x-rated water polo

The Singapore National Water Polo team is getting all kinds of grief for their swimsuits! Their official made the statement that the "crescent moon" was supposed to be located more off center!

Brrr....

It is 29 degrees here this morning....which is cold for us! The dogs outside water bowl had a sheet of ice over the top of it! Here are the dogs snuggled up together for warmth. Actually, it's just Ahi that needs the warmth - Daisy is a big hairy labrador!

Morning Hike

Beautiful day in the mountains today. Went out for a hike behind the cabin. The creek had a lot of water from yesterday's snow and rain.

Snow Day

We went up to the snow yesterday and played around for a few hours. The dogs ran like mad and were very tired when we got home. We had soup for lunch - see pic with very innovative lid!

Thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving at my folks with my inlaws and my aunt and uncle from Kentucky. We were in charge of desserts. This is a caramel apple upside down cake that I made and a pumpkin pie that Gracie made.

Drew did the prayer for the first time and it was amazing! The prayer itself was great and the confidence he showed brought tears to my eyes.

When it rains it pours....

It is a miracle that we are as productive as we are with the introduction of technology into all facets of our lives. Within the last 24 hours:

* My cell phone stopped receiving texts from any verizon phones
* Our laptop was returned (completely rebuilt) from HP customer service
* My RSA token for work stopped working
* Our home telphone lines has a constant hum

Lots of time spent talking to customer service or trouble shooting.

Hilarious!

I was looking for a new fleece jacket for Ahi (she gets cold in the winter) and I saw this pic and laughed out loud! I can just see Ahi and Daisy wearing this get up. And looking quite disgruntled about it!

Stir Fried Eggplant

This is delicious!


3 TBSP of oil (about)

1 package of extra firm tofu, cut into chunks

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb Japanese eggplant, cut into 1 by 3 strips ( I usually use three eggplants – I go heavy on eggplant and light on peppers)

1 red or green pepper cut into 1 inch pieces

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 TBSP of sugar

2 TBSP oyster sauce

¼ cup fresh basil, cut up in strips



Spray cookie sheet with pam spray. Cut up tofu put on cookie sheet and then spray tofu with pam. Broil for 7 mins on high. Flip tofu over and broil another 7 minutes until lightly browned.



While tofu is browning, cook garlic, eggplant and peppers in oil until softened to the consistency you like – about 10 min.



Add soy sauce, sugar and oyster sauce. Cook 2 more min. Add tofu and stir. Top with basil and serve over steamed rice.

Spread the Kindness

I was chosen by Yahoo! to participate in their "How Good Grows thru Ripples of Kindness" campaign. Basically they give me a hundrdd dollars to give away as I see fit. And then I post my activity on their kindness site:

http://kindness.yahoo.com

I am going to double their money by putting $100 of my own money into the kindness pool.

I am thinking up good things to do with the money - let me know if you have any suggestions!

itchy lips

Gracie and I went yesterday afternoon to get a flu shot.

I didn't think anything of it as we have had shots in the past. But 15 minutes after the shot, I started having an allergic reaction! Apparently, there is some type of latex involvement in the flu shot and I have a latex allergy. My lips started itching just like they do if I am around balloons, rubber chickens or rubber gloves!

I took some benedryl and the itching stopped.

Not sure what this means for next years flu shot.

"Holey" Moley

I took Daisy's stitches out yesterday because it had been 10 days....and then last nite, one of the wounds opened up into a gaping hole! UGH!!! Back to the vet this morning....

Eeeeewwwww!

When we were having dinner with my bro and family this weekend, he was telling us stories of these bugs they have in El Dorado Hills that come out of their drains. We had never seen what they were describing and insisted they send us a pic. Here it is!

What makes it worse is they said it scurries like a rodent!

Rasberry Churro

We went to Cochina Michocana in Oakdale last nite and had rasberry churros with vanilla ice cream. It was DELICIOUS - sort of like a gourmet churro! Who would have thought of such a thing?

Soccer Update

Drew made the soccer team - he is playing JV - which he is happy about. He wanted to play with JV instead of varsity because all his friends are on JV. Plus people kept telling him he would get more playing time on JV.

He is practicing really hard and getting super beat up. He has a turf burn on his forearm that gets torn off everyday. He had to take a day off last week because he got a deep muscle bruise in his thigh and could barely walk. He took one day to rest and ice and was better.

