Ready for St Patty's Day

One Hundred Years Ago...

...my Great-Grandpa John Augustine Power married my Great-Grandma Mary Ellen "Nellie" Powers Power!   Here is a photo of them and their children.  My Grandpa is baby #6, so he is the first one pictured in the bottom row on the left hand side.  John Augustine was among the first Power children born in America.  His father, also named John Power came to the United States from Ireland in the mid 1800s.

Peanut Butter Pennies

I feel a little like...bakerella! I searched online for a recipe to make some dog treats for Bruno. My goal is to make them tiny (he's not getting any smaller) and peanut butter flavored. I found this recipe for peanut butter dog biscuits and thought I'd try it. It only has four ingredients and I want to avoid sugar, because they make him very sick!

All you have to do is mix the four ingredients together, roll out the dough and then cut it into shapes. Since I want them tiny, I am using an apple corer as my cookie cutter.

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth
• 1 1/4 cups hot water

Bake them at 350° F for 40 minutes. I only baked mine for 20 minutes due to their small size.

Bruno loves his peanut butter pennies!

Merry Christmas

Mrs. Claus, Mary, Bruno and Santa

Bruno Goes to Washington - el fin

One last picture with Sarah before leaving the mountains and heading back home...


Bruno the shepherd standing up after laying under his blanket while in his den...the long road trip is almost over.


Are we there yet?

Bruno Goes to Washington - the National Mall

Day Three in Maryland and not even the drizzle can keep Bruno from the White House!

Bruno was a celebrity in his own right...there were no other dogs around and lots of people were stopping to look at him and photograph him. One person even filmed some video! Hasn't anyone seen a Dalmatian before?

Mom and Bruno - Washington Monument

Outside the WWII Memorial...Lincoln Memorial...really, really, REALLY wanting to chase a squirrel!


The White House....can't get closer due to the preparations for the upcoming State Dinner.










Looking for Bo...

Bruno Goes to Washington...day 2

On his second day in the Capitol, Bruno headed to the Navy base to see Cousins Steve and Helen, and their baby Wilson. Bruno also saw M-1, which is the he

licopter President Obama flies in when he goes from DC to Camp David. Lucky Dog!

Sarah and Bruno at the Fire Station:

Inside the ladder truck...

After all of that excitement, it is time for a nap with Mom!

After nap time, Molly will be done teaching school, so it is back to her house this evening!

Bruno Goes to Washington

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Bruno headed out to Washington, DC to see his master, my sister Molly. He was lucky enough to ride in Sarah's new RAV 4. Mom headed along as well so they could surprise Molly with a visit. He has been to the groomer, smells nice and is even wearing his bow so he looks nice for Molly.

Driving from our home in Illinois to Silver Spring, Maryland took about 13 hours. (They had to take some more frequent breaks for the Bruno...and his eating and...um, potty business.)

Bruno did not get car sick at any time during the trip!

He stayed in a pet-friendly hotel, received a new mat, food bowls and more than one "goodie bag" from the hotel.

Here he is pictured as he rides up the elevator to the hotel room.

Sarah reports that he only barked twice, but that was because he heard another dog barking and some man was making a great deal of noise himself.

He did not sleep on the hotel bed...he slept in his "den."

He went to visit Molly on his first night.

Fail

Another funny link encompassing a variety of failures...

http://www.failblog.org

Successful Baking...?

I was staying over at Will's house one night while Steve and Jen went to dinner. Will carefully selected a special pizza for us to have for our dinner and yummy peanut butter cookies with chunks of peanut butter cups in them.  Jen has a new oven and a pizza stone, and unfortunately I was unfamiliar with both.  

Will and I were so involved with our dinosaurs and trucks that the pizza was burnt well done.  The cheese had to be scrapped off, but luckily I found some shredded cheese in the refrigerator.  (It was for tacos, but it just added a little south-of-the-border flair!) Once the new cheese melted on the pizza, we put the cookies in.  Not wanting to repeat the same disaster with the cookies, I took them out early.  They were raw slightly under-done.

I decided to attempt baking the same cookies again at my own house.  I hadn’t used the over before, but how hard could it be, right?

It seems I have gone from one extreme to the other...

Well, apparently I had turned the temperature of the oven up (with my belly) when reaching to set the timer.  *sigh*

Piping

I've been seeing so many fancy cupcakes with nice piped icing on the tops of them lately.  Well, I decided that if the bakers of walmart could do it, then so could I.  My cousin Jen's birthday was last month and I decided to give it a whirl.

Yeah, well....it is harder than it looks.  The consistency of my icing was off.  I think I had left it in the mixer too long.  Plus, it was hot in the kitchen, so I put it in the refrigerator, which also made it difficult to squeeze out of the bag.

My dream was chocolate cupcakes with light, fluffy pink icing piped on top and mini-chocolate chips sprinkled over them.

Here is was my reality.....

Footie Footie Football

Bruno - Ready for Football

Hair Raising

Frenchman Herve Diebolt, a participant of the international World Beard and Moustache Championships smiles in Gruendau near Frankfurt September 19, 2009. Over 160 participants compete in 17 categories of beard and moustache styles.

I wonder if they have any eyebrow or ear hair competitions....

Classy

It is funny how I will walk into Walmart with complete disregard for my appearance, yet I try to look a little better when going to Target.  I guess I rate Target as being higher up on the sophistication scale.

