Who Says Newspapers are Dying?

As you all know I do work for a newspaper...yes, I said it.. "a newspaper." Now, most of you are thinking this girl is crazy..She works for a newspaper, well she will be out of job in 10 5 years. Well rest assured that is NOT the case. There is still a lot of life left in the print product. Maybe not for world-wide news, but who else is going to effectively distribute local news. I don't think CNN, ESPN, Google, and any other Internet site (besides a newspaper site) is going to publish pictures of local student sporting events, local city politics, etc. This local news is what people still want.

I could go on and on with the reasons why newspapers are still very viable, but I will spare you all of that. I said all that to say I spent the last half of this week in Austin at the Texas Circulation Management Association annual conference (TCMA). I work for the Standard-Times which is a Scripps newspaper, so my counterparts from Corpus, Wichita Falls, and Abilene were there as well as other Circulation folks from across the great state of Texas. It's nice to see and talk face-to-face with people that actually understand and are excited about what you do.

It was 3 days of mental hard but fun work. I now have a laundry list of things to do that I wasn't doing before..40-50 hour weeks will probably be non-existent for me for the rest of the year my career. HA!

My Publisher also nominated me for the 2nd Vice President position on the TCMA board, so I'm quite excited to be on that now and participating as a board member for the next 5 years.

That's about it..I haven't blogged in awhile, so I just wanted to catch up on what has been going on in my world.

I'll leave you with these parting words from Jimmy Breslin, a Journalist in the 1930s

"A job on a newspaper is a special thing. Every day you take something that you found out about, and you put it down, and in a matter of hours it become a product. Not just a product like a can or something."

So true...everyday the company I work for starts out with a clean slate and reinvents their product. EVERYDAY..how cool is that?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

This is my first baking post so please bear with me. I haven't had the urge to bake in a long time which is quite strange since I used to bake almost every day. Being in a one bedroom small apartment with an even smaller kitchen has extinguished all desire to cook/bake. Well with yesterday being national Pi Day (3.14), I asked my sweet husband if he wanted a pie for Pi Day. His answer was "like moms?" So I made a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie like Michelle had made for us a couple of weekends ago. It wasn't until I started mixing the ingredients that I thought "I should blog about this." And then because it was my first I didn't do so great at taking "tracking" pictures along the way. So, like I said bear with me, I promise I'll get better.

Michelle found this on the back of the packaging of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips. 

Here's what you will need:

1) 2 eggs (husbands say egg beaters don't count, you have to use the real thing)
2) 1/2 c. flour (I prefer King Arthur, it is unbleached and supposed to be "better" for you)
3) 1/2 c. sugar
4) 1/2 c. finely packed brown sugar
5) 1 c. butter, melted and cooled (use sticks of butter and not a tub as husbands mother always uses sticks)
6) 1 6oz package of Nestle's Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips
7) 1 c. chopped pecans
8) 1 9in unbaked pie shell

If using a frozen pie shell like I did make sure that you let it thaw completely out before you pour the filling in it

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Step 2: Beat the egg beaters eggs until foamy

Step 3: Add flour and both sugars

Step 4: Beat until blended and add in melted butter (sticks of butter get to room temperature much easier than tubs of butter)

Step 5: Stir in chocolate chips and nuts

Step 6: Pour into pie shell

Step 7: Let husband lick the spoon since he has helped with the dishes from dinner

Step 7: Bake for 1 hour or as the Birds do for 45 minutes so it is still gooey in the center

 This is a quick, easy, and yummy pie to throw together and the husbands will love it with ice cream and coffee or milk. 

Thank goodness the weekend is almost here!! 

Our First Home

So, I have some great news! Finally, after looking at what seemed like a million houses we found the perfect starter home. Last Friday I went with our realtor and the last house we looked at I decided that that was the one. It was wonderful 3 bedroom, 4 bath, original  hardwood, craft room, original mint green, blue, pink, white tiles in all the bathrooms in excellent condition, and it was a BIG house. After careful consideration over the weekend we decided that as old as the home is and as big as it is that we didn't want to worry about the upkeep of it for a first home. I mean just the time I finished cleaning the last room I would have to start all  over...not appealing.

We have always looked at open houses on Sundays even when we weren't looking to buy. So this Sunday was no different. We beefed it up this Sunday instead of our usual 2-3 houses that we want to see just because we are curious we had 11 on our list. The first house we went and looked at was in an area that we told our realtor we most definitely didn't want to be in and we didn't even want to look. It's just that the subdivision is out of town a little bit and farther away from the grocery store..haha. Basically, living out there would change our whole routine.

