2016

Happy New Year!

A new year, and a few resolutions ...

Get back into blogging.
Spend less time on my phone.
Be more organized and get rid of clutter.

I feel like I should be able to handle these.

And how was the end of 2015?

We are all sick and quarantined and spent New Year's Eve at home. I made party food (spinach artichoke dip and Mexican bean dip), and we watched football (Roll Tide!) and Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. Baby G declared it bedtime after she watched Taylor Swift's new video premiere, but Bean Dip was determined to stay up to watch the NYC ball and the Nashville music note drop.

And he made it!

Here's to a year of reunions, adventures, peace, health, and happiness.

Today ...

... Was the second full day of school and first day of football practice. Yep, Lem chose to play flag football this fall. I really wanted him to play soccer, but it was his decision.

Anyway, the morning started out pretty rough, because he didn't get his usual TV time to wake up and drink his milk. (For the record, instead of watching TV, he finished his chess game with Oma.) It turned into a huge fight and ended with him losing TV for a week and both of us mad. He was still mad when he got on the bus, but at least he wasn't crying.

Fast forward to the afternoon. He gets off the bus in a fantastic mood. He's wearing a crown, awarded for being the star student the first week of school (which was only two days). He also has a slap bracelet and a flute, which he bought with his good behavior tickets. He's in such a great mood, saying he loves me and I can share his slap bracelet with him.

I was in a much better mood as well, and had already decided that no TV for a week was pretty harsh. I know, I know, you are supposed to follow through with your punishments, or your kid won't think you are serious. But I'd thought about it, and decided that perhaps that wasn't the best route this time. He's going through a lot right now -- dealing with starting school, Gwyn's birthday, and also Win leaving. It's a lot for a five-year-old to handle. He'd been doing well, but this past weekend was rough. As I expected he'd react to the deployment -- he's angry. (Gwyn is sad.)

So, it helped that he was in such a great mood. And it lasted the rest of the night. I think football will be fun, he pretty much just ran and ran for an hour. Gwyn did too, she does her laps across the field. And it was pretty awesome that the coach was wearing a Flash t-shirt. Lem introduced himself to the team as "My name is Lem, a.k.a., The Flash," and the coach was calling him Flash. And his team color is red, his favorite color.

Gwyn's first day of preschool is tomorrow. She is not excited about it. I hope that she is happy once she gets there. She has her Dora backpack and a Dora lunchbox, and it's only half a day.

So many changes these past couple weeks.

My Birthday

Back up two weekends ago to my birthday. We spent the day in Nashville. I wanted BBQ and to visit the botanical gardens. So that's what we did.

We ate lunch first, at Hog Heaven in Nashville, near Centennial Park and Vanderbilt University. Hog Heaven has won awards for its BBQ, and my parents have eaten there and loved it. It is take-out only, but that works perfectly with the park across the street.

I was super excited to get some amazing BBQ, but sadly, it just wasn't up to par. I wonder if maybe it was just an off day, or we were too early (it was barely noon). Win said my pulled pork the weekend before was better (that made my day). But the location was great -- we sat at the park and listened to sound checks for the Musicians' Corner (modeled after Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London). And I loved the vibe of the area -- eclectic and full of university people.

We headed over to the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens (it was a straight, 15-minute drive from the park). FYI, if you are military, ask for the discount! It's 50 percent off. The gardens were beautiful, and they had a model train exhibit outside, which the kids loved. We checked out the art museum, which had a Wild West exhibit from the Buffalo Bill collection in Cody, Wyoming.

We headed home soon after that. Almost two hours of walking, and it was time. Rich and Jessica came over later that evening, to watch the LSU-Alabama game with us. Jessica made me an amazing chocolate-coconut cake, and they all helped me drink my fancy bottle of Champagne (Moet Imperial Rose) that Win got me. Bama lost, which was a disappointment, but I had a good birthday in spite of it.

For more information on Hog Heaven, click here. I would definitely give it another chance, clearly, it has fans!
For more information on Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, click here.

Football Sundays

Win pretty much lives for football, so now that the season's started, Sundays are all about the game. We stay home, get ready for the upcoming week, and Win watches football. I watch some, and so do the kids, but usually we watch a movie downstairs (this week it was Thor).

Foodwise, I've decided that during football, on Sundays I'm going to make "football food," or Sunday dinner type stuff. The last two weeks I've made chili,but this week I made pulled pork, but not the way you'd think. I took my mom's recipe and The Pioneer Woman's for Spicy Pulled Pork and started cooking. It turned out delicious and was super easy.

