Daily Photo: March 30

It was a Cold and Foggy Morn at the Homestead....
We sure had some thick fog roll in overnight.  Could hardly see back to the tree line earlier!  But the good news is that the sun has since come out, the fog has dissipated, and I think it is going to be a nice day!

HOLY CINNAMON ROLL, BATMAN!!
We went down to our local little coffee shop this morning and each got a flavored latte to go and decided to bring home a cinnamon roll to split.  Good thing we decided to split it, didn't realize until we got home how massive that thing is.  It took up an ENTIRE full size 'to go' box!

I thought I'd give you one additional reference to help you size up this cinnamon roll (does this cinnamon roll make my wrist look fat?? LOL):

Daily Photo: March 28

I Thought Vehicular Manslaughter WAS A Crime??
No, not the type you are thinking where a person has died - I am referring to the offense of doing something so horrifically awful to your car that it would probably rather just die than be seen in public.  Here is a PRIME example.  First, this car was ALL KINDS of beat to hell.  However, the graphic-looking duct tape on the front passenger bumper caught my eye...

Now, I will zoom in and enlarge the picture for you so you can see exactly what has this car crying out for help (besides its crashed up state of existence, that is).  So now do you see it?  Someone used Justin Bieber duct tape on the bumper of their car!  Are you freaking kidding me??  Wow.  I'd drop my car off at the junkyard before I would embarrass it in such a way!  I didn't see the car's driver, but my sincere hope is that it is a 16 year old girl.  Anyone else should be thrown in jail for this, LOL!  Furthermore, I am equally disturbed by the fact that such a thing as Justin Bieber Duct Tape actually exists.

Daily Photo: March 27

We Needed A Little Spring in Our Step Today

Since Mother Nature is NOT cooperating this year and delivering to us the beautiful, sunny Spring season that we all long for, the dogs and I decided that today was a good day to pep it up a notch and bring out some Spring colored hanky scarves!  I've dressed the photo themselves up a bit with a Spring themed frame via Instagram!

Daily Photo: March 26

Wiper Blades...
It snowed again last night, so this morning I was cleaning the snow off my car and one of my wiper blades came off the 'wiper blade arm thingy' (calm down...that is the most technical, scientific wording I will be using this post, LOL).  Mark fixed it, but he had to get the ice off the thing in order to do so...so, this is what he came up with!

Have Gun Hairdryer, will travel...
Now he's just being funny, caught me taking the above pic!

Daily Photo: March 25

It seems today was particularly photogenic, perhaps.  While I've missed a few days here and there recently, I can make up for a few of those with FOUR photos from today!

Mending Fences...

Austin is starting to get back into good graces with everyone. This is a picture of a dog who is SO HAPPY that his papa is speaking to him again!  I think there is some puppy love between these two!

Vote NO for SNOW!!!

I've mentioned before how much Eli HATES snow; here he reiterates his ire for snow.

Botanical Suicide

Mark got me flowers for our Anniversary.  They have been pretty, but they are starting to lose their luster.  This morning, it totally looked like one of the flowers just gave up on life and fell apart...quite literally!

Wild, Wooly, & Warm Socks

With a little bit of snow this morning, I opted to wear my (previously mentioned) beloved snow boots.  They are the only shoes that these fabulously warm, but thick, socks will fit into.  Love my warm footsie-tootsies!

Daily Photo: March 24

In the Doghouse...T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Austin initiated some rather INSANE antics at 5am this morning.  He has been in trouble ever since.

Daily Photo: March 22

BFF's

This is Eli and Moxie.  Moxie belongs to our friend Greg.  We kept her this week while he was on vacation.  Her and Eli are buddies and Austin just drives her crazy (like he does the rest of us!).  They were hanging out on the couch watching TV with us tonight.  We were watching Top Gear US.  I think Moxie was  a little freaked out by the crazy things she saw Adam Ferrara trying to do with that Escalade!

Daily Photo: March 21

Life with a Big Dog

They have NO idea how big they are.  Anyone who has, or has ever had, a big dog will totally relate to this!

Daily Photo: March 19

March Cupcake Madness!!  

I made these scrumptious IU themed cupcakes for the NCAA March Madness 'tailgating' event we are having at our office tomorrow.  I've enlarged the photo so you can see the tiny IU pitchfork logo on the cupcake pan liners!!

GO HOOSIERS!  Take it all the way, you've totally got it this year!!

Daily Photo: March 18

Living with Side Effects...

