Brownies and Video Games

Last night my hubby and I were relaxing after dinner when he suddenly said "I really want to eat brownies. Doesn't that sound good?" Of course it sounded great, but I didn't have any eggs so I couldn't make them. Well, he decided that that was a small set back, but we could go to the store. Then he gets an other idea. When my college friend and her hubby were here we went to the mall. At the mall, my hubby found a bundle of racing games with a steering wheel. Well, now we are going out for the eggs, so we should stop and get the bundle of games too. Huh? How does he come up with this stuff??
So, we go to the mall first, since I point out that eggs are not going to sit in the car while we take our sweet time in the game shop. You have to understand that both my hubby and I have a small addiction to all video games! My weapon of choice is Final Fantasy. I can't get enough of it. Hubby loves pretty much anything but Final Fantasy. The newest Final Fantasy is Final Fantasy XII. It will not come out in the states until October 31 (Halloween night!). However, I already have it! I bought a playstation when I lived in Japan, so I can buy Japanese games. American games will not work on my system. So, yes, my house has 2 playstation 2s. When I was in Tokyo, I saw Final Fantasy XII and I had to have it!!! It is awesome!I asked the man working in the store if when the game comes out here if the strategy book will come out the same day. He said yes, and if I wanted to put money down he could reserve me a copy. I told him no, I have the game I just want the book. At this he looked really puzzled, so I explained where I got my game. I told him it's awesome.... there is one BIG difference between my game and the one coming out here. Mine is in Japanese! HA HA! I have my dictionary close by if I need it. So far, I've been fine! The story line is great, and the graphics are unreal!Here's a screen shot!

So, he got his bundle of games and I end up with a new dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution (yes, I wore my old one out!! >_<) Then we get our eggs and a few other things at the store. The picture is the brownies that I made LAST NIGHT!!! As you can see, my hubby really wanted the brownies. I think I ate 2 of them.... he ate the rest! What's in the pan is all that's left!

Poncho Update

Here's the poncho! I finished the first half last night and I started the second part today. I'm about half way. That's all I've done today was knit! I was feeling kind of low, so knitting makes me feel happier. I also played with the bunnies. Here's Chanel and Versace! Aren't they cute?! *^_^*

The Falls

Yesterday we had a great time at the Falls. We started out on the American side at Goat Island. My friend's hubby had never been there so it was really exciting for him! On Goat Island you can walk out onto three more little islands called Three Sister Islands. This little islands are right in the Niagara river. So, this sign told us we better not swim.... humm, I wonder why?? HA HA! At that point we were about 30 feet from where the river goes over the Falls.

Then we went around Goat Island and saw a great view of the Canadian Falls. Even though the weather was a little cloudy, it was a great day to go to the Falls. The tourist season is just about over, so we really had no problems with lines are people shoving to get their pictures with the Falls. After walking around the park, we went to do the Cave of the Winds tour. The tour takes you to the base of the American side and you walk on this walkways to the see the falls from the bottom. One of the walkways takes you right up to the base of a small section of the Falls. This is the Hurricane Deck! Because the wind was blowing so hard at that point, the cheap rain ponchos that they gave us really didn't keep us dry at all! The tour gives you cheap sandals that you can keep and a cheap rain poncho that is yours to keep. However, the ponchos that they had yesterday were not the ones that they normally have. They were even lower quality that the normal ones! My friend and I both had on jeans and we had rolled them up thinking that we would be ok. HA HA, not so much! We both were soaked. My friend's husband however, was fine. He had on light weight pants, that dried really quickly. Oh well... it was a great time anyway! Then we rode on the Maid of the Mist.

The Maid of the Mist is a great time. These boats are so powerful because they take you right up to the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. It's really awesome! We were already wet from the Cave of Winds, so it wasn't a big deal to get wet again! After that, we walked across the bridge to Canada!

Going to The Falls

Last night, at about 1:30 am, my college friend and her husband arrived! I was so excited to see them! I haven't seen them in over a year, so it was pretty exciting to have them come! My friend called me the other day to see if we were free this weekend to have them stay with us. Her husband has never seen Niagara Falls! Well, being that it's not too far a drive from here we have decided that we are going to go today! I'm pretty excited because my hometown was 30 minutes from the Falls when I was a kid, and I have always loved to be a tour guide for my friends who have never been. In college I think I came home every other weekend with new people to take to the Falls. It really is an amazing sight! For me the best thing in the world is taking new people because I can see it again though their eyes. Their faces light up and they just stair at God's water wonder. It is also a place that I love because the natural beauty is there, but also people from around the world flock to it. I was very lucky as a child to be raised close to this majestic site. I have never seen the other wonders of the world, but I bet they are just as amazing! ^_^
As for my friend's hubby, he wants to do it all!! We are going on the Maid of the Mist, walking though the Cave of the Winds and walking across the border over the bridge. You really get the best view of the Falls if you walk over the bridge, so that is how we are going today! I'm excited and I hope that the weather holds out for us! ^_^

