Thanksgiving

Pretty much turkeys are the dumbest invention ever.

Why can't the whole thing just cook the same?  That would be way too easy.

Yes, I admit it.  I made a terrible thanksgiving turkey.  But in my defense, I wanted to do a pork tenderloin or chuck roast.  It was Nick's idea to do the turkey.  But I figured with Alton Brown's sound advice, I could make it work.  For some reason though, a giant turkey takes much longer than two days to thaw.  Wish I had noticed that before Thanksgiving morning.

What's sad is that I had taken the time the day before to make this amazing brine.  And I am quite confident that had my turkey been thawed and allowed the 4 hours I had planned for it to brine, it would have been spectacular.  As it was, those 4 hours were spent thawing it.  Then it "brined" for an hour, then cooked for 5 (It wasn't thawed completely in the middle).  So while it tasted fine, it was dry as all getout, and the skin had turned to leather.

Fortunately, my dad and little brother joined us, and we had plenty of snacks and side dishes to get us through.  For instance, my dad makes a fabulous jalapeno salmon dip, and Phil brought yummy rolls, and we had lots of chips and chocolate.

So while the turkey burned away, we watched Brave.  It was pretty cute actually, kind of reminded me of a Brother Bear Freaky Friday combo with very over exaggerated accents, but it was still cute.  And my dad brought Tristan a lightup gear toy, which he loves.  His favorite thing to do with it though is chuck the pieces at your face…..not ok.  But at least he has fun, right?  Minus the bad turkey, the rest of the food was great and the company was as well.  It was a good evening spent together.

I'm not one of those people who will go on for the entire month talking about what I am thankful for.  But it is nice to have a season devoted to remembering and sharing blessings and gifts.  I'm especially grateful for my family, my little one with Nick and Tristan, and then my big extended family on both sides.  I have been blessed with great parents and siblings as well as amazing in-laws who have made me a part of their family.  I have an ambitious husband who works hard for us, and a darling little booger who keeps my life interesting.  I have clothes and food, and the internet!  Nick and I like to watch Bizarre Foods, and it's always amazing to me to see these other cultures and to realize, man, I am really privileged.  I have so much.  And while I am not grateful for the perpetual morning sickness and vomiting, and I glad that we are going to have a second child.  I know Tristan will appreciate it and be thankful to have a sibling.  But they better get along, because it's the only one he's getting!  Haha.

So, I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!  Next year, we are going to do beef tongue or something, turkey is just way too difficult!!!!

Skinny Jeans

For years I have been trying to find the perfect pair of jeans.  You know, the kind that flatters your butt and goes right to your ankles.  Guess what?  I found them!

I went to Down East, because I remembered from my college days, that they sold discounted American Eagle jeans.  I was pretty sure I would be able to find the perfect pair.  And to my surprise, I did, two actually.  One needed to be rolled up a bit at the bottom, but still looks stylish, and the other, well, the other pair fits me like a glove.  I have never had a pair of pants fit so well!  Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

Then, I needed a pair of winter boots, you know, the furry topped trendy kind to go with my brand new stylish jeans.  And I found a perfect pair at Famous Footwear.  3 1/2 inch heels and a lovely tan color. Ah, this winter is going to be fabulous.

Of course, once I got all my neat doodads home to show off to Nick, I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Like, oh man, I probably shouldn't have bought these.  I shrugged it off and told myself I was just being silly, I deserved a great pair of jeans!  I get tired of pajamas every day.

And then, something funny happened.  I woke up about a week later, after a very bizarre dream, and thought to myself, hmm, I think I'll take a pregnancy test, just for fun.  I bet you can guess where this is going…..

I thought it was the kind of test where you need to see a plus sign in the window for a positive.  So I took it, and was relieved to see only one line in the result window.  I put it down, not thinking much of it.  Then, I did a double take, and saw the key on the test indicating one line was in fact a positive.

Yeah, that's when I dropped to my knees and began crying hysterically over my new pants.  

