Monday, August 31, 2009

Max is inside now

I know we may have never met but if you have read any of my blog before you know that I am NOT fit as a fiddle. In fact, quite the opposite. Well, I drove the point home this weekend. Max, my 12 year old Golden Retriever has turned into an indoor dog. He lived outside all of his adult life until this summer. He's old, I'm older and getting soft (or so I am told) and honestly, I don't think his hearing and vision is all there and well it's just darn hot out so, he's now an indoor dog. He has behaved extremely well. Really hasn't gotten into anything and we close a hallway door to keep him from exploring the bedrooms. At the beginning I took him to a Puppy Palace. I know he's not a puppy but they bathed him and shaved him and bathed him again and gave him a flea bath and he came out looking completely different but smelling pretty. And so he has become an indoor dog.
To keep him smelling pretty he needs to be bathed and the task has fallen on me. I used to bather him outside using the garden hose and it was always an ordeal taking out a bucket to fill with his shampoo and water, rags to scrub him, the leash to hold him in one spot, towels to dry him off after, a stool for me to sit on because it's easier to get up from the stool than the floor.
That was when he was an outside dog. Now he's an inside dog, so a few weeks ago I decided to try the tub. That's where the inside people bathe why not Max. And so the adventure began and it went relatively well the first time a few weeks ago. I cleaned the tub afterwards and was sore that night and the next day. If I didn't have to life my arms I was fine but most things we do require some motion of the arm.
I did it again yesterday except this time hubby cleaned the tub after because I thought maybe I just did too much at once and that's why I was sore. Can I tell you that lifting the coffee mug to my mouth has been an effort this morning? I am just as sore today as I was a few weeks ago. I have no upper body strength. Bathing this dog whoops me every time. I need to do something about it. I am going to begin doing arm lifts or something every night to see if I can slowly get over this and be able to bathe my dog. Who knew that Max would be the one to drive me to exercise. Yeah, well, we'll see. Now, let's see if I can refill this mug.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Pleasant unexpected surprise

I started a new book and I knew nothing about it other than it won a Pulitzer Prize (it says that on the cover) and friends of mine have read it and said it was very good but I never heard anyone talk about it so I didn't know what it was about. I've seen articles about it but I only read the headlines because mentally I already had it on a TBR list. At a local flea market I discover it in piles of books. Woo Hoo! I think I have found a gold mine. I spent a whole $5 and bought a 8 books. $1 for hard cover and .50 for paperbacks. Who can resist? Not moi, that's for sure. I head home and dutifully stack the newly purchased treasures in stacks and piles around my room to wait to be read some day and collect dust in the meantime while they make me feel cozy and busy because some day when I have nothing to do there's always a book to be read.

Last night I finished a reading a magazine, I am forcing myself to finish one in between books because I am so behind on the magazines its ridiculous and so I allowed myself to pull out a book to lay by my purse in the hopes of starting it tomorrow. I glanced at the nightstand stack - nah, the dresser stack - um no, went into the walk-in closet where I have a bookcase and looked at a few that are stacked in front of those standing in the back on the shelves - mmmm na, not feeling them. I go to the cabinet with three more shelves lined with books and right away my eye goes to this one. HMmmm. Yes, I think its time. I pull it out, flip through it, not reading anything just airing out the pages getting a whiff of the book. Its soft cover, bigger that a paperback novel but not too weighty yes, this will do fine. I don't even read the blurb on the back I just keep fanning it as if I was warming it up to be read and lay it gently on top of my purse.

This morning I forgot my lunch but I did bring the book. I went to lunch and read the summary on the back cover in the elevator. Wow, this really sounds good. I hope it can live up to this hype.

