Through Sickness...

and in health...

Yep, that's what I signed up for.  However, I must say that I enjoy Dan in health way more than in sickness.

Aren't they pathetic...

Today Dan stated that he is still sick, but he is more tolerable :) Thank Heaven's for that!

Thanksgiving According to Remington

Now that you all know how my Thanksgiving went, I suppose I should let you know what Remington was up to all those days.  Is it sad that I document almost every hour of his life via my IPhone... I swear I'll end up with more pictures of that dog than my own children :)

Remington enjoyed lots of play time in P-town.  This mostly involved chewing up tennis balls until I had to take them away from him. Nothing like holding a slobbery wet ball!

He spent a lot of time hanging out in his all time favorite place in the bathroom. Sadly, he fits perfectly here and has loved snoozing in this nook his whole life!

He spent a lot of time cuddling with his Mom... I of course soaked this time up since most of the time he does this with his Dad.

He did a lot of bed hogging!!!  Dan and I have a king size bed to accommodate for Remington's large size, but at my parents house we all three often times squeeze in a full size bed.  It's pretty comical... can you imagine it!

He spent a lot of time just lounging around in general...

And most importantly, he spent a lot of time missing his best buddy... Dad!

"Can we go home and see Dad yet Mom???"

If only we all could have had a Thanksgiving as enjoyable as this.

Catching up...

I've been missing in action for the past few days... so let me try to catch you up.

Dan had to work Thanksgiving... go figure... so Remington and I headed off to P-town!  WHAT WHAT!  Sometimes I feel like the holidays are ruined for us, because well... Dan and I almost always spend them apart.  This Thanksgiving was especially taxing on Dan since he worked practically 36 hours straight.  I felt really bad for him as he suffered through lack of sleep.  I think since his body was worn down, he then came down with a horrible cold :(  Poor guy.

Anyways, Remington and I spent 5 days in P-town with my parents.  It was a really relaxing trip... full of fun, family, and food!  We had Thanksgiving at my Aunt's where I got to meet two cute pups :)

 Sweet Lily!  My cousin's son's new puppy!  She was so sweet!

And Mr. Cooper.  This was my Aunt's friend's daughter's dog... hehe!  He was a medium Labradoodle!  Loved him!

Once the Thanksgiving festivities were over with, I spent the other days with my family.  We played lots of games...

I had to make up for lost game time with Aunt Boo since we didn't get to see each other! I know you were heartbroken Boo when you saw I was playing games without you...

And we did a lot of relaxing... I actually got to read books I wanted to! HEAVEN!

All together it was a nice vacation away from every day life. I now am dreading going back to work! Bring on CHRISTMAS BREAK!

Someone to love me...

Remington goes from person to person in our house and will rest his head on our hands looking for some love...

Can you honestly imagine this dog not getting the bulk of love in our household???

But he just craves more and more.

World's Best Lasagna

Dan requested lasagna for dinner... I wanted to make something different and not my usual stuff. So I found this recipe.  I wonder if it will live up to it's name???

World's Best Lasagna (www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions 

 

In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. 

  

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. 

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  

Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese. 

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Dan rated this a 9 after it was done.  But when we had it for leftovers the next day he rated it a 10! Why is it some times things taste better as left overs???  I'll admit, the lasagna was good, but took way to long to prepare. I probably wouldn't make it again.

Dan's Thanksgiving

Dan will be working all through Thanksgiving... yes... he works his life away!  So I thought I would fix him some food to enjoy this weekend and for leftovers this week since he won't be able to celebrate with our family. I'm such a good wife aren't I?

I made him pumpkin muffins.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bundt Cake.

And Lasagna (recipe to come).

I'm going to make sure I'm not the only one gaining weight over the holidays :)

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of November 14th - November 20th... it doesn't look like I'm going to make my running goal for November since so far I've only ran like 3 miles of my 40 miles.  Guess I should have taken some people's advice when they told me not to set myself up for failure (Heather).  I don't know what my deal is... I just can't get myself in gear right now.  I'm sure it has something to do with the weather and me just wanting to curl up under my covers when I get home.  Very disappointed... in myself.

I keep saying after Thanksgiving I'll step it up... I hope I take my own advice.

Heavy Heart...

Dan, Remington and I have had a heavy heart this week...

One of our very close friend's father passed away of a heart attack...

She was half way around the world when it all happened...

It was all I could stand to not be there with her as she traveled home...

So instead, I spent my time praying for her...

For her family...

For them to be comforted...

For their pain to be eased...

We've had a heavy heart this week...

Mileage Monday

Running stats for the week of November 7th - November 13th...

I asked Dan how I could go from being so active this summer to a lazy bum now that the winter is coming.  He calmly replied that he thinks I have seasonal affective disorder!

Good excuse... yes... the real culprit... probably not!

A Year of Dates : November 2011

As promised, here's my first post about Dan and I's "Year of Dates".  For November, Dan picked an "Out and About" date. Here is what we did!

