My fingers are crossed...

Bills were paid today... Talk of money can ruin any one's day! Tomorrow is another month...

That reminds me rent is due. Bring it on February!!! My fingers are crossed for that squirrel-y rodent to see his shadow. Please cute little groundhog, me and my electric bill thank you!

This is the life of a kindergarten teacher- coloring at Midnight on Sunday night.
But really?!? Who's eyes are that close together?

Rapid Med round 3!

Tom has been battling a sore throat since Thursday night. POOR HUBBY! His usually remedy for any ailment is popping Ibuprofen pills, and needless to say this did not work... After his first police ride along Friday night in the 20 degree weather he woke up Saturday morning and we both knew it was time for him to go to the doctor.

We still haven't found a doctor to go to so we decided to head to Rapid Med. Well I have mixed feelings about Rapid Med as you may have read before. Tom was a Rapid Med virgin so I was nervous to what he may think. Luckily when we walked in no one else was in the waiting room and we were called back in about 5 minutes. Quite the opposite as my first experience.

A quick examination and throat swab later we found out my sweet husband had strep throat. This school year I have been no stranger to all things throat infection so I had a lot of sympathy for him. The doctor came in and checked him over talking about the meds he would be given and then mentioned that he could give Tom 2 steroid shots that would decrease the symptoms in a few hours. When he said the word shot Tom's whole demeanor changed.

Now Tom is one of the strongest people I know. He is not scared of most things that scare people. This is one of the many reasons I love him. I always feel safe with him. But Tom is deathly afraid of needles! 3 years ago Tom had to get blood work done when we were in College Station, meaning lots of needles. I couldn't go with him and he was mad at me for at least a week. Actually... he will still bring this story up! So 2 steroid shots = needles so I knew this would be interesting.

The nurse walked in with two needles... Tom used the words HARPOONS! Ha ha! He was so jumpy. I secretly wish I had a video camera so the next time he calls me a baby when we are wrestling I could break out this footage. I won't go into too many embarrassing details but after two HARPOONS in the hips Tom stood up and looked a little pale and glazed over! The nurse told him to lay down and she would bring him some water.

So vulnerable he was... I just could not resist!

I am going to be in so much trouble for this post. After the picture was taken he said, "Please don't upload these to facebook!" He didn't say the blog! After I finish a blog I am usually running to Tom for him to read it but I think I'll keep this one on the down low! After those two steroid HARPOONS and two rounds of antibiotics Tom is back to normal and I would definitely lose that match! Until he stumbles upon the post I will giggle when I think of Tom and Rapid Med.

I know how you feel Michael...

My sweet nephew has the right idea. This is kind of how I feel after a long day with 19 kindergartners and my first step class in a few months....

I just wish I had an ottoman like that.

How cute is he?!?

Ants on a Log

Tomorrow marks one week of eating Paleo. Here is a picture of our dessert tonight and a song we sang to celebrate... just kidding (not really! :)

Ants on a Log
Ants on a Log
Eating Paleo with my Ants on a Log
With the raisins in your mouth
Then the peanut butter, Ants crawling down

Call your self a veggie lover, eating like a fool cuz the Ants on a Log
Eating a snack with the Ants on a Log
Eat 'em up-HEY! Get those ants off the log.

Day One

After a morning of a Intervention and Hoarders marathon I was able to peel off my pajamas long enough for a shopping trip. And now... our refrigerator is full and happy.

Dinner was a success! I was looking for Paleo recipes until the wee hours of last night and found an amazing blog with great ideas... www.sonofgrok.com. Tonight I made almond chicken seasoned with thyme and basil. I used my food processor for the first time since the wedding, literally there was still plastic on it! I used it to make almond flour. You drench the chicken in one beaten egg and then into the almond flour. I baked mine in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. It was amazing! Tom and I both loved it. I was a bit nervous about this at first but I am now anxious and excited to try the other recipes I found.

My mood about this beautiful creature is quite the opposite though...

