A Cooking Tale

I'd rather not tell this story, as it is embarrassing, but it's also funny (as most embarrassing stories are) so I might as well.

First, left me clarify that I do cook on a regular basis. I had a break from all my normal domestic duties while Dan was away to school, but other then that I'm not new to the kitchen or anything.

Also, since this story involves a gas oven, I should also mention that although I had an electric one in Goldsboro, I also has a gas one in Phoenix. Now that I've mentioned all that, on to what happened last night.

I wanted to make Dan a really nice dinner. Fix this man anything with meat and potatoes and he is a happy guy. So I did just that. But I also made cooked vegetables and cornbread. I mean, he works hard all day, so I was really trying to make him a nice big meal.

Once I had the meat all marinated and seasoned, I switched the oven to broil (it was aleady hot because I had just finished baking the cornbread). I also moved the top rack to as high as it would go, so the meat would be close to the broiler. Once I thought the broiler was ready I placed the meat in there to cook for a few minutes on either side.

When time was up, I took the meat out to serve. I wish I had taken a picture because the edges were browned but the center of this meat was pink. As in, still has a heartbeat pink. "I guess it's suppose to be rare," I thought

Okay, skip to the part where Dan comes home from work, and sees me taking the london broil out of the oven. I tell him he's just in time and everything is ready to go. We sit down to eat.

He is a good husband and comments on how good everything looks and smells. As we start eating, he also comments on the pink center of the meat. I tell him it's a London broil and I broiled it on either side as long as I was suppose too, so it must be right. He then asks why I was taking it out of the oven when he got home. (?) I politely :) ask what he is talking about. I mean, I have to stick it in the oven to cook (duh!- seriously, men sometimes....) He proceeds to tell me that the broiler is underneath the oven. (!) Ummmmmm................. *Please imagine my mouth hanging open like a fish*

You see, Dan grew up with a gas oven, and he knows how it works. I, on the other hand, grew up with electric and therefore I thought the broiler was in the same location in both ovens. So here's a little tidbit for ya: IT'S NOT! You know that cute little drawer at the bottom of the stove where you store all your extra pots and cooking trays? Well on a gas stove, that's the broiler. So therefore, not only did I have the meat in the the wrong part of the oven, I also had it as far away from the broiler as possible (think back to when I told you I put the rack as high as it would go).

So, I proceeded to turn the broiler back on, put the meat in the proper place, and low and behold- it cooked! Oh the joys of married life!

Another Day, Another Car

It looks like my days without a car payment were short lived. After manymanymany hours on the computer, researching to decide the best car for him, Dan went to test drive one yesterday. And he bought it. It's a 2005 Cadillac CTS, and if he ever stops driving it long enough for me to snap some photos, I'll post them. Let's just say that he is one happy camper. =)

Third time's a charm right?

We are now officially moving on to our third realtor. Our contract just expired with what I like to call "waste of time #2" and so now we are going to try our friends realtor. At this point I don't think it can get any worse then what we've already experienced with these last two guys. They.Were.Bad.

In more exciting news: We are paying off the car today! WooHoo! No more car payment.....that is, until Dan buys his next car in the coming days. Hey- I can celebrate no car payment for those few precious days =) He's selling his truck to the guy we bought it from four years ago (get that, everyone?). So, he'll take the money from that and get himself a car. No classics. No projects. No trucks. A real working, running, fully functional vehicle to call his very own. Maybe he'll let me drive it every once in a while. Maybe.....

We'd like to make a quick trip down to Phoenix this weekend, so I'll let you know if that pans out. There are a lot of variables that could still keep us from going, but I would love to see some old friends, so here's hoping it works out.

I've got the house all to myself right now. It eerily quiet around here. I just dropped my friend off at the airport, Dan is at work, and all the dogs are passed out sleeping (you wouldn't know they slept all night). I know I should get up and actually do something productive. Now that I think of it, the laundry was calling earlier. Guess I should go answer.

"Take me out to the ball game"

Last night we took in a baseball game for the local triple-A team, the 51s. Silly team name in my opinion, but whatever, the game was fun.

The stadium was nice and big

These are the friends that we went with: Vicky (who has graciously let us invade her home), and then Megan, Mike and their daughter, Abby. Dan and Mike were in the same class in California.

And of course me and the hubs

We rock the silly faces =)

Red Rock Canyon

Today we went to Red Rock Canyon. I'm sure you can tell by the first picture how they came up with that name =)


Dan and Vicky hiking:

Dan checking out the view:

Me with Vicky:
The different layers of rock:

Week in Review

Just wrapped up our first week in Vegas. Here's a recap:

*Eaten out way too much

*Shopped way too much

*Enjoyed the free pool on base. Hear that, future visitors? It's free!

*Went to see a comedy show on the strip courtesy of some free tickets my friend snagged

*Met some of my husbands friends from tech school.

*Job searched- no luck =(

*Filled out any necessary paperwork to transfer my info to this base

*Visited a new church

As you can see, we've kept fairly busy. Of course, having six dogs running around the house will keep anyone busy enough. Dan's off for a few days, so we're thinking about doing some sight-seeing. I'll let you know how that turns out!

More Traveling Pictures

Here are the last few pictures from our drive to Vegas. This first one is while we were still in Colorado, but the rest were taken in Utah. This picture is of Blue Mesa Reservoir. Here are some fun facts: Blue Mesa is Colorado's largest largest body of water at 22 miles long, and it is also the largest Kokanee Salmon fishery in the United States. Just in case you were wondering or something. I just thought is was beautiful.


The rest of the pictures, as I previously mentioned, were shot in Utah. This state (or at least the part we drove through) had numerous changes in the landscape. You feel incredible small when you drive by these massive structures.

And that, folks, is it!

Colorado Beauty

Well here I am writing again. We haven't made it to Vegas yet, although we're very close (about 4 hours left). Going through the terrain in Utah, Dan started feeling light-headed, probably due to altitude sickness, but we decided it was best to stop and rest for awhile. The dogs are enjoying the rest also, because even with the air conditioned car, it's still roasting in that Utah sun. I thought I'd go ahead and put up the rest of the Colorado pictures while I have some time

Friday, Dan's aunt took us to a park called, "Garden of the gods." It's a small glimpse of what a majority of Utah looks like

There were also a few Rams on site:

Next she took us the Muellers state park, where you could get an amazing view of the mountains and the forest. We did some hiking here also, which was a nice change after being cooped up in the car for so many hours.

And this last picture is one I took on the way to our motel last night. Don't worry I pulled of on to the side of the road to snap this one. No knee driving or anything. =)As you can see, we had an overwhelming amount of beautiful things to look at and we had a great time with his family.

Pictures of Utah still to come........