KG's Hideaway

The events of the last week have totally kicked my ass. I'm totally stressed out and just emotionally drained. Then yesterday the articles hit the paper (see post below this one) but at least one of the papers caught on to the fact that SOMEthing is wrong when a university totally releases an athlete who requested it, AND does it without penalty. It totally sucks that Ryan has to either defend herself by putting her business out there or say nothing and let this psychopathic coach get by with what she did. That's not fair and I feel bad that she's having to make that decision. The reporter today told me that there were some allegations that Ryan had an overnight guest in her dorm or missed curfew. First off, the coach NEVER mentioned that to me and second off, she is allowed overnight guests in that dorm and she didn't have a curfew so that pretty much rules all that out.

Anyway, the week wasn't all bad. My niece had her 2nd birthday party and she was just wonderful as always. Here are a few pictures from the day. My favorite one is of Craig tickling her... look at that smile!

Craig and Kyra

My sister and my niece

Posted by at 9:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I guess news travels fast. We started getting phone calls today from people and they found out because it made the Ft. Worth paper and the Denton paper today. Ft. Worth's paper sort of catches on that something is wrong. If they only knew... Here's the articles. Ft. Worth and Denton.
The story is fine by Ryan with a little exception. She kind of meant it sarcastically, but kind of not, too. They only list her as a two time All Region winner. They leave off all the other stuff including the All State and All American junk. Oh well, whatever.

I'm about thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to just blurting out what happened. You seriously would never think you'd hear this. We got some calls from other coaches all weekend and through today. They are shocked, to say the least. Hopefully I can say it soon. Its killing me!

I'm just so angry and I feel bad for Ryan because now that its out there, she either has to choose to let people speculate or she has to put her business out there.

Posted by at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I've been AWOL from this blog (and alot of other things) over the last week because the shit totally hit the fan at UNT and I went to take care of business.

Right now, I won't totally say what happened but I can say that the coaching staff at UNT is so wrong for what they said. They didn't just say it to Ryan... they said it IN A MEETING WITH ME THERE! I was shocked and furious. Right before all of this went down on Thursday, Ryan was telling me for about a week that she would be willing to never play basketball again as long as she didn't have to play for Coach Stepens. I just kept telling her that she was probably just feeling the anxiety about "growing up" and having to be adult and that it was a normal way to feel. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Anyway, she asked for and received a release from the university and they have agreed. The NCAA can impose a one year red-shirt penalty but the UNT agreed that they would support Ryan in her appeal to the NCAA against that. What does that tell you?

Anyway, one phone call later and she was accepted at th University of Texas Arl, with a full basketball scholarship. We'll know in about two weeks-a month where the NCAA stands on it but Ryan's new coach has already started the paperwork.

The stress of the last week has really worn me out. I'm so glad that everything worked out and she's still getting to do what she wants (basketball and track) and I REALLY like her new coach. This lady comes SO highly recommended that its hard to overlook that. But all the worry and crap that had to go through the weekend- because Ryan had to get them some paperwork yesterday morning so they could get her admitted- has just worn me out. I plan on sleeping for days. We'll move Ryan into her new apartment on Friday.

That's the other thing... even though her dorm at UNT was pretty great, she gets an apartment here and a check every month. Wooo hooooooooo!!!

After all of the stuff with the NCAA is done I'll post what happened. I promise you... its downright shocking.

Posted by at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I've reallllllllllly been in a cooking mood lately. Surely it will wear off soon. Today it was fried rice (chicken) and marbled brownies.
I don't really have a recipe for fried rice, but I think I'd like to have a more refined one than just tossing in whatever I want. I just kind of base it on taste so I can't help but wonder what flavors I could be adding that would really boost it. Don't get me wrong, this is one of the favorites in the house, but still... if anyone has a really good recipe, please throw it my way! One of these days I'll try shrimp in it, but I never think about that for some reason.

I really enjoy this because it gives me a chance to either use up any fresh veggies I have laying around or even some leftovers from other meals. I was happy to find a place to use the zucchini I still had!!! (In my world zucchini makes everything better) I just lightly sautee it in olive oil and a little soy sauce (so that its softened). Then I chopped some red bell pepper, scallions, but I'll admit to using frozen vegetable medley. I poach the chicken, then dice it. As soon as the rice is done in the rice cooker (cuz I'm lazy there, too) it gets tossed into the pan with whatever I feel like on that day.

I'm not sure why, but I felt like baking today so I threw these together. Ahhhhhhh chocolate!

Now, I'm taking my over-fed butt to bed. This weather is making me VERY sleepy!

