Happy Halloween

Hope everyone who wanted to was able to go trick or treating tonight.  I heard weather back east is pretty bad. We had a lot of rain last night 4-6 inches, Austin was hit even worse. Yes we're all in drought but getting too much rain too fast is never a good thing. They showed footage today in the news of houses flooded and it brought back memories of the flooding when I was a kid.  So glad I don't live in any flood area here!

We did not get any kids here tonight and had our light off outside but I also did not hear any kids outside so if there were any trick or treaters, there weren't many.

Hard to believe tomorrow is November already. Only another month in 2013 and Thanksgiving in a few weeks.  Now that Halloween will be over this evening I'm sure the Christmas commercials will start flooding the television.   This weekend we turn our clocks back an hour too. So it will be getting darker even earlier (but also light earlier in the am). May have to walk exclusively at lunch time because it will be too dark to go after work and likely too cold to go in the morning. I'll figure it out.

Rain, rain come and stay!

Getting some much needed rain today.  Yippee!  Got a nice walk in during my lunch hour while it was actually not raining then.  I was grateful for the break in the weather as I really enjoyed walking today. I took Molly with me so that at least she got a walk in herself.

Tomorrow is Halloween but we do not usually get many kids so we are going to just leave the lights off.  I really hated those people who left their lights off when I was a kid.  But I am only doing it because we get very few kids.  When I was a kid there were tons of kids in our neighborhood and well worth while for folks to stock up on candy to hand out.  :)

I remember when I was a kid, we often just make costumes out of things we had.  I remember going many times as a hobo, or a witch (using the same witches hat we always had and an old gray wig). It was not like today where so much money is spent on costumes often worn no more than once. My kids occasionally got new costumes but there were several times things were recycled a few years later, and then again.... remember girls?  :)

Margarita night!

Found out Tuesday is Margarita day at La Playa, a nearby restaurant that we rarely frequent. Margaritas are I think $2.24 or $2.22/each all day. So I told hubby we should go there for dinner for a nice break to the week.

We ordered a nacho appetizer that was suppose to consist of shrimp, crab meat and cheese on tortilla chips. Well we got it and it was covered with some tomato (Pico de Gallo?) sauce.  Tons of minced tomatoes was all we saw, everywhere.  I took one look at hubby's disgusted face and asked them to take it back and leave the tomatoes out. After all it wasn't even in the description anywhere!  The waiter was very nice and did just that.  We loved it.  I also got a margarita, actually 2 of them, frozen!  They were good.

Dinner was good and I got enough leftover vegetable fajitas for two nice sized lunches. Wow! Great portions!  Now that I got hubby to like it okay we'll eat there every few months, on Tuesdays though so that I can get happy hour priced Margaritas!

Expecting some heavy rain storms for the next couple days.  Bring it on!  Will help this drought we're in!

Monday done

Today is done. Time to relax.  This evening I took a walk alone with my hubby and none of our dogs. This way we wouldn't have to stop every two houses and I wouldn't have to hear hub get mad at their barking.  It was nice for once to do the straight walk and I probably get a better cardio work out from keeping up the pace.  Do I feel guilty for not taking any of them?  Yes, but still glad.

Going to watch some Long Island Medium so keeping this short.

Day before Monday...

At least after tomorrow there will only be 9 more Mondays for the rest of the year. That doesn't sound so bad.

This morning I was watching some Face the Nation and thinking about what I wanted to get done today. Every day I feel like I need to get something done so that it makes the day worth while.  I knew I was going to do some laundry but wasn't sure what else.  As I was thinking about my day, Molly was jumping up like she wanted to be on my lap.  I picked her up and let her lick my face a while and cuddled her. Then it dawned on me. I don't really have to be doing something constructive to be making a difference. My dog needed to be held and loved and I was already doing something worthwhile today. :) 

That made me relax and not think so much about what I was going to get done today.  After giving Molly some attention, Ditzy wanted some cuddling, So it was her turn and I was glad to do it.

