a little splash of christmas cheer

we had almost as much fun taking christmas pictures as we did taking halloween pictures, but they are worth sharing anyway!

 ollie always looks like he's up to no good...even if he's guiding a sleigh.

sadly, this is the best picture i got of all three.

oops.

this one is hilarious to me for some reason.

the best gift we got in 2011!

my beautiful boy

obedience...finally.

ha.

santa paws visited the pups, and they have since expressed their gratitude for their generous pile of gifts by playing exclusively with a red light bulb toy from the dollar aisle at target. we'll be scaling back considerably next year...i'm thinking: sticks from the yard and maybe some american cheese slices.

max absconded with joni's toy...

and later with her stocking.

max is an expert at the woolly mammoth bone...

while ollie just licked his (most of it is still in my kitchen somewhere).

joni ignored her joni-sized bone until she was comfortably indoors.

later in the season, i even got my act together enough to snap a few pictures of human christmas. the humans rallied and were able to have, in the words of clark w. griswold, the "hap- hap- happiest christmas since bing crosby tap danced with danny f**king kaye!" we had new babies to celebrate, my brother was home for the first time in a few years, and most notably, no one cried. here's hoping you and yours enjoyed an equally joyful and drama-free holiday season, and if there was chaos, i hope it was the good kind!

happy holidays!

a series of unfortunate halloween pictures

many sensible americans out there believe that it is ridiculous to put costumes and clothes on animals; they are not wrong. in fact, i used to be one of them. however, dressing up dogs is jolly good fun, and i figure that if the dog isn't trying to eat the costume, then it isn't too miserable. 

unfortunately for my dogs, i love halloween! max always gets by without having to wear anything too horrible since he is the best one (and he already doesn't want to live with me). with ollie's comical ears, he has made a fantastic bat for both of his halloweens. and finally, poor, poor joni got a brand new bee costume. i thought it would be a hit, as it just velcroed around her, but something about the bee costume did not work for her. 

i set out to get a few cute halloween pictures of the wolf pack over here. all i really wanted was a good one of all three... 

these dutiful boys take halloween very seriously...notice who's missing.

bat dog here has the most ridiculous costume and was the happiest about having it on.

 joni said, "i don't know what y'all are doing, but i'm getting the hell out of here."

ollie tried to counsel her...

...to no avail.

at long last, a picture of all three, and somehow, there's a black plastic flower container in the background.

 the dark knight flew away after that...

...leaving me with this loyal subject (who had apparently failed to rescue that toy in the background).

the bee, it turned out, was more comfortable on human furniture than in the untamed wilderness of the back yard.

 i busted out their pumpkin shirts in a last ditch effort to get a decent picture of all these dogs:

this ham was happy to wear his...

...and the diva agreed to be photographed in hers.

 i gave up, though, when our photo shoot disintegrated into this:

 

 

 

once we went back inside, some little chihuahua was happy to pose for a few shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

we are a mess. anyway, happy halloween (now that it's the middle of november). at the rate i'm going, i'll be ringing in 2012 sometime next april.

 

pumpkin pancakes: a saturday morning adventure

my dad is, irrefutably, the greatest pancake maker on the planet. after every childhood sleepover, we could expect to wake up to an array of blueberry, strawberry, and chocolate chip pancakes. he became a legend among our friends. more recently, he began making these magical pumpkin pancakes from a recipe he found in the newspaper. he had a great phase of whipping up a batch of them almost every weekend throughout the fall and winter months. thanks to my dad, making pancakes was never something i needed to be able to do well.

unfortunately, since this fall began, no one has seemed very interested in making pumpkin pancakes for me. after a few weeks of grieving, i decided to attempt them myself. we've been unable to locate the newspaper recipe for a while, and none of the recipes i found online appealed to me, so here's what i threw together in a moment of inspiration this morning:

pumpkin pancakes


2 C. baking/pancake mix
1/2 C. plus 1 T. canned pumpkin
1 C. evaporated milk
1 egg
2 t. vanilla
2-3 T. brown sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. (plus a few sprinkles) cinnamon
1 t. (plus a few sprinkles) pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg

mix evaporated milk, egg, pumpkin, and vanilla in a medium sized mixing bowl with a whisk. add brown sugar, baking powder, and spices. mix thoroughly. add baking mix and blend with the whisk until just wet. the lumps in the batter are ok; if you mix it too much, your pancakes will be tough!

this batter is thick, so once it was on the griddle, bubbles do not rise to the top. 2-3 minutes per side on medium heat seemed to do the trick! i always use a 1/3 measuring cup to ladle pancake batter onto the griddle, but that is, of course, a matter of taste.

i will probably tweak this recipe in the weeks to come, but, all in all, i was satisfied with the finished product:

this cuddly winter chihuahua looks pleased as well.

back in action

i have a moderately functional foot and a fabulous new camera! here's hoping i'll feel more like writing in november...

perfect.

i've never been all that interested in perfection. i can remember being in elementary school and starting to notice the people who wanted to be the best at everything. maybe i had just taken the old "nobody's perfect" thing to heart, but i was annoyed (and not because i felt threatened, either). don't get me wrong...i'm comfortable with working hard, trying, and "doing your best." i guess i just always thought aiming for perfection was futile.

