Leg Lift

Sometimes I wonder how these two little darlings can sleep as much as they do. At some point, doesn't sleep become counterproductive? They sleep for a few hours, then out of the blue, they just jump up and run around. It's quite funny really.

Speaking of funny.

I brought these two little boogers with me to the store today to pick up my 3 copies of the Sunday paper (despite the fact that the coupons are crap this week, but that's a different story). It was raining all day today, so they didn't get their normal amount of outdoor time. I threw them in the truck and off we went. They're very well-behaved in the truck, so they are allowed to ride along pretty often.

All went well on the ride to and from the store. I even took a little detour so that they could have some extra time to stick their heads out the window and drool on The Gazelle's window for 5 more minutes. He loves it when they drool on his window.

We got home, and jumped out of the truck. They both made their way over to the grassy patch next to our door...apparently the ride made them have to pee. Maya had just started taking care of business, when Nikko randomly decided to walk over, lift his leg, and pee right on my little girl! The dog who is officially a squatter (not a leg-lifter) decided to try leg-lifting out for the first time on my innocent little puppy as she was in a most vulnerable state. How rude!

I'm sure that my neighbors (we live in a little condo) were very curious to see what was going on outside as I was screaming "NIKKO! YOU CAN'T PEE ON YOUR SISTER!" It was lovely. Needless to say, Maya received an impromptu bath, and Nikko will not be allowed to stand near Maya while she pees anymore.

Oh dogs!

Grandma's 4-Layer Dream Pie

I have jazzed this up a little bit to make it...well...less Grandma-ish, but it's basically my little peach of a Grandma's dessert that she makes on holidays. It's really delish, and don't let the recipe fool you into thinking it's difficult. It's not.

Layer 1

1 pkg Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix (17.5 oz)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted (do not fear the butter...butter is your friend)
1 pkg honey graham crackers, crushed (9-10 whole graham crackers--not the little tiny baby squares that make up the big square)
8 oz walnuts, chopped (or spun in the food processor/blender), save about 2 T to garnish
1/4 C light brown sugar, unpacked

Combine all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl until moistened. The mixture will look crumbly, but should basically be sticking together. Spray a 9" X 13" Pyrex baking dish (or similar...just think "deep baking dish") with cooking spray, then press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until the edges are just barely brown. Let this cool completely before moving forward.

Layer 2 In case you missed the first mention...don't make this until the 1st layer is completely cool

24 oz cream cheese (3 regular Philadelphia rectangular jobby's), room temperature
1 C cold milk
2 envelopes Dream Whip (they come in a box with 4 packets, usually in the store next to the ready-made graham cracker pie crusts)
1 T vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (or stand mixer) and beat the crap out of it until it's fluffy and thick. This usually takes about 5 minutes. It's pretty forgiving, so if you beat it for longer than that, it won't call Social Services. If it seems too thick, you can add a little more milk, but you want it to be firm so that your pie isn't a big sloppy mess. Pour this evenly on top of Layer 1 and smooth out.

Layer 3

2 envelopes Dream Whip (the other 2 envelopes from the box you got next to the ready-made graham cracker pie crusts)
2 (regular, not family size) pkgs instant chocolate pudding (I usually use the sugar-free chocolate fudge kind...I have to maintain my girlish figure)
1 1/2 C cold milk

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (or stand mixer), and again...beat the crap out of it. You also want this to be thick, but not like mud. Beat these ingredients for about 5 minutes as well, and then evenly pour and smooth on top of Layer 2.

Layer 4

1 tub of Cool Whip
2 T of chopped walnuts, from above

Evenly spread Cool Whip on top of Layer 3, then sprinkle walnuts on top. Since there are nuts in the first layer, I always put the nuts on top just to warn people that there are nuts in it. Food allergies scare me, and I don't need that on my watch.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and then pig out. Enjoy, and let me know if you liked it. If you do, I'll take credit...if you hate it, lets blame it on my Grandma.

Running Log

For those runners who are also accountants and have mad spreadsheets, yo (yeah, I saw that on a t-shirt once), I found a really cool running log that keeps track of everything from your weekly mileage goal to the total miles you have on your runners. It will even keep a chart of how many more miles you have to run before you make it to the moon (well, this is pretend, of course)! I don't know...I'm simple...This feature makes me a little giddy.

I love convenience, so just in case you don't feel like going to the guy's website, I have also uploaded it for your downloading pleasure. You can get it in the black box to the right ("Joggers File Grabber")...or just click here to get to the file (logrun.xls).

In addition to my Nike + iPod jobby, I have been using this log as a backup since September. I really heart my Nike + sensor, don't get me wrong. However, the innate problem with the Nike + iPod jobby (this is a real word in my world) is that if you happen to forget your sensor, or your iPod died and you didn't realize it until you strapped on your earphones and tied your shoes, you have no way of entering that run into your Nike + module online. That kind of sucks in my book. I suppose that it keeps us all honest, but still...it's difficult for us busy career women to be prepared all that time. That's a pretty tall order.

In any case, the log is good. If you'd like to use it, or just poke around at it a little, make sure you start with the "setup" page, and enter in all of the requested information there. That will ensure that the whole sheet works for you. If you want to change the layout or column widths, you have to turn off the protection on the sheet and use the password "dead". I was a little concerned that the developer used such a morbid password, and I almost called his mother.

Just the same, if you have any questions about the spreadsheet, just give me a holler.

Meh...

So today is the first day in about 10 days that I actually feel like I am not ready to cough up my left lung. I was sick the entire time I was on vacation, and it was pretty bad there for a couple of days. I think that flying only exacerbated the problem, and by 7PM on the evening we arrived in Arizona, I was in bed agonizing over the pressure in my head that would not go away. So, despite my good intentions (I packed 5 jogging outfits, my runners, AND my Nike + iPod), I thought better of running with a head cold.

