I'll Be Home For Christmas

We celebrated Christmas last night, and we're already back home. Trey and I attended two Christmas gatherings, one on the Anderson side and the other on my side.

My older sister Amy had a late party at her place. It started at 9 pm so I knew it was going to be a long night. Trey stayed up pretty late playing video games. I had about 2 adult beverages and went out like a light bulb. It's sad, but true. It was hard to find a good place to sleep at her place b/c there were a lot of people. Some, like Trey, slept on sofas and recliners. I can count my blessings I got a bed, even if it was kiddie size.

All Trey wanted for Christmas
...Cowboys stuff

No Escaping the Christmas Camera

Christmas Candles

Christmas is just around the corner.

Accent Wall in the Office Nook

I painted the laundry room the same color. That room is almost done, Trey just needs to trim in the paint. Then after that, I'm making my way to the bedroom to paint it ORANGE.

Feliz Navidad

The Anderson Christmas Card


Today has been a home improvement day. Soon I will start painting and Trey and I just hung curtains...finally.

In the living room we have an entire wall of windows. We haven't found any curtain rods long enough. We were originally thinking we'd have to buy 3 or 4 curtain rods and somehow put them all together to make one long rod. That was the plan, until Trey had a great idea. He bought 2---3 dollar conduit poles and put them together. I'm estimating he saved us about 90 dollars. Handyman Trey.

Adding Color to My Life

It's been such a good week for me, especially at work. Since Monday, I've been editing and I completed that project today. When I get back from the holiday break, I have another project waiting for me. Job security, aye.

Well, I'm done with work until the next year. I'm looking forward to the break and I already have a to do list. One thing I want to do is paint a few rooms. I'm seriously considering orange for the master bedroom. I know it sounds crazy, but every paint color I've ever selected has looked great...green, red, blue. Yes, I really like color. I was thinking of backing down from the orange color, but Trey thinks it'll really compliment our furniture. The orange, I'm considering isn't bright, it's more of a burnt tone.

So, Christmas is next week and to get into the holiday spirit, Trey and I drove around the neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights. He kinda got car sick, so it was a short drive. When we got home, to my surprise I saw 3 deer a few yards away from our house. They were beautiful.

2 Meals Later

I've made two meals following Seinfeld's recipe. I'm not sure what to think of the food. Personally, I like veggies a lot more when I can see them, but for Trey's sake I'm giving this a try.

I've gotten mixed reviews from him. Last night I made "Cigar Tortillas" (yeah, it's a weird name). Anyways, I thought the recipe was bland and Trey said he wouldn't mind me making again. Tonight, I made pita pizzas. Now, that was good. Trey didn't care for it and even though the recipes claim they are deceitful, Trey could totally see the spinach in the sauce...hmmm, I guess it's not child proof. After seeing and taking a bite of the pizza, Trey refused to eat the rest.

I should have thought of this to begin with, instead of introducing new recipes to our menu, I'm just going to add veggie purees to select meals that we frequently eat. It's worth a shot, but this week I'm going to make a few more recipes out of the book. Who knows, maybe we'll find something we both like.

These are just a few of the purees: Carrot, Squash, Spinach. Not included in the photo: Acorn Squash, Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower.


Acorn Squash. The produce guy at Central Market told me this was butternut squash and I didn't know any better...Now I know.

A Mini-Vacation

This past weekend, felt like a mini-vacation. Trey's company had their Christmas party in Abilene and they were so generous to book us a hotel. I love staying at hotel's. Trey and I scooped the place out and found the fitness room. We didn't work out, instead Trey cranked up the treadmill to 10 mph and we took turns testing our speed. I caved at 10 mph and Trey got right up to 11 (show-off).

Sunday we meet up with family at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Cowboys game. And from there we headed home. On the drive home I had to listen to Cowboys commentary on the radio, like I don't hear enough of football.

Now, it's back to work and I'm looking forward to editing. All the students are at home for the holidays and it's going to be nice and quite. Wow, the year is almost over. Where did it go?