Firstly, regardless of the photo below, let me just say that NO, my husband does NOT beat me!!

You all know I had a terrible injury last year, and some of you may have even seen a prior daily photo of me sporting my oh so fashionable neck brace I have to wear at night sometimes (I'm totally planning to bring that look to the scene this Spring...look for it, it will be all the rage, LOL).  One of the many side effects of the treatment for my injury is that it causes me to bruise more easily than a soft, week-old apple.  Just one example of the many, many horrible bruises I've had.  These aren't even that bad compared to some of the others I've had.  This bruising is just from doing everyday, normal things.

Daily Photo: March 17

Kick your heels up and...sleep!

What...everybody doesn't sleep this way, with their feet up by their head?  They totally should try it sometime!

Together on Tuesday: Why are you telling me this??

First things first...just a couple 'housekeeping' items!

Last week's ToT topic is one that I really support; so much so, that I am sort of holding off until I can have the time (and energy) to actually get it right - the way I want to do accomplish it!  Last week's topic is to plan and carry out a random act of kindness (note: I am not by any means planning anything huge, extravagant, or grand - but these things do require thought, planning, time, and the commodity that I've been lacking since I got hurt last fall...energy!  I've been operating on about only 60% of the amount of energy that I used to have - so daily normal life just sucks all of that up leaving little or none for anything extra like this).  Also, like several of the other ToT ladies, I have a specific purpose in mind for this challenge and I want to do it at a time when able to do it the most effective way possible - I have found that while us ToT ladies (still saying ladies...we have not yet had any guys join - but please know, guys, you are more than welcome!  We'd LOVE to have that additional new perspective in our group!) are all at different life stages, one big thing we all seem to have in common is a genuine interest and caring in trying to do our part to make the world a better, safer, and kinder place.  I love that about this group - because we all have our own unique approaches to accomplishing this, so it is creates multiple facets for us to make our (even if small) differences.

Secondly, I joined along with Nancy's Daily Photo Challenge at the beginning of the year, and I am STILL on board with it!  Life is just a wee bit hectic at times, as you know, so I am finding myself these past couple weeks falling off the challenge.  I am NOT abandoning my participation.  I am going to continue with the daily photos as often as my brain can keep up, and well...if I miss a day or three or more in between, well...that's just one of those being a grown-up lessons of getting through the 'Dog Days of Life'.  I am sure you all understand and have been there as well.

Alright!  Now onto this week's topic!  Why is THIS news??  Pick an article in the news this week to ponder over why some news outlet deemed this particular thing as newsworthy.  This was a topic that I chose because I so often find myself scratching the old noggin' and wondering WHY, WHY, WHY the 'journalists' of our (oftentimes, national) news outlets felt compelled to report these things as 'news'.  Call me cynical...go ahead...you know you want to...but there are just some mundane things I just don't care about and sometimes, as an educated member of their audience...I am just downright insulted at what they are trying to cram down my throat labelled as news.

Why are you telling me this?  News Item #1
I don't think I have ever been shy or reserved in voicing my ire for the way that Hollywood stars pat each other's backs for the grand total of nothingness that they generally accomplish.  I also HATE their assumption (and the assumption on the part of news reporting outlets) that I actually give a flying rat's ass about what is going on in the life of celebrities (i.e. their so-called 'struggles'...really??) -or- what their political/ethical stances are on...well...anything.  Do not get me wrong, I DO believe that every individual has a right to their own opinions about anything they are interested in forming an opinion about.  What I DO NOT believe is right is when celebrities use their public image as a staging ground to influence how others vote, believe, form opinions, etc...  Call me bitchy if you will, but people who get paid millions and millions of dollars for what they do (especially when what they do to earn that kind of money is NOT: taking criminals off our streets, saving lives, cultivating children to lead our world into a better tomorrow, blazing a trails of opportunities for disadvantaged members of our society, etc...) really bear NO influence over how I live my life.  Sorry, but it doesn't.  If you can't even give me a ball park estimate of what a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, or basic items cost - then I really don't care what you think about the world because you are out of touch with everyday life and the daily struggles of the average family.  Additionally, I couldn't possibly care any LESS about the perpetually revolving door of celebrity relationships. Please, Hollywood, stop thinking I care about this!

Why are you telling me this?  News Item #2
Okay, my idea was that I'd pick an actual reported 'news' item for this topic - I do realize that the above was merely a sidetrack rant on something I am opinionated about - anyone who has been reading this blog for very long should be used to that by now!  Also, I would like to state in advance that I actually make an effort to get my news from multiple different news outlets.  The story below is from Fox News, but that is NOT my go-to place for news.  In actuality, no single source is my go-to place for news.  I follow news via several media outlets.

