War Buzzard

Well, I have given in.

Tomorrow, I will be in Jordan-Hare stadium surrounded by people cheering for Tigers.

Is my heart prepared for this? I'm not so sure. I've been to an Auburn game before when I was heavily in like with another Auburn boy. It was quite the experience.

Nothing like a day in Bryant-Denny though...

We're waking up early tomorrow to drive down to the Cow Town in the morning. My awesome boss will dog sit our sweet Charlotte for the day while we in in the Burn. We're planning on running into tons of people we know while we walk around campus, trying to catch a glimpse of the ESPN Gameday folks, and going to Tiger Walk before the game starts tomorrow night.

Ben is stoked. He's wearing his orange pants tomorrow.

I'm wearing a shirt he got me for Christmas for last year that says, "I only kiss Auburn fans." So, even though it's orange, it LOOKS like I'm an Auburn fan, but doesn't SAY I'm an Auburn fan. Just says that I'm married to one.

My aunt told me I should wear my own colors to the game. I told her I didn't want to get beaten up. I'll just try to blend in. And if I want to cheer for the Tigers, no one will know which Tigers I'm cheering for. Both teams are Tigers tomorrow.

I embarrassed Ben in Auburn once. Before we were married, we went to down to Auburn for the Alabama-Auburn game to hang out with his buddies for the weekend. We didn't have tickets to the game (because we didn't have a cool couple hundred bucks to drop on them) so we went to Mellow Mushroom to watch the game and eat pizza. I was one of three Bama fans in the entire restaurant, and it was PACKED full of people who didn't have tickets to the game. Did I care? Heck no! I cheered LOUD! I also made friends with the other two Bama fans. Ben was so embarrassed that his girl was screaming for her team louder than anyone else in the restaurant and totally drawing attention to our table.

I tend to do that. (That's a picture from that night.)

I fully intend not to embarrass my husband tomorrow. I will be a good wife who (somewhat) keeps her mouth shut and the trash talking to a minimum. But I'm not making promises if they announce the Bama game score during the Auburn game.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Down in New Orleans

OMG.

Cajun pasta night!

So so so so so so so good. And I made it up all by myself! No recipe at all!

I guess I've watched enough Top Chef to be able to put together a simple meal.

How to make my Cajun Pasta:

1. Boiled my pasta until al dente.

2. Cooked six andouille sausage links in a sauce pan for about 10 minutes until they were plump.

3. Sauteed 1/2 pound of white shrimp in olive oil (or EVOO, like my girl Racheal Ray says) and dusted it with Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning. (If you don't know what that is, it's amazing stuff that tastes good on everything: seafood, meat, french fries...it's the ultimate salty creole seasoning.)

4. Dumped a jar of Newman's Own Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce in a sauce pan on low so that it warmed through. (Hey, I didn't go to culinary school. I don't make sauce.)

5. Sliced up 3 of the sausage links (saved the other 3 for Charlotte) and dumped the sausage and the shrimp in the alfredo sauce and mixed it all together.

6. Poured the sauce over the pasta.

DELICIOUS.

It was so quick and easy. Made enough for 2, so Ben will have plenty for dinner tomorrow night! The roasted red pepper sauce was a great touch, too. Thank heavens for Paul Newman. Not only was he gorgeous, he started a company that uses whole ingredients and a portion of every sale goes to charity!

Now, this was not too terribly spicy. Ben and I don't like too terribly spicy foods. I'm sure this recipe could be tweaked to add a little more spice. I thought it was just spicy enough.

But it did take me back here...

New Orleans. One of my favorite places in the world.

Ben and I were able to take a few days to visit New Orleans back in June. I had never been able to go there before. It is an awesome city full of culture and flavor (and drunks). We had so much fun wandering the streets and ducking into small shops. And then the food...

I'm going to die just thinking about it.

Random fun fact: Did you know that in the famous landscape shots of Tara in Gone With The Wind, the front door is actually off center? Tara is always shown at an angle, and the director thought it looked funny with the door in the traditional place, so he had it moved right of center to be seen between columns. If you saw it straight on, the door would be behind columns.

And the movie is NOTHING like the book. If you haven't read it, I highly suggest it. Brilliant.

Food, Glorious Food

I ate too much this weekend.

Seriously.

We went to Jackson this past weekend to visit Ben's family. We ate chicken spaghetti, M&Ms, peanuts, sausage, steak, stuffed potatoes, cupcakes, Mexican, and Sonic. All in one weekend. It was delicious.

My poor tummy.

So, I needed to go to Publix (heaven!) today because we had n-o-t-h-i-n-g to eat in our house. I thought all day about what needed to be bought and I just couldn't bear the thought of any more junk going in my stomach.

Katie and Ben will no longer be eating junk. We will be eating fresh and healthy.

Since Ben and I are on opposite schedules, a typical week of dinners for us includes Lean Cuisines, Compleats, Lunchables, PB&Js, cereal, mac & cheese, and Dijourno pizza. We tend to eat fast food every day for lunch because that's the only time we see each other and we stretch lunch time by going somewhere, rather than me driving home.

