Yes! Yes! I want to tell you about our last day in Santa Fe......

......but it's not going to be this post. 

Instead, I am just going to show you some pictures of all the yummy food we've eaten this week.

*I seriously have a problem with food.  I always want to make delicious things.  Then I feel the need to take pictures of it.  And then to top it all off......I bore other people with it by posting it here*

Too bad........close this post if you don't want to see all the deliciousness we've eaten this week:

It started with scalloped potatoes and pork chops.  Not your traditional milk/cheese scalloped potatoes, but made with Chicken stock.......OMG!

One night it was grilled hot dogs topped with Hot dog relish, green chiles, onions, and CREAM CHEESE!  Served with a side of Pizza Zone Greek Salad (and if you look really closely you will see the few small pieces of our first garden tomato that we got to eat on our salad).  Oh and by the way.....I need to give full credit to my mother for introducing cream cheese on hot dogs for me.......the best condiment you can add to a hot dog!

We've really been wanting sprouts lately, so I got out the old sprout jar and grew some in 4 days.  But since they don't last long.....you need to plan your menu around them.  First night:  Bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado sandwiches on an Onion roll served with a side of crunch veggies and Ranch dressing.

Still had some sprouts left......so it was tuna, fresh spinach and sprouts on an Onion roll.  Served with a side of Claussen dill pickle.

I've got to stop writing this........I'm making myself hungry again!

Santa Fe Adventure......Day 3

Day 3 was a Monday and unfortunately for Aaron, he had to be at work at 7am.

I told him to not wake me up when he left for work.  Hey.....I was on vacation.

Paul and I got up around 7:30am and just spent our time taking our time.  He drank coffee, we showered, we both got on the internet for awhile.  The plan for the day was no plan.....except for meeting Aaron for lunch.

We left his house about an hour before we had to meet him.....so we just drove around and checked out the city.  And even good old Detective Paul managed to find a somewhat boring restaurant supply store for us to visit.   We met him for lunch at a place called Mucho's (which really had almost the same menu as Baggins).  Had to have our green chiles for the day.

I chose the Philly Cheesesteak with green chiles, Paul chose a Cuban Sandwich and Aaron opted for the Meatball/Pepperoni.

After lunch we headed for the Plaza, where we planned to spend some time (and money).  Because it was Monday, we ran into the problem of all the cool museums being closed....so we entertained ourselves by shopping, going into one boring museum that happened to be open, and checking out the Cathedral.  This was the most beautiful church I have ever been in.  What a calm and beautiful place this was to visit.

For some reason I didn't take any pictures in the Plaza this time......so here's one I borrowed from the internet.

 

And here's some I took last year when we visited.  Hard to capture the beauty in pictures......it really is a very unique place to visit (and shop)!

 

The weather started getting really chilly and we needed a nap.....so back to Aaron's we went. 

After freshening up and Aaron coming home (and drinking a couple of beers), the decision had been made that we had to eat authentic New Mexican Mexican food.  Aaron told us the best place in town was Tomasita's and it just happened to be an old converted train depot station.

That food was seriously legit and we gorged ourselves on a dinner that Paul and I shared: 1 rolled enchilada, 1 tamale, 1 relleno, 1 taco, rice, beans and red and green chile.  It was so delicious.....but seriously that was too much food for 2 people......but we enjoyed every bite.

Had to take a picture to commemorate our trip.  We sure didn't take very many pictures this trip.

The entertainment for the evening was chosen by Paul.  He had been bugging us for 2 days about going to this place and seeing an independent film.  We finally gave in and relented and we are so glad that we did.  It was held at this little performing arts place in a kinda out of the way place.

Aaron took a place of the inside......small, cozy, and EXTREMELY comfortable chairs.  We definitely didn't have to worry about a crowd....there ended up being only 7 of us in the movie.

After leaving the AWESOME movie......yes I said awesome.....we had to admit to Paul that it was a really great idea to go and see it. 

Another late night home and Aaron needed to get up early for work again.  We really enjoyed our last night in Santa Fe.

Happy Mother's Day from Santa Fe!

Our first full day in Santa Fe and we didn't have any definite plans.

We took our leisurely time getting ready and the first stop was breakfast.  Well actually, it was lunch because it was about 11am.  It was time to sample the pizza and of course it was going to have green chiles on it.

