Doggone it!

I am not a dog person.  I was actually rather surprised when I learned this about myself having grown up with dogs and actively participated in their care, but it is different when you are more responsible for them.  Because I was the person home during the day and the kids were young when we first acquired Dori (our Chesapeake Bay Retriever) it fell to me to do house breaking and clean-up etc.  I was the one who was upset when Dori chewed a hole in our very expensive Navajo rug, I was the one who was not pleased when Dori entered our house for the very first time and immediately went and pooped in the living room (we didn’t even let our kids play in the living room), and I was the one who was dismayed when I found she had shredded a whole roll of wrapping paper all over the family room.  This is in addition to the fact that she sheds amazing amounts of hair all over the house.  While I have yet to find her standing in front of the open refrigerator, I think she must have figured out a way to do that when I am not around based on the fact that I find dog hair in there.  And yes, while it is astounding that Dori is still alive (she is actually the best dog we have ever had!), it is even more astounding that we have another dog. 

It was a very weak moment on my part and it started with the fact that I love my daughter very much.  She, like my husband, loves animals and really wanted a dog.  My weak moment was finished the moment I laid eyes on the cutest little miniature poodle puppy you have ever seen; she was beautiful!  If only I had known then what I know now…   We named our poodle Elle because we figured a poodle, even a miniature one, needed a snooty, feminine name and Elle has lived up to the snooty part.  But we probably should have named her Calamity Jane because she has been more trouble than four big dogs would have ever been.  She requires watching like a two year old and if she is out of sight for more than 5 minutes we know she has gotten into something.  I was working on homework yesterday and upon finishing some questions I was working on, realized that Elle was not around.  I went looking for her and found her on a table in the basement.  We store the cat food in a Tupperware container that was on the table and she had somehow gotten the container open and was enjoying an early dinner of cat food.  Dog experts say that chocolate is like poison for dogs; they are either wrong or for Elle, it is like iocane powder (The Princess Bride) and she has “spent the last several years building up an immunity to it.” If chocolate was the only thing Elle went looking for then we would be the most fortunate of pet owners, but it isn’t.  Last fall Levi and I were going away for the weekend and we hired a girl to come and take care of the dogs for us.  When she came over so we could show her around and go over dog things she had come from college and had her backpack with her.  We mentioned right away that if Vee (our dogsitter) had anything to eat in the backpack she should put the bag up where Elle couldn’t get to it or Elle would find the food.  It turned out that Vee didn’t have any food in her backpack – only a pack of gum, which Elle found and promptly ate.  (I gave Vee another pack of gum.)  What was amazing to Vee was the gum was in a pocket of the backpack and Elle had to unzip the pocket to get to the gum. 

Elle has found and eaten numerous packs of gum out of my purse and one week it was two packs. Yes, she has to unzip my purse to get to them.  (While having my purse zipped does not deter Elle it does slow her down, so I zip my purse in hopes that I can find her before she has done too much damage.)  The one time was actually funny though because she got stuck (not dangerously so) in my purse strap and was highly frustrated.  She has eaten unpopped microwave popcorn out of my daughter’s book bag, Katheryne’s social security card (that one was not so funny), Cheerios my sister-in-law Kristi has packed for my niece Kaylee if she got hungry and needed a snack, numerous pieces of gum, hard candy and chocolate from my mom purse, and last Thanksgiving she ate half of the cherry pie. It was also around the holidays last year she discovered our neighbors had some really tasty trash.  She got herself into their trash bin and then ate so much she couldn’t get back out again.  It took her several days and a bath to recover from that adventure.  These are just the things it is reasonable to mention.  Being a dog, there are many other things Elle has eaten that you DO NOT want to know about. 

Perhaps now you understand why I am not a dog person.  It is like having a two year old that never grows up or a child who is a discipline problem that never gets any better.  The kicker is that while I am not a dog person and would love to wring their necks sometimes, they have stolen my heart and I will miss them terribly when it is time to say good-bye.  Thankfully, I am not saying good-bye yet.  And when I do have to say good-bye I will have this blog post to remind me of why I shouldn’t get another dog. 

