being our best

this evening madison and i went to our first obediece class. hopefully we will do well.

there are 5 dogs in our part of he class. we are the 'old' class - with dogs 12 months++. in term of big dogs it is madison and a german shepard. the rest are small - a king charles cavelier spaniel, a cute yorkie, and a chin. wish us luck. hopefully this will bring out our best!!

A beautiful weekend

This weekend my mom came down to visit for easter. We had a fun little weekend.

She arrived on the train on friday afternoon. It was a little late since the frieght train ahead of them hit a truck, causing a 2 hour delay. After she got into town we headed to the Flowood shopping district. Unfortunately the grand-puppies had finished up their treats this week, which is a major tragedy at 721 Lake Forest dr. A short stop at Petsmart solved that problem. Friday night we enjoyed a nice, traditional 'southern' dinner at Walnut Hills, a.k.a. Round Table. it was qutie complete, including fried dill pickles and ranch dipping sauce and fried chicken. Mmmm

Saturday was a lazy affair - we hit the park in the late morning. We took the dogs over to the Vicksburg military park and took a little hike. unfortnatley, it was a bit warm for the furry ladies, and they got quite warm. luckily, I had some water with me and we stopped at the Illinois monument for a little rest. You can see that the girls found the one piece of midday shade and cozied up on in it. They also made a point of hugging the nice cool limestone wall. I can't blame them - I got a little sunburnt myself!

We followed up with a trip to the boutiques of downtown Vicksburg. Mom fell in love with my favorite store, Twigs. We took a nice long stop at my other favorite store, Lorelei books. We spent a long while chatting with Laura, the owner. She is so sweet, and obviously knows her books. I would love to be that well versed in what I've read! We ende the evening with Chinee takeout and Babysiting. Unfortunately Amanda's babysitter dropped off the planet, so I offered to fill in. They brought Virginia over and we played for a while before she hit the hay. Madison was a bit overwhelming to Virginia -- her energy level is too high for me some days. So, the puppies played outside while we had our baby time.

Sunday the Easter bunny visited and brought mom some sugar free candy! wasn't that sweet of him? Who knew he visited even when you aren't in your own home!?!?!? We went to the Ameristar and gorged ourselves on the champagne brunch. The food there is excellen, and the desserts are even better!!! we drove by the Vickburg Murals, a cool new addition to the 'Burg. We finished the afternoon off with a little yard work and I took mom to Jackson to catch her train home.

The puppies enjoyed having grandma here - they were exhausted after the end of her visit!!! So did their mom come to think of it. And yes, if you were wondring, it was Wonderful to eat cheese again! Who cares about chocolate, I wanted cheese!!!!

It really is the deadliest catch

A couple of years ago I was totally sucked into this show, The Deadliest Catch. It is a discovery channel show, and I love it with all of my nerdy glory. In short, it is a "docudrama" about the crews of several fishing ships who are out on the Bering sea catching alaskan king crab and ophelia crab. i read this article, which proved, fishing really is a dangerous job. Who Knew?

Happy Easter

- with love from Sarah, Daisy, and Madison

I'm Cuckoo

Brachetology
“I hate March Madness less than sobriety"

That would be our league Motto. Need I say more?

Yes, it is that time of year again. The madness is upon us – it is March! I put together my bracket the other day. This year I haven’t been as on top of college basketball as in the past. As a result, it was pretty easy to do my bracket – I just went with the higher seeds, throwing in a few upsets by teams that I particularly like (or against teams I particularly dislike). I made sure to toss in some of the typical upsets like No. 9 over No. 8 and I was done! Right now I’m tied for first place with 3 other people in my pool of 7. My bracket is fittingly named Oskee Ow Ow since the Illini didn’t make it in. We’ll see if I can take the challenge and take the money!

1/4 Kissable

A belated happy St. Paddy’s to one and all. Down here in the south they don’t’ quite get the holiday. There aren’t very many true Irish folks here, so the holiday has lost a little of its meaning. However, they still try to celebrate it like there is no tomorrow. On Saturday I went to my very first Hal & Mal’s St. Paddy’s day parade in Jackson, MS. This is sort of like the Jackson take on Mardi Gras.

We got there around 10 AM and set up our chairs so we could enjoy the people watching and claim a good spot for the parade. About that time they had a Pet Parade, so we got to see lots of people walking around with their dogs in green clothes or with their fur painted up. Around noon we pulled up our chairs to let the folks behind us in, and we got ready for the fun. The folks from Blair Batson Children’s hospital did the first lap of the parade route collecting donations. Then, we got to see the Sweet Potato Queens. They are absolutely crazy! They are no teen beauty queens. We are talking about women of an age greater than mine who have what might be considered the “white trash” version of the Red Hat Society. It was hilarious. I’ve got pictures and I’ll post them later. They gave out beads and marched and obviously enjoyed themselves all day long.

