NY, baby

Are you ready for some blog vomit?

You know how you go on vacation and you have no desire to got back to normal life? Well that's what happened when I went to NY earlier this month, I did not want to blog. I have no idea where my lack of motivation came from.

Maybe it is because I was stupid busy right when I got back to Kansas, or I am just lazy. But regardless of my abandonment of my baby blog, I am now back!!

I have three posts planned for this week
Three! 

So let's get this started.

Earlier this month... like three weeks ago ( I know, bad Elishia) I traveled to the Motherland.

Upstate New York.

You see... about 95% of my family lives there and they don't all live in the same small town. Oh no. They all live in different very small towns. I'm talking no stop lights people. So when we go visit Upstate NY we are constantly on the go visiting everyone

So here is our trip in a nutshell.

Here are my Nana and Papa ( great grandparents) she is 92, he is 93. They have been married for 73 years <3

Nana has severe dementia, she didnt recognize me, but that's ok! She is still a spit fire, and she loved my hair color. Papa is as fit as ever. They remind me of the notebook couple, he visits her at the nursing home, she remembers him perfectly, but you can tell his heart is breaking for his wife. I can't tell you how happy I was to see them.

 

These are the Hazelton's. Not that the chin didn't give away the family resemblance.  hehe

 We did some site seeing... We went to Lake Placid, where the 1980 winter Olympics took place. also known as where Miracles Happen. 

and in Massena, NY we went to the nature reserve, where they have a power dame... and a place that rises the waters connecting Canada and the US... for the large ships to travel. and they have wildlife.

from top to bottom Morgan and Justine, my date and I, my mom and her siblings, and me dancing with my momma.

And then the first family member in my generation got married. It was the most fabulous wedding I have ever been to. The bride and Groom really knew how to throw a party. 

My feet were aching by the end of the night, and my stomach was full.

It was a trip worth all of the flying, driving, and planning. I love seeing my family.

Oh. and this is my Uncle Jamie. He requested a paragraph on the baby blog.

James McGraw.

Father of 2

Sleeps Works at some NY State Jail

Also works as a full time Post Man

He's busy.

He needs to come to KS so my mom can find him a nice Kansas Girl to marry.

He's funny.

and he is favorite uncle. even though he called me a hippo when I was going through my awkward stage.

What's Hanging?

The TV!!!

I can't wait for the Lion King to be out on Bluray!

It was a chore. It consumed our entire Friday night. We had to take the TV down a couple of times to hide wires or reposition the TV... but I can confidently say that we are now

 TV Hanging Professionals.

We got the wallmount from Monoprice.com for only 24 bucks w/shipping! Eat that Walmart.

We also cut the cord on cable when we bought the new place. 

Cable prices were getting out of control, plus, I can watch anything online or Netflix, and we got an HD antenna for Danny's Chief's games so it is hard to justify paying for cable.

Honestly, I don't miss cable at all

It makes me be more imaginative with my time, and not a couch potato.

BTW Antennas are awesome. we have 22 channels, ALL in HD, they don't have embarrassing bunny ears. In fact, you can't even see the antenna unless you look behind the TV.

So the break down.

I can watch all of my TV shows

The Chief's Games

I am more active

pay no cable bill.

yea. it's a no brainer.

Now I need to build a Mantle for the fireplace... because let's face it, it looks blah.

Danny and I will be cut off from the world next week.

We are visiting my family in Upstate NY and Sprint has no love for Upstate NY.

notice how far the airport is from my family. yea that's a 4 hour drive.

I am looking forward to seeing my grandparent Hazeltons and celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, while seeing all of my mom's side of the family at my cousin's wedding. and enjoying NY in the fall time.

While I am away I will leave you with some Food Porn

bow-chicka-bow-wow. oh yes I did just go there.

I made these a few weeks ago

Slowcooker pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Put chicken of your choice in the slow cooker, pour your favorite BBQ sauce over chicken and season with whatever your heart desires. Turn the slow cooker on low for 8 hours then shred the chicken with a fork and ta-da! BBQ chicken sandwiches!!

