Bake Off

While my family was visiting over Thanksgiving, my brother decided to start some trouble.  While playing some games after dinner, somehow we got into a conversation about my baking and then it turned to my sister and eventually someone said, "You and Amy should have a bake off."  To which I replied, jokingly, "I would kick Amy's ass in a bake off."

Never one to let something go, and always willing to instigate something that will bring him food, JR took my phone and immediately texted that comment to Amy.  The following is a transcript of the frezied texting exchange.  Allow me to set the scene:  It's 10:00 pm on Thanksgiving night.  I am at home, having enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner, playing games with my parents, husband, brother and his girlfriend.  Amy as at her in-laws, having enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner, playing games with her in-laws, husband, sister-in-law and her husband, and there are four children under 7 who may or may not be around or awake.

Amy: No way lady...

Me:  oh, it's on...like donkey kong.

Amy: Bring it...

Me: oh it's already brought

Amy: Is that the eggnog talking? 

Amy: Even Ceil can't help you there. (referring to Grandma's "curse" on Amy)

Amy: Name your medium.

Me: um, cookies...bitch :)

Amy: I knew that...can you do anything else? :-P

Me: fine banana bread it is sucka

Amy: Love you!

Amy: That's fine.  But cookies is good too. Really.  It will be tasty.  I bake banana bread, but I don't eat it.

Me: betty crocker is my homegirl


Me: scared much? sounds like you're backpedaling. :)

Amy: Yes I'm scared.  Can you do a cookie from scratch?  no mixes or refrigerated dough allowed. (seriously?  I'm actually offended by this comment.)

Me: oh no you didn't

Amy:  Or...let's go straight to cake.  Paula deen is my bitch

Me: did karen (Amy's mother-in-law) just tell you to tell me that paula deen was your bitch?

Amy: Love ya...mean it!!

Amy: No.  Walter (Amy's father-in-law) actually.  And Shelley (Amy's sister-in-law)

Me: check betty crocker's facebook wall. you'll find the cookie princess featured.  you still wanna rumble? ;)

Amy:  Yeah why not?  Seriously...how much fun & tasty will that be?

Me: i make sara lee look like a hot dog stand with health code violations


Amy: Margaritas much?  Nobody does it like amy!! (Is this not the most random comment in this entire exchange?  How could I not ask her about her alcohol intake?)

Me:  how jack [daniels] have you had tonight?

Amy: "How jack"? You mean how much? Just one so far.  You?

Me: two yuenglings while cooking :)

Amy: Nice!

And that about ended it for the night.  Thirty minutes of texting ending with confirmation that perhaps we should not engage in drunk texting if were not even drunk.  A few days later we were actually talking on the phone and I explained that it all started because JR had sent the first comment.  And then we both admitted to be egged on by the co-conspirators around us who are really just looking for a means of getting to sample a bunch of yummy baked goods. 

Amy: But really, we should do this. I've been thinking about it.  We could have three rounds.  Round one would be a cookie. Round two would be banana bread.  And round three would be a dessert of your choosing.

Me:  You've put a lot of thought into this.

Amy:  I watch too much Top Chef Desserts.

Time and place to be determined, but looks like next time we get together, some lucky judge is going into a diabetic coma.

Car Jacking

Last week, Dave took Rondo out for a walk.  On his way home, our neighbor, Michelle, was driving her small sedan down the street.  We hadn't spoken to her since Chiquita had been adopted or since we'd gotten Rondo, so she stopped to check in on us.  Being a dog lover herself and knowing that we had been fostering, she rolled down the window to get the scoop on Dave's new friend.

While Dave and Michelle were talking through the passenger window, Rondo hopped up and put his front paws on the door to get a better look at Michelle.  She gushed over him and she and Dave continued talking.  Rondo sat back down on the ground.

The next thing either Dave or Michelle knew, Rondo jumped up, when through the open passenger window and climbed in the back seat of Michelle's car.  Both were completely shocked and Dave was mortified and this bad behavior.  They looked back and Rondo, who loves car rides, was sitting patiently, looking like he was wondering where he was headed.

Dave: Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. I can't believe he did that.

Michelle: Oh that's ok.  I can't believe he fit.

Dave: Well, he likes car rides.  I can't believe he jumped into the back seat!

Michelle: He probably smells the treats I just bought.  I was just at PetCo.

They look back, and sure enough, Rondo had his big head buried in a a bag, clearly searching for those treats.  ave opened the back door, convinced Rondo to come out before he stole any treats, and apologized again to Michelle.

The next day, I let Rondo outside and saw that Michelle was bringing in her dogs from their morning outing. 

