A Thankful Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for a few things Thanksgiving brought around this year:

1) Thankful for a Mom and little sister who came to visit.


2) Thankful Mom and Kayla patiently sat at the airport for over an hour because I drove to the wrong one in Raleigh. No picture here. Just imagine me with this look on my face :(

3) Thankful Kayla will happily humor me by chasing oversized, quail-looking birds. That is, until one chased her back.

4) Thankful we are not too old to sit with Santa.


5) Thankful for this guy who was happy to entertain and suggest only the best places to visit.

6) Thankful for the nice fall weather.


I'm lucky to have so much more to be thankful for. The visit was great. Thanks for coming!

Dani Doesn't Do Scary

Dani has never like scary stuff. There was a time in high school when I made her go see "What Lies Beneath" in the theater. Even though we ran into a kid I knew and got to see it for free, she hated it. A few years later I made her watch "Road to Perdition", which isn't even scary, but Tom Hanks got his head blown off at the end. She hated that one too. Then, I tried to describe to her how cool "Vacancy" was while we were staying in a old motel near Universal Studios in CA. She freaked out at just the description and Chris told me I had to quit pretending to pound on the door adjoining our room to a second (supposedly empty) one.

Its just sad. Because ever since I started watching scary movies with Anna, I was hooked. I used to be terrified of "The Exorcist" and "Silence of the Lambs".Then was scared of "The Grudge." I talked Mark into seeing that one with me and suffered for it practically a whole year later. In the middle of the night I would hear the "uuuuuuuuuhhh" sound. He thought he was so funny.

Now, its the governmental conspiracy/zombie movies that get me. Like, the "Crazies" and "Quarantine" Because, even though it is unlikely that there would be manufactured virus that would make us zombie-like killers, it is more plausible than the existence of vampires. Right? Unless you want to defer to the book The Passage which tries to come up with a scientific version of vampires.

This brings me to the whole purpose of this blog. 1)It October and a blog about scary stuff is timely; and 2) I can't go to the bathroom because I am completely creeped out by the bathtub lady in Stephen King's The Shining. (The book, not the movie, because his description of this scene is so much scarier) The second I go in there I'm imagining the bathtub lady standing up, hearing the water sloshing and her soggy footsteps as she chases me down the hall...

Scary stuff. No wonder Dani hates it.

Viva Greensboro!

The internet is running, TV is hooked up, kitchen stuff put away in cabinets lined with new shelf paper ($9 bucks a role- way overpriced), and a load of laundry is going as I type. We are officially moved in.

It took two loads in the U-Haul, and a lot of lifting on Thursday. Two big guys to help with the heavy furniture on Friday and fast food whenever we had the chance. But we are happy to say this place already feels like home. Our neighbors on both sides of the house introduced themselves. We had a bird fly into the glass window. We rode our bikes across the street to the park this morning. Not a bad weekend.

Pictures will be coming!

What Else Would I Blog About?

Mark saw this really big spider building his web in a tree outside. He is a fast spinner. Really amazing. And gross. Click on it for a bigger picture. You know you want to.

Chicago

We just got back from Chicago a few days ago. The purpose of our trip was to attend Mark's cousin's wedding, but we stayed a few days to enjoy the city. We went to the Chicago Art Institute, Sears Tower (no one pays attention to the building's name change), took a architectural boat tour, went to a cubs game, and went to to the Field Museum. Transformers 3 was filming, and even though it was inconvenient to be blocked off from some of the bridges, we enjoyed seeing the movie magic. We loved staying at the historical Whitehall Hotel (even though the decor reminded us of 1408 and The Shining) and eating pizza and hot dogs. Thanks Sue and Brian for coordinating everything. Lots of love to my "sis" Marti!

I can't post all of my favorite pictures, here are just a few:

Happy 2140 Days

(Engagement Photo 2004)

A few months after we were married, we bought our Altima. At the dealership, the salesman suggested red because it was already on the lot. I thought back to the conversations Mark and I had about cars and remembered Mark saying that he liked red cars and so I said that I liked red. Mark was happy with the choice and so we drove the car home.

Not long after, Grandpa bought an Altima, except his was a charcoal gray.
"I love that color!" I said.
"Me too."
"How did we end up with red?"
"I thought you wanted it."

Now, occasionally we have to ask each other, "This isn't another red car, is it?" Our communication has improved but our sentiment remains the same. Happy 6th Anniversary, Mark.

"Yes, I'll Finally Take You to the Haw River"

It started with a coupon I found in the weekly mailer. It was from a local business offering $10 bucks off rental of a canoe that you can use to float down the Haw River. I first saw it in January, when it was way too cold to even consider going outside, let alone renting a canoe and floating down the river. But ever since then, when Mark asks me what I want to do on the weekend, it has become a longstanding request (and now a joke) that we go to the Haw River. Suprisingly we ended up actually going to the river last weekend. We didn't float down it in a canoe (need to leave something to do this summer) but we hiked alongside the river.




This is the same dog that won't go to the bathroom on the grass if its wet.







A picture for Mom so that she'll recognize me when she picks me up at the airport :)

Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good:



The Bad:



And the "Holy Crap!" Ugly:





LOTS of bugs out here.

R.O.U.S. Roadkill

The other day I was walking around my neighborhood with Dori and noticed a little brown thing in a pond. It was brown, about the size of a cat, and it was swimming. I've been going through the list of swimming brown things that I know of, and all I could think of is a beaver, an otter, and a Rodent Of Unusual Size. None of which seem to really fit. But this is the area it was swimming in:






The sad part, depending on what this little creature is, is that I saw its carcass on the road yesterday. I tried to take a picture so that it could be properly identified, but it was kind of missing its head. This is how close I got:



But I imagine, that if I got closer, it would've looked like this:





So, if anyone knows what kind of animal this is, please let me know. Its bugging me.

