1 Women, 1 Man, & 8 Paws

I lost my Cody bear...

I made the decision finally...

It was terrible...

He went peacefully...

I hope he is having fun in heaven with his younger Brother Zack...

I'll see you again someday, please wait for me...

Odds and Ends

The last time I posted it was a cry out for Cody Bear. Well, Cody Bear is still with us. He is hanging in there! I am afraid to take him to the vet because I know what he will say. Cody is not eating much, which is what is worrying me. I love him and need to know when it is the right time.

I have been ready busy lately at work and at home. Man is doing awesome on his diet and exercise. He has really surprised me! He has been going to the gym 5-6 times a week and really eating healthier. He has lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks. His will power is amazing. Stick a piece of chocolate cake in front of me and it will be gone!! His goal is to be at 220 by August. There is much more to this goal than just weight and I 'll go into that in another post!

Sammy and Cooper are doing great. Cooper is just going with the flow and as long as he is near Man or I he is as happy as can be. Sammy is a piece of work!! He was doing great on not digging in the yard or jumping on people. We seem to have gone backwards this weekend. He dug 4 holes in the yard on Friday night. I filled them in on Saturday and he dig 3 more! That little turd!! He jumped on me a couple times this weekend too!! I told him who was the boss and put him in his place! I hope it works!

I know I am rambling, I just can't gather my thoughts today!!

Cody Bear

Cody is getting very old... He is nearly blind and deaf... He sleeps all the time... He doesn't eat very much... He has lost weight...He wanders around aimlessly, sometimes staring in a corner...

How do you know when it's time?? How much does quality of life come into play?? Does anyone have an answer?? How cruel would we be to decide and Cody is thinking, "wait it's not time yet!!!" What do I do???

I love you Cody Bear!!

In the Kitchen...

I have been cooking lately, not very well, but I am trying. I have really been craving chocolate, especially chocolate cake! I didn't have all the ingredients, so I opted for brownies. Well, I didn't have any vegetable oil, so I used peanut oil. They came out weird. Not bad tasting, just very dense and dry. They did nothing for my chocolate craving though! I also made homemade BBQ sauce last weekend to use on ribs. The original recipe tasted too much like ketchup with lemon juice, so I spiced it up with liquid smoke, A-1 sauce, and chipotle spice. It was really good! The ribs slow cooked in the oven at 200 degrees for 7 hours and they fell off the bone! We have need eating a lot of fish lately. My favorite preparation is dusting the fish with blackening spice or Montreal seasoning and sauteing it in a little olive oil. It gets a little crust for so crunch. Very Yummy. Man wants to lose weight, so I am looking for healthier meals and lots of veggies. Did you know if you roast any veggie in a little olive oil and s&p-it's delicious???? This weekend I might do a beef stew, we'll see.

TV Time

As I have mentioned before I love my TV shows. Survivor, the Amazing Race, Project Runway, Barefoot Contessa, Keeping up with the Kardashians, American Idol, Little People Big World, 19 Kids and Counting, Top Chef, The Young and the Restless, Lost, Big Love, Big Brother, and my newest addition The Tudors. It's a lot I know! It's a little embarrassing, I know. Thank goodness for my DVR. It may seem like I watch a lot of TV, but if fact I watch very little TV. In the morning when I'm on the elliptical I watch The Young and the Restless on the web. In the evening I am able to watch one or two shows before bed, from about 8-9:30pm. An hour long show is actually only 40 minutes when you fast forward past the commercials! Right now pickings are slim until everything starts up again in February. I am catching up on all the episodes of The Tudors and Project Runway just started.

My thoughts on some of my shows:

The Tudors are fascinating to me and I love the clothes and the language of that time period. Everything is spoken with such purpose and slight riddle, you get what their saying but it still makes you think. The women on the show are basically used for sex and baby making. King Henry was a male slut!! The history is very interesting as well. Check it out!

Project Runway has been a bit boring since it left Bravo. The designers are just not that interesting. I am still watching because one of the designers if from my town. The designers are making really nice clothes too! The guest judges need to be a part of the show more, maybe stopping by the work room to check the designers progress.

You think with all the money they spend on cars and remodeling on Little People Big World that they could afford a housekeeper. Their house is disgusting. I would never eat anything out of their kitchen! I can understand having four kids, but come on! Please Amy and Matt Roelof-get a housekeeper and teach your kids and yourself some basic cleanliness. And Amy-quit pushing our husband out of the kids life!