I know.. you must be thinking "that is the most complicated recipe you have ever shown us!"
What can I say, I like a challenge =)

I like to top my sandwiches with home-made slaw

So when you are feeling lazy about dinner, throw something in the slowcooker, it never fails.

Have a happy two weeks!

A story about a cat

Did you know that Kid-d has two names?

Kid-d & Phelix.

• I named him Phelix... and Danny named him Kid-d, and he would answer to both because he was that cool.

• He would cuddle with me at night, but play with Danny's feet when he was sleeping. 

• he was a master purrer. He purred so loud that Danny would toss and turn all night, but I took it as a sign of him being happy.

• He was shy when people came over, but after an hour he would come up to you and sniff you... then rub his head on you just to make sure you carried his scent and no other cat could claim you.

• He was only an indoor cat. he hated this. He would always try and escape... but once he made it outside he would freeze and not know what to do with all of the fresh air.

• He was low maintenance, but shed horrifically

And this is what led to us finding him a new home. You see, Danny's family doesn't do well with cat hair, in fact, over half of them are allergic. So we had to decide... keeping Kid-D and having no guests over to our house.... or have Danny's family never come over.to be honest.. it was no question to me.. keep kid-d. haha I grew up with cats and when people were allergic.. oh well, this is my cat.

but Danny is more logical then me. So we posted him on Craigslist, and we recieved 4 responses in one hour.
He is just that Handsome. such a ladies man.
I honestly didn't think anyone would want a grown male cat... I thought he would be on craigslist for weeks and I would be able to keep him.
Boy, was I wrong.
Danny picked a person out... woke me up and said "Kid-d is being picked up in an hour"
I balled my eyes out.
balled.
I don't think Danny was ready for my emotional fallout.
I cried before the lady came, I cried afterward. I cried at target later that day, I am tearing up right now writing this.
I ask constantly "do you think Kid-d is happy there?, is he cuddling?"
I hope his new mommy hugs him everyday, he deserves it.
I refuse to take his picture off my blog... because he is still my kid-d.

ok.. so... onto life, post Kid-d.

Sister and Sisterboy came to town this weekend.

 

I was nervous.

My family has yet to see our new place... and I was scared they would hate it.. or make fun of us because it isnt done being decorated... or that some things simply dont work yet... so I was nervous. 

So what better way to distract them from my unfinished home?

Take them out.

Sister LOVES 90's music.. and since she is now 21, I knew Shark bar would be her place.

She danced on the platform, had some drinks, and sang along with the BSB. It was awesome.

 

note: Keely has my mom's lean legs... while I have my Dad's muscular gorilla legs.  thanks genetics.

So we went dancing, we went shopping, we ate BBQ.

It was a successful KC trip for Sister and Sisterboy.

this coming up weekend I hope to have a date night with Mr. Nguyen, we need it desperately.

And not shop for curtains. or paint the unfinished doors, or hang pictures, or fuss over touch ups.

at this rate I don't think we will ever have people over.

Stinkin' Cute.

this weekend was magic.

there was relaxation

there was swimming ( even the doggies got in on the action)

there was great food

awesome Ju-Ju

and laughter heard from miles away.

I am so glad Sami and Lyn convinced me to go to the lake. It was much needed.

 

Danny and I have been stressed all summer over this house. Trying to save every penny, finish projects, moving, and then finding Kid-d.. aka Phelix, a new forever home ( sorry I have not blogged about this.. every time I start to, I ball my eyes out, I hope to finish the blog this week =/  )

So when Sami found this great Lake House.. it was a no brainer.

 

Ok, this lake house was awesome.

The couple who owns the house is so stinkin' cute.

The entire house is a dedication of their for one another.

The kite he used to propose to her... yup it's hanging in the kitchen.

The love letter he wrote to her is in an album for all to see.

pictures are displayed with laughter, embraces, and smiles all around the house.

They are so stinkin' cute.

 

I'll say it again.

Stinkin'. Cute.

I hope one day my little family can have a lake house to show off our stinkin' cuteness.

But this blog will have to do... cuz I am not buying another house for YEARS. 

