Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

It’s Labor Day today.  No work till Tuesday but for me it will be till next Monday, Sept 8th.  I took the rest of the week off to burn some vacation hours.  It’s nice to get up on a Monday morning and not rushing to get ready for work.  I still get up around 5-ish on my days off.  I know I’m nuts, I can sleep in but 5-ish or 5:40 is sleeping in for me.  I’m up early to get my walks in before the weather turns nasty humid and hot.  By the way, this little fella is already 8 months old but he looks like he’s a year old and that was what the folks out in the dog park said.  He still has more to grow.  Guess I shouldn’t be calling “little fella”.  Should be calling him the “young man”.

Today will be the so-call last day of summer for the kids, too.  Back to school tomorrow.  Fall is here.  Good weather today.  Forcasters say it’s going to be a hot one today with the highs of 90F and wind gusting up to 29mph.  Jeez, thanks but I definitely don’t welcome the heat.  I am waiting for the rest of the week’s weather with temps in the 70’s during the day and 50’s in the evening/night.  Free air-conditioning for us, that means I can save some on my electric bill.  The air has been going on for the whole past few weeks. 

These past few days the weather was great for me.  They were in the upper 70’s, lower 80’s up till Friday.  I am waiting for the temps to drop a little bit more so I can transplant my perennials, the lillies.  I have ordered more of them and they yet to arrive.  They will ship to me in mid September.  I was hoping they will ship sooner so I could make use of my 5 days off to plant them.  Oh well, I will find time to plant them when they arrive before the first frost….

The first sign of fall……Cooper’s paws are quite raw from his constant licking due to allergies from pollen(left).  Ranger’s allergies is getting worse.  The inside of his legs are quite bald from his licking, chewing and gnawing.  Some parts of the insides of Ranger’s legs are actually raw where it’s past the skin and bleeding.  The little fella, Chase, is scratching, too, but not as bad as the two older ones.  Been bathing the two older boys with hydrocortisone and lidocaine shampoo to ease their itchiness on their paws.  Before their walks, I will spray Genesis, a topical steroid spray, and rub it in on their paws and legs.  Why before their walks is to distract them and let the application soak in to their skin.  If I spray their paws and let them do their thing in the house, they will lick the application off in a heart beat.

Next, fall is around the corner when the leaves are turning.  (Not a good picture.  Taken today on my walk this morning.)

This is suppose to be the Boston Pops which is on live right now.  I tried to take a better clearer picture, no can do.  I still want to go to this Boston Pops.  Hopefully I can make a trip to Boston to see this.  I almost made it in 2005 when I was in Boston, but my boss then told me I have to leave MSP for Boston after the 4th.   Watching it on TV is not too bad, in the comfort of my own home, bathroom is just down the corner and popcorn and drinks are free.  Been in this country for 11 years and have been watching Boston Pops every year. They are almost the same each year, but I still love watching it.

Surprisingly, this year’s 4th is very quiet in the neighborhood, quiet being no fireworks.  The state only allows fireworks that do not leave the grounds type.  What kind of fireworks are those.  No fun to play, right?  And the city is not holding any fireworks for the public.  It was at the school behind our home last year which was so convenient for us, plant our butts on the outside furniture and watch the fireworks.  Not this year tho.  Usually by this hour we can see the fireworks.  Na-da.  Cheap ass city.  Good thing I have the fireworks from the Boston Pops to watch.

Happy Memorial day to all whatever that’s left of the day.  It was a three-day weekend for me and it sure didn’t seem like three days.  The days went by so fast.  Yesterday, Sunday, several tornados hit the Midwest.  There was one fatal touched down in Hugo, MN, which is about 55 miles north of where I am.  A child died in that tornado.  Saw the pictures in the news, it is horrifying to see the pictures let alone if you are there to experience it. 