I am definitely nervous about the new relationship between me and this crazy pepper. As a child I had the "it looks too weird, so it must be yucky" syndrome. My new meatloaf and stirfry recipe I am trying this week called for our reintroduction. I am hopeful and keeping an open mind but retraining my tastebuds may be a different story. Ay ye ye-take it easy on me pepper!

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

As a teacher I get to enjoy some of the same holidays I did as a student. I am excited for tomorrow so I can start the MOUNTAIN of laundry that has piled up due to our broken washing machine. I love four day weekends!

Last week I taught a few lessons on differences and individuality to speak about Martin Luther King. The introductory lesson to the mini unit was a book called, Tacky the Penguin. I absolutely love this story. Tacky is definately that! He does not act like the other penguins, he is loud, dances instead of marches, and is a terrible singer and the other penguins don't like him.

In the story they use the word "ODD." I stop reading to start a discussion....

Mrs. H: "What do you think the word odd means? Think about our character Tacky! The story

says he is odd..."

Students: "Different"....... "Silly"....... "Weird"

Mrs. H: "Yes, those are great words for odd! Do you think it is okay to be odd?"

Students: "Yes! We are all different!" (I love these conversations :)

Mrs. H: "That's right! I think I am weird sometimes... I am different from you!"

A little boys raises his hand thinking hard & says:

"Yeah..... you are different.... sometimes.... well you're head looks like a shark."

Oh sweet lord! Sometimes I have to try so hard not to laugh! He was not being silly, he said this so matter of fact. All I could say was... "Okay! That's right I am different than you! My head may be shaped like a shark but thats okay!"

The thing I love most about Kindergartners is there is NO filter! I have about ten of these stories a week. Later that week we talked about Martin Luther King and how he made it okay to be different. So tomorrow I will be celebrating Martin Luther King and the fact that it is okay that my head is shaped like a shark............ I just hope he wasn't thinking hammerhead! :)

Sianara!

I am not one for New Year's resolutions... only because our apartment is still a mess and Tom and I's resolution was to be cleaner people. FAIL! So I am deciding not to believe in them. So I am not calling this news a resolution. Tom recently joined a Crossfit gym in Grapevine and they started a Paleo challenge. The Paleo diet is sometimes called the "caveman diet" so if you can't grow it, catch it or kill it you can't eat it. Its one of the oldest diet plans because it is how our earliest ancestors ate. We decided to start this endeaver together but with different goals in mind. Tom has been training hard for the Police Academy and wedding season is approaching and I am a bridesmaid in two weddings for two of my closest friends.

I've spent a few hours tonight looking up some recipes online and found some I am excited to try. And then some I am a bit nervous about.... all of them, I'm sure, will lead to some interesting blog updates. So this will be me and my husband starting tomorrow. (Sweet unibrow Tom! :)

This change also means I am saying goodbye to my two new best friends, Pioneer Woman and Bakerella. I have loved trying new recipes for Tom and it has become a new hobby. So I am putting Pioneer Woman in the powder room closet (yes, this is where my cookbooks are... don't judge) and tweaking my new hobby just a bit.....ok a BIG bit. But I am excited for the challenge.

So tonight I wanted to remember the past few months with a tribute...

P Dub you had me from Chicken Parmagina and cooking with wine. This was my first recipe from my new BFF. Good bye pasta noodles hello squash spaghetti....

Look at those sweet succulent mushrooms... Hello Lovies!! Where had you been all my life?

Pioneer Womans's Beef Stew with Mushrooms

Oh LORDY!!!!! Then there were the Cinnamon Rolls, I had never seen so much butter in my life.

Bakerella, Bakerella: you are a genius! Snickerdoodle cookie cupcakes?!? I think you read my husband's mind. He was one happy man.

That was torture! It may not be easy but those bridesmaid dresses are staring me in the face. I am excited to try some of the new recipes... so stay tune!! Now, please excuse me while I crawl in bed. I am sure those sweet little cupcakes will be dancing through my dreams all night. Wedding season here we come..... :)

My Manly Man

My husband is a beast...The manliest of men....

