Valentine Garland

Started working on Valentine's day garlands. Cutting out material.

Valentine's fabric garland

Also made pasta dinner for tonight.

Very cold. Started out at 9F degrees. I believe it got up to 22F.

Dogs were nuts today. In and out - all day long!

Big Happenings in Little A-Town

When we had packed up the dogs today in the Dodge and headed into A-town for our lattes, we never expected to see a wanted man being hauled off by the cops at gunpoint!

3 police cruisers pulled into the road directly next to the latte stand, 1 of which blocked traffic on the highway! They proceeced to pull over a new Isuzu SUV and ordered the driver to get out of the vehicle, all with guns drawn! Hannah Banana at the latte stand was really excited and glad to see that we were there as she was also slightly scared. She managed to take a couple pictures with her camera!

book 'em Danno!

When we walked the dogs down at the wild dog subdivision, our friend that has a dog came with his truck. All the dogs went charging after him & I feared that Lil Bit would be crushed beneath the tires. Hubby ran back to get the truck & pretty soon we were on our way.

I decided to wear a spring sweater instead of my warm faux beaver fur coat. But when we loaded Bit & Bud into the FMF, it turned out to be bitterly cold. Sunny, but cold.

Drove to Sandpoint so we could get lightbulbs, a new heater & so that hubby could look at tools at Home Depot. Then went to WalMart for groceries.

Walked dogs on the leash...again bitterly cold & I cursed the changing weather. Then off to Arby's for the 4 for $5.95 burgers for dogs. Home - fed puppies their Arby burgers, unloaded & put away groceries. Hubby decided he had to make his burritos for the week. So he cooked. Added all the refrigerator leftovers from the last week to his burrito mix. Then he screwed cups for me for light balls. Rested for the night.

End of January

Gosh. Can't believe it's the end of January already. That month went by very fast.

Took the dogs out for wild dog walk this morning (Saturday) after we got lattes from Jen Bunny. Jen looked really cute in a white long sleeved shirt.


On Friday morning I went to talk with Deralee and then her mom stopped by the stand. I got to chat with both of them for quite a while. Then came home to vacuum & clean house.

Final Thursday Jan 2011

This is the final Thursday in the month of January this year.

Wordless Dog Wednesday

Lil Bit & Bud

Lil Bit

Dogs

Angus, the Saint; Harriet, the Boxer, & Lil Bit, the Schipperke all decided to relax on the couch today.

Toe Crack

Lil Bit enjoys some Toe Crack.

Lil Bit licking daddy's toes.

43 Degrees on a Sunday

Walk in the morning. Dogs ran like wild. Walked for 30 minutes.

Got lattes. Said "hi" to Model Girl (Hannah Banana).

Dumped dogs off at home. Lil Bit had gotten into something sticky & stinky. So I had to do a quick bath on him when we got home. Left him at home and took Bud with us to get groceries in Rathdrum.

Washed Dodge in Rathdrum at the drive thru as it was filthy dirty. Hubby argued with the automated machine - he was yelling at it!

Got $210 worth of groceries. Lots of dinners for this coming month.

Went to Zips to get cheeseburgers for dogs.

Home to unload groceries

Went for another dog walk. Dogs were thrilled that they got to run again. Walked for 30 minutes.

At home I frosted more cupcakes - I had made Chocolate / Almond / Coconut cupcakes the other day. Hubby watched Junkyard Wars while updating his blog & Flickr.

37 Frosted Cupcakes

Made steaks & baked potatoes for dinner. Tomorrow night we will have lasagna.

Still January

Dog Walk Saturday Morning

Weather is nicer. 33 degrees on our dog walk this morning. Dogs were just wild this morning. Love romping in the snow.

Decorated some of the cupcakes for hubby's friend at work. Brad had a birthday last week - the big 63! I will need more powdered sugar before I decorate the rest.

 Vanilla Cupcake Four

I really like the red sprinkles on this cupcake. Looks like a brushing of red kiss on a white rose.

 Vanilla Cupcake Three

 

Vanilla Cupcake Two

The white pearlized sprinkles on this cupcake really make it pop. I know the picture does not do it justice, but it is really great looking.