Funny how things happen that you haven't planned for at all.

Luckily, I had concocted a while back a clever way to tell Nick.  I mean after all, I had to live up to how I had spilled the beans the first time.  In the style of Wimpy Kid, I drew on a T-Shirt "Big Brother" with Rodrick tormenting a sibling.  I put Tristan in it, and when Nick got home, I said, so what do you think of his shirt?  Nick was like, it's cute.  Of course he didn't get it…  On our way out to the grocery store at the front door, I decided to try and be more obvious. "Nick, why don't you read Tristan's shirt" I said.  He looked at it again, and laughed, "but he's not a big brother."  Nick thought it was just a hand-me-down shirt from one of my sisters I had dressed him in.  And I was like, "well, he's going to be."  That's when Nick's eye got big and he asked if I was joking.

Still in denial, I got another test a week later just to make sure.

Well there you have it, a new addition to the Davis family will be here next June!  Just in time for us to be moving out of state for a PhD program.  We're crossing our fingers that it is a girl, because I have been sick as a dog.  So incase you were wondering why we haven't been going to any family functions, there is your answer.  And it's probably going to be a few more weeks before I am brave enough to venture away from my handy dandy bathroom.  Yeay for babies!  Boy is Tristan in for a surprise, bahahaha.  Stay tuned for more updates!


Oh, and don't forget to vote for my fantastic salad poem on facebook starting tomorrow!(Dole Salad facebook page)!  I still want my honeymoon vacation!!


And to my facebook followers, What do me and a jar of creamy disgusting pasta sauce have in common?  We're both Prego!  Bahahaha, I'm so funny.

This is So COOL!

So I have some exciting news!

I was chosen as a finalist in the Dole Salad writing contest!  Bah!  I have no idea how many people submitted entries, but I am going to pretend it was 1,000 or more so I feel good about myself.

It's funny, Nick and I love to watch cooking shows on the food network, and we saw a commercial about the contest with Clinton Kelly and I thought to myself, hmm, that could be fun.  Of course, I was thinking there would be a bunch of varying prizes, from cash to travel.  So I thought even if I won us like $500, that would be fabulous.  I checked out the website and saw that the deadline for submissions was that very day.  Reading through the rules, I saw that I needed to write a 350 word submission about what salad means to me.  No problem, I love salad.  Except I haven't eaten it in over 7 years.  Hmmm, problem?  Nah, they said part of their judging criteria would be based on the emotional pull an entry had.

So I wrote up this lovely essay about if I were magically cured what things would I put in my salad.  I went on and on about avocados and tomatoes and catalina dressing.  And then I copied and pasted it into the submission box.  Not even the whole first paragraph made it.  I looked more closely, and at the bottom of the screen saw 350 characters.  Awh, man!  Not words!  Characters!  How was I going to write something fabulous in 350 characters??  I clicked on their little link to check out some examples.  One chick had written a love letter, and another a family recipe that reminded her of grandma.

Well, I thought, I can be way more creative than that.  I'll write a poem!  But I decided to write it in the submission box, so I knew exactly how much space I had.  Ten minutes later, I had typed out a little poem about missing salad.  Then, I hit enter.

I told Nick all about it when he got home and let him read it.  He told me it was amazing, like, he didn't think I could write like that.  Then he clarified he meant that in a good way.  Haha, it was sweet.  He said he thought I had a good chance of winning, but I thought he was just being nice.

Then, on Monday, I got a call from a weird number.  Hello?  May I speak to Sara Davis?  This is she.  Hi Sara, this is Erin from the Dole Salad contest, I just wanted to let you know you have been chosen as a finalist.  WHAT?!!

And here is the awesome part.  There are 12 finalists, and 6 end up winning the grand prize based on public voting on facebook.  The prize?  An all expense paid trip to Napa Valley California for a 3 day culinary learning experience and a meet and greet with Clinton Kelly.  Not to mention you get to stay in a nice hotel.  I called Nick to tell him right away, and he was like, I told you it was that good!!!!