Paint Your Own Pottery 

For this date we drove to a place in our city called "You are the Potter".  When you get there you get to pick out the piece of pottery you want to paint, paint it however you like, and then they put it in the kiln to finish it off!  For this date we each picked out the piece of pottery we wanted and then gave it to the other person to paint. We were there for almost 3 hours painting!  We each picked out a coffee mug.

After we were done painting we went to our favorite pizza place for dinner... JACKOMOS. It was a long wait, but well worth it.  Once we were seated we ordered our favorite appetizer, spinach artichoke bites, and pizza, half shrimp scampi/half chicken pesto!  All of it was super good!

I thought this date was very fun and enjoyable!  We each had a great time painting our pottery and chatting while we did. Dan mentioned several times how much fun he had and they we need to do that stuff more often. All together I think our first date for the year was a success.  We'll see what the next ones bring :)

I'll leave you with how each of our mugs turned out...

I decorated Dan's mug as a "Doodle Dad" mug with paw prints all over!!!  Awesome huh?

Dan decorated mine in a variety of my favorite colors!  Love it!

And that was our first date in our Year of Dates! 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects vs. Incoco Nail Polish Strips

I have no idea why I have all of a sudden become obsessed with my nails... I mean, I'm the kind of girl who doesn't care about makeup, my hair, my clothes, my shoes... anything!  I'm a tomboy at heart... but for some reason I'm completely obsessed with my nails at this moment in time.

This is how I believe the obsession started... I tried Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips.  These little babies last for 2 weeks on my nails with no chips or anything except for the grow out!  AMAZING!  When I use most regular nail polish it last 2-4 days... BLAH!  I don't have time to redo my nails all the time so the nail polish strips are wonderful!  PLUS... they have neat designs!!!  For example look at these cool Christmas ones that are out right now!

LOVE!

Well... after I found the Sally Hansen ones I was trying to find other companies that make nail polish strips. Believe me, there aren't many! That is when I found my dream nail polish strip company!  INCOCO!  They have way more designs than Sally Hansen does. They have french manicure ones, design ones, regular ones... you name it they have it!  I mean look at the Christmas ones that will be coming out soon!

TOO CUTE!

Here is what I like and dislike about both...

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips

PROS:

- stay on full 2 weeks on my nails

- can get 2 uses out of one package (save the other half for later)

- can buy at a regular department store

CONS:

- a bit pricey

- not as high of quality as Incoco

- not many options when purchasing

 

Incoco Nail Polish Strips

PROS:

- stays on a full 2 weeks on my nails

- tons of designs, even french manicure

- can use one package on nails and toes

- strips are much more sticky and high quality

CONS:

- a bit pricey

- have to order online and pay shipping

- could only get one use out of package (once opened you have to use or they will dry out) I tried to close them back up with the tape they provide, but mine still dried out before my next use

Honestly, I can really not say enough about these little inventions!!!  I would not hesitate to use either company.  I lean toward the Sally Hansen ones because I'm able to get two uses out of them, but then I lean toward the Incoco ones because their designs are awesome and the quality much better!!!  Truly they are both a win win for me!  And for anything to stay on my nails for 2 weeks straight is a miracle!

Harry Potter Pranked!

Everyone who knows me, with out a doubt, realizes my love for Harry Potter. I have read each book seriously 8 times.  Yes folks, I re-read the entire series every time a new movie comes out!  I have seen all the movies and have most of them. Also, when I was in college... I had Harry Potter posters hanging all over my dorm room and even a Harry Potter comforter.  Call me strange... I don't care.  I love the fellow!  Now that I'm 27 years old, I don't broadcast my love for him much anymore.  I mean, the students who work for me already think I'm old and a little crazy.

Well, this morning when I got into work... I went downstairs to pick up the phonathon forms from the night before that the students had left.  Right now we have a countdown going on about how many days until Thanksgiving Break.  I went to change it to "16 Days Left" and what I saw made me laugh out loud.  There, taped to the board was a picture of me dressed in Harry Potter gear.  I have no clue where they found the picture, but they obviously put it up thinking it would embarrass me. If they think that will embarrass me, they have another thing coming...

In return for their practical joke... I emailed them pictures of me showing my Harry Potter support!  I have no shame people!

We love Harry Potter!

Yes, we are your biggest fans!

I thank my Aunt Ingrid for pressuring me to read the books!  They are fab!  And I will never forget the moment when we both discovered that Dumbledore's mother's name is KENDRA!  My obsession was always meant to be! GO GRYFFINDOR!

Remington's Phone Dump Friday!

Peppermint Mocha!

Have you seen what McDonald's has for the holidays!  Peppermint Mocha and Peppermint Hot Chocolate!  YUM YUM YUM!  I know I'm working on cutting back... but I saw this and could not resist!  It's well worth it!

November Running Goal

I have to have a goal people, or I'm just not gonna do it! I'm just gonna keep slackin' on my running!  And that my friends is unacceptable!

So here's my goal for the month of November.  I want to run 40 miles this month.  That will be about an average of 10 miles a week, which doesn't seem like that much, but when you throw Thanksgiving in there that will definitely have an impact on me.

Let's hope that having a goal in mind will help motivate me... let's hope!