Originality!

This week I have issued a challenge to myself – I wanted to see if I could post something in my blog every day.  Considering that I don’t think I have ever done two posts in one week, it is stretching me a bit.  I started Tuesday and successfully posted Tuesday and Wednesday, but Tuesday it was a poem – hardly challenging since I didn’t write it and Wednesday a recipe, which again, is not my creation.  So today is a challenge, as I need a post and would like it to be something original. 

And perhaps there is my thought for today. 

As a rule, I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Herman Melville

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

C.S. Lewis

Today you are you,

That is truer than true.

There is no one alive

Who is youer than you!

Dr. Seuss

None of these quotes are mine, so again, lacking in originality?  Maybe.  Or maybe they are good reminders from some of my favorite authors that I need to remember I am an original.  Different – not better or worse - just different than anyone else.  Instead of trying to be anything including original, I need to just be me. 

Cowboy Quiche!

I am a dessert person.  I have a serious sweet tooth!!  If there is sugar or chocolate involved I am there!!  Because of this I usually pick cookbooks with amazing cookie bars, pies or cakes and stay away from cookbooks with “real” food.  I watched the movie, “Julie and Julia” and was so impressed with “Julie” cooking her way through Julia Child’s cookbook that I went out and bought Mastering The Art of French Cooking.  After looking through the cookbook cover to cover I found one dessert recipe (a cake) that I thought sounded good.  I was completely uninspired…by Julia Child anyway! 

Recently I was in Target getting some staples for the house.  Somehow when I walk into Target I always go and wander through the movie department first, and since the book section is next to the movies I wander there next.  That day as I was looking at through the books a cookbook caught my eye.  I have a friend on Facebook who had posted several of this person’s recipes and they had sounded good, so I looked through the cookbook.  My unwritten rule is there has to be more than one recipe that is interesting in order to justify buying a cookbook.  I found more than one recipe that sounded good, so the cookbook came home with me.  Later that evening as I sat down and really LOOKED at the recipes I became excited.  At last I had found a cookbook where I wanted to try everything – wanted to go through it cover to cover.  While I have not set a deadline for making it through the cookbook (as Julie did in the movie), I have started to make my way through the recipes and the one I am sharing today is one I WILL be making again!

Cowboy Quiche

1 pie crust

8 slices of bacon, fried until chewy and chopped

2 yellow onions, sliced

2 Tbsp. butter

8 eggs

1 ½ cups heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a heavy skillet over medium-low heat, fry the onions in the butter until deep golden brown, 12-15 minutes.   Mix eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Add chopped bacon, onions, and cheese and stir to combine.  Pour the filling into the piecrust, cover lightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes.   Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the quiche is set and the crust is golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!!

From The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

I have been thinking about this poem a lot lately.  I thought it deserved its own post!  

More California!!

There are many different kinds of beauty.  We think of this most often in our interactions with people, but this is also the case regarding different regions of the United States.  When I first met my husband he had joined the Navy from Colorado and was living in Massachusetts.  According to him, no place was as beautiful as Colorado; I have met others who feel the same about where they are from.  The neat thing about visiting different parts of the United States is getting to see all the different kinds of beauty there are.

I recently vacationed in Northern California and it is not hard to find beauty there.  I have always loved the ocean so viewing the majestic Pacific Ocean was a treat!  But I also love seeing the same plants that are familiar in a different environment as well as new varieties of plants.   For instance, Queen Anne’s Lace is beautiful anywhere, but especially near the ocean.  In a little town south of San Francisco called Half Moon Bay (it was a charming town) I saw my first artichoke plant and Calla Lilies that were as tall as I am.  And all along the coast there is a beautiful ground cover that the locals call “Ice” and it has succulent like leaves with pretty pick and yellow flowers.  Today’s blog is pictures of some of the beautiful plants I saw on our trip to California.  Enjoy!!

