So long, Antonia...

So, last night's episode of Top Chef was a little disappointing. We are finally to the top 4 for this season, and overall I like all of them but one: Lisa. I want Lisa to go home. Badly. This woman may be able to cook, but she is pure evil in the kitchen.

Last night's challenge centered around Puerto Rican flair. The Quick Fire Challenge used plantains (yummy!). I hoped the Quick Fire wasn't a prediction of things to come as Richard and Antonia were in the bottom. The Elimination Challenge saw the return of familiar faces as they were allowed a sous chef for this portion of the challenge. Since Stephanie was the winner of the Quick Fire, she picked the sous chefs for the remaining chefs. This could have been a golden opportunity as Dale returned and he and Lisa have no warm fuzzies between them. In fact, none of the sous chefs really had warm fuzzies with Lisa. (An indication, perhaps?) However, true to form, Stephanie was a peach and tried to match up the sous chefs so that people would actually enjoy being in the kitchen. Having known each other for over 10 years, Stephanie chose Dale for herself. The chefs were given a pig (a whole pig, how crazy!) and were required to come up with 3 dishes from it.

In the end, Lisa and Antonia wound up being in the bottom. In one of the biggest disappointments of reality television history, Antonia was chosen to leave and go home. So, somehow, Lisa survives to go on to the next round. And then, as if this wasn't bad enough, she later had the audacity to look at Stephanie and Richard and tell them that they could have at least congratulated her. I think Richard put it best in his off-camera commentary: "You got a bronze metal. Yeah, congratulations."

Here is my own personal commentary on the remaining chefs in the competition:

Stephanie: I think she is a doll! She has been a sweetheart throughout the whole competition and seems to have produced really good food! I think she has a good shot of being the fan favorite. She and Richard have been my top two picks from the beginning and I really think she also has a very good chance of winning the entire competition.

Richard: I have really liked Richard throughout this season too. He has a wonderful dry sense of humor that has kept me chuckling all season. :) He also has the ability to come up with unique food! Plus, he just recently had a little girl AND he and his wife own weimaraners. What's not to like??

Lisa: I have been waiting for Lisa to go home for several weeks now. This woman is pure evil who doesn't mind blaming everyone else for her problems. (Seriously, how many times can someone else mess up her rice?!?) The only positive thing I can say about her at this point is that in last night's episode, she had gotten a hair cut and color. One (very) minor point for her for doing her hair. But I can't wait for you to go home! And, evidently 91% of people think you should have packed your knives last night!

If Antonia was still in the competition, I really wouldn't care who won. I like all three of them and would have been happy to see any of them win. Now, I don't care who wins--as long as it isn't Lisa. I really don't think she has a chance anyway. Jason put it best last night when he said that Lisa might very well be the most disliked contestant in Top Chef history. That's certainly where she ranks for me!

Livin' in IKEA...

This is AWESOME! A guy in NYC is living in IKEA for a week. You can check out the videos on his website:

http://www.marklivesinikea.com/

He'll be there two more days!

Disappointment...

So, I don't normally get terribly upset when celebrity marriages don't work out, but I was HORRIBLY disppointed this weekend to hear that Hulk Hogan's wife had filed for divorce. I occasionally watch their reality show on VH1 (Hogan Knows Best) because I think they are actually really good parents (and quite entertaining!). Watching the show has given me a lot of respect for them because while they do a lot for their kids, they also work hard to make sure their kids are learning and being responsible (car crashes excluded!). Of course, we never know the full reasons why stuff like this happens, but I am really upset! (So upset that I was dreaming about it last night!)

*sigh*

Trunk or Treat

Our church did a Trunk or Treat this year for the kids. Jason and a friend of ours, Megan, decorated the back of his truck to hand out candy. Here are some pictures from that too!

Megan was an octopus! (We did an "under the sea" theme.)

A picture of the truck as we were setting up. We didn't have time to do everything that we wanted...and it wasn't the coolest vehicle there, but we had fun!

