Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Andrew's favorite pizza at Mellow Mushroom is Buffalo Chicken and I must admit - it is pretty darn good.  It involves bacon, grilled chicken, buffalo sauce, ranch, caramelized onions, and cheese.  So I figured I could at least attempt to recreate it at home.  I a) have a good pizza crust recipe (thanks to PW), b) can grill chicken, c) can caramelize onions pretty darn well, d) make a mean homemade buffalo sauce, e) am Southern, I can fry bacon (in the microwave to save more calories) and finally f) know how to buy cheese and ranch...so why not right?

The results...dog-gone good.  Andrew even said, "Dang! Gray, this even looks like a real pizza, not to mention is awesome!"  Side-note...my homemade pizzas usually turn out in a rectangle rather than circle, he was impressed it was actually round.  And finally, of course, I used low-fat, reduced fat, or margarine to save calories...and I didn't use nearly as much sauce or cheese as they do.  I did, however, make my buffalo sauce hotter to make up for using less.

Sorry Mellow Mushroom it might be a while before you see us again!!

I'm a Cow Dog!!

I was watching cutting on TV last night, while Andrew lovingly didn't say a word about it...he isn't the biggest fan but is so sweet to let me watch.  FYI - Cutting involves a horse and rider separating (or cutting) a cow from the herd and maintaining the separation.  See picture below "cut cow" in foreground, horse and rider in middle, herd in background...

Anyway - Tucker was dying to play with the cows.  He was shaking he was sooo excited.  He just knew that they had to be inside and not in the TV was about to go nuts-o on the TV.  He sat like this for the entire 30 minutes...it was a good test of his "responding to command" skill his daddy says...I thought it was hilarious.

Girls Trip to Memphis for PW

If you haven't heard - I love The Pioneer Woman aka Ree Drummond.  She is a city-slicker turned rancher's wife because of true love.  She is a great cook (and can give Paula a run for $$ with butter), hilarious writer, and takes tons of pictures (beautiful pictures) of cows.  She has now written a cookbook and a "love story" book that is her love story.  Anyway - I also turned Kim on to PW too...so we took a spur of the moment girls trip to Memphis to a book signing.

Kim has the actual pictures from the book signing and I will share them shortly, but here are some crappy ones from my phone for now.  Oh and she and her husband both were signing books and taking pictures, and both are super, super nice.

PW signing...

Her hubby - aka "Marlboro Man"

My signed book...

Then we spent the night so we could spend time shopping at stores that we don't have in Jackson on Saturday...here are the goods I came home with minus one that is a birthday gift for a certain little boy...

Hold that thought - here is picture of the certain little boy that is sitting at the kitchen island on a stool eating breakfast...guess he isn't so little any more...oh and this is what started my morning - can't help but a have a great day when it starts with this right?

Left to Right:  Slim jeans, cotton wrap with pink sunburst, navy silk top, black leggings..

Kim racked up at Pottery Barn Outlet and let's just say that if I bought one thing there I would have bought 5 more things, so it was best that I avoided picking up anything...

Then we headed to downtown for lunch at the world famous BBQ joint Rendezvous...it was AH-MAZING.  Hands down the best BBQ I have every had...and yes I have had Neely's...bet this will make you want some...

 Then to finish off the trip we walked in to the Peabody hotel to see the world famous ducks.  No one mentioned that fountain is itty-bitty.  I mean we almost walked right by it looking for something bigger...however, it was still cool to see and the hotel looked wonderful!

Needless to say, Kim and I had a blast.  It was wonderful to get to spend time with her again since she took a dream job at Viking.  We loved getting to see and meet PW and MM and we thoroughly enjoyed Memphis...we are already planning a repeat trip with our husbands.

Growth Report

How big is Tucker now?  Big but not done...actually about 115-120 pounds and approaching 34 inches at the top of the shoulders.  Here are some pictures from the past several months...

3 months...

4 months.

 5 months

 6 months

 8 months

 9 months

 10 months

Boys will be boys

And my boys prove it every night...no caption needed for this classic shots.

Dear Sister and Andrew -

Although I love you both dearly, I still can't join the "cavity" club with you!  That's right 27 1/2 years and counting without a cavity.

I will admit that one day it is going to blow up in my face, but until then I am going to enjoy my semi-annual laugh session!

Ouch!

My ouch...and it has been 10 days since it first appeared, 3 days since I re-irritated it.

and MB's ouch..."Stinks when your bed crashes and breaks in middle of night. Now we sleep on the floor"

A New Bed

There is something about us and new bedding this year - but Tucker couldn't be left out.

Tucker was using Hamilton's (my family's Dane from high school) old bed, but when Ham died we tossed the insert.  So when Tuck came along, my folks kindly donated one of our massive LL Bean sleeping bags for the insert in the old cover.  But again the cover had been used for years by Ham and was mostly thread bear, it wasn't much trouble for Tucker the puppy to create a hole in the cover...and then Tucker did this to his old bed...

it was about time for him to get a new - "night time, supervised only" - bed.  One would guess he is very happy with his new LL Bean bed since I am told he immediately laid down on it as soon as he saw it...