When the storm hit Hugo we (DB, SD BF and I) were getting ready for our dinner of ribs and corn on the cob.  We had the TV in the dining room on to NASCAR Coca Cola 600 (Channel 9) and the TV in the executive office to another local channel where we can watch the weather alert.  Yesterday was the first 80 degree temperature for the year.   We had a thunderstorm the night before, the morning was cool and muggy and when the sun came out, it was just utterly disgusting.  I hate humidity.  No wonder we had bad weather for that day - warm front colliding with the cold front.  Over at our end, all we had was wind and clouds which soon disappeared to clear skies and cool right down around 6 p.m.  

The crabapple tree flowering.  They were really pretty but after yesterdays strong winds, they are all gone. 

Yeah, SD’s baby is still not ready yet.  I sure feel bad for her being so uncomfortable and miserable.  Today is the actual due date.  Tomorrow is the appointment with her doc.  Hopefully he will induce her this week.  My BIL became a grandpa on yesterday.  Her daughter gave birth to a baby boy name Hunter.  I think he was 7 pounds some thing.  Can’t remember the details.  All of us are now waiting SD to pop! 

Today, I was all rested, took the boys out for their walk and baked some granola bars.  Thanks, Gertrude for the recipe.  DB said it’s better than the ones by Nature Valley or Kashi.  Mhmm, I can see this is gonna be an every or every other week thing with different kinds of fruits, nuts and grains.  Then I made a chiffon cake.  What a disaster that was, but still had to keep it in the container.  Can’t waste food, right?  The cake tast good but it hardly rise!!! 

It’s a holiday so there are sales in every store and departmental store you go to.  I have one thing in mind to get since Friday.  It is the new flip flops call FitFlop.  In actual fact, Barb from Little Chumsy’s blog wrote a review on this new wonder flip flops where it supposely stimulate your muscles when you are wearing it.  My boss bought a pair which she loves it.  She said it gives her a better posture when wearing the fitflops.  It also suppose to tone your calfs and thighs muscles and your glutes, too, I think.  In addition, those who have problems with their joints, heels will benefit from this sandals. 

So, I went to Macy’s yesterday afternoon, which is around my neighborhood to get a pair, but na -da.  I have to go to Southdale in Edina.  I went this afternoon, found them but too bad ithey are a little big for my extremely skinny feet.  The length and arch works good but where the strap is way too loose.  In other words, it did not fit snugly.  Very disappointed.  When I tried it on, walked around them I noticed I have better posture, my right heel was not hurting and my knees were pain free. 

Since I couldn’t get what I wanted, I should have left the store, right?  But no, dear me had to walk the shoe section and looked at other shoes on display showing 50%, 60% and if I use the Macy’s card, I will get another 30% off.  Good deal, huh?  Yes it was.  I found a pair of Clark’s instead.  It was 50% off and since I don’t have a Macy’s card, I paid $41+ for the pair of shoes.  I didn’t want to apply for the Macy’s card now but will later when my credit score is more stable.

Here is my Clark’s sandals I bought today. I think it’s the same as my mom’s? Not sure but I’m sure my sis can confirm that and I will be hearing a load from her. She is the queen of “Chaat” this and that.  Another reason why I didn’t take any picture of the disaster chiffon cake!

At least this pair of sandals does not hurt my right heel.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate Easter.  Every year the day before Easter, this show will come on in the evening.  You folks know what show that is?

Yeah, it’s the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston and Yul Bryner.  I asked DB since he is a Catholic/Christian why this movie comes on, on the eve of Easter.  He said he has no answer to that question.  Anyone knows why?  If it’s not the Ten Commandments, it will be Ben Hur.  Whichever movie the station airs, I still watch it.  Actually I was watching and Facebooking/blog hopping at the same time.  It still is a very good show with very few commercials.  It didn’t end till 10:50 p.m. and I stayed up to watch the end of it.

Easter for us two is just another weekend.  Most of the stores are closed.  I drove all the way to Michaels to get some crafty stuff, guess I should have called first before I drove out there , coz, which they were closed, and I ended up at Barnes and Nobles instead, and got some bargained books.  Good buys I have to say.  Bought three hard covered books for $27+. DB asked what books I bought I told him “The Mummy” - learn how to mummify him

We didn’t do much today except to shovel snow, went for a long walk in the woods, clean house and grill out for dinner.  Now it’s just the two of us, but I told DB next year’s Easter, there will be an addition to the family which he will have to partake for family sake :)  SD’s bun is about 80% done, I think. Grandpa is quite anxious.

