Hamburger Help Us - Meal #1

In keeping everyone up to date on our Hamburger Help-Us week, I've decided to share with you some meals we've had on our new budget!  Here's a breakdown of our first meal (the prices reflect how much of the total cost of the product we used in the recipe):

Meal #1 - Pork Fried Rice

Pork Chops - $2.00

Rice - $0.87

Mushrooms - $0.76

Peas and Carrots - $0.32

Leek - $0.50

Egg - $0.17

Soy Sauce - $0.16

TOTAL COST: $4.78

Pork Fried Rice Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 servings of cooked white rice (cooled completely...making this the night before is best)

2 cooked, and sliced pork chops

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 small can of mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped leek

1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots

1 egg

2-3 Tablespoons of soy sauce

Instructions:

In a hot pan, saute 1/4 cup of chopped leeks,1 small can of mushrooms, and about 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots in a small amount of oil.  Move the vegetables to the side, once cooked, and scramble the egg in the middle of the pan.  Once the egg has scrambled, add the rice and sliced pork chops and saute until heated through and rice starts to brown a little bit.  Add the soy sauce and mix until incorporated.  Serve with chopsticks!

Hamburger Help US

In my last post I may have mentioned that Tyler and I will be on a bit of a condensed budget while we're in grad school.  I believe I mentioned something about Ramon Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese with cut up hot dogs.  So, Tyler and I are on a mission to eat every meal at home for as long as we can on a week's worth of groceries.  Since we won't have access to the Cafeteria or Chick-Fil-A on campus, we are working on using a week's worth of grocery money to feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least 7 days...here's our loot from our grocery trip:

Notice the large quantity of store brands...and don't forget the rice!  We'll try and keep you updated on our simulation week!  It's sure to be an exciting time here in Arkadelphia!

Baylor Bound!

That's right folks! It's official...starting this summer, Tyler and I will be Baylor Bears!!!  We have both been accepted to Baylor Graduate School.  We are so excited to be going back to school and especially to move closer to family and friends.  Waco is only a couple hours away (I'm not really sure who I'm clearing that up for) so we'll be half the distance to our families than we are now in Arkadelphia.

 Here's a little information about our graduate programs:

Tyler has been accepted to Baylor's Curriculum and Instruction program.  His program is actually only 14 months, and he starts in June, so he'll be done next August!  Which is crazy...but awesome since we're both trying to be full-time students..it will be nice for him to finish so soon.  This program is very flexible as far as working and going to school is concerned.  It is also a great program because it will allow him to have a lot of choices after he graduates.  He can go back into the classroom, he can become a curriculum specialist in a district, he can go for his principle endorsement, and he can be a reading specialist too!  Tyler and I are so fortunate to have both been accepted into programs that offer tuition remission along with a paid GA position. So Tyler will be working while he goes to school.

I have been accepted to Baylor's Higher Education and Student Affairs program.  Basically, it will prepare me for a job working with college students.  Admission to the program is dependent on your ability to secure a job on campus.  In February, Tyler and I made our way to Baylor's campus for my interview.  After an exhausting weekend of interviews, meetings, and orientation, and an even more exhausting week of waiting, I finally got the call!  I'll be an apprentice in the Student Activities office, and I'll be working with Campus Programs.  My program won't start until August of this year, and it's a two year program, so I'll be in school a little longer than Tyler.

Ever since we've officially made the commitment to Baylor, life has been very different.  It's been a crazy emotional roller coaster.  We've been so sad to think about leaving Arkadelphia.  Even though I'm sure most of you would think "I wouldn't be able to get out of there faster!" we are a little more hesitant about it.  Arkadelphia was ours.  It is where we made our mutual friends; where we found our first church, and where we had our first home.  It will be weird to leave it all behind and start over again.  But we are so happy to be in a new place with new friends and a new home!

Speaking of new home...we started our official apartment search this past week during our Spring Break.  On Monday this past week, my mom went with us and we spent the afternoon in Waco looking at apartment after apartment.  Since Tyler and I are on a very tight budget (full-time students = Ramon Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese with cut up hot dogs) it was a little difficult finding something in our price range.  However, the day wasn't a total flop.  We ended up finding two places that are good possibilities.  One of them is a bit out of our price range, but we can't stop thinking about it!  Right now, since we won't be moving until June, we'll just have to wait and see if it's still available.

