Waffles and a Puzzling Update?

I have a confession.  I have always wanted a waffle maker.  But I've never really eaten many waffles, nor have I ever made them at home.

While out shopping for stocking stuffers at Christmas time......I ran across this little waffle maker that makes 4 waffle sticks at a time.  And.....it was only $10!

I thought "what a deal" and if I find out I don't like making waffles.....I don't have that much money invested in it.

So last night I decided waffles and bacon for dinner.  I even tried cooking the bacon in the oven for the first time.  I've been cooking it in the microwave, but it was still a little time consuming.

Checking on the waffles and I was surprised at how nice and fluffy they were.

Mixed up a little butter with cinnamon and vanilla......and they were incredibly delicious. 

Verdict:  I'm going to keep my little cheap waffle maker.....these were perfect!

We finished our puzzle the other night.  Now I just need to glue it together with puzzle glue and frame it.....and it will proudly hang in our exercise room.

While I was at the store buying the glue......I also found our next two puzzle projects:

 The perfect puzzle for two bookworms (and it was marked down for clearance....what a deal!)

And the perfect puzzle for my license plate art obsession (and our map obsession)

.....in addition to being another puzzle marked down on clearance!

 

Now......need to find the spare time to get these puzzles built!

All things dog related

It was awesome to find someone to take care of our dog while we were gone to Vegas and Tucson this month.  I hate boarding places.  I wanted her to have a place where someone would love her and she would feel like she was safe and could run around.  We got lucky and found the perfect person.

She even sent us lots of pictures while we were gone so we could see how much fun Wrigley had while we traveled.

I got pictures of Wrigley making friends with the family and enjoying a day at the park

 I got pictures of Wrigley getting a belly rub

 

 I got pictures of Wrigley taking a nap after her walk to school

 I got a picture of a dog in a Target ad that looked very similar to her. 

 I got a picture of her being spoiled and getting to take a nap on Vanessa's lap while she studied

 And I got a picture of the little girl enjoying her new dog I brought her back from Tucson so she wouldn't miss sleeping with Wrigley every night.  (I really love how Cherry Nose the dog already has a new name and a new hat)

I'm so glad we have found someone to watch her when we go out of town.  I don't have to worry about her.  Of course, it was perfect to have Cris stay here and take care of her.....he was free :-)

And since this is a story about the dog.....I am sharing what she did the other night while I was making dinner.....she tore the stuffing out of a comforter and put my shoe on the sofa (??? not sure why she grabbed the shoe???)

Well as if she hadn't had enough fun the first night, I walked out of the kitchen to this............

Yes.....this time she tore the stuffing out of a quilt and once again put a shoe on the couch (????).  I'm not sure why she keeps putting a shoe up there, however, this time she had to go and get the shoe out of the box I keep them in so she won't get them. 

Seriously, our dog has a problem.

Our last couple of weeks....some good times & some bad times

The last two weeks have been crazy.

And I'm so glad to be back home after so many days sleeping in different cities.

 

Aaron and Shay left to go home to Albuquerque on Sunday.

We left for a 5 day trip to Vegas.

 

The first 3 nights were spent on the strip

This was the view that we discovered in the shower when we arrived at the Flamingo.

 

They responded quickly to our phone call and came it cleaned up.

However, this is why we chose this particular hotel.........

The view of the strip!  We loved laying on the bed with the lights off and watching all the action below.  That's Caesar's Palace right across from us and the fountain was just a little to the left.  The curtains opened and closed with a switch next to the bed......so we could wake up every morning and open the curtains from bed.

 

The Flamingo Hotel had an awesome outdoor area with, of course.......Flamingos!

We saw a show each evening beginning with:

 Cirque de Soleil: Beatles Love at the Mirage

Raiding the Rock Vault at the Tropicana

V: the Variety Show at Planet Hollywood

After 3 nights on the strip......we shifted to stay downtown at the D Hotel.  We had a 32nd floor corner room and the view at night from two sides was unbelievable.

We spent the last night trying to earn back some of what we'd spent.

We didn't get it all back......but we each had a lucky streak that gave us some of it.

We hopped on the plane at 12:30AM to fly back home.  Our plane was set to land at 5:30 am.  Needless to say, we slept on the plane. 

However, our trip to Vegas this year did not give us much excitement and fun as past trips.  We got the news of Phil and needed to make plans to get to Tucson.  It was nice to get home and spend time with the family again, however, there was also sadness for the reason we had to go.

Our family loved Phil.  The highlight of every trip was the time that we would get to spend hanging out at their house.  Many more words to write.......but not ready to put them down yet.

Three days in Tucson was well spent, but then I needed to get home.  I was ready.

I sure did miss Pizza Zone pizza.  Paul made me this Muffaletta for dinner this week.  Had too much work to try and get done when I got home.

We sampled a Cherry Pie Pizza.  I can't describe how delicious this was.  I think it's going to be featured in February and a temporary item.  It's Washington's birthday month.....get the connection?

This is my house 3 days after getting home.  I still had 3 suitcases to unpack, a travel bag to unpack, Wrigley's backpack that she took to "camp" with her, and boxes of stuff that got delivered:

There's also the stockings from Christmas and a bag of wrapping paper (wth????) sitting in the living room that needs to be put away.