So much sodium and preservatives in the prepackaged stuff. And $$$$$$$$$.

Don't get me wrong. I love some blue box mac & cheese. There are some nights when all I want is cereal. But my poor husband is suffering. And I look like a single mom with 4 kids when I go through the grocery line with all my single serving lunch box food.

Back to today:

I read up on some recipes and will be cooking at least 3 times a week with fresh ingredients. I will be making enough for Ben to take to work for dinner. I'm not so good at following directions, so I'm making my own recipes up as I go. I am not the world's greatest cook, so I will be using some prepared ingredients, but most vegetables and meats will be fresh.

On this week's menu:

Panko crusted pan-fried tilapia

Chicken fajita tacos with black bean and corn salsa

Cajun pasta with shrimp and andouille sausage

I will keep you posted on how I do. If it tastes awful, I will eat PB&J. I did buy fresh bread.

Random Fact About Charlotte: Charlotte does not play well with others. She tries to be big and bad with dogs bigger than her, but is terrified of smaller dogs and tucks her tail. Solidifies the fact that we will never get a second dog!

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

By now, you've been introduced to my awesome hubby, Ben.

And I've told you just how funny he is, but really have neglected to tell you anything funny that he's done. This morning, I was reminded of one my favorite funny "Ben" things.

He talks in his sleep.

Poor thing. He works nightshift, so, when he's out, he's out. He usually does the really funny stuff when he's in the really deep cycle of sleep and never remembers anything he says or does. It's fun to remind him the next day.

This morning, after he tried to hold me down (I wasn't resisting much), I said, "Ok Boosef, I'm getting up now!" He replies, "Potatoes." POTATOES?!?!? Ummmm...

I learned a long time ago to play along. He keeps talking if you do.

I asked, "What kind of potatoes?"

"Mashed."

"With butter?"

"Uh-huh."

"And salt?"

"NO!"

(He never eats salt on anything.)

These have been said out of nowhere and we're both asleep.

"The guy...in the parking lot...selling tshirts..."

"CINNAMON ROLLS!!!!!"

"Andrew! Get the skids! Put 'em at #42!"

(This is a reference to work. There is no one named Andrew at work.)

One morning, I locked myself out of the house. I banged on the door in the garage. I knew he couldn't hear me there. If a train ACTUALLY hit the house, he wouldn't hear it. I ran around to the front door and held my finger on the doorbell. Nothing. Ran around to the backdoor, which happens to be right by our bedroom. I started banging on the door, yelling, "BEN! LET ME IN!!!!!!!"

I could hear him in the bed yelling, "KATIE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He thought I was in the house, nagging him to get out of bed. This went on for five minutes.

"BEN! OPEN THE DOOR!"

"KATIE! SHUT UP!"

Finally, he swung open the door with this really crazy look on his face. I know this look. He's still asleep.

"What's going on? Are you ok?"

"Ben, I'm fine. I locked myself out."

"Well, how did you get in?"

"You just let me in, dummy!"

My favorite of all time Ben story is the Christmas caroling.

Now, I get REALLY excited about Christmas, but I totally believe that Christmas should not be celebrated until Thanksgiving is complete. But you bet your butt that on Black Friday, I will be in full Christmas spirit! I usually begin answering the phone by singing Christmas carols.

I think that's what he was doing this one night.

We were sleeping and I hear Ben say...

"Hello?...JOOOOOOOOY TO THE WORLD!!!!!!!"

There was no playing along this night. I busted out laughing. He was still kind of asleep and he said, "What? I'm just excited about Christmas!"

Random Fun Fact: According to Wikipedia, "somniloquy" or sleep talking, only occurs in 4% of adults. Funny. I've been told that Ben's dad and his little brother sleep talk.

Monday, Monday

Today is Monday. Labor Day at that. Fantabulous day. My house became sparkly clean and then our Sunday School buddies came over tonight for pizza and to watch the Virginia Tech/Boise State game. So much fun! Love our Sunday School class.

I had to work this weekend, so Ben and I just lazed around the house on Saturday and Sunday night. It was so nice to just be with each other. And I totally passed out on the couch at like, 8:30 both nights. There was no keeping me up.

I don't really have a lot of fun stuff to say tonight, so I'll leave you with this precious picture of my Charlotte. I let her out of her crate on Friday when I got home. She bounded out into the living room right onto the couch, where Ben's Auburn hat was waiting. She grabbed it and took off, and if I had let her keep chewing, she would have destroyed it.

I knew it.

She's a Bama Fan.

Random Fact About Me: I do not think Boise State deserves a National Championship bid. They have no strength of season. Leave it to the big dogs, Broncos!

Boys of Fall

In the south, especially in Alabama, we do not have spring, summer, autumn, and winter. We have freeze your butt off, sweat your butt off, and football season.

That's right. Football season.

Now if you happen to land on my page and you're from somewhere like, oh, Idaho, you are not going to get this post whatsoever. You are going to think I am a maniac.

