Paris Reclassified

We took our "Irish Setter mix" to the vet and we came home with a Golden Retriever mix. Paris has officially been reclassified as a Golden by her doctor, which confirms everyone's suspicions. Paris's vet visit went well. Other than ear infections in both ears, she has a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, the vet also told us that she might be older than 7. Without actual birth records it's difficult to know for sure. Hopefully Casper didn't have his heart set on a younger dog.

Paris: An oldie but goodie!

Paris- 7 yr old Irish Setter mix; a "dog you never see at a shelter"

We had no idea reading the webnews on a Friday night would change our lives so much. After Jacob discovered a "dog you never see at a shelter" we decided to visit the shelter and take a look. In part, we were hoping she would not live up to her personals ad but we quickly discovered she was the "elegant, warm-hearted, well-mannered, red-headed lady," the ad described. We introduced her to Casper and since no one had any objections, we believed she was exactly what we had been looking for and decided to bring her home. Little did we know, her desire to chase and torment cats is much stronger than we anticipated.

Our first night together was rough. Chloe and Paris were fine sniffing each other until Paris opened her mouth. After Chloe saw Paris's teeth, she freaked out and has taken residence under the bed. Chloe only comes out from under the bed for a few minutes at a time to eat, drink, and well, you know. Crystal spent the evening twitching her tail and glaring at Paris from the other side of the pet gate. Sometimes Paris ignored the glares but other times, she barked out her feelings. Casper didn't understand why he was stuck sleeping in the living room with "the foreigner" who didn't respect the cats. Casper and Paris barked periodically throughout the night and Casper tried to tear down the gate. We prayed everytime we heard the gate rattle and we were afraid of what we would find when we opened the bedroom door in the morning.

What did I get myself into? She doesn't even know how to share a backseat!

Fortunately, the house is still standing and Paris and Casper seem to still be getting along. We're optimistic that this will work out but we'll see how it goes.

Day 2: Family Day in Connecticut

Thursday began with daily mass. This is not something Jacob and I normally do and at first we were hesitant to attend because we had hoped to sleep in that morning. However, we are both thankful that M&M encouraged us to attend mass because it started our day off on a positive note (and mass was only 30 min. long). After mass, 13 of us (Michelle, Manuel, Mary, Stan, Danielle, Stanley, Emily, Abby, my mom, my grandma, Brittany, Jacob, and I) headed for New Haven for a scavenger hunt inside the Knights of Columbus museum. After the scavenger hunt we had several delicious pizzas at Bar. The pizza crust was thin and crispy and the toppings were mouthwatering (i.e., nice and greasy). Yep, we even tried mashed potato and bacon pizza, which was good but confusing for our mouths. Ultimately, our favorites were the cheese and the pepperoni pizzas.

After our pizza lunch we headed back to Trumbull to decorate Mary and Stan's backyard for the reception. The rain never let up and after a few hours of wrapping tulle around the tent posts we headed back inside drenched with water. I know this in probably difficult for our San Antonian friends to comprehend since we're in a drought so to put it into some perspective, we were wearing rain coats, rain shoes, jeans, sweatshirts, and carrying umbrellas, and still our jeans were soaked up to our knees. It felt as though we had gone to Schlitterbahn with our winter clothes on.

Day 1: Heading East for Manuel & Michelle's (M&M's) Wedding

On Jun 17' 09, we boarded a plane and headed for LaGuardia, NY. Since we don't travel much, we arrived at the airport so early that we were the 1st people in line and we waited 1 1/2 hrs before the check in counter even opened.


Manuel and Michelle immediately greeted us upon our arrival at LaGuardia, NY. From there we headed to CT in Michelle's mom's minivan. During the drive, we celebrated M&M's upcoming wedding with sparkling grape juice.

After checking into the Hilton Garden Inn in Shelton, CT, we headed over to Mary and Stan's house (Michelle's mom and stepdad). Michelle's family greeted us with open arms and made us a spectacular dinner! The dinner consisted of a salad, chicken tarragon on garlic toast topped with gravy, pork tenderloin, rice, and steamed broccoli. For dessert we enjoyed carrot cake and tiramisu. We felt as though we had just dined at a 5-star restaurant! We can definitely see why Tommy (Michelle's brother) is pursuing a career as a chef.

Monica's b-day

On May 24th, we celebrated Monica's b-day at Maggiano's where I attempted to eat a HUGE bowl of pasta that lasted for 2 additional days!

