Beggers can't be choosers.......

In our very first post I introduced you to our family.... by our "family," I mean Vincent, Boat-Rider, Hannah & Mylie... These are our cats & dogs. We have too many.... but now we love them & there is nothing we can do about it now. I can only imagine how they will feel when they get a new little "brother" in just 2 1/2 months.....

My sister, Molly, hates it when people refer to their pets as their "children," and how I refer to her as my animals "Aunt Molly," and how her dog is my dog's "cousin." So, I, of course, do this even more often since she's told me that.....

We started off with just Vincent. I got him before Austin & I were married and Austin was living in France. He was living in a little town called St. Vincent de Tyrosse. Then, right before we got married, we decided he needed a friend... that is when Boat-Rider came along. Austin named Boats.... apparently it goes back to a childhood memory... Poor cat....

Well.... Vincent originally wasn't too keen on the idea of having a "brother," but eventually warmed up and now they are.... best of friends.... to say the least.... When Hannah came along (the black lab) Vincent was not too happy.... We've had Hannah now for 2 years now... and they still do not get along.

Here is a little video to show their love-hate relationship.

But there is a time when they always DO get along.....

And they lived Happily Ever After......

Christmas at the Kings

This is our second Christmas without either set of our parents. Last year we were unable to make it to Texas for Christmas and I believe Austin's mom was out of town. We did make it over to my sister, Molly's house, for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner....

In my family there are two holiday traditions that I refuse to give up. One of these is Fondue on Christmas Eve, the other is a Christmas movie at the theatre. I suppose the Christmas movie was always a big deal for our family because when we were younger, my parents hauling 5 kids to one movie had to have been quite an adventure.... and then picking out a movie that we all would like was another story.....

Well... On Christmas day I had to work from 7a-3p, so we knew that we would be celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve. I went out on Wednesday during our freezing rain storm and got all the ingredients for Fondue, artichokes, and apple pie. The best meal ever..... and my first attempt at all 3.....

I made chocolate chip cookies last week that did not turn out so good.... so I was worried about my apple pie....

I made Fondue for the first time.... and it turned out delicious. Nothing like stuffing your face with a tiny piece of fruit layered in thick, beautiful, delicious cheese.... Seriously... I think Austin and I ate 1.5 pounds of cheese between us... It was the best decision ever. I think we need to make this a weekly tradition.... 365 days is just too long.....

And the apple pie turned out delicious as well....

I can always tell how much Austin likes my cooking by how long he must sit on the couch afterwards before engaging in activity.... Let's just say we ate at 3pm and he did not get off the couch until it was time for bed. :)

Christmas dinner was a bit different. Austin picked me up for work (since we were in ANOTHER blizzard....) and we had no groceries for dinner. Apparently I was so focused on the Fondue I forgot that I needed to feed him for the ACTUAL holiday too.... No grocery stores were open.... just the gas station.... so.... we got THIS gourmet meal.....

Almost as good as the Fondue.....

However, the MOST disappointing thing about Christmas (though the birth of Christ is not disappointing at all.....), was not our gas station holiday meal, and not even that I had to work for 8 hours, but that this weather CLOSED DOWN THE MoVIE THEATRE! How are we supposed to watch our Christmas movie when the THEATRE closes? That NEVER happens! Oh well.... maybe next year! So... instead we found this 3D puzzle to do.... which turned out awesome. It will be our new centerpiece. I mean, who does not want a 3D cardboard sculpture puzzle of a Bald Eagle as their centerpiece?!?

Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless you all!

Signing off....

As some of you read in an earlier blog... I have an obsession. A serious addiction. It consists of one word, FarmVille. This little game on Facebook has caused me much turmoil in the past few months. It all started when I was in my first trimester and was too sick to move off the couch. Austin's Aunt Becky got me started on this little game and it has since taken over my life... and it is not just me that has noticed....


A month or so ago my parents were in town. My mom & my dad sat me down at lunch one day and this is about how the conversation went....


Mom: (in a very serious face) "Browyn, we need to talk to you about something."


Me: (confused) "What?"


Mom: "We think you play FarmVille too much and it is affecting your marriage. Austin is such a sweet boy and we think you are neglecting him."


Me: LAUGH


Mom: (still serious) "Browyn, I am serious, look at this article we found in the New York Times. It is all about how FarmVille is destroying relationships and affecting people lives negatively."

Then.... my mother shows me this article....





It's true!! A whole article in the New York Times about how students grades drop because they are late/miss class to harvest crops.... how people make their date wait for the blueberries to get harvested before going out to dinner.... and how now people must not only tend to THEIR crops, but also fertilize their FRIEND's crops. Well, I talked to Austin about this "intervention" my parents had with me... he also laughed at the idea... but did state some of the characteristics I had as some of the people in the article.


Well.... I made a promise to my sweet husband. A big one. I would quit FarmVille... Well, one day.... just not then. I told him I would quit on Christmas.... I mean, I couldn't quit earlier than that.... people had been sending me FarmVille Christmas presents that I could not open until then.... HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO QUIT BEFORE OPENING MY PRESENTS? Well.... Christmas was such a loooooonng time away so I wasn't so worried.... And my farm looked better then ever with all my holiday Poinsettias.....

