Groomsmen

You may have heard, but my groomsmen are not the most responsible people, Amy being the one I love (can think of things that I would never think of), came up with the idea that I should tell my groomsmen that they need to get their tuxes by May 20th. Thank God she did this because I found out just what Amy has been going through with the whole wedding planning thing. My Groomsmen not only did not know the date of the wedding, they were telling others the wrong date. You may think it had been a long time since they were told the the date... oh no... in this case I talked to one of them the same night he was caught giving out the wrong date. Another groomsmen was told to take off the dates from work-the next day to make sure he called me to make sure he had all the right days off. This is the same guy that told me he did not need to go get fitted for a tux because he had his own.......I guess this is what I get for being the first one of our friends to get married... I guess I just wanted to bitch a little but I am sure everything will work out.... now I am done

http://www.najle.com/idaft/

This is a little something for the guy to be unnamed we meet in the hotel elevator

Why no post you ask

I have not been posting because 1. Amy is mad at me and is no longer editing my post and she is mad that i do not know the difference between the words are, our, and or i do that or is not the same word but when she was telling me how to use are and our i said jokingly what about or and that is why she is no longer my editor so now it takes me a lot longer to post, and 2. i have been making a really cool website that i think my brother will really enjoy because it is a dedication to him and how much i love him so if every one would like to check the site out here it is for all to enjoy. http://net84.webs.com/

Last Saturday was a cold rainy night. Amy and I were Tucked in on our couch watching TV eating a hot bowl of soup, When we heard it. The most god awful sound at first i think it is two cats outside fighting or doing what cats do. Then Amy mutes the TV and we realize it is far worse then two cats outside. It sounds like it is coming from inside the house. As Amy is frozen on the couch i have to investigate but every time i move closer to the action in are guest bedroom the HISSING stops so i stop. To my relief it was not in the guest bedroom However now i am thinking it is in our cold air return staying warm. I am dreading the thought of it being a skunk and am actually hoping it is a opossum, raccoon anything but a skunk, because of it hissing something must be down there with it and we all no what skunks do when they get scared and that is all we need our house to start smelling like.

There is nothing we can do it is late Saturday night we can not call our landlord. We could but he would just tell us to wait for the morning and if it is still there then we will do something about it. so we spend the night listening for it waiting for the attack but all we hear is the hissing. The next night nothing, will it ever return we hope not God we hope not.

Books?

So, I think something is wrong... it might be the Oregon weather or maybe my age (24), but something strange is happening and I have no explanation for it. I first started a change when I started to like wine. I know that is not that hard to believe, but other "changes" were going on here... I like vegetables? What is that? Iam the kid who threw them behind the couch and would start crying if forced to eat them...and now I am going back for seconds, we are not talking about the weak stuff- I am eating it all including broccoli, the most hated of all. My mom would melt cheese on it to try toget me to eat this stuff only to find that I just sucked the cheese off and left the Green stuff behind. Now I love steamed and raw vegetables... Of course I still like a little Ranch on the raw and some salt and pepper when it is steamed, but I like having vegetables with every meal.

That's not the only change I have picked up. In the last year or so, I have started to read. Just add this to the list of things I thought I would never do. I would not read a book. I got through school on foot notes and relied on other people's help. If i was forced to read a text book, it was a painful drawn out thing and I would just skim the pages until I answered the question asked and move on to find the next answer. However, in my old age i am reading for fun. Yes... I just said something I would have made fun of myself for saying just 2 years ago. Now I have read 5 books in less then 2 years. I know that is not a lot to some, but all of the books I have read have been suggested because I have no idea how to go to a book store and pick out a book. The one book I did pick out for myself was Marley and Me. I enjoyed reading that book, because of my dog. The other books I enjoyed for various reasons. Maybe the suspence of what is going to happen, I guess. Its the same with this last book. I don't know why, but it took me some time to pick it up and start reading it. I am glad I did because it was really good. The book is called THE HUNGER GAMES. If you have not read the book I would suggest it to anyone and it looks like it is part of a series including another book titled Catching Fire. I think that will be the next book I read.

A Stuffed Chicken breast that works!!!!!

