10 Years Strong

*I am posting this after our Anniversary! That’s how some of the info is on here 🙂

Here we are… 10 years into my marriage… And since I did one of these posts about our marriage year, why not do one for our 10 years?

2020

Leap Year starting on a Wednesday.

World Series Champion: Los Angeles Dodgers

Super Bowl Champions:

  • (Super Bowl 54) Kansas City Chiefs vs San Francisco 49’ers: 32/20 KC
  • (Super Bowl 55) Kansas City Chiefs vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 31/9 TB

NBA Champions: L.A. Lakers

Kentucky Derby Winner: Authentic (more…)

7th Anniversary

Hello. We’ve now been married 7 years. Some days it feels just like yesterday that we were dating and other days it feels like much longer. But the thing is…. we still kind of like each other. (haha)

This year our anniversary fell on Labor Day Monday. It does that from time to time. I guess that’s what happens when you get married Labor Day Weekend. Chances are your anniversary will fall on Labor Day Weekend. Totally cool with that, because that meant we got to spend our Anniversary together. Score.

Our morning started off with breakfast at Jimmy’s Egg. Ever eaten at one of them? You should. They specialize in Breakfast and lunch. This… this is good and totally worth every last calorie laden bite. This is the Carnitas Skillet. I’ve tried and tried to find the description and I’m afraid if I tell you I’ll forget something…. so be prepared…. It’s hash browns, eggs, cheese (Monterey Jack), pulled pork, sausage, bacon (maybe, I can’t remember), topped with tomatoes and onions and just all around YUM!

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5 Years = The Wood Anniversary

I wonder where they came up with the traditional Anniversary gifts…. Not going to lie, some of them are just a bit…. weird…. but hey whatever.

When hubby and I got married, as we approached our first anniversary I just knew we needed to keep gifts based around traditional gifts. This year I got lax on that though… hubby did good, me…. not so much. I really couldn’t decide what to get him. I thought about being a smart alic (sp??) and give him a log… you know, you could burn it in the fireplace? Weird right….

Anyway I wound up buying him this…….

Why yes, we are Chiefs fans at my house :). I still thought about going out and getting that log or a stick, but I didn’t.

The night before our anniversary everyone at dive club meeting gave hubby a hard time about forgetting our anniversary. Especially because I put up my facebook picture of our wedding picture and my grandparents wedding picture (same anniversary!!) earlier in the week. They said either

A) I was trying to remind him or
B) it was there to scare him and make him look at a calendar.

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I do!

Three Years ago today I married one of my best friends.

Please play Hank Williams Jr, Blues Man

This photo was symbolic for us for the simple fact that we went to school together.  We met before we got to the high school, but our friendship strengthened once we were sophomores.  At the time our High School was 10-12, now it’s 9-12.  And sadly our high school building has become the junior high, but either way, this building is where we built upon our friendship all those years ago.  And no, sadly we aren’t “high school sweethearts” but that’s okay.  Everyone needs to build their story somehow and this is ours!

Happy Anniversary my sweet husband.  I love you with all my heart!

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What’s up with the Crazy Weather?!?!

Here we are approaching the 2nd Anniversary of the Joplin Tornado.  A tornado that did major devastation to my part of the country and yet we’re not the only part of the country that is hurting.  Just yesterday Moore Oklahoma was hit by an EF5 tornado.  I have a college friend and her husband who live in Moore.  She said they were okay and that their house was 1000 feet from being taken out by the tornado.

I really am starting to wonder why Mother Nature is so upset lately.  Is it just me and the fact that I’m older so I pay more attention, or is the weather becoming crazier?  Can anyone shed some light on that?

So Sunday afternoon we were headed to pick my mom up from her work trip to Germany.  She was in Germany 2 years ago when the Joplin tornado hit.  She found out by watching International news and calling my dad at 1am to chew him out for not telling her what was going on.  I tried to call her but dad said it would be the middle of the night and that he’d call her first thing in the morning.  Just so happens our mornings here started 7 hours after her morning there.  Rude awakening for everyone involved.  Then mom called me at work to chew me out for not making dad call her.  My phone call came in at 10am.

Anyway, they were calling for bad weather.  This is what the sky looked like just before we left to head for the airport.

Which was a bit eery seeing as though this was the predicted forcast for the evening.

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26 Truths in the form of ABC's

I like Apples but the green ones really are my favorite. 