Monica


Jacob & Me


Matthew, Jacob's mom, & Jacob's dad

Beto & Monica

Monica blowing out her candles (Beto gave her a delicious Tres Leches cake & Maggiano's gave her a plate of refreshing lemon cookies)

Jacob (not so) busy at work

Jacob spent part of his day in a dunk booth for his school's fun and fitness day on Apr 23 ' 09. His students jumped at the opportunity to dunk him.

A Better Mouse Trap

We just spent 2 hours trying to build a "better mouse trap." Okay, it was more of a barricade with an opening to allow Chloe and Crystal access to the bathroom while keeping Casper out of it.

Yes, we did consider several options but each option came new problems:

Option 1: Lock the cats in the bedroom with access to the bathroom during the day.
Problem: We worry that the cats may retaliate and protest by not using the litter box (yes, this is the exact reason we need the barricade to begin with).

Option 2: Lock Casper in the spare bedroom.
Problems: It sort of defeats the purpose of having an indoor guard dog if he's locked away in a room all day.

Option 3: Leave Casper outside all day.
Problems: We live in TX and after all of his practice of getting through a barricade we also fear that he may be able to climb fences. Basically, we love him too much to risk leaving him outside all day.

Option 4: Get rid of one species (either both cats or the dog).
Problems: We made a committment to the animals when we first adopted them and will only give them up if they become aggressive or if we can no longer provide a good home for them. Again, it comes down to us loving them and them not doing anything that truly warrants us giving them up (yet). After all, it's separation anxiety that has caused Casper to resort to drastic measures and seek out the bathtub as a safe haven while we're not home.

Option 5: Put a cat hole archway in the door.
Problems: We might not install it or create it correctly. We may not build the opening large enough (our cats love to eat). We'll need to buy a new door if we ever sell the house.

Option 6: Keep trying to build a better barricade.
Problems: It takes time to set up in the morning and we need to build it strong enough to keep Casper out but still safe enough to prevent him and the cats from being injured if it fails.

After considering all of our options we determined that option # 6 is the best one.

After numerous failed attempts of building a barricade with a baby gate and other random materials we have around the house, we finally succeeded (we think). The barricade consists of 2 sturdy cardboard boxes, 2 shoe racks carefully positioned on their sides, and a baby gate to top it all off. The true test will be tomorrow. Hopefully, it works!

Pssst...

Wanna hear a secret?

Fun Day at McAllister Park

Today we met up with our friends Amanda and Daniel at McAllister Park for a picnic lunch to catch up with them and to meet their new son. We had a great time talking with them and watching their daughter play on playground (it's really funny to see how random kids interact with each other).

For lunch, chef Jacob made Turkey Club Subs (yes, real bacon was included) and a fresh fruit salad. We also enjoyed Cheetos and water. Lunch was delicious!

After lunch, we headed to the dog park because Casper was still full of energy.

He got to know a few dogs...

he even almost played with another dog...

but ultimately he wanted to be anti-social...

Wanna be nosy?

I found the greatest website for nosy (concerned) citizens.

It's the SAFD active response site. I discovered the site last week when I became concerned about a few fires on the access road on my way home from work. I went to the SAFD website and it indicated that 1 vehicle was already responding to the fires. My mind was set at ease.

Then this afternoon while we were making dinner we heard several sirens that sounded as though they were on a street nearby. Upon realizing that the sirens might be from fire trucks, I immediately accessed my new favorite website. Sure enough, 3 vehicles were responding with the hurst tool ("jaws of life") to an incident on the street in front of us! We speculated about several possible situations. When we conveniently drove down the street on our way back from DQ we noticed that one of the houses had a huge mangled mess of a garage door lying in the grass. What happened? We may never know the exact details but it made for an interesting night and great conversation.

When Chloe's Hungry...

she can really eat!

The poor monkey never had chance.

Organic only goes so far...

For the last few months we've noticed a gradual increase in the little black ant population in and around our house. Trying our best to be environmentally conscientious, we've tried to control (and eliminate) the ants using organic products. However, the last straw was when I noticed that the ants had made their way into the honey in our pantry. We don't mind killing a few ants around the house but we draw the line when they get into our food.

We are officially seeking professional help.

Especially now that the girls have packed themselves up and are threatening to leave.

Dr. Jacob Saves the Day

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the "kids" were sleeping, Jacob was monitoring his Fantasy League stats and I was vacuuming the house.

