Just The Two of Us

I've Been A Little Sparse Lately...

... on time, that is.  Life has gotten just a smidge crazy here in these parts over the past couple of weeks.  Enjoy the "holiday" week and I'll meet you back here in the new year.  And by the new year, I don't mean July.  I'm good with January 1st, just in time to discuss last year's resolutions.

See you then.  In the meantime you may want to go to the gym to work off all that food you've eaten this past week.  Oh wait, nevermind.  I was talking to me.

Merry Christmas...

...to ME!

Have no fear, the Buick is still here.  My car with 213,000 miles has now been absconded by RW for the sole reason of the heated seats. Well, that and it's not a manual like his Honda.  Can't say that I blame him, as heated seats were a non-negotiable for me in my our new car.  It's somewhat of a necessity here in the winter wonderland of MN.  Yes, notice the 6 feet of snow. So very glad we purchased that snow blower last month.  What would we ever have done without it?

So, you may ask... what will we be doing with the Honda, since RW appears to now be driving the Park Avenue?  Why, we keep it, of course.  At least according to RDub.  I have different opinions, but I'm not exactly in a position to argue on this one, am I, with the new car and all.  So lucky us.  If you count the Goldwing, we now own 5(!) vehicles.  And insure every last one of them.  There are 2 of us.  Do the math.  Can you see my slight angst about the non-necessity of this particular situation?  But again.  Not really going to complain.

I'm happy - I have a new car.  RW's happy, as he figures he now has no need to do any Christmas shopping.  I'd call that a win-win.

 

One of the Things I Love Best

Winning.

Naughty and Nice

I just have to say it to get it off my chest, as perhaps I'll start to feel better.  Or generate some empathy from someone.  Neither is particularly likely, but I'm going for it anyway.  Are you ready?  Ok, here goes.  Our dog has been particularly naughty lately.

Shocking, I know.  Surely ZeketheFreakRatTerrier is just the most well-behaved dog ever, right?  Ha.  I look at people in confused disbelief whenever I hear what an obedient dog we have.  I suppose it must be similar to my friends who leave their kids in our care, only to be slightly suspicious of our honesty when we inform them that they were perfect angels.  I'm guessing that dogs, like children, know when to put on the halos. ZeketheFreakRatTerrier knows when to take it off, as well.

Don't believe me?  Let me give you some examples, and you can judge for yourself.

Last week at my mom and dad's house, Zeke acted like he wanted to climb onto "Grandpa's" lap, which my dad positively loves.  However, it was all a guise.  He was using him to get to his spritz Christmas cookies, sitting on a plate next to my dad, looking positively scrumptious.  ZeketheFreakRatTerrier knows perfectly well that this is not acceptable behavior.  He actually glanced in my direction to see if I was watching him, and then started inching closer and closer to those cookies, keeping an eye on me the whole time.  Lovely.

Then we have the little issue of our yard.  Our yard does not live up to ZeketheFreakRatTerrier's standards. He prefers the neighbors yard.  Or really, any yard that is not ours.  We thought we had fixed that little problem with an electric fence, and it did work for quite some time, but this past week we kept finding him beyond the range of the fence.  Last night was pretty much the last straw, as I went outside to find him not only outside the range of his fence, but actually inside our neighbor's fenced yard.  Again, lovely.

As it turns out, ZeketheFreakRatTerrier was getting shocked, he just didn't care.  I took it upon myself to tighten up his shock collar and also crank up the degree of "shock" that he was receiving.  I'm happy to report that he is back on his very best behavior.

I think ZeketheFreakRatTerrier understands when he's gone a little too far, because he'll take it upon himself to do something to get himself back into my good graces.  A few nights ago I was sitting at the computer in our library.  Zeke's dog bed is just through the door in the dining room, perhaps 6 feet from where the computer is, and within sight.

Now, Zeke really prefers to be in the same room.  He's a pack dog, and we're his pack.  He didn't appreciate being in the dining room when I was in the library.  Don't get me wrong, he is not confined there - he could have walked over any time he wanted and plopped down at my feet. However, he prefers to sleep on his dog bed.  This presented a dilema for poor ZeketheFreakRatTerrier.  He wished to be with me, yet he also wanted his creature comforts.  So he took it upon himself to solve this little problem on his own.

