Spaghetti Squash!

Well, yum yum! I finally got around to trying spaghetti squash. It was not exactly what I was expecting but I like it! I did not expect it to be kind of sweet. Talk about hard to cut open, though. Wowza - thank goodness cooking was easy! Tried some different things with it (butter & parm, marinara, seasonings, etc.) and so far my favorite it to eat it with just some Cotija cheese on it. The sweet and salty has nice flavor. Can't wait to try some "real" recipes with it! (We'll see how the boys take to it...or not LOL)

The boys are home!!

 I'm so not a good selfie taker!

YEA! My boys are home early! John always likes to surprise me and this was a good one! They were supposed to be home from Missouri on Wednesday. I had talked to John a few times today - just the normal stuff - he said he was going to visit Matt & Stacy, etc. So I'm in the kitchen with Kim while she cuts up veggies to go with the cilantro lime chicken for tonight's dinner and I see some movement in the backyard. I wonder in my mind what it is but assume it's just the leaves on the branch blowing. Suddenly the door opens and they boys come rushing in saying, "When we heard you were hurt, we jumped in the van and rushed home!" Uh, yeah, right. Let's see, around 3:30 I sent them the picture of the blood on my finger from where I cut it while while replacing the shower Jacob's shower valve and replaing the handle. It is now around 6:30. Somehow, I don't think you made that drive in 3 hours LOL! They did make good time, though, managing the trip in about 9 hours - one stop for gas. Love my boys, and although I got a lot done while they were gone, I'm glad to have them home!

Teresa the great repairwoman! Only one injury reported.

New Lights - I hate them!

So, they finally got around to finishing the streetlights along College (right outside our house). I was not happy when they first started putting them in but even less happy now that they have turned them on! It's like a football stadium in my house - so bright! We will have to sleep with the door shut to the living room - which I hate. I like having our doors open. I feel sorry for Jacob since his room will be pretty brightly lit with one of the new streetlight's blazing onto the front of the house. I guess one advantage is that our porch is much brighter now. We used to turn the porch lights on but because they were on the outside of the wall, there wasn't much light on the actual porch. Now no one should have any problems walking out our door to the house. Oh, and we won't really have to turn on the back yard light since another "wonderful" light brightens up that area quite nicely. Ugh! The cost of growth in Frisco. Had I known now what I knew then about how our little corner would evolve (no parking in front, ugly signs, bright lights to disturb our sleep), we would not have let Jacob have "the cow house". 

 The part of College where the lights have not been turned on yet.

The lit up part - no one should complain that they can't see!!

Great Sunday!

Whatcha doing today? Happy to say that we are Scrapbooking, yes, we are! I'm finishing up the journaling in Jacob's Scout album. Hannah is working on various projects at the "cutting island" and at the "toddler table". (She says, "You've heard of the short bus? I'm at the short table." LOL! My hubby brought in the table for her when she got here - but he got the table that I have that starts out for toddlers and can adjust up for adults - but she liked it in the toddler position). Wonderful, relaxing and fun Sunday. 

Oh, and John is cooking for us! Smoked ribs for lunch and smoked brisket for dinner!

Another reason I love him (or put up with him)

So I'm working on bookkeeping in my office. John opens the door and comes through the room. As soon as he opens the door, I hear him start singing Beaches of Cheyenne which is playing on my Pandora. (Love me some Garth, although is favorite sing along is Hank.)

Although we have a bit of differences in music (most of the time we like the same stuff - the only way we really differ is he's more into hard metal and I'm more into dance music), we are still pretty doggone compatible in that area.

Several times this week and last week, I knew what he was going to say before he said it - or knew what he was thinking without him saying a word.

So what is love? Isn't part of it just compatibility and the comfort in knowing each so well? And sometimes it's almost scary how well I know that man!!

And have I mentioned that he makes me laugh? 

Let it snow!

SNOW! View at 6:00 this morning.

Yep, DFW got our 3rd snow this winter. Well, the first one doesn't really count because it was just a light dusting overnight.  The 2nd one was on Christmas day, while we were in Missouri, of course.

Since the transmission went out of my car yesterday (UGH!) I was already planning to ride in with John. It was nice and snowy and slushy when we came in, but being from Missouri, it was no big deal to us.

Many of my facebook friends were upset that they had not cancelled schools. Really? In Frisco, we have community school so most of the time you are driving no more than 2 miles to a school to drop your kid off. And by the time schools started, it was much more wet than it was when we left at 6:30. Looking at the traffic map on the local TV stations showed warnings all over the metroplex of slow moving traffic and a few accidents. Radio said that it was a 3 hour commute from Sherman to McKinney on Hwy 75. Poor sheltered native Texans LOL! This would be almost like driving in summer for Missouri folks!

TX State Guard - Toy Collection

John joined the Texas State Guard in 2010 and last year and this year he has actively participated in collecting toys around Christmas for their Young Heroes of the Guard program. This program provides toys (generally stuffed animals) to children in hospitals.

To get toys, John offered anyone playing in Drop N Aces bonus chips if they brought in a toy. The response was overwhelming! John's goal was 400. We collected 755!!! Have I ever mentioned how awesome our DNA players are?! Because our van was broken down and we didn't have a way to transport the toys to Austin (where John is stationed), Don Sears, one of our DNA players, offered to drive John down there. They headed out around 6 a.m. to make the trip.

I'm sure that CVS next to Irving El Chico loved us because every Sunday, you would see a small parade of players headed over to CVS to pick up a toy to get bonus chips!