Twitter

For those of you that use (or are interested in) Twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/DarthStrom. I can't promise frequent updates, but I thought this would be a good place to let people know I have an account.

Restaurant Week: March 9th - 15th

I like to visit a blog called Columbus Foodie. She talks about restaurants around central Ohio. She recently posted about an upcoming event that I think sounds very interesting.

Dine Originals Columbus’s Inaugural Restaurant Week!
42 restaurants offer a special fixed-price menu for one week (March 9th to 15th), for either $15 or $30. The restaurants vary from casual to fine dining so you can try out restaurants you've never been to or visit a favorite of yours.

I think I'll try to get out and visit one of these during that week. It's highly recommended that you make a reservation if you plan to dine in. Carryout is available for some of the restaurants - confirm that yourself if you plan to try that option.

What happens in Texas.....

Is posted on this blog! :)

We visited the Fort Worth Zoo!

Then after lunch we went to a fun center and played pool, bowled, and had some air hockey matches.

Sunday was the BIG day. Jim and Tara looked wonderful.

Before we left we made sure to see the new Dallas Cowboys stadium and have some Texas Dr. Pepper that is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Elijah

Elijah.

In the past, if I heard this name, I would imagine the actor Elijah Wood.

And if I heard the name Eli, I thought of the TV show Eli Stone.

Well something has given my brain a new image to draw up when I hear the name Elijah or Eli. It's my nephew. Jenna and Keith found out there is a little boy growing in Jenna's belly. They have decided to name him Elijah Duffy Caldwell. Now I will think of him whenever I hear those names.

I'm sure he will be cuter than either of the two Elijah's pictured above.

Winter Wonderland

LOST

If you know me, then you know I am a huge LOST fan.

The penultimate season starts tonight, aka the fifth season, on ABC. The first hour is just for recapping what has happened so far, following that are two all new episodes. So set your DVRs or watch it live with me.

Please ignore that the following image is stolen.

Surprise!

Today I had two surprises.

First, my work had an early dismissal today due to MLK Jr. day on Monday. This was great and I chose to spend the extra time getting my car serviced. w00t!

The second surprise of the day for me was not as wonderful. I can home from the car place, got the mail, put some dishes away in the kitchen, and then went to the bathroom. This is where the second surprise occurred - I know what you are thinking and don't worry I'm not going there :) The surprise was that a quarter of the toilet paper roll was missing! I realized right away this was something Chewy must have done. When he was a puppy we gave him the empty TP roll to play with and he LOVED that. I guess he's either trying to get the toy our of the wrapping, or he is protesting his new hairdo. Now he has been out and about while we are at work for a long time and this is the first I have ever had him get into trouble like this. He usually just eats a hole in a sock or a blanket - he has never touched the toilet paper.

Look at the guilt on that face!

Note the beautiful new hair do as well!

The scene of the crime.

So now we have to make sure the bathroom door is closed during the day before we both leave the house.

Chewy's new look

Chewy got his haircut a little early this year. Usually we'd cut his hair in the late winter/early spring, but we had to do it earlier this time since he was really matting. He kept licking the mats(i think because dirt and debris were in them) till his skin got irritated, so no more hair equals no more mats. We got a lot done this evening but we still have to tackle the head. So right now he has a BIG head and tiny body. Just like a supermodel or a lion.

Water

Have you ever tried drinking the 8 glasses of water a day? I'm trying to do that this year and I hope that my body adjusts to this change soon. I'm so tired of having to go to the bathroom all the time. I feel like I'm Jenna. :)

Jami's new place

Jami has moved to North Carolina and is settled into her house. Tom and Kris (her aunt and uncle) found a great house across the street for her to live in while she is going to school. Because of this she got to bring the dogs with her and that will help her feel more at home in NC.

Jenna had to ride with the dogs in the backseat on the way down. I appreciated this because I have a small allergy to Bailey's hair. It was tight quarters back there.

We all worked hard cleaning and unpacking the place so Jami could feel at home.

Jami really appreciated all the help because it would have taken her about 2 years to unpack all this stuff! We did it in 4 days (with 8 people).

Jenna and I made sure every box was emptied, and we ended up with a lot of empty boxes. This pile is only a third of the boxes we unpacked.
We had a kickoff breakfast Sunday morning with everyone.

Funny Video

Christmas Card Via the Blog

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Jason and me in front of Poulnabrone Dolmen in the Burren, Ireland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulnabrone_dolmen

Let's see that again!

I was thinking about that great video we did to show off Chewy's learned tricks back in 2007. I decided to repost it because the quality of the video is superb. Enjoy!

FYI Todd's dog Sienna could roll over so I had to get Chewy to learn something even better since he has never learned the command "roll over."

Jason's Concert

Jason's Christmas concert was wonderful. He and some other trombone players had a special section in the concert where they played songs with only the trombones.

Hopefully if you missed this concert you can make it to a summer concert in 2009.

Ignore if you aren't interested

Wishlist - ignore this if you are not my family :)
I try to keep an updated wishlist on Amazon. I'm not saying it has to be purchased through the web, and some people (Shelly) asked me if I had one.

More Christmas Baking

We arrived just in time for the easy part of the Caldwell's and Sheldon's Christmas cookie making - the decorating and eating! It was a lot of fun and a great tradition.

And I'm going to throw in a picture of Chewy so you all can see how long his coat is getting.

This is his "winter do".

Corrine is 1 month old!

We visited Brook and Brett this weekend and their new baby girl Corrine. She is a beautiful girl and she behaved very well - such a sweet baby.

Happy Birthday Mom Duffy

We had a wonderful Duffy family meal thanks to Chef Jami!

Keith was there in spirit :) so he's not in the pics.

I am a Proud Auntie

I'm bragging about my niece/nephew already :) Whom (I read online) is about the size of a strawberry. I'm assuming a normal strawberry not the genetically altered giant ones they sell at the store.

Anyway, Jenna and Keith had a dr's appt today and listened to the baby's heartbeat - a strong one at that! I'm so proud of him/her already!

Pizzelles, Gnocchi, and Rolled Pizza - Oh My!

Beth C. had a party to teach those interested, how to make pizzelles, gnocchi and Rolled Pizza.

The gnocchi was very hard work in my opinion. Lots of kneading. The result is worth the workout, though. The pizzelles were very simple and make a bunch in one batch. I'll have to get a maker at Target or somewhere. The rolled pizza has a lot of waiting in the dough making process, but is very simple. That's really the surprise of the day for me. I couldn't imagine what it was when it was being explained to me, but once I saw and tasted it - what a great treat!

Here are some pictures from the day.

Aileen's making one of the rolled pizzas, while Lauren is watching the method.

Carrie is busy with her own mini rolled pizza.
Carol was able to teach us all the methods for creating this wonderful dish.

Beth C. is helping Carrie and Quin follow the steps.

While Lauren and Beth I look on.

Quin enjoyed the flour as much as she enjoyed the other foods.

Carrie decided to try flour too, but I don't think she liked it as well as Quin.