Christmas In February

My in-laws were supposed to come stay with us for a few days after Christmas, but stuff came up, life happens, and they weren't able to make it out to our house.  Fast forward to last weekend, and they came up for the weekend to help my sister-in-law plan her June wedding.  We finally got the chance to exchange Christmas gifts with them, hence Christmas in February.

And check out what my mother-in-law got me.

It's a purple scarf with a blingy power cat on it.  My parents will hate it.  I can't wait to wear it to the up coming Big 12 men's basketball tournament.  I think it will look good next to KU crimson and blue and OU crimson and cream.

Worries

Last week a 16 year-old girl from my husband's home town was killed in a car accident.  The driver of the car swerved to miss a deer and then over corrected and rolled the car.

My husband latter told me that his biggest worry is that I will do the same thing, and swerve to miss hitting a deer on one of my many trips back and forth from Wichita.  I promised my husband, that if a deer crosses my path while I'm driving I will hit that deer head on.  Not sure that was the reassurance he was looking for.

I like to think I am a very independent woman, and that I can handle anything.  But sometimes it is nice to know that my husband worries about me.

Wannabe

I enjoy cooking, and I like to write (although you wouldn't know that by the lack of posts on here).  And some days I like to think I could be a food blogger.  I could write funny antidotes about my cooking and show you beautiful pictures of the finished dish.  But then I come back to reality, and realize that I am just a food blogger wannabe.

My favorite food blog is thepioneerwoman.com.  Her writing is witty and funny, and she will easily make fun of herself in the kitchen.  She takes the most beautiful food photos, that make you want to lick your computer screen.  Most importantly, her recipes are all things I would like to eat.

Here are the reasons I will never be a food blogger.

1.  I don't own a camera.  Every picture seen on here was taken with my iphone.  And while cell phone cameras have come a long way, I don't think I will be winning any awards anytime soon for my iphone photos.  I am also not very good at setting up that mouth-watering shot.  I am lucky if I push everything else on the counter out of the way so you don't see what a disaster my kitchen is when I cook.

2.  I don't write my own recipes.  Almost everything I make comes from the internet, okay really it all comes from Pinterest.  I am a little bit addicted to that website.  Now don't get me wrong I will put my own spin on things every now and then, but for the most part I am just remaking what I saw online.  And if you have ever read any of the other wannabe food blogger's pages, if you don't credit back where you found the recipe (and rightfully so), the crazy food blogger women of the world will come after you.  I don't want to run that risk.

3.  It would be a sad, small food blog.  I haven't found the time recently to blog on here, let alone add food.  And the amount that I cook recently seems to be limited too.  Between travel and eating out, cooking is only on the weekends.

After all of the reasons why I will never be a food blogger, I thought I would show you a few of the items I whipped up in the kitchen (months ago) and finally pulled the photos off my phone and posted them to this blog.  Enjoy!

I made Shrimp Bisque from scratch using a recipe from Bon Appetit.

These are cookies I found on Pinterest, I think the plastic container adds to the yummy factor.

www.happygoluckyblog.com/2012/05/cool-whip-cookies-with-sprinkles.html

And finally, Egg Pizza, or the only items in my refrigerator so I threw them on a pizza. 

iPhone Clean Out

Since writing a blog post appears to be too taxing for me.  I thought I would update you with a few photos from my phone (because I don't actually own a camera).

I decided to be a little crafty the other day and made these lovely items.

Derby also decided to be a little crafty with the left over yarn.  

You're right, having the yarn neatly in a ball was boring.

Is this not the most beautiful cake you have ever seen?  Congrats Annela and Marcos!

My dogs made me some artwork on the kitchen floors.  Don't ever buy dark hardwood floors.  

You have been warned.

Check out the new "toy" we got at the office the other day.

I stopped by Baker University, and finally saw the new sidewalk my sorority put in for our 100th anniversary.

Synchronized sleeping is a real event.  Rio 2016!

Derby in is his K-State jersey.

Check out those guns!

Dumb Things My Dogs Do - Vol. 3

My life just wouldn't be what it is without our dogs constantly doing crazy things.

Let's start off with Cooper.  I bought a house when I was single, and we still own it today and are trying to rent it out.  We had some perspective renters coming to look at the house, so we took the dogs with us to show the house.  I am standing on the back patio of the house, showing the prospective renter the backyard and answering questions.  Cooper runs to the middle of the yard and starts throwing up neon green slime.  Thanks Cooper, nothing says "rent our house" like dog vomit in the backyard.

(Cooper is fine, we think he ate something in the yard and then promptly threw it up)

Just in case you were still wondering, Cooper is still crazy.  Don't be fooled by the many times I have said recently that he is much better and can be left alone now.  We were in our work apartment, where we normally muzzle and kennel the dogs so they can't get into trouble.  I had to run back to the office to pick up my car, so we just put the dogs in the kennel with no muzzles on.  I was gone 10-15 minutes max.  In that short time frame Cooper managed to completely shred the comforter that was in their kennel.  Nothing like fiber fill everywhere.  Derby decided to spread the mess all over our apartment.  We are trying to move to a new apartment, and fiber fill clean up was just what I needed.