Waiter, There is a Crab on my Sandwich

Mark and I went to coastal NC for a few days. We stayed at the Blockade Runner named after the Confederate ships (runners) that would sneak supplies past the Union blockades and to the Confederate armies. Just a fun fact. North Carolina is big on their history, especially their role in the Civil War.

We decided to eat as much sea food as possible, which we rarely do. At one resteraunt we ordered Soft Shell Crab Sandwiches, picturing a yummy sandwhich with crab meat, alfalfa, lettuce and pickles...all on a bun. When the waiter brought out our plates we were suprised to see a whole deep-fried crab, shell and all, sitting on the bun. Mark was a trooper and just tucked its little legs under the bun and ate it. I ate mine too, since we were there to try new things, but it was hard to get past the presentation... and the shell. It only tasted okay. Skip that one if you ever see it on the menu.






We also toured the Battleship North Carolina which was used in WWII. It took us two hours to view the whole thing. There were a lot of ladders to climb, a lot of doors to stoop through, and plenty of things to bonk your head on or stub your toe. It was really interesting to see how tightly everyone shared the space from the beds stacked 4 high and several people sharing one locker. They had a lost and found closet and if you left an item out, it was picked up and locked in this closet. You would have to do extra work to get your item back. Someone must have learned that trick from their mother and thought it would be a good idea to incorporate it into the Navy's rules.







The battleship is on the left across the waterway.

View of Wrightsville from the battleship.

That Was Yummy

My favorite magazine is Taste of Home. I probably love to read recipes more than I love to cook, but we tried a good one last night. We doubled the recipe and it makes great leftovers. Here it is:

Lemon Chicken Primavera
4 Servings Prep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked spiral pasta
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch strips
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups 2% milk
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Suggestion: We added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and extra lemon peel.

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the chicken, red pepper and garlic in oil until chicken juices run clear. Combine flour and milk until smooth; gradually stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Drain pasta. Add the pasta, peas, salt, lemon peel, dill and pepper to pan. Cook and stir until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Yield: 4 servings.


Nutrition Facts: 1-1/4 cups equals 405 calories, 13 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 74 mg cholesterol, 851 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 35 g protein.

Sue and Dallas Visit!

Sue and Dallas drove from Pinehurst and spent the weekend with us. We love it when they visit. You'd think a big dog like Dallas would go crazy in a little townhouse, but he's really good. Especially after we took the two dogs to the park.

We checked out the Durham area. We drove past/around Duke University, ate at a fun local restaurant for lunch and when we discovered a Rocky Mountain Chocolate store at the mall, I bought a caramel apple dipped in white chocolate and then covered in coconut. Yum!

Snowy Weekend

We received about five inches of snow this weekend. A lot of businesses around our house were closed or had shortened hours because of the weather, and as of today, schools and government offices are still closed... We took advantage of the crappy weather this weekend and stayed in.

We played The Beatles Rock Band until we finished the game. I love the Beatles and love the story mode, where it has cool videos and you can collect photos. Fun game. The person who suggests quitting or taking a break first is automatically dubbed Yoko Ono.

If you want to see a hilarious clip from Family Guy about Ringo's song writing, copy and paste this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68edB_Q1e4g

Kindleworm

I've been spending my spare time reading on my cool new Kindle that my parents gave me for Christmas. (Thanks Mom and Dad!)Here's what I've been reading:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is a futuristic story about a tyrannical government that forces citizens to offer up their youth for gladiator games, just to remind them who is in power. I loved the book but the ending was a little bit of a downer so I had to immediately read the sequel:
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Loved this book too, but I have the same complaint as the first. I want a happy Stephanie Myer-type ending, dang it!
3. Dark Lover by J.R.Ward. If I don't know what else to buy, I'll go with a book about vampires. Even though these books are what Makayla would call"junk food for the brain," they are good reads. This one was definitely brain junk food.
4. Crossroads Cafe by Deborah Smith. Ahhh. A love story. It’s about a beautiful actress who is in a firey car crash and goes back to her roots. It’s about a man who lost his family in 9-11 learns to love again and forgive himself. It’s about biscuits. (With biscuit recipes at the very end) Bonus: It takes place in North Carolina.
5. Already Dead by Charlie Huston. If I can't decide what to read next, I usually pick something out of the vampire genre. It drives my mother crazy. This book is a mystery about a vampire who must find a rich woman's daughter who ran away without getting in too much trouble with the other vampire gangs. He brings the raw elements of inner city life (drugs, runaways, squatters, homelessness, bar restrooms) into the fantasy world of vampires and zombies. It was okay.
6. Vanish by Tom Pawlik. Except for a few people, the entire population dissappears. One by one, the survivors start to disappear. It shares the same spirit of a Stephen King book. That is, until the Pawlik tacked on a Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol ending. I found out he wrote another book called The Way Back after I read the book. If I knew he was that kind of author, I probably would have passed on the whole thing. He had me until redemption.
7. The Shining by Stephen King. If I can’t decide what to read next and am sick of vampires, I go with a book by Stephen King. This drives Mom crazy too, but she is the one who suggested that I read my first King book, The Stand. I’m still reading this one. Even though I’ve seen the movie and know what is going to happen, the book is still very scary.