I had a dream about Bananas on Wednesday night last week, no joke.  My mom bought 50 of them and I was helping her eat them.  (Remember that was a dream, she really didn’t buy 50 Bananas.  I wasn’t even at my mom’s house the day before or anything… just totally random)

Earl & Pokey keep claiming they’re going to get me a Cat because I always take their kitty’s picture and talk to the kitty.  I’m really not a huge cat person, but I like theirs and I really don’t want a house cat.

I have 3 Dogs that I absolutely love, but I claim all 4 of my parents dogs as mine still, technically one is, but he lives there.

Every morning that my husband leaves the house and I’m not going with him, we have a run down of the same things I say to him along with a kiss.

I am a self-proclaimed Foodie. (recipes, restaurants)

@boomerbear

Tractors should be Green and Trucks should be Red 🙂 Actually, I’m not racist, I’ll drive a red tractor any day! 🙂

I’m not real sure I look good in Hats.

I fed an Iguana a banana when I studied abroad in Costa Rica.

I Jumped a lot during the movie 6th Sense with Bruce Willis, which also happened to be one of the first dates I ever went on.  We remained friends.

I bought 2 Kites a few weeks ago so that Tbug, hubby and I could all fly them.  Coolest {step}mom ever?  Probably not.

I have a Yellow Lab, a brindle black Cocker Spaniel and a white Great Pyrenees.  They are my girlfriends.

My hair is kind of a Mousy brownish color.  So I add highlights to give it a little dimension.

My middle Name is actually Nicole, but that is the name I go by.  Just for your information, don’t name your kids a first, middle name and then call them by their middle.  It creates mass chaos for the rest of their life! (I love you mom and dad!)

I used self tanning spray in high school and actually turned a strip of my leg Orange.

I’ve decided I should quit drinking water because water makes you Pee.  At least my kidneys are working but I get tired of always walking to the bathroom (tmi I’m sure, also consequently “Water makes you pee” is a line I used on a first date with a guy.  Yeah we ended up friends but still he wanted to date me after that line)

I have made 2 Quilts in my life surprisingly enough.  I still have one and it hangs on my wall at home for which hubby gets a lot of grief about…

A few years ago I had a Pyrenees named Rolex because she was in fact, A Watch Dog. yuck yuck yuck, but that’s the truth.

Somewhere with You by Kenny Chesney is one of my favorite songs he sings.  It also helped me find the rattle in my car speakers.

My first name starts with a T, therefore why the blog address, TNICOLEJ but I really think I should change it.  I’m just not sure to what…

I have 3 Umbrellas and have misplaced every. single. one. of them.  Not such a good thing to do when it is rainy season, but sometimes I walk in the rain hoping not to scare it away!

I am Very tired still… not sure if I’m not getting enough sleep or if this time change is still affecting me.

This is the last Week of the first 6 Week Workout of Revolt Now Fitness and I’m still enjoying it.  It challenges me which is good and sometimes I have to modify just a bit, but hubby says he can tell a difference.  That’s good, right?  I still can’t see anything.

I had an Xray one time and they asked me about 6 times if I was pregnant.  My answer every time was obviously no but I was getting annoyed.

I’ve started saying Yes to things that normally I might have said no to, trying to come out of my shell and experience new things.  I would say it’s working! (i.e. scuba diving, parasailing, shooting hand guns, bows & arrows, etc and no I may not have said no, I’m just also getting the opportunities, which is a definite plus to helping say yes!)

I guess until I have my own kid someday, I’ll never get into the Zoo for free on Mother’s Day because Tbug gets to spend time with her mommy.  Oh well, someday, maybe.  Hey Earl, I’m stealing borrowing one of your kids!

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AQ Chicken House and 34 Years

So today just so happens to be my parents 34th wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary mom and dad!!

Yesterday my parents, hubby and I went to Rogers, AR to go shopping at the Pinnacle Hills Promenade.  When we made our plans the day before, I asked if while we were down in the area if we could go eat at A&Q Chicken.  My mom said, “Well, I’m sure we might be able to arrange that.”

The cool thing about going to eat at A&Q Chicken House this particular time was the fact that my parent’s ate their first meal as a married couple on the eve of their wedding day as they were headed out on their honeymoon.  And it just so happened to be this A&Q Chicken House in Springdale, AR.

What’s even better about that story, the lights went out and they ate in the dark.  That didn’t happen this time though.

So anyway, A&Q Chicken House has been around since 1947.  I believe that shows the test of time.  Shows they truly have awesome food.

They start you off with yummy rolls that you can add butter and honey to.  Of course I did that!  I know how to roll :).

