Give the dog a bone

Lily with her bone
Originally uploaded by wittyandsmart

I posted loads of dog pictures on Flickr because I was putting together the annual dog calendar and looking at them again today I just had to blog about the shih tzu who loves things that are bigger than her head. She's been known to attack a Care Bear and fling it around her head and take this bone for example. I got it for her about six months ago and it barely looks chewed. But she loves carrying it around and dropping it on the floor loudly. Probably to announce that she has entered the room. Must be her version of a calling card. I keep waiting for a bigger dog to come visit and chew the ends off of it for her so then maybe she can chew on it better. Until then it will continue to be her status symbol.

Lefse, The Family Challenge

It's been way too long since I made lefse and I'm out of practice. I don't roll it out much - usually my mother does that and I am the fryer. But I need to learn how to do it all because the only way to learn the traditions of my family are to do them with my family. First, I learned my kitchen is big enough to make lefse. Whoopie! I riced the potatoes for the first time because I have a ricer and it would remove the lumps. I must have done something wrong because there were still lumps in the potatoes and then I realized when I got to the bottom of the bowl that I didn't mix it enough. Today when I mixed the cold potatoes with the flour I'm not sure I kneaded it enough because it was still a bit sticky. Rolling it out was interesting. I ripped the dough quite a lot. Each rip was accompanied with cries of "For God's Sake" and "Good Grief" which made my mom laugh as she was frying. It still tastes good, but I think I can improve the process quite a lot with practice. The plus is that there is bound to be a lot of lefse in the practicing. Mom tried to make me feel better by saying maybe the potatoes were crummy. I'm quite certain it's the cook. But no worries, I will keep trying until I get it right. And at least even the practice lefse though thick and holy are still good.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Once I finished with Christmas shopping for other people I started doing it for myself. The emails from retailers are totally reeling me in. I've bought a treadmill and talked myself out of quite a few more items considering I also had to purchase a garage door. My old garage has been broken for awhile and last week it fell on my car. Thankfully there was no damage. It hit the windshield and popped back up. Talk about lucky (though whenever I get in the car I push on the windshield just in case it knocked something loose - better to test while stopped at home than while driving on busy roads). I had planned to reward myself with the garage door when I finished painting the garage, but I really don't want to chance hitting the car with the garage again and now that I have electricity in the garage it will be nice to have the opener installed as well so I don't have to get in and out of the car to get into the garage. I am pretty eager to get it installed and working - especially in this colder weather.

I feel a bit like I'm hearkening back to the Fargo/Moorhead days - long underwear and plenty of layers make the snowy weather enjoyable. I may have to break out the wool socks soon.

The Day Lily Killed the Cow

Squeaker prize
Originally uploaded by wittyandsmart

She only destroys a stuffed animal once in a blue moon, but when she does, she is so proud of herself. She goes for the squeaker first and then she becomes focused on removing as much stuffing as possible until the flat, empty animal lies on the floor, stuffing all around. When i pick it up to throw it away she will follow me to the garbage - as if I will also product a brand new stuffed animal for her to work on next. Which I guess is technically true because I do buy another animal from Target the next time I'm there. I picked up a squirrel she has already made two holes in which makes me think there was a good reason the squirrel was on clearance. That shih tzu just doesn't have the focus or strength to rip them apart that quickly.

I've put my cheer on and saved the economy

With the holidays quickly approaching I am slowly starting to get my butt in gear to get things done that need to be accomplished by Christmas. For instance, I completed all Christmas shopping except for one gift last Friday thanks to Amazon.com. I'm shipping most of it straight to people with the exception of my brother's gifts that I am holding hostage until he gets back from Iraq and brings his cute baby up to MN.

I do still need to ship some things to my sister in law for my niece. I swore I would not spend loads of money on a small baby who will have zero recollection of her first Christmas. But there is cute baby stuff out there taunting me. It's so cute I have to purchase and send it to her even though she won't remember it. The restraint has been much harder than I thought. I haven't made much either which isn't like me. Baby clothes don't take long and are so overpriced for the amount of time and effort it takes to sew them myself. I'm wondering if I'm impatient for the cuteness. I just can't wait until it's made.