Finally, at about 1 the parade itself started! It was float upon float upon float upon group upon walking group. We were giving beads away to the kids around us, but we still wound up looking like bead whores! Absolutely insane. The parade was followed by a Street Party at Hal and Mal’s, but I was too dehydrated to hit it. After getting home I realized why – my arms were quite burnt. And, I was smart enough to wear a visor to shade my face, but I got a nasty stripe of burn on my scalp. Ouchies!!!

I’ve mostly recovered and it is back to work for me!

And I call myself an Engineer?

First off, I have to say that there is a major imrpovement on the health front. I've been feeling really crappy for a while. I've been exhausted, extremely achey, prone to headaches, and my allergies are acting up big time. Yesterday I sucked it up and went in for a massage. Chris spent the entire hour on my back, and I have to say she is a goddess. It was such an improvement. I didn't know how bad off I was until it got better. Actually, I was in such bad shape that I need to go back next week to get it worked on again.

Back to the title of this post. If you didn't know it, I'm planning to take my PE (Professional Engineer) exam in April. Obtaining my PE licesne doesn't actually do anything for me right now, as I don't need my stamp for my work. However, it helps fulfill a requirement at work. More importantly, it will give me street cred. PLus, if I ever leave the research world I will need it. So, the real question is, how can I call myself an Engineer if I don't even have a computer!?!?!? My big Civil Engineering Reference Manual came in last week. it is THE book. In fact, I probably wish I had had it when I was in school - in one large book they keep all of the key concepts from the core civil engineering classes. So, I decided to start my official studying last night. It didn't really work out so hot. I sat down, started reading the book, and I got to the first problem. Then I realized, I DON"T HAVE A SINGLE CALCULATOR IN MY HOUSE. Crazy. I have three in my office, but zero in my home, and zero in my backpack. SOunds like I wasn't meant to study last night.

Speaking of calculators, I have to share a story. About a year ago I went up to South Bend for my cousin's baby shower. The weekend was really fun, I love spending time with Abby and John (and Nora too)! It was snowing pretty hard, and the shower was later on Sunday afternoon, so I stayed SUnday night and headed back to school on Monday morning. I was woring on some homework for a while on Sunday evening. Abby came into the room, and she was qutie impressed with my "fancy" calculator. This caused a bunch of mental giggling. Reason: I have a$15 scientific calculator. I am constantly made fun in engineering circles because I don't have a $100+ fancy graphing calculator. I figure I break/lose things too easily -- plus anything that is that complicated needs to be done in a spreadsheet so I can pull it up again. But, to a Compative Lit major my calculator IS fancy. Every time I think of it it brings me a small smile. So, Abby, next month when I take the PE with my $15 calculator (which is the fanciest calcuator they even let you use on the PE) I'll be thinking of you!

Lovin my lunch

I have been a really bad girl lately.


I've not been sticking to my diet. It is all my own fault, and I know it. I've been really tired out (read: exhausted) for a while, and unable to get back to 100%. As a result, I just don't have it in my to do my normal cooking activities in the evening. However, I've been trying to get back on the bandwagon. I instituted a personal policy - I am not allowed to go out to lunch unless I am asked by someone else. I allow myself exceptions such as inviting and treating Amanda after she won an award for best website for her husband's Gospel Quartet. This cuts out my quick "runs" to fast food places for a meal on the run. This also usually cuts my lunch to a 1/2 hour, meaning I can go home earlier (unless i decide to do soemthing like write this post at lunch).


I find that it is amazing how easy it is to get behind in the morning and decide to run off to work without a lunch on me. I tell myself I'll eat something healthy, or I'll join the group and go socialize with coworkers over lunch. Instead, I get to working and realize that I'm starving, so I run to Wendys, Subway, or some other quick place. I used to try to eat leftovers at lunch, but I often found that they just weren't cutting it in the middle of the day. They were too heavy and induce a high desire for afternoon snoozing. Thus, I have taken matters into my own hands. I have been buying a bunch of frozen meals on the weekends and bringing a bag of them into work on Monday mornings to leave in our freezer in the breakroom. THis seems to work really well for me. I bring in a bag of prewashed salad makings and leave a thing of dressing in the fridge. Then, I have the option of a lightwegiht yet helathy and somewhat filling lunch. I've found that the Kashi brand meals are my favorites - lots of vegetables and whole grains. OTherwise I tend towards the Lean Cuisines, particularly the spa cuisine. They seem to have more vegetables, smarter carbs, and less heavy sauces covering an inadequate meal. I just tried a new one today, grilled chicken and pasta primavera. It was the inspiration for this blog.