He likes all the perks for high school athletes - trainers, someone getting your water, etc.

I am not sure I want to watch him play this year - I don't want to see him get beat up in goal!

Daisy Update

Daisy is healing fine from her accident. She is back to her normal activity and even went for an off leash hike this morning.

Here is Mimi.....

My beautiful niece!

what the cluck?

who gave me this cold????

Day of the Dead

Here is the cake that Gracie and Bug made this morning. They decided to each decorate one half of the cake. The theme is "Day of the Dead". Odd, I know but the theme started with tombstone sprinkles that we had for Halloween.

Lazy butts

Thank goodness I bought the GIANT couch - it allows all 4 kids to spread out!

Morning Chaos!

I had a house full of kids this weekend while Jim was out crabbing for opening weekend.

This morning, Gracie and her friend, Bug, got up and started making a cake!

Drew and his friend, Chad, got up and decided they needed pizza and potstickers for breakfast!

Outcome

Ten stitches and a very sleepy dog!

Daisy vs Polar 120

Last nite when Jim got home from picking up Drew and a buddy from soccer, they were all alarmed to find a gaping wound in the side of Daisy Mae! They were suppose to be meeting us at the ice rink for dinner but instead called me in a panic to report the injury. Jim - who never worries about anything - was worried about this!

The pic makes it look better than it actually was!

We decided that it was not life threatening so we would not go to the emergency vet on a Friday nite but would wait til morning. Jim proceeded to administer first aid - see the pic with the tape around Daisy's middle. And the boys did some CSI work to figure out what happened to her. They were not able to solve the mystery.

They pieced Daisy Mae together and came down to the ice rink for some dinner. And while at dinner we were emailing pics of the wound to Tina's friend who is a vet in So Cal. She advised it needed stitches.

When I got home, I was alarmed by the size of the wound! But still decided it could wait til the morning.

Jim and I went out into the backyard to do our own CSI work. Jim quickly found the site of the injury: a polar 120 cooler with a sharp hinge. She must have run by it at great speed - probably on the way to bark at the mail man!

She was fine all nite and left the wound alone because I told her to! (She is a good dog) But she still wanted to lick it so she licked her leg instead.

This morning I took her to the vet as soon as they opened and I had to leave her there to be sedated, cleaned and stitched up!

My poor baby. More pics to come later.

Kale and Swiss Chard

One question: Who eats these?

I eat some strange veggies.....but wont eat these! Nasty!

Phil the Dog

This morning while walking the dogs, I saw my neighbor who always walks with her dog, “Phil”. She is a grumpy old lady who always scowled at us...until the day I rescued Phil when she got out in 105 degree weather and was running around the neighborhood panting like crazy. I rescued her and brought her into the air conditioning and kept her for 6 hours until they got home.

I rescued Phil one other time when she got out. By that time, she knew a good thing, so when she got out, she just came straight to my front door and sat on my porch!

This morning the lady was walking alone.

I approached her and asked where Phil was...and she started crying. Phil died on Saturday after having a tumor that made her cough. The lady was crying and crying and telling me all the details...which made me cry too. SO sad. But to think...she went from grumpy old lady to a lady that would cry while telling me about her dog!

The love of dogs brings people together.

High School Soccer

Drew has been conditioning with the high school soccer team for the last month. But, officially, the tryouts began yesterday.

I was surprised when he came home last nite and reported that they put him with the varisty team for tryouts. There is only one other freshman that they also did that for - and Drew reports that "he is an awesome player". So that bodes well for Drew.

So there are two goalies trying out with the varsity team - Drew and a kid who helped coach Drew when he was in the 7th grade and the goalie for the Jr High team. And Drew really liked him - so it would be a great experience if it works that they could play together. The other goalies - 1 freshman, 1 sophmore and 1 junior are trying out with the jr varsity team. No shortage of goalies!

I will keep you posted - I don't know where he will end up - but whatever happens, it seems like its been a good experience so far!

Halloween

Succulents

These are my latest succulents.


The ones in the waterfall are from Coach Cindy's Grandma's house.


The ones in the pot are from our trip to the succulent fair. At first, I did not like the way this pot looked, but it is growing on me!