Survivor-Villains Vs. Heroes, should be great! I think Russell will have met his match in this bunch of players. Plus Boston Rob is so nice to look at!

Lost will be on it's final season :( That's all I have to say about that!

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a couple sister wives, like in Big Love. It would great to always have someone around, but the whole rotating nights just creeps me out. I would always be wondering who Man like sex with the best! There would be jealousy for sure!

Happy watching!! Any shows you recommend??? There might be a little space left on my DVR!

Dirk Diggler

Sammy's new name is Dirk Diggler. Not because of his you know what, but because he is digging up the yard!!! He is making our yard look like the 18th hole on Caddy Shack!! We fill in the hole and the next day he has re dug it!! He has plenty of toys and chewy things! Anyone have any ideas???

Invasion of the Resolutioners

Not sure if resolutioners is a word, but those are the people who are invading the gym with their weight loss resolutions. I am a gym regular and don't want these fare weather gym people hogging the stair climbers!! It usually only lasts a couple of weeks, but until then it is the battle for the stair climbers. Right now there is only 3 working climbers, there is usually four. They are a major calorie burner and very popular. I like to use it to get warmed up before the fitness classes. I want my gym back. I am loyal to the gym, not just passing through.

Man made a resolution to lose 70 lbs. before our May cruise. I hope he sticks to it. He has been swimming laps at the gym for 30 minutes a day. Yesterday it was too cold so he did 30 minutes on our elliptical at home. He gets a little touchy with me when I talk about exercise with him. He needs to do the serious calorie burning cardo to get the weight off. I decided to let him alone, he'll do it if he wants too. I plan on cooking healthier food, but it will be tough since I love to bake. I've been craving brownies lately. Of course day 4 into Man's resolution, he calls me asking me to stop and get ice cream because he has a sweet tooth that won't go away!!! What am I going to do with him?? Yes, I stopped and got ice cream because I wanted it too!!! I did get Light Ice Cream and Low fat frozen yogurt though!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!!

It is 31 degrees at my house!!! I live in Southwest Florida for Pete's sake!! 15 minutes from the beach!!! Hello, Mother Nature, are you there?? I think she is vacationing in the Bahamas!! Where it's warm...

Speaking of the cold... Last night a neighbor came to our gate looking for their yellow lab. Her name is Roxy, the dog, not the owner. Roxy slipped out of her collar while she was on her run in the yard. Another neighbor said she was seen at our fence "talking" to Sammy. Man and I never saw a thing since we were in the house. Our property in completely fenced and we have a gate across our drive way. It was cold last night. I tossed and turned thinking about poor Roxy out in the cold. I kept looking outside hoping she was at our gate to visit Sammy. My plan is to get her in our yard, close the gate, and the go get her owners. I hope she comes back. Pray for a safe return for Roxy.

Christmas Catch-Up

Happy New Year!!! I hope 2010 is great for everyone. No resolutions for me-never keep them! I am going to try to work on being more prompt. I am always getting to work right on the dot and I get really stressed about it. I need to give myself just 10 more minutes!! 10 minutes that's it!! Can I do it??? We'll see...

Christmas came and went in a flash. Man and I were alone for the holidays, which was fine. We were both off Christmas Eve, Day , and then the weekend. On the Wednesday before Christmas we were invited to a friends house. They were staying at someones house because their place was being repaired (long story). The house they were staying at was amazing!! It was 6,000 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, pool, hot tub, and fire pit. The kitchen and family room was one big room that opened up via sliders to the pool area. Part of the pool area was under roof and it had a BBQ cooking area. We cooked and ate outside by candle light. They had a media room with a movie screen size TV and reclining leather chairs with cup holders. It was so cool. We built a fire and hung out. It was fun. They wanted us to bring Cooper and Sammy along because they have a chocolate lab too. The dogs had a blast, running around until almost 11pm. Sammy pulled a fast one on us. He helped himself to 4 hotdogs on the kitchen counter when no one was looking!! We were so embarrassed, but it was really funny!! We know it was Sammy because he is the only dog that stands up to the counters. A very bad habit we are trying to break with him. I loved the house and have been day dreaming about living in it and hosting our family for the holidays.

Christmas Eve was spent at the gym and hanging out around the house. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant (we had a gift certificate). It was really good. We ended up in bed early because we were so tired from Wednesday night.