Now that I am back to reality, I have had 2 crapola runs (Monday and Today), but I'm ok with that. I'll get back in the swing of things.

I haven't updated anything on my Nike + yet, but don't worry. It's not impressive.

Tell Me a Story...

So I promise not to bore anyone with irritating vacation stores for the next 2 years, but this one made me laugh so I have to share.

I have never claimed that The Gazelle was a worldly man. I've also never claimed to be attracted to men of that sort. I love him because he is like me...comfortably naive to some of the finer things in life, yet open-minded and willing to learn. I grew up in a very small town, and didn't move to the big city until I was 21 years old. I like to think that I've retained some of my innate Country Girl charm, despite the fact that I've now lived in the city for 10 years. The Gazelle was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. Although he didn't grow up country, his family is from North Carolina, so it's in his blood.

I regress...


While on vacation, I was lucky enough to have an old friend drive into Phoenix from Tucson to have dinner with myself and The Gazelle. He was actually my junior prom date (strictly platonic, I promise). I'll show you the picture later. It's gonna blow your mind. So, Junior Prom Date met us at our hotel bar, and after about an hour of catching up, we departed to Kinkaid's for steak and conversation.

Everything was going great. Drink orders...check! Salad orders...check!

Then came time to order dinner. Junior Prom Date and I ordered our dinners. The Gazelle, being the open-minded man that he is, inquired to the waitress "how is the duck?"

"It's ok...if you like duck."

Oh no, he wasn't deterred by this. He asked more questions about the duck.

"You should try the prime rib, it's excellent", the waitress replied.

To that, The Gazelle answered "oh no, I don't like ribs at all."

I felt my cheeks get hot, and I think I began to feel my armpits get a little sticky. Did my boyfriend, the man I love & adore with all of my heart, just tell the waitress that he doesn't want prime rib because he doesn't like ribs? Err...what do I do...what do I say?

So, true to form, I did nothing. I said nothing. I just let it unfold right before my very eyes. I was afraid to look at Junior Prom Date for fear that he would think that I was a horrible country-rooted girlfriend for not schooling my city boyfriend on the vast disparity between prime ribs and bbq ribs.

I have to give the waitress a lot of credit because she flowed right through this mishap with little more than a slight eye roll. She carried on and just let him order the duck. After she left, I very matter-of-factly brought up the story of my 20 year old assistant at work who made the very same mistake last year at our work Christmas party. I think that I effectively got my point across, without bruising his pride too awfully much...and I doubt that he'll make the same mistake again.

So, if you made it this far into my rambling post about prime rib vs. bbq ribs, then you have earned this...

See...aren't you so happy you waited? I think this picture can be the subject of several blogs to come.

And, alas...I promise to write about jogging soon. There are just so many other fun things to talk about in the meantime.

Oh Sunshine...Oh Palm Tree...Oh Blue Metal Art Thingy!

Vacation brought with it many adventures.

There were the careless nights relaxing in the hotel bar (ahem…restaurant...mom) while watching the game and laughing with The Gazelle. And the aimless walks around the streets of downtown Phoenix.

One of those walks brought us to this…




Here's a better view...just in case you missed it the first time...






That gave us a hearty belly laugh.

We did a lot of wandering for the first 2 days that we were in Phoenix. Despite the fact that I completely lack any sense of direction whatsoever, The Gazelle trusts me so fully that he still sometimes lets me lead the way. That’s love. However, after about the 5th time that I brought us full-circle around the 15 block radius of our hotel, only to find that our destination was a mere 2 blocks (insert cardinal direction here) of our hotel, he grew frustrated and took over the navigational duties. That was ok with me though. It was too much responsibility, considering I was on vacation and all.

The good part about wandering around Phoenix and getting lost is that you find things like this…






and this…





and especially this…







We found this little gem of a park behind the Hooters (go figure) in Arizona Center. Their little water pond with the rocky bottom was so relaxing that we spent 2 hours sitting on a wooden bench staring at the water and talking. We can talk for hours if we let ourselves. Sometimes life just doesn't give you time to do that though.

As we were sitting there talking on the bench under the palms (ack...gag...barf...that sounded way too romantic), I felt so thankful to have some extra time for a change. It was strange to have time to just wander around a city aimlessly and get lost.

If you have time someday, you should try it. It's a lot of fun.

Back to Life...Back to Reality

This is the song that I literally sang while walking out of the stuffy tube thingy from the plane to the airport terminal. The Gazelle just laughed at me.

Have you ever taken a moment to reflect, and then realized that you can’t remember the past month of your life? Really?! Yeah…me too. I feel like I have been living in a centrifuge for about a month now.

My Grandpa passed away exactly 3 weeks and 1 day ago, sparking an impromptu trip to Central NY to be with my family. I was back at work just in time to get caught up, and then left again on vacation last Wednesday, returning on Sunday. I am now just about caught up at work…in time to leave on a 4 day Thanksgiving holiday weekend! I'm beginning to understand the concept behind everyone’s musings about “there are not enough hours in the day.” I mean…I’ve understood it before, but I think I’m just really feeling it lately.

2 days until Thanksgiving…29 days until Christmas.

TWENTY NINE days until Christmas??!! Not only did I just spend a small fortune to have my 2 crazy dogs boarded while I was on vacation, but I also had the brakes on my car replaced while I was away. Not fixed. Replaced. Apparently, brakes can only be fixed so many times before they need to be replaced. Probably much like a hip or a knee I suppose. I’m sure that hip, knee, and brake replacements are all equally as shocking when you receive the bill.

I did have a great time on vacation though. But, all things must come to an end.

**sigh**