I wish you all good and helathy eating too! Hopefully you found some yummy lunches that made your tummy smile like mine.


Note: Since I am now trying to get back on the bandwagon, i'm adding that to my list of favorite blog topics: Puppies, Home Improvement, Cooking Reviews, Book Reviews, Keeping on the Wagon, and anything else that i feel like disucssing!

Kitchen Escapades

tried a new recipe this weekend. it gets given the checkmark of acceptance - it will be repeated. this one was a Sausage and Beans recipe out of the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. I'm loving this book! This recipe was reminiscent of Red beans and rice, but didn't have the cajun seasoning.

In unrelated news, the weather is fabulous. I can't believe it was snowing two days ago. today the high was about 65 degrees? I tried to take the dogs on a walk. It was a complete disaster. We walked out the door and nearly got attacked/tried to attack another dog. The entire walk they were pulling themselve. You would think that they had never been on a walk before. We had to stop and sit several times because they were panting so badly. In fact, Madison was at the point where she was panting and white tongue turned into slightly blue tongue. Apparently we can't handle walking any more.

For those parties interested in these types of things, the recipe follows--
Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh sausage such as turkey italian sausage or 1 lb smoked or full cooked sausage such as bratwurst, chicken apple sausage, or kielbaa
• 1/4 water if using fresh sausage
• 2 tbl olive oil
• 2 small bell pepers, seeded and cut into strips
• 1 medium ellow onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1- 15 ounce can white beans (great northern, butter beans, or cannellini) rinsed and drained
• 1- 15 ounce can red beans, such as small red or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, with thier juice
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• salt and frehly ground black pepper to taste

1. Lighly brown sausage in ungreased skillet over medium heat. If fresh add water, voer, and cook until cooked through. uncover and cook for a few minutes more.
2. Let cool and slice
3. Warm oil over medium heat. Add peppers, onion, and garlic. cook, stirring, until just tender.
4. Transfer to slow cooker adding sausage, beans, tomatoes, and wine. cover and cook on high 3-4 hours, or on low 6-8 hours. ear the end check consitence and cook with the lid off to thicken if desired. Season and serve.

Welcome Back Sarah

I’ve been without internet access on the homefront for about a week now, and I have really been feeling it! Plus, you all have missed out on some ‘important’ discussion from your favorite blogger. Here is that much anticipated, picture that I promised. Please ignore the mess and the painters tape that needs to be removed. I need to get the ladder out! Recall the befores, shown below, and then you will be even more amazed!

Snow, Snow, Snow

Yesterday brought a cold front and snow flurries to vicks-vegas!! This was my first snow since moving to the miserable state of Mississippi. The weather was miserably cold yesterday. Somehow I had forgotten to watch that part of the news, and left the house completely unprepared. After spending the day hooked on weather.com I headed to the grocery store, picked up some good food and headed to the homestead. It looked as though we were upposed to tap out at a low of 31, just below freezing, but it also looked as thought the snow-like frozen precipitation would miss us. I was WRONG!! It SNOWED last night!!! I let the girls out and they had fun in the flurries for a bit. Then we headed back in to our nice warm fire. I had just enough wood left in the house for the right size fire – because you know I wasn’t going out to the shed to get more. Here are some pictures of the girls in the snow last night. I also grabbed one of the house this morning when I took out the trash. Any accumulation on the ground had melted by 6;30 this morning, but the rooftops were still covered! It was fabulously exciting!! Crazy thing is that it will be about 70 degrees days from now!

Sister Christian, you are motoring

Wednesday night was the much anticipated Project Runway season finale. I was sucked into this show this season, having never really watched it. The finale was down to Christian, Rami, and Jillian.

I really didn’t care who won, as long as it wasn’t Rami. He makes beautiful clothes, but they all seem to be the same clothes – and they all involve draping. This week he brought ought the mini blinds – some slightly different clothes. I liked his weaving, and a couple of his dresses were gorgeous, although the models seemed to have trouble wearing them. However, I don’t understand why he was on a show for discovering new talent – he had already been discovered and was making fancy dresses for society women including Jessica Alba. I totally agreed with Michael Kohrs – Rami has no understanding of color. He always picks a color that is just two shades the wrong side of ugly.