Posted by at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've really been making an effort the last several months (since we've not been traveling for Ryan's basketball stuff) to go back to the cooking that I enjoy. When Craig and I first met he was absolutely beside himself with the meals I made. Even though I mostly kept to the stuff that was tastey but not too complicated because 2 of the 3 kids are BEYOND picky. I guess his exwife didn't cook much because he just went on and on about the limited menu. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fantastic cook but I do enjoy it and I love it when I make something that surprises us. I have some favorite flavors that I like to put into recipes when I can and I happened to find a perfect opportunity to feed my craving yesterday. I was really craving these...

... and this

So I found a recipe for pizza bianca that is really fantastic. The recipe is enough for two so the first one was basic and just topped with the olive oil and rosemary. But the second one... wait, I'll get to that one in a sec.

When Craig left for golf yesterday morning at 6am I got up and ran to St@rbucks for my coffee then to the store for a few little ingredients. I was home by 7:30 and started the dough at almost 8am on the dot. While it does take a few hours for the dough to do what you want, it is super easy and almost fool-proof. It took me less than 10 minutes to combine the ingredients, then wash and put away the dishes I'd used.

Mixing the dough... no problems. Its a bit of a "wet" dough but it isn't a problem.

I covered the dough and went to do some yardwork for the next two and half hours. Came in for a quick shower and the dough was ready to be split and allow for the next rising. An hour later I was ready to go.

The dough spread easily enough on the parchment paper. I used it because I was cooking this dough on a pizza stone. It slid in and out of the oven with no problems. When it was done I just added a little rosemary and garlic to some olive oil and everyone dipped it for a liitle snack. Really, you can't mess this up.

But then I got the ingredients for the second one ready. I wasn't sure how it would come out but I had no idea that this recipe is so great that its hard to think of a way to screw it up.
While that first loaf was in the oven I went ahead and sauteed some zucchini in olive oil, then did another pan with bell pepper slivers and garlic.

I started with spreading the dough a little thinner than the other one so that I could ensure it would cook through since I was putting stuff on top. Then a thin layer of prosciutto, then I added the chopped tomato (very ripe) and zucchini and topped it with a mixture of Italian cheeses (parmesan, romano and asiago). And here it is!!

OMG it was just amazing! I was definitely a hit with Craig yesterday but the surprise was that the KIDS liked it, too!

Posted by at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

(... but I contend its the bedroom) Anyhoo...

I finally got around to taking pictures of the front bathroom. The pictures aren't great, but I think you'll get the point. The colors don't look quite right in all of them between the lighting in the bathroom and the flash of the camera. It makes the tile look almost tan rather than a very light grey and the walls look REALLY blue, but they're actually a very soft, pale, light blue. (More on that in a sec)

It never even crossed my mind to take "before" pics, so there aren't any of those. However I will tell you that when we bought this house (built in 1970) it was really just old fashioned looking. We didn't know what we wanted to do at the time and didn't want to do anything major until we decided, so we just went with a rustic decorating style that is insanely popular around here right now. The man that built this house, LITERALLY built this house. The vanities and kitchen cabinets were all handmade, and not in a good way. The second owners did alot to update it but it still needed alot. We THOUGHT that was what we wanted... and we thought we'd have time but then Ryan started playing sports and we haven't been home since)

The vanity was triple wide ( believe it was 73"long- now its 52) , painted white, with a single sink that was really rusted and crappy. (surely the original with the house) The countertop was also white laminate that was in really crappy shape. (Sensing the crappy theme yet?) There was a MASSIVE mirror that went from the floating ceiling to the vanity and went ALL the way across. The ceramic tile on the floor and around the bathtub was new so that wasn't an issue. But the crappy looking linen closet in there was in even worse shape than the vanity. To top all of that mess off, there was this really old (rusted looking) wall heater that no longer worked. I have no idea why it was put into the wall and not the ceiling, but whatever. The light switch was gargantuan because the timer for the wall heater had been on it at one time. (Let me just tell you that I hated this bathroom enough that I actually stuck the damn cat litter box in there when we had those two hellions here for about 6 months. Thank God the box AND the cats are gone- the smell left with them!)

SO here's what we did. I thought that since we don't want to spend the extra money to have the doors for the linen closet cut to match a new vanity, we could cut down the triple vanity to about 2/3 its size, paint it and then replace the vanity top, sink and faucets. It saved us about $450 and I was able to spend that in other places. Craig was VERY nervous about cutting this thing, but I had faith. Plus, the worst he could do was ruin it and we'd just buy another one so we really had nothing to lose. It worked out and allowed me to just paint the linen closet the same color. We replaced the old HUGE mirror with a framed mirror that is 52"x 36" (half price from Garden Ridge normally $99, got it for $49) We also bought new recessed lights but when the housing from the old ones didn't sync up with what we'd bought, Craig just ripped the whole surface of the floating ceiling out and rebuilt it around the new lights. I could have killed him, but he put the sheetrock in within about two hours and by the time I taped and bedded it we were both pretty freakin' happy with it!