Sneaking-In the Spinach

Have you heard of Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook for kids, Deceptively Delicious?
It's a cookbook marketed to mother's who have kids who hate to eat healthy or in my case a very picky husband. Well, a few months ago Trey and I saw her on Oprah. After watching the episode he encouraged me to add the healthy recipes to our menu. I was so eager, I started looking for the book, but there for a while I couldn't find it at any bookstores (I think it was the Oprah Effect). Well, now I have it and this week I'm gonna to try it out.

The whole idea is to cook normal meals like eggs, pizza, quesadillas, chicken nuggets, burgers, desserts, etc. The catch is adding pureed vegetables and sometimes even fruit to the meals. Trey already told me he doesn't want to know what veggies I'm sneaking in and that's good because that's the whole idea.

I always have fresh greens in the fridge, but it's so nice knowing that Trey will be eating some too. Everyone should add color to their plate, even if you can't see it hehehehe. Let the deceiving begin.

Deep Breathe

Today is going to be a busy day. I have two big production shoots. Well, ready or not, here it comes.

Googles Street View

This morning I heard about street view, a new feature in google maps. There is some controversy about it and I can see why...literally. I looked our address up and it's not even on the map, so good luck finding us. No, really you should check this new feature out. I think more good will come out of it than bad.

Staying Warm & Conserving Energy

This is the second night in a row, we've had the fireplace burning. Even Corky likes getting snugly near the flames. I prefer sitting on the brick and roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

It's December and we've only turned the heater on a few times. Thus far, the home insulation is paying for itself. However, I have noticed the bedrooms are significantly cooler that the living area. Trey and I have a heavy winter comforter and we just add another one on top to stay comfortable through the night.

Married by Area Code

Dominique and Trey: official residents of DFW

That's right, I changed my cell number to a local number (Trey too). I didn't have to change it, but it was time. It was also time for a new cell phone. Friday I went down the DFW AT&T call list, to see who had this phone in stock. Luckily, we found one that had 3 in stock and a worker offered to hold 2 until we made our way to the store. Good thing too because I was getting really tired of my old cell dying every time I sneezed. Trey and I both got the Sony Ericsson Walkman in black/orange not white (hey I just like the white picture).

So far, I'm very pleased with this product. It has all the bells and whistles anyone would expect from a new phone, plus...my favorite--fitness applications. Yeah, its really cool because there are all kinds of fitness tools like pedometer, distance tracker, calorie counter, graphs and charts to view progress. Cool aye?

Now all I have to do is learn how to use the thing. Ha ha ha!

Everyone Loves Corky

Cortnee came over yesterday. We ended up going to see that movie The Golden Compass. This film has a lot of violence. It's definitely not a kids movie, like I originally thought. Other than that, I discovered this french bakery/restuarant that's not too far from where I live. Cortneee and I got a cold drink before the film. I told her the last thing I need to find is a 3 dollar drink that I really like. The caffene was good and the visit was great.

Trey didn't join us, instead he met up with a friend who was in town. They went and watched the Abilene High football game. AHS was playing in the Fort Worth area. Later that night when I got home I had the house to myself so I watched the Pursuit of Happiness....gosh talk about a depressing movie. I almost turned it off because it was such a sad flick. Well, other than that, the rest of the night was good.

Almost Done

Sunday, Trey and got on the roof to mount the Christmas lights. It was pretty windy and I was scared the wind was going to blow us off. We still have about 4 more boxes of lights to mount and Trey promised he was going to finish it soon. Its already Thursday, so I'm wondering when he's going to get to it.

I'm That Person

(with the help of Trey's zip ties)

Lights Out

Trey's old boss, from Abilene, was in town today. We meet up with him and went to eat at Fuddruckers for dinner. As we were eating at the table, the lights went out. It must have been a black out on the entire block. It was really dark too. Luckily, Trey had a small flashlight that he put on the table so we could see what we were eating. We ate in the dark for about 15 minutes. When we left, the lights were still out. Yeah, it was an interesting dinner.

