Moral of the story, although the garbage disposal looks like it can handle just about anything, it can’t! Sure it’s easy for parents to tell us not to touch wall sockets or eat things off the ground when we are young, but nobody thinks to mention about potato peels in garbage disposals. Way to go mom and dad.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
"Trouble...trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble" Trouble - Ray Lamontagne
Most of us are very aware of the old saying, “you learn something new every day.” I really wish that person was wrong. On Tuesday night I learned that garbage disposals do not eat potato skins! Who knew that?! Seriously, I thought disposals could chew up just about anything.
When black dirty water started coming up out of the sink I called Jeffery over to inspect, and while he was plunging I called Bob on the phone. Thankfully, I have a fix it yourself manual so after reading over it and a little direction from Dad we were able to unclog the pipe. Little did we realize not only did we have potato peels in the sink, but 1/8 teaspoon was in there too! Even Bennett tried to get in on some of the excitement by inspecting the dirty water.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
"I love my dog as much as I love you. But you may fade, my dog will always come through" Cat Stevens, I Love My Dog
Most people, when trying to decide what to do with a Saturday morning, would probably not choose to wake up at 7:00 am to help out at a dog agility competition. Trust me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it either, but when Bennett’s obedience teacher said she needed help with a competition at her house guess who signed up to volunteer. ME!
I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I guess maybe people walking around with their dogs, tote bags thrown over shoulders filled with water bottles, treats, etc. Boy was I wrong! There were folks setting up tents at 7:30 and rolling carpets out for their precious pooches to lie on (heaven forbid they sit on the grass). Truth be told, if I could roll out a carpet for Bennett to sit on whenever she was outside I probably would.
I took our new NCSU office camera with me so that I could begin to learn what all the fancy buttons did. As I walked around and snapped pictures I began chit-chatting (hard to believe, I know) with people. One woman had been competing for about 20 years and her granddaughter had been showing dogs in agility for 7 years! Did I mention the granddaughter was only 14?! Another lady was telling me about her dogs when I noticed a picture of a dog on her shirt. She explained that was a picture of her smooth coated collie that’s been doing agility for several years. That’s right; she made a shirt with a picture of her dog on the front!
As I walked around with my super huge new camera I started to feel a bit like a celebrity. I actually had one lady come up and request I snap a few pictures with she and her dog. I didn’t mind, of course and began having more fun taking pictures of dogs and their owners. It was fun getting action shots of the dogs jumping over hurdles, but snapping moments of the relationship between person and pooch allowed me to capture something really special :)
It was a fun (and random) event for a Saturday and it made me feel good to see there are other people crazier about their dogs than me!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
All the little chicks with their crimson lips go "Cleveland rocks!", "Cleveland rocks!" ~The Drew Cary Show
What do you do when a girlfriend’s having a relationship crisis 600 miles away? You call up another girlfriend, buy plane tickets and catch a flight to Cleveland!
We arrived in Cleveland last Friday afternoon. Beth picked us up and presented us with the options of a Backstreet Boys concert or an Indian’s baseball game. As tempting as a concert was, we opted to watch a sport we all knew little about for a chance to eat junk food and talk girl talk.
The next day Beth took us to a place called Melt that specialized in grilled cheese! They also had a wide selection of creamed sodas, root beers and other fun flavored bottled drinks. However, the most awesome addition… a leg lamp! Who knew A Christmas Story was filmed in Cleveland?
After watching Eat Pray Love we headed to a section of Cleveland called “little Italy.” After watching a movie where 1/3 of it revolves around food Italian was the perfect idea! The patio here was awesome. Red Christmas lights were strung up outside and on the balcony of the restaurant there where two guys playing piano and saxophone. During dinner the owner came and talked with us, and after a little wooing with our charming southern accents he ordered tiramisu with fresh strawberries for us. YUM!

After the game Beth took us to one of the hot-spots in downtown Cleveland. We very quickly learned that “a restaurant is only as good as its patio” in this city. Beth explained that it’s so cold for so much of the year that everyone spends as much time as possible outside during the summer. We ate at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and for dessert went to a place call Chocolate Bar. Kacie and I decided to split a S’mores plate. We had our own mini “campfire” and everything!

Next on the agenda: naps, walking the dogs and off to the movies. Kacie’s birthday had been earlier in the week and Beth picked up a bottle of wine for her. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t have enough free time in our packed schedule to share it, so what do three brilliant women in a time crunch do? Pack it in a large purse with plastic cups and take it to the movies.

