...

Do you remember a previous post about my plans always blowing up in my face?  Well, it happened again.  Yesterday Chris had the day off, and so we were lazing around in the morning and got to talking about the big move coming up.  Then we started wondering if our lease was really up at the end of April like we thought, or if it was the end of March.  We've already planned everything on the concept that the lease was up at the end of April, and come to find out, it's up at the end of March.  

What does this mean?  Well, it means Chris will be living with my brother and sis in law for 2 weeks, Baxter will be living with my mom and dad (he can't stay where Chris is b/c my nephew is allergic...and the last time Baxter was at their house on move in day, he pooped on the carpet, so he's not welcome) and I'll be homeless.  Seriously.  For the whole month of April and part of May.  School isn't over for me until mid May.  I'm going to go ahead and do 3 days of clinic each week in March so that in case something happens, I'm not stuck in a hotel in Houston, too.  That means I'll be done with clinic at the end of March.  

On top of that, I know some people I can stay with.  However, I just feel like I'm putting them out, and hate for them to feel like they have to entertain me.  And I surely won't stay in one place to long, so that means I need to stay at several people's house.  Do you know how it is staying with others for a long period of time?  I'm going to have to do laundry (which means I need to have my own laundry detergent and dryer sheets b/c I have sensitive skin with that stuff), so I may even go to a laundromat.  I'll need my own towels, pillows, bath stuff, etc.  I'll be living out of my car.  I'll still need some of my books, so that I can study, so those have to stay with me...in my car.  So Chris and I were talking this morning that after he gets settled in the new apartment I could just drive home on Tuesday mornings b/c I only have class on Mondays, and then drive back on Tuesdays.  But gas is so high, and I just got new tires, but still don't want to wear them down driving 600 miles + every week.   

And then there's the dilemma of where to put all of our crap.  It's one thing to pack it up in a U-Haul and deliver it a set destination within a few days.  But to pack it up in a U-Haul and put it in storage for 2 weeks only to pack it back up and unload it again is really annoying.  And ALL of our stuff will have to go in storage.  There's no way it would fit in my parents garage (my mom sold her business and all of the therapy stuff is now occupying the garage) and my brother would not allow in the wildest of dreams for our stuff to fill his garage while his BMW sat outside.  Uh uh, no way Jose.  Plus all that clutter would drive him insane.  

Why can't just ONE of my plans work out???

If people could pull their head out their butts for just one minute...

I'd be very happy!  Yesterday I drove the hour and 45 minute drive from Houston back to Beaumont after clinic.  I pull onto my street which goes through a school zone.  Some turd in a Ford SUV pulled out in front of me and went 5 miles/hour through the school zone.  The speed limit in said school zone is 20.  So I went around her.  No biggie...right?  Apparently I ticked her off so much that at the next red light she pulled up beside me and started yelling at me saying that it was unsafe to go the SPEED LIMIT in the SCHOOL ZONE!  (BTW...I hate Texas and most who drive and or live in it)  She also said she was going slow in case a child were to walk across the crosswalk.  I can appreciate that...but there are 2 crossing guards there to ensure the children's safety during school hours...and they were both seated at the either ends of the walkway.  So after she got done ranting and raving, her light turned green and a car behind her honked...and I gave her the 'Friends' version of the bird.  

I can't wait to move out of Texas.  There's too many people who feel like it's their duty to teach you a lesson by screaming at you from their vehicles.  I need a gun.  Or better yet, a paint gun and that way you would know they are the 'can't pull their heads out their butt' type driver and to avoid them at all costs.

Gas Prices...Ugh

Yesterday I filled up my car in Houston for $3.09 a gallon.  It broke my heart.  I'm sick of our gas prices skyrocketing out of control.  When I started college, I could pay $3.09 for a full tank!  Ok, that's a little exaggerated, but it was MUCH less to fill up a tank back then (great, now I sound like I'm 80).  I miss those days!

A day giving back

Today I got up and went to help out in the community by providing hearing screenings to those who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford a hearing test by an audiologist or by an ENT.  I was one of 5 who helped with the hearing.  It was a whole health care fair.  It provided dental services, optometry, free clothes, food, formula, pregnancy care, books, financial services, hearing screenings, etc.  It was amazing.  The fair started at 9:30 - 10:00, and I was there at 8:30 to help set up our stuff, and there was already a line to get in.  We probably saw more than 100 people.  It was nuts.  And the majority were Spanish speaking, so we had a couple interpreters to help.  We saw babies, toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly.  Everyone.

