Our friends the Tree Roaches

Almost the moment after the two peas moved into their Texas residence, 

they met their most pesky and nosy neighbors - the tree roaches. 

These are big creatures. 

No room to brag versus South American roaches, mind you, 

but they can get very long, say 3-4 inches.

Here's a very fine specimen, about 3-4 inches long, not including the antenna, 

that decided to use our tub one night:

Yep.

How we do Eggrolls

The wife loves egg rolls and now the hubby's hooked too. 

In our house, we love to make vegetable, chicken, and turkey bacon egg rolls. They are so very delicious!

Here's what we use:

One head of chopped celeri, four chopped big carrot sticks, one chopped onion, 4-5 finely chopped cloves of garlic; and one can of chunk chicken, 6-7 strips of turkey bacon, 4-5 cups of finely chopped fresh spinach, and 1-2 packages of egg roll wrappers.

1st. We saute the garlic for 1-2 minutes in 2-3 tablespoons of oil or butter (you pick). Then we add the onion and sweat them (cook them for about 3 minutes).

2nd. We add the Celeri and Carrots, stir all of the ingredients so far together, and simmer on medium heat for about 7 minutes covered. In the mean time, we stick the turkey bacon in the oven to cook at 350 F for 11 minutes.

3rd. We add spices to taste, like a dash of paprika, basil, chives, parsley, and oregano. Yum!

4th. We add the Spinach, stir it in, and allow it to cook for about 3-4 minutes.

5th. We take the turkey bacon out of the oven and chop it. We add the turkey bacon and chicken to the pan and stir everything together. We have the pan on medium to low heat for 1 more minute. 

6th. We have a small bowl of water ready and open our package of egg rolls. We have a wrapper out on the cutting board diamond style. We put a spoonful of the pan ingredients onto the wrapper. 

We fold the top edge and then the sides toward the center, over the food. we place a finger-full of water onto the bottom edge, and then roll the wrapper over onto the wet bottom edge.

7th. We fry the egg rolls in sesame seed or canola oil until they are golden and crunchy. We let them dry out on paper towels (to soak up excess oil). And then we eat them with soy or teriyaki sauce. Yum!

The wife will often add chopped tomato to her egg rolls. 

Just in case you were wondering,

The insides come out to about 30 calories an egg roll. The wrappers are usually 170 calories for 3, depending on the brand you purchase. When all is said and done (they're cooked in the oil) Each egg roll, eaten with sauce, ends up being about 150 calories. And they're very filling.

It's one of our favorite meals!

The Newest Member of Our Family

I have decided buying a new car through a dealer is like having a new child - you work really hard with patience, and then have to work through a few hours of grueling labor. 

(Sorry to those of you who thought this might be filled with more exciting news. No; not yet.)

No, our lovely first car is not damaged, it just so happens that our institutions of learning require us to travel during the wee hours of the morning to two very different locations.

So, after several weeks of hard work, we would like to present our Corrolla:

Our cars never get fancy names...just the ones they came with....

Simply has what we need, and we got to barter in a couple of nice things too.

Fits in our tiny garage next to our first motorized love. That's a plus. They're going to have to share a room for a while, maybe forever.

That Annual Day of Bliss

The two peas spent an awesome day celebrating the best day of their lives! 

This year they decided to walk two miles of the Katy Trail, which meant they walked about 4-5 miles overall. It was a beautiful and sunny three hour trip. They topped the day off with a meal from Chili's and a gorgeous spring color covered triple chocolate cake (say that ten times fast).

Terrain of the Trail

Reaching the two mile marker

Beautiful stretches of bamboo lining our path

The wife was so swollen by the end of the trip she could wear her rings on her pinky finger.

Tired but not defeated

Celebrating with cake

Triple chocolate and mint butter cream frosting. So good!

The Med School Prom

Last weekend, the two peas got an exciting opportunity - to attend a Prom. Neither pea had ever been to a Prom. And now they had the perfect opportunity that included the perfect date, the perfect dress (made for the wedding luncheon), and the perfect limo (that being their awesome little car).

Both peas got all dressed up. 

The wife even got her first french manicure for the occasion, from their local Walmart.

She did her hair up in curls and sparkly hair pins.

All in all, it was a great night. There was a live band, to which the two peas danced their hearts out on the dance floor, and a photo booth where they got some awesome photos to document this fun occasion.

I guess the moral of the story might be: have a happy and fun life, and don't worry, Prom opportunities will always come with that wonderful spouse! :) 

Have a great weekend!

Storm 1, Holbrooks 0

This past April, the two peas saw news footage of lots of tornadoes ripping up the country side while they were sequestered with other students underground. 

When they finally came home, a few hours later, they discovered one started right at their house.

The debris field. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Branch ripped from tree. Saw a lot of downed trees where the tornado swirled on through.

We just thought this was funny. The front door mat was stuck between the two fences.

Fence taken away by the tornado.

Apartment complex nearby with damage from the tornado. The Walmart next door was missing some of its roofing.

Parking lot of the neighborhood Walmart.

New Outfits

The wife's been picking out some new outfits. It's been a while since she's worn a dress. She's also been hard at work with her sewing machine. Here are the results:

Sewn skirt with new shirt.

First spring dress since she was 11... it's true.

Found a fun shirt pattern. Had to try it out.