A Little Break

I don't know about everyone else, but the warmer weather this weekend was sure a nice break from the sub-zero temperatures. This morning I ran to the grocery store without a jacket (I was wearing a lightweight fleece shirt). It was 28 degrees which was 40 degrees warmer than last weekend. Sammy got to enjoy a lot of time outside this weekend exploring in the yard, digging up who knows what and eating it. Uncas shoveled a little system of paths in our backyard this past week and with the warmer weather, the snow was packed pretty hard, so Sammy actually could walk around most of the yard. I took a few pictures.

I had been craving pumpkin cake/bars with cream cheese frosting for a while now, so I finally made some today. They taste as good as they look!

This weekend was pretty productive around the house. Uncas cleaned out the area in our basement where he is going to put his workbench. Then he washed the walls, primed and painted it. Check out the before and after pictures here. Next he will start building his workbench. While he was busy with that, I went to Target and bought a bunch of clear tubs. We still have boxes in our basement that haven't been unpacked as well as stuff that is just for storage. We want to make the transition from cardboard boxes to clear tubs - all the same size. We also plan to buy some storage shelves for downstairs. Everything is coming along pretty well.

But not all this weekend was work. Last night we went out to dinner and a movie. I can't remember the last time we did that. We saw Slumdog Millionaire and it is a great movie. I had heard all great things before seeing it and it did live up to the hype. A very uplifting movie which I highly recommend.

Well, as usual, my dog is looking for some attention and I need to start dinner and then settle down to watch the Superbowl!

Big Ears

 

Yesterday my friend Mike sent me an email stating that his dachshund Toby was a little bit more handsome than Sammy.  Yeah - whatever!  I obviously didn't agree.  He also attached these two pictures.  I will admit that Toby is quite handsome, but what struck me most about the pictures is look at the size of their ears!  Will Sammy ever go into his?!  It made me laugh.  And now I must chase my dog - he is barking at me and I don't want him to wake up Uncas.  Happy Saturday!

A Dog's Life

My friend Lisa tagged me in FaceBook to come up with 25 random things. I have done too many of those random things lately, and can't think of anything else about me that people would possible want to know, or that I would actually want people to know about me. So I decided to do a little twist. 25 things from Sammy's point of view. Enjoy!

25 Random Things - Sammy's Point of View

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Hi - this is Sammy, Summer's dog here. Mama is tired of trying to come up with more random things about herself, so she is letting me do this one.

1. I like to chew things - especially Mama's slippers. I almost got another one last night but daddy took it away from me.

2. I don't like being alone - ever. Even if I just sleep all day.

3. Because I am home alone most days, I tend to sleep, so I have lots and lots of energy when Mama and daddy get home from work.

4. I like to bark when I want attention or when something goes under the couch and I can't reach it.

5. I bark when the door bell rings.

6. I bark when there is a door bell or dogs barking on tv.

7. I bark when I hear something out of the ordinary.

8. I like riding in the car. Now that I am bigger, I like to sit up on Mama's lap while she is driving and look out the window. On long car trips, I usually sleep because often I end up somewhere that has new people and usually dogs to play with.

9. I like to chew on rawhides.

10. My best friend is Sophie Nimz. She is a springer spaniel and she is always up for playing with me - love her!

11. I like going for walks.

12. I do not like going for walks when there is all this white stuff on the ground.

13. I do not like this cold weather or this white stuff (although sometimes it's fun to eat the white stuff). Will the warm weather ever return?

14. My favorite spot in the house is in the dining room (I don't understand why they call it that - I eat in the kitchen). There is this spot in the wall that warm air comes out of and I love laying there.

15. My second favorite spot is in the living room. It also has a warm air spot like I like to lay by.

16. I like to play chase with Mama and daddy inside our house. The floors are slippery, but I like to run in circles.

17. When I am getting chased, I like to have something in my mouth. It can be a ball, rawhide or some other toy.

18. I like to lay on Mama's lap or next to my daddy on the couch.

19. I have two cousins, Tina and Snoopy who I like to play with. They look like me, but they don't play as much as I do. Tina is kind of grumpy and sometimes growls at me when I try and play with her.

20. I like to lick babies. I have two cousins (Saffy and Anna) and I love to lick their faces.

21. I like to chew on towels. I don't have access to many anymore, but I remember that chewing on them is fun.

22. I like to be outside when the weather is warm. I can sniff in the yard for hours.

23. I used to have a lot of toys, but Mama and daddy always take them away from me when I get down to the white stuff. Now I have very few.

24. I can sit, shake (with both hands), stay and lay down. Mama calls them my "tricks".

25. I love to sleep the big bed, curled up next to Mama and daddy. It took me nine months to train them to do that.

Bowling for Dollars!

Last night Uncas and I went bowling with Matt and Janis. Back in December we had them over to our house to play a little bit of Wii bowling. It was fun, but we though that it would be fun to do the real thing. And we did have a good time, however I am much better at Wii bowling. I didn't even break 100 in either of the two games that we played. We split the cost of the bowling and shoe rental, but had $5 in change left. So we decided that the first person to get a strike would win the #5. That was Janis. But then we thought it would be more fun to pass the $5 to however got a strike and then the person with the last strike would keep it. It passed hands many times through out the night. Despite my poor bowling, I did end up with it once. But in the end, Janis ended up with the $5.

After bowling we went to this little bar in Richfield called Sandy's for dinner. It's this tiny hole in the wall place with good greasy food. I had an Olive burger (burger with cheese, green olives and sour cream - yum!) Our server, who also might be one of the owners was very funny and came over dinner with a dessert tray.

Check out all of our fun bowling pictures.

Tagged!