So we're both pretty excited.  I mean, even if I don't win, it's still amazing to have been chosen as a finalist!  Its kind of validating for me, like, hey, I can write after all.  And if we do win, it will be like the honey moon we never had and we will both learn better knife skills.  I mean, how cool is that??

So!  Here is the deal.  From November 20th to December 11 people can vote for their favorite entry.  They can vote once a day while judging is open for three different entries.  But, if you love me, you can just vote for mine, hehe.

Here is where you can vote starting this coming Tuesday:
https://www.facebook.com/DOLESaladGuide?fref=ts

And the nice thing, you don't have to be a member of facebook to vote, so spread the word!  Help me and Nick finally go on our honeymoon!

It's Snowing!

Tristan has never got the chance to play in the snow.  He was too little last year.

Two days ago, we woke up to a big snow storm.  I'm talking giant feathery flakes that sparkled!  Tristan was completely mesmerized sitting in the windowsill watching them come down.  And then every time I took Korra out potty, she went nuts trying to catch them.  She was way to distracted to go potty, so it took a very long time standing in the freezing storm.

The next morning, our car was buried.  Which was fine, we decided not to go anywhere, just hang out and relax.  When Nick took Korra out for her morning walk, he let her off her leash in the yard and it was super funny to watch her bound around in the snow that was up to her shoulders.  She made little trails all over the yard, and her white fur blended right in.  I bundled Tristan up in his coat and boots, and we took him out and let him walk around in the snow as well.  He was very unsteady and unsure, but after he got to throw a few snowballs, he thought it was just great.  Nick also made a sledding ramp with a few of the neighborhood kids (which our next door neighbors angrily destroyed with a pole later that night…..), and took Tristan down in a sled.  We're not sure if he liked that or not.

I just love the snow, it makes everything look new and clean, not to mention it makes the outside smell crisp and wintery.  I sat in the window as much as Tristan just watching it fall.  And then I went and played in it with Korra as well.  I'm glad winter is finally here!  Summers here are just so unbearable (just because I'm from Alaska and the cold is my friend!)

nice hair, huh?

Bored

Life has been busy, and yet dull.  Sorry for not updating

Nick's life has been busy and hectic, with school, work, retaking the GRE, studying and all that.  And then me and Tristan have been sad homebodies.  Our "getting out" is going to the grocery store maybe once a week.  That's just the nature of being in school though, that's how it's been from day one.  And I'm ok with it, I don't mind hanging out at home.  Tristan and I have a lot of fun together, especially now that he is getting older and smarter.  And he enjoys his playtime with Korra as well, who is doing fabulously.  We gave her more room in her crate last night to reward her good behavior.  We'll see how it lasts, last time we did that she had a few accidents.

What else have I been up to?  Well, I try to cook different and interesting things to put on my cooking blog.  I wrote a poem for a writing contest sponsored by Dole Salad, and if I win I get to hang out with Clinton from What Not To Wear in California!  It's probably not going to happen, but Nick said it was a good poem, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.  It was supposed to be about how salad inspires you, so my poem was about how I miss salad and wish I could eat it.  It had to be done in less that 350 characters, so that was hard!

Tristan has been having a rough week.  He started out kinda grumpy, then got a fever and diarrhea, which was lovely.  On the bright side, he's been taking two naps a day, which means more time for me to get things done (and take a nap).

I guess the most exciting thing that has happened was yesterday while I was walking Korra, there was a  vagrant looking man on a bike roaming our complex talking to himself.  I thought it was a little creepy, so made Korra pee as fast as she could and went back upstairs and dead bolted the door.  He was knocking on our neighbor's door (the one's who a little disgusting) when I first went out, but just the walking unsteadily and talking to himself made me think he was maybe intoxicated.  About 10 minutes later, I looked out the front window and saw him standing in our parking garage smoking.  So I texted Nick, and he said I should call the cops.  So I did.  They came and questioned him, and apparently he was there visiting his daughter, so they didn't do anything about it.  It was still creepy, and I didn't go outside to walk Korra the rest of the day.  Nick ended up talking to him later that day to get him to stop smoking in our parking garage, because it comes up into the apartments, and you aren't allowed to smoke on the property anyways.