I do not care.

Football season has begun.

If you can't tell by now, football season is my absolute favorite season of the year. I was a cheerleader all through my life, including high school. (This is me and Abby, one of my very best and oldest friends, our senior year cheering for the Raiders!)

I was brainwashed by my mother at an early age to be an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, much to my father's dismay, who was a Florida Gator fan. He succeeded in brainwashing my brother.

Auburn is a dirty word. So is Tennessee.

I don't know if you know this, but Alabama won the National Championship last year. Again.

Roll Tide.

Now, I happened to marry a boy who made a very bad decision as he grew up. He was raised by an Crimson Tide mother and step-father, (his dad is an Ole Miss fan and his step-mom is a Mississippi State alum...don't even get me started on his messed up genes) and he was on the right side up until his friends got a hold of him around senior year.

Then he converted to the dark side. That's right. Auburn.

It's his only fault. I think I can live with it.

You might wonder, is this a girl who just likes football? Does she just like to go to games and be in the crowd, but doesn't really know what's going on?

The answer is no. I am a fan. I love football. I know things. Stats, even. Pretty impressive for a girl, eh?

So, football season has officially started. South Carolina played last night. Bama and Auburn kick off tomorrow. We are having a Sunday School party Monday night for the VA Tech/Boise State game at our house. I'm actually sitting outside in my backyard right now and I can hear the high school football game announcer from a few miles away. I am pumped.

And, oh yeh, ROLL TIDE!!!!!

My Girl

I'm in love with a girl.

Charlotte is almost 4 months old now. She's full of energy and definitely showing her personality more and more. She is sweet and loving and loves attention. She's headstrong and can be downright defiant sometimes. She loves people and looking at her reflection in the fireplace. A cricket is her favorite snack. She loves to be outside, as long as she's not by herself. She HATES to be by herself. So much so that if she's in her crate, and she can't see us in the bed, she cries. She's our little shadow. She's super compassionate and is very concerned if you hurt yourself, or sneeze, or cry. She won't leave you alone until she knows you're ok. She gets the hiccups when she gets upset and then she gets upset because she has the hiccups and doesn't understand what they are. Precious.

This is Charlotte's very first picture.

I had been begging Ben for a dog for forever, like since before we got married. But, with being in an apartment, and then moving into a house with no fence, he never felt right about getting a dog. But then, with our first time homebuyer tax credit, we planned on putting a fence up! What did a fence mean? A dog!

So, I was looking at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society website and saw this precious dog named Isabelle. Ben told me we could go look at her the next day. The whole way over there, he kept telling me, "Katie, don't get your hopes up. We're not getting a dog. The fence isn't even up yet." I just kept nodding my head and smiling, knowing full and well that Ben is a total sucker.

When we got to the beautiful GBHS facility (really, it's beautiful, you should go there!), we told the lady at the desk we wanted to look at the puppies. She told us to walk around the walls and look at the puppies through the glass and if we saw one we liked, we would have to fill out an application, and then they would take one out for us to bond with.

We started walking around the walls with these 8 foot windows. Sitting in front of the third window was this precious red haired puppy named Jessie. She just sat there and looked at us as if to say, "Please take me home." I looked at Ben and we both agreed she was adorable, but we were there to look at Isabelle, so we passed by Jessie and moved on to find Isabelle.

Well, Isabelle was kenneled with another puppy and they were fighting. And barking. Loudly. And she was totally not as cute as the picture. We quickly decided that Isabelle was not the dog for us. We slowly made our way back to Jessie's window. Still sitting there. I asked Ben, "Can we play with her?" He said, "Ok, fine."

We filled out the paperwork and waited for them to approve us and then they brought this sweet baby to us. The GBHS rep put her in Ben's lap first and he looked at me like, "SOLD!" She was so sweet and we both bonded with her immediately. Needless to say, we left with the dog.

We also quickly changed her name. She was not a Jessie. We went through a list of girl's names and landed on Charlotte. No particular reason. Just liked it. She also answers to Baby Girl, Dawgie, Poopy Dawg, and when she's feeling gangsta, Poop Doggie Dog.

Since having her, we have had so much fun! She is trying at times. There are times that I just want to beat the snot out of her, like when she plays her new favorite game, Grab It and Run, in which she grabs something like a sock and runs (don't worry, PETA lovers, she never gets more than a light pop from me. Love the dog. Kiss her every chance I get.). We are completely smitten with her and spoil her like crazy.

She's gained a good 10 pounds since we adopted her. She's all leg and muscle. Every time we're out, someone always asks, "What is she?" Well, she's a Lab/Terrier mix. She's definitely got Lab legs and Lab body, but a Terrier face, tail and ears. And she's a redhead. :) She hardly ever barks, only if she's mad. She mostly does this Sonar sounding cry that I swear could shatter my good champagne flutes if I sat them close enough. We thought we had her potty trained, but this week, it seems as if she's forgotten all that.

She's my baby. Love her. Wouldn't give her back if you made me.