 

Oh wow - I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday.  I sure have thought about it a lot.  Today I have a couple of posts to get caught up.  But first my dear friend Ella tagged me this week and now I am to post ten honest things about myself.  Here we go:

1. My co-worker "Sally" and I make up nicknames for the people we work with, so when we email each other (she does sit on the other side of the office), we use those.  It's silly and immature, but we need all the fun we can get at the office.
2. I suck at bowling - no matter how many lessons or classes, I still couldn't break 100 last night.  I am going to stick to Wii bowling.
3. I have terrible eyesight.  I am pretty sure that I would be declared legally blind.  I have thought about getting the Lasek surgery, but I am worried about the long-term effects.  Still, maybe one day I will go through with it.  For now, I wear my contacts pretty much daily.
4. I like to bake, but I don't enjoy particularly difficult recipes. I like sticking with the basics.
5. I love my DVR.  If I didn't have it, I would probably waste more time in front of the tv on weeknights like I used to.  It would be really hard to give it up.
6. I love the Oscars.  Actually, I like most award shows.  I think I used to like them more, but for some reason I am fascinated by them.
7. My puppy continues to amaze me.  I can't believe how much joy he has brought to my life and I can't imagine living in our house without.  What did we do before Sammy? (ok - I have to share - just after typing this sentence, Sammy came into the living room and scooted his butt across the rug.)
   
8. I wish I lived closer to my family, but I love living in the Twin Cities, so unfortunately, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon.
9. I am obsessed with Facebook.  Basically I just like going on it and checking everyone's status.  I am not the greatest at writing to people and returning messages.
10. I am a practical thinker.  This often prevents me from dreaming too big and taking risks.  Fortunately I married someone who is the exact opposite.  

Ok - now I need to tag some people.  I pick Lisa , Molly, and Jessie.

Today's Adventure

Seriously - why does going to any sort of medical care place end up in drama for Uncas? First a few years ago I made him go to the eye doctor. He ended up passing out TWICE while there. He hasn't been back since. Let's hope his eyes don't change much. Then yesterday Uncas went to the doctor. He hadn't been in a few years (like 10), so it was time. But now today he is achy, dizzy, nauseous, and has a fever of 102. Why? We are thinking it's from his tentanus shot. So, he's hanging out on the couch while his wife takes care of him. At this rate, I will never get him to go back to the doctor either. At least nothing has happened to him at the dentist . . . yet!

Time for Lost!!!

Back to the Grind

Does he look comfortable? For some reason Sammy like to be sandwiched between these two pillows at my parent's house this weekend. Maybe it kept him warm, but it also made him look very cute!

We made it back safe and sound from WI. We stopped to visit my grandma on the way home. She is doing pretty well, so it was nice to catch up with her for a bit. I had a lot of fun this weekend sorting through pictures. We made a lot of progress, although there are still a lot of pictures to go through, but I think my mom has a good game plan. I may have to go back in a few months to see how she is progressing. You know - it's like a reality tv show and then they go back and check in a few months later to see if they have fallen off the wagon. Fortunately my mom has a digital camera, so it's not like she is going to be developing a ton more film. Although, we did find an undeveloped roll of film in one of the boxes! I would have taken pictures of the weekend, but Uncas kept the camera to take pictures of his ice fishing adventure with his dad. I took a few with my mom's camera, but I don't know if she discovered them yet.

My dad and I went for a little drive on Sunday, and we each took a few pictures with his camera. Mine didn't turn out too well, but it was still a good time. The bald eagle is our favorite bird and they never fail to amaze me.

I've been a little behind on the treadmill since I was gone for the weekend. I did run 3 miles (all in a row - no breaks) on Friday night and tonight I walked for 2 miles. I hope to make up some milage since we'll be in town this weekend.

Well, I am off to watch Fringe and with all the excitement around the inauguration today (which was very cool - we watched Obama get sworn in live at work via the computer) I have nearly forgotten that tomorrow night is Lost! I can't wait!!!

Blurry, Toss; Duplicate, Toss . . .

My mom and I are hard at work sorting through her pictures. She has just a couple . . . million! Going through all of these pictures is a little bit like being a detective. What year did you take a trip up north? What grade was I in this school photo? We have discovered some funny hair-dos (I don't think I had a good hair day between the ages of 2-13!) and some clothes that my mom still has - about 20 years later!!! It's been fun and brings back a lot of good memories. I don't think we have even gone through a quarter of them yet . . . so I better get back to it!

Is That Suppose To Make Me Feel Better?

As I was watching the news this morning, you know, to see if I really had to go to work, they said only 36 more hours of sub-zero temperatures . . . oh - that's all . . .

Animal Hospital

 

 Here is the group picture of the toys that Uncas and I repaired the other night.  There are even a couple missing from this pile!

Butterfly is missing part of his wing.

Mr. Moose is missing one of his ears.

I don't know why this pictures is turned funny, but Ninja Squirrel is missing a foot.

And finally Mr. Possum has his nose in the wrong spot.

As you can see, we name all of his toys - well most of them anyways.  Sammy has already destroyed three of the toys that we repaired the other.  They are back on the top shelf of my dresser and will stay there for a little while.  We need a few more up there to really make it worth it . . .

In other news - we are back to a one car family.  Uncas's car isn't starting due to the weather.  I think by this weekend, it should be just fine.  For now I need to get back to catching up with Lost!

Sacnu Hospital

That was our house last night - the hospital. Uncas and I performed "surgery" on several of Sammy's toys that he had chewed up. It was great fun to see his reaction to some of his old favorites. Of course, he has already chewed up two of them, so they are back up on the dresser until we decide to play doctor again. I have pictures, but I am too lazy to post tonight.

Some updates on the treadmill. I went 2 miles on Sunday and I ran 2 miles tonight. One of the things that I love about having a treadmill at home is that I said I was going to run all night. I finally got my butt downstairs just before the 10 o'clock news. But it's so much easier going down there then getting in my car and driving somewhere. And there is no wait. My total miles for 2009 is just over 25. That's about 5% of my goal to 500.

For all you Lost fans out there - just over a week until the season premier - hurray! Tomorrow night Uncas and I plan to watch the season finale from last year to prepare us. I can not wait to watch it on our new tv. I know - very shallow of me, but it's going to be so great!