I head to Starbucks and order a coffee and snuggle into one of their comfy armchairs and after chatting with some of the patrons about inane stuff I finally get to open up Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I run out of time and am only able to read a mere 20 pages. But OMG the very first sentence made me want to sit there and find out what happens. Then I read actual paragraph and pages and I am totally sucked in to this book. I writing style is what I love. It's a big over the top - the narrator even apologizes for being too Homeric! Love it! Now its raining. I want to be at home changed into something comfy, curled into the recliner with the throw over my legs and a glass of wine next to me and this book in my hands and no interruptions until I am done. Ahhh, a girl can dream can't she?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

9 lbs

I have 9 pounds of cookie dough in my house and I am trying NOT to eat it. So, why did I buy it? Because I'm a sucker that's why. Earlier this summer 17 was selling said 3lb tubs of cookie dough as a fundraiser for his Cross Country team. You would think they would sell trail mix or something healthy but they went with cookie dough. He only had a week to get the orders and got quite a few including 3 from me. Yes, 3 not 1 like normal people. Why, because no one likes the same cookie in my house. 17 wanted Sugar cookies which 19 and hubby don't like. 19 wanted Oatmeal Raisin which 17 and hubby don't like and Hubby wanted peanut butter which neither boy likes. Alas, 3 tubs of 3 lbs each were ordered and have since arrived. I didn't get any "for me" because I eat all the aforementioned cookies and therein lies the problem.
Of course, they get here only a couple of days before 19 leaves so he wasn't able to eat his 3 lbs so I put it in the freezer to await his return and make it more difficult for me to eat since it will require thawing in addition to the bake time. But there are two tubs left in the fridge. Every night after dinner I ask, want some cookies in the hopes of baking some off and making them disappear but it only worked once. Ay. I need to be strong. I need to not eat two tubs of cookies.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Last minutes...

Sunday 19 is leaving and its nephew's bday soI won't get anything done and Saturday I am going to a BBQ at 3. So that means this whole dang list has to get done between now and 3 tomorrow! and I am sitting here at work! OMG! How is this going to happen? Some one please 'splain this to me.

How does that saying go...if it weren't for the last minute, I'd get nothing done. This weekend will be the definition of that because there will be many lat minutes between now and 3PM Saturday.

Then will come Monday...it will be strange without 19 home again and then the school routine for 17.

Have you seen the commercial for the big box office supply store with the dad prancing and dancing all over the store happy and giddy with joy buying back-to-school supplies for his kids who are standing there with long faces wanting to die rather than go back to school. At my house we love that commercial. We all laugh at it hysterically.

See ya on the flip side....gotta go make a list of things to do so I don't miss anything.....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

New thing

I really don't try too many food things. I mean I try new dishes but the main ingredients I've had them. For example, I think I may the only person in Miami who has not tried Dulce de Leche ice cream. See, my logic is I don't need to like that because its not good for me and only going to be another thing to add to the list of things that I shouldn't eat so why try it in the first place. But fruit is a different category. Its in the good for you category and therefore they should all be tried and I discovered I LOVE passion fruit. I had never had it. I didn't even know how to eat it. This weekend I went to a farm in The Redlands to pick up some items that a friend of mine and I had ordered (not passion fruit) and I say a pile of these round things in a box. I asked what they were ever trying to expand my knowledge and they were passion fruit. She told me she had an extra bag that she could sell me. I wasn't going to buy any because well I've never tired it and so didn't want to waste my money. She asked me if I liked tart things as she was cracking one open and got a spoon and handed it to me. QUE RICO!! I loved it. She explained how to tell if they were ripe etc. as I fished out the 3 bucks from my purse for that extra bag she had. I split them with my friend because she tried it when she got to my house and liked it too. But man I could eat a bushel of them and if I start to get bored of eating them straight I can think of umpteen uses from salad dressings to marinades. Que Rico!! I have GOT to get more of these. Comfort and Joy baby! YUM!