 Vanilla Cupcake One

I know hubby's co-workers will not be super-impressed with the cupcake decorating. They just enjoy it when somebody brings something to eat! 

Vanilla Cupcakes

Did laundry, put away dishes, paid bills & made vanilla cupcakes.

Will frost tomorrow.

Snowed today - about 2 inches. Then freezing rain. Icky slippery everywhere.

CHEESE is the word of the day

Bit loves Cheese. And it is a great incentive for getting him to "come" when he doesn't want to come. Or for doing other things.

 Look at his attention in this photo.

Totally mesmerized.

Wordless Wednesday Dog

Bud

Not Friday

Dogs woke me at 12, 2, and 4:30am. I also had really bad endo pains at 4:00 and doused myself with enough aspirin to alleviate the pain. I don't recall writing the note to hubby asking him to please check me in the morning to make sure I was still alive...

Hubby brought home a few necessary groceries. I made lemon bars & started a chicken breast in the new crockpot. Smells delicious in the house.

Kids Over

Made sausage & pancakes for dogs. Eggs & toast for hubby. Kids came over this morning to walk dogs with us. They met us at the latte stand 'cause K wanted to get a good latte. She also wanted to gossip with Jen Bunny.

Went down to the deserted subdivision but kids got mixed up and went to the park. They called on cellphone & met us later. Dogs were excited to see MegaMatt coming at them. So we walked for a while then headed home. Had to pick up milk on the way home.

Talked with kids for a while at home, then K decided she was hungry as she had not eaten breakfast. We decided to go to Mackenzie River Pizza. Guys got pizza, K & I got pasta. Pretty good. Nice beer.

Came home in the MegaMatt after getting Wendy's cheeseburgers for dogs. It is Angus's 2nd birthday today.
Chatted more with kids until they decided to go to M's parents for belated Christmas gift exchange. We baby sat Bravo for them until they returned.

They got back around 8PM, then left to go home.

Carpet Repair

Slept in late until 830am. Dogs on dog walk after getting lattes from Hannah - Banana. Then new carpet repair guy called. We met him at house at 10am. He will attempt to repair. After 6 months of trying to get Adam to repair carpet it was nice to find an older guy that knows what he is talking about.

Hubby worked in shop, I vacuumed house again. Dogs played outside in the 45 degree weather. Poop starting to show through the snow. Ick.

Around 5:00 hubby came home & ate dinner. Fell asleep in front of tv. Boring.

Another Boring January Day

Oatmeal Butterscotchies, Vacuumed house, Washed Dog Beds today.

Crazy Lil Bit

All the dogs enjoyed the warmer weather outside. It was near 45 degrees all day. I left the door open so they could come and go as they wanted. Tearing through the house & romping like puppies out in the snow and on the deck.

Lil Bit especially enjoyed the day. The highlight of his day was when daddy rubbed his belly. So cute.

12 Inches of White Stuff

It started snowing last night and by this morning, we already had about 4 inches of snow. Hubby slipped on the ice and stayed home so that he could go to the chiropractor. Got an appt for him at 11AM.

I made him breakfast. Took dogs for a walk. Snow was really coming down by now. Shoveled another 4 inches of snow off decks before dog walk.

Met M&K for lunch at Red Dead Lobster in town at 12AM. They wanted to go to Costco to buy a membership. Got dog food.

Walked Beebo, Bud & Lil Bit at the new CDA Dog Park. Kids went home while we picked up cheeseburgers at Wendy's for dogs at home.

Slowly drove home as it was sleeting by the time we reached Garwood. Cars were traveling very slowly. Hubby rested and we watched TV - new show called The Cape.

Happy 1 - 11 - 11

Happy January 11, 2011.

Another January Day

Watched 1st season of La Femme Nikita which was my B-day present from KRN.

Dogs went in & out all day even with the colder weather. They played with each other inside.

Wild Turkey

Saw wild turkeys while on our walk this afternoon. Walked dogs in morning & afternoon.

Took down Christmas decor.

Watched Cupcake Wars.