Well, it's kinda late for me so I'm gonna turn the lights off...right now.

Goodnight.

Cell Phone Screams: Kill Me

I've had my cell phone for 2 and a half years. I've never replaced the battery and these last few weeks it's been dying rapidly. Even though I could buy a new battery I would rather upgrade to another phone. I'm with AT&T, but you won't hear anytime soon (by that I mean years) about me getting the iPhone. As much as I love Apple products, this is one product I will pass. I'm hoping the next iPhone that comes out will have turn by turn GPS. That is something I would like to invest in.

No iPhone for me. I have my eyes on another cell and it's fairly inexpensive. The only problem about it, is that it's currently out of stock everywhere in the DFW area. I'm suppose to look online and try to purchase it. I may wait, as my current cell dies a slow and painful death. Every time it beeps, it screams, "Kill Me!"

You wanna hear something funny about my cell? I dropped it while back, while riding on my scooter. I was driving at about 38-40 MPH and it slipped out of my pocket. The battery fell off and I just put it back together. The old Razor and I have been through some hard times, but it's time to say goodbye.

Clowning Around

Another funny find in the old Anderson video achieve. Natasha is now 14 years old. Trey and I were dating at this time and he remembers her at this age. We both had a good laugh.It was Trey who encouraged me to make this public. He wanted me to post this on her myspace page, but I don't know how to do that, so this is the next best thing. Enjoy.


To Natasha:
Love you sister

The Good Life

The end of the semester is quickly approaching and I'm working on a graduation video for the RN to BSN class. I picked a song specifically for them---Kanye West: The Good Life. See music Video to your right.

I presented it to my boss and she loved it. Especially, the part where he talks about watching the money pile up. These nurses make a ridiculous amount of money, fresh out of college and they know it.

Other than work, I'm really looking forward to the biggest football game of the year. Trey and I plan on watching Green Bay vs. Dallas tonight. It's gonna be a good one. Note to self: wear ear plugs.

Corky aka Corkscrew

Mom and Tasha stayed at our house last week. From Wednesday to Sunday they gave Corky lots of lovin. Tasha and I took him walking last week, but it was so cold it was hard to enjoy it. Yes, it's getting more difficult to go walking because the temperature is dropping. The good news is, I hear this week temperatures should be in the mid 60's.

The last few weeks I've been training Corky to go walking without a leash. He was doing great for a few weeks, he was walking right next to me, but here lately he's been testing his boundaries. Now, I'm trying to rotate between the leash and without. I've been watching the Dog Whisperer and I've been practicing being the pack leader. I know it sounds so cheesy, but I think Corky is catching on.

I'm not trying to get comments, I'm just addressing a question I've been asked a handful of times

I've had several family members and a few friends who have had a hard time commenting on this blog and then there are some who have no idea how to comment. I've been meaning to address this issue for some time, so I guess this is a good time because I don't have anything else to blog about.

How To Comment on a Post:
Say I write a blog entry that says: I'm Shaving My Hair Off B/C Britney Spears in my hero!

After reading this you may want to write a comment to tell me I'm crazy and if you're smart you'll want to stop me. So, this is how you can do that...At the bottom of each blog entry there is an area that says 0 Comments. You click on that and a box appears. In the box you'll leave your comment that you'd like Trey and I to read, then you choose your identity, most of my blog readers don't have a blogger account, so they would select Other as their identity. When choosing Other, you have the option to leave your name. Type your name and press publish comment and that's it.

P.S. You don't have to comment on this entry. I write you read, no hard feelings.

Christmas Helmet Tag

For some reason, Trey manages to squeeze football into every holiday season, including Christmas. A while back, Johnny gave him a miniture D Cowboys helmet that he has to display on the mantle. I tried telling him a football helmet has no place on a mantle, but every time I move it he moves it back. I'm about to give up because I feel like I'm playing a never ending game of helmet tag.


