The Ozarks

(Ugh! It has been a battle to get this thing posted! I think every website I used refused to work for me. First blogger, then picasa, and this morning it was photobucket! Sorry for the long wait. Sheesh...)

For a week in August we vacationed in Arkansas with old family friends Paul and Crystal. Their house is beautiful and their 40 acre property is to die for. The weather was pretty much perfect (except for a rainstorm Thursday morning) and we had so much fun!

Here's a quick list of the things we did.

1. Shooting - the whole family participated!

2. Boating - which included swimming, jet skiing, and riding tubes.

3. Eating and lounging on the back patio - a very important aspect of the vacation. You can see the lake from the patio in the bottom left photo.

4. Silver Dollar City - a theme park with an old southern theme: Roller coasters, handmade leather, knives and pottery, homemade honey and a petting zoo :)

AND

5. Lambert's - home of throwed rolls (they literally throw them)

Anthony's disclaimer: He's hardly in any of the pictures because he was behind the camera. What a good boy. :)

It was an amazing week and the Henry's were so hospitable and generous. Can't wait to go again next year!

Not Arkansas yet people...

Ok, couldn't help myself. Angie's gonna post tomorrow (hopefully) about Arkansas, but I couldn't help but quickly blog about tonight's events.

Out here in the country, living in a geographical anomaly (20 minutes from everywhere!!), we don't get city trash service like city folk. We did order a dumpster and people to come I think once a week or every 2 weeks, or maybe just when we tell them to, but the dumpster hasn't arrived. In the meantime, we've been collecting more and more garbage, mainly from the unpacking and moving stuff (tons of moving paper, plastic bags/wrapping, cardboard boxes, paper kitchen products, etc.). Also the previous owners left a lot of food that presumably went straight from the fridge during their reign into trashbags left in our garage until today. Oh boy, did it smell. And I won't mention the maggots. ...whoops...

Either way, the only option we had was to burn everything.

So we did.



Well, it wasn't that big. But it was big. And HOT. Like, ridiculously hot. Like, run around frantically spraying water on EVERYTHING that could possibly ignite (meaning everything but the dirt) within a 50 ft radius. Seriously. I couldn't stand within 20 ft of the fire without feeling like this guy.

Now it's all good, after running around with a shovel making sure the embers wouldn't start The Great Azle Fire or anything, and after digging a moat around the entire fire and filling it with water.

So, even though trash burning isn't exactly my cup of tea, when faced with trash burning or mounting garbage (that smells like rotting meat), I'll take trash burning. I guess this is country life...

Ok, back to normal programming. Expect an Arkansas post pretty soon...

Texas

Well.. we're officially living in Texas and we helped Anthony's family get moved into their new home in Azle about 2 weeks ago. (Last week was our trip to Arkansas. I'll get to that later :) ) But it's been pretty stressful the last 2 weeks with all the heavy lifting, getting hardly any sleep, and the absolute WORST part of moving: unpacking.

Our room is almost completely unpacked. Except for our computer, bookshelf, and everything else that's hung on a wall. But we have set up the TV (with satellite TV), the Wii, our bed and the piano. What more do we need right? :)

So here are a few photos of the new house and the "mother-in-law" suite that we'll be living in for the next 8 months or so. We'll be very spoiled for the next 8 months.

This is our secret entrance in the backyard. That's our own little patio on the left.

Our bedroom (I'm standing in the front door) :

The TV/entertainment center on the left (as well as the door to the patio)

The four poster bed in the middle. A little over the top, I know.











And our own door to the garage. The bathroom is at the end of that dresser on the right.

I don't have very many pictures of the rest of the house yet, but I'll get those out soon. I needed to post this one quick for my impatient (but loving) family :)

Upcoming blog post: ARKANSAS!!!

Moving

Space bags are a mover's best friend. :)

I'm a believer.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Or woman's, as the case may be.

On Monday, Angie and I were making plans to go to Happy Sumo (only the best sushi place in Provo) on Wednesday evening, and called Ben up to see if he wanted to go. Ben asked if I could first go to the Wilkinson Center and see if there were any spots open still for the Brigham's Yard Sale.

"The what?!?" I asked, confused.
"Brigham's Yard Sale," Ben replied. "It's like a big yard sale where you get a booth and sell stuff. There probably aren't any booths left, since it's 2 days away, but if there are I'd rather do that than Happy Sumo."
"Well, maybe we could sell stuff with you, since you wouldn't be eating with us," I said.

In fact, Angie and I had already signed a D.I. death sentence on a pile of stuff, so we could just see if somebody else wanted it. To make a long story short, we got a booth and decided to do Happy Sumo after the sale was over (7pm). Angie, however, was dubious about the benefits of a yard sale. But I coaxed her into it.

On Wednesday, Angie and I got to Brigham's Square on campus and began setting up. Ben called up and said he had already sent everything home that he was willing to part with. So Angie and I were left alone.

And it rained. No, it poured. And the wind was blowing stuff everywhere, people were getting hurt (literally), loud thunder. The first thunderstorm in a month, right in the middle of the yard sale.

But despite that, a lot of our junk sold. In fact, we made over $70 profit. Not bad for stuff we were just gonna chuck at D.I. Yep, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Actually, most of the profit came from jewelry Angie sold, not bought by men.

And Angie's yard sale opinion totally did a 180° . Now she's a fan. And richer, too. :)

Behold, the much-maligned aubergine!