I did get 4 loads of laundry done later and asked hubby if he'd help me walk 4 of the dogs at one time, me two and him taking two.  We got through it but not without Molly and Merlin barking and making the walk difficult for hub.  I'm not going to do that again. He gets too mad and then the whole walk is tense. I walked Kaci around the block after that.

I was going to do the walking this morning but we had a steady stream of heavy drizzle.  Made me think we were in Seattle or something as that was the sort of rain it reminded me of (from what I have seen on television about weather there, never actually been there).

Picked three peppers from the balcony garden. There are still a few left.  I haven't totally decided yet whether I want to have a garden over the winter or not. Leaning toward not, but haven't totally decided yet.

Time for a change

This morning we took Tika and Merlin to the vet for their check up. Remember my vet retired in June unbeknownst to us.  I didn't know the vet who took care of our dog when we went the last time but I figured she'd be the same one we'd see this time.
When I walked in they had remodeled the waiting room and all the exam rooms.  It looked nice but I was just surprised.  When we got to the exam room I was surprised to see the examining table upright against the wall (like a murphy bed).  It definitely made the room larger but I felt like we just went from one waiting room into another. 

Then the vet tech came in and instead of just taking the first one to weigh him, he said that since we had both dogs how about if they did the exam, shots etc in the back and just bring them back when they were done. We sat dumbfounded and just said "Yes'. I wasn't expecting that. No wonder the exam tables are upright, guess their new remodel included a whole new way of doing business.  While I LOVE the gals that work at the desk and the vet techs are nice, I do not like this new procedure.  They brought one dog back, took the other, then brought the 2nd one back and we spoke briefly to yet a new vet we had not met before.  Before we left the parking lot we decided that was it. We are finding another vet.

Dr Koy was friendly, asked how we were when he came in, examined the dogs in front of us, telling us the heart and lungs sounded fine, range in motion good, eyes, etc, and told us what shots they were getting, etc.  May not seem like much but it was a personal touch.  Today, basically took the dogs back, then brought them in, "All done". Except they both need dentals. I knew one needed it but didn't know the other had a tooth that looked bad. That I appreciated, but the rest of it, nope.

I like a dog examined in front of me.  Maybe I would think of something I'd want to ask.  Anyway, going to check out another vet that was recommended by a friend.  I understand the owner of the practice resigned, and they wanted to remodel but changing the down home, almost country doctor type of service soured us, and possibly will others. I don't know. I don't care about others, all I know is we are never going back there again. 

I voted too, so that is done. Glad I voted early and there were no lines!  Since it is the Saturday before Halloween and not much on TV, watched a zombie movie. Fitting for the season, don't you think?

Weird Molly

Molly, one of my tri-colored shelties has been bugging me this week.  She never jumps up while I'm sitting at my desk but this week she has been jumping up nearly every day several times, and today I let her up on my lap. Unfortunately for me she scratched my neck pretty badly as she jumped up trying to get her footing and scraped right across my scar from having the skin cancer removed. Ouch!  That really hurt!  But luckily it did not bleed. 

I let her sit on my lap a few minutes but then she had to get off so I could get back to work.  Then a little while later she was jumping up at me again. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back she was sitting in my chair.  And she's been jumping up pawing me for most of the week.  She's been eating fine, walking fine, etc., so I don't know what the deal is.  She may be spooked by something but for 5 days?  I'll keep my eye on her and keep searching for any info on the Internet but not sure what to make of it. She does not appear to be injured or hurt at all either.

Tomorrow two of the fur kids have vet appointments (not Molly) for their regular check ups. But I may mention Molly's behavior to see if the vet has any clue.  Then I am going to vote sometime tomorrow as well.  Not much else planned.  Will do some light cleaning at some point this weekend I'm sure and some laundry.  But will take some time to relax too.

Surprise!

Surprise!  I'm not waiting until the end of the day to blog for once.  I got done work and decided to write before shutting down my desktop for the day.  It is another beautiful day here with blue skies and 81 degrees outside. Well now anyway, It was 46 this morning when I got up so it was nippy then.

I haven't posted any pics in a while so here are a few to prove how blue the sky is today.  Also random ones of some of the fur kids.