It all made me realize just how lucky I am.  I just am so thankful for what I have in life, even though sometimes I take it all for granted.  I have parents who are amazing, brothers who are my best friends, and my husband who I couldn't get through the day without.  We have a roof over our head, hot water, and food.  And even though we struggle sometimes, we always make it through.  I am so appreciative of everything that has been provided for me.

I'm back at home now, and Chris and I are going to have leftovers for dinner, watch a movie, and probably crash early tonight.  It's been a long day!

Yum.

Chicken Chilaquiles - it's what's for dinner!

What You'll Need

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 can (28 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes in puree
• 2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped (~1 heaping tablespoon), plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from same can)
• coarse salt
• 1 small cooked rotisserie chicken (~ 1 3/4 lbs.), skinned and shredded  (~4 cups), carcass discarded
• 1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
• 4 cups tortilla chips (~3 oz.)
• 1.75 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (~1/4 cup)

What To Do:

1. Combine oil and garlic in a large saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and sizzling, 1 t0 2 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes with their puree (breaking tomatoes up), chipotles and adobo and 1 cup water.  Bring to a boil; season with salt.  Reduce heat and simmer rapidly until lightly thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Add chicken and cook, stirring, until hot, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat; stir in chopped cilantro.
4. Divide chips among four shallow bowls; top with chicken mixture and sauce.  Garnish with cilantro sprigs, sour cream, and feta.  Serve.

We fried up tortillas instead of using tortilla chips, and we used mexican crumble cheese (aka queso fresco) instead of feta.  

This was a delicious dinner!  Try it!  

Man, 30, Rides Bike!

Yesterday was not a typical Monday. I didn't have class, so I got the chance to have an extra day to get caught up on homework for school, since I wasn't feeling so great over the weekend. Chris had to work early, so we had made plans to go do some grocery shopping when he got home. You know how you can make a plan until your blue in the face and it will never come to fruition? Well, that seems to happen a lot in our little family.


Last night, after finally getting some errands completed (not the grocery shopping) we decided to have dinner at Chili's. It was really good, with good service (which is rare here) and we had leftovers. We got home and Chris got his stuff out of his truck for today (I drive Chris's truck to Houston on Tuesdays because his tires are a little better than mine, and he gets a little better gas mileage). We went to bed at a decent hour, but I didn't fall asleep until 1 o'clock this morning. I had to be up at 4:30. I got out the door this morning and finally made it to Houston. At lunch, I checked my phone and had a message from Chris that I should call ASAP. So I called, and turns out, he forgot to get the spare set of keys for my car out of his...so he didn't have a way to work this morning! Good thing we didn't take the bikes to Arkansas a couple weeks ago! So, Chris had to ride his bike to work this morning...poor thing! A friend is going to take him home today, but he'll have to ride his bike again tomorrow, because I won't be there until tomorrow afternoon!


Do you think he'll ever forget the spare set of keys again? I think not.

Happy Day!

It's Valentine's Day!  And because our anniversary is only a month before V-Day, we don't really celebrate it.  We've been together for almost a whole decade (I know...) so we've had our fair share of this day, and our anniversary is more important now.  But I thought I'd share some pics of our anniversary that I never got around to posting last month.  

 This was our anniversary breakfast.  Heart-shaped pancakes...yummy!

    This was our dessert after dinner at Papadeaux's.            

Creme Brule with strawberries!  

      Chris made it so he'd have an excuse to play with the torch :)

 And this is a photo Jon B. took of us while we were in Fayetteville several months ago.

  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hmmm...Interesting.

Botox Injections to Treat Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Did that catch your attention?  Look here for an article.

As an aunt with a nephew with mild CP, it's rather intriguing.  He just received his first injection yesterday.  I wonder how long this has been studied and if it's been long enough to have any known effects later in life.

If you know anything else about the injections, please share!

Time for a change.

Last night when we got home, Chris decided it is was finally time to say goodbye to the winter beard.  I didn't hide my excitement.

Before.  He was sad because I gave him hell about growing it out, and now it was time to let it go.

     

  

During.  One side down.

One to go.

The finished product.

I just have to cherish it now until he decides it's time to grow it out next winter.

Can it be so?

I had Chris call and pay thirty bucks to get my score for the Praxis this morning, and I PASSED!  You read right, I PASSED!!  I barely passed, but I passed.  I just hope the score is right and my current state of euphoria isn't brought down when the paper score comes in!

House Rules.

We have rules around our house, although they are 'unofficial'.  I'm sure most households have them.  It's understood that Chris walks Baxter at night (and the butt crack of dawn), I do the laundry, we share the dishes, Chris cleans the tub, I clean the toilet.  Little things like that.  Growing up, anytime we had company, or the possibility of company coming over, we cleaned.  And I don't mean straighten the books on the bookshelf or put the dishes in the dishwasher that were in the sink kind of clean, I mean, we cleaned.  My mom would make us straighten our drawers, dust (even though it had been dusted the day before), vacuum, scrub the toilets, tub, dust the tops of the door frames and the baseboards, clean the windows, etc.  It was dreaded, but it was life.  

