Denali's Adventures with the Faulkners - Night 1

(Written by Denali Mason)

Okay...so a my new family has decided to fly to Alaska and I get to stay with some new friends! They seem nice and all, but I sure miss my Mom and Dad. They have another playmate for me up here, so I am okay without having Shadow with me. This one is more my size anyway. :)

The drive home was long and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. The big guy, I think they call him Damon, wouldn't let me in the back seat! I guess he just wanted to hold me or something but wish I could have stretched out back there. PLUS! That was where they were hiding my food, I just know it. We finally get home and there is this blonde dog that would not leave me alone! The Big Guy wouldn't put me down until we got on the couch. Then this other dog, who I learned is confused on her name. Sometimes she answers to Scarlett but then Chunky. I don't know what is going on with her, but she seems pretty cool; other than the fact that she would not let me sleep last night when I got there. AND neither would that woman! She kept poking me and making me stand up. Why wouldn't these people just leave me alone? Geez. Couldn't they see I just wanted a nap! I played after we came in from outside. Oh and that is another thing I need to talk to them about. They put this thing over my head and snapped it around me. Then keep dragging me all over the place. Mom and Dad don't do that!

Anyway, they all seem nice and I think I am okay with staying here for a little while. They even made me my own bedroom. That confused dog has to share their bedroom and bed! Sucker!! It was pretty easy to go to sleep in there. But at about 4 this morning I decided I was tired of being in my room. It took me a little while to get the Inn Keeper's attention and after I did they just keep saying, "Be Quiet" and "Shhh!" Some service. I guess Mom and Dad need to have a talk with them. That wasn't what I signed up for. But I got them back I guess you could say. I made sure to "crisin" their rug a few times this morning. I think the woman liked it or something. She kept clapping at me.

OH AND GUESS WHAT!! They have this giant bag of food in the kitchen! It doesn't smell like mine, so I am going to have to figure out how to taste it. I tried to tear the bag with my teeth but Damon took it outside before I could get through to the good smelling stuff. It smelled so good!! I am so going to have to get me some of what was in there!

Well...I am off to this place called the Vet. Confused Dog didn't really tell me anything but just kinda of laughed at me and said see ya soon. I guess that is good. Oh well, at least I get another car ride!

I'll be sure and write often. :) Love you Mom and Dad! Be sure and bring me back something neat!

Take 2: The Smokehouse Redeems Itself!

We have been redeemed! The D&R Smokehouse has been renamed to the D&R Chunkery. (We wanted to make sure our little bundle of joy was included, so instead of Cookery we went with Chunkery. Corny and probably, on some level, crazy, but we like it.) Damon took out the pots and pans again to whip up some tasty Stuffed Bell Peppers!

So in the last cooking lesson, we learned when oil is heated too hot it smokes and to not throw things in to the hot oil. In this lesson we learned to saute and stuff. :) I was hoping to be able to have something similar to the last post for everyone's enjoyment, but Damon did really well with this dish. As you can see in the pictures, he chopped, cooked and then baked the peppers all by himself.

I think he may be getting tired, already, of me taking his picture while he cooks. But I want to document his learning, that way he can't say he doesn't know how to do it! (Just kidding Love!) Really and truely I am just proud of him and want to make sure we have something to look back on and laugh at when we are old and gray. I wish I had documented our first year with all of the funness that that contained. I mean right off the bat, before we even said "I Do" he is trying to get me to go into Wal-Mart in my wedding dress! Needless to say, that didn't happen. Then we moved onto trying to get all of our stuff replaced from the break-in to who is going to sleep on what side of the bed. That, by the way, took a decent conversation to get settled. LOL!!

Definately we have had a great, but learning, experience in our short time of being married. I think we have now moved on to the expanding time in our lives. No, I am not saying that we are increasing the number of people in our little family by any means! LOL! I just think we have finally settled in and found where each of us fit. I have my side of the couch, he has his side of the bed. The drawers are all "claimed" in the dresser and bathroom. I think we are now just expanding our feelings even deeper for each other and showing each other everyday why we made the decision to spend the rest of our lives together. I hope Damon would be able to say that I have made him "better" in ways that no one else has. I know I can say that about him. Part of a song from the Musical "Wicked" says, "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good." I think Damon has changed me for good. I definately stand up for myself more, speak my mind more and have no problem being a fool in public for some fun. All of that really started when we started dating. Who knows why, but I am so glad that he was put in my path and I took a chance on someone who I could have easily never met. I mean who else am I going to chase after with a spray bottle and squirt them before bedtime until they are moist and refreshed? Plus, who would laugh at that and try to get me back?!

