A Girl and Her Dog

We took both dogs to the vet today. Max has had a chronic ear infection and Cleo just needed her shots updated. That dog is never sick and will probably outlive all of us.

When the Doc was examining Cleo (the wiener dog), she listened to her heart and said “She has a little murmur”  I asked if that was bad and got the explanation that basically it won’t harm her but to watch her and make sure she doesn’t start coughing a lot and that her exercise is still good. When she doesn’t want to exercise anymore, it’s affecting her.

Cleo is really Callie’s dog. She’s had her since she was in the fourth grade and calls herself Cleo’s “momma”   I’m not sure which one misses the other more.. but I think Callie misses Cleo more because Cleo is happy as long as she has her bed, pink blankie and a bowl of food twice a day.

 

 

 

I sent Callie a text message after our vet visit. It went like this:

Me: Cle0 has a heart murmur

Callie: (sad face) what does that mean?

Me: One of her valves doesn’t close all the way when her heart is beating. Doc said it could get worse as she ages but it’s not bothering her now. We have to watch for coughing and a loss of interest in exercise. So far she has no symptoms other than hearing it through the stethoscope.

Callie: (another sad face) my baby

Me: She is still good

Callie: You broke her

Me: I knew you would say it was my fault. I told Nick you would blame me.

Callie: Aww, she needs to come live with her momma. Her heart broke when I left!

Me: Please. Then it’s your fault.

Callie: You’d better not let her die.

Me: That doctor said she could live to be 19.

Callie: Good, she needs to outlive me.

Me: Don’t get crazy.

(hours pass)

Callie: She needs a valve replacement

Me: I don’t think so. With her heart murmur they can’t put her to sleep. The doc said she wouldn’t even risk putting her under to  clean her teeth.

Callie: I think so. I have been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy…I could probably do it.

Me: Where would you even get a replacement valve?

Callie:  A pig

Me:  You ain’t cutting open a pig.

That’s where we left it about 15 minutes ago. She cracks me up. Even on text message she makes me laugh. She misses her baby. I sure hope that stupid dog doesn’t die on my watch.

Were You Raised in a Barn?

Let’s talk about habits. Everyone has them… good and bad. What I am about to describe is simply a habit that I consider bad. I’m not angry, it doesn’t aggravate me, but it does puzzle me. I have my own bad habits that probably make my family crazy. It’s part of living together.
Today’s topic, however, is about a habit that both the men in my house share. They leave doors open. I just don’t get it.
Here are a few photos I took just wandering through the house the other day. It makes me laugh, and it makes me shake my head.



This is a photo of the closet just inside my front door. It’s where we hang coats, store gloves and hats, and put shoes that we keep near the door. I swear to you I close this door at least four times a day if my men are home all day. Every single time they open that door, they leave it open. It bothers me to have doors open, it doesn’t bother them. I guess they figure if you’re going to be back in there, why close it?



This is the door to our master bedroom closet. Yes, it’s full of a lot of stuff, which is why I like the door closed. I close this door several times a day too. When I am lying in bed, this door faces me. Almost every night I remind Nick to close that door. He teases me about it, he just doesn’t get it. I can’t stand to lie there in bed with that gaping closet open. 


This is one of the cupboard doors in our kitchen. It’s where we keep the every day glasses and our coffee supplies. Yes, someone had just pulled a glass out for a drink of something. It was probably Alex. He’s the one that is in and out of that door most. Mostly he slams the door closed, when he isn’t slamming, he’s leaving it open.

This is Nick’s desk. That little door is containing his desktop hard drive. In his defense, after I took this photo he told me he thought the computer was running a little hot and the fan was on too much so he opened the door to make sure it was getting enough air.
I don’t have a photo of the front door. I was taking Alex to school last week when there was a delayed start time due to weather. Nick was taking a test so I ran the boy down to the school. I went out the door first, Alex followed and guess what?  He left the door open.  He rushed past me, because that’s what he does, and I turned and said “Dude.. you didn’t close the door”   I got his standard answer when called out on something “ Sooorrrryyyy”   Oy!   I can’t tell you how many times he walks outside and leaves the front door open. There is a storm door so I guess that’s good enough in his eyes!