I can't wait till we can leave crummy south Provo.  It's just so dirty and rednecky, which is sad.  You'd think it'd be nicer because of the university.  But no, low cost housing attracts low people.  Ulgh, I hate that, because what does that say about me?  I'm just poor, I'm not nasty.  I still take care of myself and my home, I take pride in where I live.  And I take pride in myself, the people we live around seem to not care at all whether they are disgusting or not.  So like I said, I'm excited to eventually leave when Nick gets accepted to a PhD program or gets a job.  I can't wait to be around civilized hygienic people.

And that is our life right now.  Pretty dang exciting right?  Oh, wait, one more funny thing.  My dad came to visit the other day and brought Tristan a new toy.  It was a rocking horse, and we thought he would love it!  He also brought a little Alaska puzzle, and Tristan played with that right away.  The horse?  Well, that was a little scary.  We tried putting him on it, and he FLIPPED out, started screaming and trying to run away.  It was sooooo funny.  Haha, we think he thought it was alive or something.  If you pressed the button on it's ear, it would neigh and wag its tail.  He still won't go near it, so we're hoping with time and age he'll come around.  Otherwise hopefully subsequent children will get use out of it.  At least he loves the puzzle!

Play tent compliments of Auntie Becky

Making a mess

Being cute

Don't be fooled, he was throwing a tantrum

Gleek

Yes, we are Gleeks.

We discovered the show midway through season two, and thanks to Netflixs, have finally caught up on every single last episode.  Is that silly?  I often have dreams about being in Glee, or being someone in Glee, which I guess is pretty silly.  But it's just a lot of fun, it makes fun of high school and society as a whole in a way we can relate to and laugh about.  It's also fun to reminisce about our high school experiences, which were absolutely nothing like they portray on the show.

Another show we watch that just ended till next season?  Project Runway.  I know I know!  We are such nerds!  But that one has helped us be more fashion forward, at least in the way we think.  We are no where near rich enough to dress like those people (or crazy eccentric enough I should say as well).

Ah, and then me and Tristan watch lots of Blues Clues and Sid the Science Kid.  And for some reason, he adores them both, loves the songs, loves to dance and sing along.  It is pretty dang cute.  The other day he figured out how to flail his arms while bobbing up and down, and he also likes to slap his knees while bobbing up and down.  The funny thing is, he will dance to just about anything, ring tones, hymns, the dishwasher, anything with rhythm.  I've yet to get a good video since he gets self conscious anytime I pull out a camera.  Oh well, we'll get it sometime.

But yeah, that's us for now.  Pretty dull right?  That's what happens when Nick gets back to school.  He's gone all day and me and Tristan veg.  We go out on walks with Korra, play at the park down the street from out house.  The other day we were adventurous and went to the grocery store a couple blocks away.  That was fun.  Tristan loves the playground though, and his favorite part?  The mulch.  He loves to dig through and find odd shaped wood pieces to put at the bottom of the slide.  A week or so ago, we went to the park in the morning and they were having a Husky dog show.  So we got to watch that for a bit, and it was super cool.  Tristan even got to meet some of the puppies, one of which he fed his binki to.  Silly boy.

Korra is doing fabulous.  She is very nearly potty trained.  Not a single accident in weeks!  She is getting a bit willful though, not always listening to us.  She's sweet though, and loves attention, especially from Tristan.  And he gladly obliges her, and feeds her random junk off the floor through the bars on her cage.  Sometimes, when he is munching on a cracker, he will "pretend" to share with her, so she gets in one or two good licks, and then he pulls it away and finishes it.  I've apprehended him twice so far that I have seen, but I am sure he does it way more often the stinker.

