Trivia Time

I have some fun trivia for everyone...

Which state has the lowest population density in America?

What state's coastline extends over 6,600 miles, longer than the coast of the rest of the US?

Which state has the largest national forest in the US?

What state's official flower is the "forget-me-not?"

In 1867 the US purchased which state from Russia for $7.2MM?

What state's official gemstone is jade?

Which state is 2.5 times larger than Texas?

Which state's official game is dog mushing?

Which state receives almost 24 hours a day of sunlight during the summer solstice?

Do you know the answer to these questions??? I'll give you a hint... The answer to all these questions is the same. Ok, I'll give you another hint, ROSS AND ROMA AND I ARE MOVING THERE LATER THIS YEAR!!!!


ALASKA!!!!!

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Roma is snake ready!

On Friday, Dad Huebel took Miss Roma and their dog Gumbo to get snake trained. Dun dun dun dun. We'll just say I'm glad I wasn't around for that. You can read about what's involved in snake training a dog HERE. It's really important for them to get snake smart because there are rattlesnakes out at the ranch.

Roma had a girl weekend with Mommy, while Ross was gone for Guy Weekend at the lake house. She got to sleep in the bed AND she got a new collar. What a weekend, right? I don't think Ross is that big of a fan of the polka dots, but I think orange is quite becoming on her. What do you think?? :)

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Grammie's Birthday

Happy Birthday Grammie!!!!

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A hot day needs... ice cream!

On Saturday morning I spent some time with the refugee family. It was a hot sunny day, but we managed to get in some sidewalk chalk.

When I saw those tiger print sunglasses at Target, I knew exactly who needed them :)

After chalk, we cooled off with ice cream sandwiches...

and Momma of course!

As I was leaving, Peace was finishing up lunch preparations for the family... I didn't quite catch the native name of each dish, but I did snap some pictures.

The top dish is only 2 ingredients: rice flour and water. Peace boiled water, then mixed in rice flour, and stirred until it thickened. The next dish is spinach, chunks of meat, onions, and I'm not sure what else. (I know, this food description would have let Alton Brown down, I'll do better next time.)

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Cajun Jambalaya

Ross likes to make jambalaya and I like to eat it. So that works out well... :) Ross uses Emeril's Cajun Jambalaya recipe, but he uses shrimp, spicy venison sausage, and duck. I like to finish it off with a little bit more cayanne pepper and some chopped green onions.

I had leftovers for lunch AND dinner the next day...I really love leftovers. We've narrowed jambalaya recipes down to this one, and I definitely think this one is the keeper. Now that Ross has "the chili" recipe and "the gumbo" recipe we like, I wonder what's next??

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It's a birthday!!

Today is Roma's 3rd birthday! What a big girl??!! Roma had a very special birthday. Her friends Haribo and Maple came over for some playtime. They even got to chow down on some homemade "Plumpkin Treats." I must say I've never made dog treats before, but they were really pretty simple. Whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, applesauce, and PUMPKIN. Plop e'm on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for 18 minutes and sha'zaam. You have cat nip for dogs. Steph and I did a taste test and let's just say... we're not going to trade in our desserts for these dog treats. Too bland!

Do you like the pups pink ribbons?

Happy Birthday Roma!!

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Greek Style Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

We got a new issue of Cook's Illustrated and this Greek Style Baked Shrimp jumped out at us. It's relatively easy to make and tastes good too. It ranks high in Ross's matrix of effort vs taste. There's lots of feta in the dish, which adds a salty creaminess throughout. It's crucial to buy nice big gulf shrimp, it really makes the dish. The recipe also called for dill and parsley, but those are not popular herbs in our house, so they got ixnayed.

It was late when we ate, so the lighting in the pictures isn't the best, but this dish is a keeper!

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Sore Muscles and a P90X adventure

All my muscles are aching today due to a) wakeboarding (for less than 10 cumulative minutes yesterday) and b) I'm on Week #3 of P90X.... (there are 13 weeks in the program. ahhhh).  I was having trouble scrubbing a pot after dinner because my arms are so sore. Ross told me to toughen up. I still had to clean the pot too...
I'm doing P90X, mainly to change up my workout routine. The most challenging thing has been the time commitment-- over an hour, 6 days a week. It's made for some pretty late dinners. The other big challenge is the tons of pull- ups. I can't even do 1 unassisted pull-up, so that is my new goal out of this madness. Do 1 pull-up!!! Right now I have to push on a chair to hoist myself up each time. One day.... Stay tuned.

Roma's also been doing the workouts with me :)

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Natalie's Bachelorette

Natalie is getting hitched in October, so it was definitely time to throw her a bachelorette party. Our weekend included a night in Austin and a night at the Huebel family lakehouse. So much fun!

The hotel room needed some decorations.

Appetizers and dinner courtesy of Central Market.

The girls.

We wore our shirts to the spa the next day.

Nat's new "Mrs. Shah" hoodie.

The Bride to Be!

Enjoying some drinks on the rooftop of Union Park, overlooking the Austin skyline.

Besties!

The last ones standing :)

An AM manicure and pedicure.

Ross and Brandon were our expert grillers for the weekend.

Grubb'in on fajitas, pico, queso, and guac. YUM!

After everyone left, I got wakeboard lessons from the boys. I'm hooked.

Ross has progressed to some pretty advanced moves...

Here's a short wakeboard video...

And another. This one's slightly different...

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Boys will be Boys

I don't use our point-and-shoot camera too much anymore, so when I saw it sitting on the counter I was a bit curious what Ross had used it for... then I remembered he took it out to the ranch a couple weeks ago. Ross and Adam had a work weekend out at the ranch. Yes, in the middle of the summer, in south Texas, they were doing projects in the heat. They also rented heavy machinery, and boys will be boys, so I knew the pictures were gonna be good. They did not disappoint.

Adam working away, drilling fence post holes into ROCK.

Here's the pictures I was expecting to see...

And that's a wrap! As I was looking through the photos, Ross pointed out that the cow is on the OUTSIDE of the feeder's pen in this last picture.  SOOOO funny. I think it was a lot of hard work, but I know that had a good time too :)

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My weekend drink

The thing I miss the most about weekends once they pass by is the lackadaisical wake-up-- sans alarm clock. For me, sleeping in is about 9 AM, if I'm lucky. On the otherhand, Ross has been known to hibernate well into the morning (he often combines breakfast and lunch into one meal). Miss Roma doesn't like to sleep much past 9 and she knows who to bug in the morning (and who NOT to bug) when it's her tinkle time. Needless to say, I usually have some quiet time on Saturday mornings. I like to make a big bowl of oatmeal and fire up my latte machine. Oh yes, I LOVE lattes. I think it helps me start my day on the right foot...

It's definitely a process, which involves a couple more steps than I'm willing to do before work, so the latte remains my weekend treat. Cheers!

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Chicken Curry

I'm fond of Indian flavors, but I didn't always have an affinity for it-- it took about 20 years :) Now, I really enjoy curry, particularly the bold yellow color. This Trinidadian Chicken Curry was quite good and too simple for you to pass up if you like curry too!

And a few more pictures-- just because...

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