The D&R Smokehouse!

Well this blog is all about bragging, eating and de-smokifing the house! Yes, Damon is learning to cook. :) He is such a good husband. This fall and the next two spring semesters I will be working and taking classes so he has volunteered to learn how to cook more and help with the household chores. Such a big help!

So...our first dinner by Chez Damonator. Initially it was planned to learn to make Stuffed Bellpeppers, but our stomaches decided that Chicken Fried Steak and Mashed Potatoes was the meal to make. So out came the flour, eggs and pepper. After the potatoes were peeled and in the pot boiling he went to mixing the batter. His Assistant, a hm, me, went to heating the oil. Well, for anyone that knows my cooking past, you would know that most of the time something goes wrong. It might be as simple as putting the ingredients in wrong to a minor burn. Well this time, Chez Damonator's Lovely Assistant turned our home into a smoke filled cookery. Did you know that when oil gets too hot it will smoke? AND that smoke will fill up your home and is VERY hard to clear out! Yes, all our doors were open and fans turned on high and it still took a while to get all the smoke out.

After that was handled we got down to frying up some food. Flour...Batter...Flour...Oil. Chez Damonator did a wonderful job battering the steak. But we had a curve ball thrown at us when we had to learn how to put the battered meat into the hot oil. I may have filled the house with smoke but Chez Damonator got me back with a splatter of hot oil. Luckily, I got out with just a minor blister. From then on we learned the correct way to put the meat into the pan. :)

I don't know if it was because of her being stopped from running out the front door while we were de-smoking our home or having someone different then her Momma cooking in the kitchen, but Chunky elected to stay back on our bed and out of the way...it really wasn't that bad in the kitchen. LOL! Damon did a great job for not a beginner meal. It was tasty and very satisfying to the taste buds!

I look forward to tasting many more of his creations! :)

First Year Celebration!

To have and to hold, in sickness and in health. In love and in laughter! Well, it is evident that we love each other and luckily we are healthy and not worrying about the "in sick" portion. So we chose to expand the "in laughter" clause of our marriage! For our FIRST Anniversary we found a quaint bed and breakfast in Fort Worth's Sundance Square. Etta's Place was the perfect little get-a-way. We stayed in "Laura's Room" with their Lily Package. LOL!! Basically we got to enjoy a king size bed, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and a couple's massage in our room. The couple's massage was the perfect way to start the get-a-way! Our room was on the third floor at the corner of the building, practically right above Four Day Weekend. I couldn't have planned it better if I knew where these places actually were. Mom and Dad watched our little dog for us, which was a huge help. But we did miss the little Chunk all weekend.




Anyway. the Bed and Breakfast was great. The room was nice and the food was tasty. After our massages we grabbed the wine and headed to Nonna Tata for some dinner. This is a little hole in the wall. Literally! I think our living room and kitchen are the same size as this entire restaurant! Poor Damon appologized several times to the guy behind him for bumping him during dinner. This little, hidden place was suggested to use by a friend and I enjoyed it, I think Damon is still out on it. Close your eyes and picture with me, a small intimate setting where you are sipping wine and smelling fresh cooked italian foods. There is quite conversation going on and the love of your life is sitting across from you. How is that not a great dinner?



Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Science Museum and toured the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibit. That man was a genius! We never knew that he influenced or invented so many things! This man made bridges for the armies, different types of war machines to flying machines and pulley systems. Not to mention all of the paintings. I don't know how the man found all of the time and inspiration. It is easy to say that our society would not be the same without that man's ingenious inventions. From there we got to go to the Amon Carter Museum and enjoyed some of the paintings there. The weather was wonderful and we couldn't have asked for a better day to walk around.





Damon planned dinner for Saturday, Pirana's Sushi! Oh WoW! This was wonderful! We stuffed ourselves and were contemplating ordering another Sexy Roll just to have that taste in our mouth! I think it was probably one of my favorite rolls that I have ever eaten! After waddling out of Pirana's we strolled around the square for little while and then found our way to Four Day Weekend. This place is a scream! If you have never been you have to go. I don't think I have heard Damon laugh that much in a pretty good while. They had skits from their version of Cops to Jaws showing up at the Zoo.





After breakfast in bed on Sunday we packed our stuff. Neither of us wanted the wonderful time to end but sadly all good things must come to an end. We tried to stretch the weekend out with a movie and fireworks at The Highlands. It was nice to come home though to a surprise. My Mom dropped our little chewer off and cleaned on the house for us! She is the best!


