It's a Dog's Life

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. ~Roger Caras

Dakota has the life...



Eat, sleep, play, repeat. How do you suppose she can be comfortable like this?



It finally snowed here for the first time this year... DD is thrilled and it does look a lot like Christmas. It can stick around until the first of the year and then go away. K? (:::Insert laugh track here:::)



Today, I'm finally making sugar cookies. I cheated and bought dough (shhhh.... don't tell anyone). I don't like them (if I'm having sugar, it will be chocolate), they're a pain to make, and I'm running out of steam, so :::shrugs:::

What's your favorite Christmas cookie?

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You Are Creative

You are open minded, flexible, and adventurous. You never quite know where you're going, and you like it that way. You are hard working and live fast. You want to accomplish great things in your life. You find that most tasks are more difficult than you anticipated. And you don't give up until the job is done. You work hard for the material rewards you get in the end. You wouldn't have your job if it didn't pay you.

The Labyrinth Test

That's actually all pretty close... weird.

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Let It Snow!

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect. ~Oren Arnold

We finally had a little snow yesterday -- flurries, really, and it didn't leave much on the ground, but my DD is thrilled. Having grown up in California, I don't really require snow for Christmas, but my DD is born and raised here in New Hampshire, and the two go hand-in-hand. It's supposed to snow again today, so she should be in hog heaven.

Because we were expecting snow, I had to spend yesterday pulling all the cut wood out of the woods behind us and get it stacked. I moved 1 1/2 oak trees yesterday that were cut into 16" logs... one log at a time. They were about 100 yards down a hill, so I'd get one log, carry it uphill 100 yards, stack it and head back. There are too many other trees, bushes, stumps and rocks to drive anything down there to help haul, but I suppose the exercise was good for me. I walked slowly and carefully to avoid messing up my knee (any more than it already is), and got the job done in about two hours.

I complain about the work, but I sure do love the warmth during the winter.

Yesterday, Dru Ann asked: How difficult is it to remove the old one (wood stove) and hook up the new one?

Except for the fact that they weigh a TON (okay ... the old one weighs about 250 pounds, the new one weighs in at 450 pounds), it's not so hard. We have a regular fireplace that's been converted to use a wood stove, so it's a matter of putting on the adapter piece on the back of the new stove so that the pipe goes in the right direction, and popping it in. It'll take two or three nice, strong guys to lift it, but the actual install is pretty simple.

Today my big plan is to bake cookies. I'm making cherry, white chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies and sugar cookies (thankfully, I won't be tempted at all to eat them as I don't like either kind, lol -- there is a method to my madness). I wasn't going to make sugar cookies, but my DH asked for them very nicely Sunday.

I had two tiny gifts to mail out yesterday -- they were in little bitty padded envelopes and didn't weigh 10 ounces. I went to the post office and it was packed!! There must have been fifty people in line (WHY do so many people wait until the last minute?) and there was no way I was going to stand there for an hour. I love my relatives, but it just wasn't THAT important that these gifts went out. However, I remembered last year and went to the UPS Store. Sure enough, only THREE people were in line and they had two people working, so it took me about five minutes to get it done (the UPS Store mails regular mail, too).

So, YAY me!

Is your shopping done yet?

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You Are Dumplings

You are cute, polite, and considerate. You are well known for your generosity, and you truly love to share. You have a real style and presence about you. You know how to take the simplest thing and make it look chic. You tend to order carefully and conservatively off the menu of life. Simplicity is your motto, and you don't like to take on too much at once. You are the type of person who does one thing at a time, really immersing yourself in the moment. You detest multitasking.

What Kind of Chinese Food Are You?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

HAHAHAHAHA.... this is so far wrong I nearly fell out of my chair: You detest multitasking.

Multitasking is my LIFE.

*snort*

As an aside, I'm not a big fan of dumplings, either... just saying.

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Christmas Cookies

Cookies are made of butter and love. ~Norwegian Proverb

Is it weird that I haven't baked any Christmas goodies for humans yet, but that I spent a couple hours yesterday baking cookies for dogs?



Of course, when you have a dog like this, who could resist spoiling her?