Christmas day was very nice. We woke early and opened gifts. The dogs were excited about their raw hide bones. Man did a good job. I got socks, a gift card for workout clothes, a Walmart gift card, new set a makeup brushes, Sarah Palin's book, a Sony Reader (like Amazons Kendell), and a large dutch oven I always wanted. There were a couple things on my Christmas list I didn't get that I really wanted :(. Man always wants a list then he doesn't follow it!! I am very happy with what I got though! We walked the dogs and called family. I made french toast and bacon for breakfast. We munched on cheese and crackers in the afternoon and then made Christmas dinner. We grilled out, steak for Man and chicken for me, and made homemade mac n' cheese and sauteed green beans with onions. I also made chocolate pudding for dessert. It was a great meal! I was a "bad food day". Christmas was quiet and very relaxing, as it should be...

We spent the rest of the weekend running errands and relaxing. It was too short, but very nice!

Back to the Sounding Board

I'm back!! I've missed you!! The holidays flew by... Work has been busy too, so I have not posted mich at all. There is so much to catch up on! More to come...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

I Love Christmas!!

I love my Christmas tree, I must upload a photo of it, but this cute little tree to the left will have to do!! Don't you love Christmas?? I love the decorations, the hustle and bustle, the food, and the cards. I love the nostalgic feeling I get with a familiar Christmas smell or memory. I enjoy turning off all the lights in the house, except for the white trees lights and just looking at the tree.

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

My favorite memory is going to get our Christmas tree in PA with Man and our dogs. At that time we only had Cody and Zack (our Boarder Collie last passed away last December) and we would take them along with us. We went to a house near our local ski area (tiny ski area we called Slushy Mountain) that sold trees from the woods he owned. You just parked your car and he gave you a saw and you trekked out into the woods and cut it down yourself. It was so beautiful in the woods, especially if there was snow. Cody and Zack loved to go and run around the woods. Zack loved the snow!! He would push snow at your feet hoping you would throw a snowball for him to chase. We would search and search for the most perfect tree and then drag it back to the house. The old man there would look at it and say something like "looks good-how bout $25?". We would load it in the back of the truck and head home with exhausted dogs to decorate.

Worst Christmas memory??

I have 3 bad memories....

My aunt committed suicide a couple days before Christmas when I was 13 years old. It was a very difficult Christmas, lots of tears. No need to say anything else about it.

There was a Christmas when I was like 10 years old and all my Mom got me and my sister was $10 in a Christmas card. It wasn't the fact that all we got was $10, it was the motive behind it. I have always felt she did it just to see what kind of reaction she would get from us. We just said thank you, she got no reaction out of us. She never said anything like money is tight this year, so this is all I could do. I always knew money was tight, so my expectations were always low. I want to believe she did that because of lack of money, but there is something in the back of my head that keeps coming back to the notion of vindictiveness. My Mom had it rough at times and I wouldn't put it past her to do something like that to us. Let's just say growing up with Mom wasn't the happy go lucky childhood that most kids have.

My third bad Christmas memory was when I was around 11 or 12. Our Dad didn't have enough money for Christmas presents for us. He was able to get us a few small things, but then promised to take us shopping when he got paid. My parents divorced when I was 8 years old. Dad paid child support to my Mom and she tried to get him for every penny she could. She would take us to the doctor over a sore throat and make my Dad pay the bill. What kid doesn't get dozens of sore throats growing up?? You don't go to the doctors for each one!!! Anyways, I felt really bad for my Dad because he was so sorry that he could do more. I remember him explaining and dropping his head down and saying he was sorry. He felt so bad, but my sister and I were fine with it. Again-we always had low expectations! I think of this as a bad memory because I know how bad my Dad must have felt that Christmas. I feel bad that he was hurting.

Even with all those bad memories, I still love Christmas!! Man and I have made our own memories and traditions. This year I am still trying to decide if I should bake Christmas cookies or not. I usually give most of them away. Man and I certainly don't need them in the house and he doesn't want me to take any to his work! I am leaning towards no. If I do it, it would be this weekend. This weekend may be my birthday weekend, since our water problem ruined it the first time. Thinking if a movie on Saturday afternoon and then dinner. Any movie ideas?? I am leaning towards The Blind Side. We will see what happens...

