Jenna and Prem Visit New Mexico: Part 1

This past week Luke and I had our first visitors! My little sister Jenna and her husband Prem made the journey out from Atlanta last Wednesday night. Luke and I drove to El Paso to pick them up and headed to Ruidoso to gamble and ski. On our way to Ruidoso I must mention we got pulled over for going 9 over! I have never heard of anyone getting pulled over for less than 10 over. However, we didn't get a ticket thankfully and continued on our journey.

Our first and only night in Ruidoso we stayed at the Inn of the Mountain Gods where Luke got to experience his FIRST casino EVER. We had a blast playing, but unfortunately all lost except Luke (and my losing cancelled his winning). The next morning we woke up and hit the slopes. I think everyone was pleased to see a lot of fresh powder. I must say the powder beat me up, and I probably had the worst day of falls ever. Even with all of the falling, It's safe to say everyone had a great time.

The Inn of the Mountain Gods

Prem and Jenna sporting her 80s ski gear

The whole group!

Finally taking the time to post the pics of our home in New Mexico. It's a cute little house with a HUGE backyard. We are very lucky we ended up with this home. Believe it or not this tiny town's rental market is CRAZY!! I toured many homes while out here for my job interview in December. Most were dumps where they wanted $1300/month. When I did stumble upon something decent, the owner would not wait three weeks to start the rent, but wanted and expected me to say yes on the spot.

Finally, I found a great home and told the lady after touring that I was very interested and would speak with my husband and call back. Well...I called Luke, called her back, and within that time frame, the people behind me touring the house said yes and put money on the table that very day. I was blown away at how hard of a time I was having getting a home in what is pretty much the middle of nowhere.

The reason you ask!? Turns out they train ALL of the border patrol and FBI in the tiny town 30 min. north of here. Any time rental homes go on the mkt. the government snags em up and pays $2100/month (no I did not make a mistake in typing)! That's the price they pay for mostly dumps, and what in turn drives up rental properties. I told Luke we should consider buying a place out here and just rent it to the government with profit potential like that. However, as soon as we purchased, the program would halt, and we'd be stuck with a home out here in a hard to reach location.

So...this home was hooked up via the CEO of the hospital. A lawyer in town owns the home and wasn't even looking to rent it out. We were lucky he was willing to say yes to us. So...enough of the talking and here are the pics.

Here is a shot of our den (please note I took this before I made my new pillow cases)!

Our den (please excuse Luke's tools out and about). The tall piece is a very cool antique from my Grandfather. There are markings on the wood that let you know it was about before Oklahoma had statehood! Very cool! You can't see it too well in this pic, but Luke and I found our TV stand here in New Mexico and at antique market, we both thought it had a lot of character and charm.

Our bedroom! This room is actually a lot bigger than appears in this picture. We also have two huge windows.

Our guest bedroom (I know I need to iron the bedspread, and get Luke working on my headboard soon). However, I love the two large windows for lots of natural light.

Our Auburn Dining Room (sorry it's a little dark)-The shelves on the left hold tons of Auburn plates, etc...

Green Thumb TBD

This past weekend was pretty relaxing. Luke and I spent saturday in the back yard grilling ribs and working on the garden. These two pics are actually from the other weekend when we planted some flowers in our front flower bed.

This is a picture of our starter pots. We are starting warmer climate plants in pots with hopes to transplant later.

If you look hard you can see our rows of lettuce, collards, and brussels sprouts.
I didn't take a full garden shot mainly because it's too hard to really see everything being so small right now. Hopefully in a month I'll take one showing our GREEN THUMB!!

Around the House

Today I was a middle school art teacher. Pretty fun and easy job...mainly because it was a half day with each period lasting only 20 mins. This everyday is a different day teaching deal is pretty fun.

At home I tended to laundry and other home items like dinner prep, and gardening!

Here is a shot of the first tulips from my garden. I love having fresh flowers around the house. I don't think anyone can pass by flowers without smiling.

For dinner tonight we are having ham, tomato and cucumber salad, and potato crisps! If you're looking for a healthy side, you can't beat tomato and cucumber salad! It's so easy and so yummy!

All chopped up soaking up for dinner tonight!

What do you get when you use the below ingredients????
Yummy potatoes ready for the oven! We are currently working on growing our own parsley, tomatoes, and cucumbers, so...hopefully next time I make this meal-- I'll use my own home grown goods.