And of course it's the first of the month, W2 time, end of the quarter, tax time, and all kinds of other time that are just taking up too much of my time.

Oh yeah......and then I bought this thing online to work on when we got home from all the trips. 

Yeah right.......we're going to try and do a 1000 piece puzzle in the no spare time that we have.
We started it last night.

And the last thing we discussed last night was........working out the preliminary details to see if we can go to this in March:

I need to get my butt in gear

Some good news revealed -- but endings still unknown

Well Paul and I are not having a baby.....so no secret surprise news revealed there.

All news this week is related to Cris and Aaron and all are career related.

Cris got a visit this week from one of his higher ups and invited to post for an open position.  It's another Assistant Manager but at a 3x busier and bigger store.  That means more money and potentially bigger bonuses.  Nice news is.....it's even closer to where he just moved.  Only a couple of minutes from his house.  Sounds like a good step up for him.

We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Aaron posted for a Sales Rep job that opened up in Albuquerque.  He has an interview on Friday.  He really wants to take this next move in his career, as being a sales rep is one of the steps necessary in future "big wig" manager jobs.  Plus, it would be a lot closer to home for him since he wouldn't have to commute to Santa Fe every day.  Another plus is they provide him with a car and this job would involve taking customers out to eat a lot and getting to play golf a lot.  Sounds like his kind of job.

We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Lots of good news from the kids.  I'm a proud mama this week.

Family field trip

Part of the kid's never ending supply of Christmas gifts included tickets for all of us to go and see a Texan's game.  Well all of us, but Paul.  He didn't want to go and sit high up (he missed out on a good time).  So the four of us got tickets and were excited to see our very first NFL game in person.  Not one single one of us had ever been to a  NFL game before, except Paul.  Maybe that's why he didn't want to go.....he had already been to one.

So.....here is the highlights of our special day. 

We left the house early, picked Cris up and headed to the lot where we would take the light rail train to the stadium.  We met a couple of Aaron's friends in the parking lot who were tailgating and hung out with them for awhile before making our way into the stadium.

And of course we needed a selfie to commemorate the event!

And we needed some action shots!

 

And we needed to document the celebration on the field for winning the game

and the AFC South Championship........go Texans!

 

And we needed a last parting shot as we left of all of us and the field. 

We really did have an amazing time at the game.

I love this picture of us!

 

We got home and loaded up the car to take Aaron and Shay to the airport so they could go back home.  Then all of us (including Paul) headed out to go eat dinner together.

 

We really had a great time while the kids were here and it was nice to spend time as a family and have fun together.  Can't wait until their next visit......we have already started making plans of what we want to do.

Hello from Houston!

It's a new year. 

I love how fresh it feels at the beginning of the year and how sick of it I am by the end of it.

Just here to share some of the things happening with us the past week.  Our house has been busy with having the company here.

We began Paul's birthday with a family field trip to the Escape Room.

Waiting outside in the lobby waiting to see if we could escape in time!

Success......with only 31 seconds to spare.  We can't tell you what it was like because we don't want to spoil the fun.  The group we worked with was from England and we really enjoyed playing with them.  Each person in our group contributed to the solving of all the puzzles to escape.

The courtyard where the escape room was so beautiful and decorated for Christmas. 

We asked out team mates to take a family picture of us.

Actually, we asked them to take a couple of them!  It was fun being all together and spending the day.  We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon having lunch, opening our Christmas presents and celebrating our Christmas, and taking a nap.  Then it was off to the Winter Lights at the horse track.

We had no idea what to expect, but when we got there......this was the entrance!

Had to stop and document the evening with the birthday boy.  It sure was cold that evening!

It truly was a spectacular place to walk around

Paul and Shay were "walking like Egyptians" in front of the Egypt display

Here are Paul and Shay getting hatched from dinosaur eggs

Here is me and my best friend making out in front of the sunflowers

I look drunk.  Trust me I'm not.  I didn't even have a drink that day.

After walking around the lights and the carnival for a couple of hours....we headed out to get a quick bite to eat for dinner and then off to bed.

I made a LOT of chimichangas for the family the night after Paul's birthday.  These were supposed to have been enjoyed on his birthday, but due to a late lunch and a late night enjoying the lights.....we postponed it.  Doesn't matter when we eat them......just as long as we eat them when we're all together.

Stocked up on an awesome online sale for my lotions and potions.  Also scored a 20% off discount with the help from my sister.  This ought to take care of us for awhile.

Getting to use one of my Christmas gift from Aaron & Shay.....they know my current obsession with license plate items.  Luckily, we had just taken a wonderful family picture to put in it.

I now got to hang up the calendar I made for Paul and I with pictures from all our exciting adventures in 2015.  I also made one for Aaron and Shay with their pictures to enjoy in their home.  It will be so much fun each month to look at the pictures and remember the memories that made them happen.

And last but not least, I got out the travel pouch that I'll be using next

weekend to hold all the $$$ I hope to be winning!

Tomorrow we will celebrate the last day of Aaron's visit with all of us going to the Texans game (except for Paul).  Our plan is to have dinner together.  I'm looking forward to it.

2015 was a wonderful year for us......cheers to an even greater 2016!