The story I chose is about the new Pope making a phone call...are you ready for this...wait for it...himself...GASP, can you believe it??  I mean really...the man cannot make his own phone call without it apparently being reported by news outlets around the world??

Pope Francis calls Argentine newsstand owner to cancel paper delivery

I am by NO means downplaying the importance of the Pope as the current head of the Catholic faith.  I do understand the importance and influence the Pope has across the world.  But come on...give the man a break here, I am sure he's got some things take care of and plenty of loose ends to tie up as he transitions into Pope-hood (I am sorry if that isn't a proper way to describe one's tenure as Pope - I really do not intend to say this to be offensive or derogatory).  But it was, after all, his newspaper subscription, so once he knew he would be moving to the Vatican, I'm sure he (quite logically) thought to start making arrangements and cancelling things he wouldn't be needing or using any longer.  I also recognize that I am sure that getting to speak to the Pope was, indeed, a very big deal for the guy at the newsstand.  Perhaps even local news-worthy.  But, I am just having a hard time convincing myself that this is a story that one of our national news outlets needed to pick up.  To this I say, "really, Fox News??"...which...that particular question is not a rare one I have for this particular news outlet.

I do have a theory about why we are so often fed these seemingly un-newsworthy stories.  For those of us who are above a particular age...a number which will not be discussed here...we grew up with news mostly being limited to the confines of the pages of a newspaper or the daily hour or so each morning, noon, and evening. So 'back in those days' (really, me?  really?) they had to cram all actual relevant and important news stories into a very limited amount of time and space.  However, our new norm of having 24-hour on-air reporting and the limitless space parameters of the internet, we seem to have created a void which seems to beckon the mounds and mounds of demand to keep a MUCH larger space filled with non-newsworthy stuff...or as they like to call it, "news".

Daily Photo: March 16

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Today is me and Mark's 3rd wedding anniversary.  The weather was absolutely phenomenal so we knew we wanted to spend some time outdoors enjoying he weather today.  We decided to take the dogs on their second trip to walk the Big4 Pedestrian Bridge over the Ohio River.  It was a GREAT day for that!  Everyone else must have thought so too because there were just tons and tons of people (and other dogs) there.  I must admit, that I had my doubts about justifying the amount of money it probably took to convert that old rail road bridge into the pedestrian bridge, but I was WRONG about that.  It is hugely popular especially when the weather is as nice as it is today.  I think it is also encouraging people who don't normally seek out enough physical activity to come out and walk as well.  I have completely changed my mind about the investment they made in this project.

The dogs love it too.  However, lots of people bring their dogs so it also brings a bit of a challenge for our two loony toons!  Oh....and we also had our first um...bathroom incident on the bridge today.  Thanks, Austin.  It was an awful 4-dog-poo-bag cleanup job....sorry I know that is way TMI, but with SO many people you can imagine how many of them just couldn't resist pointing out to us that we were cleaning up a crappy situation...really people?  Because we didn't notice...thanks for telling us. LOL.

Mark with the dogs at the top of the pedestrian ramp before we actually went onto the bridge:

Me and the dogs in the same location:

Afterward, we decided to stop in at one of our favorite restaurants, Havana Rumba, sit outside on their fabulous patio and enjoy one of our favorite drinks there:

Daily Photo: March 15

O Happy Dog!!

Sometimes Eli gets super excited about something and his tail just zips like crazy!  Usually it is when there are dog treats involved!  Here he was just super excited about something Mark was saying to him or maybe Mark had a dog toy he was excited about.

Daily Photo: March 13

Life with an OCD...Dog?

I am by no means knowledgeable on animal psychology - other than what we observe from our two dogs.  Through this we have reached two definitive conclusions: 1) Austin is certifiably crazy insane!  2) Eli is the most OCD dog to ever walk the earth.

Today's pic is of Eli indulging his OCD side and me, well, enabling him.  Eli will obsessively and compulsively lick us until we have to forcefully remove him from us.  It is ridiculous, and at times, invasive, LOL.  Here he was licking my hand, but as you can see he was actually holding my arm down as to keep me from moving it.  He is crazy!  Since I am now typing this, we can all conclude that I did, indeed, get my arm back from him!

