Not So Deceptively Delicious

Thursday - Watch Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah talking about her new cookbook Deceptively Delicious. See recipes and kids eat some of the food & love the food.

Friday - Buy cook book, go through cookbook & pick out recipes to try. Jeremy informs not to make anything like this for him but I decide that I will anyway one day & be deceptive about it.

Monday - Puree and try the mac & cheese with the Lettermans. Like the taste but has a fluffy texture like mashed potatoes. Mac & cheese made with cauliflower. Kids like it but say that it's different. Not so deceptive. Somewhat delicious.

Tuesday - Try the pizzas. Pizzas made with spinach. Definitely not deceptive. But kids like it and can't even tell that there is spinach in the pizza. So definitely delicious.

Wednesday - Try mashed potatoes. Made with the cauliflower (more suited after trying mac & cheese) and sweet potatoes. Kids see that the mashed potatoes are orange. I try to tell them that it is for Halloween. Taste good. Delicious but not deceptive.

Sometime in the future - will try scrambled eggs made with cauliflower, pancakes with sweet potatoes, eggs with spinach and chicken nuggets with broccoli or spinach.

I can see clearly now

Really I can. I had LASIK last Friday. It was not the most pleasant experience of my life but I guess it was worth it. It did not help that I had to hear everyone's war stories before hand. Mostly stories of how great it was and how happy everyone is with the outcome. But I did hear from Danton how it felt like knives in his eyes. And Jeremy shared with me all the bad stories that he could think of, because if he had any more he would definitely tell me.

I was awake for the procedure but I did get a Valium. The surgeon explained that there would be a little suction feel and then I would look at the the laser for 30 seconds and done! Well the "little" suction felt like my eye was getting sucked out of my socket. The only part that hurt was the device that they use to keep your eye lids open. On the 2nd eye the Doc pinched my eye lid with the device. I squirmed and he fixed it. But the worse part was that the Valium made me VERY emotional and between the suction and the pinch, I kind of lost it. I could not stop crying. They had to pause the procedure so I could gain my composure. The doctor kept apologizing and saying how I was so little. Which really meant that I have squinty eyes but he did not say that. THEN when it was all said & done my eyes felt really heavy and sticky so I did not want to open them. So I pretty much kept them closed until I woke up 3 hours later.

On my way out the doctor informed me that I was supposed to wear these plastic lenses ALL day & every night for the next week. AND I cannot wear any eye make up of a week. Which does not sound that bad but eye make up is the most important for me - remember squinty eyes!

But the good news is that I see great now. The doctor was actually surprised about how well I could see so soon after. They thought that I was going to need an enhancement surgery. But so far I don't think that will be necessary.

I keep feeling like I need to take my contacts out, but I don't & I can see!!!

This Weekend

This weekend I went to Chicago. Last year I was going there at least once a month. And then Jeremy & I bought homes here in Missouri so we spent every weekend focusing on the homes. So I had not been to Chicago from February to August. The boys and I went there in August & I was back 3 weekends ago & last weekend. We have our homes listed with realtors now & I will be back on my schedule of going to Chicago once a month - I think.

Friday night Jeremy & I went to the Melting Pot. A place that is fun but not our favorite place to go. This is our second time there and we are starting to get the hang of it. We get this couples dinner that comes with cheese fondue, dinner and salad. We've done different dinners each time and different chesses.

With the cheese you get breads, veggies and apples.

For dinner we had duck, pork, chicken, shrimp, and steak. You can batter the food then cook it or just cook it in the oil and put different sauces on in. Jeremy liked to batter everything first.

For just the 2 of us we were there for 2 hours. It's a full night. But pretty fun. I want to go back with a group and just do cheese & chocolate. We are always too full at the end to do the chocolate.

We also went to see The Heartbreak Kid. It was pretty funny. But we did not like the end at all.

Saturday I went to Jeremy's hair lady to get a hair cut. My hair lady is retiring so I am looking anyway. This was a good time to try someone new. My hair looks really long in this photo. I just had more layers put in & she cut like 1 inch but and inch and the layers made a big difference to me but not to anyone else. So I'll spare you the picture.

Tomorrow I will tell you about our airport drama.

South Beach

The only day that we made it to the beach was our first day there. It rained most of the day but cleared up late afternoon. So Jeremy & I headed down to the beach & planned to eat dinner somewhere on South Beach. South Beach was not too impressive. Now granted that this was Monday in September, but it was dirty & kind of like being in an old Mexican village. The water was nice but too cold & windy to swim so not really easy to appreciate the ocean. But I think that this is a very nice picture of Jeremy & I :)

Most of the menus in Miami include a lot of Bass, Conch & dolphin. They don't even call it Mahi Mahi - which I don't even know if Mahi Mahi is different from dolphin but all the menus said dolphin. Anyway we went to eat at this pretty popular place called Monty's. It was pretty cool. Very big, but of course dead the night we went there. There was a pool outside right in the middle of the tables. Jeremy had oysters!