Matt Is Home

What a wonderful feeling. Warm, cuddly, giggly, happy. Our son in law is home from overseas serving with the Air Force.

Friday Off

Warmer and Wet

The temps raised to a balmly 35 today. Last night around midnight, the roof snow let loose & came rumbling off like a freight train. Frightened us out of a deep sleep while the dogs were scared & barked.

Isabelle awakened at 2AM to go out for potty & I staggered out of bed to assist her. She really does need to quit doing this to us.

While shoveling the roof snow off the decks today, I also tackled the one inch ice floe that was underneath. This will give a smooth surface before the next snowfall comes.

Even tho I put birdseed out for the birdies today, I did not see any out eating. Poor little cold things. Hope they are OK.

Also washed & conditioned my hair. Bending over the tub almost caused me to pass out with the vertigo.

A couple hours after using Bud as a head prop, Harriet was resting her head on Angus. *After looking at the picture below, I realized that you can count Harry's ribs. Poor dog. We even overfeed her by giving her more treats than the other dogs yet she won't even put on 1 pound of weight. She probably has a hyper-thyroid. We are NOT abusing her. She is just naturally like this.

Harriet & Bud

Harriet & Angus

Even More Snow!

January has definitely brought the proverbial depression of the new year. Grey dark skies shedding tons of precipitation. We have had over 6 inches and it is only 3pm. I have had to shovel the decks several times now.

Neither the snow on the roof of the house nor the garage has come off yet. The garage is sporting at least 10 inches of snow & I believe that the house has more. There are long dangerous icicles hanging off the edges just ready  to let go & crush something. They look evil.

Dogs (especially Bit) keep running outside & barking. They are anxious for winter to be done & run in the back yard.

Banana Nut Bread Day

This morning I saw a Northern Flicker sit on the railing outside. He was huge. And very beautiful.

Northern Flicker

Went out to provide bird seed to outside wild birds. There were over 100 in the woods. I also took out the heated pet bowl & set it up for them so they could have fresh water. We will need to set up a better bird shelter area this coming year. I would also like to set up a small barn & fresh water supply for the deer. This has been a very tough winter for them here.

Hubby won't eat his bananas he buys, so when they are almost rotted he has the perfect excuse for me to make banana nut bread.

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups mashed banana 5 medium bananas

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 recipe Streusel Nut Topping

Streusel Nut Topping

In small bowl combine

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

Using a pastry blender cut in 2 tablespoons melted butter until mixture resembles

coarse crumbs.

Stir in 1/3 cup chopped walnuts.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom of pans.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Make a well in the center of flour mixture & set aside.

In medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and butter. Add egg mixture all at

once to flour mixture. Batter should be lumpy. Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into

prepared pans. If desired, sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in load pans.

Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Another Day of the New Year

It is lightly snowing. Unmotivated today. Don't want to clean or put away Xmas decor. It will just be depressing when all the bright lights & color is gone from the house. Dogs are bored. Too cold outside to play. Too much snow.

Hubby returned to work today. I'm bored & depressed. My BPPV vertigo has returned. Difficult to do anything without falling over! LOL.

Hubby brought home Chicken Bacon Stuffed Papa Murphy's Take 'N' Bake pizza.

Chicken Bacon Stuffed Pizza $13.99 Large

2nd Day of New Year

Saturday Jan 1
Walked dogs in 5 degree weather. All of the dogs were severely cold, so we cut our walk short. Bit had snow frozen to his fur.

 snowy lil bit

Watched Twilight Zone Marathon on SYFY. Made customized mac-n-cheese.




Sunday Jan 2
Walked dogs. Got latte from Jen Bunny. The latte stand was closed yesterday, so we were forced to get drinks from THE OTHER PLACE. Gross. I had to toss my drink in the sink yesterday as I could not drink it. It looked as if they had poured a half cup of oil into the latte.

Hubby shoveled off both decks & took out garbage. Last day of his week long vacation & he is freaking out.

Took naps. L. Bit Hubbard climbed up onto hubby & took a nap with Angus.

angus, hubby & lil bit

Happy New Year