Spiders again?!

Michael called me yesterday while he was on his way to work to tell me that he had just had a really traumatic experience. He had been working on his truck the day before and had left the hood unlatched while he was waiting for it to cool down so I asked him if he had forgot to latch his hood and it flew up while he was driving on the highway. I would have laughed really hard if that's what it was, but it wasn't. He said he laying in bed, he had just woken up, and he went to swallow, yawn, whatever. He closed his mouth and tasted something sweet. So he coughed and out came..... HALF A SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!! Gross, it makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. He said he thinks it bit the inside of his throat because his throat felt sore, and I said it was probably just the spider crawling to get out. Ew. It makes me want to tape my mouth shut at night so no spiders can crawl in.

It's Official! (and soccer)

We're finally getting an Olive Garden in Bend!!!! I have been hearing the rumor since I moved here, but nothing ever happened. Well, they broke ground quite awhile ago and the sign out front says "Olive Garden Coming Soon" so I am inclined to believe it this time. I love their strawberry lemonade. Although we probably won't go for at least the first month after it opens, I have a feeling it will be packed for quite awhile after the grand opening. Anyways, talking about Olive Garden being official really isn't the point of this entry, it just happened to fit in. What is also official is that we OWN A HOUSE! We signed papers last Friday and it closed yesterday, so it's official. Since the sellers are renting it back for up to two months I am going over to meet them at some point so that they can show me the details and such about the house, like mail days, garbage, how to set the thermostat. All the fun things that you usually have to kind of figure out on your own, so that will be really nice. We have been sort of packing and getting things ready, but now we'll need to step it up since they could move out anytime now.

So our first day of soccer practice was this past Tuesday, it was fun but could have been a lot better. I had woken up at 5am that morning not feeling well and spent the majority of the morning throwing up. I went to work but only managed to stay for a couple of hours and then went home and spent the rest of the day in bed until practice. So poor Chad had to coach pretty much the entire time since too much movement on my part would make me throw up. We are coaching Paiges' team, so it is 12 third grade girls and I think it will be fun, all of the girls are pretty cute. Our games start the 12th so we have a lot of work to do before then!

A new friend

So this weekend has been spent pulling weeds, a lot of weeds. Right now my hamstrings are strung tighter than a banjo. We didn't have just any weiner weeds, we had weeds that we have let grow for the past two months, huge bushes and trees of weeds. Seriously, in the back yard the wind was blowing the weeds really gently and it sounded like big pine trees creaking in the wind. And they were a good foot an a half taller than me, so yeah, lots of fun. Anyways, I was moving our trash cans to weed an area and saw the BIGGEST spider. I had instant heebie jeebies, but grabbed a jar out of the recycling and caught him. Then I came inside to try to figure out what kind he was, but looking at pictures of spiders that up close almost made me want to barf, so I just took a couple pictures of him and then I let him go far away from the house. ***I actually have found out that this is a female hobo spider, so I apologize to her for calling her a he.****

Petree's Spot

This is Petree's new favorite spot outside. Comfy and in the shade. He will love it when we have a hammock at our new house! And grass, we are really looking forward to having grass.

Awesome Dinner

As much as I like having Michael around, sometimes I like it when he works nights because it means I can cook whatever I want for dinner. He doesn't exactly like to 'branch out' , so I make my 'weird' food when he's not home. Tonight I made Sautee'd Quinoa (keen-wah), it was so good, I think I am going to make it a lot more often now. And I will make Michael try it, he might like it without the mushrooms. If you have never had quinoa you should try it. It is called the grain of the gods because it is practically perfect nutritionally speaking. It has an almost ideal protein balance, so it's really filling and really good for you. Anyways, there are lots of ways to make it, but here is the recipe I used:

Sautee'd Quinoa

1 C. quinoa

1 C. water

1 C. chicken broth

small onion, sliced

6-8 mushrooms, sliced

clove of garlic, crushed

salt/pepper

butter

Bring the quinoa, water and chicken broth to a boil and then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is soft. While the quinoa is simmering, put the onion, mushrooms, garlic and butter in a pan and saute. When the quinoa is done, add it to the mixture in the pan and cook on low for another minute or two to let all the flavors mix in. Serve and enjoy.

I let my vegetables saute until they were a little brown and crispy on the edges and it was really good. It would probably also be good with other vegetables, like zucchini, but I grilled my zucchini instead. I also used all chicken broth instead of broth and water. I only made a half recipe and as you can see from the picture, it makes a lot!

I'm getting old

So I turned 26 about a week and a half ago, I am so old!!! Feels like I was 20 just yesterday. My birthday was very relaxing this year, it was on a Sunday and I spent all day Saturday cleaning so I spent most of Sunday watching a 'The Office' marathon. I can't wait for Season 5 to come out! Anyways, after Michael got home we went to a sushi dinner. I think I have had sushi for my birthday ever since I moved to Bend, it's my favorite. Michael was supposed to make me a cheesecake for dessert, he has been going to make one ever since he could do it better than me. However, he chickened out after he read the recipe, so we went to Fred Meyer so I could pick out my dessert. This is what I got, how cool is it?! You can see it sweating, it's always hot on my birthday and after we got home we got the coolest thunder and lightening storm!

Sinners...

The dogs are kind of like kids- if you haven't heard them making noise for awhile they are probably doing something they shouldn't. I decided to clean all the carpets today because I figured it was so hot that they would dry really fast. Well, when I was just about half way done with the living room our power went out because of an awesome thunder/lightening storm so I took a break and the puppies and I took a short nap on the dry side of the living room. All the doors and windows were open and it was so awesome to watch the storm, I'm glad it doesn't make the dogs freak out. Anyways, the power came on and I started cleaning again and the puppies all ran down the hall. The carpet cleaner scares them, but really loud cracking thunder doesn't? I had put a baby gate up so that they couldn't get into the bedroom because I had piles of clothes all over the floor for laundry. I decided to check on them so I turned the cleaner off and called them, and only two came. I walked down the hall and turned the corner and this is what I found:

Yeah, those are my underwear. Don't ask me how he got them on, I have no idea. I think Raider is jealous because he got stuck with the pink ones and couldn't figure out how to put them on. I couldn't really be mad at them after this, Spike just sat there and wagged his tail while I took pictures.

Garden

I finally picked all of the lettuce that has been growing in my garden, I thought it was a lot, but it only made about 3 salads. Hopefully it will grow back really fast and next year I will have to remember to plant more. I also have some banana peppers and bell peppers that are just about ready to pick and my tomatoes are getting ready to explode, I can feel it. My zuke's and butternut squash are growing pretty well, too. I wish I had planted corn, maybe next year. Although we did get some from costco that is pretty good.