 

I may be bias... but I think my little boogers are the cutest ever.

The lowdown.

Since we did not share much on how or why we bought a place, I figured I would let my word vomit commence on the little blog. 

Danny and I are not public people. We just weren't made that way. We don't write nasty facebook statuses when we are upset, heck, Danny doesn't even have a facebook. We don't hug or kiss in public, let alone argue. When we make decisions, we rarely announce them to the world. Some call us secretive, but I think it is one of our defense mechanisms. We don't want people to judge us, so we don't give them anything to judge.

We are also impatient people. When we want something we get it, buy, do it, or whatever it right away. So when we started playfully looking at houses online, just playing pretend may I remind you, we decided

" eh why don't we just do it?"

We evaluated our finances. We are proud people, and did not want to ask for help from anyone, so if we were going to do this, we were doing it on our own.

and thus begins the whirlwind. We looked at houses and condos for a few weeks. All needing work. Work did not scare us. We would rather work on a place and build equity, then buy a big expensive house and be house poor.

We looked at real houses with real yards, then stumbled upon a foreclosed townhome, right across from Danny's work, and three blocks from his brothers house. And it just clicked. Danny was skeptical. He wanted the yard, which I couldn't blame him, we have pets, a big back yard would be AWE-SOME. But after running the numbers, this townhome was listed $40,000 under market, and would be cheaper than renting our 2 bedroom apartment. So we went to see it, and made an offer the next day.

Did I mention we didn't tell anyone we were going through this process? It was hard not to shout to the world that we were trying to buy a place, but we also didnt want the deal to fall through, and then explain to everyone why. I mean it was foreclosed home, anything can happen.

Let me tell you, buying a bank owned home SUCKS. You have to compete with multiple bids, then the waiting time is horrendous. They don't clue you in on how the process is going. We put an offer in the beginning of June, and didn't find out we got it for almost 2 weeks.

But in the end we did get the place. And now the hard part. Painting.

 The house was a place out of my beige nightmares. BEIGE BEIGE BEIGE. The trimming was a light beige, the walls were a darker beige, the carpet is beige. AHH I hate beige. No fun can come from beige.


(picture was taken mid-way through painting... I forgot to take a before picture. bad E.)

 

So I recruited the best painters I know.

 

We are not against child labor here in the Nguyen-Hazelton home. nope. equal opportunity employer.

Master bedroom

The Nguyen clan + Lynda helped us on Saturday, then Danny and I took over the kitchen during the week... 

and sadly that is the only room that is complete

 

Ignore my ugly stove.

We spent four days painting those cabinets. FOUR STINK'N DAYS. I still have white paint in my hair.

Danny's handy dad drilled handles into our cabinets for us, and it really made a difference.

I sit from my ALMOST finished living room and just stare at the kitchen. It is such an improvement, and its something we did, and it makes me proud. not to mention I am in love with the fridge.

I am easily amused.

I love my garage.

Wish us luck on cleaning out the old apartment tonight

and cross your fingers that we finish putting the moldings up in the master bedroom... and painting the trim... and sewing curtains... and unclogging my master shower.

Home ownership is awesome, right?

It will grow out.

 My first born, Brodie, is the cutest booger you will ever meet.

I have always wanted a Shih Tzu. I love their long bushy tails, and when I moved to KC I knew I had to get one as a companion.

He was the runt of his litter, and I fell in love with him instantly.

I love how excited he gets when he sees me. His tail goes crazy, and he jumps up and down.

I love watching him walk, it's like he is singing in his head " la di da da"

but damn is his hair a pain in the booty.

 

He doesn't shed, puh-lease if that was his only issue I would be ecstatic. but no. Homeboy's hair gets too long, and it is NOT straight pretty hair. It's wavy, unmanageable hair.

Now I know you're probably thinking " okk... then take him to the groomer"

I wish it was that easy.

Eventhough Brodie is perfect in my eyes, he is non-perfect in medical standards.

He can't take the distemper shot.

It makes him blind ( hence his cloudy right eye... my poor baby)

So the groomers in KC won't take. Saying he is a risk.

whatever.