Then there was the issue of sheetrock. We knew we'd have a hole in the wall from the heater and we also knew there was some sheetrock softening going on, but we did NOT want to replace sheetrock since we're already doing that in the livingroom and hallway. We decided that wainscoting would be perfect to cover the blemishes. We got that up then I blew the texture on the walls. Then the new toilet.

It was at this point that the colors were chosen. We used a paint color card from L@we's by V@lspar. (the blue is MS234 Cake Stand Blue and the white is MS188 White Picket Fence) There is another color on the card, a brown but I wanted black just so it would stand out. Behr makes a standard black that H@me Depot sells off the shelf that you don't have to have mixed so that's what we went with.

Shower curtain is from T@rget. I think it was only like $35. Towles from T@rget and K0hl's.

We repainted that shelf above the toilet black (used to be red) and rehung it, plus put the plantation blinds in.

So here are the series of pics. Some of them are the same, but oh well. The pics that look the darkest actually show the truest color of the blue paint so I've included them... even though it changes the look of the tile. C'est la vie!

Oh yeah... please ignore this trashcan. It goes between the toilet and the vanity and I have no clue why its by the shower here!

This is where the pics start making the walls look REALLY blue. They're not.

Posted by at 2:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I got this from Wendy. Go see her answers, too.

1. What time did you get (wake) up this morning? 5:10am

2. Diamonds or Pearls? Stupid question! Diamonds, of course!

3. What was the last film you saw at the Cinema? I Am Legend

4. What is your favorite TV show? Survivor

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? I don't eat breakfast

6. What is your middle name? Diane

7. What food do you dislike? brussel sprouts (blech!)

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Josh Groban's Awake

9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford F150 extended cab (But I'm about to buy the new Camaro when it comes out!!! YAY!!!)

10. Favorite sandwich? Tuna, with tons of celery and relish

11. What characteristic do you despise? Liars. Liars SUCK!

12. Favorite item of clothing? Sweats

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Greece

14. Are you an organized person? GOD no!

15. Where would you retire to? ummmm... right here. Just to a newer house

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 40th.

17. What are you going to do when you finish this? hang out with Craig (my favorite thing to do)

18. When is your birthday? October 10th

19. Morning person or night person? Night owl!!

20. What is your shoe size? 7.5 or 8 depending

21. Pets? Black Lab (Woody) and Chocolate Lab (Jade)

22. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? I'm actually going to apply for a job next week (alright, maybe!)

23. What did you want to be when you were little? An olympic gymnast... or a fighter pilot

24. How are you today? Sore

25. What is your favorite flower? White rose

26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? I don't know the actual date yet, but I'm looking forward to watching my daughter, Ryan's, first game on the UNT basketball team!! It will probably be sometime in early October- schedule isn't out yet.

27. What was the last thing you ate? Chopped beef bbq sandwhich

28. Do you wish on stars? All the time

29. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple

30. How is the weather right now? HOTTER than a sonofabitch

31. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My friend Angie

32. Favorite soft drink? Dr. Pepper (Dublin DP is best!)

33. Favorite Restaurant? The Chophouse

34. Hair color? brown with blonde highlights

35. Your favorite toy as a child? sports equipment (I know, right?)

36. Summer or winter? Summer, but early summer 'cuz its HOT here!

37. What holiday do you like best? Easter, but no clue why

38. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

39. Do you go to church every Sunday? Nope

40. When was the last time you cried? Last night watching Nastia Liukin win gold. I remember watching her dad, Valeri, 20 yrs ago. I was a huge fan and got to see him in person during the old USGF competitions in Ft. Worth

41. What is under your bed? Dog hair and dust balls probably

42. What did you do last night? watched the Olympics

43. What are you afraid of? Snakes, spiders and rodents. WITH.OUT.QUESTION.

44. Salty or Sweet? Sweet

45. How many keys on your key ring? 1- just my truck key

46. How many years at your current job (including SAHM job) I guess it's been 8 years since I've worked (wow, really?)

47. Favorite day of the week? Thursday

48. Do you make friends easily? Yes

49. When was the last time you prayed? Two days ago

50. Favorite Food? Mexican food. Its all good

51. Favorite Ice-cream? Mint Chocolate Chip

Posted by at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)