Blue sky (and looks like dirty camera lens)

Another pic just to prove to you that I didn't just hold up a blue piece of paper and take a photo

Ditzy doing what she loves!  Playing ball

See the arrow that goes up Molly's nose?  Neat huh?

Molly ignoring me

Everyone posed fairly well for this one...only one not in pics is Kaci. She was being lazy and staying indoors!

Hump Day...

This week is going to seem long since I don't have any days off now until next month.  Oh well.  I  changed things up a little today and took my full hour for lunch and walked Merlin and Molly my regular walk.  It was nice taking a break in the middle of the day.  It was beautiful out!  Blue skies as far as the eye could see and about 75 degrees. 

Then after dinner I took the plunge and took all 3 of the others.  A bit tangling of the leashes and I didn't go quite as far because I was worried Kaci couldn't go quite the distance, but we got through it. I even picked her up a few times for a little bit, when she was really panting. She was a trooper though and I felt good that I actually walked all 5 dogs today.

Hey I discovered something really cool the other day that I didn't realize.  I have a Sonic card and reload it every so often. Well when you reload it with $25 you can get a free sonic blast, or tater tots, etc. I haven't bothered printing the coupons for those for several months but thought they'd only be good for that month anyway, so I let it go.  I have to print the coupons on my old computer because it doesn't work on the new one and then it will say it already printed (wasting the coupon).  But anyway, I was on the old computer looking something up and decided to check out the sonic website.  There were several coupons I had not printed out yet.  So I tried printing a coupon for a free sonic from last December.  It printed out and is good for a month!  I did not know that it worked that way.  How cool!  So I printed out two more coupons for a sonic blast and tater tots, practically a full dinner! :)  Will use those next week.  I love getting free food (hey I would have spent the money anyway).




 

One Year

Today I celebrate working at my current job for one year. Woo hoo!  Here's to five more to come, right?! 

There isn't a lot new to blog about today. No more squirrel attacks by my Merlin - thankfully.  I haven't seen any squirrels anywhere in the yard today.  They probably all spread the new about our terror dog and are staying out of the trees and telephone poles within a 5 mile radius of our house!  LOL

It is that time of the year here where it is cold in the morning and then in the mid 70s by afternoon, so it layers in the morning and shedding a layer in the afternoon.  I have turned the heat on just one morning for a few minutes to take the chill out of the air. 

Early voting started this week and since I actually am familiar with one of the local candidates for once I think I will get it done early, maybe Saturday.

Well that's it for today.  At least I remembered to blog before I was about to turn in for the night. :O)

Ewww!

Merlin caught a squirrel this evening and ate the head off of it!  Ewwww!! 

He has never done that in his 6 1/2 years, in fact none of our shelties ever killed and ate any animal.  Hubby saw him chewing on something and holding it in his paws and he ran down and got the rest of it with a shovel that we disposed of.  Gross!  Hopefully he  will be fine thinking about bones mostly. It is just a dog's natural instinct to kill and eat I know so I am hopeful there won't be any issues. He's sleeping like a baby right now.  We didn't yell at him or anything because again, it is a natural thing for dogs.  But I just never thought it would happen.

Hubby said he saw him watching the squirrel from one of the back steps he likes to hang out on. I guess he took it by surprise because like I said I've seen him chase lots of squirrels up a tree but never actually caught one.  I actually thought they were more like his play friends because they seem to tease him from way up on the wires.  Guess they are no longer friends when he actually catches one!

I had a hard time eating dinner as this was right before then.  But I managed.  Oye!  I do hope it doesn't happen again.

Beautiful Day!

Today and yesterday were beautiful sunny days, not a cloud in the sky today that I saw anyway. I did not take any walks today since I already exercised this morning and wanted to give my legs a break from walking.

I got the powder room clean, washed our sheets and also did some baking/cooking.  I had a bunch of key limes that I got in my Greenling order a few weeks ago that I haven't done much with. I used a few in my sun tea but that was it.  So I found a recipe for key lime bars online and made them this afternoon with fresh key lime juice. Yum! I've never made them before but they are really good!