Speaking of Derby, my husband and I are convinced this dog is part billy goat.  He will eat, or attempt to eat anything and everything he comes in contact with.  Fiber fill from dog toys or blankets, yum!  The other day I saw him eat a sticker/burr; that has to be good for the digestive tact.  We all know he ate razors.  Any and all trash we come in contact with on walks must also first be tasted.  Sometimes I will just see Derby walking up to me chewing something, it's always swallowed by the time I get to his mouth.  If I had a dollar for every time I said "What are you eating," or "Don't eat that." I would be a very rich woman.

Dumb Things My Dogs Do - Vol. 2

I have been asked to post another addition of "Dumb Things My Dogs Do," so I thought long and hard, and here is what I came up with (actually just stuff they did this week).

Cooper has decided that his dog bed is no longer a viable option for sleeping in at night.  He starts out in his dog bed and after we get in bed he stands up and starts "fluffing" his bed.  Really he just wads the whole thing up into a ball, so that no one can sleep on it and then climbs in bed with us.  As if to say, "See, I can't sleep on that any more, it's all wadded up.  So I have to sleep with you."

When getting ready to leave in the morning to drive to Wichita for the week, Derby likes to add a little extra to my already busy morning.  Last week he puked three times on the carpet 10 minutes before I was ready to walk out the door.  Just what I wanted to clean up right before I leave town.  And I was dressed up for a meeting that day.  This week, Derby went outside to do his "business" with Cooper first thing in the morning and then disappeared for 10 minutes.  I got to stand outside like a crazy person in my pajamas at 6:45 in the morning yelling for him to come back.  I am positive my neighbors love me.  Later, I left the back door open so the dogs could go out one more time before we left while I was doing dishes.  My two dogs and the neighbor's 100+ pound Mastiff came in the house, party at our house!  The party quickly got busted.

By the way, my neighbor's 100+ pound dog is named Grace.  She is the sweetest dog, plays with our dogs, very friendly.  Makes Cooper look tiny, and he rarely looks tiny.  Here is the sad part, I know the dog's name is Grace, I have not a clue what the actual neighbor's name is.  There is the "Neighbor Lady" on one side and "Grace's Family" on the other.  That is how my husband and I keep it straight.  Sad, very very sad.

It's Fall and the squirrels are back in our yard.  They crawl on the fence, they crawl on our deck, they climb trees, and they climb up the side of our stucco siding.  And since the entire backside of our house is windows, they drive Derby bat-shit crazy.  Every time he sees a squirrel, he looses his mind.  He thinks he is going to catch one, but he is the worst hunter on the planet.  Instead of stalking his prey, he cries and wines and runs as fast as he can, making as much noise as he can towards the squirrels.  They always make it up the tree way ahead of him.  They jump from tree to tree and Derby follows on the ground crying.  Dumb.

Now for an addition of "Dumb Things My Husband and I Do To Our Dogs."

Derby is so squirrel crazy, that he has learned the word for squirrel.  So, we one of us says "Squirrel" he starts running around the house looking for one.  My husband and I may have been teasing him a little too much with this.  The funniest part is when we say "squirrel" in our windowless apartment in Wichita, he still freaks out, but there is no where for him to look for squirrels.  I know we are mean.

Finally, yesterday my husband found this dog toy that looks like a squirrel.  We bought it and brought it home.  We snuck around to the back of the house and positioned the toy on the deck.  Then when we went in the front of the house.  The dogs finally saw the toy on the deck and freaked out.  We let them out and both rushed at it.  Cooper got it first, and was very successful in "killing it."  It only took a couple of hours, but we now have two squirrel toys instead of one, squirrel body, and squirrel tail.  Nothing last long in our house.  And as I walked out the door this morning, I saw that someone had lovingly placed squirrel body on our bed for us, how nice.     

Bag Lady

I think all our traveling (living in two cities) has turned me into a bag lady.  I would like to think of myself as a very stylish bag lady, but bag lady none the less.  At the current time there are 5 suitcases and 3 or more tote bags sitting in our master bedroom.  Why have storage space for all your luggage, when you can just leave it all half packed in your room? 

Between packing a small bag every week for work, and the couple of recent trips we have taken our bedroom has gotten out of control.  Why use the same bag, when you can just drag out another one?  Our room literally looks like the baggage screening area at the airport, and the guards have riffled through our bags.  It is starting to stress me out a little.  I am very lucky to have a husband who hasn't said a word about the mess yet, he also hasn't done anything to fix the mess.  Hmmm, maybe that is why we are so compatible? 

I blame this disaster on my inability to pack light.  What is that?  Who does that?  I need options when I travel.  What if the weather changes, or I don't like what I packed (more likely)?  When I travel in car, and don't have the rules and restriction of the airline industry, I now travel with a minimum of 3 bags.  One for my clothes, one for my shoes, and one for my toiletry items.  My husband on the other hand, packs only what he needs and not an item more.  From the look on his face every time I pack for a trip I can tell that he is very impressed with my packing skills.

This weekend I vow to de-clutter our bedroom, and return all of our luggage to a more suitable storage space. . .at least for this week.  Agggg!