A Room For The Dogs

We don't do anything "small" at our house. Since we redid the living room, we have decided that the dogs need a place to live most of the time outside. The problem is, there is no warm, dry place for them to live outside and you can't just go buy a doghouse that will fit an Atlas sized dog. So Brandon and Ryan built one. Or they are building one. This is the biggest (and probably nicest) dog house I've ever seen! It is 8'x4' and as tall as brandon (1" shorter if he is standing straight up). It has shingles on the roof and an elevated floor. It will have carpet and air vents. This thing is amazing! It will be barn red when they're done. Hopefully they'll have it done tonight. The one and only problem is moving it. We have no clue how they're going to get it in the backyard. (it is supposed to go on the deck) There has been talk of removing one section of fence and the list of movers they are going to enlist seems to be growing. Once it is done and in place it should be very nice. Then we'll have to break the news to the dogs. I think they'll be impressed. I dont know. They're awfully picky!

Naked House

Its been needing to be done for years and it's finally done... Brandon cut down the monster bush in front of our house. We've had mixed feelings about that bush for years but he finally decided it was time for it to go and took the chain saw to it. I was afraid he'd cut it down to the roots and be done with it but he didn't and I'm glad. I do like it and I like that it's a big bush but it was just too much. Now our house looks naked! He also took out a 'tree' that was too far past overgrown to be saved. We've tried a lot of things to salvage that one but it was pretty much all trunk. So its gone. The good news is I now have a whole new area to plant! Obviously we have a lot of work left to do but the big first step is done.

I'm Back!

Its been a while... I've been busy! I guess it takes six months to get the hang of a new schedule. Or at least it took me six months this time. Work has become routine now and I'm able to include other things in my schedule like daydreaming about the garden and going to the gym! This winter has been so dreary, I've been thinking way too much about my outdoor plans! I may already have plans too big for the backyard! Don't get me wrong, we've enjoyed the snow and the (several) days off work/school in front of the fire but I've had my fill of winter. i'm ready for spring!! But I did discover that February has one redeeming quality- I get to start my garden! Seeds are available to buy and Peyton and I have been perusing the aisle making our selections. So far I have grape tomatoes, yellow squash, green beans and sugar snap peas (and a sketch of the garden plans)! Today I decided to make a garden for Peyton out of his old plastic wading pool . I had intended to give him part of my garden to work but my plans expanded...

Here is the 2010 crop list:
Outside:
sugar snap peas
green beans
yellow squash
onions
grape tomatoes
garlic
shallots
carrots
jalapenos
cayenne
bell peppers

Inside:
cilantro
italian parsley
iceberg lettuce
spinach

I just started a new gardening/cooking blog at www.miniaturefarmer.blogspot.com but I don't want to post (much) family happenings on that one. (food and family DO overlap sometimes!) On the other hand, I dont want to post what I had for dinner and the nutritional values on this blog! The Mini Farmer blog is public and this one is not so I'll still post videos and pictures here.

I hope to get better and posting pictures and video here so everyone can see them at the same time. I have a little better grip on my time now so it should happen. Peyton 'asked' to go swimming when we were at the gym last night. It never occurred to me that we could be swimming right now! So I told him we could swim tonight. I should have some good stories!

At least there's no snow yet...

I was eating dinner the other night with Brandon's family and we were talking about the amount and kind of exercise we all get during a normal day. Really, we were "complaining" about not having time to go to the gym. I piped up and said that I thought I got quite a bit of exercise just walking to and from my car and proceeded to tell them about a typical trek from my car to the office. I work on a University medical campus and, like most campuses, we are always expanding, building new buildings on top of parking lots. So we all walk a long way to our offices. I park my car- and if I"m late, I park WAAY back in the back of the parking lot. I have no idea how big the lot is but it has two entrance/exit areas on each side, if that helps. (I think its big.)