The other thing my men do is leave lights on. Clearly we have lived in military housing too long. We don’t pay any of our utilities but that is all changing. I can’t wait until we’re living on the economy again and see how these habits affect our bills.
Maybe the door thing is no big deal. Maybe it’s me that is quirky because it bothers me. But, it’s my blog and my point of view is the one you get.

Super Bowl Sunday Goodies

Yesterday was a great day in so many ways. First, the Packers won. My husband is a happy man. Secondly, we had great football food. I so heart football food (aka bar food).
I recently ordered the cookbook “Mr. Sunday’s Soups” by Lorraine Wallace, wife of Fox News Anchor Chris Wallace. I heard him on TV talk about his wife and how she made him a pot of soup every Sunday that he enjoyed after he finished his weekly talk show. You know I had to order it. I’m not sure there is anything more comforting than a yummy bowl of soup, especially this time of year.
As I was checking out this book I found SO many soups I want to try. Not only does this book have delicious looking recipes, but it has wonderful stories of the Wallace family. 
For Super Bowl Sunday I decided to make Mrs. Sunday’s “Buffalo” Chili.  Lorraine Wallace describes her family’s tradition of game day fun including Buffalo chicken wings so she decided to make a chili that featured those same tastes. This soup was delicious. Nick and I both gave it a thumbs up. I didn’t even try to get Alex to eat this because it has sauce in it. God forbid the child have anything with any flavor in it.
Here is the recipe for
“Buffalo” Chili
From Mr. Sunday’s Soups cookbook by Lorraine Wallace
Ingredients
3 TBS canola or vegetable oil, divided
4 lbs. ground light meat turkey
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 TBS butter
1 1/4 C Crystal Hot Sauce or your own personal favorite (use a buffalo flavor sauce for this)
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth
Two 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juice
8 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
One 7 ounce can diced green chilies with juice
1/3 C tomato paste
1 1/2 TBS red pepper flakes
3-4 C crumbled blue cheese, and/or grated mild Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, for garnish
Directions
Place a large, heavy pot of Dutch oven over medium heat and add 1 1/2 TBS of the oil. Add half the turkey, season with salt and black pepper, and cook, stirring and break up the meat, until browned. Transfer to a bowl with slotted spoon. Add the remaining 1 1/2 TBS oil to the pot and repeat the process with the remaining turkey. Return the first batch of turkey to the pot, with any accumulated juices.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the hot sauce. Add the hot sauce mixture to the turkey, along with the broth, tomatoes and their juice, and the garlic. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until reduced by a third, about 1 1/2 hours.
Stir in the green chilies and their juice, tomato paste, and pepper flakes and simmer to cook off the raw flavor of the tomato paste, about 15 minutes more.
Ladle into shallow bowls and scatter with the cheese of your choice. Serve immediately.
YUMMY! I used blue cheese because I love it with anything buffalo sauce flavored. I also cut this recipe in half because it was so large. It still gave us plenty for leftovers.
With this, I made a recipe that I found on my Gooseberry Patch calendar. The month of September has a recipe for a Hoagie Bake that I made once and Alex has raved about ever since. He requests this every week so it was a football treat for him. The recipe follows.


Hoagie Bake
GooseBerry Patch monthly calendar
Ingredients
2 8 oz. tubes refrigerated crescent rolls, divided
1/3 lb. sliced salami
1/3 lb. sliced pepperoni
1/3 lb. sliced deli ham
1/3 lb. sliced Swiss cheese
1/3 lb. sliced provolone cheese
4 eggs, beaten and divided
grated Parmesan cheese to taste
Directions
Flatten on tube crescent rolls and press into a greased 13x9 baking pan. Layer salami, pepperoni, and ham over the top of rolls. Top with Swiss and provolone cheeses. Brush half of beaten egg evenly over cheeses; cover with remaining rolls. Brush remaining egg over crescent rolls; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil; bake for an additional 20 minutes. Slice into squares.
I cut the eggs in half. I found that 4 eggs was way too much.
Alex loved this so much that I sent part of the leftovers to school with him today for lunch. It doesn’t hurt that it’s so easy to make. You can literally throw this together in a very few minutes.
Enjoy!!