My Spicy Pulled Pork:

1 boneless pork roast
1 can green chili enchilada sauce
1 can Rotel Original
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
cumin
salt and pepper
1 lime

All I did was put the roast in my Dutch oven, and put everything over it and stick in the oven at 300 degrees for five hours, covered. I turned it every hour, and when it was fork tender, I took the lid up and turned the heat up to 425 for 20 minutes. The top got all crispy. Then I pulled it apart, and served it with tortillas and all your usual toppings.

I think the only changes I would make is add another can of enchilada sauce (more liquid) and roast it for another hour. But the whole family was a fan.

I also made Buffalo Chicken Dip. It turned out yummy as well. I looked at a couple different recipes and ended up making it like this:

Buffalo Chicken Dip:

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 12.5 oz. can shredded chicken

Mix it all together and bake until warm. I think I should have used my mixer because I had chunks of cream cheese in mine instead of being all uniform. I should have done that before I added the chicken, but I didn't feel like making more dishes. Also, it is delicious, but it's one of those recipes I think I liked better before I knew what was in it.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Our second major sporting event on Saturday was attending the preseason NFL game of the Titans against the Bears. Earlier in the week, I'd heard MWR was giving away free tickets, so Baby G and I went to stand in line to get six tickets. Rich and his friend, Toby, joined us for the game.

Let me tell you, I am falling in love with Nashville. We went down early, and walked downtown to eat before the game. We ended up at this place called Paradise Park on Broadway. Nothing fancy, but delicious burgers, cheap beer and great music. I guess Broadway is the main "strip." It was packed with people, there was live music inside every bar, and everyone was in a great mood. Next time, I'm wearing my cowboy boots. And so is G.

It was a long walk to the stadium, but we followed the crowds and took the pedestrian bridge across the Cumberland to LP Field. We had beautiful views of the riverfront and the stadium.

The game itself was great fun too. I had a hard time following the game (I kept losing the ball in the crowd). We were also way up in the nosebleed seats. The kids loved it -- they even got into doing the wave and cheering and booing. I think Bean Dip actually followed the game a bit.



We left during the last five minutes. The Titans won by one. We had the long walk back over the river and up the strip. We ended up carrying the kids most of the way. The streets were still packed, and everyone was still having a good time. I can't wait to get down there without kids, and join in on the fun.

The drive home really isn't bad at all. We are really only 40 minutes from downtown, and it's all highway. I think we will be spending lots of time down there.

Football at the Movies?

Have I mentioned how big football is down here?

Check this out: Title Game Auburn v. Oregon Offered at Carmike Cinema

Instead of going to see a movie, take your kids to the theater to see the big game, free admission with the purchase of a snack and drink.

Happy Birthday

To my OLD husband!

He really isn't that old, but he's older than me!

Since it's a Sunday, he'll be busy preparing for the week and watching football. I am going to make his apple pie, and we'll have venison for dinner, thanks to Rocky, his hunting buddy.

Last night we celebrated a little by going to our favorite place, Beef'o'Brady's, for some wings and football. (Auburn won the SEC Championship, by the way, and pounded South Carolina). We also went to look at Christmas lights, some guy in Enterprise has an impressive display up.

Guess ...

... what this is ...

It's giant. And super cool.

It's not just any helicopter, it's a sky crane.

One of the perks of being at the helicopter training center ... the Aviation Museum and seeing helicopters up close. (Top two photos by Bean Dip.)

We had a great weekend last week with some visitors: Win's dad and his youngest sister. We showed them the top sites in the area, namely, the Aviation Museum. The kids always love it, and Bean Dip liked telling Doc all the things he knows about helicopters. We also went to our favorite place ("That place we always go, with the games," according to Bean Dip), Beef'o'Brady's. We watch Alabama football and then went out for ice cream after. Baby G choose the Dark Chocolate Truffle and loved it. She even let me have some.

Roll, Tide, Roll!

This weekend is not only Labor Day weekend, the official end of summer, but also the start of the college football season. And never before have I felt the significance of that until yesterday.

Of course, Win was all excited and had already told me the lineup of games he wants to watch (one of which is on now). Then he got overwhelmed with about four different games on, plus a Cardinals game. We capped it off by going to our favorite sports bar/pub for dinner, Beef'o'Brady's. Or as Bean Dip refers to it, "the place were we always go to eat." They have about 25 televisions, a couple video games, and yummy yummy wings.

So anyway, we were there for the season kickoff of the Alabama game. The place was packed with fans wearing all their Bama gear, and everyone was wholeheartedly into the game. Baby G quite enjoyed all the clapping and cheering, and of course, she loves football, too.

Our neighbor has put his Alabama flags on his truck again, and it is clear that football is what keeps everyone happy here. As Win and I have discussed, Bama may not have much going for it, but it does have college football.