Friday, August 14, 2009

T-9

In case you haven't heard 19 is leaving next Sunday. So of course, now in the last minute starts the mad rush.
* MIL needs to see him again before he leaves. She only has one chance to come down to my neck of the woods on Saturday but it's a small window and she doesn't know if she can get to my house in time to see him before she has to be somewhere else. Relax, I tell her. You aren't going to be that far from us, call me when you get there and I will have 19 go by and see you there.
* 19 says he can't find the socks that he wants anywhere in Miami (my money is on he hasn't gone every where in Miami but who am I to argue). Relax, I tell him. Socks shouldn't be so complicated but if they are just order them online.
* SIL called last night. Her son's bday is on the 20th and I had called her to see if/when she was doing anything because I need to plan my life. She is having the family gathering on Sunday when 19 is leaving. Perfect! He leaves out of Ft Lauderdale, she lives in Hollywood. We can easily swing by before going to the airport.
* My dad has been threatening to come down for 2 weeks but has been having car trouble and is concerned he won't see him and also concerned that he hasn't given 17 his bday gift. Relax, I tell him. If you can't come to us then you can meet us at SILs before he leaves. My dad lives up there too.
* He HAS to go to the beach but he has to find a ride because I need the car. Relax, I tell him. Go to the beach whenever you want (hopefully, after ordering the socks) I don't need the car. I can work around it.
* His computer died last night. It turns on but I'm guessing it has a virus because he can't really get it to do any thing not even a security scan. Now, I'm freaking out. I truly cannot afford a new laptop right now and it's been 24 hours already and he hasn't taken it to a friend of ours who is our resident all thing computer guy. Others tell me to relax that it's not my problem. He's old enough to handle and deal with this on his own. But OMG! Aren't I supposed to give him the tools necessary to do what he needs to do?! There's not much time to get this working here! OMG!
* I have taken home all kinds of coupons for school supplies that I know they both need and no one has gone to get anything. That I am not worried about I gave them the coupons and I gave them the $ with instruction that if they spend it one something else, they will have to write in blood when they run out of pens. Whatever.
* In between all of this 17 starts school. His schedule is wrong because they gave him one of last years' classes. He is cool as a cucumber. It will get fixed, he tells me. Don't worry about it.
* At least 17 tried on his uniform and we only had to get new shoes which he did. Whew! Breathing easy about that.
* Oh yeah, and we have to wash and pack a ton of stuff!
Gimme patience. It's gonna be a long weekend and I wanted to spend it cooking and scrapping. LMAO!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Just plug and go?

That was the first text I got. 19 has sent me a few texts including a picture of the settings on our iron asking for instructions. The boy is ironing his own shirt people! My money is on a girl being in this equation. LOL!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Cooking for one

19 is leaving again in a week and a half and so I am once again cooking with only him in mind. All of his favorites have to make another appearance before he leaves so that he can have his fill. If the rest don't like it too bad, drive-thru, I am cooking for one- the one that's leaving.

To that end I will be making a flan tonight so that he can have a slice every day if he wants. I will also be making a strawberry cherry blueberry pie. Those are his desserts. I won't make cookies because those I can make when he leaves and ship to him so he has a taste of home. I already made him Picadillo again which we didn't have for dinner he had it for lunch for like 3 days. I will also make Lentils for him and I. Next week I will make Carne con Papa and Spaghetti with meat sauce and I think I need to make him Vaca Frita again. Then we will put him on a plane with a dozen pastelitos de carne for him and his roommate.

I need to ask him if there's anything else I missed. The kitchen is all about him for the next couple of weeks.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Every penny counts

So, I have been saving and saving for months. Bringing my lunch to work, not eating out as much even as a family. I've been cooking extra so there will be leftovers and the kids have been good about eating the leftovers for lunch too. we did have one extravagance over the summer and that was over the 4th of July but other than that we've been coupon cutting, and 2fer buying for months now.