He decided that his little 10 lb dog body should be able to move the bed into the room, and he gave it his best shot:

However when it became stuck in the door frame, he must have realized his limitations and gave up.  Or, he decided that he was now officially in the same room as myself and called it good.  Either way he momentarily made me forget how irritated I was with him.  I may have even laughed.

So yes, while ZeketheFreakRatTerrier is very naughty, he is on occasion, pretty nice as well.  I suppose he can stay for awhile longer.

 

Sweet Success?

This week's Pinterest project comes from my "Rent-a-Kid" ideas Pinterest board.  Candied popcorn.  It's colorful.  It's sweet.  It's fun, right?

Well the kids (and again, by "the kids" I mean Karen's kids, in case anyone gets confused and wonders how RW and I suddenly produced progeny of our own after all these years) thought this idea sounded just grand when I informed them that we were going to make special popcorn.  Colorful popcorn. 

I arrived at their home, ingredients in tow.  They weren't that terribly difficult to carry, as the ingredients consisted only of sweetened condensed milk and a few flavors of jello.  We pulled out the air popper and started popping.

Meanwhile back at the stove...

I'm fairly certain we stirred about 10 minutes longer than necessary, only because there were 3 colors and 3 kids old enough to stir.  Apparently they have yet to figure out that standing at a hot stove stirring something for 15 minutes is about as exciting as watching a tree grow.  Not that I'm complaining.  I fully realize that as the kids grow I shall have to up my game a bit.  But for now, stirring pots of funky colors is just about the best thing ever.

We poured the colors over the popped popcorn and popped it in the oven.  I know.  It's a lot of popping.

And then we waited.  And we (this time the "we" refers to Karen and I. Just trying to confuse you) also endured endless questions from the kids.  "Is it done yet?"  "How much longer?"  "Deb, can we eat it yet?"  Eventually the oven timer beeped.  Now a very dedicated and selfless person would have jumped up and immediately whisked themselves over to remove said popcorn from the oven and present it to excited children.  Just so we are clear, apparently I am not that person.  After Karen and I finished our game (Monopoly cards, for the intensely curious), I sauntered over and took a look:

Well, it did live up to it's promise of being "colorful".  It was also sticky.  This is the part when "evil Deb" secretly laughs at her best friend, seeing as they are her kids and therefore by default, her mess.  Ok, not really.  I'm not that mean.  Usually.

The kids gathered up with their popcorn bowls, excitement oozing from their every pore.  We dished up and they headed back upstairs for their Friday night movie.  A few minutes later, Jentzen appeared back downstairs, bowl in hand.

"It's too sticky,"  he practically whispered, his five-year-old eyes averted.  "It doesn't taste like popcorn."

Karen told him to put in a bag of microwave popcorn for himself.

He did, and then ran back upstairs, non-sticky, regular popcorn in tow.  Then, in a chain-reaction sort of way, the other 3 kids tip-toed down the stairs one at a time, also looking for regular popcorn that was, apparently, easier to eat.

So I have to tell myself, sometimes it's about the journey, not the end result, right?  At any rate, I'm pretty sure we all had fun even if they didn't eat it.  After all, they did get to stir.  Sweet.

 

Exciting Times

Siblings

Aid For An Old-Style Phone

I know, I know.  I'm fairly certain that I had designated Monday's to be Pinterest day, and here it is, Tuesday.  Just getting going and already a day late.  This unfortunate tardiness was the fault of Mike and Herb (who I naturally wish to call "Erb" until I, once every 5 minutes, have to explain to myself that he is a guy, not a leaf of basil).  Mike and Erb Herb are the 2 gentleman who were whipping our rears at 500 last night during the monthly card club game, which takes place in the basement of a local catholic church.  

Never mind that RW and I are the 2nd youngest pair in this card club (Karen and her sister have us beat in that category).  But think about it.  If RDub is 56, I am 40, and we are among the youngest there... oh - and we still get beat just about every month.  I guess we don't yet have the... lifetime experience... of our competitors.

So here we are, on Tuesday, for Monday's Pinterest project.  Got all that, or are you as confused as I am?  This weeks project was this.  I thought, even though I'm not terribly practiced in the whole "crafty-do-it-yourself" arena, that I could probably give it a shot.