Megan and me. I was an electric eel...LOL! (I can't take credit for it--when I was a freshman in college, we decorated our unit and a girl there was an electric eel. I thought it was fun!)

This is the car next to us. Megan (not our Megan) climbed through the car and was in the trunk of her car. :)

Pictures

I woke up a few weeks ago to this amazing sunrise outside! (The fog just made it prettier!) Here are a few pictures!

I love our backyard! :)

Top Chef

I still can't believe this!!

Jason and I are avid watchers of Top Chef (on Bravo). Tonight was the reunion show for Season 3. They had a feature on their website where you can submit questions for the reunion show. Jason and I about lost it when they actually read MY question on national TV. They totally butchered the town I live in (really--is Wauseon THAT hard to pronounce?? LOL!) And, naturally, we were freaking out so much that we also missed the ANSWER to the question! LOL!

So, that's my excitement for the evening. Just thought I'd share that real quick!

Toy Poxer

Hehe...

So, tonight I'm a bit bored and thought I would look up pictures of toy fox terrier/pug mixes...just to see how different they can be. I learned the official title of the breed: Toy poxer. It is actually recognized by the American Canine Hybrid Club. The name cracks me up. I hear it and picture Bella covered with little red dots--probably because the first thing I think of when I hear "poxer" is "chicken pox". Who comes up with these hybrid names?? :)

Anyway, Bella is still doing great! Potty training is slowly coming along. She is even learning some new tricks! She can "sit" on command, so now we are working on some new ones.

Well, that's all for now! Have a great evening! :) (Bella's trying to help me type, so I have to go! LOL!)

Things I Hate...

-Puppy poo on my kitchen floor.
-Puppy poo behind the TV.
-Puppy poo in the family room.
-Basically, anything to do with puppy poo in my house. :) (And how can such a little puppy poop SO MUCH?????)

Things I Love:
-The way Bella wags her tail when she first sees me in the morning. (Her whole butt wags. :))
-The way her tongue curls when she yawns.
-The cute little sound she makes when she yawns.
-The way she curls up to sleep on/next to me while I work.
-The way she tries to sneak up on her toys. (SO CUTE!)
-The way her tail curls over her back when she's content.
-Puppy dreams (sometimes she barks in her sleep. :)).
-The way she sleeps on her back like a baby. :)

I LOVE this little girl!! :)

The New Girl...

I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Robinson household! :) This is Bella! She is an anniversary gift from Jason...and I think she is as cute as can be! :)

She is part pug and part toy fox terrier.

Jason completely surprised me with her. We have been talking about getting a puppy for a couple of weeks now. We thought we were going to try to get a Puggle (a cross between a pug and a beagle). There is a rescue shelter in town that we have been checking out online to see when they get some puggle puppies in. We saw pictures of a litter of pug/toy fox terriers and thought they were kinda cute. I was going to Kristi's bridal shower in Indianapolis on Saturday...and that day the shelter happened to have an adoption event at the Tractor Supply in town. Jason said he'd go check it out. He told me later that it was very disappointing and that they didn't have many puppies there.

Soooo...based on that, I thought it would be a few more weeks until we got a puppy. Jason called later that afternoon and said that his parents wanted us to stop by and pick up a box at their house. Since our anniversary was last weekend, I assumed that it was an anniversary gift. When I arrived, Jason informed me that he had been lying to me all day and led me into the living room (quite confused!) to where Bella was in her cage. It was a happy surprise! :)

Fortunately, she's been VERY good today!! I've been able to play with her some, but while I'm working, she will either entertain herself or nap beside me on the couch. I caught her napping today and snapped some cute pictures! She is napping again as I am writing this...and I'm pretty sure she is dreaming because she is barking very softly. :) Way too cute! :)

And I'll leave you with this super cute shot of my new baby girl! :) Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping puppy? *Awwww!* :)