Then I also had about 8 small red potatoes left from that same Greenling order so I sliced them and put them in the crock pot with a little butter and then sprinkled the rest of some grated Monterrey jack and cheddar cheese over them and cooked them on low. I threw in a yellow pepper from my balcony garden too. The cheese melted nicely over the potatoes and turned out great. We had them with dinner.

It was a nice long weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow.

Why?

Why do folks think that they do not have to clean up after their dogs when it poops on the edge of the street?  Don't they realize that people walk along the street so we can step in it and get it stuck in our shoes? It is always a big dog's poo too! I jumped out of the way just in time today. Makes me mad. These are probably the same people who walk their dogs after sun down or before sunrise so that no one sees them.

Anyway I got 4 of the dogs walked today, so 3 miles.  There were some loose dogs which I always hate because I don't know if mine will try to attack if they come up to them, but luckily I got the loose dogs to stop coming our way. They looked like they were just trying to be friendly, but mine are not socialized.  I know, shame on me.

Got some cleaning done this morning. I really really hate cleaning.  The dirt and hair just multiplies that much faster with 5 dogs.  The only way to truly keep up with it would be to clean every single weekend, but I don't.  I just cannot see spending a good chunk of every weekend cleaning. But the living room, dining and kitchen look great for at least a few days.

I took a break and watched Zorro so that was nice.  Also my daughter's boyfriend's mother just came back from traveling back east and she was so thoughtful! She brought a six pack of Yuengling Lager for us. We love that beer and can't get it here. We're going to savor them.  Hubby and I split one before dinner. Thanks Melanie!

Nice day off

I had a nice day off!  I started off sleeping in until after 7:30AM which is longer than I usually sleep. I would have slept longer but Tika and Ditzy were taking turns licking my face which woke me up.

I did four loads of laundry today and a lot of it was clothes with instructions 'lay flat to dry'. Of course I rarely lay things flat to dry, but rather throw them over a hanger pole (wooden rod) that is in the laundry room. This time I had so much though that I used both bathroom shower curtain rods, and doubled up on the rod in the laundry room and also placed one top (flat) on the washer.  Phew!  I should have planned that better to not do quite so many clothes that cannot go in the dryer. Lol.

I also walked two dogs before lunch my regular walk. Then about an hour after lunch I walked two more the same walk while hubby walked the fifth one a short walk (she has a leg that would bother her if she walked the long walk with me).  Then after dinner I took the same walk with no dogs but with my hubby. So I walked 4 1/2 miles today. It felt good! Hoping I am not sore tomorrow or wake up with a charley horse!

It was yummy pizza and beer night as we do every Friday night. I actually ate half the pizza, probably built up my appetite with all the walking I did. Now I'm relaxing and watching Blue Bloods while all the dogs are snoozing away.   

Ouch!

We give our dogs those Dentastix every evening to help with their tartar build up and I think they help a lot but one of the dogs, Tika often gets a stick stuck in the roof of her mouth from side to side.
Usually I catch it right away but I didn't see it until she was flailing her paw to her mouth to get it unstuck.  I reached in to get it unstuck from the roof of her mouth and yup, got bit.  Bit me good!  I went and washed it up and put a band aid on it, yes it was a puncture bite. 

I couldn't be mad at her. She was freaking out because she couldn't get this thing that probably felt like a thick stick out from the roof of her mouth.  I'm just glad her tooth only penetrated one side of my index finger, the opposite side just got indented temporarily.

So, I got through another work week. Yes tomorrow is Friday but I have it off.  It has been rather nice using up my vacation days a few times a month for these last few months.  It really creates a nice break.

No plans for tomorrow yet, other than my walk.  It has been pretty cold in the morning so I won't be walking first thing. 

What a crock!

Today I made a recipe I found on the Internet using some butternut squash and sweet potatoes that I got from my Greenling order a few weeks ago. What?   You thought I was saying something else in my post title?  :-)

I also added 2 red peppers and 3 green beans from my balcony garden. I know 3 green beans is not much but keep in mind this is from a plant I didn't even plant this year.  It was from a seed from last year that just grew on its own next to my zucchini that died.