My phone-charger-holder-thingie started it's long and smooth-but-not-greasy life as a Lubriderm lotion bottle:

I know how impressed you must be at the fabulous lighting in that picture.  Yup, photography is just so my thing.  Ha.

I took a little bit of time to cut out the shape, but let's face it, not quite enough time, as mine ended up a bit kitty-wonkus.  Don't bother looking that one up in the dictionary, I am pretty sure it's not there.

After it was cut out/up (whatever!), I hauled out some card stock and Mod Podge and went to work.  Mr. Lubriderm bottle was reborn, and my (retro) phone went from frying on top of the radiator...:

to charging like a civilized phone:

Again, the lighting.  I know.  And those shadows are so artfully composed, don't you think?

All in all, a relatively successful Pinterest week, don't you think?

Lost, But Not Gone Forever

Hey.  Remember that time that I thought it would be just so festive to have a contest to guess how much money was in my change jar?  And remember that super cool prize the winner would win?  Uh huh - that Nintendo DS.  If you need a refresher, you can look here.  And to continue the sad, sad tale, you may recall that once Karen won that DS, it grew legs and walked itself out of our home.

I could.not.find. that stupid thing great prize anywhere.  I do not kid when I tell you that I tore the house apart.  I looked everywhere.  And I mean, everywhere.  I was significantly mystified.  I always kept it in the same place, and it was - to state the obvious - NOT in that place.

I finally gave up on trying to find it in a respectable time-frame (or ever), and purchased a replacement DS for Karen.  I never stopped thinking about it, though.  My poor, lost, Nintendo DS.  Every so often, if I was walking past one of our bookcases, I even stuck my hand behind all of the books, just to make sure that I didn't, in a moment of... weirdness, store it back there.  I never had any luck there, and I'm pretty sure I'm glad about that one.  Otherwise I'd worry about my 40-year-old self.

Let's fast-forward, through many, many months of the lost DS.  Many months of irritating curiosity, wondering and wondering and oh- wondering some more, what on earth I had done with it.  I had myself half convinced that I had left it in my car and it was taken that night that the neighborhood kids (or perhaps their friends) canvassed every car in a 2-block radius, looking for who knows what.  We're fast forwarding, remember?  So I need to stop talking about the past.  I'll move right on to the present.

Last week, RW and I were watching a movie, or the news, or whatever it was we were watching.  That's not important.  The important thing is that we were sitting in our theater chairs, which are 2 large leather reclining chairs with a console thingie in the middle.  When they recline, it creates gaps.  I routinely find copious numbers of hair-binders under the chair, because I apparently remove them as I sit there.  Anyway.  My phone fell through a very narrow slot, and I started going about the frustrating business of attempting to retrieve it.

Since going in from the top wasn't working, I reclined the chair all the way back, so the leg rest was up in the air.  Why, you ask?  So I can get on the floor, on my belly, and attempt to inch my way under that recliner to GET.MY.PHONE.  Can you sense I was getting a little frustrated?  Particularly since RDub already happened to be lying on the floor a foot from where I was, yet he did not feel compelled to rescue his wife from the indignity of contorting herself under that chair.

This position also ended in failure.  I admit, I felt like throwing something.  Ok, not really, but I could have gotten more than a little satisfaction in flinging one of those hair binders in RW's direction, but alas, that's difficult to do when you have about a centimeter of clearance on any side of you.  So instead, I inched my way back out from under the recliner.

I made it clear to RDub in the most loving way possible (that I was currently capable of in that moment), that I could really use his help.  Realizing that his time had come, he started inching under the chair, while I flung myself across the top of it to direct his long arms from above to the prize, my phone.  It was in that moment that something caught my eye.  There was something lodged in-between the the chair and the console, about an inch down from where I plant my behind every time I'm in that room.

Momentarily distracted from my phone crisis, I reached in and retrieved the object.  The object that looked remarkably like my Nintendo DS.  The one I haven't seen in over a year. The one that still had the green battery light glowing.

Yes, yes it's true.  The lost DS has been sitting with me, in the same spot, since - oh, the last time I saw it.  Which can only mean one thing, right?  We need another contest.

