Beef and ? Stew

Tonight is hearty beef stew night!

After Max got home, we went into the kitchen to get started.  I chopped the root vegetables while he seared the stew meat in the dutch oven.  After the meat was done, we added the vegetables to the pot--mmm!  The smells filled the room.  Max measured out the red wine and beef broth, I added them to the pot.  Now only 1 hour and 20 minutes until a yummy Fall dinner!

and then......

Max said, "what's this?" showing me the liquid measuring cup that had held the beef broth only moments ago.  What are the small round, pink spots you might ask?  Probably gram-negative bacteria anxiously awaiting intestinal infiltration! Ugh!!  There goes the entire pot of stew.  We order Chinese and life goes on.

How long was that beef broth in the fridge anyway? :(

The House is Now Warm!!!!

This past weekend was our Housewarming Party. Everything went really well!

Friday:

My uncle Pat, aunt Dawn, Jacque and Shaun, cousin Christine, and Amara, Rocky and Adelyn arrived. We spent much of the day running errands and getting ready for the party the next day--beer! cheese! The girls and guys split off and went on different errands. The girls (Christine, Jacque, Amara, Adelyn and me) went to Costco to pick up some of the bulk items for the party. The boys (Max, Rocky, Shaun, and Pat) picked up some award-winning cheese from the Dairy Store and some beer for the party. We ate pizzas and salad for dinner. It was really great to hang out with everyone. :)

Saturday:

We started the day with homemade waffles at our place. (Shaun: You're welcome; Jacque: you're such a lush) Then a few of us took a trip to the Farmer's Market on the Square. Jacque and I left early to go back to the house to start cooking . The menu: pulled pork sandwiches, Caribbean jerk chicken legs, fruit skewers, potato salad, deviled eggs, stuffed tomatoes, and peach cake.

The party people trickled in and soon we had over 30 people in our house (Good thing no one minded standing). I would say we had a successful first meeting of our families! We had plenty of food and conversation for everyone.

We finished the night by opening a few housewarming gifts (Thank you everyone!).

Sunday:

My mom, dad, sisters, aunt, uncle, jacque, shaun, etc... went out to brunch at the Great Dane. Really good food. Then we retired to the house where some of Max's family joined us (dad, brothers). Most everyone left us by the mid-afternoon. My uncle Pat stayed to hang out with us and we went to dinner at an Irish pub in town. They had live traditional music and we enjoyed ourselves for a bit. We drove my uncle to Milwaukee then came home and went to bed.

Phew! What a weekend!

Dear Smoke Alarm,

Don't take this the wrong way but you are overly sensitive! I feel like you go off at the slightest thing. Last night I really thought that you and your upstairs buddy were being a bit dramatic. There really wasn't any smoke. Your constant screaming made dinner the opposite of relaxing. I know you were just picking up on the smell of the string I used to tie up the chicken. It was really not a big deal. Maybe next time you will think of this and try to be a little more tolerant.

Thank you,

Andrea

So close to home!

We close one week from today.

We move into the house in 11 days.

I am so excited I can hardly sit still!!!! We are having a housewarming party for family and close friends in June. We will probably have another party for locals later too. :)

WEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A House is a House

Of course.

Max and I are under contract for our first house. :) We should be closing in May. We are super excited! Yay! This is a really big step but its something we've been talking about for a very long time. I will post pics later.

Anxiety Headache

So I just finished my Residency Appeal at UW. I am so nervous. I feel like my head is going to explode.

When I transferred to UW, I was given out-of-state residency status. I am appealing it due to our 'extraordinary circumstances.'

I sat on one side of a huge table and the committee of 4 people sat on the other side. I plead my case and then they asked me questions. One guy didn't ask any questions which made me feel that he had already made up his mind. Ugh.

Luckily, I get to find out their decision tomorrow morning and I don't have to wait longer.

I'm seriously rethinking that coffee I had 10 minutes ago. :(

Saturday Noon News

Here in Madison at last.

Max and I have been living at his father's house in Madison, WI (along with his older brother) since December. We live in a super small room while Max is job-hunting. He's had several interviews but no job offers yet. (I'm crossing my fingers about an upcoming second interview)

There have been and will be massive protests at the capital/capitol bldg this week over the bill that the Governor is proposing. Max and I have joined them several times marching and yelling.

I miss my cats.

School is going well so far. I am looking forward to graduation (most likely Spring 2012).

I am now a proud aunt. :D