 "I can lay nose to tail on the short side of this bed, Daddy."

"Thank you, Mommy and Daddy for my new wonderful, comfy, big bed.  I can even lay on my side with my legs out and not touch the ground!  This is GREAT!  Now if you would excuse me, I am going to sleep."

Two Rounds of Golf and Dinner with Friends

This past weekend was Andrew's "golden weekend" meaning he wasn't on call at any point during the weekend and he was able to take both days off!  So we played golf on Saturday with a friend - then had dinner with three other couples, then played another round on Sunday.  The weather was beautiful and warm (getting almost hot yesterday) and we thoroughly enjoyed having time with each and the opportunity to play golf twice!

"Like Being Addicted to Crack..."

I baked us a pan of homemade cinnamon rolls this morning for breakfast since I was out of milk and we didn't want to go to Chick-fil-a (or the grocery store for that matter).  I had to create some cream cheese based icing as well since I was out of milk.  So I used hazelnut coffee creamer instead of milk and vanilla and it was Ah-mazing...

but the best quote was Andrew's - which was uttered as he went back for #3 and 4 after eating #1-2..."I guess this what it would be like to be addicted to crack, I just can't stop eating them."  So I helped him out - I ate #5 -7...needless to say - we ate them all - just the two of us...

Dixie National and Little Big Town and Another Date Night

Drew and I decided on Thursday night to get tickets to the Dixie National Rodeo for Friday night which was also Little Big Town night- lucky for us they hadn't sold out yet.  Dixie National is the largest rodeo east of the Mississippi and was named to the Top Five Rodeos last year.  Now for those of you that don't know - that is a pretty cool deal...most all major rodeos are west of the Mississippi so for this one to make the top five is pretty awesome.  They also have major recording artist play at "half-time."

So anyway - we got tickets at the last minute and our seats were at the very top of this small venue - which means we had a great view of everything, including both the chutes and the roping.  We also had a great view of the stage - and no one sat behind us and we were right on the end of the row - pretty good combo!

We got to see three or four cowboys that have made it to the Wranglers National Rodeo several times and several broncs and bulls that have made it as well.  What is Wranglers National - that is the super bowl, the world series, the Masters of rodeo...Here are some pictures from the evening.

Presentation of Colors

 View of the Chutes

 Pick-up men trying to get the bronc to leave

Same bronc from before - he would not leave so pick-up men had him by the "rein" and the tail and pulled the bronc out...Mom/Dad/MB - I about died laughing, it looked like us trying to load Beauty.

The hanging stage making its appearance

Somebody said go and they filled the floor for the concert

And this would be the little boys playing in the dirt and checking out the tractors - they didn't care a thing about the music

Little Big Town...

Roping - Love watching the horses keep the tension on the rope...

 That is a horse that is proud to do his job...and did it very well...

 And finally - the bulls...we saw a ride of 88 - that is dang good folks...

Andrew and Gray Trivia

Trivia Question: Our first (non-sorority or fraternity event related) date was to...

1) Carrabba's and a movie
2) Triple date with Koetter's Bowling and Wolfgang Express
3) Dusty's BBQ

Got a guess?

#2!  Yep we went on a triple date to the bowling alley.  The reason for it - Andrew was worried the jeep would break down so he needed another vehicle with us just in case...actually - I have never asked, but I do know that was part of the reason.  Bottom line it was a rip-roaring good time, and the jeep didn't break down!

Why do I  mention this?  Because Andrew is participating in the Med. Dept's bowling tourny this afternoon and it reminded me of his love of bowling.  Dude takes his bowling serious - I don't...you should see us bowl together - it's a hoot!

Did I Move?

Somebody care to tell me if we moved to a snowy-winterland???  Since the first of the year, we have had 3 delayed openings and 1 early closing because of winter weather.  Now don't get me wrong, I love winter weather and I am loving working in super quiet office because honestly the roads have yet to be soooo bad that you can't get any where.  Actually, I think I have hit one spot of the slick stuff and that was going across the Pearl River and the entire bridge was ice. 

But I am not so fond of this half-a$$ed snow.  I want the real stuff, a couple of inches of it, not a layer of crunchy stuff, not ice, not "snice" - I want some white fluffy stuff or I want it all to go away!

And you thought it was always serious

For those of you that think watching golf is boring, the commentators can really lighten things up for you.  Point in case:

The commentators for the Golf Channel have made these remarks regarding certain players outfits...

"Wonder how Kermit the Frog is doing today?"


Boo

VS.


John

These two were paired together at a recent tournament wearing the outfits in these pictures and the comment was...
"Autumn's in a fight with Spring."