I did not. But I have had them before, for him & I don't think that I need to do it again. They had live music and this lady sang. She did a really good job. We were very impressed. The first song she did was Rehab. And I'm not sure who sings that song but she has a lower sultry voice. Well she also sang Sexy Back. And her spin on it was pretty good. Jeremy thought it sounded better coming from a woman in a sexy voice than from JT, but he's a guy so I guess he would think it's better!

So not that we didn't like Miami, it was ok. We are glad that we went there but no need to go back. Which was very disappointing for Jeremy because he had hoped to retire there someday. Now he needs to find a new place to retire to. Have you ever been to Miami? If so did you like it?

New Dos

Brayden & I both got highlights. He got his yesterday & I got mine a couple of weeks ago. Mine are red but not that red - very subtle - which is what I wanted.

Cody is not getting highlights because he is on a new money system where he is financially responsible for most of his things. Well he lost someone's trombone, so he is in a bit of a financial crunch these days.

He did get tackled pretty good last night at the football game. He had a fumble recovery & got slammed by a kid that hit him up by the shoulders & it jerked his neck. He is fine but a very brutal tackle.

Yesterday I left for an appointment in Springfield, about 45 minutes away & when I got about 20 minutes from my house on the 2 lane road that I hate, I realized that I was wearing flip flops with my dress clothes. I had to load several things in the car so I put flip flops on so I would not kill myself in heels. So I had to turn back around & change shoes. I was late to my appointment, and they could not wait. Bad morning!

Oh, I'm wearing my glasses because I am having LASIK in 2 1/2 weeks so I have to be out of contacts until then :(

Alligator Hunter

Wednesday of our trip to Miami was NOT a very fun day for me. I decided to go to the Everglade National Forrest. I drove approximately 1 hour from the hotel - got lost for about 1 hour - then drove back to the hotel area for another hour. When I found the Everglades, it was pouring down rain. So I decided to head back to the hotel and go to the mall. I ate lunch at the mall and then found something to purchase at Lady Foot Locker. When I went to pay, I realized that I left not only my debit card at the hotel in another purse but also my ID. Who needed yoga pants anyway. I was so disappointed by the day, I went back to the hotel & watched my soaps.

Wednesday night, I joined Jeremy & his co workers for dinner and after dinner drinks. We had a good time and all of his co workers were very nice.

Thursday was our departure day from Miami. And of course that was the only sunny day of our trip. So I went out the the Everglades again. And I am happy that I did. It was very hot thought - around 90. I went to this area that has a path through a swamp where wild life is just all over & there are no fences or barriers between you and the wild life. Apparently there are alligators on the road pretty regularly. The Forrest worker told me to just walk on the opposite side of the road if I saw one. I was pretty excited & scared at the same time. I did not see one on the road but I did spot this one like 5 feet from me in the water. I was on the trail by myself & I kept hearing all these animal noises and water splatters. It was starting to really freak me out, so I turned to go back & that is when I saw these eyes. I stood there for almost 15 minutes just staring at this thing & taking pictures. I kept debating if I should try to stir this thing, but I decided against it. I did move around a bit to see if it would move, but it didn't seem to interested in me.

This is the only other thing that I saw - a turtle - can't really see it in this picture. Oh, I saw lots of fish too.

The Miami Dade airport really has much to be desired. But it did have these cool fish designs on the wall.

Friday I went to see The Jane Austen Book Club. That was the first time that I have gone to see a movie by myself. Jeremy worked 1/2 day. It wasn't so bad except when I laughed I had no one to share the laugh with. But I liked the movie a lot.

Go Speed Racer

So, another thing that I don't like about this place is the 2 lane road that I have travel on regularly for 20 miles or more. Not just because it is a 2 lane road but because it is a BUSY 2 lane road. Where everyone going my direction goes 50 on a 60 and EVERYONE is going the opposite direction. Usually I go 8-10 miles over the limit and today I was able to pass 2 people going 60!! I usually do not get road rage but this road could give me road rage. Cody pointed out to me that I passed 12 people one Sunday on the way to church! Hey I was just happy that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to pass those people.




Brayden started Cub Scouts this year & he had his first Den meeting tonight. We went on a hike. And he really enjoyed it and think that we were both a little surprised by that. I think he takes after me, he is not really too much of the "outdoors" type.


Today I was able to watch Dancing with the Stars for the first time this season. I love Marie Osmond on there. But what was really surprising was Jennie Garth from 90210. Who did not love that show? Ian was on Dancing last season (I think). Well he did a really good job and looked pretty good too. Jennie on the other hand wow! She has really aged. Her face looks thin and wrinkled but her body looks not so thin. I thought I was the only one aging!

Work is going really good. August was the best month of my career. Well September was just as good. I thought that October was going to be back down in the dumps and I was a little concerned. But today was probably one of the best days that I have had in this career. I made an appointment with someone that I have been working with for over 6 months. Then I made 2 other appointments and got about 8 referrals. It's amazing how fast things can change in this industry! I love my job!