Gong Xi Fa Chai! Happy Chinese New Year!

In honor of the Year of the Dog, Chuy wanted to wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year!



When my mom visited last week, she bought us 2 bouquets of flowers for Chinese new year. I wish I had some Hong Bao "red treasure" (little red and gold envelopes filled with money that elders give children for Chinese New Year) to give Chuy, since that's more appropriate for the celebration than the carrots he's eating, but he's wishing it just the same.

Puppy's First Christmas

Chewy was overwhelmed with the outpouring of our loving family who came to visit him this Christmas. Mom and Dad Bayman and our niece, nephew, Greg's sister, and Grandma Bayman all came to visit and take care of Chuy while we were visiting my parents in New York. :) More pics will come later, but I had to throw this one in of our Cheerful Chuy!

Our Puppy has a name!

Chuy 10 and a half weeks old. I finally got him to look at the camera.

When we first saw our little Golden Retriever on Nov. 6, we knew we liked him because he was the runt of the litter, so small and cute. We bought him that day after playing with him in the little room for an hour and a half. We knew we were going to be gone for 3 days that next weekend, so we opted to pick him up in 1 week, on Nov. 13th.

At first we couldn't think of a name, and we thought and though. I can't even remember names that we thought of, because when Greg said, "How about Chewy?" I thought, "perfect!" It's cute and it's a moniker that recognizes his favorite past time... chewing on EVERYTHING! And so we slept on it. We didn't want it to have anything to do with Star Wars and Chewbacca, so we thought of alternate ways of spelling it. Chooie, Chewie, Chewy, none seemed right...and then I thought of my favorite TexMex restaurant in Austin, TX --Chuy's! Perfect. We both LOVE TexMex food, and Chuy's so cute, it's also just 4 letters, so it's easier for engraving purposes. And that was the beginning of our puppy living up to his name.

So the next day when we went to the store to visit our new puppy, we called him Chuy, and he started learning his name. The employees called him Chuy from then on and when we picked him up that next Sunday, Chuy was ready to come home with us!

These were taken Thursday night when Greg wasn't able to come to the store, so I took some pics of him so his daddy could see how he was doing.


See how small he is next to the chair?


Chuy loves playing with his rope.


"Pose for Daddy."

Chuy, the Wonder Pup!

I finally have the CD of pics of Chuy from Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll post more later, but I wanted y'all to see what our little bundle of joy looks like. :) He's MUCH bigger now than in these pics, and well, I wish he would stay small forever, because he's so cute this way!

Chuy helped me to string the Christmas lights on the tree.
He liked the warm lights.

Chuy chewing lights because they're there.

My little helper

Here's the finished product. Not bad for a pup.

Family Photo Thanksgiving 2005

Good Mornin' Good Mornin'

"...We talked the whole night through
Good Mornin
Good Mornin
to you."

Singin' In The Rain has now become one of my all time favorite movies! We watched it last night, and I just love watching the dancing sequences over and over again! Gene Kelly is really a gifted dancer, and Debbie Reynolds is SO cute! I love to watch them tap tap tap away. Donald O'Conner is just hilarious and an avid dancer himself. Cyd Cherisse is such a talented ballerina though she dances lyrical and jazz in this film. It makes me want to sing and get out my tapping shoes again.

I highly recommend this movie to families and folks young and old. We got it for some family members for birthdays this year and they're in for a treat!

I just got back from walking Chuy in the rain. It was fun, but cold. Chuy's asleep now. How fun could that number have been for Gene Kelly to dance all that in the pouring rain! What a scene.

Cooking Lessons

This Christmas I got Rachel Ray's new book of 30 min. recipes, 365: No Repeats. I've been reading it to find something great to make for Greg, but instead, I've made things that I remember my mom making when I was young.

Modifying Greg's favorite Chili recipe, I took the leftovers and made Haystacks. It's fun for kids to assemble and healthy too. Here's the recipe.

Haystacks: Serves 2
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 2 min.
1 1/2 c. Fritos (R) Corn chips or Tortilla chips
1 c. Salad mix, lettuce, or fresh spinach (finely chopped)
1 Tomato (diced)
1 c. Cheddar, Colby-Jack, or Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
8 oz. of your favorite Chili (heated) or 1/2 lb. browned ground beef and onions
2 teaspoons Sour Cream (if desired)

Heat the chili in a microwave safe bowl for 2 min. stirring halfway b/w cooking time. On each plate, or in a bowl, pile the Fritos (R) in the middle for a little mound. Spoon the warm chili on top of the Fritos and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Sprinkle the lettuce and diced tomatoes on top. Add a dollup of sour cream at the very top if desired. Serve with a fork and spoon to shovel that "hay".

