picture of some back-asswards thing we have laying around the house that's totally ridiculously placed or useless, then I'll either put it up, throw it away, or give it away. Today, I don't have to go very far to find something.



I'm not even gonna try to rationalize why I have off-brand Pledge on top of my printer paper in my office. I'll just stick my tail between my legs and put it up.

If even my sister who never reads my blog noticed. I think she was just making fun of me by complaining, but here is another blog anyway.

I'm annoyed by the presidential election and the new stadium election at school. In both, there are people who feel so strongly about their position that they become condescending bullies who laugh at anyone who doesn't agree with them or isn't sure. We must be stupid, right? I must be stupid for not wanting to make a mandatory $100 donation every semester to the stadium fund. I must be stupid if I don't see right through those "evangelical Christians" running for office and all their evil ways. Do people actually respond positively to being called stupid? I was raised in a Republican family so I naturally lean that way (in lieu of voting for the Libertarian candidate...seriously!), but I'm open to voting Democratic. If I mention at all that I'm still on the fence, I get looks of shock and disgust, like there could possibly be any other way than voting Democrat.

And I'm sick to DEATH of the religious crap. I can laugh at SNL's portrayal of Palin, "I don't know if we're causing global warming or if it's just a natural part of the end of days." That was hilarious! But then people actually sigh and say, "What an idiotic religious nut!" as though she actually said that! Really?! And there is this guy in my developmental psychology class that has this same condescending attitude toward Christians. Don't forget, Christians are evil. They use values and morals and try to convince other people follow them too. What bastards!! Those stinkin' Christians! (Please note the sarcasm dripping off this paragraph.) Maybe I'm stupid (see paragraph 2) but most of the Christians I know are well-intentioned people of faith, not viscious manipulators. This guy in class, when he actually shows up, rarely misses a chance to relate class material to his bitter anti-Christian agenda. Today, it was about how Christians teach people to "fear their genetalia". *barf*

I get that my rant is based around the loudest voices, and aren't the loudest voices always the most obnoxious? Still, for all the change that people desire, no one seems willing to have a civil "I can see this from both sides, but I choose this way because..." discussion about the election.

Bigfoot/Nessie '08! Well that link didn't work, www.bigfootnessie08.com

What have you done without my blogging? Something productive and exciting (the opposite of unproductive and boring) no doubt! I have been quite productive, too.

Last weekend was one of the first in a while that I had nothing to do. I did go to dinner with my old boss, and that was a lot of fun. I miss the heck outta that lady. I did a lot of studying and homework. It is so nice to have tons of time to devote to school (even though I don't always use it wisely). The studying paid off because I got an A on my developmental psychology test, which our teacher had us scared to death of.

Yesterday, my mom, my sister, and I met for dinner then went to see Kenny G at the Meyerson Symphony Center. It was great! Kenny G came out from the back of the audience and played a song while strolling up the aisle. At the end of the song, he held out a note for several minutes, which is one of his claims to fame. He uses circular breathing to pull this off. It was funny because he went up and down the aisles shaking hands while holding out the note. At the end of another song, he played this little diddy that is hard to explain, but I'll try anyway - it was really fast, and he switched back and forth between low notes and high notes so fast that it sounded like two sax players, one playing a lower supporting part, and another playing the melody. It was pretty impressive!

At about 9:30, the symphony left the stage, but Kenny's band stayed on and played some Christmas songs. I LOVED IT! Then he ended with "My Heart Will Go On", which made me happy because my mom loves that song, so I was glad it ended on such a good note (pun intended).

Today I drug my butt to school at 8am so I could work on my homework. I also submitted a travel grant application. It's $250, but that's a dent in a trip next year, and the application was easy to complete. Saw the jazz band again at noon. They group them by ability, and this was one of the "eh" ones. They were good (better than me, for sure), just not mind-blowing. Nice free lunchtime entertainment though. Had class, then went to Albertsons. I'm making this tomorrow, Grilled Zucchini Lasagna. Plus I'm making the sauce in the link, doubling it so I can freeze some.

Tonight was exciting because I tried some of my canned escabeche. I chopped some of it up (a garlic clove, a few carrots, 2 jalepenos, and some onion), sauteed it with some breakfast sausage and scrambled a few eggs with it. It tasted AWESOME! Now, if it doesn't make me sick, I'll feel good about giving some of that away.

Tomorrow I'm seeing the Duchess with my sister for sure, hopefully Amanda, and heaven knows who else. A lot of people were invited. Tom is at Sharkathon, so I'm alone til late Sunday night. I'm gonna cook, clean, and study. Woot! Got three exams next week and some homework due, so I need to get busy. (Not tonight though!!! Watching the debate...)

I was flipping through my blog and remembering how much more fun it used to be when I put pictures in. Well, if you hadn't noticed, the blogspot text editor is watered down or something. It is kinda hard to upload pictures now. But let me find something for you. Taken by Vista Ridge Mall 2 Christmases ago.