So...now we're waiting!  Hopefully we'll have a home soon!  In the mean time, our family is planning our next vacation!  For a more detailed (and brilliantly told) story about the Carpenter Family Vacation 2012, you HAVE to read sister Kayla's blog: http://weirdfamilyandlife.blogspot.com/

All I have to say is...this family is so weird insane crazy AWESOME!!!

The Ball is Rolling...

*Inspired by Kayla to start including paint pictures in my posts*

I have my first OFFICIAL interview with Baylor Grad School today!!!  My graduate school process has been very different from Tyler's and there has always been this timeline of uncertainty that I can't seem to grasp...I'm not uncertain anymore.  For the past couple of weeks I've known that I could hear from Baylor tomorrow, or a month from tomorrow.  Now that I've heard, I have my phone interview (round 1) today at 4:00...so if you happen to check the blog between now and then...send up a little word to the big man for me!  I'm so excited that the ball is finally rolling...let's hope it rolls in my direction!

Catching Up

So what's happened in the last...oh yeah...two months...again!!!  Well, a lot has happened! 

A while back, Kelsey and Kayla came to visit us in Arkadelphia!  They had a special reason for coming to visit, besides the fact that they wanted to see their most beautiful sister and drink in her wisdom of life.  You see, once upon a time we went to Chicago to celebrate the "Year of the Kayla" and during our trip we went to a little place called Second City.  It was awesome!!!  Second City is a comedy club where a lot of SNL people and other comedians have gotten their start: Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and more!  Earlier this year Tyler discovered that Second City was touring and would be in Little Rock in October...so you know my sisters rearranged their schedules so we could all be together to celebrate Second City in Little Rock.  We had such a good time...shout out sistas...love you Kelsey and Kayla!

Also, Thanksgiving happened!  Also, Project 365 did NOT happen...boo...I can barely keep up with this stupid blog...what made me think I could take a picture every day for a year?  So, I will resort to posting pictures with posts, and maybe occasionally I'll post some extras to the Flikr page.  Don't get your hopes up though. 

Don't be discouraged...I'm going to continue to write this post and at the end I'll add all the pictures.  I hate trying to move the pictures around in the post and then they end up wanting to right align and then left align and all I really want is for them to stay centered.  So pictures at the end (captioned of course) and text now!

Over Thanksgiving break, my lovely parents got us tickets for the fam to go see The Nutcracker ballet!  We used to see it when we were kids every year around Christmas, and it was fun to get to go again.  We also got to experience it in the new Dallas Winspear Opera House...those people wear some fancy pants (except for the girl there who was wearing skin colored leggins and looked like she was wearing NO pants!).  Of course, when we got home there was talk of who could be the best ballerina, and after several attempts at spinning on one foot, jumping in the air, and me falling backwards into the wall...we decided that none of us would really make a good ballerina.  We'll stick to playing games, drawing paint pictures, and...what other talents do we have...I guess that's all.

Another Thanksgiving happening was our Dinner Partay with the friends.  We're all married and grown up now, so we decided to have a nice dinner altogether including paper bag vests and pilgrim hats so that half of us could dress up as Indians and the other half could dress up as Pilgrims.  We used our given talent (as mentioned above) to play games and had so much fun being together and...yes...prank calling old friends.  It's so fun to be an adult!

Tyler and I weren't home in Arkadelphia for very long before we headed back to Dallas to run in our very first Half Marathon!!!  I was so nervous the morning of the race...4 times I went to the bathroom...and I hadn't had really anything to drink!  I got rid of the nerves though, and Tyler and I survived...we even ran the entire race.  So now we have a lovely 13.1 sticker (courtesy of Becca Woodall) on our car "Blitzen," who by the way is dressed for the holidays!  That's right...REINDEER CAR!!!  Tyler is really embarassed to drive our reindeer car, but I assure him that we are spreading holiday cheer.  In fact when we were walking into church the other morning I heard a small child yell "OH MY GOSH!!! LOOK AT THAT CAR...IT'S A REINDEER!!!" That's right...we are so cool (even though Tyler is seriously trying to convince me that it is really uncool). 

Other news...oh yeah...TYLER GOT ACCEPTED TO BAYLOR!  So in our steps to graduate school this is where we stand:

Take the GRE - check
Apply - check
Get Accepted (Tyler) - check
Interview for a GA position (Tyler) - check
Round 1 phone interviews (Erin) -
Round 2 face-to-face interviews (Erin) -
Get Accepted (Erin) -
Find a place to live (both) -

So we have a little ways to go before the Ellis family fully commits to graduate school.  The annoying thing is that I could hear about any one of those last checks tomorrow, or by March!  So we're still crossing our fingers about that!  Cross yours too!!!