Here are the before and after pictures. It was really good!  I even have some left for lunch tomorrow.

 Here is the before

 

 Here is after. It smelled so good (cinnamon, apple juice, brown sugar and butter) made up the sauce that it cooked in

Here it is plated.  I scraped the squash out from the skin, sweet potato halved, red pepper and the 3 green beans.  Great veges!!

Tuesday eve

I got through my first day back to work this week.  It did keep feeling like a Monday but it all went well and I managed not to misdate anything. :)  I am glad I didn't forget to go to my mom's to visit as she really looks forward to my visiting her while dad is directing his bridge games.

It rained again today, not a lot but was cloudy most of the day. Expecting more rain tonight/tomorrow. The temperature has dropped by more than 10 degrees and it is a cold wind outside. And it is going to be so cold tomorrow that the high is only going to be 58. That will be the coldest day here so far this fall. Yay though as I get to wear something new (warmer long sleeved tops).  :)

Getting ready to watch Person of Interest.  That's it for now.

Bracing myself?

Remember, I went to a new (to me) dentist last month to get long overdue cleaning done, but I really

went because I had a tooth that was bothering me.  Otherwise I still probably would

not have gone yet to the dentist.

 

Anyway this dentist is wonderful, caring and attentive!  Wow.  Who woulda thunk?

She partially cleaned my teeth, did the rest this morning and I am now fitted for a

temporary crown as well while waiting for my new crown, which will be tooth color

and already I am happy because the temporary crown looks so much better than

how my tooth looked before with the dark metal (old filling) showing every time I

smiled.

 

I told my dentist something else that has been bothering me.  It has bothered me

that my front tooth (crown) sticks out more than

my natural (other front tooth

next to it). Also it is longer than my natural tooth, which

I chalked up to just

aging and using my teeth for several years since getting that crown.

I am self-conscious about it and don’t like to smile with my mouth open because of

it.

 

She saw my dilemma but also pointed out to me that the reason the crowned front tooth

sticks out is that it has been hitting one of my lower teeth that are crowded. So one of my bottom teeth being out of line pushes against my upper tooth every time I clamp down. Wow, I never

really thought about that. She suggested I may want to consult with an orthodontist. 

What? Orthodontist? Me?  Been there..done that..30 years ago.  She told me that she

has some patients in there 70’s that wear them.  So I suddenly retracted my dismissal

of the whole idea.

She also pointed out that my teeth angle inward and that is causing cracks on my

molars because I am biting more on the side of them (crunch after crunch), and that

causing cracks, not good.  ((I’m sure it doesn’t help that all of my molars have fillings and a few

have crowns, so they are already weakened due to that fact (that is me stating this

fact, she didn’t point that out)).

I didn’t realize that angled teeth causes trouble)!  So their office called the Orthodontist office near by to see about a free consultation. They actually could get me in right away, so I headed on over there.  Not exactly excited spending half my day off at dental offices but hey I was off so decided to go for it.

 

So here's the scoop.

I am a good candidate for the Invisalign braces for my teeth, which is a good

thing because I don’t want to go the full metal mouth route.  That I would probably not

opt for. 

The cost is close to $6 grand. Oye. So now it is decision time. I can see how it will help my teeth

in the long run, and I can get the crown replaced after they are all straight with one that

will stay in place. Or actually I’m going to ask my dentist if I can’t just get my shorter

(natural) front tooth veneered or bonded to lengthen it and leave my existing crown as is,

and make

my natural tooth to match (which would save me the cost of getting a new crown).

They will accept monthly payments which would help and I guess I am just struggling with 

the question of do I want to spend $6 Grand on getting my teeth straightened out at age

56?  I just didn’t think I’d ever get braces again. I went through the whole thing when I was 12-13,

getting 4 teeth pulled first, then the braces, rubber bands, retainer, etc.  This of course would

be easier with those invisible braces, but do I want to spend the money? Decisions, decisions...