Grown-Up Bed

Just this week I was telling Uncas that we needed to do something about the comforter situation on our bed.  Currently we have a very lovely quilt that my mom is letting us borrow.  I really like it a lot, but it's red and doesn't go the greatest with the blue that we have on our wall and it's too thin for a Minnesota Winter.  Regarding that last statement - Uncas has a "5 blanket system" in place to stay warm enough each night - that's more than a little riduculous.  Then - this week, I read my friend Ella's blog and they recently made some changes to their bedroom, so I was inspired.  Today I went out shopping (after doing some browsing online) and found a new comforter for our room.  I finally feel like we have a "grown-up" bed.  Check it out:

 

I am not quite an expert at staging, but you get the idea.  I was looking for something neutral, but not completely plain or boring.  I also bought some new pillows.  I can't wait to go to bed tonight!

I mainly spent today cleaning and shopping.  I found a new pair of slippers and after I brought them home, I explained to Sammy that these are mine and he can't eat them.  Let's see if he listens (and more importantly, if I actually keep them out of his reach).

So my weekend has consisted of cooking, cleaning, shopping, waiting on my sick husband, chasing my dog around the house (and I even fell once, pretty hard) and watching season 1 of How I Met Your Mother.  Good times.  

And for your viewing pleasure - a picture of the tasty apple pie that I made and a cute picture of Sammy.

Take Two

I am happy to report that my second pie this week -the apple pie, turned out much better than the blueberry. Uncas actually finished the whole piece, which is better than when he tried the blueberry pie. It's always good to follow up a crappy baking session with a good one.

Today has been a rather lazy, but not really Saturday. To start - I had a wonderful night's sleep, again. Sammy and I got up and hung out together this morning while we let Uncas sleep in. Unfortunately he (Uncas) woke up yesterday with a cold. He slept for over 12 hours last night and pretty much has been very, very low key today.

I kept busy by baking muffins, baking the pie, making chili and baking pumpkin bread. I also ran out to Target, did some laundry, picked up a little bit around the house, rocked out to Guitar Hero, planned our menu for the week and ran 3 miles (including the walking, I totaled 4 for the day). So now we are sitting on the couch and watching some tv. I hope Uncas starts feeling better tomorrow!

Defeated

I give up. I am defeated. I give in . . . he wins.

Sammy is now sleeping in our bed. It just started really the night before last. At 4 am in the morning, I had had enough. Enough of him getting up and barking at us in the middle of night. Enough of him tearing apart his bed in the middle of the night. Enough of waking up and not being able to fall back to sleep. We have had Sammy for over 6 months and it hasn't gotten any easier.

So - I said screw it when he got up to bark at me at 4 am, again, after Uncas had been up with him at least two other times before. I put him in bed with me and he curled right up and we slept great. Uncas didn't even know he was there. That morning as we were getting ready for work, I told Uncas that I was done and that Sammy was sleeping in our bed. He didn't comment, so I brought it up again later that day. Unlike me, Uncas isn't so quick to give in and wouldn't admit defeat. But last night Sammy slept with me, in our bed, and I slept great.

Go ahead Derek - laugh it up and say "I told you so"! We held out for a long time and we did try our best. Our dog completely has us trained . . . crap!

'Fessing Up

If that last post didn't put my dad over the edge, I have a feeling this one will. So that pie I made yesterday . . .in all honesty - not the greatest. The crust was actually really good, but the filling - not so much. I had this feeling while I was making it that there was too much sugar. I should have trusted my gut.

I got the recipe from Betty's Pie recipe book. Betty's Pies (a restaurant) is famous up in the Two Harbors area. Uncas has felt that Betty's Pies are too sweet and sugary and doesn't really like them. I did make another pie from that book - a blueberry-apple pie, and I had the ingredients to make that pie, but chose the plain blueberry pie instead.

So - after eating only two pieces of the pie last night, we threw the rest of it away tonight. Tomorrow I will make just an apple pie. I make some darn good apple pie, so I know it will turn out!

Oh - nearly forgot - I walked 3 miles today.

The Pie My Dad Didn't Get To Eat

Someone was giving me a hard time for not blogging every day. So to that I say - I had a homemade pie tonight and you didn't! (I know - very mature!)

In other news . . . well, there really isn't anything new or exciting to report. I don't think I have listed my treadmill update, but last night I walked 3.35 miles. That means I only have 486.15 miles left to walk/run this year to reach my goal. I may head down there tonight while watching some of the People's Choice Awards.

There's Always Next Year . . .

Trust me, as a Cubs fan, I am used to defeat.  So it was no great surprise or disappointment to me that the Vikings lost yesterday.  Next year could be their year - you never know!  But, despite the lose, I had a great time at my first professional football game.  I also learned some new and interesting things:

1.  The color combination of purple and gold is just not that pretty to me.  And purple and gold pajama pants are particularly ugly (I saw more than one grown man wearing these yesterday).  Let's just say that the fashion at the game had little to be desired.

2.  I did not realize that you actually cheer louder when the other team has the ball.  Apparently we were trying to distract them or something.  It worked really well . . . and not to mention the fact that when it was quiet during our offense, I sometimes forgot to watch the field because I didn't think anything was going on.

3.  Whenever the Vikings scored a touchdown this flag brigade comes running across the field.  I was intrigued at how they stayed uniformly spaced from each other - that takes talent.  The cheerleaders couldn't even accomplish the even spacing thing during their routine.

4.  People come running on the field during the tv time outs and the players actually do quite a bit of standing around.  In fact, they more do more standing around than actual playing.

But as I said earlier, I really did enjoy the game.  I took some pictures and even a video.  I would definitely consider going to another game - but only if they keep an indoor stadium.  It was pretty dang cold yesterday and I can't imagine sitting outside in the minus 10 degree weather for football.