After our Google search....we found Back Road Pizza.  It was less than 5 minutes away from Aaron's house.  (We soon learned that EVERYWHERE we wanted to go in Santa Fe was less than 5 minutes away from Aaron's house.  It's either because Aaron lived in a great central location OR that Santa Fe is really kind of small.  * it's a little bit of both those things *)

Here's my special Mother's Day picture.  I probably should do a little photo editing on it.....but right now I'm just going to post it as it is.

And here was the delicious pizza we chose......Pepperoni and Green Chiles.  (well actually Aaron chose it because those are the toppings he wanted....but we didn't object).  It was delicious!

After that delicious lunch, we headed for Camino Real Imports.  Aaron had visited it a couple of days earlier to find me a Mother's Day present.  He said there was too much stuff in there and I could just pick something out for myself.  He was totally right about the size of the place.  Needless to say, I walked out of there with SEVERAL items that now are decorating my home.

With no plan in mind, we decided to head off to the casinos.  Must be nice to live so close to TWO casinos (within 20 minutes).  Our first stop was to Buffalo Thunder.

After leaving a donation there........we headed back to Aaron's place, with a short stop at the other casino......Camel Rock.

I think it's named because right across the street from it is a rock formation that looks like a camel.  (keep in mind that I took this out the window of a speeding car......it might not be professional photography worthy.  But you can still get the idea of it).

Well leaving all that money at the casinos was exhausting......so we headed on back to Aaron's place and the two guys challenged each other to a game of tennis.  Aaron has a tennis court about a block away from his apartment.....so it was nice to walk down there and enjoy the gorgeous (although windy) weather.

I can imagine how tired they were.....they wore me out just being their "ball chaser".
(I took a lot more pictures, but somehow lost them and only ended up with a couple of Aaron)

We rested for awhile and then made our plans for the evening.  It was decided by all that we wanted seafood.  Using the google once again.....we found the best seafood in Santa Fe and headed to Marisco's.  There Aaron and I feasted on Red Snapper and Paul ate Trout stuffed with Octopus, Scallops, and Crab. 

After the huge meal and the busy day.....we chilled on the sofas and watched a movie and then it was off to bed.  It was a great Mother's Day!

Hang on......it's Santa Fe time!

Yay.....off to Santa Fe to spend Mother's Day with the baby of the family.

For some reason we seem to be cursed when we try to fly to Albuquerque.  Last year, our plane broke down in Dallas and we were delayed an hour.

This year, our flight was delayed waiting for personnel and we left almost 2 hours late.

Come on people......we have people waiting on us in Santa Fe.

So we finally reach Albuquerque a couple of hours late and we needed to go get our rental car.  Well we just happened to sign up for National Car Rental's Emerald program which gives us the luxury of picking any car they have sitting in their Emerald Aisle (and we don't have to stop at the counter).  I should have known better........my husband does NOT make fast decisions.  I let him make the car rental decision and it took him almost 20 minutes to pick out what car he wanted to drive.

Finally he chose the Huyndai Sonata and off to Santa Fe we went.

Aaron and Shay were waiting for us at his apartment and we were all starving.  So after our quick introductions.....it was off to Cowgirl to get the awesome buffalo giant hamburger with green chiles that Aaron has been raving about.

This burger did not disappoint.......it was so huge that Paul and I decided to share one!  Sitting down for lunch gave us the opportunity to talk and meet Shay (whom we loved from the moment we met her) and catch up.  The weather was beautiful.....nice and warm and sunny!

Next stop was to find parking and to take a tour of Santa Fe.  Aaron had met a lady a couple of months ago who ran a tour......so that's where we headed.

This tour was about an hour and a half tour cruising around the plaza and learning the history of Santa Fe. 

Here's the cathedral in the plaza.  No building in Santa Fe is allowed to be taller than this cathedral.....therefore, there are NO skyscrapers in this amazing city.

After the tour and a short potty and ice cream break.....I declared that we needed some pictures to mark this event.  Found an interesting place to take pictures (although everyone made fun of me for the location.....but I think this building and door made an excellent backdrop)

Aaron and the lovely Shaylene

 

I feel like more of an intruder in this picture!

 

 

Love this picture of me and the husband!

We decided to hop in the car and head over to Canyon Road.....which was the home of over 90 art galleries.  Most of them were closed by the time we got there, but we enjoyed walking around and looking at all the amazing sculptures on display.  We even found an auction going on that we hung out at for awhile.

This road was a narrow road that was curvy and a gorgeous ride (or walk)

 Some of the amazing sculptures that were on display

This guy was both creepy and cool

These two little love birds were so much fun to be around. 

 Just checking out all the local art!

