The Madness (and the non-diet) continues...

So, the heartbreak of Purdue losing to VCU has passed.  I really thought they'd at least get to see the Sweet 16.  Apparently not...and though my bracket has many many red lines, surprisingly I'm still in it. (at least, in the one bracket where I didn't have Purdue go all the way)  All of my Final 4 teams are still alive, all but one of my Elite 8 is still alive also.  However, obviously, that can change at any moment.

I wish the weekend wasn't over...

Friday night, the husband ditched me to watch Purdue play in Round "2" of March Madness. We had opera tickets for Carmen, so I took my friend Stephanie and we made a girl date out of it.  On a recommendation from a friend, we went to this fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner in the loop.  We splurged on dessert and got mango with sticky rice AND banana spring rolls with coconut ice cream.  This was the first time I'd ever watched Carmen and I was pleasantly entertained.  I loved it.  Although by the end, I started thinking about the Bugs Bunny opera episodes and wasn't quite as moved as a normal classy opera-faring individual should be.  Of course, it wasn't like Steph and I were being all that 'classy' to begin with.  At one of the intermissions our conversations drifted towards male ejaculations.  I certainly felt mature when I overheard the two gentlemen seated next to us talking about business models, and there we were talking about jizz. Yeah, we're real sophisticated..said in my snooty voice.

Saturday after being productive and finally getting my oil changed, and getting lectured by the auto specialists for the poor maintenance of our vehicles, I spent the rest of the day baking and cooking.  I tried these homemade funfetti cupcakes posted by Evan B on SwEEts by e.  They just looked so damn delicious and I had the opportunity to bake so I did.  It was also a beautiful day out so I had the dogs outside and the door open. 

Mmm..funfetti!

Yes, I have engraved spatulas. They were a wedding gift...came with an engraved cocktail shaker.  My Tita Judy knows what's gonna get used in my house! :-P

Pre-baked....

...and decorated with colored buttercream frosting

They are absolutely delicious!  I really should bake more often. I love to bake and cook...hubby is hardly allowed in my kitchen, although he is the grill master.  Here he goes prepping a rub for the pork butt he smoked yesterday:

"hmm, what do i need?"

There's not much room in the kitchen for the both of us, and then there's always the puppy who never leaves our sides even in a big roomy house...

i love to bask in the warm sun!

he used all my spices!

I did mention I let the dogs out to play right?

he's so photogenic..

mm breakfast...for lunch.

I was enjoying myself in my kitchen, so I continued the baking extravaganza...with the homemade thin mints I told myself I would attempt last month. 

I think maybe it's still worth it to buy the $4 box of crack thin mints every year.  This was much more complicated than I would normally be comfortable doing unless I was in a serious baking mood as I was over the weekend.

the hardest part...getting a thin coating of chocolate w/o breaking the cookie!

finally done.

OK...now I'm starving.  Time for left over pork butt. :-)  I haven't uploaded those pictures yet so I'll save that experience for a later post. That, and it was so delicious it deserves its own entry.  <3

Bachin' it up... Day 1

The first time I heard the phrase "bachin' it up" my husband was detailing a conversation he had with one of our neighbors.  His wife and daughter were going somewhere for the weekend, I can't recall where, leaving him and his son home alone for a few days.  As he boasted about the house being left to the boys he made the comment that he and his son were going to be bachin' it up that weekend. For a second, I had no idea what that meant.  Then, slowly, as the synapses started firing properly...men, no women, bachelors...click. Ah, that's clever.

If it works for the men, it's only proper that it works regardless what sex you are. Therefore, since I have the house to myself (with the dogs of course)...I am officially bachin' it up.  The husband has gone to Montana on a man-trip with 2 of his co-workers to go snowboarding in the mountains.  They're going to be "roughing it" in the wilderness in a house with no cable, no internet, and spotty cell reception. 