The other day I put the Christmas stockings up. I hung the stockings off of snowflake hooks, so I had to move Trey's helmet out of the way. A few minutes later, he shoved the Cowboy helmet on the snowflake. Like I said, he always finds a way to fit football into every holiday. Hmmm, I wondering what he's planning for Valentine's Day.

Chasing the Laser

I'm Right with You Corky

My morning started early before sunrise. Mom, Tasha, and I hit-up the mall and did a little shopping. The crowd wasn't bad like Mom thought it would be. I tried explaining to her that this isn't like Abilene where you only have one Circuit City in the entire town. Here you have like 20 something (I think that's an exaggeration, but who knows it might be true).

After shopping, I went shopping even more, but this time for groceries. Linda and Steve were in town and stopped by for lunch. I cooked lasagna because I know not everybody likes Thanksgiving leftovers. It was so good to see them and catch up. I miss Linda because now I don't have a crazy friend around who is willing to act insane in front of a camera with me. I showed her and Steve the video I posted online and we all had a good laugh. I'm telling you that video cracks me up. I can't get enough.

The Most Anticipated Meal of the Year

This Thanksgiving was by far the smallest gathering. Including Trey and I, we only had six mouths to feed. Yes, we have lots of leftovers. Last year we had over 20 folks at our house, but I guess it's hard to travel this time of year. It was still good and we made the most out of it. Actually, this was the least stressful Thanksgiving ever and it was sort of easy and fun.

Natasha with her pie aka Freakin' Awesome Pie

Momma's in the kitchen

Can you believe I managed to pull Trey away from the football game to sit at the table. I know, it's a first. Thank God, the Cowboys had a mid-afternoon game.
























Mom and I are thinking about doing the whole black Friday shopping at the crack of dawn. Well, we were thinking about it, but now we are reconsidering because it's SNOWING. Maybe the snow will stop and the streets won't freeze. You know what I'm thinking...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Next on the to-do list: Decorate Christmas Tree

I Crack Myself Up

I have honestly watched the Liar Liar POF Video at least 10 times today. It never gets old. Oh, I have more clips where that came from. Now whether or not I will post them, that's a different story.

Other than watching the Liar Liar video every hour, I almost shredded an important piece of paper. The other day, Trey went through our old bills and documents-the ones that have ID sensitive information. Well, he made a pile for me to take to work to shred, as I was going through the box I noticed my birth certificate. I came this close (you can't see me, but I have my fingers really close together) to shredding my birth record, as well as the cute paper that has my baby footprints on them. It really was a close call because I was sitting right in front of the shredding machine and happen to notice the papers.

Digging Through Home Videos: Liar Liar Pants on Fire

This is a little short movie Linda helped me with, back in 2003. I actually produced it for an ethics presentation, which I got an A on---thank you very much. Now, that I'm thinking about it, I might regret posting this video. When I found it, I knew I had to share it with the world. Maybe this video is like one of those inside jokes, that nobody gets (except you and your best friend), or maybe it's hilarious. Who knows? All I can say is this video made me laugh so hard I almost cried.

Settling Nicely

We don't have much on the walls yet. We're slowly figuring out where we want things to go.

One more thing to add to my ever growing to-do list, is figure out what color I want to paint the bedrooms. Orginally, I wanted to paint the kitchen , but after chatting with Trey he thinks it might be a bad idea. Apparently, the walls are rounded at the edges so the spaces/walls flow right into the next area. If I want to paint one area I better be ready to paint half of the house. At least the bedrooms are seperate.

I love this kitchen. It's so much fun to cook in this space.




































































This is the mudroom. It's a great place to drop our stuff, as soon as we step in the door.

Tired of Being Tired

Ever since we moved, things have been moving so fast, including me. I can't think of one day I've had to just relax. All I've been doing is unpacking and cleaning and trying to keep up with myself....it's so exhausting. Maybe with the upcoming holiday I'll have some time to relax. That's it, next weekend I'm vegging and recouping from the move and Thanksgiving. Oh, thanksgiving is coming, which means I have to go shopping. Great, more things to add to my to do list.