Vacation!

I woke up this morning to blue skies, sunshine, and…palm trees!!  Yup, this is not the east coast!!  Family and vacation plans have brought me to California and northern California at that.  So I woke up yesterday morning in little ole Johnson City, NY and today I am in the “city by the bay.”  

Traveling is always an adventure and I usually do pretty well at travel prep.  Or at least I thought I did until I found out how my sister-in-law Kristi prepares to travel.  She brings a whole new meaning to organization!!  Anyway, I don’t know if it is because I am getting older (I am over 35…), or because of lots going on, or if it is personal stress (yes, lots of that lately!) but I have been considerably less organized than is or used to be normal for me.   I was thinking about this as I unpacked in the hotel and realized I hadn’t packed my solution for my contacts.  I remember it being on the bed (where I had all my stuff piled to pack) but somehow, it did not make it into my suitcase.  I usually comfort myself, and did today with the fact that I can find a Walgreen’s or Walmart and buy the contact solution or whatever else it is I have forgotten to pack.   This is true and huge relief!  But it also means vacation money spent on things I already have.  Granted, it all gets used, but I am sure you know the feeling! 

Anyway, the packing questions (will I need this, do I want that) and that frantic feeling that accompanies vacation prep make getting on the plane a relief.  I no longer have to think about whether I need this or that.  If I forgot it, I have to get it when we get there.  If there is a task that should have been completed before I left – oh well!  It didn’t get done and it won’t for the next week.  All that is left is to enjoy the flights (as much as possible) and anticipate arriving at your destination!  Although I intend to step up my organization game, it has occurred to me that perhaps it is a good thing that I do not travel outside the United States.    

Ordinary or Extraordinary?

May 16, 2012

Today’s blog is going be random things.  There are so many things going on in my life right now that I am rather overwhelmed.   It has been a while since I wrote a blog post because honestly, I didn’t know what to write about. (Yes, I know I keep saying that!)  But I have promised myself to do better at blogging, and since I don’t know what to write about random things seems a good place to start. 

I woke earlier than normal this morning – 5AM.  Yes, normally I would not be excited about waking up so early, but today was different.  The window next to my bed was open and I awoke to the most beautiful birdsong.  I would love to wake up to that song every morning, except that at some point I would stop finding the beauty in the song and it would become background noise.   But this morning I appreciated the beauty of the song and the joy of a new day!

I am well tanked with coffee this morning too.  My coffee consumption increases when I rise earlier than normal.  There is something about early mornings – cool and quiet, that makes coffee taste better.  And holding a mug of something warm in your hands is very nice too.  I keep trying to cut back on my coffee intake.  I have tried eliminating coffee entirely and find it impossible to do so.  Perhaps if I liked green tea it would be easier to give up coffee.  But I don’t like green tea and do not find most teas an adequate substitute for coffee.  So instead of trying to give it up I have tried to cut back on the amount of coffee I drink.  Again, I am finding this just about impossible.  Maybe when my life is not in such turmoil it will be easier to cut back on coffee.  But right now I need my friends in life and coffee is a very close friend. 

So a little more tired than normal, and having consumed more coffee than normal I am planning out my day.  It will be filled with ordinary things.  I need to get the oil changed on the van, wash and vacuum out the van, do homework, do laundry, run the vacuum…I will wash a few dishes, listen to the new Matt Redman album “10,000 Reasons” and sing along with my favorite songs.  I will pray for my kids, pray for my family, and probably take a nap this afternoon.  Today is not a special day, and yet it is incredibly special for it is made up of the ordinary things of life.  Some of these things I thought were lost to me and I am amazed at their blessed ordinariness!   Yes, I drink coffee every day and I hear the birds every day but somehow today, the ordinary seems to be extraordinary.  May your ordinary be extraordinary to you today!!