The $1200 Shower

Well my birthday dinner and movie never happened this weekend. Our water softer had to be replaced along with a pump and some piping. Our water pressure had been low for a few weeks, so we called our plumber. Since we have well water, our water softer was clogged up with yucky stuff, preventing normal water flow. The pipes had narrowed from the build up of 11 years of well water yuckiness. The pump was working so hard to pump the water that when we replaced everything it couldn't keep up with the now normal water flow. Man had to go buy a new pump. So, $1200 dollars later we have a heck of a good shower now!! This all happened Friday night to Saturday morning. We had no water during that time, which is not fun. We cancelled dinner Friday night because I had a money melt down. No movie on Saturday because Man spent most of the day replacing the pump in the pouring rain. Overall I am very happy with our water pressure now, but bummed out because my birthday celebration didn't happen. I never knew our shower could be so great and for $1200 it better last for years!!!

The Biggest Loser

I am a big loser!! I was whining about no one remembering my birthday and I was wrong.
Man sent me beautiful flowers, my co-workers brought me a big chocolate dessert and sang, both of my Grandmas called, my Uncle called, and my Dad and Sister left a message on my phone. My best friend from high school & college sent me an email. I got cards in the mail from my in-laws and my Dad. The dogs and Man got me cards and a cake too. We are going to dinner tonight and a movie tomorrow. No more whining for me, it was a good day!!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

Yes, it's my birthday!! I am 38 years old today!! Help me! No plans really, unless man surprises me. I doubt he will because he never has before. I am feeling a bit down because no one has acknowledged my b-day. Man called from work this morning, but that's it. No emails from family and only 2 b-day cards so far. Am I getting too old to feel like this? Am I being a baby?? I don't like attention, but I make an exception to my b-day. A little attention would be nice. I did tell Man not to get me anything. I said I just wanted dinner and a movie this weekend, which is planned already. Maybe I am testing Man, but that's not fair to him because I told him no gifts. No one at work remembered it's my b-day either. Should I tell people? If I do that then I feel like I am asking for something. What's wrong with me? Is it me or everyone else?? A cake would be nice. I make them for everyone else. What about me?? I'll quit whining now.

Anyways, Happy Depressing Birthday to me!!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!!

We had a busy weekend! Thanksgiving was okay. I went to a special spin class in the morning. It was a 1 1/2 hour endurance spin and it was great! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up, but it was good. The first 40 minutes were the worst, then I got into a groove and sailed through the last 50 minutes. I felt so good afterwards! when I got home I made SOS for lunch. SOS is creamed chipped beef on toast. I was delicious!! I like to make a special breaksfast or lunch on holidays. Man and I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the garage and talking on the phone to family. We are pretty disappointed in our families because no one called us!! Man didn't call his family because he was pissed that no one called him. His sister did text him though. My Dad, my Mom, and my sister were all not home. I did get to talk to my Grandma and my Aunt, who filled me in on all the gossip. In fact, I had no idea were everyone was for Thanksgiving. It is a bit disheartening that your own family is not interested in wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. Oh well, I tried...

In between mostly unsuccessful phone calls I tried to make a carmel sauce for my apple pie. I got one shot at it because I had just enough sugar for one batch. It was a complete flop! Who knew carmel sauce was so difficult to make?? You had to stir it until the water and sugar turned light brown. Light brown never happened... It went from clear to crystallized sugar. I added more water to try to dissolve the sugar again and it still wouldn't turn light brown. I just dumped it out!

We had Thanksgiving Dinner at the in-laws, it was okay. They didn't eat until almost 6:30 pm and there were no mashed potatoes! That should be a sin, mashed potatoes are a Thanksgiving staple!! Overall, the food was okay. I definitely didn't over eat! Yea! My pies were delicious too. There were only 5 of us for dinner. The 5th person was a friend of the in-laws. When she drinks too much wine she starts to make no sense! I miss the big family gathering with card games and football.

On Black Friday I went to the gym in the am and Man and I hit the stores in the afternoon. We had lunch at The Cheesecake factory and it was great. They have a salad that I love. It has mixed greens, roasted asparagus, beets, pecans, and goat cheese. I eat it without dressing and it rocks. I think it is called the French Country Salad. We also shared chips and fresh guacamole and of course there was cheesecake... Man had key lime cheesecake and I had the holiday special cheesecake-peppermint and white chocolate- it was amazing!! Parking at the restaurant was a hassle! It took Man 20 minutes to get a spot, needless to say he was in a rotten mood when he came into the restaurant. I managed to cheer him up though! After lunch we did some shopping. It really wasn't too bad at all, maybe because we waited until after lunch to start. We spent the rest of Friday evening at home.