All I know is I have a stack of Spike Lee DVD's waiting for me. The first chance I get I want to wear my PJ's all day and stay home.

Who Moved Thanksgiving Up?

A few minutes ago I looked at the calendar and realized Thanksgiving is on the 22nd--a few days away. For some reason I thought I had an extra week before I had to even think about it.

This year Trey and I will host it at our place and I'm really looking forward to spending time with family. Last year we celebrated at our old house and it was my first time to make the bird. My mom guided me along the way, but my hands were all over it. Yeah, it was so gross sticking my hands in the bird and pulling out all of its insides.

Well, at least this year I'll have a chance to work in a much larger kitchen. So, far the new kitchen is growing on me nicely. I love the space, the counters, the new appliances etc, but the one thing that I'm warming up to is the flat stove top. The first time I used it, it seemed like I was cooking on the counter. It'll take a while, but it'll grow on me.

Ready or not, here comes Thanksgiving.

No More Clothes in Different Area Codes

It’s official; we’ve successfully moved all our belongings out of storage. One of the first things I wanted to roll out was our big area rug because as of a few days ago, it sounded like we were living in a bathroom. Hopefully, with the rug in place we’ve fixed that problem.

We had some good help making the move from Abilene to home. My mom, Natasha, Brandon and his friend Billy helped us. The extra hands helped especially when I had to unpack the kitchen. I had to wash every piece of silver wear, dish, pot, and pan. I can thank my mom for helping me with that big chore.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Natasha celebrated her 14th birthday and Trey and I wanted to get her something special. My grandma heard about what we wanted to give her and contributed too. You should’ve seen her face when she saw we bought her an iPod. She was ecstatic. She’s a good kid and stays out of trouble and it was nice to be able to get her something she’s been asking for…for a long time.

Hannah Montana Concert on a Weekday?

I got a call from the IATSE agent about the Hannah Montana concert. I really want to do stage work for that show, but I can't believe it's on a weekday. Don't they know the majority of the audience will be school aged kids.

So, I had to turn down the gig because it's a weekday show and I have to work at my real job. I thought about taking vacation time, but I have to work on this specific day that the show is scheduled. I also thought about working the "out" which means tearing down the stage (post concert), but I don't think that's a good idea since the next morning I'll have to go to work.

Oh, well. There will be other concerts and work in the future. I'm thankful that I at least had the option to take the work.

Bring Back the Bone

Adjusting to my Schedule

My new friend is having to adjust to my daily schedule. Originally, I was concerned that he would be a nervous wreck, but so far he's been a real trooper. From what I've heard, it's best to have dogs on a daily routine to avoid behavior issues. Sticking to his routine has also helped me manage my time more wisely and it has also kept me on a daily exercise routine.

I just love my Corky.

All About the Move

This weekend we moved from our itty bitty efficiency apartment to our brand new home. The move was fast and for the most part painless. Some good things came from the move and then one bad thing.

The good stuff first:
Friday, Trey hitched a trailer to his work van and headed to Sam's Club to purchase our washer and dryer. He knew exactly what I wanted. The appliances weren't anything fancy, just your standard washer and dryer, which means the cheapest thing they had in stock. Hey, I'm happy as long as it cleans my clothes. So, Trey purchased the appliances, headed home, unloaded both of them, opened the dryer and noticed somebody made a mistake. The dryer we paid for only cost us $295 and the dryer they gave us was a front load dryer valued at $799. Oops on them. I told my mom and she said we should call them because they might charge our card, but I told her they had no way of tracing us because Trey paid with cash. Trey thought about it and figured the best thing to do would be to call Sam's Club. He got a hold of an employee and he said it was their mistake and we didn't have to take it back. My conscious is cleared. Our appliances don't match, but who cares because I have a sweet dryer with all the options.