After dinner we went home to pack. Our girl’s weekend in Cleveland was coming to an end and although Kacie and I were excited about getting back to babies and Bennetts we sure were going to miss Beth and Cleveland.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
“Hey good lookin’. What ya’ got cooking? How’s about cooking something up with me?” ~Hank Williams
Any young southern wife will tell you, its tough living up to the expectations many husbands have when it comes to food. By the time a young man gets married, typically, he has known little home cooking other than what his mother or grandmother have prepared for him. Thankfully, I have a wonderful mother-in-law who will very willingly share some of her most delicious recipes and then let me call her for help before, during, and after the process.
I have to admit, trying to recreate one of Jeffery’s favorite dishes that Carol has made for years is an intimidating task. What if it’s horrible? Even worse, what if it’s horrible, but your husband tells you it’s good and you share it with others?!
Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about any of that. Thanks to Carol’s instructions I now know I can make one mean chocolate pound cake with cream cheese icing!
I started early this afternoon as the cake takes an hour and a half to bake. We did have a minor setback; the cake expands (as Carol said it would) and because I didn’t have a pan to catch any of the overflow, batter ended up all over the bottom of my oven. Burnt of course! After the volcano like incident Jeffery gave me a bit of help on the icing, made simply of cream cheese, margarine, vanilla and powdered sugar (yum!!!).
I have to admit, trying to recreate one of Jeffery’s favorite dishes that Carol has made for years is an intimidating task. What if it’s horrible? Even worse, what if it’s horrible, but your husband tells you it’s good and you share it with others?!

After letting the cake cool it was time to work on the frosting. I of course ended up eating about as much as I actually put on the cake, but who could blame me? Although the icing was a bit runny it tasted amazing! (Not to worry, Carol gave me some advice to make it thicker for next time.) Even Bennett was able to give us some feedback on the icing.
Once it was all put together Jeffery and I both agreed it was DELICIOUS! Mom mentioned a “sad spot” that sometimes appears in pound cakes, but I couldn’t see a thing sad about it. The only thing sad about this situation is what the scale at Weight Watchers is going to tell me next week!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Celebrate Good Times (come on!)
Wow! Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. It’s been so long since I’ve done a blog update, so once again I’ll be squeezing more info than you probably want into this blog. (Just grin and bear it!)
The last weekend in June, we decided to visit Statesville since we hadn’t seen the Hunters or sweet Anna Redding in a while. Our visit was so relaxing (as it always is). We were able to hang out in the pool (Bennett too!) and I had my first experience with Port-a-Pit BBQ. According to Our State, who just did an article on “100 foods you must eat in 100 counties” Port-a-Pit could not be missed in Iredell County. Although it was delicious, I think I’ll need to make sure I have it again before I make a final ruling. Jeffery was also able to meet Ms. Anna Redding for the first time. She really took to him, as most children do, but I don’t know that he has the baby bug just yet (a true disappointment to Debbie Bell)!
After saying our goodbyes to Michael Meredith headed back to Goldsboro and I left Saturday morning for Kitch’s shower in Laurinburg. My job was the diaper cake which I’d never made before, but with Meredith’s help I’d say it turned out excellent! The shower was just in time too. The following Friday Kitch had her baby. Looks like she got those diapers just in time!
After our relaxing weekend in Statesville it was time to get back to Raleigh and put our noses to the grind stone, which included Meredith too! Yep, my sweet sister was babysitting for two weeks so we were lucky enough to have her stay with us off and on during that time. However, I don’t know if I felt so lucky to have Cowboy stay. Cute puppies grow into very hyper larger puppies (for those of you that weren’t aware of that!). For once Bennett was the well behaved one!
July 4th weekend was wonderful with the Bell and Burns clans visiting in Laurinburg. Of course none of us could leave our dogs, so all the beautiful puppies dressed to the nines in their red, white and blue bandannas celebrated as well. A new favorite tradition is to drive out to the field near the high school and watch the fireworks from the back of Brad’s truck. This year we added in glow necklaces! Ooohh… aaahhhh.
The following weekend Meredith, Catie and I had an amazing girl’s night out on Friday night. Our date for the evening? None other than the sexy Michael Buble’! If you like Harry Connic Jr. or “crooning” type music you are sure to love him. Typically I prefer a show or movie, but his concerts are amazing and he’s actually pretty funny.

Sunday, June 13, 2010
Finally, time to breath!
After a nice long break which included, graduation, vacation, family gatherings, wedding and birthday's I'm finally back. Honestly, the idea of writing has become very overwhelming because I feel like I have a lot to catch up on. So much fun stuff has happened since the goat farm!
The biggest celebration was the Bell-Gurley wedding. Although there were some tears and elevated voices during the year leading up to it, the weekend itself was wonderful. All the wedding weekend celebrations where just what they should have been, relaxing and fun. All leading up to this moment...