needless to say, with one working foot, my life is far less than perfect right now. you know who doesn't want to know that, though? people who ask, "how are you?" they're being friendly, and it's a nice gesture, but i'd love to see their reactions if i answered with, " well, i was up for an hour in the middle of the night because my foot was throbbing and then i was worried that i will have to have surgery and then i'll lose my job because i'll have to take so many days off of work and then i'll still probably never walk again and i'm only 27 and i didn't even do anything to myself and on the off chance that i have kids someday i won't be able to play with them and i'll probably just end up living on a bed in my parents' living room like the grandparents from willy wonka." that's exhausting. no one wants to be burdened with that nonsense, so i've been doing my best to spare them.

after two months of fake smiles and "oh, i'm great. don't worry about me"s, i am tired, but i move too slowly to avoid anyone. i'm pretty resigned to acting like this is all going to be better in a day or so and then grinning apologetically when able-bodied acquaintances notice that it's not. however, yesterday, i ran (ok, hobbled) smack into perfection, and i liked it! a principal at my school, whose good sense i've always appreciated, passed by me in the hall and said, "i'm not going to ask how you are anymore. i'm just going to say that i'm happy to see you." perfectly, absolutely just what i needed.

it's taken me until today to figure out why: i was relieved. there was no pressure to pretend, and all i had to say was "thank you."

now, i'm icing the offending foot while eating chips and guacamole and polishing of the rest of my shiner ruby redbird beer...i think this is more perfection that i can get on board with!

casualties, ultrasounds, and tuesday tv fun

it's like a bloodbath over here...pour out some of your 40 for:

-my right ankle- if you haven't seen me in a few months, i basically haven't been able to walk since mid-august.
-my left knee- thanks to 7 weeks of supporting my rapidly increasing body weight (no exercise + emotional binge eating), my already messed up knee is now burning, swelling, and cracking...loudly.
-joni (the 8 lb. chihuahua)- someone sat on her TWICE tonight and then stepped on her, again twice (and not even with the foot in the big-ass ankle boot)!
-my camera- it just....stopped. time for a new one, and i think i want to invest in something really fun...any recommendations?
-my frozen pea ice pack- ollie is currently nursing on a corner of it like a voracious infant.

in other news, i had my first ultrasound today.

ok, not that kind...but i finally got to go to physical therapy, and the therapy guru used an ultrasound machine to send good feelings into my ankle. it was magical. hopefully, i'll be able to walk before 2012. (back story: this injury did not happen while water skiing, kicking someone in the face, tightrope-walking, or anything else cool. it just happened...kind of like my camera. i'm a wee bit frustrated with how long it's taking to heal.)

well, i just realized how late it is. i guess the problem with recording every show that comes on tonight is that i can't use the red dvr light to tell time. now, i'm off to solve the biggest dilemma in my life: do i watch parenthood and feel like poop tomorrow, or do i scoot up the stairs on my butt and go to bed?


i know...i'm glamorous.

a happier time with my working camera (and my fuzzy green alter-ego)...i'll miss you, old friend.

hakuna matata

today, i decided to partake in one of my favorite activities: going to the movies alone! after a long week of having nosy adorable young people notice everything about me (a kid once pointed out my mustache while i was helping him with an essay), i love the anonymity of being someplace where no one cares what i say, do, or think.

another favorite activity of mine takes place only during summer afternoon thunderstorms: baking humongous m&m cookies while watching the lion king. i don't know why i do this, but it's spectacularly fun. since it did not rain AT ALL this summer, i missed out on this tradition.

obviously, i had to go see the lion king today. i even found some m&ms in my purse (a bag of them, not loose ones floating around the bottom with receipts and crumbs!). just when i had made my peace with seeing a movie in 3d, i found out it was playing in 2d, so i got to stay comfortably in 1994.

i had a wonderful time, but i realized that mufasa's death scene is much more painful when you can't hide behind the couch or run into the kitchen to "check on the cookies." ouch. i also finally figured out who this fool reminds me of...

ed the hyena!!!

all my underdogs

i live in a canine-dominated household. they are in my bed, on my furniture, underfoot when i am cooking, and following me into the bathroom. i sometimes worry that the amount of time i spend doing ridiculous voice-overs of their thoughts and rewriting pop songs to be about them makes me socially awkward. i obviously don't dwell on this, though, as i compose hits like "hey soul brotha." if you don't know me, or haven't seen me in a while, meet mi familia:

max the dog

 i got max in college (kind of by accident). we've had many adventures together, but he recently decided to move into my parents' pool. i plan to reclaim him if it ever gets cold here. (and yes, he has to fetch a ball in a sandwich baggie because his brother chewed a hole in it.)

oliver

 i adopted ollie last summer. he is an olympic-level barker whose favorite pastime is eating pinecones.

joni

i snatched this diva out of the middle of a busy street in march (while on a trip to taco bell...seriously). i tried to give her away, but she made herself at home (undoubtedly comfortable with a fellow lush).

they have a fabulous life, and meanwhile, i'm embracing/resigning myself to being the kooky dog lady!

a new hobby

i've decided i need something to do besides drinking cheap red wine and being married to my dvr. i spend an outrageous amount of time reading the blogs of others (strangers, if we're being completely honest), so i guess i'll try putting myself out there as well (not to mention that blogging appeals to the narcissistic writer in me...).

in between nagging me to produce a human grandchild and commenting on how dirty my house is, my mother is forever telling me to "be a writer." specifically, she wants me to write children's books. i teach middle school and therefore spend the majority of my time being kid-friendly. i need an outlet for, well, my actual personality. someday, i may work up the nerve to "be a writer," but this will have to do for now!