My babies, My children

This post is dedicated to my babies.. Bootsie and Cali. Yes, they're dogs. I consider them my children though and can't imagine life without them. I titled the post "my babies, my children" because last weekend when we took them for a walk downtown, I had 3 or 4 different people tell me how cute/beautiful/well behaved (little do they know!) my babies or children are. Part of me thought boo..I wish I had real babies to show off! But then I got thinking and I LOVE being a momma to these dogs. We saved both of them from local pounds, which I am SO glad we did. Thinking about what could have happened to our dogs just breaks my heart. Ok, on to the dogs!

This is Bootsie. She'll be 3 in January, and we think she's a German Sheppard mix:

Some things I love about her:

1) She's a super picky eater, but loves loves loves sweets. If you give her a dog treat she'll most likely put it in her mouth, spit it out, play with it for 10 minutes, and then finally eat it when Cali starts closing in. Give her something sweet and she's ALL over it. Cookies, Cake, Pastries, and even ice cream. Confession: I once let her lick my ice cream cone. She loved it. It was super cute. Gross, but true.

2) She loves to have her "armpits" scratched. I know I know.. dogs don't have armpits. To me, the 2 legs in the front are their arms, not legs. So they're armpits in my mind & they're Bootsie's favorite spot for some scratchin!

3) She likes to curl up next to me at the edge of the bed. She's very particular though. She only likes my side of the bed, not Dan's. She also won't jump up next to me unless I pull back the comforter. She likes laying on the sheet like mom & dad! What can I say, she's a smart dog.

Now for Cali. She'll be 2 at the end of November, and with that spotted tongue we're pretty sure she has some Chow in her (ignore the knee and whatever is going on behind her on t.v.):

Some things I love about her:

1) She weighs 84lbs, but swears she's a lapdog. She loves cuddling, and loves to give lots & lots of slobbery dog kisses. I think she might be the sweetest dog I've ever met. And I promise I'm not saying that just because she's my dog. :)

2) She frolics. When Cali chases after a rabbit or a dog toy she doesn't run, she literally frolics in the air like a clumsy deer. It's ridiculous but adorable.

3) She likes to goose me when I get home from work. If I'm wearing a dress or skirt one of the first things she does when I get home is stick her head up my skirt, hitting my butt with her cold, wet nose.

Yes, maybe my dogs are a little strange. And yes, maybe I'm a little strange when it comes to my dogs too. But they're family & I love them. Here's one more pic of both of them together. Cali was not loving the antlers being on her head, & Bootsie is very happy they're not on her:

I love you my mutts!!! xoxo

Comfort Food With Old Folks

Well, I said I'd get working on my list & I did accomplish a couple of things over this past weekend. Saturday Dan and I took the dogs downtown for a long walk, and decided to walk through the Little Italy farmers market. I was actually pretty impressed by it! Some of the San Diego farmers markets I've been to in the past are pretty weak, but this one had lots of goodies and was good sized. Unfortunately we didn't bring any cash with us (boo) so we're going to make a trip back one of these upcoming Saturdays. I already eyed my purchases: A cute apron for $13, olives, smoked salmon, some fancy french pastries, and of course flowers. On a side note, when I made this list and added "visit all San Diego farmers markets", I had NO idea there's 31 different farmers markets. Oh man. Good thing I love me a stroll through a farmers market!

Now for something I can completely cross off my list. I convinced Dan to go to The San Diego Chicken Pie Shop for dinner Saturday night. We had a light lunch, so we headed there around 5:30. I joked with Dan on the way there that we'd probably be eating with all the blue hairs since we were going so early AND this place is known to attract the oldies as is. We arrive, we're seated, and who's sitting across from us at the restaurant?? The cutest old couple wearing some fancy square dancing outfits. The old lady had a frilly white and red dress on, and her husband had red pants, a button down white shirt, and a red SPARKLY tie. Adorable. They ate their dinner, put their bread rolls in a zip lock baggy (teehee), and left the waitress a $1 tip. The place had a diner feel to it with roosters all over the walls, and the food brought out to you via a rolling cart.

On to the food! It was YUMMY, and oh so cheap. I can see why old people flock to this place. Where else these days can you get a chicken pot pie, potatoes, veggies, rolls, coleslaw (or in my case an apple sauce switch out) AND a piece of pie for dessert all for the price of..drum roll please... $6.50!!! Here's a pic of the pot pie (I cheated and pulled this off the web since I forgot my camera):
And here's a pic of the cherry pie I had for dessert:Dan got the same thing, but had pumpkin pie for dessert, and he tried a cup of their chicken noodle soup. This place sure does like gravy. The pot pie and potatoes were covered in it, and of course when you broke open the pot pie it poured out. We were pretty much convinced that the chicken noodle soup also had the gravy in it. Another thing about the pot pie and why Dan loved it - it had no veggies in it. I could have used some carrots or peas in there, but Dan was very happy with his veggie-less pot pie. haha.

Overall this place was charming, cheap, and served up good home style cookin'. We'll most definitely make a return visit.

A Run Down

I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I have a good excuse! My laptop has a virus & it's getting fixed at work. I'm on Dan's computer now, but both of our laptops are work computers. Which has led me to the decision that we need to get our own computer for personal use! I have all my pictures uploaded in my work computer, and it's creeping me out thinking about the tech guys at work looking through my pictures since they're attempting to save them for me. UGH.

Here's a little run down on what's been going on in my life since my last post:

1) We got a new GAS oven (since our crappy electric one broke) as a Christmas gift from my in-laws. YAY! We had to pay a good chunk of change to have someone run a gas line from the garage, but it was so worth it.

2) Halloween! Like the old home bodies we are, we stayed home and passed out candy. We searched high & low for a pumpkin to carve and found NONE. Not one pumpkin on Halloween could be found. What's up with that?? Oh well.. no yummy roasted pumpkin seeds for us.