He hasn't been gone for 24 hours yet and I've already cursed him for leaving me.  The snowpocalypse left the cities scrambling to plow the roads and unfortunately they didn't do a final pass on my street until yesterday while I was at work.  I came home to 2 feet of chunky, wet plow snow blocking my last 100 feet to what I was hoping would be a relaxing evening.  I paused...thinking, "how the hell am I going to get over that?"  Then remembering I was in the jeep...gunned it over the top.  Vroom!

I figured I probably should shovel that crap out of the way...otherwise it'll freeze and I'll never get out with my own car, a POS Civic Coupe, until summer.  So after letting the dogs out to do their business, I bundled up and got to work.  The sun had been long gone, having set just before I got home, and the temperature had plummeted to a bitter -10°F (with windchill).  I quickly discovered how packed the snow was and spent the next 40 mins hacking away at it until there was just enough space to get one car through at a time.  I was huffing, really wishing I had a snowblower, cursing my husband for leaving me with this catastrophe. 

On Tuesday, the first time I'd gone out to shovel, I'd left the puppy running rampant through the house. After I came in an hour later, I found my nice, warm, fluffy pink slippers all torn up. I was upset that the puppy had eaten my slippers but I still learned my lesson.  So, yesterday on my way home I stopped at the pet store to get him some new things to chew on...rawhides, bully sticks, biscuits, and a squeaker stuffing-free raccoon toy.  I gave him the raccoon before I went out to shovel.  By the end of the night, the raccoon was missing his tail and lost it's squeak.  Kona had mashed the squeaker flat.  He loves it though.  He carried it around this morning while I was getting ready for work. 

So, I have a few more days to myself...I'm taking suggestions on things to do. 

My Baby.

'Tis the Season to give thanks...for office closings and other things.

Cool thing about this office...we close for the holidays.  Bad thing about closing for the holidays...we're required to use PTO.  Oh, I suppose I could just not get paid for those days, but what's the point in that?  Good thing I get 15 PTO days every year.

Now, I've only been here for 3 holiday seasons so far, but it usually works out to only having to take 3-4 PTO between Thanksgiving and New Years.  Unfortunately, this year the way Christmas and New Years fall on the weekend, I get kind of screwed and have to take 5 PTO days.  I haven't been keeping diligent track of my PTO this year, but by rough estimate, I think I've used up my quota.  Between a few long weekends here and there, plus sick days, adding all that up on my fingers...eh, c'est la vie. I can't clock time regardless since business is closed for the whole week between Christmas and New Years. Might as well enjoy that time off, paid or no.

It's almost Thanksgiving, and I have bought a total of 2 presents for Christmas.  I'm falling behind here.  I fully intend to take advantage of any deals this weekend.  Now, I'm not one to partake in the frenzy that is Black Friday typically since it involves large murderous mobs of psycho soccer moms and thrifty old ladies, so I don't imagine I will be willing to change that this year.  But, luckily I've heard of a few online deals...plus there's always Cyber Monday. 

In keeping the spirit of the holidays, (and hell yes, I am and have been playing Christmas music for a couple weeks now) it's time to note all of the things I am alive and well enough to thank God for all the blessings in my life.

1.  Family and Friends.  Yes, this lumps everyone from my husband to my niece and even my closest friends.  Though I may be thoroughly annoyed at times, I think on times when each and every one of my close friends and family has brought smiles to my face, laughter to my heart, wisdom to my consciousness, acceptance to my failures, support to my weaknesses, and food to my belly, and I could not feel more loved than I do today.

2.  My job.  It sounds so cliche to be thankful for having my job, but considering too many of my peers have gone too long without work, I find it appropriate this year.  No matter how much I complain about working here, I have it better than most.  That is something to be thankful for.

3. My home.  Do not mistake this for a materialistic ideal.  A house is material, a home is a symbol.  I'm thankful to have a home of my own, the feeling of security and the love that surrounds those I care for within.