Christmas is over.  We didn’t do much for this Christmas.  I spent most of the day surfing the web, upgraded my current WP 2.2 to 2.3, changed the template and added falling snowflakes to my blog since it started to snow on Christmas day.  Since i have been here, this is the 2nd year it snowed on Christmas day.  We had about 4 inches of snow from this snow fall.

After so much of surfing, it’s time to do some thing else.  I baked another cake, a pound cake or butter cake.  To be honest, I don’t like the outside of it.  It’s like  a crust.  See the pictures and you know what I mean.

The cake texture was ok.  When we nuke the slices of cake, the sides are softer, eatable.  If not, it goes right to the trash.

Then comes our Christmas dinner.  We thawed out the ham, the gift from my boss’ boss.  I didn’t cook anything for this year. 

We wanted to have green beans casserole, but the stores ran out of french-cut green beans.  No choice, I bought a pre-made salad, a can of sweet potatoes and mash potatoes (KFC).  What we really made was put the sweet potatoes in the dish, added butter and brown sugar and nuked it.

Here’s our meal on this Christmas day.

Needless to say, after the load of sodium from the ham, we were so thirsty, drank tons of water till we went to bed.  We watch movies with the fire going till 1:30 this morning.

The  left over ham, all put in 3 one gallon ziploc bags: one will be given to SD and we will freeze one of them, and the other leave out for sandwiches.  And the bone, it’s for soup.

Now is time to get off this chair and help shovel the driveway and patio.  The snow blower is konked out on us. 

It’s Christmas eve, the weather: clear blue sky, little wind but it can be deceiving; it’s actually 5F degrees out and the windchill is -10F degrees.  No more snow.  The snow storm we had yesterday has nove moved to Michigan, they can have it, too, so they could enjoy a white Christmas.

I wanted to go window shopping yesterday but didn’t since the road were so bad plus the snow were blowing all over the place making it hard to see ahead.  I was at home just putzing, watching movies, made banana breads, yeah, not one, but two, and had curry for dinner.

This time around the two banana bread turned out much better.  Got some tips from Simmie where she told me to add a little sugar into the mashed bananas and some extra milk to the mixture.  I thought she would be coming over to our place last night coz I had a few pieces cut up for her to take along for her trip to Nashville.  Oh well, sweetie, next time.  The roads and the visibility were so bad, Forrest’s sister told her not to drive to my house to drop off the vacumm cleaner and shampoer.  Her flight was delayed to 11 p.m., hope she made it out to Nashville.

OK, back to my baking/cooking.  I got bored playing computer games and sitting, that’s why I brought the bananas out and decided I should bake them all.  The bigger loaf has all the right ingredients - followed the recipe to the T; however, the smaller of loaf, hah, I ran short of flour and bananas.  It turned out ok, according to the tester (DB), it is not as bananany as the first one, and it tasted more like a cake.

Since I was in the mood to cook, I asked DB what he wants for dinner.  It was either rice or noodles.  I don’t fancy any grilled/baked chicken, and all the blah food.  He said he was not up to all those blah food either escpecially since the return from our vacation.  His taste buds have opened up a million times to a variety of taste.

I cooked this curry mixed from Hup Loong.  I don’t have anymore beehoon, and plus he prefers rice, so I boiled rice, cut up some chicken, added schrimp and tofu pok for this dish.

The end result:

DB said it was very good.  I told him to thank Hup Loong and, of course, my sister, for mailing these packages of mixed for me lazy bones.  You know, the funny thing was, the last I cooked this that was before we went for our vacation, he detested the smell of this mix especially when I was frying it with the onions.  He said it stunk to high heaven.  It stinks because the mix has belachan (shrimp paste) in it.  Last night, he said it smells so good.  He must have gotten used to the smell of cooked belachan at my mom’s house.

Today, I will be going out window shopping.  Just to get out of the house.  Db will be shoveling the driveway and the patio.  I’m getting antsy of being at home for too long.