 

 

Soggy Sunday

Making this short but I did manage to stay awake for SNL last night and although I like Bruce Willis, I didn't care for last night's SNL.  I didn't even keep it on after about 40 minutes.  Oh well. Got lots of rain last night and some today. It is raining now too.  Some areas in Austin got over 10 inches of rain overnight!  We only got about an inch or two so far  in our area but it will definitely help the drought situation.

The youngest and I walked 3 of the fur kids before she headed back home today.  It was nice walking with her again and of course having her home.

Tomorrow I have the day off due to Columbus Day. I have a dentist appointment as she needs to finish cleaning my teeth and start the crown work for that tooth that needs one.  I suppose she'll take a mold and perhaps drill and put a temporary crown on it. Not looking forward to it but it needs to be done and since I like this dentist I am not as anxious about going like I was the first time.

That's it for now. Nite!

Almost forgot

I almost forgot to blog today.  But I didn't. Woo hoo!  Today my youngest and I ate lunch at Wasabi. I was able to get a bowl of Miso Soup.  I haven't had it since Dallas I believe.  It was good. I also got cucumber  rolls with a small amount of ginger on the side.  I thought the ginger was raw fish, but Stac corrected me. Of course my kids know more about this than I do.  Apparently that is to cleanse your pallet. I had no clue.  It tasted like chewy mouthwash to me. ICK!

Anyway the rest was good so I may even be able to convince hubby to eat there some time, or at least order pick up.

Then we walked around the square in town. There was a 50% chance of rain today so I thought it would be cloudy but it was sunny and humid today and really hot down town. It got to over 90 degrees outside.  I would have dressed for hot weather had I known.  I did get a hand made scarf that is really pretty and will go with many different color tops.  I think it was crocheted, but I'm not positive.

I see some lightening out now but don't think it is raining. We did get some rain when we were eating dinner.  Always good to get rain around here!  We'll take all that we an get.

Hoping I can stay awake for some Saturday Night Live later on.

Perfect Timing!

This was perfect timing for a long weekend for me.  It has been a challenging work week.  But it is Friday night and that is all behind me now.

My youngest just arrived for the weekend too so that makes it especially nice. Not sure what we're going to do yet but will be either movie or window shopping or both. 

I just heard it raining which is good because they are increasing our water restrictions to watering lawns only 2 days per week.  We were at 3 but I haven't been watering much unless it really needed it. If we weren't expecting rain this weekend I would have watered this evening as it is starting to look pretty dry.

I took the largest and smallest of our dogs for a walk this evening together. I haven't walked Ditzy that far before. It is about a mile and a half walk. I was concerned it may be a bit much after all she has to take two steps to every one of Merlin's.  But she did great. In fact, after we got home, she took a long drink of water and then still wanted to play ball after that. I'm going to start calling her energizer Ditzy.

Food blog?

I guess this lately is more like a food blog isn't it?  Oh well. I wanted to share the roasted mini pumpkins I made and the Dessert (Asian) Pears recipe that I made.

Here they are after filled with maple syrup, cinnamon, a few other spices and butter. Placed lid back on and put in oven for 30 minutes.

Smelled really good in the oven but unfortunately not enough 'meat' on the bone. There was only a few bites of each I could eat. The rest was really the outside. Would like to try it again with a larger pumpkin sometime

Here is one of the Pears that was in the crock pot all day. I added some orange juice and cornstarch to the syrup and let thicken up a little for 10 more minutes in the crock pot.

Then sliced the pear, drizzled the syrup and surrounded a scoop of ice cream with a little whip cream. Now this was yummy!

Hump Day

Today I did not work late. Yeaaaahh! :) 

Took my walk with hubby after dinner this time and it was much better than the very cold mornings. That is one reason I'm glad I didn't work late.  It is no fun going back to work after taking a nice brisk walk.

I had one of the sweet potatoes I got in my Greenling order on Saturday for part of my dinner. I cooked it in the crock pot. They are so perfect that way! A little bit of butter and yum!  No need to add anything sweet (like marsh mellows).