Smiling for camera:


We made the cookies using pureed spinach for the green ones and tomato paste for the red ones. It made them a little chewy, but Dakota doesn't seem to mind. I might make one more batch of plain ones to add to the mix. They're for our agility class and I don't think we have enough as is.

Have you done any baking (for humans or otherwise)? Got any recipes you'd like to share?

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You Are Snowshoeing

You like your thrills as much as the next person, but your thrills tend to be more mental than physical. You find thinking and playing with ideas to be exciting enough. And you don't have to risk injury to do it. You aren't afraid of hard work. In fact, you know that doing your absolute best has its rewards. You take good care of yourself and those you love. You value your health and stability.

What Snow Sport Are You?

This is exactly 100% right on.

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O Grocery Store

The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one. ~Erma Bombeck

I went to the grocery store for some stuff yesterday, and then used the self-checkout. DD loves to run the items through the scanner and bag them up, and I don't see the harm. Except yesterday, every single employee must have come by and told us that the self-checkout is really for people with only a few items (we had enough for four bags). I very nearly smacked the last guy who said it. If you only want folks with 10 items, them put that on the checkout. Otherwise, LEAVE ME ALONE. It's not as though people were waiting in line -- there were two other open self-checkouts. Sheesh.

In fact, it annoyed me enough that I'm probably going to start shopping at a different store. It's a little farther away from me, but the prices are comparable, and they don't nag me if I have a cart full of groceries and opt to use the self checkout.

Our Christmas tree is dead. I'm really, really tired of our tree dying before Christmas and told DH I'm getting a fake tree -- will go out the day after Christmas and find a nice one for 50% off. Because I'm tired of ornaments slipping off because the branches droop and I'm tired of cleaning up needles. Most of the bottom branches are stripped bare of needles from the dog wagging her tail and knocking them off. It's hard to yell at your dog for being happy...

We're burning in our wood stove again. DH took the pipe off and looked up (instead of looking at the top) and said it looks pretty dang clean from this side. I don't know what's up -- I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff. So, I just nod and do what he says, lol. I have to admit to really enjoying the amount of heat we get from the stove as opposed to oil heat. It keeps the house very toasty.

Today, I'll make sugar cookie dough and let it refrigerate overnight. DH actually wants to help decorate them, so we had to wait until he had a day off (which would be Christmas Eve). He's never expressed interest in decorating them before, so I'm puzzled, but happy. It'll be good for him to do something like that with DD.

Otherwise, we're good to go for Christmas!

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You Are Red

You are a passionate, outgoing, and intense person. You are naturally joyful. However, you tend to be quite intense, and your temper is easy to spark. You are confident and a real go-getter. You don’t fear or expect failure. You are a very lucky person. You are destined to be prosperous – if you aren’t already.

Are You Red or Green?

The First Rule of Blogthings Is: You Don't Talk About Blogthings

Except for the "naturally joyful" part, this is pretty close.

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Tightwad Tuesday: Cookies!

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy. ~George Horace Lorimer

Few things make me crazier than seeing things in the grocery store that are only there because folks are unbelievably lazy. The thing that REALLY makes me wonder about folks buying habits? PB&J Uncrustables. WTH? People can't just make their own PB&J anymore?

The other thing is the cookie dough that you lift off the little tray and put on your cookie sheet and call homemade.

I KNOW it's easy and quick and ready to bake when you only have ten minutes... but I have an alternative.

Make. Your. Own.

Yep. With a little planning ahead, you can have your very own little dough hunks waiting for you when you need them.

How?

Make a HUGE batch of cookie dough -- choose your flavor. We like peanut butter oatmeal or chocolate chip. Triple or quadruple your batch and then chill it. Once it's fairly firm, either roll it into little 2 tsp balls and place on a greased cookie sheet or roll into a log using waxed paper. Place in a freezer -- the balls don't need to be wrapped or covered because, once they are frozen you can put them in a ziplock baggie all loose -- and because they were frozen separately, they won't stick together and you can pull out however many you want for your batch of honest-to-goodness homemade cookies on a tightwad budget! The log you can thaw and slice.

And the best part? You know what they are made from -- add a little whole wheat flour or cut back a smidge on the sugar (I almost always cut the sugar in half in my recipes with no noticeable difference).