I vacuumed the living room, bedroom, part of the office, and the area around the litter boxes. With everything going so well I felt inspired to vacuum underneath the oven. Crystal sat nearby eagerly waiting for me to retrieve all of the puff balls she carefully stored away under the oven. I playfully tossed a few back to her and then began vacuuming all of the crumbs, fur balls, and dust that we normally can't see. Then I noticed them...crumbs were sitting in the bottom of the oven drawer. Armed with the vacuum I sucked the crumbs out of the drawer. While cleaning the drawer I somehow rubbed my finger against the sharp edge and all of a sudden I felt extreme pain and saw blood pouring down my hand!

"AHHHHHHH!!!! I'm bleeding to death! HELP!!!! I need a bandaid!" I screamed out to Jacob. Feeling faint due to the amount of blood I had seen, I quickly sat on the ground gripping my pinky finger with a paper towel and holding my arm above my head. Not believing that it was an emergent situation, he slowly came to my rescue, grabbed another paper towel, and gripped the life out of my finger in an effort to stop the bleeding. After about 5 minutes, the bleeding finally stopped and we were able to bandage my cut.

In the mood for a melody...

Our view of the jumbotron (the speakers obstructed our view)

Tonight was the night! We went to the Elton John/Billy Joel Face to Face concert and it was AMAZING! Together and alone, EJ and BJ sang all of our top favorite songs...Good-bye Yellow Brick Road (my all time favorite), Piano Man, Uptown Girl, Just the Way You Are, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, I Guess that's Why They Call It the Blues, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Moving Out, and so much more. Not only can they sing well, but they are both quite entertaining. Who would've guessed that Billy Joel is so witty? We hope they return to SA soon.

Us waiting before the show...yep, we're up pretty high (the 2nd row from the top)

Both on stage

Vision Walk

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early (6:50am) to attend SA's first annual Vision Walk with one of my friend's from Grad School.

When we first arrived at Brackenridge Park, we had trouble finding the correct Pavilion/parking area. We eventually started seeing signs for the event and found parking in the new parking garage. Based on the signs we had seen on our way to the garage, my thought was to take a right from the garage into the park. About half a mile into our walk, my friend called me to tell me that she and her family had parked in the garage too and that they saw balloons and weren't too far from the event pavilion. I had thought it was odd that she had seen balloons and didn't think the garage was far from the event because we had been walking for quite a while and we didn't see any balloons or pavilion in sight.

Eventually, we made it to the pavilion and quickly realized that we had been following the signs for the walking path! We also learned that if we had taken a left out of the garage, we would have immediately seen the balloons and pavilion. We found it ironic that at a Vision Walk, we couldn't see what was right in front of us.

That's Chacho's

We LOVE Chacho's! It's greasy, affordable, and just plain good (did I mention that it's greasy?). Not to mention that ordering food from Chacho's is always an experience (especially when we order through the drive-thru).

For instance, every time we order our meals we're never really sure what we're going to get. Opening our to-go containers is almost like opening a box of cereal and searching for the 1 out of 4 prize identified on the outside of the box. Remember how you felt as a kid? You always hoped for that one specific item, which sometimes you got and other times you didn't, but in the end you were happy because you always got a prize. That's our Chacho's experience.

I almost always order the 2 Beef Taco Plate. The plate always comes with 2 crispy beef tacos, rice, and some type of bean (I always order borracho but sometimes I receive refried). Then comes the mystery portion of my plate. Sometimes I receive guacamole, lettuce, and/or tomatoes, but I'm never certain which combination of the 3 I will receive until I open my container. Heck, I don't even know what's supposed to come in my plate because the items are so inconsistent, but fortunately the food is always spectacular! That's Chacho's for you!

Our Chacho's meals from Thursday. We both ordered 2 beef taco plates. My plate had lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole; Jacob's was missing the tomatoes. Despite the variations, we both loved our meals. (I shared my tomatoes.)

Friendship at First Sniff

On Sunday, Casper finally met his cousin from his father's side, Bentley. Bentley is a beautiful, friendly, gentle-natured Beagle. They seemed to hit it off right away and are now best butt-ies.

Low performer...

Casper's job is simple.

1) Keep intruders away from the house.
2) Love us unconditionally.
3) Greet us when we come home.

As you can see, he's not fulfilling duty #3 of his job description.

Should we fire him?

Pizzaria Tijerina!

My sister gave us 4 personal deep dish pizza pans for Christmas this year and we finally tried them out 2 weekends ago...and then tested them again this weekend. Hmmm...should we quit our day jobs and go into the pizza business?

Catchin up...

We're slowly but surely catching up on all of the movies we've wanted to see over the last few years but didn't have/make time for.


This past weekend we watched "The Notebook." It was such a great movie! We can't believe we waited so long to see it.


Next on our list...


..."Wall-E." Hopefully it lives up to our expectations. :-)