 

Glowing Reviews - Pinterist Interest

So how many of you have heard about Pinterest?  The site that can keep you completely occupied for hours - a mind-boggling sucker of time.  And yet, so addicting.  You wouldn't believe how many great ideas I've found on Pinterest.  Like I posted on Facebook not so long ago, I've found so many amazing things for my wedding!  Too bad I got married 13 year ago.

So many cool ideas. The problem is, how many of them do you suppose I'll actually do?

Well. That's where the blog comes in.  Every Monday for the next conceivable future, I will be posting on something that I made, cooked, organized, or whatever else, based on an idea from Pinterest.  Should be interesting.

So since today is Monday, and since I've just announced that Monday's will be Pinterest days, here goes. My very first Pinterest experiment.

Did you know.. (AMAZING what one learns from Pinterest!) that when you mix baking soda and peroxide with Mountain Dew, the Mountain Dew glows like a light-bulb?  Huh?  Did you know that?  I didn't know that either until Pinterest educated me.  What a fun "science" experiment to do with the kids, right?  And for those of you who are new here, by "kids", I mean our friend's kids.  Since we don't have any of our own, we are owners of and participators in the Rent-A-Kid program.  Never heard of it?  Well now you have.  We rent them for a time and give 'em back.  

So anyway, I arrived at Karen and Nathan's house with 4 bottles of Mountain Dew and much fan-fare.  I told those kids that we were going to do the COOLEST thing EVER with Mountain Dew.  We were going to turn it into a FLASHLIGHT.  They were duly impressed and couldn't wait to give it a try.  However, I made them wait until we were done making our chicken mummy.  Yeah, that's another post.

After the chicken was on it's merry way to mummization, we got out the baking soda, peroxide and Mountain Dew.  I started, in my best teacher voice, to explain chemical reactions to a 7-yr-old, a 6-yr-old, a 5-yr-old, and a 2-yr-old.  They weren't much interested in chemical reactions, per say.  I'd say they were more results-oriented.  They just wanted to see the Mountain Dew, in all of it's sugary glory, glow.

We turned off all the lights and gathered 'round.  I carefully spooned in the baking soda.  I measured out the peroxide and slowly poured it into the bottle.  I capped the lid on tight and shook that bottle like it was my own personal earthquake.  And then we stared at it, waiting for it to glow.

And we stared at it some more.

Nothing.

Nada.

No go on the glow.

Wanting to salvage just a little dignity, and in addition not pass up a teaching moment, I recovered by stating emphatically to the kids:

"..and THAT, kids, is why we don't believe everything we read on the internet."

They didn't think that was quite as funny as I did.

I'm hoping next week's Pinterest review will be a little more glowing than this week's was.

Cupcake Wars

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was fabulous.  I know ours was.  But instead of focusing on all the great family time, good conversations, good stories and lots of laughs that were to be had at our Thanksgiving table, I'd like to instead focus on the turkey.  This one:

Looks delicious, yes?  Ok ok, obviously this wasn't our Thanksgiving turkey, but it's a pretty good rendition of one, don't you think?  I can brag on this amazing cupcake only because I wasn't the one to make it.  You may remember how I make cupcakes for folks at work if they have the unfortunate opportunity of working on their birthday.  Well.  Jeanne, the other part of our management team (ok, the part that is a little bit higher than me on the "management team scale", decided that she would help me with this staff appreciation/birthday endeavor.

Fine, I said.  Bring it.

And thereby began...the Cupcake Wars.

Seriously, now.  Did she really have to go full-force and make The Turkey?  I brought one home to show RW, and his first words were.. "Wow.  Where does she go from there? She's left herself no margin!"  Exactly.  However, I can't even pretend that I wasn't impressed.  Seriously impressed. 

So this week when I made cupcakes for Karen's little Keira who turned 3 on Thanksgiving Day, it was hard not to be just a little discouraged.  Especially when RW came downstairs to look at the Moose's (meese?) I was creating for Keria.  In true RW fashion, he announced.. "Well.  They certainly aren't on the 'turkey' level, are they?"  Thanks, RDub!

 And like I told RW.. "She's THREE!  She'll think they are cool."

And did she?  Well, you be the judge:

Score.  Even though the antlers and ears were falling off, Keira thought they were the coolest thing ever.  And as for Jeanne? Apparently she's upping my cupcake game.  Bring it.

Sweet competition.