Meet Gerard

We caught this naughty raccoon on the back porch one night, sneaking dog food out of Rosco's bowl. Decided to name him Gerard, since he lives in the yard.

betsy: "So how do you get rid of a raccoon once he discovers you have food out?"

steven: "You don't. You have to shoot it."

betsy: "Well, guess you'll have to shoot it then."

steven: "Can't. We already named him. You can't shoot them once you name them. It's a pet now."

Great.

Oh, Bad, Bad Dog

It's been so hot, i got Rosco a little kiddie pool to cool off in. He won't get near it. The pool is really scary. But he likes the lake, and the river...i don't understand.
I left him alone for an hour to get used to the idea of it, and came back outside to see this destruction in my garden. He dug up the cilantro and sat on the mint.He's in big trouble.

Camping Fun

We recently spent the weekend at McKinney Falls State Park, south side of Austin/almost to Bastrop. The park was beautiful!
We had a nice shady campsite.
There was a pretty swimming area at the waterfalls.
I was so brave. I jumped!

Great hike and bike trails too!

And I finished up the evening with cosmos...
...and s'mores around the campfire!

POOL PARTY!!!

Friend Stacey is moving to D.C., so we had a going away pool-party/bbq to say goodbye.

Let's All Go to the Movies

My friends from book club decided to go see Sex and The City II at the new Gold Class Theater at the Domain. The theater is amazing! Yes, it's a little pricey, but totally worth it for the experience.
We had cosmos and cocktails in the lounge before the movie.

Big comfy seats, and they'll bring you a pillow or blanket if you like.
They even turned caesar salad into a finger food--hearts of romaine dunked in caesar dressing!

Fun With Food

A few weeks ago we decided we were tired of always having a full pantry and freezer, but NO FOOD! Why do we spend $100 a week on groceries but have all this stuff we never use? So, we went on a mission to eat what we have and not buy any groceries for one week. It made for some interesting meals, and I discovered a few good recipes/ideas too! A VERY helpful website was www.supercook.com. You plug in a few random ingredients you have laying around, and it suggests recipes based on what you have on hand. Supercool!

Here are a few yummy meals I made:

Sheppard’s Pie—browned ground beef (from 3 different baggies of frozen hamburger I found in there?!?) , beef gravy (made from the hamburgers drips, beef broth from boullion, and flour), and frozen corn, then it all gets topped with mashed potatoes (made from frozen hash browns, who woulda thought of that?! And a little butter/milk/salt/pepper)—bake the whole thing till bubbly and hot. This would make good hangover food, I think ;)

Spaghetti Casserole—spaghetti noodles, jar of tomato sauce, pepperoni (from freezer, sautéed first with non stick cooking spray to be a little crispy), chunks of mozzarella cheese (cut up string cheese), fresh basil from the garden, and topped with a little bit of mozzarella and parm cheese—bake till bubbly and hot.

Garlic Noodles and Sausage—sweet Italian sausage (from freezer, browned and crumbled), then sauteed with thawed out Garlic Noodles from PF Changs (those were leftover from dinner one night and I had thrown them in the freezer for a rainy day). This was the best, most simple dinner I made all week. The flavors were absolutely amazing. Seriously, I would go back to PF Changs, buy the noodle dish, and bring it home and eat it with this sausage; it was that good! Actually my goal is to find a good copycat recipe for the noodles online so I can make a big batch of my own. I already know they freeze well, so why not make a bunch, then freeze it in small portions and use it when you need it!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts—chicken breast (from freezer), dredged in flour and grilled on the George Foreman with salt, pepper, and olive oil spray, then stuffed with bacon (from freezer, cooked till extra crispy) and Jack cheese.

I still have bags and bags of broccoli in the freezer, so my next big meal is probably some broccoli cheese soup or broccoli rice casserole. But this was a really fun experiment! It forces you to be creative, and save a little on the grocery bill too.

6 Months Already

It’s been six months since my Dec 1st jaw surgery! Things keep getting better, slowly but surely. I still have the numb patch on my face that goes from the left side of the lower lip to the bottom of the left side of my chin. I also have a little bit of dull pain, like sinus pain; it’s not been bad except for around Easter when I got a massive sinus infection that eventually spread to both my eyes. My whole face was so, so sore for weeks—it felt like I was recovering from surgery all over again!

I can finally eat whatever I want, I just go a little slower with the crunchy/chewy stuff because I don’t have a lot of side-to-side motion when I chew. And I still can’t open my mouth quite as wide as I used to, so sometimes I can’t bite into something huge without tearing it into smaller pieces first.

When I got the braces off a few months ago, the midline of my upper jaw was dead-on—it lined up perfectly with my upper lip. However, the lower jaw was off to the right side just a hair. That is slowly, slowly starting to line up correctly as well. The orthodontist explained to me last month that this is from the muscles in the face not moving for so long, not necessarily because the bones aren’t in the right place. So we’re waiting to see if it just settles into place on it’s own. Sometimes it just takes time! But really, it’s something that no one will ever notice but me…

I also had to do some whitening treatments with my dentist; the braces left some teeth a little discolored. I’m still doing a whitening tray in the evenings, but am really happy with my smile right now! Teeth have stayed nice and straight (permanent retainer on bottom, and clear Invisalign retainer on top while I sleep). Biggest change in my facial structure is that I actually have a chin now because it was pulled forward so much—definitely makes for a better profile! It’s also been the source of much gossip—I’ve heard rumors that I had a chin implant, weight-loss surgery, liposuction, you name it.

To date, I’ve lost 25 lbs since the surgery, and somehow kept it off! I really tried to change my eating habits throughout this whole experience--and stick to it. It’s motivating when you see such quick results, so in a way I was lucky to “have to” lose it the way I did—because I didn’t have a choice!

Happy Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day on the boat (of course!)

We hung out with friends in the Cove on Saturday and Sunday

It was packed full of boats, especially compared to last year during the drought.

Monday we had a quieter day at Arkansas Bend with friends and their kiddos.

Steven organized a splash contest.

And then they threw me in...

Mother's Day at the Ballet

Going to the ballet, Coppelia, at the Long Center downtown.

Time for F-U-N!!!

i won tickets to Fiesta Texas on the radio! What a great way to kick off the summer!!!