I can't remember what else has happened since the last time I wrote about our life...so I'll leave it at that.  Now for picture time!!!

 Sisters at the taco stand before Second City...we were running like the taco...I was falling like the taco?

Here's the fancy pants chandelier at the Winspear Opera House!  It turned into a Christmas tree!

 I asked Tyler to take a picture with me...this happened.

I asked again...this happened!

 Here's the family...and then I wanted one of me and Tyler:

 Picture #1 - "What are you doing Tyler?"  

Picture #2 - "Yeah, I'm trying to hide the camera case."  

Picture #3 - "Tyler, where are you going? Mom, Dad, really?!"

Picture #4 - "Tyler get down...Dad, you're hillarious."

Picture #5 - "Success!!!"

 After our Half Marathon!!!  Those are some Arkansas friends that we convinced to run with us!

Well, thanks for reading...and...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Back Home

After a long, beautiful, exhausting, fabulous, fun-filled, lovely weekend, we're home from Lindsey and Lee's wedding.  We had such a great time meeting up with lots of friends and family as we celebrated the marriage of our last little bestie!  Mr. and Mrs. Dykes are finally married and it was a gorgeous wedding.  Since Michelle (Lindsey's mom) was never without a camera, I tended to neglect mine, but I did manage to snap a few shots.  Until other pictures are posted on facebook (that I will then steal and post here) this is all I'm able to leave you with.

 

All the bridesmaids at the rehearsal.

(Nikki, Lynley, Haley, Lindsey, me, and Erin)

And, a weekend in Fayetteville wouldn't be complete without a trip to Daisies and Olives!  I don't know how, but we always tend to get carried away...I don't think anyone walked out empty-handed.

Daisies and Olives October 2011

(Nikki, Shawn, Lynley, Jordan, Danielle, me, Mom, Kelsey, Brad, Tyler, and Tate)

Our first trip to Daisies and Olives September 2010...maybe a little more ridiculous than the second time

(Lynley, Lindsey, me, and Nikki)

Without a reason to go back to Fayetteville, I think we need to make a pact to come back in the Fall every year and bring a U-Haul keep the tradition going.  Can't wait for Daisies and Olives 2012!

There's a lot more that happened this weekend, including karaoke at You Know? Uno!  But, until I get some more pictures, it will have to wait for another day (not month...I promise!!!)

8 Mile Club!

So, about 6-8 months ago (can't remember exactly) Tyler and I decided for some reason that it would be cool to sign up for a half marathon run...so we did.  On December 4, 2011, we'll participate in the White Rock Half Marathon!  I never would have believed it, but Tyler was determined to do more, be better at, to start exercising, so we paid the fee and started training for our very own 13.1. 

Yesterday, Tyler and I finished our first 8 mile run!  It's crazy to think that just a few weeks ago we were so proud of a 4 mile run.  The conditions couldn't have been better either!  The weather was great, the sun was shining (the tank was clean...can anyone name that movie?!) and we finished just before dinner.  Usually these are not the circumstances under which we run.  There are some cons to training in Arkadelphia:

Exhibit A:



There are hills...EVERYWHERE! 

Hills SUCK!

You can't run in Arkadelphia without running up or down a hill...it's...impossible.

Exhibit B:

The roads, sidewalks, and trails are not extremely well kept.  This means there are bumps and potholes, and cracks always in the sidewalk...if there is a sidewalk...sometimes there isn't one, and we have to run on the shoulder of the road.

Exhibit C:

We usually end up running when it's dark.  If we run, we usually do it after Tyler gets home from work, and that means 5:30-6:00 usually.  At that point it's dinner time, and then we have to wait for our food to settle before running.  That means we don't start running until 7:00ish...and it's dark. 

Exhibit D:

There aren't a lot of street lights.  Add to this fact that it's night, on a poorly paved road/sidewalk, and we're running up and down hills...it's no good!

So thankfully, everything was on our side for this past run...maybe that's why we were able to run the full 8 miles.  It may have also had something to do with the fact that our last 1/2 mile was on campus during a pep rally and the band was playing "Eye of the Tiger" as we were crossing our designated finish line.  I couldn't help myself, you know I pumped my arms in the air..."It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight.  Rising up to the challenge of our rival.  And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night. And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger."