An unexpected elderly friend

It appears that we at a boy, a girl and a pug have horrible luck when it comes to having a home phone number. When we first moved into our house I debated on maybe just using our cell phones instead, but we decided to go ahead with it more for peace of mind incase boy's work couldn't reach him or a family member in an emergency. And so far I believe the only people that call us on this number are my parents, boy's parents and Barack Obama. And something tells me after November he will not be calling for anymore pre-recorded conversations.

We began with our first phone number and with in hours of plugging in the phone we realized that the previous phone number owners did not like to pay their bills. Now not only is it bad that we'd get calls consistently throughout the day but more so the fact that when they'd ask to speak to Mr. Marshall (the previous owner) and we'd reply you have the wrong number they'd get really ticked and reply "Yeah right!!". It was a no win situtation and after 9 months of unsuccessfully trying to convince collectors that I was not in fact Mrs. Marshall and if I an extra grand laying around I'd be sure to give it to them so they'd quit calling, I requested a new number.

And with that number came Judy. Oh sweet Judy. Judy is an elderly lady who is in a desperate attempt to talk with Lynn. I kid you not that we receive at least 8 calls a week that go something like this.

Me: Hello?
Judy: Lynn!!!!
Me: No Judy it's me.
Judy: Oh no I've done it again.

And after wishing her well and reminding her to hit the 1 instead of the 8 I become very aware that we will repeat this same conversation shortly. It's sort of like the movie "Groundhog Day"...only worse.

The Tree

I felt we needed to discuss the NCAA standings and I should come clean with an update.

I'm losing.

Miserably.

I've mentioned before I hold a 5 year winning streak and I do believe that will end this year and be forever thrown in my face. My knowledge/luck has disappeared. My trusty Jayhawks are holding on strong so that shall make it all better. But I do have a more pressing issue on my mind. Has anyone seen the Stanford Cardinal mascot before?



It's a tree. I was not aware of this and I must say Friday night's game against Texas provided much humor at the sight of this mascot. I've seen cowboys, birds, lions as mascots but never a tree. And not that the thought of a tree isn't already funny, the costume design is a hoot as well.

I should probably go ahead and apologize for laughing if you are a Stanford fan, but know I was cheering you on to win.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I don't know about y'all, but I always try to keep a "backup meal" in the house. For those random days when we have a last minute meeting or for days like today when the cold has taken you hostage and you've spent the better part of the day blowing your nose while watching Lifetime Movie Network's finest. Melissa Gilbert is such a fabulous actress you know.

BBQ Chicken Pizza is one of our favorites. I always keep the ingredients on hand mainly because they can be frozen very easily or they keep for awhile in the pantry.


Ingredients:
1 premade pizza crust (or you can get a kit that just needs water)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
Mild Cheddar
Mozzarella
1 cup of cooked chicken (I always buy the frozen precooked chicken that's diced and use it for tons of other recipes too).
1/4 cup red onion chopped (I only add this if I have one on hand)

Preheat oven to 400. Defrost chicken for 3 minutes in microwave, then drain excess water. Mix pizza sauce and BBQ sauce together and spoon over crust. Top with cheeses and chicken. Bke 9-10 minutes depending on the crust you use.


Super easy. Super good.

Blooming Pug

I'm so loving it being spring! I don't know if I can put into words how much I love having my windows open during the day. It's a simple pleasure we Southern folks rarely get to enjoy. And pug is most enjoying the breezy weather. Here he is at my in-laws. Apparently, the ground is repulsive to him.

We had a great Easter weekend and as of Monday night I'm still full. Sunday we had some precious family members over who are awaiting baby #1. After the blessing we all exclaimed how we are officially grownups. It's a rite of of grown-up passage cooking a holiday meal. And kudos to Honeybaked Ham. I have to admit I was just more thrilled that it was fully cooked and I wouldn't have to fear giving food poisoning to our guests, but my word it was delicious. We are savoring our leftovers. I don't believe I'll ever cook a ham...ever!

Today I awoke to the joys of a lovely cold. I'm inhaling water and orange juice praying that this cold is a mistake and not made for me. Please leave me dear cold. I use purell. Although I don't think that's ever the case. In the meantime, I'm going to plunge my whole face into water to relieve the burning in my sinuses.

Happy Easter

What a glorious day of worship, fellowship and great food. I hope you all are enjoying the day as much as we are.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16

I don't believe I sang in the rain once yesterday

It rarely rains in Texas, but when it does it seems to do so all at once. I learned a few things yesterday during the floods that I thought I would take the time to share with you today.

1. Buy an umbrella. Apparently, our house does not believe in the ownership of umbrellas because I could not find a single one. That may be a wise investment to make on my next Target outing.
2. Don't even bother straightening the hair. Why I spent 45 minutes doing my hair is beyond my understanding. I wasn't outside 5 minutes before it went into a ponytail.
3. I don't cook when it rains. This is something I just figured out. My cooking abilities seems to wash away when it pours and I loose all desire to pick up a pan. So we found ourselves chowing down at IHOP because a big stack of pancakes can make the world go round.

The Love Shack

After boy and I got hitched we moved into an apartment or as we like to call it, the "love shack". It was basically an 850 sq. foot puppy pad, because pug felt it necessary to mark every inch. I clearly remember walking around with a bottle of carpet cleaner scrubbing till my hands hurt contemplating putting a pug ad in the classifieds. It was mainly my fault because I picked out our little nest. And did I mention was that this "love shack" was on the third floor of the building, on a golf course. But not some fancy Tiger Woods golf course, a wes learin' how to play golf course where people pretended that they had skills and on numerous occasions I'd be walking pug and a ball would drop right by his head. One time I do believe we almost peed ourselves in fear and when the Jack Nicholson wannabe golfer came round looking for his ball on the green I hollered him over 30 feet to the correct location and kindly remarked "next time try yelling fore as a warning". His reply, "Oh did I almost get you?". So needless to say, Pug had limited safe peeing areas outside and I really can't blame him for preferring the carpet. I mean who really wants to walk down 3 flights of stairs just because your owner decided that we needed 3 additional feet of ceiling height for a more "chic look".

It was all worth it though because we had killer calf muscles from going up and down the stairs and our neighbors thought pug was the greatest dog they ever laid eyes on. We had one set of neighbors who we referred to as "The Smokey Smokerson's" because rain or shine they'd be sitting on their balcony at all hours getting a nicotine fix. They were as sweet as can be and when pug's head got too big to fit in between the railings of our balcony, I'd put him out there for some fresh air. I started to notice that on numerous occasions lots of talking could be heard once I put pug out there. I thought it was just the neighbor's socializing, but one day I opened up the window and realized they were not talking to any neighbor's, they were talking to pug. It was really kind of funny and weird all at the same time. He'd just sit up in one of the lawn chairs on the porch and listen, captivated by the conversations. After awhile it got really sweet and if I came home from work and noticed they were sitting outside I'd put him out there for one of their chat sessions.

The day we moved we loaded up our last box and the Smokerson's hollered down, "You getting that dog a yard?" It almost broke my heart at the therapy talks we were breaking up.

All our "love shack" memories came flooding back as I sat in my office and could hear our neighbor's kiddos on the other side of the fence and knew pug was out prancing the backyard. Every now and then I hear a yelp followed by a "you stupid dog!!!" from one of the kids.

I'm going on a hunch, but I bet pug misses the apartment fame.