Tonight, after working out at the gym for 45 minutes, and without changing my clothes or showering or even combing my hair....I went in to Walmart for a few grocery items I needed.

Perhaps this is the reason why I feel I can walk out "in public" (or as public as Walmart can be) after a vigorous workout at the gym...

http://peopleofwalmart.com/

Handmade with Love

Here are some of the recent cards I've made...

This is a favorite....the "b" is a felt sticker and the rest of the words were stamped on the paper using rubber stamps.  On top of the ribbon, I used a green snap to fasten down a clear star.

the Butt Station

Yes...this is a picture of the Butt Station.  It is the perfect desk accessory: it holds scissors, paper, pens or pencils, a roll of tape AND paper clips in the...um, "bowl."

The "man" is available in blue, orange and green.....you can get them at the Paper Source. 

I found mine in Champaign at Awards, Ltd.

DKS Pride

I am the proud owner of a Dwight K Schrute bobblehead doll.  It sits on my desk at work, where we can all enjoy it.

"Dammit, he put my stapler in Jell-O again!"

"In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead."

"There are several ways to tell if a perp is lying...the liar will avoid direct eye contact. The liar will cover part of his or her face with his hand, especially the mouth. The liar will perspire. Unfortunately I spoke to Oscar on the phone so none of this is useful."

"I.D. badges are long overdue. Security in this office park is a joke. Last year I came to work with my spud-gun in a duffle bag. I sat at my desk all day with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged?"

"When I was in the 6th grade I was a finalist in our school spelling bee. It was me against Raj Patel. I misspelled, in front of the entire school, the word 'failure'. "

the Blowout...

After working at FS taking care of infants for 6-ish years, the only definition of a "blowout" was the one that meant the baby had pooped and the diaper had failed.  Typically,  poop had gone out the sides of the diaper, up the front of the diaper, up the back of the diaper, or in a combination of directions.  Often following a blowout, strong latex gloves were donned and the baby was stripped down and given a bath immediately.  Any clothing went into a bio-hazard bag that was scented like baby powder for the poor parents to deal with at home.

I digress.

Last night, I learned a second definition of "blowout." This time, it was with my rear, passenger side tire.  

It was Tuesday, June 30th and I was in the mood to shop.  Knowing that my friend Kendra loves to shop at Von Maur, I devised a plan to drive into Bloomington after work so we could go to a scrapbook store I love, eat at Logans and shop at Lame Giant and Von Maur.  We left Champaign at 5:30pm for what we thought would be an exciting, yet uneventful trip.

Approximately 30 minutes into our trip as we were cruising I-74 and chatting up a storm, I heard a "POP."  Then loud, horrible noises coming from the back, right side of the car.  

Kendra:  "Did you run over something?"

Me:  "I think its my tire."

Noises become louder as I pull over to the shoulder....

Me:  "Its definitely the tire!"

Ugh....we exit the car and survey the damage. 

 

Status: tire is completely F-L-A-T!

Me:  "Hmmm....okay....gonna have to change the tire."

Kendra:  "Seriously?  I don't know how to change a tire.  For real.  I don't know how."

Me:  "I can change it.  I know how."

I pop the trunk and get out the jack, the spare and the wrench.  I try to get the lug nuts off, but they were too tight.  How annoying.  I call my dad and give him my location and he begins what will be at least a 20 minute drive from Bellflower to I-74 Westbound...mile marker 165-ish.

I cannot just stand there and wait for my dad to come without giving the lug nuts a good try, so despite wearing a skirt, I attempt to get the lug nuts off.  

Within 15 minutes, I had removed 3 and Kendra had removed 1.  (Not too shabby for never changing a tire before...)

The last lug nut wouldn't budge.  At least when my dad would have arrived, there was only one last lug nut to take off.  We stand around (on the shoulder) and talk some more.  

After 20 minutes of EVERY vehicle flying past us, one pulled over and began to back up along the shoulder to help us!

BIG D 151      (his license plate)      Hooray!  A "good Samaritan!"

Kendra:  "We have someone coming to help us."

Me:  "Good.  I cannot believe we've been here for this long and this is the first person to come and help us."

Kendra:  "Have you ever seen that movie where the girl gets a flat tire and a guy comes along to help her, but then he rapes and kills her instead?"

Me:  "Uh.....no, I haven't seen that movie, but thank you for bringing it up now..."

Big D walks up to us and offers to help.  He gets the last lug nut off in just a few seconds.  Whoo hoo!  Then I jacked up the car and he hit the tire until it came off.  As we were putting the spare on, my dad pulled up.

Big D and my dad discuss the spare and if it is on correctly.  Then Big D puts the flat tire in the trunk.  My dad tightens up the lug nuts and Big D wishes us a safe journey and heads home.

As for Kendra and I, we checked the book and it said you can drive on the spare up to 3,000 miles.  Thank you Toyota.  My dad followed us to the next town and thought the tire looked okay.  

Did we turn around and return safely to Champaign?

Hell no!  We went into Bloomington as planned, had a great dinner and a very successful shopping trip.  

As for the car, she got two new front tires and will get two new rear tires in the near future.

Here is a photo of the blowout....I could stick my thumb through one of the holes...crazy!

Thanks BIG D and Dad!  =)

more funny

Drunk People = Yoga Positions

funny

This is too funny...

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/