3) I had an u/s that went great! A good sized follie and my lining measured great! The doc decided to give me the trigger shot, to make sure I ovulated the next day. I normally would freak out about getting a shot in my belly, but I've been poked & prodded so much the past year that it didn't really phase me. I ovulated on Tuesday, so now we wait. sigh.

4) We saw The Lion King play with Dan's parents, which was awesome. I haven't seen the movie in soooo long, so seeing the play was pretty cool.

5) I tried an eggnog latte from Starbucks for the first time, and I'm hooked! YUM-O. It got me excited for the upcoming holidays. I can't wait for December 1st to roll around so I can decorate the house and listen to nothing but Christmas tunes for the whole month. (sorry Dan)

I think that's about it for now. Nothing crossed off my list unfortunately, but I'll get working on that. Happy Saturday!

Flowers from Me, Him & Her

I'm lovin' my flower filled house right now! I bought myself these sunflowers last weekend:

Then earlier this week I had a little meltdown before work and was feeling really sad & pouty. So, my WONDERFUL, sweet, thoughtful husband send me these beauties. He had them delivered to my work which was such a nice surprise. Yeah, he's alright. ;)

So, I was feeling pretty good about having 2 bouquets of fresh flowers in the house when we had our in-laws and their best friends over for dinner last night. And what did their friends bring to our house for us? More flowers!!!!

Needless to say, my house smells great!

Korean Bool Kogi on Rice Sticks

I heart Trader Joe's. So what better cookbook to buy than Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's? Squeeee!

I tried out my first recipe yesterday, and it was YUM. Dan was quite impressed as well. To quote him as he ate, "I likey". It was a bit of a challenge cooking this because, well, I have no oven! Our oven crapped out on us Sunday night. When I say it crapped out on us, I really mean that Dan broke it when he tried to unhook the annoying oven timer. Our oven was ancient and had a timer on it that would randomly (sometimes at 3:00 A.M) go off. It was loud enuogh to startle us from our sleep and one of us would drag ourselves to the kitchen to turn it off. So, while it sucks to have the unexpected cost of buying a new oven, I never have to hear that timer again. Woo!

So, how did I cook my meal you ask? Our camping stove but of course! See..

Here's the recipe..

Ingredients:

* 1 (1.5-2 lb) pkg refrigerated Bool Kogi Korean marinated beef ribs, ready-to-cook

* 6 oz Rice Sticks noodles (about half the package)

* 3 Tbsp soy sauce

* 1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil

* 1 Tbsp sugar

* 2 garlic cloves, crushed, or 2 tsp jarred Crushed Garlic

* 1 carrot, shredded, or 1 cup bagged Shredded Carrots

* 1 cup sliced mushrooms, cooked or raw

* 2 green onions, thinly sliced

1) Cook meat over medium-high heat in a grill pan or over a grill to desired doneness. Remove from heat and cover with foil for 10 minutes. Allowing meat to rest keeps it juicy.

2) Cook noodles according to package instructions and drain.

3) Whisk soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and garlic until combined. (tip: I used a little extra soy sauce and sugar and it tasted better) Pour dressing onto cooked noodles and toss well to coat. Stir in carrots and mushrooms.

4) Slice meat diagonally into thick strips.

5) To serve, arrange noodles on platter. Place sliced meat on top of noodles. Garnish with green onions.

Another tip for you. Be sure to read the ingredients carefully. I clearly did not because instead of either buying regular sized carrots to shred, or a bag of already shredded carrots, I bought a bag of baby carrots. FAIL. It worked, but I had to slice them until they were carrot nubs, and then I fed the nubs to my dogs. Apparently Cali likes carrots!

Here's the final result.. bon appetit!

Notice anything different?

Yep, I changed my blog title and updated the look. Like I mentioned in my last entry I'm changing this blog to be a more general life blog. So, while I'll still post my progress on my list, I'll also be posting about random every day things.. the little things that make me smile, and keep me going every day.

So, first off I have to address #54 on my list. Most of you know that Dan & I have been trying to get pregnant since October, 2008. Almost 13 months ago. And while there's nothing we can pinpoint as the culprit for it taking so long, I'm still stamped INFERTILE in the medical world since we hit the year mark. We want nothing more than to start a family, so it's been a difficult journey so far.

The current plan is to do one more cycle on Clomid (a popular fertility drug that makes me ovulate sooner), followed by an unmedicated cycle, followed by IUI. I never thought we'd be facing this, but I know it's making us grow closer as a couple. Some day we'll have our baby & I'm going to appreciate every bout of sickness, every stretch mark, every kick in the ribs. Oh, and I already know the first thing I'll be buying for the baby.. seems pretty appropriate. :)

It must be Fall..

I'm lovin' the cooler weather & I'm ready to bake! #25 on my list is to bake cookies & make cocoa the next rainy night. Well, I jumped the gun a bit last night by baking sugar cookies. It ended up raining at 4:00 in the morning, so I guess that doesn't really count. I'm ready with instant cocoa packets and cookie ingredients though & ready to do a rain dance! I'm so over the heat and excited to get some cold weather & rain. yay!

Another nice thing about colder weather is that I'll get more book reading in. Today I finished my 2nd book on Oprah's list, What I Thought I Knew, by Alice Eve Cohen. It was good, but not my favorite. It's a memoir written by a woman who is told she's infertile, so she adopts. Then years later, when she's in her 40's, she finds out she's 6 months pregnant.. and she's not very happy about it. I guess if I had to rate it 1-10 (10 being the best), I'd give it a 6.

In other blog related news, I'm making some changes! I'm going to be changing this blog to a more general life blog, not just my list. My first non-list related blog to follow!