So we have been cutting his hair.

Usually we do a GREAT job

See, all of his hair is even. his ears are cute.

this time....

Yea... we botched him.

It was cursed from the beginning

The dog clippers broke.

So we had to use Danny's clippers.. with no guard. So now his hair is uneven.

I decided on a whim to cut his beard so that he would look younger.. but now his head looks small. 

We tried to thin out his ears so that he wouldn't be hot this summer... and now they are uneven.

and his cool mohawk danny gave him won't stand up straight.

I feel bad for making him go through life looking like this. But I keep telling him " hey.. it will grow back" 

Next time you see Brodie, don't comment on his hair.

he is sensitive.

Round my hometown, Memories are fresh

It's funny, when you strive to be a blogger, everything around you inspires your blog.

like my title.

I was blasting Adele while driving home to Wichita this weekend.

Singing at the top of my lungs, dancing in my seat, and swaying my head back and forth. 

And when "Hometown Glory" came on I instantly thought "Blog title!"

ok, onto my trip.

Wichita finally has something beat on KC. 

 

this is their new IMAX theater. And I am in love.

We have a couple of IMAX theaters here in KC, but they fail in comparison to the Warren IMAX.

The screen is larger ( 6 stories? yes please!)

The picture is clearer.

The sound is crisp and rumbles through your chest.

I want to drive back to Wichita, just to watch Harry Potter and Transformers.

The screen was so big I had to whisper to Keely " I might have to take off my glasses.. the screen doesn't fit within my frames!" and we were sitting in the upper middle seats.

So well done Mr. Warren on the new theater... Well done.

I miss having my own private pool. So the sister and I took full advantage of my parents pool this weekend.  

 

In matching pink suites, not planned, we are just that cool.

Speaking of sister. She is the main reason for my trip down south. Home-girl turned 21, and being the cool big sister that I am, I came down to help her get stupid drunk.

 

Doesn't she look A-MAZE-ING? I was laughing so hard while doing her fake eyelashes, so she is lucky they came out straight.

her first shot for the night.

She has only drank one time before this night, plus she weights about 105lbs, so needless to say the sister didn't last long.

Her face was numb after 2 shots. She could barely stand after 3. She made it to 6 shots before we ushered her out of the bar.

But she was Hilarious! I never laughed so much. 

She raised the roof on the dance floor

Discovered that people are so friendly when they see it's your birthday

She cried after she would take a shot.

She also kicked me out of her wedding party. Whatev.

The next day we took this stud out for brunch.

We didn't take any pictures, since the little one was hungover and bright flashes of light would have been dangerous.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Welcome to the Swamp.

I am infatuated with this show ( thanks NETFLIX!). 

I want to go down to Louisiana and shoot a gator.

I don't know if it is the thrill of watching these country men catching a gator.

Or listening to their funny Cajun accents

Maybe it is that fact that these men remind me of my dad.

My dad is a hunter. The man will shoot anything-- deer, pheasants, quail, in fact Danny and I just finished up all of the wild boar meat my dad graciously gave us during our last visit home.

Here is a video of my parents house ( yes the boys are playing Just Dance) in the background you can see some of the animals my dad has... umm... shot.

 Doesn't he look like a fun guy?

So seeing these men hunt makes me think of my dad.. plus I can't understand a darn thing they say... just like my dad.

So dad... I know you are reading this because mom showed it to you... go shoot a gator, I think it would be pretty cool.

moving on.

Quinoa ( pronounces Keen-wah... not quin-oh-uh...like I once thought...)

It is my ultimate replacement for rice. It has a nutty taste to it, and you can cook it in almost any dish!

Stir fry, salads, burgers, mixed veggies, stuffed peppers, lettuce wraps, I can go on and on!

The nuitrition in this new super food is amazing!

Look at the protein and fiber. You will not find this in white... or even brown rice! mmm-kay?

So give it a shot. If I can get my rice addicted boyfriend to like this stuff then I am sure you will too =)

I buy mine online at Nuts Online







So earlier in my blog I mentioned my goal of riding my bike to work ( which is roughly 10 miles away) by June... I'm putting this to the test on Friday! Cross your fingers and wish me luck!

slump

I am in a workout slump. I just can't seem to motivate myself to get to the gym.

