Thomas's little project

So if you've read recent posts, you'll know that we just bought a TV and an Xbox 360 Kinect. We don't have cable or anything, so we don't get any TV channels... we just use it for the Xbox, and watching movies on Netflix. On Saturday evening Thomas found this YouTube tutorial on how to build your own TV antenna out of wire coat-hangers and a few other things (click here if you want to see the tutorial)... so off he went traipsing around Dallas finding all the parts. He came home an hour or so later with everything and got to work.

This is what my engineer husband does for fun.

The finished product, with the cable going to the TV. I think it looks like some kind of destructive weapon.

But it actually works... we get like 8 different channels. It was quite exciting when we hooked it all up and it worked. We didn't really expect it to.

Thomas was quite chuffed with himself. He even asked me to blog about it :)

So cute.

[Hi Thomas :)]

So yeah. We have 8 whole channels, and I think only one of them is in English... the ABC channel. The rest are in Spanish. Haha.

We'll get for-real TV when I'm done with my classes. It would be too much of a distraction right now.

Speaking of classes, this is my little [BIG] project until March 10th.

Somehow, it will all get done.

* Sigh *

{Smell the roses}

I'm a little obsessed with my roses.

So I took lots of pictures of them.

They're just so prettyful.

 

 

 

 

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Speaking of waking up and smelling the roses, seizing the day, and so on...
We had a great night last night.
We went out with some friends for pizza.
And then we all went ice skating. Which was super fun. For most of us.
*cough Thomas cough*
I'm kidding.
Ice-skating just isn't his thing.
{Forgive the crappy, blurry phone pictures. Forgot my camera.}

But he did stand on the ice and take a picture with me, and made his way around the rink a few times. Good sport.

And THEN we all went to...

Nom nom nom.
'Twas a good night.

St. Valentine's Day

I know some people hate Valentine's Day.

I would agree that it's been way over-commercialized, but I've still always liked it.

When we were little I remember my mom helping my brothers and I make giant heart-shaped cards for dad.

So I've always had fun memories of it.

Thomas and I don't go crazy all-out for Valentine's Day.

But I like making him cards. (You can see last year's if you click here).
And we go on a date.

This year I made him a card and a little heart-shaped coupon book.

The coupon book had coupons for things like "Sarah does dishes for the week", because I have a practical husband.

If you know me and my loathing for doing dishes, then you know that is one significant coupon.

Thomas gets to tear the coupons out and cash them in whenever he wants.

Coupon book in the making:

Thomas brought me beautiful red roses.

We went out for dinner, and I had one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted:

Steak medallions done in a balsamic dressing, with gorgonzola & arugula alfredo.

It was heavenly.

Then we had tiramisu.
My all-time favorite dessert.

Our Valentine's loot:
Red roses for me, homemade card & coupon book for Thomas.
And candy for both of us.

Our choice of candy: chocolate-covered cashew nuts, and sour cherry candies.

The cashews are sorta heart shaped, see?

And this was sort of part of Valentine's Day, since we got it this weekend... but we've been planning on getting it for a long time. 

Thomas assembled the entertainment center/TV stand yesterday, so we have our coffee table back in its usual place.

When we came home, we watched a couple episodes of a TV show on our new screen. We were planning on playing some Kinect games... but we were wayyyy too full from dinner to move that much.

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It was a lovely day :)

What do the Super Bowl, curry, snow, Thai food, pizza, TVs, the Xbox 360 Kinect, and cousins have in common?

[Wow. Longest title ever.]

The answer? They were all part of our week.

[Fair warning: This a long post (just like its title), with lots of pictures.]

1. Sunday: Thomas and I went to our very first Super Bowl party... I had never even watched an American football game before. But I really only went for the friends, food, and funny commercials :)

Boys watchin' the game

Girls watchin' the game

And us watchin' the game :)

2. Monday: I made an experimental chickpea & yellow summer squash curry that turned out to be delicious.

3. Tuesday: Ummm. Nothing?

4. Wednesday: more snow for Dallas!? I thought we had moved to Texas, not somewhere in the wintery wastelands of the north.

 We stayed warm inside with Thai food take-out and a movie on Netflix.

 5. Thursday: Homemade pizza... mmmmmm.

Directions (in case you wanted to know):

Make quick pizza dough ( for a basic recipe click here... I make a few modifications... use half bread flour, half whole wheat flour, add some oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. And 1/2 tsp of salt. Also, it rises really quickly in a [very] slightly warm oven)

Form a circle out of the dough

Put it on pre-heated pizza stone in the oven to bake (between 425-450 Fahrenheit) until golden.

[I love my pizza stone. It turns out a perfectly baked crust.]

 

Spread homemade pizza sauce on it.

[Approximate recipe: Fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, oregano, thyme, garlic & some onion, serrano pepper, 2 Tablespoons tomato paste, a little salt... blitzed together in a blender.]

 Feta cheese [plus whatever toppings you might want].

Mozzarella cheese and chopped fresh basil.

Put it back in the oven to melt the cheese.

 

We ate it with sliced avocados, and steamed yellow summer squash.

{I'm on a yellow summer squash kick. Love. It.}

6. Friday: We bought new toys!  Birthday-Christmas-Valentine's Day presents combined, with a little help from our tax return :)

Samsung 46-inch flatscreen TV... the box barely fit in our car.

We didn't realize quite how big it was until we got it into our little apartment.

We also got an Xbox 360 Kinect and a few games.

I was glad my engineer husband was here to set it all up... I'm completely hopeless with screwdrivers and wires.

The TV is currently sitting on our coffee table. We got a TV stand today, but haven't assembled it yet.

I have a feeling that this will be a common sight in the future:

Thomas in the recliner, playing Halo Reach.

I may or may not have made us some dinner at 1am, because we were too excited and forgot to eat earlier.

And we may or may not have kept playing with the Kinect until 3am, at which point we may or may not have put a mattress on the floor in the living room and fallen asleep to a movie on our new huge screen.

7. Saturday: Our new toys attracted visitors... our cousins Craig & Emily Congdon came over to play! And eat pizza, brownies, and ice cream.

Thomas & Craig playing ping-pong on Kinect Sports.

I think Thomas won :) 

Thomas about to throw the discus on Kinect Track & Field.

Craig and Emily busting some moves on Kinect Dance Master.

We all decided that the Xbox Kinect is incredibly awesome. And loads of fun.

[Aaaaannnddd... that is the end of this massively long post. Congratulations if you made it this far.]