Michelle: Hi!  Hi, Rondo!  He's such a pretty dog.

Me: Hi.  Thank you.  Yeah, sorry he car jacked you yesterday.

Michelle (laughing): Yeah, that's ok.

It's a good thing our neighbors like us.

Guest Room Redo

Dave and I have a guest room that over the past year became increasingly unusable.  Between pulling up the carpet due to a little water issue and using it as a catch-all for shipping boxes, wedding gifts and random stuff, it could barely be called a guest room.  While it still contained a fully made bed, there was so much stuff on the bed that it was really useless.  Although our friend Stacy did manage to move enough stuff so she could curl up in a corner and take a nap once.

Old "guest" room.  Love those lilac walls!

So before my family came to visit for Thanksgiving, we decided to not only organize the room, but to also give it some character.  It still had paint from the previous owners.  The terrible part about it is that the walls aren't actually dry walled--they have a flake board/particle board which makes it really difficult to paint.  Using a brush or roller would have used tons of paint.  So Dave had the bright idea to get a paint sprayer.  It's pretty cool and worked amazingly well. He picked it up on Craig's List for a reasonable price and if we ever move or redecorate again, we'll probably do very little painting by hand. In about an hour, after the room had been taped and prepped, all the paint was on the walls.  It dried pretty quickly too.  I have to thank Dave's mom, Madaline, for helping on this painting project. They had it all done one day while I was at work.

So much better!

We also picked up a carpet remnant for a good deal that fits the room rather well. There is a little cut out at the doorway in need of a throw rug, but overall it's complete.

And even better, after taking down the awful lace window treatments, Madaline offered to make us new ones.  So Dave and I hit up Joann Fabrics and found a pattern idea we liked and some fabric that works really well in the room. 

We're really happy with how everything turned out.  We still have a little organizing to do, but at least we can properly host guests now.  Although I'm pleading the 5th on what the guest room's closet looks like.

Some lingering wedding gifts and "stuff"

We can officially say that after 6 years in the house, all the rooms have been done.  I suspect that means we'll probably find a reason to move out of this house soon.

Meet Rondo

We were dogless for a little over a week, but now we have this new guy.  The timing was actually brilliant because Chiquita was adopted on a Sunday, then my family arrived for Thanksgiving on a Tuesday and stayed for a week.  Then we picked up Rondo on Wednesday.  So while we were without a pup for a while, we avoided having to put one through the stress of having a lot of people around in a new environment.

Rondo was found as a stray and taken in by Animal Control in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.  Our group was able to save him on his last day at Animal Control, so we're really happy that we could be involved in saving this guy.  He's a little over 2 years old and pretty mellow.  He's part Pit Bull, part Great Dane.  Apparently that means you get a dog who's lazy and has a big head and big paws.  He's very gentle and just wants to be near you.  We're pretty lucky to have such a laid back guy.  We had no idea how much work Chiquita had been until we spent our first evening on the couch with Rondo on the floor sleeping soundly the entire time.

He's pretty well-trained already. He knows basic commands and even knows to go to his bed when we tell him to go lay down, which is awesome.

The only issues we've noticed are his disgust with crate training and he's not that great on a leash.  He's a big guy (about 60 pounds) and our crate just isn't big enough.  After struggling and eventually tricking him into the crate a few times, we decided it would be better for everyone if we gave him a room.  So we dog-proofed our office and when it's time for bed or if we need to leave the house, we put his bed in there with a blanket and toys and viola!  A happy dog with room to stretch, but safe from any bad situations.  This also alleviated some mild separation anxiety which we think was directly tied to the crate.  I hate to think of what happened in his past involving a crate.

As far as the leash training, well, we're working on it.  Dave's been training him in the yard and got him on a few brief walks. There is some improvement, but he's so strong and it's hard to regain his attention when he's been distracted.  I can't walk him at all yet.  Last night I just took him out on the front yard to look at our Christmas lights and he wrapped the leash around my legs and almost knocked me over.  But we're getting there.  We decided against the gentle leader and opted for a harness instead, since it worked so well for us with Chiquita.  Hopefully after some consistency with Dave, he'll be walking properly. The good news is that he's so lazy that he doesn't need hour long walks like Chiquita did.  We can get away with just playing fetch in the back yard and he's completely worn out.

If you'd like to adopt Rondo or know someone who could give him a good home, visit All Dog Rescue for information.

Nothing Like a Warm Beer

If you couldn't tell from the Keisha vs. Grandma post, my Grandma is pretty hilarious and provides much amusement for those who know her.  She'll laugh at herself and has accepted that at age 87, she can do whatever she wants and get away with it.