So to end this post I would like to leave you with a quote from Four Day Weekend, "There are two qualifications to be a Fort Worth Policeman. First, you have to be a bad ass! Second, you have to be able to ride a bike. It is hard work being a bike cop. Do you know how fast you have to petal to pull someone over for speeding?!"

Such a nice weekend

Well...our weekend wasn't jammed backed with action packed adventure but it was a nice weekend. Damon had to work on Saturday so that allowed me to clean our humble abode. There is something nice about walking into and around a nice clean house. I don't care if it smells like pinesol or not but fresh vaccumed carpets just feel good.

I am so lucky to have the Mother and the girlfriends I have. I got to have a great time with my Mother non-shopping (we actually walked the mall and other stores and didn't buy anything!), and then we met my great friends, Jenn and Brittany, and my new friend Sherry for dinner. We all got to laugh and giggle over fondue at the Melting Pot. YUM!! I'm licking my lips right now! Marinated steak, shrimp and Flaming Turtle Chocolate, oh my! Gunna have to get some more of that soon. Well... as soon as my pocket book recovers. :/

Sunday we were finally able to go back to church. It is nice to end the weekend with our friends there. It is odd how easy it is to sleep in and choose to do chores over going to church. But when you do get up and go to church you are more productive and feel complete all day long. Today we had a guest deliver the sermon. He did a great job at delivering a very true to home message. He tried to make you think about how your reflect God. Do you reflect him acurately like a clean, prestine mirror or do you reflect him like a shattered, distorted mirror? I would like to think that I do a good job of acurately reflecting him, but I know myself well enough to know that that isn't always the care. I struggle with language and finding time to study the bible like I should. It is easier for me to persue my careers goals and personal dreams then to put life on hold for a few minutes and study His word. It was just an analogy that really seemed to hit home with me today. We look in mirrors all day long. How does our hair look? Our make-up? Our clothes? But how often do we look into a mirror and say "Do I have a Christian reflection?" "Does my reflection meet His expectations and wants?" I know I don't ask that very often, or at least not as often as I should. It is just funny how we haven't been to church in a while and yet the day we go, the sermon is really touching.

Another fun thing that happend this weekend was our little Pup turn 1!! Yes, our little chewer is growing up. We went to the pet store and bought her a new football that squeeks and she has played with it all night! Squeek, Squeek, SQUEEK! I don't know why but she just loves squeeky toys and loves to squeek then in the most inopportune times. LOL! Oh well...seeing her play is pretty enjoyable. She may tear a few things up every now and then but I cannot see our little family being complete without her. We LOVE our Chunk!

Finally, my parents blessed us with a dresser and hutch for our bedroom! We gained like 5 dresser drawers and our room looks so grown up with matching furniture! :-) I already organized and filled the drawers and placed my picture frames (some still needing pictures, shocker right?!) on top. Our little place is more of a home now. I kind of like it.

Well, that is it for now. The goals for this week is to train some Muay Thai, get a group for Muay Thai together and stay awake long enough to watch ECLIPSE!! Woo Hoo!! Go Team Edward...I mean Jacob...no Edward...oh I don't know. As long as I have good friends to enjoy the movie with and a tub of popcorn, I don't have a side. Until next time...I hope everyone has a great week full of laughs and love.

The First!

Well...how to start. I guess I could start a list of what we love to do or a famous quote, but that doesn't seem like us. So I guess I will just start out with what has happend in the past little bit.

Our first year married has flown by. I cannot believe that it was over a year ago that I was shopping for a dress, picking out napkins and preparing for a new life as a wife. I won't lie, our first year has had its ups and downs, a few yelling matches over stupid little things, and lots of laughter. I do not know what I would do without Damon by my side every night.

A few months into our marriage we decided to get a little dog and wound up with a dog with as much personality as I think one can have! She has definately challenged us and prepared us for a kid! WOW! Chunky has torn up clothes, shoes and rendered plenty of my underware unwearable! Why she choose my items to chew I still do not know. If she was not chewing then she was testing our skills of house training or running all over the place. Oh and I cannot forget, poor Damon having to clean out the box when she got a bug. What champ! For having our little pup for only 9 months, we sure have learned a lot! But her personality and loving nature is sure payment enough for anything she can throw at us. We love her dearly.

Damon is growing as a Manager so well! Everyday he comes home with something new he has learned or a new way he is doing things. I am very proud of him and can't wait to see where life takes us. Some goals we have are to have a house in the new few years and Damon would like to own his own Aikido Gym some day. Hopefully those will come to pass when we have them planned.

So here is to our second year married. Hopefully we have it filled with more laughter and love than anything else.