The reason I bring this up, is because today my Grandma, Peepaw, Aunt Susan and Uncle Robert got back to Galveston from their week long cruise.  We were supposed to meet up last Saturday, but Chris and I were sick and couldn't make it.  So we tentatively  rescheduled our get together for today, but nothing was in stone.  They called this morning early, and said they decided that b/c it was foggy, they were just going to hit the road.  That was fine with me, I had just woken up and had some homework to finish up.  Then, around 10, they called and decided they had changed their mind and were going to come b/c they had just gotten to their car.  Remember the previous comment about guests coming?  Well, I began to clean my little heart out.  The apartment wasn't 'filthy', but it wasn't in great shape.  I did everything but clean the tub, b/c that's Chris' job.  I even cleaned the ceiling fan!  Turns out, we just went and met at McDonalds, but at least the apartment is in better shape than earlier.  I had an awesome time with them (I always do), and I sure am glad they took time to come and have lunch with Chris and me.

Oh, and lest I forget Baxter's house rules.  They are as follows:

1).  If it's meant for me, it's mine...now.

2).  If it looks like mine, it's mine.

3).  If it could be mine, it's mine.

4).  If I smelled it, it's mine.

5).  If it squeaks, it's mine.

6).  If I can fetch it, it's mine.

7).  If I saw it first, it's mine.

8).  If it's broken, it's yours.

What are your house rules?

Procrastinating.

I found these on the internet while putting off doing my homework.  I thought they were hilarious, and just had to share.  These tips are for my friends that are prego, new parents, seasoned parents, or thinking about having kids in the future.  Hope they make you laugh!

More than 600.

I have to score more than a 600 on the Praxis Audiology exam to pass. 

I took that dang test on January 12th, and haven't been able to stop stressing about it since.  Every time there's a dull moment, my mind wonders to all the questions I didn't know...probably around half.  The good thing about it is that there's not an 'all right or all wrong' answer, like in a regular test you'd take in school.  Each question has some sort of point value associated with its answers.  So even though I may not have answered correctly, I still earn some point value for even answering.  Also, not all of the 120 questions are actually scored.  Some of the questions are on the test as 'practice' for the people who make the test.  Meaning, they put some questions in to determine what the point value would be if it were to be added to a test as a real question at a later date.  Everyone I've spoken to says they were positive they were going to have to retake the test, and they have all passed, but that still doesn't keep me from stressing out.  On top of this, every time I talk to my dad, he asks if I've received my scores yet.  I'm just afraid of disappointing him.  And Chris.  And everyone else I know who has supported me in this crazy decision in becoming an Audiologist.  I think I'm going to pay an extra 30 bucks to call next Friday and get my score.  Let me rephrase that, I think I'll have Chris call.  Because if I don't pass, or if I did, there's a good chance I may faint.  That way, by finding out next Friday if I didn't pass, I'll have time to register for the next test in March.  And have time to study more.  Let's pray I pass.  Oh, and if I pass, I don't have to take comps, which is just something else to stress about.

But, either way, I do get my white coat in April.  That's so exciting to me!  It will say: 

S. Clare {insert last name}

 Audiology 

It can't say 'Dr.' yet, because I haven't graduated, but the writing will be in eggplant!  I was so thrilled to find out I could pick the color and the font!  I feel bad b/c I can't invite everyone that I'd like to be there (there's a limit on our budget which meant that we could only invite a certain # of people), but the white coat ceremony will be short and sweet, and graduation is the icing on the cake, so everyone will be invited for that next May!  I think some of my classmates have already started a countdown!

Baxter got a haircut Wednesday...finally!  I'll have to post some before/after pics later, but he really was in desperate need of it.  Since then, he's been a different dog.  He's been so hyper, wanting all of his toys out of the basket (he apparently saw his cousin Rylie's photo and got the idea that he too, should drag everything out) and wanting constant attention.  We had put up this bone that Grammy and Grumpy (Chris' parents) got him for Christmas b/c the squeaker is super annoying and he spotted it yesterday.  He whimpered and whined until we got it down.  Finally he focused his attention on his tennis ball, so we put it back up :)  He's also gotten into a routine (an annoying one at that) when Chris is home.  We're trying to break him of it, because he becomes real whiney and it's just not fun.  He's a great dog, but he sure is getting whiney in his old age!

Oh, and there's still no snow in SETexas.