I loved Jillian’s outfits. They were smart and cute. She seems to be one of those HM people who stresses about things. That is cool. She might need some therapy to figure out how to get through these things. Otherwise, her stuff was awesome and I wish she had won. Her outfits looked fashionable, but they would translate to things that you or I could wear. That was probably her downfall – they have thrown people off of the show for being too wearable, and I think she got busted on that one. They said her line was lacking continuity – I think it might have been slightly so, but the line needs to not be the same thing repeated again and again. That doesn’t sell.

Sister Christian, what can I say, I knew from near the start that you would be the winner. You ARE motoring! He may have had lots of skinny pants and jackets, and the line was all in black and white shades, but it was fierce. Really, it was. I loved it. I wish I were 6-5 and weighed 112 pounds and had somewhere fashionable to wear that crap. It totally wouldn’t go down when I’m working in the field, but damn it was fierce!! You totally deserved the win, just for creating those pieces in a room the size of my bathroom. Way to go. I don’t know that you will actually sell anything on bluefly.com, but best of luck to you buddy,

The Faraday Girls

I recently read The Faraday Girls, by Monica McInemerney. this was a complex novel that drew me in. McInemerney has written a number of novel dealing with families from south of the equator, namely Australia and now Tasmania. Her novels dwell on the complex issues between siblings, parents, the skeletons in their closet, and the ties that bind. I’ve rally enjoyed the other two novels I had read by her, and this one didn’t let me down. I was sucked into the story of five girls left motherless at tender ages between 6 and 14. their father kept their mother alive in their eyes, through his near worship of her. Things were great, and then they weren’t. lives started falling apart, and they all just went downhill from their. Promises made between sisters made for some bitter feelings, and one sister’s discovery of the truth about their mother leads to nothing less than family tragedy. Yet in the end the book wraps everything up. All does not necessarily turn out in fairy tale fashion, yet I was satisfied with the conclusion. Each sister comes to terms with their history and continue along in their own separate lives. A great read.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

This week' read was The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs. The Cover of the book gives a blurb from USA Today 'Like Steel Magnolias set in Manhattan'. I probably would not have given that assessment, but in retrospect, that is a great assessment.

Jacobs weaves the stories of several women of completely different backrounds using the setting of a knitting club on Friday nights. The club sprung up on accident, at the knitting store owned and run by one of the maincharacters. We see the lives of each character unfold, and are drawn in by their tales. Their abilities (or lack thereof) with knitting needles are peripheral to their lives. I really loved this book, and I highly reccomend it. I was drawn in and could not put it down. it was totally not what i thought it would be, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

I really loved the diverse characters, their lives, and the affect that knitting had on their lives and their relationships with the other characters. In fact, knitting is something I have been wanting to learn to do. I'm not quite ready to start classes yet -- there is a lot of painting and a silly little exam on the horizon. However, I AM going to pick up my latest cross stitch piece and finish it off. This book reminded me of how much I love my needlework/handicrafts, and how much it relaxes me to work on them. I am also promising myslf that I will learn how to knit in the near future.

The weekend, Bring it on

It is pretty common for us to walk around the lake and see deer tracks over by the dam. I know that we live ‘out in the count’, and I know that there is undeveloped land practically around the corner. I try to remember to be careful when coming home from work around dusk. But, the other night I had a crazy experience. I was coming home late at night. I was in my subdivision, not three houses up the road, when I noticed the neighborhood dogs running around. I said, gee those are some big dogs, that looks bigger than the tan dog from across the street. Suddenly, the realization hits me, it isn’t a pack of dogs, it is three deer running across the street! Thank God I wasn’t five seconds earlier or the Camry would be toast.

We had some beautiful weather here in the ‘burg. This evening the girls and I went for a little walk around the lake. Everyone is starting to take advantage of this weather to get things done. We stopped to chat with the family next door for a few minutes – it turns out we go to the same church. A couple of weeks ago I followed them to mass, and recently she had notice me at church. We are really starting to fit in around Lake Forest. On the way back around we got to stop by and talk with our other next door neighbor. Luckily, he hadn’t even noticed the excessive dog barking lately. I wish that were the case for me. He has noticed that our neighbor out back has put up a spotlight that shines directly into our back yards – not so cool for trying to sleep at night.

It has been a productive day in the Jersey house. I didn’t do the yard work that the weather was asking me to do. Instead, I started to finish off last weekend’s paint job. The minute I decided to put an offer in on the homestead I had a few visions of thing I wanted to do. Today I finally put my living room paint vision into practice – painting the beams in the vaulted ceiling to set them off from the ceiling. I never had any doubts that it would look good, but it looks even better than I thought it would. It really defines the room. I don’t understand how the previous owners thought that it was a good idea to paint it any other way!!! You need to check it out! I’ll be posting pics soon.