The Holiday Season Comes to a Close

We finally took a picture of the family in front of our Christmas tree - granted it was NYE, but at least we got one good picture in before we take it down (which will be today). We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas and NYE with my parents. I could not wait to give them their gift.

As you can see - Sammy was equally excited about the red toaster! My parents have recently added a red garbage can, red Kitchen Aid mixer, and a red tea kettle to their kitchen, so we thought we would add to the "redness". They have been wanting a long toaster for a while, so when I found out they finally purchased a mixer, I quickly hopped online and purchased immediately!

Uncas received a very cool gift from my parents:

A miter saw! Now I am expecting some great things to be built with it and soon! I received many cool things - some new shirts, the "ove glove", a new knife block, and some Wii remotes. We already had enough Wii-motes, so we returned them for . . .

Yup - Guitar Hero! It was fun to see my mom "rock-out"! It's been fun to play, although Uncas is the one with all the musical talent in the family, so he actually tries it on Medium, while I stick to easy.

As I mentioned earlier, we went to the CSI Experience on Thursday. First stop was lunch at Red Lobster - yum! Then we ran over to Lands' End Inlet (where Uncas and I both worked at and met) to do a little shopping. I found some slippers as did my dad, but the funniest thing of the weekend happened there. Two little boys were running around and one ran into me and started to cling to my legs. He didn't look up at me, but I was like "Hey, I am not your mommy". His brother kept saying that too "it's not mom", but he was just crying and clinging. So I am walking around, trying to pry this kid off of me while my mom and Uncas were laughing (my poor dad missed the whole event as he was in the bathroom). Their dad was just a few feet away and he was trying to tell the boy that I was not his mom and he finally had to pry the kid off of me and pick him up. It was sooo funny. His mom finally showed up and the little boy threw his arms around her so tightly. Poor kid!

Anyhow - back to the CSI exhibit. We first watched a little intro movie and then there were 3 crime scenes. We were assigned to scene #1. A car collided with a house. We had 4 minutes to view the scene and then we had all these different stations to go to, to review and analzye the evidence. Overall the exhibit was interesting, although if we had kids that were like 10 or 11, I bet they would have enjoyed it more. Surprisingly it did take about 45 minutes to go through the whole thing. We had to wait at a couple of the stations, but it wasn't too bad. After the exhibit, we walked around the museum for a while. When we got home we watched some tv and played Apples to Apples - which is alway hiliarous with my parents.

Friday we ventured out to the crowded Mall of America. We got some fabulous deals at Sears, including a $25 DVD player. We weren't at the mall for too long, but long enough to have lots of bags. And after we purchased Guitar Hero, we decided that we needed to go home because we had too much to carry. That night we played Guitar Hero for a bit as well as some bowling. My cousin Tyler came over from WI because he was leaving for Belize the next day and we were giving him a ride to the airport. We played some Rabbids with him before we headed to bed way too late.

Yesterday I was up early to the airport and then my parents left in the morning. Then I proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day. I was completely exhausted. But I think I am caught on my sleep now. Today I have much to do, but I am going to attend my first professional football game ever, so I don't think I will get that much done. Oh well . . . I know I took a couple of days off from blogging, but now I hope to get back to the daily posting.

Cute Sammy picture from the weekend:

New Year - New Things!

Well, I have heard from two people who want me to continue my daily blogging. Lucky for all of you, they happen to be two really, really important people in my life (my mom and my best friend!), so for now I will attempt to keep up with the daily blogging. I actually added a link on my Facebook page to my blog, so maybe I will have a few new readers this year. The other "new thing" that I have added is a counter to my blog. My father tried to add one to his blog, but was stuck, so this morning, we added them to his and mine. And then we realized that we couldn't have picked a better day to start counting - the first of the year!

This afternoon we are headed to St. Paul to check out the CSI Experience at the Science Museum. When I first heard about the exhibit, of course I was interested given my love CSI and Gil Grissom. I wasn't sure if we would make over to check it out, but somehow it came up yesterday and my mom thought it would be a fun thing to do. I will write my recap after we return.

Happy New Year 2009!

I hope everyone has a safe and very happy new year. I am celebrating at home with my parents, Uncas and Sammy. My parents came up this afternoon. We had a tasty dinner and then celebrated our Christmas with them. They got to open up their red toaster for their kitchen. It will match their red mixer, tea kettle, trash can, and dish drain. Now they will really have to redo their kitchen to match all of their red accessories!

Uncas received a miter saw with a stand. I am going to have him build me some stuff starting tomorrow! I also received a lot of nice gifts from my parents. Sammy received a singing gift card which he is enjoys barking at.

We are getting ready to celebrate 2009. We have some sparklers and even a fountain to set off, so I better get going.

Happy New Year!!!

One More Day . . .

Wow - it's been nearly a whole month since I decided that I would blog every day for a month.  Now granted some entries were shorter than others (see yesterday), but overall, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.  Some days I didn't feel like saying much, but when I sat down to write, I just kept typing.  Other days the entries were short, and you know what - that's ok too.  So - what does everyone else think?  Did people actually check in every day for an entry?  Not sure at this point if I will keep it up.

I have made my peace with Sammy.  I know that we have been really spoiled so far and the fact that this is our first major "casuality" (besides his dog beds that used to reside in his kennel - don't even ask me how much we spent on new ones) means that we are doing pretty good with him.  I have to say that I was rather impressed with myself.  When I walked in the house and saw the torn up slipper, I knew that I couldn't yell at him.  That was probably the most frustrating part.  I wanted him to know how mad I was, but what good would it have done?  It's a good thing he is so darn cute . . .

Today was my last day at work for the week.  Tomorrow my parents some to celebrate New Year's Eve and we will also be celebrating our Christmas with them.  I can't wait to see them.  My mom hasn't seen our house since June, and we have done so much.  It's going to be a fun weekend of games, eating, watching tv, going shopping and seeing a movie in the theater!  I can't wait!

