A few tears...A few cookies

This weekend I am heading out of town for one of our very good friend's wedding. I am excited to see his friends who over the years have turned into my big brothers/best friends/family.

However, I am forgetting about two very important things. Dakota and Daisy.

I kept putting off what to do until tonight. I called my mother and toyed with the idea of driving 6 hours north to Chicago to drop them off and drive another 14 hours south to the wedding.

I began researching boarding places. Dakota is tough and stayed with some crazy people down at flight school. With Daisy, I am more sensitive, especially after her surgery experience. I looked up a place everyone raved about here. I began reading the reviews:

the packages of food I had expected them to eat were still in the bag. As soon as I got them home, the female jumped out of the car and let loose a large diarrhetic stool

My friends dog got killed here.It was a small dog, and since they were careless, they let it in the large roaming area with big dogs. The poor thing got mauled to death.

I was told by more than one reliable source that a large dog died while at the Guest HouseI was told that the Guest House was negligent in caring for the dog and that the dog died a traumatic and terrible death.

So I started crying about the thought of boarding them. I sucked it up and called a good friend stationed here. I asked him about the possiblity of house/dog sitting and he agreed. I wanted to reach through the phone and hug him.

I still feel guilty about sitting around so besides running and rollerblading, cooking and baking take up a lot of my time now.

I made a yummy homemade salsa for a nice healthy snack for when I get home:

1 med green pepper, diced
1 med red pepper, diced
1 med vidalia (sweet) onion, diced
4 regular tomaotes, diced OR 6 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 bag frozen sweet corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1 packet good season dry italian dressing mix

Combine all of the ingredients and refrigerate 2 hours before eating.

And on Sunday, my poor friend had one of our friends fall through her attic floor into her kitchen so I brought over Dijon Orange Roughy Fillets (fish very similiar to Tilapia)

It might be the easiest, best tasting recipe ever.

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablesoon Dijon mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tbs fresh lemon juice

4 Orange Roughy/Tilapia

3 tbs fresh bread crumbs

Preheat over to 450 degrees. Melt butter over low heat in saucepan. Add mustard, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. and mix well Place fish in lightly greased baking pan. Pour sauce over fillets and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake for 7-8 minutes.

I also made layered oatmeal-chip cookies tonight for our pot luck dinner tonight. However, I made 30 cookies and while they were cooling, I forgot about them and walked out of the room. My beautiful husky snatched 4-5 of them. Grrrr.

Instant Smile

One of my favorite bloggers and fellow husky lover, Megan, passed a wonderful award in my direction.





7 Things I LOVE



1) Him.


After a minor meltdown at work, I received the sweetest email from him telling me that I kick ass at everything I do and I just need to believe in myself like the way he believes in me.


2) Laughing


Whether its laughing at friends or a funny story, nothing makes me happier than a good laugh.


3) Dakota


My protector and probably one of the sweetest dogs


4) Daisy


My beautiful, comic relief during the day


5) My family, in particular my best friend, my mother


She has always been there for me, alway supported me and I love talking to her because no one knows me better


6) Anything liberating...


Whether its a good run, using an electric drill to hang a huge corkboard in my office, mowing the yard, cooking a new recipe, finishing another book etc. I find the more things I accomplish during this deployment the better I feel and the faster time flies. And accomplishing all of the above and then some truly is the best feeling in the world.


7) His family


His dad is one of my best "girlfriends", the one I share with all my juicy gossip, his mother is my guide and rock through this deployment, his sister is one of my best friends, and his brother constantly makes me feel loved by checking in on me from time to time to make sure I'm doing ok.



And I am tagging...



Magnolias and Mimosas



Because her stories about herself and her husband always make me laugh.

Week Twenty

side note: No I am not crazy, in Indiana, its the BMV standing for Bureau of Motor Vehicles :)


I honestly sat down for the first time in five days last night and even questioned myself if I should really be sitting down and not be doing something else.

In addition to my first week of work my schedule consisted of Pot Luck with the girls on Tuesday, Book Club on Wednesday, Choir Church Concert on Thursday, not to mention my whole Driver's License issue.

I am forever thankful for my boss. She fought the issue with our HR department in California and I sucked it up, paid $50 more dollars, stayed up until 2am on Wednesday completing the online course, and finishing yet another online Driver's Safety course. I just wanted my license reinstated. In seven more days I should be legal once again. I describe the whole situation as just lame, very lame actually.

I am falling into a nice routine which both I and the dogs need and appreciate. I racked up over 25 miles on the rollerblades this week with the puppies. Since the weather reached the 60s all week with sunny skies, I rollerbladed not only at 6:45 every morning, but everyday after work.