So needless to say the first house we looked at that day, in the area we didn't want to be in, is the one that is now going to become our first home. We walked in an I instantly knew that it was the one. It's a smaller home but with all the necessary amenities that we want. Plus you can't beat a deal when they tell you that they are leaving their fridge, their new electrolux washer and dryers, and the huge giant tv over the fireplace. The house was built in 2009 so it's right at 3 years old which hopefully means one thing....low maintenance. The owners also have added a security system with cameras.

I go this morning to sign the official contract. The next ten days are going to be full of getting the inspection done, making sure that the bank has all of the million documents they need, and anticipation. Our apartment lease is up May 31 and we close on the house May 18. That will give us a solid week and a half for me to go in and deep clean the house and get it prepared for our stuff.

I stole the pic off the realtor's website so I could give y'all a sneak peek. I hope that I can keep myself from driving by there everyday and having them think I'm some sort of stalker.

Roundin' Up The Snakes

Well as most of you know Brandon and I are from a tiny town in west Texas called Sweetwater. Most days we don't even claim this, but there are the rare occasions that the "oh yeah, we are from Sweetwater..you know where the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup is," conversation happens. It's like we use the "Roundup" as some grand, magical, defining event for Sweetwater. 

Having grown up there and lived there for 12 years this was only the 2nd "Roundup" that I can remember attending. Let me just say it was less than impressive. The one time I went when I was little I remember seeing piles and piles of snakes in the coliseum and the smell is something you never forget. This year I think Brandon told me they only rounded up 1,500 lbs when usually they round up 6,000 - 7,000 lbs a year. Seems like our experiences with snake hunting this year (we only caught 4 total) was not just our location. I think the recent fires had a lot to do with the turnout this year.

Here's a recap of our Saturday:

1) Britni gets up and runs 4 miles at 7:30 - gets chased by dogs and rained on
2) Jared and Tanya meet up with us and we venture to the coliseum
3) Find good parking spot
4) Decide to ride bus because it is running - takes longer than if we had just walked to the door
5) Paid $16 a couple to get into the colisuem
6) Saw Aaron Watson look-a-like, maybe 10 snakes, and a lot of rednecks (World's Largest Redneck Roundup)
7) Go outside to eat extremely unhealthy food
8) We order...they give our order to someone else..finally we get our food
***it's been raining this whole time***
9)  Walk to car..feeling guilty about eating bad food...feeling guilty about spending $16 to see basically nothing
10) Nap time
11) Dinner with the Monday's at Lumberyard...waited an hour for our food
12) Went to dance..got asked by some guy if I wanted to dance, with Brandon sitting right next to me..awkward
13) I consumed zero alcohol - so I drove home

Needless to say in the words of Jared Monday "we will be good for another five years."

The "Roundup" didn't quite live up to our expectations but we tried to make the most of it as indicated by the pictures below..

Miss Snakcharmer

 Getting all the meat out

 Tanya with her giant corn dog

 Brandon calling me out for taking such classy photo of him

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

P.S. we put an offer on a house this morning so I'll keep y'all updated as soon as we hear something! 

Hobby Lobby - 40% off - gets me everytime

A couple of weeks ago I took some of Kristen's (Brandon's sister) prints to Hobby Lobby to get them framed along with my bib from my first 5K. We have had Kristen's prints for a long time and I have felt incredibly bad that I haven't had them framed and they have just been stored away. I've been "too busy."

They were ready to be picked up today. After my work dinner I ran over to Hobby Lobby to pick them up. This was a bad idea for numerous reasons. The sign outside Tractor Supply (right next door) said "baby chicks are here," so of course I asked Brandon if I could get one to which he replied "uhhhh." Keep in mind we live in a one bedroom apartment. This trip was also bad idea because Brandon wasn't there to focus me on my mission. The next thing that happened was the glaring 40% off signs on the Easter decor right when you walk in. With the size of our apartment I don't really decorate for any season/holiday but these little guys were too hard to resist. I also rationalized that all of them except for the bunny can be kept out year round (heck, I might even leave him out). I got all of these adorable guys for $11.97. Right now I just put them on a tray that I made. You can find how I made the tray here

Finally I made my way back to the framing, after having to tell myself "no more" on every isle that I came to. I picked these three prints and my bib up. The first pic are prints that Kristen did. The middle one with the green frame I believe she did all in pencil. I went with the green frame on this one because the eyes of one of the girls is green and I thought it would really bring them out. I have no idea where we are going to hang them, but I'm sure we will find the perfect space for them. Keep in mind that she is a tattoo artist and has the ability to just dream up all these things. That is one talent I can't even comprehend.

I'll keep y'all posted when I figure out what I'm going to do with my new little guys and Kristen's prints. I'm going to put the bib in my office at work.

We are headed to Sweetwater this weekend for the Roundup. I'm sure I'll be back on Monday with a blog of all the good times and shenanigans that Brandon, Jared, and Chris get into while Tanya and I are thinking "ohhh noo.."