2009 Work-out Update - yesterday I went 3 miles - I ran about 1.5 of those.

Frustration

Sammy chewed up one of my brand new slippers today - argh!

Shop Till you Drop

Today I went shopping with Ella for those after Christmas deals on decortations. We were talking over Thanksgiving weekend how we each plan to shop for decorations after Christmas, but usually end up being too tired and don't feel like doing it. This year we planned that we would go together the weekend after Christmas. Even though we were both feeling tired, we didn't want to let the other down, so off we went today in search of some good finds. It was a successful shopping trip - we each picked up quite a few things and loved the 70, 75 and 80% off! We plan on shopping together again next year!

It's been a nice long weekend - hard to believe Christmas is over with. The good news is that we still get to celebrate with my parents when the come up this week for New Year's Eve. I can't wait to see them and for them to open their presents from us! Until then - here are some pictures from this past week.

And on a final note - our little neighbor girl who let's out Sammy during the day while we are at work informed us that she is no longer able to come over. It really kind of sucks and I understand that she is young, but I found out after I called her to see if she was going to come over this week. It would have been nice if she could have called us to break the news instead of us having to call her. As it is, Sammy has adjusted very well to being in the dining room and kitchen (no more kennel), so soon we will probably transition to him being home all day by himself. I know he will miss us, but especially with the winter weather, coming home during the week can take a little bit longer than in the summer.

Ok - I lied - I have one more thing to write about. Today I am starting Week 1 of 52 for going 500 miles. I ran/walked on the treadmill for 2.5 miles this morning.

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound today.  The roads were only wet and not too icy at all or at least that was the impression that I got from Uncas who was driving.  Our puppy who is now bestest friends with Sophie (Uncas's parents dog), is currently crash out on my lap.  This is after he slept on my lap the whole way down from Duluth.  Those two dogs played and played non-stop.  I think this means that Sammy will be sleeping for two days straight now!

Will write more later and post pictures.

Post Christmas Coma

Today has been quite the relaxing day. First we slept in . . . well, not as much as I wanted to because Sammy thought he had to get up with Sophie, but Uncas got to sleep in pretty late. We had a tasty breakfast and then we just hung around the house. We played a fun dice game ( I lost pretty big) and then I played a bunch of Wii. Uncas's mom napped through out the afternoon. Uncas spent a good part of the afternoon trying to solve a Rubik's cube. I bet him that he wouldn't be able to solve it in one day and he did it. I will post pictures when I get home.

Perhaps one of the highlights from this weekend so far was a lesson in the "new-fangled" math that they teach the kids these days. Uncas's dad showed us some new ways to add, multiple and divide. The concepts seem a little tougher than when I was in school, so when we have kids, we may have to send them to Grandpa for help!

It's a good thing that we decided to stay an extra day in Duluth. The weather has been pretty icy and the roads pretty slick. I hope tomorrow's weather proves to be better for when we drive home.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! After enjoying the evening at home, Uncas, Sammy and I headed up to Duluth early this morning. The drive was fast and uneventful. We used the time to call my family and Grandmas. Opening presents was a little chaotic here with 3 kids, 3 dogs and 6 adults. But it was a lot of fun and now we are enjoying some snacks before we have Christmas Steaks - yum!

Hope everyone is having a great day!!!

Merry Christmas Eve

I am sitting here on my couch with a puppy on my lap (which is challenging as I am typing this from a laptop) enjoying our first Christmas Eve in our new house.  Uncas and I decided that we would head up north on Christmas morning this year since we both had to work today.  It actually turned out to be not such a bad day - we got to leave early which was great!  Tonight we had a tasty dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes and peas.  Yum!  Sammy even got to enjoy some Christmas ham.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday and has safe travels!  Merry Christmas!

The Treadmill is Here!

Ok - so this isn't the treadmill, but what a cute picture of Sammy to get things started!!! Tonight Uncas went and got our new treadmill. It was a floor model, so it's not brand new, but it's new to us. Sammy is pretty intrigued by it.

Uncas putting it back together (this fit in his Golf!)

Sammy likes to supervise Uncas's handiwork.

So far it seems to be working just fine. I don't think I am going to get up early tomorrow to walk or run on it, and then we'll be out of town, but for sure over the weekend I will start to break it in!

17 Things

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are to write a note with 17 random things, facts, habits or goals about you.

1. I hate being late for work even though I can’t stand going to my job.
2. If I could, I would probably eat sweets for every meal with a salad, veggie or fruit thrown in every now and then.
3. I constantly wonder what my dog is thinking. He looks at me so intently sometimes, I just have to believe that he understands more than most humans will give him credit for.
4. My goal is to run or walk 500 miles this year. It seems completely doable right now (averaging ~10 miles a week), but ask me again in June.
5. It irritates me that lately people are constantly asking if I am pregnant or when are we going to have kids. Wouldn’t they feel bad if I answered that I was barren? That’s what I feel like saying because it’s not really any of their business. And if and when we want people to know, we will tell people on our own terms.
6. One of my hidden talents is that I can fold a fitted sheet and it doesn’t look like a mess when I am done. I was taught by my mom, and I have done demonstrations to more than one friend and have even been videotaped doing this.
7. I was an avid nail-biter. I sort of kicked in the habit in college, but every now and then I relapse. Right now I have a good streak going. Perhaps I will paint them for Christmas.
8. People often call me Heather. I have received voicemail messages from people saying “hi Heather . . .” It has always been this way for most of my life and my best friend’s dad used to slip up and call me Heather. I sometimes will respond to it.
9. I am a fast reader. I sometimes skim read and if I can’t pronounce a name, I just skip over it. That can be troublesome when a book has a lot of characters with difficult names – I tend to get confused with characters.
10. I have moved 20 times in my life (that count includes the number of addresses that I have lived at – during college I lived in 7 different places). The only move I don’t remember is when I was two and we moved from Grand Rapids, MI to Saginaw, MI. It’s no wonder that I hate moving. It’s also no wonder that my last move was probably my easiest and least stressful. I plan on dying in our house so I don’t have to move again.
11. I was on the cross-country team from 6th-8th grade. I hated every minute of it. We only ran a mile and ½ at the meetings. This summer I ran 8 miles with Josh while training for the half marathon (that I decided not to run to keep my sanity). One day I would still like to run a ½ marathon.
12. I cry when I am frustrated. It’s not the best coping mechanism, but I am learning to accept that it’s just apart of who I am.
13. I used to go to a lot of concerts. I am sad that I don’t attend very many any more because I love live music. My all time favorite concert was Green Day in September of 2005. Best. Show. Ever! Although No Doubt at the Excel was also fun, but only because we got to go backstage after the show.
14. I love junk drawers. I probably have like 10 of them at home. If I can’t see the mess, then it’s clean to me.
15. I have trouble listing favorite things. It’s hard for me to think of a favorite food, candy, restaurant, movie, song, etc . . . although my favorite color is yellow.
16. Someday I want a job that doesn’t require me to sit at a computer for 8 hours a day.
17. I love making lists. I am that person who will add something to a list just to cross it off. I love the feeling of being productive and have shed tears when I have been frustrated because I feel like I have done nothing (i.e. nothing has been crossed off the list!)