Nick is plugging away at school, still working on applications for PhD school.  We're not sure where we are going to be going, but one thing is for sure, we are leaving Utah sometime next summer (yeay!) Not that we haven't enjoyed our time here, we're just ready for the next chapter in our lives.  Whenever we talk about school being over and a real career starting, it seems to far away and unreal.  Like, will that ever happen?  Will we ever be financially secure and own a home with a yard?  No more landlords???  Oh we are counting the days!  Hopefully in six years that will be a reality.  Hopefully.  We'll see.

Ok, sorry to ramble on, got kind of side tracked once or twice.  But I haven't blogged in a while, been busy.  So, thought I would catch you all up!

Return of the Collar

I have to say I am grateful for having worked at a competent medical office with decent employees who put the patient before payment.

Last time Tristan got botox, his doc at Primary's recommended we see a college of her at a rehab clinic in Sandy.  So we did, and we were impressed.  Tristan was crawling and walking within two months.  So after his second injection, we decided to go back to the same place.  I called to make the appointment, they asked if I wanted to keep the same time of day I had before, 2 PM, and I said yes.  I put it down on my calendar and we waited two and a half weeks to go.  I was a little miffed they made us wait that long because they were considering him a "new" consult, even though he was being seen for the same thing, but I figured what the heck, we'd sort it out when we got there.

The day of the appointment came, and Tristan and I drove up there two and a half hours early to go shop around the Valley Fair mall.  It was fun, he got to play on the splash pad and had a blast.  And I got a pair of trendy boots.  Then, I got him some lunch, and we drove back to Sandy for his appointment.  We got there about 1:20, but we sat out in the parking lot and I fed him a little cheese burger.  When he was through, we walked into the clinic.  It was now quarter to 2.

I told them his name, the receptionist stared at her computer confused, and then told me a moment later his appointment was at 1.  So I said, um, no we were told 2, like he had been seen before.  And she said, I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule you.  Of course I got mad, "it's your guy's mistake and we just drove all the way up from Provo to see her.  Can we at least talk to her?"  The chick said no.  So I said, "Well, technically we still have 15 minutes left of our appointment, we should be able to at least ask her what we can do until we can get in for an appointment." The receptionist shook her head, feigning sympathy, and told me that I couldn't talk to her because it would end up being a 10 minute appointment, and they couldn't bill for it.

Furious, I stomped out of the office, and took out my phone.  I called Nick and left him a message that the office was ridiculous.  Then I called the office back, and as sweetly as I could, asked to speak to the office manager.  She was out for the day.  So I left her a message.  I told her I was very disappointed in her receptionist conduct.  I was mad she would tell me that their getting paid was more important than my son as a patient.  I was mad that they wouldn't even let me talk to the physician, what do they do when people call in with a question?  Do they bill for that?  I was mad they wouldn't make up for their mistake in scheduling, that I understood things like that happen after having been a receptionist myself multiple times, and I could not believe that they would turn me away without even consulting the physician.

She didn't call me back the next day, so I called her.  And we had a lengthy chat.  She agreed with me, I shouldn't have been treated so unprofessionally, especially when the error was on their part.  She asked what she could do for me, since they couldn't get in me for another week.  Nick said I should have asked them to pay for the gas, but I didn't.  I just said no thanks, I'm going to go back to his original PT.  At least his staff is competent.  I just wanted to let them know so in the future when they were faced with a similar problem, they didn't send another patient away.  I could just see myself getting reamed out by my old boss for doing something like that, which is why I was so appalled.

SO!  Sorry, long rant, we ended up going to see Kelly again in Orem.  He got us in the next day after we contacted him.  Imagine that, what great service!  And, he gave us great tips and ideas that have thus far been working.  Tristan doesn't put up a fuss when we put him in his collar anymore, because we have turned it into toss the ball time.  And we also play toss the ball at the wall while holding him tiled on out laps.  That along with other things made for a very productive visit.  We're hoping Tristan does better after this series of Botox, because the next step might be surgery to correct his torticollis.  So like I said, keeping our fingers crossed everything will work out for him.