The other good thing I mentioned in one of last weeks post. I didn't go into much detail, but when we went to closing someone forgot to add a $500 credit to our closing cost, which means we walked away with more change in our pockets.

Now the bad:
As we all know my husband is crazy for football. 2 weeks in advance he set up our Dish satellite service to be transferred and hooked up on Saturday. If you don't know Saturday's college football all day long. Trey was a little paranoid about the order so he called and confirmed the order a week later. Yeah, we have had an unpleasant instillation history with Dish. So, Saturday the technician came to our house and to make a long story short they screwed up again. On the spot Trey cancelled our service and within hours signed up with Dish's competitor, Direct TV. The one thing I learned this weekend is don't mess with a man's football watching or he'll hurt you where it hurts the most, your pocket book. I'm sure taking our business away from Dish won't hurt them, but if they treat all there customers the way they've treated us they will soon be out of business. Fo Showww....

Corky's 2nd Day Home

We haven't had a full day with Corky yet, but he seems to be adjusting just fine. Last night after Trey and I unpacked, we watched Transformers here at the house. It was cute because all three of us snuggled on the couch and enjoyed the new screen. One thing I've already learned about Corky, is that he enjoys watching TV. I've heard of other pets watching the tube, but until you actually see it, it's hard to appreciate. Another thing I learned is he's pretty easy to train. We're currently crate training him at night, but during the day we let him loose in the house. So far, he's had two accidents on the tile and one on the newspaper, other than that he's been taking care of his doggie business outdoors.

Here are a few video clips of him lounging and barking.

Celebration Dance

This morning we closed on the house. Everything ran smoothly and we found out we took more money to closing than we needed, so that was a nice surprise.

And now the fun begins. As soon as work ends I'm heading HOME! And then from there back to the apartment :(

The first thing I'm going to do when I step in the house for the first time, as the homeowner, is do my signature celebration dance. You definitely won't see any pictures or video of that.

I haven't started packing the apartment because everything that we have, we use. Well, we do have a few items I could start moving like bar stools and DVD's. I'm so happy we're moving and I'm ready to do some cooking in a real kitchen. I already know the first thing I want to bake, chocolate chip cookies. It's nice to be a homeowner again and no I won't miss apartment living.

Walking a Few Steps in Trey's Work Boots

It's been a few days since the maroon 5 concert and I can finally say the soreness has faded. Most of the soreness was in my upper body.

After doing serious manual labor, I have a new found appreciation for the hard work Trey does everyday. I told him I can now relate because I walked a mile in his shoes and he said no, you just took a few steps. He's right.

I'm trying to persuade him to add his name to the IATSE call list because he could show all those guys up. Plus, I could buddy up with him. I'm convinced that if Trey and I both worked last Saturday, I would be sore (like I was) and he would be fine.

Assigned to Lighting

As you can see I managed to make the show.

The night before the concert Trey helped me gather some of the tools we thought I would need. He hooked me up with his crescent wretch, a screw driver, pliers, a small flashlight, and some work gloves. Yeah, I had to use tools, I know it's funny. For Christmas I think I'm going to request a pink crescent wrench.

Well, early Saturday morning I arrived at the convention center ready to work. There were about 50 Union workers, around 20 touring workers (the guys who travel with the band), and only a handful of women. So, yes I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I held my own and proved I can work just as hard as the boys. After we all unloaded 8 semi trucks full of stage equipment, I was assigned to the lighting department. I lifted, climbed, carried, pushed, screwed, and more. Even though I was wearing work gloves, my hands were jet black, from pulling cables and my arms are aching from assembling the trusses. This morning I woke up and I felt like I had been in a car accident.

You know even though it was hard work, I would do it all over again. It was amazing to see the space transform from a typical convention center into a rock show. If I'm going to continue to take weekend jobs like this, I need to get a small tool belt because I can only carry so much in my pockets. I hear the next big show the Union has lined up is Hannah Montana.

This is a great photo of the trusses I helped assemble.