I am going to tag just a few people – my dad, Ella, and Lisa because I think they might actually do this.

Relaxing Sunday

After our shoveling, baking, cleaning, party-hopping, and merriment last from yesterday, today was much more laid back.  We started the day with brunch with Josh and Jaron.  After that we stopped at home to pick up Sammy and headed to the pet store to complete our Christmas shopping.  Then we came home and have been snuggled up on the couch to read (me), sleep (Sammy) and watch football (Uncas).

Here are a few pictures from the week.  Little Miss Truffle-Maker.

 

My dad gave Sammy this coat in August. It was pretty big for him back then, but it fits him great now and he loves it in this cold weather.

 

And finally Sammy looking cute for the camera (can you ever have enough cute Sammy pictures?!)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It snowed today. It snowed and snowed and then snowed some more today. We got somewhere between 5-8 inches (Uncas's guess). We spent most of the day inside. I baked while Uncas cleaned up the basement to make room for our treadmill. We had two holiday parties to attend tonight and despide all the snow, blowing snow and cold temperatures, we made to it both.

I don't have much else to say because I am tired, but Sammy has now started to "bury" his dingo bones in blankets and the couch custions. I find it fascinating to watch.

Monkey Butt!

Lisa sent me a couple of pictures this week of Caiden, my godson. I had bought this outfit for him when he was born. I like to give bigger outfits to newborns, because often times people have so many outfits for newborns, but not for when they are older like 6-12 months. I thought the Monkey-theme was cute and it sure does look adorable on him!!!

Sammy and the Snow

Today's post is brought to you courtesy of Mr. Sally. Thanks for the comic. It's pretty much sums up how our dog feels about this weather:

Mr. Mechanic

Tonight my car battery died again. Fortunately we were at home and I was just going to start my car to run out to the store (Uncas drove to work today). But instead of recharging my battery, Uncas just took it out and went to the store and bought me a new one. 30 minutes later my car was running as good as new. I am so glad that I have a husband who knows how to do stuff like that. I didn't even have to ask him to do anything. I just simply stated that my battery was dead again and off he went. Thank you Uncas!!!

Baking Up a Storm

So tonight I had plans to get together with some friends, some of which I haven't seen since this summer. You know what messed up those plans? THE WEATHER! Seriously - it makes me crabby. My commute home makes me crabby. Shoveling the damn driveway makes me crabby. Seeing my dog hobble around because his paws are cold makes me sad! So - Jessie, even though you were laughing this morning at my angry blog posts about the weather - now it's not so funny when our plans get messed up!

What else can you do when it's crappy outside? Stay inside and stuff your face with cookies. And make the cookies that you stuff your face with. Yes, it's a great past time and explains the extra pounds that I have put on this fall (now that the weather is cold, our dog does not like to go for walks). Tonight I made another batch of Oreo truffles (made a batch last night), but this time they are Mint Oreos. Haven't tried one yet, but I hear truffles are the breakfast of champions! I also made some dough for some pecan balls which I intend to make tomorrow or Thursday night.

Funny story about the pecan balls. My mom had this recipe that she got from her mom. The cookie recipe was called "Pecan Crescents". But what's funny about it is that for as long as I can remember, my mom actually makes Walnut balls because she usually has walnuts around the house and rolls them into balls is easier than crescents. So every year for Christmas she pulls out the recipe title pecan crescents. This year she actually did have pecans in the house, so she made the balls with those. I took a bunch home and finally broke out the Christmas cookies this week. I keep telling Uncas that the pecan balls are really good, but he didn't listen. Finally this morning before he left for work, he tried one or two or four. Tonight he mentioned how great the cookies are with the pecans. I have some pecans that Josh gave me, so I made the dough tonight for them.

And on a final note - even though I have been stuffing myself silly with cookies and sweets, there is end in sight, sort of. This weekend Uncas and I purchased a treadmill. We hope to get it on Tuesday. I am super excited because for years now I have been wanting a treadmill at home, so I wouldn't have to pay for a gym membership. It's finally going to be a reality and I will officially have no excuse not to work out. I think I will set a goal of walking or running 500 miles in 2009. I know it's pretty ambitious, but that's just under 10 miles a week. Piece of cake, right? I will post my mileage each week to keep me accountable.

Christmas is Saved!

I found the missing gifts!  They were in the closet in our dining room, which is where I thought they were in the first place!  It feels good to know that I am not going crazy!!!

In other news - tonight I made the first of 3 batches of Oreo Truffles.  The next batch I will make on Wednesday night with Uncas's help and they will be Mint Oreo Truffles - yum!

