I'mturningJapaneseIthinkI'mturningJapaneseIreally thinkso!

Oh hey guys! It's me! Yeah, your friend who used to blog all the time and now can barely do one a week. Sorry. I guess I've got writer's block or something.

Anyway...

I'm so excited because while I was home my dad taught me how to make sushi!! California rolls really, I'm not that into rawness.

I took lots of pictures so I wouldn't forget how to do it and I would love to show them to you. Shall we take the journey together?

The first thing you need to do is get your ingredients ready. Here, we have some egg, cucumber, carrot, avocado, imitation crab, and rice cooking in the background. Slice everything real thin because if you overfill these rolls you will surely regret it. Believe me.

Once the rice is cooked you have to mix it carefully while pouring in a rice vinegar and sugar mixture and you need to keep air blowing on it the whole time. We did this while standing on chairs underneath the ceiling fan. I poured the rice vinegar while he stirred the rice. Very tricky business folks. Not for the weak hearted.

Once the rice is mixed and sticky you have to smoosh it onto the seaweed paper stuff (aka nori if you really want to know. I did want to know so I wikipediad it). I love the way it smells. As soon as I caught a whiff of it I was ready to eat. Like now. Like yesterday. FEED ME!

But we can't eat without filling our rolls with all that delicious goodness. A little more avocado please... yes, now a little more, and more over there, and another slice in the middle...

Roll, squeeze, adjust, roll, squeeze, adjust...

Ta daaaa! Got one!

It was at this point that dad made me relinquish the camera and roll one myself. I was nervous about messing it up but it wasn't too hard!

Here we go!

Woo hoo! That's mine in the front, the kinda open unique one.

Just kidding! Dad was trying to do a different type of roll with that front one, mine was actually the one in the back on the right side. Looks good, no?

A little slicing and dicing and voila! I mean, uh... konnichiwa!

Verdict?

De-lish.

And do you notice me using those chopsticks like a pro? Not easy considering my roll weighed like 3 lbs. and I was wrangling it in and out of sushi sauce.

So who wants a california roll!!??

Announcement!!

Tyson and I have been waiting for what feels like forever to tell you all so without further ado I would like to say...

We

Are

...

HOMEOWNERS!!!!

It's true. I've been so scared to jinx it with any speculation before the keys were in our hands so I decided to wait until things were certain before I said anything for sure.

But it's for sure now!!

It's kind of a bummer that I'm not actually there for the great passing of the keys but Tyson's there and he got them for us. I would love to wax on with my feelings of pride in ownership and the joy of stimulating the economy with the biggest purchase of our lives, but let's be honest... You want pictures! Well, here ya go.

Here's a shot of the front of the house from across the street. It is a brand new house in a brand new development really close to where Tyson works.

You've already seen the kitchen, but here is a shot of the dining area! It's not a separate room, just an extension of the kitchen.

Here's the family room, it is right off of the kitchen.And here's a shot of the inside as if you were walking in the front door.

Let's go upstairs!! (hi tyson!)
When you get to the top of the stars there is a big, um, area. That is what we are looking at now!

Here is one of the bedrooms (there are 4 beds and 2.5 baths, did I mention that?)

Here is a bit of the master bath.

The landscapers were nice enough to ask Charlie Brown to donate his Christmas tree to our decor. I love it.
The landscaping is done by the way, it just wasn't done when I took these pictures. There is now a fence in the backyard as well.

And here are a few more of the new houses on our street. I hope it ends up being a great neighborhood. EEEEEE!!!!!

Greetings from Michigan

Yes it's true. I have temporarily left the love of my life to visit my dear family in the land of snow and ice. After the 50+ degree weather we've had in Washington I'd almost forgot that it was winter! Thank goodness Michigan is here to remind me of the proper seasons.

Although it's great to be back for a little visit, I had the unfortunate timing of coming home the day after our family dog died.

So sad! I didn't even get to say goodbye! So I decided to write a little doggy obituary for him to remember the dog that was Tazz.

Tasmanian (Tazz) D. Devil

Tazz was a good dog who loved life and his family. He was mildly anxious and neurotic by nature although it may have also been attributed to the 4 children who tortured played with him gently during the early years of his life. He was fiercely loyal to his family and felt his duty was to protect them from strangers and friends alike. Tazz loved barking, biting, chasing things and playing fetch. He was a good birdog and companion to Father Hammer during his outdoor treks.