If you have ever tried to grill one of these DAMN chicken breast, you know how frustrating it can be to grill or cook because the stuffing always has cheese, herbs or something that makes them sound amazing and that is how people get tricked in to buying the stuffed chicken. I was a repeat offender on this and gave up on them thinking there was no possible way to cook them without losing all of the filling.
When we bought a magazine titled Cooking Light 65 top-rated recipes I had no idea that a old habit would be staring me in the face... Almond Stuffed chicken, with a creamy garlic herb cheese called "Boursin" and toasted almonds.
OK- so I love all of that and have a picture that shows it cooked and it looks great. I ask Amy if she thinks she would like it and she gives me the go ahead to make the chicken. Go figure... it worked... I cooked it in a cast iron skillet on med heat and 5 min on each side and they turned out well. All stuffing stayed in and was hot in the center. The only thing we think could make the recipe better is if we would have bought the non light "Boursin" cheese. But then again...that wouldn't be cooking light. All in all it was very good

P.S.
Amy thinks we Blog too much about food...but I say there is no such thing. You can find this recipe at
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1880000

Out For Dinner

Amy And I have been trying to Save money for our wedding and just get a savings. That has been hard with me not having a job. So we cut back on things like going out to dinner, drinking. Plus on the wedding diet we are eating at home more.

When we got ask to go to dinner we jumped at the chance. We have been to this restaurant before. The first time we went Amy did not like What she had for dinner but the drinks she loved. I had order pork and it was great, So i really wanted to go back and give the Cajun place another shot.

This time Amy still liked there Drinks and for good reason they have a old fashion juicer that they make all the drinks with they only offer 2 beers Mickeys wide mouth bottles and Sessions. I went for a mixed drink. A Ginger Martini, It was great really spicy bye the time i had 2 drinks Amy was on her 4th and on her way. when it was time to order she did not know what to get so because she was talking. So Under pressure she ordered the famous Linguine with Rock Shrimp, i had The same with Catfish. It was really good and really spicy. we also had gator bites in a spicy sauce "tasted like Chicken" we could not finish are dinner, so we got it to go Amy received a Swan, and i got a crab. you see in the pictures above dinner was only $25.00 and came with corn bread tasty.

Eating Good

If you read Amy's Blog "http://oregonodyssey.blogspot.com/." You know that we are on a wedding diet and it is going good. I have lost a total of 5 pounds and all the weight i put on from i trip to Iowa. Going into this diet i was not to excited thinking that i would be let down not because we have almost cut out all of are RED MEAT. However 3 weeks in and only having had red meat 2 times i am fine. also i have felt better then normal

I think the only reason we are doing so good, comes from the fact that we are trying new things with chicken, Salmon, and recently Pork, and these thing called vegetable steamers they are GREAT. i never thought i would be putting Vegetable and great in the same sentence.

First of all i don't know why i am in bold i can not get it to go back i don't know so just bare with it

I am going to share with you this Great pork Recipe that me and Amy found in My men's fitness magazine.

what you need
2 pork chops (6 oz each)
1 Apple cored peeled sliced into thick wedges . we used 2
1/2 Tbsp chipotle sauce they suggest Gova we could not find that one
1/2 Tbsp Dijon
1/2 Tbsp Honey
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup apple juice
1 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

How to make it
Mix together the chipotle sauce, mustard and honey. set aside. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle the chops with salt and peeper and cook, undisturbed until a crust forms. brush the uncooked sides of the chops with the chipotle glaze, flip and brush the cooled sides. Add the apples to the pan cook 3 or 4 min.

2. Lower the heat and add the juice. Simmer for 4 to 5 min until the chops are cooked all the way through. Remove them season the apple mix with more salt and pepper and add the butter pour the apple mix over the pork chops

Eat with 1 large peeled sweet potato, boiled until soft and then mashed with bilk and butter divide it between the two plates

per serving 300 calories 19 grams protein 22 g carbohydrates 14 grams of fat 6g of saturated 2 grams of fiber 135 milligrams sodium.

The Good,The Bad, The Ugly.

The Good, Dog Parks... we love them. The dogs all go running, jumping, getting all slobbered up by one another all in good old fashion dog loving fun. It gives us a chance to meet some new people. The last time there we met a couple with a yellow lab that was about 9 months old and was new to the whole dog park thing. We told them the about the first time Ditka got hurt. and shared stories like he was our kid. We think if we continue to see them there we could become close friends with them. Also taking your dog to these open fields and letting them run for 2 hours really tires them out and anyone who has ever had a lab knows how nice it is to have a worn out dog at home who doesn't to play every second of every day

The Bad, We do not run into a lot of bad things at the dog park. Most of the time it comes down to people not picking up after their dogs or just letting them get away with everything such as jumping up on everyone, humping (people and other dogs), and you have the dogs getting up on the few picnic tables there are, oh and there are the dogs that tip over the water bowls... why they do this I have no idea... but if they don't have water at the parks dogs could overheat and get hurt.

