We Are Blending

There comes a time in the life of every owner of a goofy, large dog when the issue of discipline rears its unruly head.

Hobbes, Dear Fiance's half Boxer, half Redbone Hound (an adopted animal), is the most lovable, affectionate, and eager to please pet I've ever met.  He amiably lounges with the kids and their friends, wags his tail almost incessantly, and is a joy to have around.

Except when large dogs are present in a public setting.  Then Hobbes transforms into a slobbering, snarling, beast and generally scares the living daylights out of people, myself included.

What to do?! In his brilliance and technological savvy, Dear Fiance suggested electronics. Training was getting us nowhere for a variety of reasons, so with grudging acceptance, I acquiesced to what I now call Hobbes' "Good Boy" collar.

It's fantastic!!!!  With a merciful few corrections, Hobbes has learned not to pull and I'm much more confident that our walks will no longer result in Jerry Springer style canine interactions. Better living through electronics!!

It's as though we've entered this sort of greenish yellow alternate universe where all the plants, all the cars, all the streets, yards, driveways, and yes, even kids playing outdoors, are turning into pollen dusted sugar cookies.

It looks like rain, and that would make me very happy, because it's a little surreal!!

But in exciting news, more uplifting and exciting than having to download and learn 2 new applications and work through their different issues so that I can create a good looking slideshow for a client.  Who knew that iMovie would be such a very fancy, but arthritic app? Not me. :p

The thing that makes me most happy at this particular moment, besides having whupped that problem for my client (what was I going to do but to finish and make it right for her?!) is that one of my strawberries bloomed this morning.

It's a little thing and I know that, but the magnificent window boxes I got for my birthday, complete with herbs and strawberries, sit on the windows in the bay window that my desk fits into for my office.  I look out over them from time to time and it makes me smile.  Birds come to visit.  Bees buzz and I watch them grow and think about cooking with the herbs, which I love.

These herbs will be undefiled by the depredations of my terriers and the felines that live outdoors.  Nuff said! It's FOOD, afterall, and I'm uptight about things like germs and fur and much worse getting into my family's food.

So about this strawberry blossom - it inspires me that things do bloom in time.  Everything isn't a battle (like this morning was for me) and that something so beautiful and promising can happen easily and beautifully.  I started so upbeat but degenerated into a crank and needed lots of quiet and space so I could focus on "cudgeling my brain" as Dear Fiance so aptly puts it.

Brain cudgeled.  Nerves recovering. Strawberry blossom making it so much better.  And it does look like it's starting to rain a little and wash this pollen away.

Happy Thursday!

I'm so excited about honeymooning in St. Augustine, Florida and am starting to get images together so I can focus on which places and things to do will be the most rewarding for us.

It's one of the most special places in the world to Dear Fiance and I both, so it was a natural wedding destination.

Here's a question: Would you get married outside by the Fort, overlooking the Bay, or at a very old, well cared for B&B?  The B&B wedding is locked in and planned, but I'm sure we could change it up if we wanted to.

Meanwhile, I'm honeymoon dreaming. *dreamy smile*

This is one of those days where that whole Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus stuff just sucks.  Being a passionate communicator by nature, I, just once, long to be understood without having to s p e l l it out.

He's not stupid.  In fact, Dear Fiance is a mathematical and technical genius.  I am not, but that's another story for another time.

Why is it that we long for loved ones to understand us without having to spell it out all the time?  Does it nearly invalidate an expression when it's effing asked for? I tend to think so.

Not such a happy camper here right now.  At least I have lots of work to keep my occupied so that I don't have to angst over the fact that although we're the same species, men and women are VERY different creatures.

Some friends of ours called to ask us out to dinner this evening.  My stomach growls a little as I type this because Dear Fiance and I were working out earlier, when we were invited. Gotta love those iPhones!

Are we nuts to venture from the house after having worked out and come home for half an hour?

Nah!

They're great friends and now I'm thinking about the name of the place, Hops and Chops.  Might be good.