I also got two Asian pears in my order and they are some hard assed pears!  I forced myself to eat one of the last two pears I got last time and accidentally let the other one rot...or did I?  :)
But I got to thinking about doing them in the crock pot and found a nice crock pot pear dessert recipe that I am going to make for my dessert tomorrow. Now I am excited about these pears.  LOL

Still haven't roasted the pumpkins yet. I may do a few of the small ones tomorrow too. We'll see how hectic my afternoon is.  Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to get them ready since they are really small.

Going to catch some Criminal Minds now.  Be back tomorrow.

Beat

Okay I am tired. Even quick working before I really intended to. But you know when your brains are fried, it is time to give in to the mush for the rest of the night. Time to go relax in front of some mindless television show. :)

I haven't posted on my other blog yet this dish, but I tried the Southernbellegourmet French Onion soup on Sunday. For being a fairly quick soup, it was good!  I finished it off with some french bread that I actually placed on the bottom (but of course it rose) and mozzarella cheese in the broiler for a few minutes.  Next time I think I'll get slices instead of shredded cheese as it kept sinking to the bottom, but yum what a nice surprise when I got to it!

short

It is nearly 10PM and I'm just finishing up work so it was a long day back to work. Its all good though! :)

It was only in the upper 40s this morning when I took my walk.  Brrrr!!  I was freezing!  I think I'm going to start going back to walking after dinner instead of early morning. It is taking so much longer to get light outside too so just as well.

Well I am turning in soon and need a little down time first. So that's it today.

First time eats!

I got some purple hull peas in my Greenling order yesterday and have them cooking in the tiny crock pot I have along with some scallions (I also got). I found a recipe on line that I am making. The peas are cooking in a broth I made with chicken bouillon. Smells good!

 

Its been a lazy long weekend so far, so I decided to do some always endless housework today.  I'm on the 4th load of laundry and the sheets are washed and on the bed already. Usually I forget to make the bed and then do it in the evening when I don't really want to do it because I'm tired. :) 

I wanted to clean the living room today too.  Before cleaning the large area rug in our living room with carpet cleaner (powder) and vacuum, I decided to take a peek underneath the grip pad underneath it.  I expected to find some dirt but what I found was a layer of dried grime that I decided to clean with a sponge and bucket of water. Hubby helped too and we got the entire area under the rug. It was filthy! I really had to use some elbow grease in some areas! Oye!  I guess the temporary cleaning lady we had was right. This was one of the dirtiest houses ever! LOL!

No I don't really think so but I just didn't realize that the laminate floor below a grip pad and area rug both, could get so dirty!  Now that I know how much dirt can accumulate through an area rug and pad, I won't wait so long to clean underneath it next time!

Watching a movie Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman in it. It is pretty good. Looking forward to Once Upon a Time, Revenge and Betrayal tonight.

Note to self..

Note to self...if hubby has been doing the shopping and making most of the meals for months....look in the freezer once in a while to see what is there.  Saw some soup that is a year old, which I would have had sooner had I known it was there.  I don't really think (the nutrition or quality of) the  soup lasts a year so I tossed it.

Got my Greenling order today!!  Here is just some of what I got. I am anxious to try baking the mini pumpkins in the oven and I want to save the seeds too and try roasting them. That (roasting seeds) I have done before but have never tried baking a pumpkin in the oven.  Will try that tomorrow.  I also got some purple hull peas and am going to try them in the crock pot with a little garlic.

 

I'm pretty sure it is October but the shrubs around the shed are blooming nicely. See?

 

It is suppose to go down into the 50's tonight. At least we won't need the air conditioning on tonight!  In general I do not like it!  So glad will be able to just have the windows open for some fresh air.

Weird bug!

Enjoying my day off!  I keep thinking it is Saturday though.  Got my hair cut and yes most of the blonde did get cut out but at least it is shorty, short again so that I can spike it like I like to.

Then later on I went to our dog groomer with Kaci so he could show me how to express her anal glands.  She has a problem and starts to schooch around the floor when they are getting full and irritating. The vets office can do it for me at $21 a visit and recommended we bring her once a month! We did that twice already. Enough! Oye!  So I decided I wanted to try to do it myself. I talked to my groomer about my dilemma and he was so nice offering to show me how.  I sort of know how now but couldn't really do it. He said it took him weeks to figure out how to do it so we'll see. He also told me that if I want, I can have him do it for like $5 when I need.  I'm going to try on my own but that is way cheaper than what the vet's office charges, so I will consider that as my next option. My groomer rocks!!