Fingers Crossed

I entered almost every day. I think overall I only missed around 5 days. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to win this HGTV dream home! Plus, it's in New Mexico--I mean seriously, how fitting.

My sister and her husband are coming to visit the weekend they announce the winners, so...we even have family in town to celebrate. I really think this house was meant for me!! Luke thinks I'm silly, but I will continue to think positive. So...everyone keep your fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!

Avalanche Ahead

Luke and I woke up super early Friday morning and drove to Pagosa Springs, CO. Pagosa Springs is located right at the border of CO and NM, and receives the most snow in all of Colorado. These numbers sound impossible for anyone from the Southeast to imagine, but Wolf Creek Ski area has received over 310 inches of snow just this year!! That's around 25 FEET!!

Luke decided to be brave and try out snowboarding for the first time EVER! I've been a boarder for as long as I can remember, but hadn't been boarding in over 10 years, and since the car accident. So...we were both a little scared hitting the slopes. To make matters worse...we accidentally took the wrong lift our first ride up and ended with only blue and black options. YIKES! LUKE CAN JUST BARELY STAND STILL ON HIS BOARD AT THIS POINT!! I won't go into too much detail here for Luke's sake, but many face plants, bad words, taking board off and walking down the mountain a bit, Luke finally started to get the hang of things. By the end of the first day he was knocking out green runs without a crash. I was surprised at how well everything came back to me after all the years. I was even more excited that my foot wasn't a problem the entire weekend.

So...after a half day of boarding Friday we headed home and passed out beyond exhausted. We also caught news that night that Wolf Creek where we had skied Friday was going to be closed Saturday due to an Avalanche threat. They were expected to get over two feet of snow just that night! Armed with the new info we decided tomorrow morning we would wake up and drive the hour and half to Durango, CO to finish up the weekend there.

Turned out to be the best decision EVER! I am now in LOVE with Durango, Co. It is my favorite mountain I have ever had the pleasure to board. This was Luke's first taste of skiing in the west, and I couldn't think of a better place. The place is amazing, and I recommend it to all. Oh...I almost forgot to mention, by the end of the two days...Luke was killing some pretty hefty blue runs! SUCCESS!! We are already planning a trip back not this next weekend, but the next.

Enough talk though... a picture is worth a thousand words! Enjoy....

So Much SNOW!!

A family pic

Luke perched on the edge for a great Mtn. shot! This is more than half way down the mountain too! We didn't get a picture at the very top.

Throwing down a hillside turn!

Kids Stink

I bet you thought with a title like that I must not be enjoying my new found life as a substitute teacher. However, I simply noticed that 1st grade kids smell badly. Seriously though, they have strange funk about them. Not really sure what it is either.

The past two days I have been exploring the world of 5th and 1st grades. Teaching this young has brought me back to activities I haven't done...I can't even remember.. (ex: sharping pencils with the wall mounted sharpener--the darn thing does not churn out the beautiful tips I was expecting, but instead sharpens one side to make writing only possible with that one side--so frustrating).

I must say I thought the first graders would be a much better experience between the two grades, but I think overall I enjoyed the 5th better. I think a lot of it has to do with the first grade class I had! Turns out I got the little crazy ones! The sad thing is a lot of the kids I had come from troubled backgrounds and have a bad family life. However, there is always something truly amazing you take away from being with kids for a day. One little girl in my first grade class had no hands. She never complained and did everything the other children did. She held her pencil with two nubs, and when she needed to press ctrl, alt, delete--she simply pushed two buttons with her stubs and the last with her nose. I thought it was amazing how she never complained. She makes you really think about the things you take for granted. Tomorrow I'm off to the fancy school and very interested to see the contrast between the poor and rich schools.

On another note: I mentioned Luke and I worked on the garden this weekend and took some pics. I've decided I'll wait on those pictures until I have some progress to show.
Instead I have some pics of me making sausage bread! Luke loves my sausage bread, so that was part of my Valentine's gift to him. I do cheat and buy the store dough to save time in case you thought about making this for yourself!


Rolling out my dough! Use flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and counter.
Covered in yummy spicy sausage and cheese--doesn't need a thing more! Cook sausage 1st


All rolled up and waiting to rise! Let sit for many hours until the bread has finished rising
Finally the finished products! Heat at 350 for 20 to 30 mins.

Store the extras in the freezer for a long time, or give two away to friends, and put one in the fridge to slice up and heat in the microwave for a 30 second breakfast. YUMMY!!!!!