Well, it's all gone. All those pennies we saved I done gone and spent it all and I feel a little spent, if you know what I mean. It was kinda nice seeing the savings build up little by little. It grew into a nice little nest egg there. But now poof, it's all gone. It went where it was supposed to but man was it easier to spend than it was to save. It tool months to gather all those pennies and it has disappeared in just under 2 weeks. Here's where it went: car repairs, flying 19 back to university, all 3 of us flying up to see him in his football scrimmage over labor day weekend (holiday flying is not cheap my friends, I don't care what the ads say), flying us and my in-laws up to him in the homecoming game, hotels for both trips (2 nights the first trip, 3 nights the second trip), senior pictures for 17, school books for 17, school uniforms for 17. Poof! Just like that. Almost as quickly as I wrote about it here it went away and now I look at the pitiful balance in my savings account and sigh! Pobrecito savings account all spent.
Easy come (not!), easy go, I guess. It's all for good things so, it's OK. I just feel a little overwhelmed at spending all that money so quickly. It was nice having that cushion there but no more. C'est la vie!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Really? Back to School Time?

Is it really Back to School time? I can't tell. I have one starting his second year in college and the other starting his Senior year in high school and it just seems like another month to me just like the last one.


Sure, I bought some hugely overpriced books and spent all of 2 hours scouring the Internet for cheaper versions to bid on and win one at half price (can I hear a WooHoo!) but I'm not elbowing anyone for that last 8 pack of crayons, or the 2-pack of glue sticks etc. etc. Any I am NOT rummaging through tight aisles looking for uniform pieces and dragging a child to the dressing area explaining to them where exactly their waist line is. I don't miss any of that at all. But I do miss the the general get new stuff for school feeling. I remember taking them to the big box department store for them carte blanche to pick out folders (4/$1) and packs of fancy pencils that weren't going to last 2 weeks and fancy pens and the binders and folders and the pencil cases! oh the pencil cases! that never fit all the things they wanted. And going home and sorting, labeling and organizing everything. They were going to be so successful because I had gotten them all these wonderful tool they needed to excel and be smart. What a feeling of accomplishment.

Now, I give them cash to go buy shoes, I order books online and everything else they tell me they will buy as they need it and I no longer cover books.

I got a coupon for a big box office supply store and I think I need to drag my teens there this weekend and at least make them pick out a pack of pens (say that 10 times fast) just for old times sake. After all I think this is really the last year I can make them do this. We can watch other families melt down and maybe sit and have a coffee and reminisce about the years gone by. Yeah, I don't think so! So, sorry for all of you trying to get everything on the list. I'll have an extra cup of coffee for you this weekend as I relax staring out my front yard that is so calm birds actually come visit now. Comfort and Joy! Hey, maybe I'll even watch a movie.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Can't read

I love to read but lately I can't. I can make out all the words but my brain isn't digesting what I read. I don't know why. I bought some new books because I don't have enough all over the house in stacks and piles and shelves everywhere. They are books that I have been wanted for a while. They are pretty. Most books are. I look at them, I touch them, I fan through them, I read a passage from here or there, I may even ready the first few pages to get hooked and then I put it down and walk off leaving it abandoned to catch dust all by its lonesome. Then the next day I do it all again with another book and abandon it too leaving it behind with the others to cheat on it with yet another book. I'm even doing it to magazines. It's totally out of control.

Last night I was picking odd things up with the pretext of putting things away and realized. There's a a magazine in the car you know for those wait with nothing to do emergencies, I've got something to read. On the entrance table there's a book. On the side buffet in the dining room there's a book, on the back buffet, there's a stack of magazines and a book, on the coffee table there are more magazines and a couple of books, on the sofa table there's another book, on the kitchen counter there's a book, on one of the stools there are 2 magazines, on the side counter there's a stack of 3 books. Those are just the common areas. I won't tell you how many books are on my nightstand or on my dresser because we don't know each other that well. All of these books and magazines had been touched and looked over in the past 2 weeks and I want to read them all but I'm not. I'm uncomfortable with this whole not reading thing. I need to snap out of it because reading helps me escape and gives me a break from life. Sigh! I don't know how to shake this.