I finally started running again and felt pretty good after two short runs. I am going to attempt a long run this weekend and even try my first kickboxing class since bruising my tailbone.

Some more deployment goals:

• Sent my third care package to him full of Gator Golf, my delicious Black Forest cookies, a Spiderman kite, People & US Weekly magazines, baseball gloves + baseball, and two old school DS games (Space Invaders + Command & Destroy).
• Cooking and baking well over three new recipes this month. Besides my Tofu Fried Rice, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and cookies, I am planning to make homemade Salsa, Orange Roughy, bowtie pasta receipe, and and a new chicken recipe all on Sunday for my upcoming work week.

With all the warm weather and rain, I now need to go cut my front and backyard. Wish me luck!

Law Breaker

Work was fantastic today. The sun was shining. Life was great...

Then I get a call from my boss after work before I am meeting some girlfriends for dinner.

My boss: We received the results from your background check. Do you know your Driver's License is suspended?

Me: WHAT?!

Apparently I did not finish a Driver's Saftey Course after a ticket in January 2008. I vividly remember taking that boring piece of crap class over Memorial Day Weekend. Luckily the BMV stays open late on Tuesdays. I called them and their response, simply enough, "Well you can show them your Certificate proving you completed the course".

Me again: What?! Who keeps those things for 10 months. And truth of the matter is I worked so much May-July, there is a very good chance I threw it out.

Worse part, I lost my license in May, received a new license in June and bought a new car in August. So I made two trips to the BMV WELL after my saftey test due date. Both times, they failed to mention anything about a suspended license.

I am very, very angry. Good thing I get a night to cool off before calling tomorrow morning.

Not Me

Another addition of "Not Me Monday"

• I did not eat 6 more of HIS cookies today (they wouldn't fit in his care package)
  
  
• I did not send him Gator Golf, a game for 3+ year olds with complete confidence that he would enjoy it as much as a 3 year old
  
  
• I did not get tipsy off a single glass of wine tonight
  
  
• I did not enjoy my "homework" tonight from my first day of work (nerd)



• I did not almost get up in the middle of pilates and run out the door because I thought I saw someone who looked exactly like him.
  


• I did not rollerblade the puppies at 6:30 this morning (Miss Musing's morning routine inspired me) and again at 4:30 this afternoon.

What did you NOT do this Monday?

All I need is an apron.

I am refusing to run until I feel better. Today my head still hurt a little.


So since I could not:

1) workout
2) read (head hurt)
3) watch TV (no good TV on)
4) clean (already cleaned Saturday)


I baked and cooked! I knew getting back into the full swing of work, I could not spend as much time cooking dinner or making lunches, so I decided to cook lunch/dinner for the rest of the week. Nothing too crazy, except I made a rather large batch of Fried Rice with Tofu for the first time.


And in honor of my most recent Pampered Chef purchase

I made cookies. He's a big fan of Craisins, especially the Cherry Flavored Craisins. I made a very delicious batch of Black Forest Cookies. I am not going to lie, I ate two of them and they tasted heavenly. I wanted to eat more before I remembered he's in Afghanistan.

And my product review of the medium cookie scoop: I love it. I enjoy making cookies, however, I am that girl with the cookie dough all over her fingers while trying to make them even on the cookie sheet. It made my life a lot easier and my cookies are all the same size for the first time ever.

Hopefully I'll continue my adventures in the kitchen.

Pick Your Favorite

When I look through my pictures and posts it scares me how much I discuss Daisy. I sometimes feel bad for my other wonderful dog, Dakota.


Now I could not survive without Dakota. Everyone who comes to visit, his family, and my family all love Dak Dak (nickname). Her temperment is incredibly sweet and loyal. She's my protector. If she hears a noise, we need to go inspect not only where she thinks she heard the noise, but the surrounding rooms. She heads in a room, does a lap, looks up at me like the coast is clear then walks out the door into the next room.


I guess I am making a point that I love Dakota.


But I have said it before and will say it again that I have never met a dog with more personality than Miss Daisy Girl. He and I talked today about how much she makes us smile. Even thousands of miles away, he always laughs out loud watching her on the webcam.


Case and point. These pictures are just from today. I could blog about her adventures everyday.


Two dogs outside in the rain for two minutes. One comes in completely clean, the other walks into my kitchen looking like this:



Over the past 8 months with her, I continue to learn my patience and sense of humor always shines through these mishaps.


I decided to clean out my car today. As soon as I open up the door:



I tried getting her out of the car. However, she wanted to go for a ride. She sat like this for a good 20 minutes looking out the window in the garage





I thrive during this deployment because of both of them. One protects me and the other one drives me crazy and makes me laugh on a daily basis.