THE UGLY, There hasn't been a lot of run-ins with the Ugly. Actually today was only the second time for our Ditters to have this unfortunate thing happen. What am I talking about?...Our helpless dog got attacked... yes attacked by a wolf of a dog that came tearing out of left field and into a big group of dogs. It just so happens he singles out Ditka.. why? Maybe because he was the biggest dog in the group... maybe it was the first dog that he was face to face with... but before we knew it our 100 pound dog was laying on his back tail tucked between his legs and the attack dog we will call him "WD" (WOLFDOG) was on top of him biting, and shaking his head viciously. Don't get me wrong... he plays on his back with a lot of dogs such as; pit bulls, Shepards, and all kinds of puppies. He is kind of a wuss, when playing with these dogs they will often nibble on each other. This time was different!!! He was on his back and the other dog was not backing off and was biting and shaking his head as if he was trying to kill him. Ditka felt it and was yelping loud and more then once WD was not letting up so I had to step in and pull the dog off..... If you aren't familiar with dog parks there are signs posted everywhere that prohibit aggressive dogs. Amy and I are pissed... Amy storms off in the direction of WD's owners as I am separating and making sure our dog is not hurt... thankfully he was not. So Amy starts asking if that was their dog knowing that it was because we were talking to everyone else. They say "yes" and Amy tells them to "put their dog on a leash and get it out of here", the guy tells her that she knows nothing about dogs and that if our dog was trying to be dominant their dog would put it in its place (So they were admitting that they had an aggressive dog)...regardless... our dog was on his back (being as submissive as a dog can get!) We tell them that and say that since their dog can't handle being off-leash then they need to leash it up and get it out of the park. Everyone else had their dogs at there hips and would not let the dogs go far until they got their WD out of the park and that is just what they did.

Amy returned to us and the group of people were shocked and pleased that we stuck up for our dog that way. Apparently there is another dog owner who has a 2 yr. old pit bull who she is trying to "socialize" and refuses to leave even when her dor terrorizes other dogs. She will only leave if her dog starts an actual fight! They said they wished we would have been there to take care of her as well. As fate would have it...about an hour after Ditka's traumatic incident...the pit bull owner shows up with her agressive dog. The girls wanted us to stay and handle that situation as well as we had handled the WD situation. But Ditty had his fill of attacks for the day and we didn't want him to have to deal with another one. Everyone gathered their dogs and left instantly. We left the park feeling like badasses who were still shaking from the adrenaline of the first attack.

sorry

I have nothing to say because i have been watching season III and waiting for amy to get home so i can finish watching it that is all i can do. Ohh i did hear that you can watch all of season 4 on-line. so i might be doing that but i think Amy might get mad about that. so i might have to wait till that comes out on DVD.

How i met your Mother?

The very first time I saw this show, I was not very impressed and I told my brother this when he asked me what I thought. He gave me a look of disappointment not unlike the look that Lora gives me". I could not just forget about "The Look" knowing that my brother and I have similar taste for the most part. When I got home from a month long vacation and had nothing better to do and had already watched all of the Sopranos and Entourage yes all seasons and yes the ending of sopranos sucks and yes the end of the new season of entourage is damn good. There is nothing to watch in the middle of the day so I thought I would give it another shot and download the first season. I have been hooked ever since. Not only that Amy started watching. However Amy will not watch shows on the computer so we had to go buy the second season on DVD. Some people ask me if I drank this weekend... no did nothing worth talking about other then watching one of the best comedy shows ever not to mention the best show on CBS.

You might think... could they really watch the whole second season in one weekend. Then I would sadly tell you that we did not. Dinner and taking our dog to the park, and damn pottery barn got in the way "thanks Josh and Lora". With all of the distractions we did finish the first season and 2 DVDs of the new or second season.

Oh by the way... you might be asking your self why would they not just go to the local Blockbuster to rent the second season? The answer is that the second season is like the lost season. No Blockbuster this side of the cascade mountains has the second season for reasons unknown to Amy and I. they only have seasons 1&3 so I look at bestbuy.com they have season 2 but it is $32. But we were not going to best buy so it would have to wait. Little did I know Amy wanted to go to Target "one of our favorite stores". MAN was I happy to my surprise not only did they have season 2 it was $17.99 and you know the rest.