Fun for a casual group dinner or for kids too. Have the ingredients in separate bowls and have guests build their own Haystacks.

Now for Greg's favorite Chili recipe. Greg's Mom and sister were kind enough to teach me how to make this chili for our New Year's Eve party, and it was a hit! I wish I could have said I made it, but other than stirring and pouring, Deb and Mom did all the work! We had 2 crockpots full, but it's ready to serve right from the stove.

Greg's Favorite Chili: Serves 10
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 25 min.

2 large (53 oz.) cans of Brooks brand Chili Beans (hot or mild or both)
4 lbs. of Ground Beef
3/4 of 1 white onion (chopped)
2 cans (12 oz.) of tomato soup
2 Tblsp. Chili Powder (or more to taste)
Tabasco Sauce (if desired)

In a large skillet, brown ground beef, drain. Add onions and sautee for 10 min. or until onions are fully cooked and mixed in well with the beef. Pour half of the beef mixture into 1 crockpot and half into another. Turn the crockpots on High. Pour 1 can of Brooks hot Chili beans into one crockpot and stir. Pour 1 can of Brooks mild Chili beans into the other crockpot. (If you want both pots to be medium spicy, half the two cans into both pots.) Pour 1 can of tomato soup into each crockpot (2 cans total) do not add water. Stir. Add 1 Tblsp. of Chili powder into each crockpot, stir. After 15 min. turn the crockpots to Low. Taste and add more chili powder or Tabasco sauce if desired.

Having the Tabasco on hand at the party is good for those who want the extra "kick." Serve with shredded cheese, Fritos, Tostitos, Sour Cream all on the side and be sure to have cold drinks ready.

I served a salad in a large bowl, w/o dressing and more than 2/3rds of it was gone after going into the second crockpot of chili, so the lack of dressing didn't matter. It wasn't planned, but an oversight on my part. We also had summer sausage, crackers and cheese, Gardetto's pretzle mix on the table. It was heavy on the proteins and starches, so I'd have added a veggie tray if I had it to do over again. The desserts were at the second house in our "Progressive Dinner Party," hence the lack of sweets, though a guest did bring some delicious mini carrot cake muffins. Yummy!

Reflections

What a year has gone by. I thought that on my birthday last year, I'd be able to take a moment to reflect on all of God's blessings: where He's brought me, what He's helped me to overcome, and look forward to years of promises ahead. Well, I just took that moment now, more than 2 weeks after my birthday, because I sent a greeting to another friend. Do you ever find that you love to give advice to others, but find it hard to heed yourself?

My birthday came and went without much reflection or celebration because I was miserably sick and my husband was too. We're both just about rid of the many viruses we caught in the month of December, but I am just now taking time to realize that it's not the circumstances that one is faced with, it's how one handles them. It's the attitude that one takes to the situation and the choice one makes to be happy.

I look at my puppy and think, he must have a great life. He doesn't have to work, cook, clean, buy things. He just eats, sleeps, and poops. But then again I think, well, he depends on his owners to walk him, feed him, clean his cage, bathe him, clip his nails, take him to the vet, play with him, love him. He has "worries" too, like, "will they let me outside before I have to relieve myself?" Sometimes, I take for granted the many privileges I have to make my own decisions about what I'm going to do on a particular day. How I'm going to react to certain situations, and what I'm going to tell my husband when I give the daily report. He's good at giving me the gist of things, or leaving it out all together, and I have a tendancy to rehash all the details. That's part of our compatibility and frustration at the same time.

Well, I hope you take the time to reflect on God's grace, mercy, and blessings for those of us who know Him. And if you don't know Him, I pray that you would. It's so easy to think that we don't need God when things are going well, or if we've gotten ourselves into a rut because well, we'll just have to get ourselves out of this mess too. But He knows our every thought, our every heartache, our every desire. He wants to give his children good gifts, He just asks that we receive it, and not squander it saying, "Thanks, but I could have gotten that on my own." What a slap in the face, what a harsh rejection to a loving gift poured out for the world. I do hope that you can realize your need for a Savior and stop trying to be a hero all the time, feeling sorry for yourself when things don't go right. But instead, seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and all the rest shall be added unto you as well. Nothing you could ever have done is too terrible for Him to forgive. Just ask, wholeheartedly, expectantly, and believe on Him, and He will give you eternal life.

Congratulations Horns!

Congratulations to our Texas Longhorns for winning the 2006 Rose Bowl, last night, defeating USC 41-38.

Vince Young said it best, "Don't you think that's beautiful?" Yes we do!!!