And in other, other news - Uncas charged my car battery and it is now working!  My battery was dead this morning.  Although, I can't really blame my car for not starting.  It was way to damn cold to go anywhere.  In fact, when I got up this morning - I turned on the news in hopes that maybe we could stay home.  No such luck in Minnesota.  These temperatures are "normal" and "to be expected".  I say BULLS***!

Temperature

This is what the National Weather Services website says today:

This Afternoon: Sunny and cold, with a high near -3. Wind chill values between -20 and -25. West wind between 11 and 13 mph.

Currently it's -3 degrees here. Tonight the low is -17 with even colder wind chill temps. What the hell am I doing living in MN?! It's only December and that is the high! Usually we have a streak like this in January or February. It's a little too early to be starting with these cold temperatures. I don't know how I am going to make it through the winter.

It Runs In the Family

I lost some Christmas gifts. Last year my mom hid one of my dad's presents so well, she didn't find it until July. I hid presents for Sophie, Bake, and Sammy (the dogs) and I have exactly 10 days to find them.

Hobbies

My darling husband has a couple of hobbies that I have no interest in. It works out fine for us. I am glad he has things to do on his own which leaves me with my own time to bake, read, and watch tv. Oh - I can't forget taking naps (which is what I did today). Uncas enjoys hunting and fishing. This time of year it's ice fishing.

Apparently when I was younger, I was intrigued by ice fishing. Really I like the cute little houses on the river. My parents never took me, which isn't surprising considering even as a child, I wasn't a fan of the cold or sitting still.

A couple of years ago I went up to Duluth for my first and last hunting season. I think my mother-in-law was convinced that one day I would go hunting with Uncas. To those of you who know me well, you know this will NEVER happen for a number of different reasons:

1. You have get up early and sit out in the cold. I don't mind the early part, but I hate being cold. Case in point - all of my hobbies keep me warm - baking, running, walking, talking with friends, watching tv . . . - nope, don't like the cold.

2. Not only do you have to sit in the cold for hunting, but you have to be quiet. I am not a quiet person.

3. You have to kill a cute little deer. I have no problem killing living things (i.e. bugs, spiders, etc), but I can't imagine shooting at Bambi.

Those are just the reasons for not going hunting. And I also will probably never go ice fishing. I just don't want to sit out in the cold for an extended period of time. I will however go visit, which is entirely different. I am a social person. Stopping by to check up on Uncas and see how he is doing is far different than sitting out there for a couple of hours with a pole in my hand. Now that we don't like just down the street from Lake Harriet, I have a feeling that my visits to Uncas will be few. Plus our puppy doesn't like the cold weather either (must take after me).

As for regular fishing - like during the summertime. I don't mind doing that because usually I end up reading a book and it's nice and warm and sunny when I choose to tag along.

So, while my husband is busy with hobbies, I am busy with mine. Today I took Sammy shopping, we napped and I am getting ready to bake some cookies. When our friends ask us tonight how our day was we can both say it was great!

TGIF

We are tired after a long week and we are looking forward to catching up on sleep this weekend.

Chinese Food Issue

This is a very serious issue - according to Uncas (which he informed me that I could quote him on it!) We can't seem to find a good Chinese restaurant close to our new house. I never thought this would be a problem, but Richfield is seriously lacking in good quality Chinese food. We have tried several places and so far nothing compares to our favorite Kwon's in South Minneapolis. Fortunately there does seem to be an abundance of places, so there are still a couple more let to try. And worst case, we could always go south of 494 to Bloomington . . . the search continues . . .

Off-Night

Every baker must screw up once in a while, right? I am sure Martha doesn't have stuff turn out perfectly all the time. Tonight was an off-night for me baking. Part of it could have been the fact I was on the phone with my dad while measuring the ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies. This is a recipe that I know by heart. I have made it so many times before and I have a reputation at work for the best chocolate chip cookies. Because two of my favorite co-workers' birthdays are this week, I decided that I would make them some cookies for tomorrow. But it just wasn't meant to be. I can't figure out what I did wrong, partly because I was talking with my dad and I really wasn't paying attention. Fortunately I do have a Plan B. I pulled a bunch of Christmas cookies from the freezer and I am sure they won't even remember that I was suppose to make the chocolate chip ones!

In other food related news, Uncas made dinner tonight. He bought some salmon while grocery shopping last night, and some green beans. He looked in the cupboard and discover a wild rice/mushroom mix tonight when looking for another side dish. After he started making dinner, he turned the rice box over to discover this meal idea . . . strangely enough - it was the exact same meal (Uncas prepared our salmon with lemon pepper and dill). Unlike the cookies - the meal turned out awesome! The salmon was some of the best that I have had in awhile. Thank you for cooking Uncas!!!

Not Much to Say . . .

Hmmm . . . up until today, it hadn't really been a problem to blog every day. But suddenly I don't really have anything of interest to write about. Today was pretty normal.

We did wake up early to shovel (yuck). I had set my alarm to get up early, but I didn't expect Uncas to join me. When I told him I was going to shovel, he mumbled stuff a few times before I could understand him. He said that he could help, but I told him that I was fine. Well, I wasn't even out there 10 minutes before he got dressed and made his way outside.

Sammy on the other hand did not want to go outside, but he didn't want to be inside by himself either! So while we were shoveling, I could hear him barking. I went to open the door and he ran away. I closed the door and continued to shovel, but I could hear him barking away inside. Later, Uncas opened the door and Sammy came hopping out. Uncas sent me inside so he could finish up - what a great husband. It didn't snow at all today, but I hear that we will be getting more snow this week . . . remember - it's only pretty until January 1!

First Big Snowfall of the Season Winter 2008/2009

Sammy's first experience with a big snow fall. This is a little path that Uncas shoveled in our yard so he would have a spot to potty.

The path curves around to the front of our house. Sammy likes to stick his nose in the snow.

Check out his cute little coat from Grandma and Grandpa Blume.