Movie Night

Last night I rented the movie Poseidon. I thought it would be pretty fun to see a movie about a sinking ship movie. However, I do have a fear of drowning, so watching a whole movie about people drowning was not the brightest idea. The funny thing is I'm a strong swimmer, I have my SCUBA certification and I was a trained swimming instructor. When I was little I had nightmares about being stuck in a dam and it would pull me under and I couldn't get out of it. I always woke up right as I was running out of air. It was a pretty vivid dream and I had forgotten about it. Until last night I haven't had that nightmare in years! Guess my movie choice was not smartest move. Tonight I'm just going to watch some T.V. comedies! ^_^

Bad Bunny!

Chanel has been really bad today!She had the idea that peeing in her pile of hay was a good idea. She is litter trained and she is always good about using her litter box. However, her hay is not in her litter box. It's not right next to her box either. Guess she just wanted to let me know that she is having a bad day. Now she looks so peaceful in her afternoon nap.

New Knitting!!

Here's the wrap that I made on vacation. It was made with lots of fun fur! I love knitting with fun fur! It's crazy to work with, but it looks so cute when it's done! ^_^

I was asked again by my belly dance instructor if I would make another poncho for her. This one is for her mom. The black one was for her, and she really wanted me to do another one for her. It fun, but it's so funny because I swore after the first one that I made for myself that I would never do another one. Yet, here I am on #3. I do actually like making them, I can watch TV and not think too much about what I'm doing while I am working on them. Today I am just going to work on that and relax! I've almost finished cleaning everything up from our vacation. I'll knit this morning and then clean some more, and then knit again. What a relaxing day! ^_^

Dinner Party

Tonight Hubby and I went out to dinner with his co-workers. We were supposed to go out with them and their girlfriends, but when we got there it was his co-workers and their friends. Their friends were a couple and very nice, so it was fun. Both Hubby and I were a little surprised at first, because we thought their were bringing their girlfriends, but we had a great time! We went to a Korean restaurant. Hubby and I have been there before, but he's not a big fan of the food. His one co-worker just went to Korea in July for the month, so he was really excited to eat there. His brother, the other co-worker was just as excited about the food, even though he hasn't been to Korea. The other fellow who was with us lived in Korea for 5 weeks teaching English. He was great to help all of us with our food choices. It was a great time. There was a Korean bar-b-q place in my town in Japan, so I know a little bit of Korean food. We are so full right now! Everything was great.... now we are just going to relax and play some Playstation 2 games! It's going to be a great night! ^_^

America's Fair

On Friday night I drove to my hometown with my hubby. Friday night I met my friend who had haven't seen in year. We went to the county fair in my hometown. This fair is second largest county fair in America. It started as an agriculture fair, and it still is in many ways. We saw the sheep... it was eating the chair when we saw it. It was pretty funny! On Saturday I went to the fair with another friend and my hubby. On Sunday just Hubby and I went to the fair. ^_^

Here was some of the food that I ate with my friends at the fair! The ribbon fries were amazing but really greasy!

After TONS of eating, we went to see the demolition derby! The night before we went to a bus demolition derby. It was the best! My hubby and my friend went to see it for the first time together! Just my hubby and I went to see the car derby! It was so great! We try to go every year together! If you have never been to one the point of it is that all the cars smash into each other and the last one moving is the winner. There are several rounds and then the winners from all the rounds compete to win the title of last moving car. They get a big trophy and $1,000 cash prize. I love it!!!!!!! Next year I want to go to the afternoon show and the night show of the derby! ^_^

More Picts from my Japan Trip

The bottom pict is of one of the temples that I went to in Kamakura. The middle pict is the train ticket machines (over it is the map of the train system). The top picture is of fireworks that I saw in Yokohama. ^_^

The Ranger told me what??