Daily Photo: March 12

DAMMIT, dog!
Last night, Austin and I had, well...a bit of a middle of the night domestic disturbance.  He wanted out to potty around 2:30am.  Normal, no big deal.  Until...after he did his business, he started running some MAD laps around the yard and WOULD NOT come back in.  I screamed obscenities at him for no less than 10 minutes before my loud mouth woke Mark up, then he joined in the fun.  His immediate suggestion was 'shoot him' LOL, but me, no I wanted to get his ass back in the house so I could punch him square in the face.  Soon as he heard Mark up and yelling for him, he apparently realized that 'shit just got real' and he'd better move his ass and get back inside.  For all you people who fainted two sentences back and are just now regaining consciousness...no, we did not shoot him and no I did not punch him in the face.  But we were furious nonetheless.  The next morning, Austin put on his best 'let's make up, please' face...and well...how can you stay mad at this sweet face??  I know, you can't...I tried, it is impossible!

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to any of my neighbors who may have been awaken or have heard any of this going down!  ~Our Sincerest Apologies

Daily Photo: March 11

Hoosier Wino??
Bought myself this nifty wine glass while we were in Bloomington this weekend.  I love it!  This evening I made up my homemade version of a drink I had at dinner in Bloomington last night, and of course, enjoyed drinking it from my new IU wine glass!

The drink?  Lennie's in Bloomington calls it The Coolie.  Just get some sweet sparkling white wine and add in some cran-raspberry juice until it is about the shade of pink seen below. Yum!

Daily Photo: March 10

Back Home Again In (Bloomington) Indiana!

We visited Bloomington today to see off some friends as they make their north-bound move to Michigan (how appropriate...we go to Bloomington to see our friends who are moving to Michigan....on a day that IU plays Michigan in basketball).  Had enough time to stop in at campus this afternoon and get some pics!  Have I told you guys how much I LOVE this place??!!  If not, shame on me, I should have told you this by now!

Daily Photo: March 9

Sunny Day!!
The sunshine and blue sky made a cameo appearance today!  Had to create some photographic evidence just so I'd know I didn't dream it!  The weather has been SO dreary, grey, and depressing around here lately.  Sunshine was a welcome change!

Daily Photo: March 8

Truth Revealed: He's an Ass Man

No, I am not referring to Mark!  Get your minds out of the gutter, that would be TMI!  Eli is who I am talking about.  His favorite place to catch a nap is nestled up against his mama's booty!  No worries, I have plenty booty for him to rest his weary head on!

Daily Photo: March 7

Is 'BIRD' really the word??  Not today, it wasn't!

Mark and I have gotten totally addicted to an iPhone game called 'What's the Word?'  The premise is that you get four pics that has some either obvious or not so obvious commonality.  The word must be spelled out with the letters you are given at the bottom.  Some are easy and jump right out at you.  Others, are well...MUCH more abstract.  I got stuck on this one for about two days and it was driving me insane (short trip, I know).  I finally had to Google the answer.  Thank goodness because I NEVER would have gotten it.  Any guesses??

Daily Photo: March 6

Snow Day!

It snowed just a smidge overnight.  Each dog reacts differently to snow.

Austin just rolls with it.  Whatever, he's cool.  I opened the blinds so he could look out and enjoy the snowy view today.

Eli....well...Eli has a more of an "its the end of the world as we know it..." reaction to weather when the temperature drops below about 75 degrees and is anything but warm and sunny.  Clearly he was not loving the snow:

Together on Tuesday: This Wonder Woman's Shortcuts

Okay, I'm really not a wonder woman, super woman, etc... I mean I do work full-time, have the house to keep up, dinners to cook, husband, two dogs, and blogs to write...but lets be real here...I have no kids to juggle into the mix like many of you as well as the other ToT ladies.  However, our topic this week lets me pretend, just for a bit, that I am Wonder Woman!  So that being said Mark made this, per my request, for your blog reading entertainment:

Super Woman Secrets: What are your secrets for keeping it all together amid a busy life?  What are your shortcuts - what are you willing to fudge to save time and effort?

What is my secret to keeping it all together??

There are two main ones...1) a great husband who is willing to pitch in and help out whenever with whatever needs to be done.  This is the key to it all right here!  2)...wine...lots and lots of wine!  

What am I willing to fudge/shortcut to save time, effort, & energy?

In short - lots of things.  Lots and lots of things!  If I can think of a way or steal and idea for a way...I will try it!

Most of my shortcuts involve cooking...or cleaning as a result of...cooking. 