Our Weekend With Kyle

After sitting in front of my computer for what seems like forever (5 mins) I can't find a good way to start out this blog, so I'll just jump right in.

Fortunately, I've always been one of those people who didn't know anyone that was serving in the military and by anyone I mean family and friends. It has never been a reality for me and I can honestly say I've never completely valued the sacrifice these men and women make. However, Brandon's brother, Kyle, will be leaving for Afghanistan this month and as much as you try to put it out of your mind, it is a hard thing not knowing if you will ever see him again and you really begin to value what is being given up - the sacrifice that is made. Kyle is a Navy Corpsman, and I can't tell you all what that entails except that he is a medic - essentially he is assigned to a "group" (I think the proper term is Unit, but not sure) of Marines to take care of them. This has pretty much been all Kyle has ever wanted to do and for the most part he lacks what most of us call fear and has an extraordinary protection instinct. Knowing that this is what he has been called to do helps us to rest a little easier.

So our weekend with Kyle was perfect. The boys drank, laughed, made fun of each other, shot guns, and ate...a lot (to all the above). Normally I would be telling Brandon, this is your last beer, or don't eat that, or don't say that (I promise I'm not that nagging, all the time), but how can you tell your husband to stop enjoying spending time with his brother. I halfway expected them to get into a wrestling match right there on the floor like typical boys, but Brandon being as smart as he is probably knew he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Michelle cooked up a storm. Friday night it was steak, potatoes, and all the fixin's, and red velvet cake. Breakfast Saturday was omelets, bacon, 2 kinds of sausage, and bagels. For lunch/supper we had Michelle's famous (well I think it's famous) Gumbo and chocolate chip pie. After this Kyle said "no more food mom."

Here are some pics from our weekend:

 Kyle, while we were out shooting...

 The boys enjoying licking the beaters from Michelle's chocolate chip pie

Brandon acting innocent...like I didn't catch him licking the spatula..

 We couldn't have asked for a better weekend..If Brandon and I ever cross your mind, say a quick prayer for Kyle. He is sacrificing more than we could ever understand, but then again that's just who Kyle is. 

Wednesday Night, Date Night

Not too long after we got married we realized that we had to start making time for each other. The week after we were married I got a promotion at work and moved into the department head position of Circulation and Brandon started school in August. As if me working 40+ hours before the promotion was hard imagine taking on a whole new set of skills and tasks, as well as trying to be a wife, keep the apartment clean, prepare every meal for my husband, etc. Then once Brandon started school he was busy from sun-up to sun-down.

With all this came the institution of  "date night." I feel like we are one of  "those" couples now, you know the couple that has to set aside time for each other on purpose not just because. But alas, that is what our lives have come to. So this means two things for the Birds..."date nights" and no children (except Buckwheat).

Most of our date nights consist of "where do you want to eat," "no, I don't want that," "okay your turn to choose," "no I don't want that, you choose," and so on until we agree on a place. Dinner is usually followed by Fro-Yo (B hates when I say that..he doesn't understand why I won't just say frozen yogurt). And that is our typical date night. Nothing fancy or extraordinary. Sometimes we even spice it up with a movie.

However, this week we got a little crazy...

As we are driving around Brandon keeps needling me on where we are going. I had already decided on Outback (strange, because I don't really even like it that well), but wasn't going to tell him that. I didn't want to give him an opportunity to say no. Mr. Gatti's happens to be right before Outback so I jokingly said we are going to Mr. Gatti's. He thought I was serious, so that's where we ended up - WE NEVER EAT THERE AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL AGAIN. The food is not as good as I remember it being when I was a kid, and it probably wasn't even good then.

We purchased 40 tokens and got 10 free which is 50 tokens for $10 which is $0.20/token..Sheesh. Brandon wanted to purchase more because he used all his tokens before me (we split them 25 and 25). I said no of course, not at $0.20/token. Now I know why my parents always said no. So we played the ridiculously lame games that we enjoyed every minute of, fed our tickets into the "ticket eater," and picked out prizes. Brandon had 126 tickets, I had 127. I didn't want to combine them because I wanted to pick out my own prizes.

Brandon feeding his tickets into the "ticket eater"

Our prizes..I went with a bunch of small things: finger puppet, two erasers, a pencil, a ball, and some sort of toy with suction cups all around it

Brandon went with baseball stuff..imagine that

I highly doubt we will ever have another Mr. Gatti's date night, but hey it was different than the norm.

Date night ended with Brandon working on homework and me cleaning and doing laundry...so see we are "those" people. I'll leave you with the picture below which is the reason that Buckwheat is the only kid worth having...because he helps me with laundry. (sorry for the scary eyes)

I wonder what next Wednesday holds...