My Hubby and I just got home from our vacation today. We had a great time and we saw a lot! First we headed down to Pennsylvania to see Steamtown USA, which is a National Historic site. We rode on an old fashion steam train for a few hours. It was really amazing! Our clothes were covered in ashes from the coal that they have to burn to make the steam. My Hubby knows a lot about trains, so he told me a ton about them. I had a great time learning about how trains work and riding on a really old one.
After that, we went down to Virginia to see Shenandoah National Park. It was our first time there. We stayed there for three nights. Our first there however, I managed to lock our keys in the car. Oh man! I did that before we had eaten dinner. Needless to say the next morning we were a little hungry! Hubby stayed in bed the next morning while I walked over to the ranger station to have them help us. The ranger was a really nice lady who called the ranger who can unlock cars. While I was talking to her I told her that we hadn't eaten dinner and we could wait for a little while to eat, but we were hoping that we could get the car opened soon. Now, mind you we were in bear country, which means ALL food must be kept locked in your car or a bear proof container. The ranger actually asked me if I had any food in my tent that we could eat! Hummm... of course no! It was ALL LOCKED IN THE CAR! I told her that we had followed the park rules that said we needed to keep all food locked up. Then the talk with the ranger got even weirder! She is a very kind person and she really wanted to help us out. She told me that she would loan me a few dollars so I could get some food at the store up the road. The store is about a mile away, but then she says... well, you can try to hitch a ride with someone going that way. I don't believe that she told me I could hitchhike! I was totally shocked!!! I don't know about other states, but here hitchhiking is not a legal activity. We did get our car unlocked later that day and we went hiking everyday there! It was amazing to see all the nature and deer. At dusk the deer were everywhere! It was a beautiful park. We will go back to that park for sure!
The next place we went was the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The town around the park had really grown since we were there last. It is now a total tourist trap! We had a great time shopping and hiking. We did a lot of shopping outside the park only because it was raining for a few days. There was also go-carts which my husband loves! He bought an all day pass so that he could ride all day while I went shopping. It was really fun! We went to several outlet stores. My husband is so sweet, he bought me a pick Coach bag. Now I have a spring/summer bag. I have a red Coach bag for fall/winter, so I was pretty excited about that!
Tomorrow, I have another interview for the district that I had worked for all year, so hopefully it will go well for me. ^_^ We'll see what happens!

Vacation Time!

Well, Hubby and I are off on our vacation today! No posts for the next two weeks! See you when we get back! ^_^

Japan Picts- Train shots

The bottom pict today is taken from my train ride in Hokkaido. I was going from Sapporo to Otaru. We were going to Otaru because it is famous for making glass. It is also well know for it's fresh crab. I did eat some crab soup and it was amazing!The train ride was so beautiful and it takes you by the sea and this was one shot of that.
The middle pict is of a rice field that I saw on my train ride from Sapporo to Obihiro. All of the shots today are taken from my train rides in Hokkaido. I have a special place in my heart for Hokkaido so most of my picts are from there! ^_^
The top pict is of the one car long local train. I had to take this train from my friend's house in Tokachi-Shimizu to Obihiro. Her station is very small, so only the local trains run usually from there. In Hokkaido, local trains have to pull over and wait for the express trains to go by because there is only one track for them all to use. It's kind of funny that way. You cannot find that any other place in Japan! HA HA! I loved it! ^_^

Japan Picts!

Finally, I was able to get some of my picts up here! On the left was my breakfast in Osaka. My host mom made me toast, fired potatoes, yogurt, edamame (soy beans), natto (partly rotten soy beans), tomatoes, and pickles. Yummy... yes I ate it all! Then the center pict is of my lunch in Tokyo. I had udon noodles and fried rice. The pict only shows my udon noodles. The last pict shows my dessert that we ate in Ginza. It was fresh baked bread with honey and then on top was ice-cream and hot sauce and berries. Three of us couldn't finish it! It was awesome! Sooo much good food to eat... @_@

Camping and Stuff

Today I worked on getting my resumes put together so I can actually get a job for the up-coming school year. I guess I was putting off because I wanted to enjoy my summer with no worries. Well, now my worries are back in full swing. I'm gearing up for the interviewing season. Hopefully the year that I just had will help me find my perfect job.
Hubby decided that he would replace the muffler in his truck today. That didn't go so well... the auto part store sold him the wrong parts and when he went to get the right ones they told him they have to order them. Looks like I have to drive him to work so I have a car for belly-dance class tomorrow.
We also went out today so we could buy some stuff for our grand camping trip. We had a tent from our honeymoon (yes, we went camping for our honeymoon and it was AWESOME!) and a few other basic things. We got a few more things that we felt we needed for this trip. Such as a lantern, a flashlight, and some tarps to protect us from rain.
I also stopped at the yarn store and got some yarn so I can knit knit knit! I'm pretty excited about that! I haven't knit in like 3 weeks.... oh my, what if I forgot how???!!! I don't think that will happen. I found a great sweater pattern that I want to try, but I couldn't find the yarn colors that I wanted so, I just got some cheap yarn to whip up quick easy things with. Then I'll put them on the website that my hubby as made for me so people can buy my knitted stuff. ^_^ I'll post the address for that when we get back as he hasn't totally finished it yet!
I have managed to download the picts from my trip onto the computer, but hubby's computer won't let them upload to Blogger. Hummm.... have to ask him about how to get the computer to play nice with my blog.

109 Degrees

Yesterday it was crazy hot here! I took Nana to the airport super early in the a.m. I saw a good friend of mine at the airport in line ahead of Nana. It was pretty funny. Then Hubby and I went to my great-Uncle and great-Aunt's house to pick up their old couch. They wanted to buy a new couch, so we took their old one off their hands.
After that, I called my belly-dance friend and went to her house to swim. It was awesome!!! It felt so good while it was so hot here. Today I got together with the same friend today and swam again. It was so hot here today again! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.... I hope that the heat will end soon!