So part of me wasn't surprised to find her drinking a warm beer one afternoon.  The other part of me thought she had lost it, since Grandma certainly can appreciate the tastiness of a cold beer.

While Dave and I were in Pittsburgh, we went with my parents to visit my grandparents at their apartment in their assisted living facility.  My dad provides beer for them like he's their dealer.  Except apparently the last time he was there, he hadn't put the entire case in the fridge.  He'd put about half in and then put the rest in the cupboard.

When we arrived, Grandma was happy to see us and excitedly exclaimed, "I'm drinking a warm beer."

At this point we all looked at her with question marks in our eyes.  Come again, now?

Grandma: I didn't feel good earlier, so I decided not to take my meds. Instead I decided to have a warm beer.

Hmm.  Either this was her way of saying the meds were making her feel bad, or she'd lost it.  Either way, we continued with our visit and eventually she convinced both my dad and Dave to have a beer with her.  They certainly couldn't let her drink alone.

After some banter about whether they could have cold beers or if they had to drink warm ones, they got their (cold) beers and then proceeded to drink them out of the can.  For which they were quickly harassed.

Grandma: Out of the can?  Yuck.

Dave: What's wrong with that?

Grandma: It doesn't taste as good.

Somewhere along the line a straw was mentioned, and Grandma thought that was a terrible idea as well.  Clearly the way to enjoy your beer is poured into a glass.  I wonder if the temperature matters.

A little while later, Grandma said, "Huh.  This warm beer is starting to taste pretty good."  Unable to contain himself, Dave said, "That's because you can't remember what a cold one tastes like!"  Which was pretty hilarious.  And because Grandma is funny, she agreed that he might have a point.

And then she questioned why she was drinking a warm beer.

For the record, Grandma hasn't completely lost it.  When I spoke to her on Thanksgiving, I asked her if she was having a warm beer.

Grandma: I'm never going to live that down, am I?

Me: Nope, sorry Grandma.  It'll haunt you for the rest of your days.

Grandma: Eh.  Whatever.

Chiquita Adopted!

So I took a  little hiatus for Thanksgiving.  I was very busy doing things and creating stories for you.  I promise I'll be better.

But the first story is a good one--Chiquita found her forever home!  We're so happy for her, and her new family.  From the first time we talked to her new owner, Steven, we knew she was going to a great home.  He was immediately smitten with her and kept asking us for more photos.  He asked all the right questions and made us feel very comfortable putting her in his care. We were really excited about him as a potential adopter. His application was great.  Steven is a police officer, has a regular work schedule so he gets home early and can walk her each day.  And he's just such a nice guy.

He had come to the house to meet her, and brought Jodie, his girlfriend, who despite not living with him will absolutely be Chiquita's new mom.  They stayed a hour with her and were positively in love.

Knowing this was a great match, we asked another volunteer, Cat, who lived near his home to do the home visit.  When she got there, they had bought the exact dog bed we had for her, made her treats and cookies, bought her toys.  Clearly, they were prepared.  Cat called us from their home and when she told Steven he would get her that day, he picked her up and gave her a big bear hug.

We drove Chiquita to her knew home, and although it was a little sad to know we wouldn't have her anymore, it was exciting to know that we were giving her to a great guy who would give her an amazing life.  We stayed about an hour with Steven, Jodie, and Chiquita, making sure everyone felt comfortable.  She immediately took to one of the toys they bought her--a pink fluffy stuffed puppy.  She dragged it around the house and tossed it in the air, trying to catch it.  But mostly, she spent her time licking Steven and Jodie.  A lot.  She's a licker and boy did she let them have it.  It was to the point that she was jumping on them, completely in their laps, licking their faces.  Eventually Steven commented that he would work on training the next day, she could lick away as much as she wanted, he was so happy to have her.

When we left, it was a little sad and Chiquita did try to follow us.  I told Jodie to get a cookie and she would completely ignore us.  (True story--we are not as valuable as the ones with the cookies.) but mostly we were thrilled to have saved and adopted out our first foster dog.

Later in the week, Steven checked in with us and told her she was doing wonderfully.  They did rename her--her new name is Fiona and I think it's perfect.  She's settled in quite nicely and they even made her a special Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, rice and vegetables, which she loved, of course.  they've had a lot of success on walks and everyone stops to say how beautiful she is.  Steven's aiming to get her trained so she can pass her Canine Good Citizen test and possible be a therapy dog.  I can't think of anything more fitting since having her in my life was such a wonderful experience.

We miss her a little bit, but are looking forward to our next foster dog, Rondo, who I'm sure will have his own personality and unique challenges.  Dave is picking him up today, so I guess I'll find out more when I get home.