Following the Ritter-Chan wedding was First Sunday in May. Only my favorite family get-together of the year. We all meet at Black River for worship (some of us are better at getting to church than others) and fellowship, and then head back to Aunt Pug's for more food with the family. This time we had a few new additions to the family, and as much as mom would love for these additions to be grandchildren they were the next best thing... PUPPIES!
The following week I wrapped up all my classes, exams and presentations so I headed back to the eastern part of the state for a little R&R at the beach house. Although Bennett had to miss out on First Sunday (three dogs would be a bit much at Aunt Pugs) I was not about to let her miss out on her first beach experience! I knew she wasn't a water dog, so I wasn't expecting much, but boy did she LOVE her walks. Mom and I could tell she liked the new sights, sounds and of course smells! Unfortunately, we learned that at no point could she be off her leash. I made the mistake of letting her run free one time and she shot right over the sand dunes to a dead seagull that she found earlier.
After this I was ready for the next step... GRADUATION! Finally, after taking a class a semester for about 5 years I was getting my Masters...


Monday, March 8, 2010
Farms are Fun
Saturday afternoon I rode with Meredith to Pinehurst to help her with her wedding portraits. We couldn't have asked for better weather and of course Meredith looked beautiful! It ended up being quite the family affair with me working on her makeup, dad bringing the dress and veil, and mom of course was there because that's just what mom's do. As much as I would love to post pictures, unfortunatly Meredith has deemed them off limits for anyone to see until after the wedding!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
I'm gonna make you a cupcake you can't refuse.
As all good things must come to an end, then I guess Valentine's weekend must as well. Growing up I hated Valentine's Day. Mainly because I was one of the only people walking around the halls of my high school with no roses, mylar balloon, oversized card, stuffed bear... you get the idea. However, Jeffery has always managed to make it great no matter what we're doing.
Over all, it's been a great weekend and was exactly what Valentines is supposed to be about, spending time with the people you love... and the food you love!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Winds-day
Winnie the Pooh: Why?
Gopher: 'Cause it's "Winds-day."
~Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
After two days of rain, wind and ridiculously cold weather I decided I needed some down home comfort. I of course knew that talking mom into traveling to Raleigh to make me her homemade vegetable soup would not be an option, so I womaned up and made it myself!
Now lets get something straight, I'm not talking about opening a can of Campbell's finest. I made good ol', made from scratch, vegetable beef soup. This may sound simple to some, but this was the first time I've ever made something that didn't start out as a powder or from a can. Now, to tell the truth I didn't chop up tomatoes (those did come from a can), but the broth was homemade. So, for those who are interested...
1. Boil a soup bone (I cooked one and Bennett had one), some celery stalks, and two bullion cubes in about 6 cups of water. Cook until "goo" falls off the bone.
2. Strain liquid into a bowl or crock pot.
3. Add one can of tomato soup, 24 oz can of crushed tomatoes and all the veggies you want. In addition you can throw in left over steak, hamburger meat, etc.
4. Cook for several hours, add salt, pepper, spices to taste and enjoy
Like I said, I know this sounds simple, but there is something special about being able to make a meal from scratch like your mother or grandmother. To be able to create a meal by simply throwing some things together. Sure, there are some recipes that mom has shared over the years, but those are easy and no different than reading them from a cookbook. No, there is definitely a grown up feel that comes from making a meal just like your mom with no real recipe involved. So bring it on "Winds-days," bring on your wind and sub-zero temperatures. I'll be ready for you next time and looking forward to a nice hot bowl of mom's vegetable soup!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Hello World
After quite a long hiatus I feel like it's time to get back in the saddle and start bloggin' again. Not that I have any time to blog between work, school, research and trying to manage a marriage, house, dog and everything else that life throws our way. However, I figure I miss sharing a part of myself with the world, regardless if no one reads it :)
Updates over the past year... My husband and I got a dog, who is now my pride and joy, but early on was about to bring on a nervous break down! My middle sister Meredith met a guy, got engaged with in 6 months and will be tying the knot in March. We have two other couples we're friends with who are getting ready to marry in April and May, and two of my best friends are expecting their first children. Those have probably been the biggest changes, so lets recap:
Dog (pictured below), engagement, wedding 1, wedding 2, baby 1 (expected in May), wedding 3, baby 2 (expected in August). Oh, and I completely left out my expected graduate school graduation that will take place on the same day as wedding 3. Whew!!! I'm exhausted alread
y.
I know this is a short wrap up, but there will be more to come. Lots more I'm sure as the next several months are going to be nuts!
Updates over the past year... My husband and I got a dog, who is now my pride and joy, but early on was about to bring on a nervous break down! My middle sister Meredith met a guy, got engaged with in 6 months and will be tying the knot in March. We have two other couples we're friends with who are getting ready to marry in April and May, and two of my best friends are expecting their first children. Those have probably been the biggest changes, so lets recap:
Dog (pictured below), engagement, wedding 1, wedding 2, baby 1 (expected in May), wedding 3, baby 2 (expected in August). Oh, and I completely left out my expected graduate school graduation that will take place on the same day as wedding 3. Whew!!! I'm exhausted alread

I know this is a short wrap up, but there will be more to come. Lots more I'm sure as the next several months are going to be nuts!
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