But here's the thing: a dear friend also used to own and operate a magnificent restaurant where they place is now located.  It's likely to be weird without her presence in there and all the wonderful culinary aromas that accompanied her art.

We shall see ...

Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by!!  Rumor has it there's an indecently hot pepper there that we might be able to get our friend to taste again.  If so, pictures will most definitely follow!!

It's gorgeous outside!!!  It's the first day of Spring and I'm gearing up to grill and then take the kids to the park, perhaps to fly our new (not so) kite that's been sitting, unused and new, for about 3 years.

I kid you not! It seemed so cool and so wonderful and was priced right at the time.  Made a special trip to get it based on a friend's recommendation - and then it got put away and sits there waiting for someone to take it out to play.

So today, this afternoon, this first day of Spring after a long hard winter in so many respects, I'm going with Dear Fiance to take these kids to the park and to fly.  Pictures might get taken if I can remember the camera.

It's Saturday, it's beautiful outside, and I still have 2 kids at home who want to party with me still.  My oldest is far, far away in the military and will probably ship out soon for a long time.  Gotta make the most of these opportunities while they last.  If you're reading this, love you Son.

Picture this: it's early the first morning of daylight savings time, you've been up till very late working on an extensive project that hogged most of your weekend, and you have an appointment at 8:00 to present this to the big decision maker.

You've done your homework thoroughly, have a top notch project already done for them to see, and your Dear Fiance has even created a super cool application to add to all that.


You get there right on time and look around.  There aren't even any cars in the parking lot.  Crickets chirp and birds sing.  No cars, no people, no phone call, text, or email.  After reading mail for a few minutes you look at your phone - it's now 8:15.  You decide to call and reach a voicemail.


It's undeniable now: You have been stood up!

That would be me this morning.

It was the kind of thing where it really had nothing to do with me personally, so this helps.

No tears, not even much frustration.  I don't know why I'm so cool this morning. It must be the new blouse and the freshly steamed suit to wear with it.  Oh yes, and I did do an up to the minute manicure last night, but that's just fun anyway.

Even though I devoted my weekend to learning the proprietary, byzantine software involved for this project, even though I didn't get enough sleep last night because of putting the touches on it, even though Dear Fiance lost too much sleep developing a super cool app to go along with all this, for which I owe him greatly, I'm cool this morning.

It must be because I did good and I look good!!  :D  You know what I mean! You know how good it feels when you know you're representing yourself at your best, even if you do get stood up.

So what am I going to do with this energy?  I'm going to check in on some potential clients and go on with my workday.  My work stands on its own merits.  The decision maker who stood me up this morning can see what has been created and decide whether it's something he wants to explore further. There are others who will be interested, even if he can't make the time to see me.

Meanwhile, I'm moving on with my day.  I got a new blouse and things to do!!

Dear Fiance took me and Dear Younger Son out to dinner this evening at the local hibachi place, where the onion soup is hot and delicious.

As we were placing our orders a guy back in the kitchen commented to his friends "Hey Man, Make Love; Not Warcraft!" I shot him a smile when he realized he'd been heard in the dining room.  It was one of the cutest things I've heard all day today!  Turns out, it's from an episode of South Park ...

Who would have thought that World of Warcraft would be the epic cultural phenomenon that it is today? But I have to believe that a lot of the dating with the hard core Warcraft fans is more virtual than real ...

What are your thoughts or experiences?

Rugby is just one of those memorable sports.

You'll just have to figure out for yourself which one of those guys might be Dear Fiance, but let's just say that good rugby players keep themselves  fit.  Very fit.  Nicely fit.

Yes indeed.

Because in a sport where they wear no pads and hit really hard, players have got to maintain some serious muscles to protect themselves.
So - they don't actually play naked, but without protective padding, they might as well be bare.  And that picture was good, wasn't it?

The kids, dogs, and I are just about to leave to watch Dear Fiance play rugby.  They watch for the excitement.  I go to be supportive, but mainly to look at his amazing legs while he plays.  There, I've said it. :D

Happy Saturday, Dear Reader!!