I think are dog is scared of the dark

Amy Ditka, and I are living in a small house in a small town. I like our house but there are some not so good things about it like no closets and no back door. The bedrooms are nice size considering we don't have a roommate and can use the other room for storage the other room is smaller so we sleep in the bigger room although it has the only closet in the whole house so it is like a changing room for Amy. I don't get to hang up any of my stuff.

This last weekend we thought our 1 year and 3 month old baby,who's actually a 100 pound black Lab was ready to make the big step of not sleeping in his cage and sleeping on the $50 bed that we bought him. Should be easy we thought even though going into this i knew dogs get attatched to their cage, because it gives them a safe feeling. We figured why would our dog not like sleeping on are floor? Plus it would give our room more space maybe we could use the door that leads right into the bathroom even though all you have to do is take 2 more steps and you are in through the other door. Plus no room looks that nice when you have a huge cage taking up %15 of the room.

The first night we knew there was going to be problems and after about 15 minutes of the dog walking around whining like a little baby, us telling him to go to bed, and him getting stuck on the side of the bed, because we pushed it closer to the wall and his cage used to be there. He could not turn around but what our little Ditka could do is jump right up on the bed and before i could say anything to him he was curled up in a tight ball in between my legs snoring louder then i have ever heard any human. At this point it was 12:30 and i thought... no use in fighting it we will just work on it the next night. That night comes and before i know it... dog in bed...with us. I don't know what to do. Amy and I are not sleeping, and the little sleep we do get it is interrupted by our dog snoring while his feet end up in our backs. So tonight the cage is going back up and we are going to try and see what he is going to do if we leave the doors open. Hopefully he will be ok with this and we can get 8 hours of on and off sleep tonight.

i will keep you posted.

Why Now TV Why

In my life i have only bought One TV and have had it for 4 years and it works great. However i have had 4 other TV's in this time 2 of them we gave a-way one i was not very happy about. The other one was more of a loan that i don't think i am going to be getting back. Then it comes back to the one 27" TV i bought 4 years ago and the 32" sony HD TV that i got from work for free. Let me tell you when i got this TV i was really happy it was about $1,000 new and i paid nothing for it. The only bad thing about the sony, it was 300 lbs. and that is alot of TV. Amy was worried about are new TV stand breaking and to tell you the truth i was a little nervious. Not even to mention who would help me move the TV?

So about a 2 months ago on a i woke up and went to turn my sony on and i got notthing but heard it clicking so i pressed the power and the tv came on but as time went on it was harder to get going so we stoped turning the tv off yes this is the not the most "Green" way to live but some times you jsut have to do stuff like this and we just thought we would get a new tv after are wedding.
So this was a bad week we had a power outtage and no more tv. We thought if we could not get the tv to turn on after a hour of pressing the power button it was over the best TV i have ever had in my house was no more. I relized why you see TV stacked ontop of other TV's now becuse they were in the same spot that i am in right now.

Now i am back to whear it all started and i now know why i bought the TV i did a nice 27" Philips it is not wide screen it is not 32" it is not HD but It is a working TV. I know my day will come and i will get to join the likes of my brother josh my friends mike and james. i just keep telling myself one day nick one day

All the time in the world

Right now i have all the time in the world. between jobs or just wasting time till sears gives me a call back to a job that i am not the best at but at the same time i had no training a year ago and now i am leaps and bounds better then when I started and i feel like i get better every day. That is some thing i have to do or so i am told from the guys i worked with last season. They told me "nick I have been doing this job for 20 years and I still have to learn something new everyday". Man that made me feel like I was in Iowa out back of my house with my dad and he was showing me how to change my breaks or my oil or my windshield wipers for the first time. not that all the time my dad Knew exactly what he was doing because it was almost cretin that he would start dropping "F" bombs when something went wrong and in most cases did go wrong. My dad knew how the simple things on cars worked so in most cases he could figure it out but he would have to work on it the first time and i went threw some cars and most of the time it was his first go round with that car type so it would be a little different or we would need a new tool so that would be some more time he would have to use on one of his few days off or the little time he had before he would go into work but we would always get the job done.

Why not

So i have seen some blogs and i like them so i thought why should i not give it a go. Not that There are a lot of people that would read what i have to say. If nothing less it might give my mom something to do when she is at home waiting for my dad to get home from work.

So in this blog i think i will just tell you about what Amy my dog "Ditka isgod Thiessen " and myself are up to. I will give you updates of what is going on with my job and more important Amy's job because that my friends is the key to all of this and when we get to rejoin the insane life of Iowa and all of our loving family and leave this hateful place called Oregon.