Well.... Today after work I made a commitment. I quit. For good. I knew I had to do something rather then just "stop harvesting." I had to do something so I could not go back.... So.... I sold EVERYTHING.... and I mean EVERYTHING..... Every cute little horse, pig, cat, circus elephant, and even my clumsy reindeer..... down to each tree, chicken coop, and tractor. It's all gone. And to show my FarmVille friends goodbye I even crop dusted it into my farm....

"I QUIT".

So, here is Farmer Browyn signing off, on Level 43, 169,857 XP points....

My attempt at Chinese Food........

Tonight I attempted something I have never made before. I made Chinese Food. This is quite a big thing for me.... not just because it is cooking... but Austin's mom, Nancy, makes Spring Rolls that are one of Austin's ALL TIME favorites.... Did I really want to compete with that?!? Well.... there isn't much to do outside so I figured I had better at least try.... and testing out foods on Austin is always a good idea because he loves food.... no matter how good it really is.

So.... I looked up all the ingredients. Normally, I will look up a recipe and then if I don't know what one of the ingredients is, or where to find it, or what it looks like.... I won't make the recipe and make something else instead. But.... Austin wanted Eggrolls and Fried Rice.....

Normally I would not blog about my cooking adventure. I feel like Julie in "Julie & Julia" right now. Whenever I tell my little sister, Molly, a story she always says, "you should blog about that." Molly & John (her husband) are compulsive bloggers. So today... when she suggested I blog about my Chinese food.... I figured "why not?"

So.... Here is what it started out looking like.............

Then I rolled them up. This step was actually quite nice because it reminded me of rolling up the Subway Sandwiches like I did when I was a "Sandwich Artist" in college. ha.
I also made Chicken Fried rice.... but it was much easier.....
And the finished product.......And Austin only compared my Egg Rolls to Nancy's Spring Rolls once... Don't worry Nancy.... you won. :)

You scream! I scream! We all scream for ICE CREAM!

So, I have never been a big sweets person. Don't get me wrong, every now & then I enjoy a nice dipped cone or a Blizzard.... but it has never been something that I have felt like I "needed" everyday. Maybe part of this was the way that I grew up. Being one of 5 children any sort of "sweet" was a big deal.... and that included even sugar cereals.

My husband on the other hand, he loves sweets. I think "loves" may even be an understatement. He has the biggest sweet tooth I have ever seen. He has just been a gem for the past 3 years of our marriage enjoying sweets only on "special occasions," because otherwise we just buy the necessities... and a tub of ice cream was never a necessity.

Well.... for the past.... 26 weeks..... Austin has been in heaven... because lately this girl can not get enough sweets. I could eat anything with sugar by the truckload. It is absolutely disgusting. Well, I figured out that ice cream is not only the most tasty, but it does not give me heartburn either!! It is a double plus! (double plus in my buttocks too.... but we are focusing on the pluses of ice cream in this post....). I thought Austin was going to fall off his rocker the first time I came home with ice cream.... or doughnut holes... or baked brownies, cookies, or even cupcakes....

Well... now-a-days there has been a little "competition" for the sweets in our house. Austin is twice my size and can eat a lot more than me... even now. The other day after a long day of work I was sooooo excited to come home and eat my peppermint chip ice cream. I got out my favorite bowl, my new ice cream scoops, and a spoon. I opened up the freezer and my ice cream was nowhere to be found. I started freaking. I quickly was cursing my sweet husband's name in my head and went to the trash. Sure enough, the ice cream container was laying lifelessly in the trash... It was pure disappointment..... He ate all my ice cream.

This last weekend I went to the store and replaced my ice cream. Austin & I enjoyed a bowl together when I first brought it home. Delicious. The next night I went to get another snack before bed and I noticed that the ice cream level was getting rather low. How was I to hide ice cream from Austin so he would not eat it? I knew I worked the next 2 days and the ice cream would be gone with that much time alone with Austin..... action must be done...

So I did this.....

It worked!!! Tonight when I came home from work Austin told me that he just wanted a "spoon" of ice cream and pulled out the box and saw my note..... immediately felt guilty... and put the ice cream back.... without eating ANY! AMAZING!!! Now if only I could figure out a way to guilt him into doing the laundry...............

Blizzard of 2009!

So, I guess with there being a blizzard outside and being snowed in for 3 days, there is no excuse for me not to catch up on some blogging. For the past 2 days I have been shoveling the drive in the morning.... only because there was only 2 inches of snow or so... and I figured it would show Austin what a sweet wife I am so he will get up and shovel when I have to be to work at 630am and there is even MORE snow later this season.... however... today there was TOO MUCH for me to shovel so Austin had to do it anyway!

Well... Austin spent the WHOLE MORNING... (literally) shoveling after this crazy blizzard that we got yesterday/last night. He came in probably.... 4 times.... for "breaks." Well... turns out his hard work was for nothing because when he finally got it all done and headed off to work he got stuck.... in the street... right in front of our house. So.... Snow Day for the King Family! :)

The dogs LOVE the snow... well.... Hannah loves the snow... Mylie does not have enough fat on her to truly enjoy the benefits of the white flaky stuff... but, none-the-less, we have them play in it all the time! :)

Here are some videos of the King Family's snow day!