This past weekend Dear Younger Son and Dear Fiance spent some time on YouTube studying different Mentos and Diet Coke Missile techniques.  This one, involving untold liters of Diet Coke, looks like the massive fountain at the Bellagio in Vegas.



I think they're really going to create a diet coke bottle missile for themselves, complete with fins superglued onto the bottle, for better aerodynamics.

The cute thing is, they're two peas in a pod.  Their heads together and eyes wide open, transfixed by the YouTube flicks of Mentos/diet coke propulsion technology.  Gotta love boys -

Sometimes food just happens around here.  Accidentally, on purpose.

Case in point:  Dear Fiance and I were grocery shopping and there were these shiny, fresh poblanos being put out just then.  Gorgeous!!

DF tells me how much he loves stuffed poblanos - only if they're crispy - and I decide to give him a little kitchen love.


Recipes abound, but many of them just didn't appeal.  Lots use canned poblanos, which have as much body as a soggy noodle.
 Bobby Flay has one with Chili for filling, which sounded like the peppers would turn out pretty mushy to me.  There were lots of chilis rellenos recipes, but those are roasted, stuffed with cheese, battered with eggs, and *sigh* fried.

So after a little recipe cruising and improvising, this is what I came up with. You can make it as spicy (or not) as you wish by regulating the red pepper and chipotles with adobo sauce or omitting them altogether.  Around here though, we like it spicy!!  Hope you enjoy!

Our lovely hometown has a district known to law enforcement as "the Iron Triangle."

This afternoon, after playing a rugby game, Dear Fiance ended up chasing our dog Darcy across a crowded highway and into the Iron Triangle for close to 10 minutes.

To give you an idea of how unbelievable this is, you have to understand that even cops refuse to drive into the Iron Triangle unless there are two squad cars going at a time.

Because they're scared.  No kidding.

DF sprinted after Darcy, now affectionately dubbed "numb nuts," straight through traffic and into the worst part of town imaginable to save my little terrier from being lost or hurt.

He's my hero.  Although I asked him to please remember next time to that he's more important than any animal!

As I zip toward the shower for a meeting this morning I can't help but notice a nice sized splat of dog vomit on the floor, right next to my treasured Taylor guitar.

Nice. Very nice.

But there's something so sweet, so innocent about those little faces of theirs.  Even Hobbes, Dear Fiance's hound/boxer mix, has the sweetest disposition so I couldn't stay mad for very long about his mess in the kitchen yesterday.  Even though I felt like I was cleaning up after a circus animal. *gets a little sick in throat* Nuff said.

This is not normal around here.  The dogs are housebroken and are taken out several times a day since Dear Fiance and I both work out of the house. These are very pampered pooches.

But there's something just so sweet, so dear about their faces, their dispositions, and I can't stay angry or even that disgusted with their "mistakes" around the house.

How can you stay angry at a face like this?

OMG, I turned around to take a picture of Picasso to finish up this article and he was chewing on DF's rugby mouth guard, still out from practice last night ...

His cuteness incapacitates me.  Both of them.

So I figure if somebody can make $28,000 on eBay for a toasted cheese sandwich with the "virgin mary" on it, then maybe Dear Fiance (a recovering packrat) and I could make a few bucks unloading perfectly useful and interesting items, such as authentic antiques, electronics, and cool stuff, like vintage comic books.  Boy it seems I was wrong!

eBay's either the biggest time waster outside of World of Warcraft, or it's still a viable way to make money from stuff that you don't need anymore.  As far as I'm concerned, the jury's out.  It's going very s l o w l y.  And I keep holding back the urge to check our listings for views.

Add that s l o w market dynamic to my natural impatience to get this done,  and you've got a clear recipe for somebody who's going to obsessively check stupid eBay to see how all the listings are doing.  A lot.

This could be addictive.

So what's the story?  Has eBay become an epic, addictive waste of time or is there just an undiscovered (to me) art for listing unusual items?  Help!