So... cheaper. Healthier. What's not to like?

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You Are a Jam Cookie

On the outside, you project a straight-laced, innocent vibe. But on the inside, you're complex, exotic, and full of flavor.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

How to Spend an Hour Getting Eggs

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. ~Voltaire

Yesterday... I had a sudden craving for cookies and started mixing. Melted the butter and peanut butter (yum), added the sugar. Creamed. Added the eggs... uh... nope. Out of eggs.

Okay, I'll run up to Agway -- a five minute trip to get nice, inexpensive, local eggs.

Turns out the road was closed at the corner. K-Mart shopping center, as well as the entire road was under water from the remnants of Hannah Saturday evening and night. Okay, that's pretty standard. They always flood when it rains. Well, I don't really want to spend $6 on a dozen eggs, but I don't have a lot of choices, so I'll go to the Natural Foods store near my house.

They're closed.

Fine. No problem. I turned around and headed up the other way, by McDonalds. I can go around on the other side of the Kmart Plaza. That's never flooded before.

Nope. Surprisingly, that road is flooded and closed, too. I not only have no way to get to Agway, I can't get to Walmart or the grocery store either. No problem! I go straight past McDs and take the back roads to the second grocery store in the area. I pull in, surprised to see so few cars in the parking lot. But folks are coming out of the store with bags, so it must be open.

Yes... it IS open. But...

They have no electricity. They're allowing people to shop (in the dark), but they've closed off the aisle with all the perishables to keep the cool in until the power comes back on. So, no eggs for me there.

Okay... I'll hop on the highway and go to BJs one exit up. I go out the front of the store, and look to my left.... the entire street's intersection is underwater! Now, THAT I've never seen before. Obviously, it's shut down so I can't get on the highway.

Now what?

....
....

Now, I do what I should have done from the beginning -- I call my SIL who lives down the road from me and ask if I can borrow two eggs.

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Today's random quiz:

You Are Betty Grable

The ultimate girl next door You're the perfect girl for most guys Pretty yet approachable. Beautiful yet real.

What Famous Pinup Are You?

Cookies

“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand." -- Author Unknown

What better thing to do when you're trapped inside from MORE RAIN, and already bumming because the critters are eating your plants?

BAKE COOKIES!!

DD and I couldn't decide what kind sounded better and DH can't make decisions (no, really, I'm NOT JOKING), so we made...

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies
(yummies for the indecisive person)

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the peanut butter, water and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cookies are lightly toasted on the edges. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

***Now...***

Because I never, never ever make a recipe exactly as written, here are the changes I made:

1. I doubled the peanut butter (and if you use chunky peanut butter, it's even better).

2. I omitted the water.

3. I used multi-grain flour (I finally ground the grain I have, so I used flour from brown rice, oat groats and quinoa -- it LOOKS white, so my DH will eat what I bake. He won't eat stuff from whole wheat, so I fool him. Muh-ha-ha...)

4. I cut the sugar in half.

5. And, because I doubled the peanut butter, I cut back on the butter and used 1/2 cup.

6. I also cooked them for 14 minutes.

They are YUMMY!!! Even DH ate four with a glass of milk... and yes, you will need something to drink, these are not light, fluffy cookies. They have substance.

Enjoy!

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Pillar Place 2008 update:

ALL of the dill pillars are now pupa's -- one of them, clearly not so bright, made its pupa on the dill stem. I don't think that stem is going to last 10 - 14 days, so I'm considering what to do. Stupid pillar...

All but the two tiny parsley pillars we have are pupa or on walkabout. One of those pillars made its pupa on a parsley stem -- BUT, unlike the dill, the parsley stem just gets brown and woody when it gets old (the parsley had bolted, so the stems are a good half inch or more in diameter). Still, clearly I don't have the brightest pillars in the world.

Our first pupa, Bubba, should be hatching into a butterfly this week. I sure hope the rain stops!!!

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You Are 76% Tortured Genius

You are smart. Brilliant in fact. And while it's a blessing, it's also a curse. Your head is filled with everything - grand ideas, insufferable worries, and a good deal of angst.

Are You a Tortured Genius?

Ya see... Ahm brilliant! *G*