Saturday I when to the gym and then finished shopping that I couldn't do while Man was with me. I did some work outside with the dogs. We went and got our Christmas tree!!! We get a real tree every year from the Bonita Springs Rotary Club. Prices were down this year, only $55 for a 6 foot Douglas fur. Then we went to Bella Maria for dinner and it was very good. It is a family owned and operated Chilean restaurant. The food is amazing, but service can be slow. They also have a lot if misspellings in their menu, it's funny.

Sunday I skipped the gym!!! I rarely do that! Don't tell anyone! Man and I walked the dogs and read the paper. I cleaned out our closet and rearranged our computer room. We had sold our treadmill that was in that room, so I wanted to change it around a bit. We have a lot more room in there now. We cleaned the boat, which we are selling too, we never use it! I did some laundry, reading, and made pasta with vodka sauce for dinner. Overall, it was a nice weekend with Man.

Last night we booked a cruise for May! We are going on the Oasis of the Sea, the new Royal Caribbean ship. We are going with friends from the east coast. It will be a lot of fun! Man and I may renew our vows since our 10th anniversary is in March. Who knows what will do....

Annoying Neighbors Are Gone

The annoying neighbors with kids are gone!! We had heard through the grape vine that someone had bought the house and were trying to evict them. They must have succeeded! They left a ton of crap in the house because it was all pulled to the curb! Yea, peace and quiet until the new neighbors move in! Please be nice people!!!

Sammy the Bunny Stalker

An Open Letter to All Cute Fluffy Bunnies:

Please stay out of our yard! Sammy will get you! If he comes near you, please don't make that high pitched squeaking , it will only make him think you are a squeaky toy! Have you seen what he does to squeaky toys? It's not pretty... I know our green grass and red warm mulch is very appealing, but for your own safety please stay away! Remember what happened to that bunny 2 months ago? How he lay lifeless in the garage? It traumatized me as much as it did you! Sammy doesn't understand how fragile you are, so please, for your own safety-stay away!

Love,

Woman

Garage Organization Again!

Man is organizing the garage again! This will be only the fourth time in three years! I helped him a little bit last night, but mainly watched. He is always searching for more room for his motorcycle. Honey- the garage is only so big...

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

We are spending the Holiday at the in-laws on the beach. Don't get too excited, we probably won't even step on the beach! Remember Man and I are mountain people! It will still be beautiful to look at from their patio! I am in charge of dessert-big surprise! I will be making pumpkin pie and apple pie. Man loves my pumpkin pie and my Father-in-law loves apple pie. This year for the apple pie I am doing a crumb topping drizzled with homemade carmel sauce. I hope it turns out great! I am having a large slice of the apple pie-just to warn everyone... I love the holidays, but I am not a big fan of hosting the festivities. You know my cleaning issues? So if someone else volunteers to host, I am all up for that! Of course I will help out as much as possible! I will also step up to the plate is no one else will host. This week Man and I took Friday off, so we have a four day weekend. We are excited to sleep in 4 days in a row!!! The gym is open on Thanksgiving-I know- roll your eyes-and I am going to do a special 1 1/2 hour spin class in the morning and then yoga. All this before 11am, so the whole day is not at the gym! I want to burn the calories before I eat them! I will also participate in the traditional Black Friday shopping fun! I have a list and a game plan all ready. I love the vibe on Black Friday and the crowds don't bother me in the least. I won't head out until close to lunch time, I'm not an early bird shopper. Besides, I will go to the gym Friday morning for Power Pump and the dreaded stair climber. We will also check out the Bonita Springs Rotary Club Christmas Tree tent to see if they have trees in yet! Maybe I will have a picture on my Christmas tree posted by Monday! It should be a fun weekend! Have a great Thanksgiving and happy shopping!

Yummy Lunch

I just meet Man after the gym for lunch at PF Changs and it was good! I had tofu lettuce wraps and Ahi tuna. Great job PF Changs for having delicious and healthy food! Now it's time to walk it off with the dogs outside. It's a gorgeous day! Happy Sunday!