Hubby saw this really weird beetle on the back wall of the house the other day and took this picture below. I have NEVER seen a bug like this. It is called an ironclad beetle (researched it on the internet). Weird huh?! Texas sure has some weird bugs!

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Yesterday's dinner was a turkey breast (crock pot) and some hash brown casserole that I had frozen a few months ago.  It was delish!  There was some leftover turkey and casserole. So today I put both on top of my spinach salad.  It was actually very good!

Thursday..well like Friday for me

I don't have to work tomorrow. That is the reason for the post title. So today may as well be Friday in terms of work purposes, tomorrow it will be 'long weekend' time! :)

I was just watching some TV while finishing up my exercises on my arms (weights). The national weather forecast came on and there is already mountain snow due in the northwest.  Then there was mention of Santa Ana winds kicking up for potential wild fires. What about the previous wild fires?  Are they all out? How about the ones in Colorado? 

Ever notice how when tragic news hits, it is all over the news for 3-5 days, but they never tell us, when the fires are all out in Colorado, or if all the roads are repaired for that matter due to the massive flooding there. Should we assume the massive flooding put out all the fires? We never hear about these events being over or at least well on the way to being fixed. Well maybe not fixed, how are tons of trees going to miraculously reappear in a few months?  Those who do not actually reside in these areas tend to forget. It isn't in the news anymore so everything must be fine, right?  I think not.  There are still areas affected by Hurricane Katrina that need help and that was 8 years ago since that happened. 

I just wish that the news would report on not just the newest tragedies but also report updates when fires are 100% contained, or damage from flooding is repaired. I sadly fear that these things drag on and on and maybe never get resolved?  I sure hope not.  I would think the fires do get contained and fully 'put out', but what about the rest.  Do some areas of devastation go without repair or rebuild forever?  Hmm......

Hump Day...

What is so great about today being hump day this week?  I only have to work tomorrow and then have off until Monday. Yep, still using up my vacation days. I already scheduled a long overdue hair cut for Friday morning. So glad there is an opening! 

Today I let a woman running for city council put one of her signs in our yard.  She actually lives up the street and I found out that she voted for the president just like I did. It is rare to find a Democrat in this state, let alone my street. I read about some of her goals and views and we have similarities there so she's going to get my vote!  It feels good to actually at least KNOW someone who is running. Usually in the local elections I vote for any woman's name first and then by random choice if there are no women listed. I definitely don't pick any first name matching my ex's.  LOL.

Tonight I made one of my favorite vegetable dishes Bok Choy and shitake mushrooms, well I added shallots from my greenling order over a week ago and some sweet red pepper from my balcony garden. I actually also got one tiny jalapeno too which hubby ate with his dinner.  I only grew 3 jalapenos from the plant I got and two of them I left on the vine too long I think as hubby said they were not good and he didn't eat them. But this third one is small and was 'hot'.  He loved it. 

Here's a picture of it. I put it next to a pen for perspective. It is tiny but at least it came out of my garden. I grew it!  :-)

Post a Day Month

I am going to post every day (unless I really truly forget) this month, for the fun of it.  Happy October everyone!!  For those who love Halloween this will be a month full of re-runs of Halloween and horror movies, costumes pumpkins, and the like!

We have so few kids in this area that last year we didn't even bother with candy.  Doubt we will this year either.  Hey, when the kids are grown and gone it just isn't that much fun to me to dress up (or not) and answer the door for only a few.  There was a time when I went full costume to work. I remember one year spreading green all over my face and painting a spider web on my neck.  The most fun of doing that was while driving. The double takes I would get from people was hilarious!

I work at home now so there is no need to dress up in costume. 

Well the government has officially shut down (somewhat anyway).  It is sad that this has happened.  I hope that the tantrum throwers will get over it and just get the government up and running again. Ugh!