The snow made for a long commute home, but it does look awfully pretty. I always like snow in December. I think it's because of the holidays. However, come January 1 - I am over the snow and unfortunately we still have four more months left of white crap! But for now - I am going to enjoy it.

This One's for Mom Part 2

We had a great weekend with Derek and Jeanna. Yesterday they decided to skip the movie and do more shopping and then come back home to hang out with us. Little Saffy enjoyed her first visit to Mall of America. She vows to come back next year and perhaps even go on a ride or two.

Last night we exchanged gifts. Lucky Saffy was the recipient of the beloved Mariah Carey CD. The dogs all received squeaker toys and some treats. I received some Apples 2 Apples expansion card set and lots of new cookie cutters. Uncas received some accessories for his Wii. We spent much of last night playing with the Wii and also playing Apples 2 Apples.

I thought that I didn't take that many pictures yesterday and today, but I kept to my mom to my mom. Here are the rest from the weekend.

It was sure fun having Little Miss Saffy and her crew at our house. We look forward to more visits in the future!

This One's for Mom

Derek and Jeanna made it here safe and sound last night. Unfortunately they had to drive through some snowy roads, but they are here! Actually, they are currently introducing Saffy to the joys of mall shopping while Uncas and I are dog sitting. This afternoon we will be dog and baby sitting while Derek and Jeanna enjoy a movie. The dogs and baby were up early this morning, but everyone had a good time playing. When the guy from Dish Network came to fix the satellite - everybody else (Derek and Uncas) woke up too.

Here are some pictures that we have taken so far of the weekend. I promised my mom that I would take lots!

Waiting for our guests!

Today I ended up staying home from work today. I pretty much felt crappy all night and as a result slept very little, so I called into work. By noon I started feeling better and now I feel fine. I think it was something that I ate last night. I was a little worried, because I want to be well for our visitors this weekend.

Sammy, the spoiled little dog that he is, got to stay out of his kennel for the whole day. He spent most of it sleeping, which is a little strange. I wonder if he is not feeling well. Or maybe he is resting up for his friends Tina and Snoopy. Luckily it's the weekend we (I) can keep a close eye on him. Now back to looking out the window, waiting for Saffy, Derek, Jeanna, Tina and Snoopy!

Almost to the End

I have to say that I thought for sure this was going to be a really long week. After only working 3 days last week, on Monday, I was ready for this week to take forever. Surprisingly it has gone by super fast. It might help that I am fairly busy at work - not crazy stressed-out busy, but more like busy catching up and making my "to do" shorter than it's been for a couple of months. The other reason for the quick week could be that I am really looking forward to the weekend.

Our niece Saffy is coming to visit, along with Derek and Jeanna (her parents) and Tina and Snoopy (her dogs). Uncas and I are super excited. Last year Derek and Jeanna came to visit us around the same time and we had such a blast. This year will be even more fun with Saffy and the dogs added to the mix. There should be lots of pictures and fun stories to share.

New Haircut and Crazy Dog

We have one crazy and very spoiled dog. The past couple of nights he has been super hyper when we get home from work. We bought him a new toy the other night, which I thought we were saving till Christmas. Turns out - we gave it to him tonight. He loves his new squeaky ball!

He was just hanging out in his bed, playing with it as well as running around the house. I think it was a good investment.

I got my hair cut pretty short a couple of months ago. I have a great hairstylist and the cut was perfect. I had scheduled an appointment at the time of my last cut and I almost called to cancel it. My hair cuts with this stylist always grow out perfectly. But ultimately I decided to keep the appointment because I didn't really like my hair style. I have given it a lot of thought, and I am going to grow it out a little bit more. She cleaned it up - especially the front and I really like how it turned out.

Learning the Hard Way

Sometimes Uncas and I learn how to do things the hard way. It's typically nothing major - something as simple as cracking an egg in a little dish before adding it to the cookie batter to keep the egg shells out (I learned this from my mom, not actually by doing it . . . ok, maybe once or twice I was lazy and it bit me in the butt!). Some of the things we have learned the hard way have come as being first time homeowners . . . you know - things that you don't think about when you live in an apartment forever.

Tonight we learned about how to keep a Christmas tree from leaning too much. We put our tree up on Sunday, and had to purchase a new stand since we never had a live tree before. There were these little bolt/cover things that I was convinced just covered the screw ends to make it look pretty. Uncas thought they were suppose to be put on between the screw things and the tree. Neither one of us went to look at the packaging and long story short . . . tonight we had to take the tree out of the stand and put the bolt things on correctly because our tree was leaning more and more every day . . . Lesson learned the hard way!

In other news - I have finally gotten back into the cooking groove. For awhile (like last winter) we were so good about making dinners, trying new recipes and then we bought a house. And then we got a dog and everything just sort of went to picking up food from local establishments or frozen pizza! I think the cooler weather has helped and I have been making a bigger effort to look through my cookbooks again. They were packed up for so long and even now, I have them in a bookshelf upstairs, which isn't too close to the kitchen. So far this week I have made soup, 2 loaves of pumpkin bread (not on the same day), a new recipe using haddock, a venison barley stew and pasta alfredo (not from scratch, but I did add mushrooms to the sauce!) It's been fun cooking and baking. This weekend I look forward doing more since we will be having guests!

And on a final note - I have decided to try blogging every day for a month. I can't guarantee that all posts will be long or interesting, but hopefully it will get me in the habit! 2 days down, 29 left to go!

Just My Dog?

I am convinced that Sammy thinks that the crushed ice that comes out of the dispenser on our fridge is really food. He always comes running (even if he is sleeping on the couch) when he hears me getting the ice for my water. He patiently sits until I am done. I usually do a quick tap at the end, so ice spews on the floor. Then he goes running over to it and starts crunching away. I can't figure out why he would be so excited about ice, but one day after eating it, he headed over to his food bowl and started crunching away on that . . . I suppose there are worse things he could be eating . . .