Day 77: KU Football Season!!!

What a busy day!  I woke up and headed over to my friends house - Katie and Joe, to help them pack and move.  They got married a few weeks before Eric and me, and had a lot of things to go into boxes.  Katie and I moved all of the food over to Joe's parent's house and then started packing up the rest of the kitchen to go to storage.  It took us pretty much all day to get the kitchen cleared, but by 3:00 all of the cupboards were empty!

Then I went back to Lawrence to pick up Tera for the first KU football game of the season.  Lawrence teachers got free tickets and Tera is one of the biggest KU fans I know!  We started off by heading to the practice field and being the very last people in line to meet Todd Reesing - Tera got her picture taken with him!

Then we went and grabbed some awesome seats and enjoyed watching...nothing.  Haha!  Both teams played alright, but neither team got anywhere.  There were a few field goals, but no touchdowns for either team.  Poor coach Gil had his parents watching his first game in a decade and he lost!  We still had a great time though - thanks to some delicious pink lemonade and nachos.  Though all we really wanted was a hamburger in a foil bag!

Katie, (baby Thomas), and I with her empty cabinets!

Nachos!

We worked hard to find our pink lemonades!

The other team was stuck in the sun!  Genius design for the stadium!

Day 76: Tera's B-Day Bash

Woo, Tera is old!  Eric came home after he got off work and changed into nongreasy clothes.  We nommed a quick dinner and then headed to the liquor store.  I was feeling sick and had taken Day-Quil, pseudoephedrine, and loratadine to help with my cold/sinus infection/allergy symptoms, so I opted to bring some Dr. Pepper.  Eric got a variety pack of Leinenkugel's, which he was thoroughly pleased with!

We hung out and drank with lots of cool people and played some sort of button mashing fight game - it had sweet moved like setting your opponent on fire!  Then everyone headed out for some good times at the bar and Eric and I bailed because my sinuses felt like they were trying to jump out of my face.

Eric, Tera, Me, and Traci!  Yay!

Day 75: Casserole and Homework

Tonight we made our half version of the famous Mexican Chicken Casserole.  This was a welcome break to my unreal amount of homework, that I obviously put off until the last minute.  I had to read 47 pages about the purpose of inclusion of students with severe disabilities.  Luckily it was a quite enlightening read - I can't imagine what I would have done if it was 47 pages of boring blah-blah-blah.

For those who are interested, here is the recipe for Mexican Chicken Casserole...

1 bag of yellow corn chips, crushed
1lb of chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cans of Rotel tomatoes - mild, regular, or spicy; drained, partially drained, or not at all
2 cans cream of chicken
2 cans cream of mushroom
1 bag of shredded mexican style cheese

Preheat the oven to 350-375
Mix the chips, chicken, and cans in a large bowl
Spread the mixture in a greased 8x13 pan
Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 30-45 minutes
Serve with rice!

For a smaller portion, use half of the recipe and an 8x8 pan.

This is how I got through my homework - sideways screen made it much more readable!

Day 74: HDMI Cable continued

Woohoo, we tried out the HDMI for real today. We got the first disc of Lost season 6 and it looked amazing. We actually thought maybe it looked a little too real. You can just tell in high def that you're looking at a set. Even that was just on DVD, I'm still looking forward to the BluRay experience. We'll probably have to pop on over to the gas station and pick up some kind of visually intense action flick from the RedBox.

 Jack and James in the "forest" it's all very real and really fake looking at the same time in HD

Day 73: HDMI Cable

Today was the usual Tuesday until I got home from class. Jess wanted to watch a show right away when I got there, so I turned on the PS3 and got the Sarah Silverman Program set up on Netflix instant play. After an episode Jess asked me how I thought it looked and pointed out the A/V cable laying on the floor. We got our new LCD TV a couple weeks back but just now got an HDMI cable. Now it may seem like I should have been able to tell the difference, but instant play still comes through a little rough around the edges. I think we may have an issue with our internet connection and some packet loss. Either way, it looks better and I'm looking forward to trying out some Blu Ray's soon!

 Netflix instant play still looks the same with our HDMI cable

Day 72: Oops...

Well I had a bit of an oops moment today. I was puttering around the house before class, doing dishes and so forth. I ended up leaving just about in time to make it out to JCCC to go to the gym before class. Some of you probably know my typical driving habits, and this time I was pushing a little more to allow for time to find a parking space. Driving down K-10 I noticed someone sitting in a lawn chair on the Kill Creek Road overpass. It turns out he was an officer who was lasering oncoming traffic. As I went under the bridge I checked the rear view to see a highway patrol car rolling down the on ramp. A half mile later I was pulled over and issued a $101 speeding ticket for going 81 in a 70mph zone. As it turns out I wasn't running that late, even with the delay I made it on time. Since then I've stuck to just 3 or 4 over...tops.

 Lame.

Day 71: Back to Church

Last year, Ashley and I started going back to St. Michael's a few times and I really planned on getting back into that routine.  Life caught up with me and I got discouraged from going when Ashley had to work or didn't want to join me.

Now, with Andrew in our lives, the family really wants to get Andrew baptized.  A pretty important piece of that event is a church, so we're heading back!  Mom, Ashley, Andrew and I went to St. Thomas in Overland Park, and will hopefully be attending on a regular basis.

I've had a really tough time this past month transitioning from my summer with Jack to balancing teaching, grad school, housework, time with Eric, and time for family and friends.  Going to church seems like throwing another ball into the hands of a juggler, but I think it may end up being another hand for me.  It's nice to have an hour when I'm not multitasking, and knowing that I'm doing something good for me.

After church we all headed to IHOP and had a delicious breakfast, plenty of laughs between the four of us!

Back to BOTH Eric and I - he worked all day and got home around 9pm.  We both did a massive cleaning on the house.  Eric did the dishes while I cleaned our room and cleaned laundry; he took out the trash while I sorted the clean laundry, we both folded and put away all of our laundry.  It was nearly midnight by the time we finished, but cutting short sleep for one night is definitely worth the comfort that a house in order will provide for the rest of the week!

What a big boy!