Tazz is survived by the Hammer family and Gumbo the goldfish. He found his final resting place in the doggy cemetery in the backyard. The oldest daughter of the Hammer family is willing to accept donations in Tazzy's name for a dog of her own. Preferable a little one. That doesn't shed. Or bark. Don't tell Tyson.

R.I.P. Tazzy, we will miss you.

Teaser...

Please ignore the paint cans.

What we've been up to

- Tyson and I went furniture shopping on Monday for fun. I guess now that we've been married for 3 1/2 years it's time to actually buy a couch. And a table. And chairs. You know, the kinda stuff we might need once we actually get a house.



- While we were out shopping Tyson and I came across a field with a flock of geese in it. A flock of like 400 geese. Tyson cant resist chasing birds (maybe he was a dog in a former life? If I believed in former lives?) so he hopped out of the car and scared every single goose away. He made it back to the car unscathed which I considered lucky since about half of them flew over his head.



- We went to Olive Garden for our Valentine's dinner and the waitress was shocked that we had been married so long. She couldn't believe how happy we were and thought we were newlyweds. It felt good to be complemented as such a glowing couple but then I felt all this pressure to be SUPER happy the rest of the night. Kinda that "oh I just saw a guy I used to date and now I need to prove how much better my life is now that he's gone" feeling. Has anyone else done that? Please say yes.



- Speaking of Valentine's day Tyson got me some delicious chocolates that I'm still enjoying.



- And red tulips.



- I went over my minutes on my cell phone and had to go on a self imposed phone ban for several days. I did not realize how much I had been using my phone in the last month although going over my minutes was certainly an indication.



- I have totally failed at my resolution to watch less T.V.



- I have been doing AWESOME at my other resolutions though!



-Well, that's pretty much it for now! I feel so relieved that I've finally caught up. Now I can go back to blogging about the mindless things that I really want to talk about, yay!

Life and stuff

I walked into the kitchen the other day to find this:

Yes, that is a pan of brownies with what was the top of a lunch meat package on top. Funny coincidence or well placed hint? We'll have to ask Tyson.

For the record, I was not the one eating most of the brownies anyway, but this actually did keep me away from them for the rest of the day.

In other news, I've been getting some questions on our current house situation.

Well... It is now my belief that putting things on the internet = cursed, so I'm not going to say anything about anything until stuff is all final.

Recent example: We did put an offer in on a house a little while ago and I just happened to mention it on facebook... BOOM! Fell through. It was our choice to let it go, but still. The internets cursed me! I know it!

So, I love you all, but you're just gonna have to wait on house news until we've actually got a house and the keys are in our hot little hands. And then, believe me, there will be pictures galore!!

One question for all you homeowners out there though... How would you rate your fear level on a scale of 1 - 10 once you committed to being in debt for the next 30 years of your life? Scary, no?

Happy Birthday Tyson!

Well, my love turned 29 last week. He's such a big boy now!! They grow so fast...

Anyway, his birthday was a great day considering it fell on his work's Christmas party. (?) Yes, the Christmas party was delayed until January because of the CRAZY weather we were having here in wawa (aka. snow) during the end of December. It was actually the second "Christmas" party I went to that week. Threw me into a weird deja vu spiral where I felt the need to eat 12 pounds of Christmas goodies and spend hundreds of dollars.

Ok, lost my train of thought, where was I... ah yes, the Christmas party. Let me tell you, if you want to have a sweet Friday night get together with 20 engineers and their wives.

Good. Times.

Heh heh.

Actually, I did have a really good time. The people Tyson works with are really nice and very friendly. And the food was great!

After a delicious and entertaining (and free) birthday dinner, Tyson and I went back home to his pile of presents.

I'm not sure if you knew this (I should probably save this little known fact for that cursed 25 things about me that has been running rampant on facebook the last couple weeks. I've been avoiding it as long as possible) but I am an exceptional gift wrapper. Notice the box covered in a blanket? That was indeed one of his presents, a fine wrapping job if I do say so myself.

Then there was this little number:

I'm especially proud of that one. A lot of precise cutting, taping, and folding went into wrapping it. My pride and joy.


Although nothing could top the celebrations we had had at home, on Sunday night we went to Tyson's parents house for more presents and more cake.

He's always had a hard time unwrapping presents but luckily there were two little helpers who were ready and willing to assist him. So cute.

I'd like to tell you that he was able to blow out his 29 candles in one breath, but alas, his singing lessons from me have not expanded his lungs quite enough yet.
Happy birthday my love!

You are the cutest 29 year old ever!