I went with the Chicken Parmigiana.

Chicken Parmigiana
A fried Chicken breast smothered with homemade spaghetti, topped with Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese.

This was a very good Chicken Parmigiana!  The noodles were good and I’m not a huge fan of spaghetti plain, but I ate quite a bit (not all because it was a huge portion!).  The chicken was nicely fried and was juicy and tender.  The sauce on top topped with the cheeses were a perfect blend.  I walked away STUFFED!

Mom & dad both got the Original Pan Fried Chicken

Original AQ Pan Fried Chicken
Three pieces of moist and tender pan fried chicken with the taste and texture from grandmother’s cast iron skillet.  Served with choice of two side items.

Mom went with Green Beans and Mashed potatoes.  Dad went with Smoked BBQ Beans and Cole Slaw.

One time hubby and I ate at the one in Fayetteville and he wound up getting a combo platter with 3 types of chicken.  His favorite (and I agree) was the Over the Coals Chicken, so that’s what he ordered this time.

Chicken over the Coals
Three pieces of pan fried chicken with that “grilled in the backyard” charcoal flavor.  Seasoned with our famous lemon pepper seasoning.  Served with choice of two side items.

Hubby went with the Smoked BBQ Beans & Batter Dipped fries.  Now I tried the beans because I’m always telling Tbug to try new things.  I don’t like beans, I’m sorry, but they did have a good bbq flavor to them, still not a fan of beans though.  The chicken was moist, the charcoal flavor on top of the lemon pepper was perfection!  The fries were very interesting.  A nice batter on top of the fries.  I only tried one though and mine was really hot when I tried it, although definitely not bad.

I loved the fact that they had a map with visitors from all over the US, and the world even.  The papers listed countries that weren’t listed on the map and parts of Canada not seen on this particular map.  They also had a guest registry book that was multiple pages thick.

All the posters on the wall caught my attention showing different things about A&Q through the years.

And if you think about it, it is Arkansas so… Former President Bill Clinton has even visited there and they even documented it.  There were multiple photos of him eating there, co-mingling with the other patrons.

And how cool is this truck.  If anyone knows what it is, please by all means share!

They have two locations, one here in Springdale and one in Fayetteville.  I have eaten at both and I say, heck if you’re in the area, you like good fried chicken, you should so check them out :).

Happy Anniversary to my Momma & Daddy!  Here’s to 34 more brilliant years (I’ve been watching too many British movies I think).  And I guess maybe we should have taken them here today instead of yesterday… oh well maybe next year.

2 Years

Where were you 2 years ago?  What day would that have been?  What year?  Can you answer any of those questions?  I can.

The day of the week would have been a Friday.  The year would have been 2010.  Starting at 8am in the morning I was making phone calls left and right.  First to the bank, then to the hospital and back again.  The Hospital said I didn’t pay a $25 co-pay bill (that they make you pay in advance before they’ll do anything to you) from 2008.  The bank wanted to charge me $28/hr to research and find the check I had written.  I was arguing with the hospital that they wouldn’t see me without paying the co-pay.  I was arguing with the bank that I wasn’t going to pay $28/hr to find a $25 check.

The bank finally reasoned with me that that wouldn’t have been a smart thing to do.  I finally proved that I paid the $25 co-pay but the hospital didn’t credit it to my account for a while, so therefore they thought I hadn’t paid it.  Gah and people wonder why I don’t go to the hospital/doctor!

About 10am  I was mad.  I had been so shook up because I am one to PAY MY BILLS.  The mail gal came by and saw my face was red and talked to me for a few minutes and then went on her way.  Just as she left Nancy at the front desk called me to tell me I had a beautiful package sitting on her desk.  I told her I’d be up.  I started to do the mail real fast and said, nope, screw it.

Would you like to know what I was wearing?  My husband says I have a steel trapped mind sometimes.  I know what I was wearing this particular day.  One of my favorite pairs of Lucky’s.  My Red Nike Shocks.  A t-shirt that said Tbugs Cheer team on it.  And my Fight like a girl sweatshirt.  Sorry I can’t tell you what bra and panties… I know you’re bummed about that right?

And this was what was waiting for me at the front desk.

Now I had already told the boy, Don’t get me flowers.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like them.  What girl doesn’t like flowers, even when she says she doesn’t want them. :).

I called him on my trek back to my desk to give him fits.  He didn’t answer his phone.  Odd because he was just talking to me via g-talk.  That’s fine, whatever I’ll go hit him up when I get back to my desk.

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