I usually go 4 times a week.. these past two weeks I have only gone 2-3 times. I am blaming Sookie Stackhouse. 

I read while I am at the gym. I rush through my weight exercises, then I move onto cardio, which I find much more enjoyable. I prop my nook on the Elliptical and do my interval training, then I lay the nook on the exercise mats and read while I do the plank for 2 mins. Then I'll go back to the bikes and read for another 15 mins. But this 11th Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead Reckoning, is so awful that I cut my workouts short do to boredom. Thanks a lot Sookie... don't you know it's bathing suit season?

Now I know I should have just given up Sookie, and picked up another, much enjoyable, book but come on! It's book 11. I would feel like I was missing something, and I have already invested so much time and energy in the series. Not to mention that the darn ebook was 15 bucks! So I am a sucker and stuck it out. 

Thank goodness I finished the book today, so now I can move onto a book I have been looking forward to all month, and maybe I will get some better workouts in.

I'll review it at the end of this blog... but you can already tell I do not think too highly of it.

What do you do when you hate a book? Do you stop reading it? Or do you feel like you owe it to the author to finish it out?

Journey has been doing her job fantastically. I took pictures of Danny's Family last week, and I love the pictures and how they turned out =)

I also took pictures of my lil man

can't you tell he loves his bunny.

I am in love with how clear the images are.

However this is turning into a dangerous hobby... I constantly find myself wanting to buy new lenses!

and food pictures!! they look A-MAZE-ING

Danny made this dish for me. He's becoming quite the chef. Here is the recipe he used.

Memorial Day weekend was jammed packed with celebrations. We had a surprise party for Danny's Parent's 35th anniversary, a graduation party for Danny's cousin Lya, and we made a stop at baby Olivia's one month party. 

Thank goodness we had Monday off.. otherwise my boss would have to deal with sleep deprived monster.

Speaking of work..... we finally hired someone!!!! ekkkk!!! I am wicked excited, Now I won't be stressed out trying to do three jobs at once. And I will get off earlier!

ok. onto Sookie Stackhouse.

Dead Reckoning

By Charlaine Harris

• Pub. Date: May 2011
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Sold By: Penguin Group
• Format: NOOK Book (eBook) , 336pp

Synopsis 

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows...

Review:

I have such admiration for Charlaine Harris. She has created a world that is fun, fresh, and captivated millions of people both in the literary world and television. However, she is losing her spark. The entire book was slow paced, boring, and redundant. We read more about her cleaning her attic and decorating for a baby shower then we did with actual plot development. Once the main climax happened, I scratched my head thinking " really... that's it?"

Harris seemed to have trouble with continuity in this book. Many story-lines did not add up with previous books ( Niall and Eric' relationship/understanding). Also the tone of this book did not sound right. Many characters were acting...odd ( Bill in the crawl space, Eric biting Sookie, Alcide in bed) and Sookie sounded so lifeless. I don't know what happened to Harris... but it seems like she didn't even write this book. I think Harris is setting up the end of Sookie for us. It's painfully obvious who Harris has planned to be Sookie's Happily Ever After, but I don't agree with how Harris is trying to make the audience hate Eric in order to move him aside. I wish she would set it up differently, or at least try and make it a surprise, but I guess she just wants to rip the band aid off, just like the rest of us.

I can't wrap up this review without acknowledging that Sookie makes some great new discoveries about her family history. And we finally know where her telepathy comes from ( although the storyline doesn't fit with the past books) We have resolution on the main story arc, but the relationship issues are left hanging in a most frustrating way. I just didn't feel like the book was cohesive, and it ultimately could have been condensed with another book, at least then the readers would feel like they got their moneys worth.

If you are a Sookie fan, check this book out at a library. I will continue to read the series hoping to find a happy ending, but I will not be jumping out of my seat to purchase it. 

 ok onto a new book! I love this husband/wife writing team. Hopefully they can lift me out of my slump.