Thanks to those of you who have expressed condolences or amusement at my last post. The job has actually been quite fun, and I'll be sad to say goodbye to all the friends I've made over the last month. C'est la vie...

Now to the pressing issue.

Aubergines.

Brinjals.

Nightshades. (women screaming)

No, these are not villains, X-Men characters, or video games. (Though if you happen to find Nightshade for PS2, I've heard it's a disappointing game.) The nightshade is actually a nickname for the name of the plant family Solanaceae, and aubergine and brinjal are common names for this often-not-well-received culinary item.

Ladies and gentlement: the EGGPLANT.

You've gotta admit. This guy's cute.

While searching through coupons the other day (a fully-developed habit over the last few months), Angie found the Sunflower Market ads, on which we found a coupon for $0.55 eggplants. Since I am a devoted fan of Eggplant Parmigiana, we decided to pick up a couple. Then, upon reading the recipes for my beloved Italian dish, we decided to leave the eggplant alone until something a bit more...ahem...healthy.

We found this recipe in the Wok recipe book sold at Ikea. It's called Sweet Garlic Eggplant, and the moment we saw it, we knew it was our recipe. Well, at least I knew it was our recipe. Here's a legal version I found online, basically the same thing (but add 1/2 chopped onion, and it's 6 Tbsp brown sugar, not caster). Actually, who am I kidding? I don't even know the legality of posting copyrighted recipes online.

(I could only find the Pasta cookbook image on the internet. Imagine it's blue. And says Wok.)

So, last night, during Angie's second headache during our entire relationship, I made the eggplant in the wok. And it was DELICIOUS!! Who knew eggplant could be so good?!? And what's all this information about eggplant being gross and all that I was flooded with as a child? Not to any parent's fault - I think it was just society in general. (Except that one video game, remember Ben? With those eggplants that restored health? Yeah, that was a good one...) But I did do a bit of research last night on the vegetable (also known as aubergine or brinjal, and a nightshade like the tomato and potato), and found out a good bit of information.

• Every 3.5 oz of eggplant contains only 20 calories.
• The same amount contains 3.4g of dietary fiber (that explains something...)
• Eggplants block the formation of free radicals.
• They are richer in nicotine than any other edible plant.
  -Don't worry, it takes 20 lbs of eggplant to equal the nicotine of 1 cigarette.

So those of you who are unfortunately duped by the misinformed and still believe eggplant is gross and inedible and all that, give it a try. There are TONS of recipes online, and it's really good. It mostly absorbs the flavor of whatever it's cooked in, and it's very filling! Angie and I only ate 1/2 of what I made (1/4 each), much less than I thought. Angie said it filled her like chicken does. At a fraction of the cost!! :)

Either way, I'm an eggplant fan. And I'm spreading the word. Enjoy!

My job, for another week

Angie's been dominating the blogosphere as of late, so I thought with my extra time this morning I'd post an entry.

This is about my job, the call center. Now, I know a few of you have worked at a call center before, but for the rest of you, let me explain. I get to work every morning at 8:45am, sit down at my computer in my little cubicle (which yesterday was upgraded with my name taped to the inside!), sign in to the appropriate software, click a button, and receive a call that's been waiting anywhere from 3 minutes to who-knows-how-long.

"Thank you for calling customer support. My name is Anthony. How can I help you?"

I repeat this mantra dozens of times a day. And a few other phrases. In fact, I've been noticing that in my normal speech to friends and family I've begun to include my "phone phrases". It's rather depressing, actually. Phrases like "Have you had the opportunity to..." or if I interrupt someone I automatically stop and say something like "Go ahead..." or "Excuse me", without realizing it. Not that it's bad to not interrupt somebody, but it's like a Pavlovian effect. I feel somehow less of a person... ;)

I wish I could explain the wide range of calls I get, but I don't have the time. And neither do you. But I can tell you of the extremes. For instance, a couple weeks ago I had this freaky, psycho Mormon-hater guy call. I began with the mantra, and he immediately asked "Are you LDS?" I sat there a second, confused at the abnormality of the question. He repeated himself, "Are you LDS??" My mind was saying 'Don't tell him anything!!', but my mouth said "Uhh...yes...", at which point Mr. Mormon-hater asked me (quite nicely, actually) to put him on hold, and tell my supervisor that I wouldn't receive calls concerning one of the companies we do support for. I told him we couldn't do that. He began berating me for compromising my religion by working for them. I asked if I could help him somehow, and he repeated his request, which I refused for a second time. Then he asked if I knew the "big Mormon church by DC," which I have seen (DC Temple). He said "I drive by that church every day going to work, with its big spires and its golden man pointing his golden stick in the air. And evertime I pass it from now on, I'm going to think about how bad of a Mormon you are! Does that make you feel bad?!?" I spoke before I could stop myself, with a slight chuckle, "Actually, I find that quite amusing..."

That didn't make him happy.

I've also had a lady who screamed herself hoarse on the phone. Like, literally, hoarse. She couldn't speak more than a whisper by the time she was done.

But then, I've spoken to a lady who was absolutely kind and wonderful. She was 82 years old, engaged to be married in a couple months, and just talked about how life starts at 80 and how wonderful my life will be with my wife and how I should just love every minute of it. That call was about 20 minutes long, and totally made my month. :)

Either way, I have to get to work, but now you know what I do every day. Well, at least the extremes. Just try to find a midpoint, and that's my job. :) It's not that bad. Besides, I only have another 8 days in it.