By the time we finished up it was nearing dark......so we headed back to Aaron's apartment to chill for awhile.  All of us had gotten up really early......so there wasn't much energy to do anything.  Aaron had to drive Shaylene to the train station at 8pm and when he got back we all declared that we were just too tired to do anything.

We did manage to make a trip to Smith's Food Store and pick up some bologna, cheese, beer, and chips.  The three of us sat around and watched a movie on TV and finally declared it was bed time around 11pm!

After all, there was lots of adventure to be had the next day!

I thank God every day......

.....for this crazy guy coming into my life.

I truly, truly have found the person that I was meant to be with.

You are crazy as can be Mr. Gainor.......but together we have an incredible life!

Don't be jealous girls.......he's taken!

And the rest of the news is.........

Always an adventure around here.  You never know from one minute to the next what's going to happen.

Sometimes it's fun.....sometimes it's not.

We finally got our copy of Staci's new CD.  She finally got them produced.  We saw her on Saturday night and Paul was excited to get his new personally autographed copy.

Well Staci knew that Paul was going to not share his copy,

so she gave me my very own copy as well!

You can listen live to Staci here!

I finally got to harvest my first tomato.  Gonna eat him up this week.

And lastly for the news of the day: we had to go to the Houston Hernia Center yesterday.  Paul is now the lovely recipient of another hernia repair.  This time it's in his abdomen.  We will have that hopefully done during the week of June 2nd.

Gotta get him healed up and ready for the big trip to Tucson......yee haw!

Cleaning out the dropbox

Just looking through the last couple of days of pictures taken and put in the drop box.  Whatever pictures Paul or I take on our phones.....it gets sent over mysterious airwaves and shows up in our Dropbox.  That way, whenever I need a picture.....they are always there. 

Like today, we had lunch at a new restaurant and had a wonderful seat on the porch by their water fountain. 

Then there are the pictures that I took yesterday of my garden (are you bored with the garden pics yet?).  Actually, I had to trim the cucumber plant way back because of the darn lawn mowers.  However, the good news is that it's showing signs of lots of new growth:

And yesterday I went and bought a small fence to block the space in the yard where the viney plants will grow.  After I bought it and put it up, I realized it blends in too much with the yard and they might not see it.  So I had to put some bling on it.

And because all Paul's pictures go into the "joint" Dropbox......I never know what kind of pics he is out in the world taking until they download there.

Here's a treasure:

Moldy cheese what he wants to return to our supplier.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into the craziness that is Paul and Debbie!

Necessary daily details of life

Just another normal day here.

Paul just left to go run his errands, do prep, and work at the Kuy store tonight.

I'm home by myself, working on payroll, doing all necessary Monday routine activities (set up new paperwork, backups, etc.), and fiddling around the house.

A few things cropped up today that livened up the daily routine.

First of all:  Harris County came out again today to do some more work on our sidewalk.  They were here on Friday and discovered the problem was bigger than they originally thought.  The ended up taking up about 6 slabs of concrete covering about 80 feet of space.

They had pretty much finished up the work in front of our property, but had left a couple of places of sidewalk unlevel.  They fixed that today and it also looks like they filled in a couple of sinkholes as well.  It looked like an army of county vehicles out there again this morning....5 huge trucks and one little bull dozer and 8 guys.  But yay.......it's finally done.

 

 We finally replaced our old freezer for a new one this morning.  If you look to the left side of the picture, you'll see the dinosaur one. 

It was out in front of our neighbor's house one day so we brought it home.  That was about 7 years ago.....worked great until recently it was needing to be defrosted every two weeks......it was time to retire that thing.  It looked like something out of the 1960's.

We've moved into the 21st century freezers!

The most harrowing event in the last 24 hours was the snake.  I went out in the dark to light the BBQ and I saw the cat sitting near the porch just staring and not moving.  I thought at first she was going to the bathroom, but she was just sitting so still and staring.  I looked at where she was and here was this small portion of snake that could see right next to the BBQ. 

I ran and got the camera to take a picture of it.  Well apparently the flash was enough to brighten up the snake and did I get a SHOCK!  That guy was about 6 ft. long and he was sitting there staring at the cat.  I ran back into the house and just left the BBQ running and Paul had to go out there when he got home and shut it off.  Holy Crap!

We think the snake went into the neighbor's back yard, because we found our cat sitting on the fence looking down into their yard.  For the rest of the night she wouldn't come down off that fence.

Hope you have a happy day.......hope I have a productive one!