4. Dog parks.  For without these, I would have a raging 9 month old furniture eater.

5. The Old Fart and The Puppy.  Bless the old man's young heart that even in old age and arthritic bones will still come greet me with some doggy love and only bites me when he's too scared.  Bless the 9 month old furniture eater who follows me around the house like a baby duck and his soft ears and happy heart.  Bless both their cute adorable little faces.

6. Sunshine.  To remind me today only happens once.

7. Shoes.  One of my many vices.  One of the many accessories of function and fashion, and it comes in infinite varieties.  What is an accessory but functional fashion?

8. Iced Tea.  Because sometimes drinking water is too boring.

9. Thanksgiving/Christmas Night movies with the cousins.  One year we decided to go see whatever movie was opening on Christmas night, now we just go watch a movie together after we've had our fill of food and holiday cheer.  Hard to keep up with the tradition now that we share holidays, but a great tradition to keep to spend some quality time with family.

10.  Potlucks.  This goes without saying.  I love food, I'm thankful that I often have a bounty of food at my disposal.  I enjoy the company of friends and I enjoy cooking for my friends.  Thanksgiving has become a holiday of feasts for not just one day a year, but an entire weekend of feasting.  Potlucks bring together food and friends, sharing our favorite recipes and having fun with people you care about.  That's something to be thankful for.

There is so much to be thankful for this year, and always, and it's good to remember those things.  I may bitch and moan about a lot of things and I may have the most words to say when I'm in a bad mood, but to get out of a funk, the best way to do that is to lighten the heart by remembering and being grateful for the wonderful things in life.  Life being one of the greatest blessings of all. 

Thank you Lord for the happiness in my life, for the gift of love, and help me to share that love with those around me.

My Furry Children

Oh my furry children...

I think maybe it's time to kick Kona out of my bed.  This is the second night in a row he's woken me up by kicking me.  Both nights I was too out of it to determine if he was awake and just restless or lost in a fabulous dream where he's running around chasing rabbits. It's now impinging on my REM cycles.  He used to fit just perfectly at my feet but now is encroaching on my space.  Getting too big my dear...you may be the cutest puppy in the world but at 70 lbs I think you need your own bed now. Too bad we spoiled you, now we have to train you to not sleep in our bed.  I'm sorry, but mommy needs sleep.

Old Man Hunter and 3 Month Kona

Old Man Hunter and 5 Month Kona

Old Man Hunter and 8 Month Kona

Looking at Kona now vs when we first got him 5 months ago, yeah, he is one large puppy. And if we thought Hunter was a grumpy old man before we got Kona, he is one ornery old bastard now.  Poor Hunter at 13 going on 14 years is arthritic and in the early stages of canine fecal incontinence.  Yesterday, when this last picture was taken, that biscuit in his mouth that he walked around with teasing Kona with for 20 mins before eating, when he finally got around to eating it he decided it was time to poop.  I was watching him eat his biscuit, which he does so painfully slow in order to torture Kona in my opinion, and saw him lift his tail in preparation to just drop one right there in the middle of the hallway.  As I ran to stop him and throw him outside, he managed to squeeze one out....right on my foot. GROSS.

Hunter is so grumpy towards Kona that he'll growl and bark at him when he's in the same general area and even when Kona is in the other room, not paying attention to him.  It's come to the point that we quarantine Hunter to his own space for a while, otherwise he's pacing around in a fowl mood all night, even when Kona is lounging on the floor.  Not that he lounges around all that often.

I feel bad sometimes knowing we crate Kona while we're at work, but then I think of the destruction he has caused.  I'll try to add pictures later if I remember, but he started eating the futon.  A co-worker of the husband has the same dog, a redbone coonhound, who is a 2 year old 80 lb menace and who we most recently heard ate a brick. Yes, a brick. How that is even remotely digestible, I have no idea...but if that's any indication of what kind of mischief Kona can get into, then I'm glad he's locked up when we can't watch him.  I need a vacation away from my dogs I think. Sigh.