And then there are the books. The ones I love that I am starting the collect for her. The ones she won't be able to read until she is much older. I am determined to be the aunt who does not spoil her with stuff, but spoils her with attention. I want to be the aunt that makes forts and bakes cookies and sews doll clothes with her. I learned years ago that attention is far more valued than stuff anyway. When Nicole was younger her favorite things to do were making something homemade, washing the car and vacuuming. It was a lovely period of time that faded with her desire to have the things her friends have - yet she still volunteered for the textile center fashion show with me last year so we could get in for free and talked about how much she liked helping people check out and wrapping up their purchases.

I am going to have to straighten up my act before Natalie realizes I'm a total pushover. That will be my New Years resolution.

I also spent the Sunday baking cookies, putting up the Christmas tree and constantly pushing the dog off my lap any moment I did sit down. It finally feels like Christmas.

That damn dog

It all started this summer.

I thought she just loved Tom the neighbor who typically sat outside listening to baseball games. She went outside, started barking and he would walk over and give her positive reinforcement, er attention. But then he moved away and she still asked to go outside and then sat on her butt on the sidewalk and barked. I only realized last week that she was accompanied by all the dogs in the neighborhood.

I haven't figured out if she decided to start a choir or a gang. So far there are no shady dogs hanging out nor do I see evidence of bribes. But she totally went after a German Shepard when we were on a walk Monday. Not like her and pretty stupid I think. Does she now own the neighborhood dogs? Do they fear the shih tzu?

I'm going to pretends it's a chorus - a super annoying dog barking chorus with really crappy compositions. These are the things I've tried in order:

1. Chasing her around the yard in circles until I feel like vomiting and have amused my neighbors long enough. Also Lily thinks this is the best game ever!

2. Yelling "Quiet!" from the backyard - she stares at me for a moment and then returns to the annoying barking.

3. Letting her out in the backyard with a leash on so I can catch the leash and drag her back inside. This is harder in the winter when I can't just walk outside, but must put on shoes and a coat first.

4. Asking her where her biscuit ball is and when she comes inside to look for it yell "sucker!" I'm certain she will not fall for it much longer. And she will bring me the biscuit ball over and over and starts barking inside.

5. Right now I'm making her wait outside in the cold after she has wound up the neighborhood dogs and would like to come inside. I ignore her for 5 minutes while she barks at the back door - something about the boy who cried wolf. Since she can't read I'm not sure this is helping much. Also my neighbors probably hate me.

I've tried discussing this all with her and she repeatedly brings me her biscuit ball which is a reminder to me that she only works for food and all this talking will accomplish nothing.

The Cheese Savior, Obviously

Janine called last night for a quick chat (which also helped me continue to procrastinate the task analysis I needed to finish for today) and while we were talking she mentioned that she was going to make macaroni and cheese from scratch. Both of us had parents who made it from scratch using Velveeta and while at the time I really liked it, I was a goner when I tried Kraft because it truly was the cheesiest. Ever since then I have made all sorts of homemade mac and cheese recipes looking for another so cheesy and less florescent orange and I've found a couple of good recipes that include fontina cheese. Janine told me hers includes Gruyere which must also be just as delicious because it's a pretty strong cheese. But while we were talking she couldn't find it in the fridge and then noticed it was still in her grocery bag from the purchase the day before. Thankfully for the INTERNET I could look up and see how long cheese can sit out for before it really is bad. Hopefully I was right and Janine is not wishing for my death because she has food poisoning. Erin, I recognize this will completely disgust you, but can I just say that cheese sits out while it ages and the INTERNET said you never even needed to refrigerate Parmesan as long as it doesn't get too hot out. And it would truly be a shame to throw out perfectly good cheese - especially when you're making macaroni and cheese.

Waiting for the new Iphone

IMG_4007
Originally uploaded by squakk

I really love the iPhone and I haven't even figured out what all I can do with it yet, but I think it might fold my laundry and also change the oil in my car. It can definitely hold lots and lots more than the iPod mini I had before. And it's sleek and fits nicely in my super cute purse. VERY exciting to have an iPod, phone and GPS all in one. I can't wait to figure it all out.

I also spend a wad of dough on bookshelves for the spare bedroom. I like to think they are interim insulation until I insulate the exterior walls this spring. Just lots of full bookshelves make me warm and cozy so obviously it will do the same for my guests. I was finally able to unpack the boxes of books I had waiting in the downstairs since I moved in over 2 years ago. Wow did I miss those books. There are a couple of shelves that are still bare, but I'm certain it won't be long before they are filled. Also, seeing the books when I walk into the hallway makes me very happy.