So I park the car and start the walk to the office, watching vigilantly for cars backing out of spaces or coming around a corner. Then I make it to the street, which is separated from the construction site by a wire fence. A crane is swinging some kind of equipment maybe 50 feet from the street and the pedestrians. Then we get to the crosswalk. There is no other way to get across the divided, 6 lane street. The campus has had such a problem with cars not stopping and pedestrians getting hit that they have put signs in the road and are sometimes parked in the median to watch for cars not yielding. (sounds safe, huh!?) So I make it across the first 3 lanes, wait in the median for the cars on the next side to stop, and continue on my way. Next parking lot. This one is for patients. Again, I watch for crazy parking lot drivers. I make it to the other side. All I have to cross now is a grassy bank down to the next street. (In heels, of course!) Rainy days are fun! Cross one more street that's not so bad and into the motor pool parking lot. If it's any after 8, everyone is backing out, so again, look out! And finally I make it to the building! Its exhausting just thinking about it! After all of that, they just rolled their eyes and made some comment about walking uphill in the snow both ways... :)

Question

Does anyone know of a website that will suggest recipes to you for meals during the week? I saw one with Blue Cross Blue Shield but I haven't been able to find it again and I can't find anything else like it (for free!). Its possible that nothing like that exists for free, but I thought I'd see if anyone had some insight for me. I would settle for a site that let me input a recipe and then make a list of ingredients for the week of recipes that I chose. Does that make sense? Anyone know of a site like that?
I'm on my way to being hyper-organized again!
Thanks for any input!

September Update

Its way past time for an update! Its been quite a month! About two months ago, Brandon and I decided it was time to see about getting me a full time 'regular' job. Peyton was so bored at home and was clearly ready to do something different during the day and the wedding business in OKC has finally succumbed to the weak economy. I looked at a lot of different resources for job hunting and I didn't even realize I had applied with the University of Oklahoma! But I got an interview with the medical campus and ended up getting the job. I've been here for about a month and I love my job!! I am the payroll coordinator for the maintenance department which is about as far from anything I figured I'd ever do but its a fantastic job and I am actually enjoying it! The hours will be really flexible and the benefits are great. I also really enjoy the people I work with.
Peyton is staying with Kathy while Im at work and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they go to Mothers Day Out. She teaches there but not his class. He has a very nice teacher and seems to thoroughly enjoy school! When he is just a little older, we'll probably put him in full time preschool before he goes to kindergarden. We keep our weekends busy. Last weekend Peyton and I checked out the train museum and had a blast! It is a working train yard but some of the trains are stationery exhibits. He couldnt have cared less about the exhibits- except the one with the tv! But we got to ride a real train! Oh my! He was so excited! He is really into trains right now. We'll go back again soon when Brandon can join us.
Brandon is working a lot again. Its fall and, at least for Earls, fall is a busy time. We have the fair- which Brandon will be helping with again this year. (Thank goodness not running it, though!) And there always seems to be a festival of some kind that they are involved with. Football season officially started in our house on Sunday and Brandon upgraded his satellite reciever just in time! His garage is a never ending project and it looks really nice! Ryan and Brandon put in carpet and a screen door while Peyton and I were in TN! It is by far the most comfortable garage I've ever been in!
Well my lunch time is about over, I better get back to work. Just wanted to update everyone on our big changes! I'll send out pictures soon.

The Big Bag of Popcorn

Its pretty common knowledge that I enjoy a good bowl of popcorn every night. Or at least I would LIKE to enjoy a good bowl of popcorn every night. I have a very nice popcorn popper now, thanks to Dad and a backup air popper, just in case. (Again, thanks to Dad!) I had been buying my popcorn kernels at the grocery store where 1 1/2 lbs costs about $1. One day when I was at Sams, I saw that a 50lb bag of kernels costs $15. I couldnt believe it! I was really throwing my money away on that one!! I didn't buy it that day but I definitely added it to the list for the next time. Well next time was this week! Brandon didnt know it was on the list and he about died when I said that we were definitely getting it! He looked really hard for a smaller bag but there wasn't one. I had already looked. He did make sure that I understood how much popcorn that would make before he loaded it into the basket.
So far no one believes that I can eat 50lbs of unpopped kernels in a year. We'll see. Even if I dont eat it all, I just have to eat half the bag to make it worth buying. Plus I'm pretty excited about the virtually unlimited supply of popcorn. (I did have to push the basket after that... we had 55 lbs of dog food, 50 lbs of popcorn kernels and two cases of water among all of the other smaller stuff. I got my workout that night!)