I always feel safe with him...

But sometimes... just sometimes.

I get to see his soft, mushy inside. And I fall more in love with him!!!! :)

Hungry Jack kind of Night

Here in Texas for the past few days our weather man has thrown around words like...

Black Ice...

Artic Freeze and my favorite...

BLUSTERING winds!

(it was not my favorite after hearing it 20 times in the 5 minute segment!)

Yes, it is cold. One of those colds where you want to throw up because it chills you to your bones. Just me?!? This morning our weather man warned us that temperatures will be dropping tonight to below freezing and we may see a little precip... short for precipitation! Tom laughed! Around the Hruskocy home we love a good abbreviation.

Luckilly earlier this week I braved the low temperatures heading the grocery store grabbing every ingredient I knew for HOT comfort food including my husbands favorite meal... Hungry Jack. When Tom first told me about Hungry Jack and its ingredients to the crazy concoction I got nervous. Then I remembered one of my favorite episodes of Friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avE0ozYmTDA (I wish I knew how to attach a video)

Its been too long... I love Joey!!! Anways, moving on.

Hungry Jack's ingredients:

Hamburger... good

Baked beans... good

BBQ sauce... good

Biscuits.... good.

So I kept an open mind and I love it! It is the perfect meal for a cold night. Ive made it a few times and Hungry jack has good to me... happy husband. I would change its name to "Keep Your Husband Happy for a Week Casserole!"

Merry Christmas from Us

I know, I am a bad blogger but I have been enjoying my Christmas Break way too much! I can't believe our first Christmas as newlyweds has come and gone. I loved typing up our first Christmas letter for friends and family and creating our first Christmas card. It may have been a bit late... and some may or may not be sitting on our desk waiting for a few more addresses, but I blame my dad. I think I inherited this trait from him, the Farrell Christmas letter sometimes turns into a Valentine's letter. I love you Daddo! But I love the fact that now we will have a Christmas letter and card for each year. I bought a small scrapbook to keep our family Christmas cards and letters in. It will be a great way to preserve these memories!

Here is our FIRST Christmas card!

The Christmas season was good to our families. No clash of the holidays yet.... on Christmas Eve we celebrate Christmas Eve with the Hruskocy family and on Christmas Day with the Farrells. We were both so excited to give each other the presents to one another we decided to do it before heading to Tom's moms house.

Here are the amazing Sperry's I have been wanting from my sweet, sweet husband. I was so excited!!!

I gave my hubby a Tom Tom GPS, here he is using it on the way to his mom's house.

For Christmas Eve both of my sister in laws and their families come over to Tom's moms house and we feast and open presents. With so many people there, there are presents everywhere. It's so fun to see our nieces and nephews and how excited they get.

Here is Meemaw and our sweet nieces and nephews!

We had a Christmas surprise.... SNOW! It even stuck on the ground. We had a white Christmas!! It was a bit icy leaving to go home Christmas Eve. This was the first Christmas since I moved here in Kindergarten that we have had a white Christmas!


We had a lazy Christmas day. We opened presents that morning and lounged around in our matching PJs. My dad and Tom weren't excited as me, Megan and my mom were :)

Tom showing off his police belt!

Seester, Seester!
Our family's first Christmas! :)

Along with our white Christmas we had another Christmas miracle. My man friend laid down the law and made me clean out my little Honda's trunk. I am embarrassed to say that it has looked like this for.............. WAY TOO LONG! (Before our wedding. March will be one year! YIKES!)

Do you see that?!? Yes its a shelf...

Deep, deep down beneath the mounds of blankets, clothes, shoes I found my straightener. I thought I left in Cancun on our honeymoon and my mom got me one for Christmas. The day after Christmas is when I cleaned the trunk... Woopsie Daisies! Here is the treasure I found. I think the Honda will get better gas mileage now. It was a true Christmas miracle.

We hope the Holiday season brought many blessings to your family... we love you!