1. Leveraging the immense power of a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken!  Really, you don't just have to always eat rotisserie chicken from the store.  You can use them for LOTS of things!  Basically, anytime you want to make something that requires you use seperately cooked chicken, just get a rotisserie chicken from the store and cut it up and use it.  Total time saver, and lots of flavor!  This is GREAT for middle of the week dinners!
2. Grocery Store Salad Bar for sliced/diced veggies!  Again, this is a great one during the week when you come home tired.  Instead of spending time slicing and dicing things like peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc...just hit up a grocery store with a salad bar and grab a dab of whatever of these things you need.  For us, we actually save money.  We can grab only however much we need and it is charged by weight, so we spend less typically and don't have so much waste to either throw away or leave forgotten about in the fridge.  My husband got this idea...from somewhere.
3. Keep a bag of each on hand: frozen diced onions and frozen diced green peppers.  Frozen so they will last a long time, and for those times you didn't realize you'd need/want them.  Again, they are pre-diced and you can just take out however much you need, so no waste!  I stole this one from my mom.
4. Speaking of frozen veggies...my mom does this one!  Do you throw out small (or not small) amounts of vegetables regularly?  Start a leftover veggie container in the freezer.  Anytime you have even a small bit of leftover canned or cut fresh veggies, just add them to the container in the freezer.  Don't use a bunch of containers separating the different veggies, just combine all different ones into one freezer container.  When you accumulate enough...you have your veggies already for a homemade soup!  Vegetable or vegetable beef soup.  You use up what would have been wasted vegetables, and you already have a jump on a nice pot of soup!
5. Aluminum Foil is a valuable thing!  A couple reasons.  If I am baking something that could boil over, drip, make a mess, etc...I cover a cookie sheet in foil to put under it.  Spillage will be caught by the foil, which can be tossed.  So no oven mess to deal with and no cookie sheet to scrub baked on mess from!  Also, in a pinch...if you can't find a lid for a pot or pan, just tear off a sheet of foil and put it over the pan. I did this last night to keep spaghetti sauce from flipping all over the top of the stove, then tossed the foil and no mess!  Sidebar: during this paragraph...I kept stopping myself from saying 'tin foil'...I don't think anyone calls it that anymore...do they??  Please someone...tell me you do, LOL!
6. Saran Wrap to avoid crock-pot spillage while transporting!  Again, I stole this idea.  It is from my friend Lacey after a work pitch-in a few years ago.  Think about it...Saran Wrap is clingy, so if you use it to wrap the lid to the crock pot, it will hold it snugly in place and not leak.  The crock-pot will not be hot enough to melt the saran wrap, and as long as it remains unplugged, it will not get any hotter than it is when you wrap it.  Plus keeping the lid so snugly in place will help keep your food warm.  One more thing I've found...you can just wrap your serving spoon right into one of your layers of saran wrap, so everything is together in just one thing to carry!  I use this one even though my crock-pot has a thermal carrier because the carrier really doesn't help keep the lid in place...especially if you drive like a rally cross racer!
7. Crock-Pot Liners!  If you do not use these, just know that it will totally re-kindle your love affair with your crock-pot!  Even though the inner part of my crock-pot is removable and can go in the dishwasher, I still hate having to soak and scrub cooked-on food from it before the dishwasher will even come close to working its magic on it.  My friend Dayna told me to try these, and there is absolutely no turning back!  I formally give my loyal, non-celebrity endorsement to this product:

So...now that I have confessed all of my short-cutting secrets, its your turn!  Please!  Tell me new ones, I need as many as I can find, borrow, or just outright steal!  

Daily Photo: March 3

This is Austin being a big happy baby, because his papa is back home!  Austin has no idea how big he is, so he'll just flip and flop around like a tiny puppy, LOL.

Daily Photo: March 2

This photo wasn't really taken today, of course.  We took it last week on vacation, but I really, really love it and I wanted to share it with you!

Daily Photo: March 1

I think this boy was happy his mama is home from vacation!  He attached himself to me as soon as we picked them up from boarding and did not let go all day long.  Spoiled rotten.  Totally rotten.

Daily Photo: February 28

You can't pick just one of these!
I couldn't decide, both are great pics!

This is Mark in his natural element - near the water.  We met his parents for lunch in Tampa on our way home.  It was a gorgeous day so we sat outside.  Isn't he just handsome!

This is a pic over Miami.  For the record....yes, they had announced that we could turn on electronics, so I was NOT going rogue with my camera, LOL.  I thought it seemed earlier than usual but oh well...I got this great pic.  Moon over Miami!