Hammered

I also call it Sunday sickness.  You might know the drill... we push, push, push ourselves through the week, don't get a break on Saturday, we hit the wall right about halfway through Primary and come home to crash.  Some weeks are worse than others, but today was rough.  This week I took care of a brand new puppy, went back to school for the first time in 14 years, maintained a pretty rigorous workout schedule and spoke in sacrament meeting.  Saturday was jammed packed with the baptism of a dear friend's 8 year old son, 2 football games, and a million other things that filled the day.  I probably could have managed it all if we hadn't thrown the puppy into the mix.  In some respects, it's worse than  having a new baby.  You can't let them out of your sight for a minute because they will chew up your favorite socks or piddle in the corner.  But in other respects it's better than having a baby.  You can lock them in their crate and go to the gym or the grocery store without CPS getting called on you.

I started working on my talk last Sunday, but then never had time to revisit it all week until last night at about 9 p.m.  Thank goodness for my sweet visiting teacher (and friend), Karen.  She came over and shared a story with me about the YW general President this week and it inspired me to do some research on her, which I was able to use in my talk.  Everyone said it was good, and I was quite frankly too tired to argue, I'm just glad that monkey is off my back!

I really like both of my classes that I'm taking this semester.  The teachers are great and I got lucky enough to sit by cool ladies for both classes, so I've already made friends.  There's a lot of mom's in my classes, which I didn't expect in the middle of the day.  It was a pleasant surprise.  I don't think the homework load will be heavy for either class, so I think once I get another week or two under my belt, my life will go much smoother.  The teachers are wonderful and I've already learned some new tricks I didn't know before.  You'd think being in a Photography class, I'd already have a shooting assignment, but I didn't, and when I just looked through the pictures on my camera that I've taken since last weekend, they ALL have the dog in them.  I'd upload some more puppy eye candy for you to include in this post, but I'm tired and too lazy to do it right now.

Speaking of the puppy... it's a good thing he's adorable.  He has quite the spunky personality.  He likes to explore everything with his mouth, which is the politically correct way of saying that he's a biter.  He also likes to pee on my floor.  Thank heavens I don't have carpet in the downstairs!  If he is in his crate he can hold it for hours (7 hours at night, even), but if he's loose in the house, it's not uncommon for him to pee every 30 minutes.  It's quite maddening, to say the least.  Those are really the only 2 negative things we've discovered about him.  And "according to Cesar"... as my mom would say... both of those issues can be corrected with good training.  I hope I am up to the task.  Some days I feel like I am, some days I don't!

In other news, Taylor went on his very first "unchaperoned" camping trip this weekend, with his friends, Kevin and Geoffrey.  It was a success.  I was nervous to let him go, but he's never given me a reason NOT to trust him.  He's so responsible for his age, and Kevin and Geoffrey are both college Freshman.  They were safe, and they did have fun.  I hope he gets to go with them again before Geoffrey leaves on his mission.

Ian and Brayden both had football games this week and they both lost.  Last season, they were on winning teams, but this year has been harder.  The age grouping changed, and Brayden's team is a group of mostly 2nd graders (and some 1st) playing against huge 3rd graders.  Ian's team is playing against some 7th graders who look like Jolly Green Giants.  Saturday Ian quarterbacked and he didn't like it.  Too much pressure.  He started crying on the way home because he blamed himself for his team's loss.  It wasn't his fault.  It took a long hot shower, some madden on the xbox and McD's to cheer him up.

The football dreariness was only compounded tonight when the Niners lost their play-off game in OT.  It was heartbreaking.  I feel bad because the boys were really excited to plan a big Super Bowl party.  Not that I would have let them host a huge party, but they liked to fantasize about it.  I think we'll keep it low key now... but who to cheer for?  Not in love with the Pats or the Giants.  We can be excited for the commercials, I guess!

Fun Family Pics and a Recipe Too...

It only took 11 months for me to meet my newest niece, "M".  Eric's brother and family came for a week long visit during New Year's.  We LOVED having them here.  And M.... she is such a doll!  We all instantly fell in love and I think she liked us too.  She certainly knows how to ham it up for a camera.  It was so fun taking her pictures!

When we have family come into town, I always have fun dreaming up menus of delicious food that feeds a crowd.  Usually things my kids are not super fond of, but most of the normal world loves.  I made my copy cat recipes of the Cafe Rio pork and tomatillo dressing.  My sister-in-law, who is a Provo native and a Cafe Rio expert, was impressed.  She's tried several copy cats and she said mine tasted the best.  (Maybe she was just trying to be nice...)  But here they are anyway, in case you want to try them too.

Cafe Rio Pork
3 lb pork loin or pork roast (boneless)
1-2 cans of coke or pepsi (no diet, you need the sugar to make it work)
1 c. sugar
7 oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry ground mustard (I often just squirt in a couple tablespoons of real mustard from the bottle)
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp minced garlic

Open the can of chills and remove the chilies, preserving the sauce in the can.  (The chilies are VERY hot, so you only need the sauce from the can to get a kick.  If you like stuff really hot, add 1 chili, but I never do.)  Rinse can of adobo sauce with coke to get all the sauce out, and pour into a blender.  Add remaining ingredients (except meat) and mix in blender until smooth.  Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it.  If your meat isn't fully covered by the sauce, plan to flip the meat over half way through cooking.  Cook 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  When cooked, remove pork and shred in another bowl. Drain out coke sauce and save in a bowl.  Put shredded meat back into crockpot and mix just enough sauce to your taste.  I like my meat to be almost dry, but some people like it more juicy.

Serve on warm tortillas with cheese lettuce and tomatillo dressing.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing
3 fresh tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered
1 pkge buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
a pinch of cumin
2 drops of green tobasco (opt)
1/4 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until no chunks remain.  If possible, let sit in the fridge for at least one hour before serving with the meal.

Alpha Dog

As I sit here, I'm listening to a book on my iPod and trying to drown out the puppy wailing coming from the laundry room.  We are in the throws of crate training and potty training.  But look at how cute he is:

His name is Max.  He is a Cockapoo.  Mommy was a Cocker Spaniel, Daddy was a Toy Poodle.  Now I am Mommy, which sometimes he likes and sometimes he doesn't.  He is smaller than he looks... his hair is growing straight out in an afro-like manner.  He will grow to be somewhere between 15-20 pounds when he is full grown.  He is cute, playful and often a bit too aggressive.  Which is why he and I are in a constant state of battle for Alpha Dog status.  Sometimes he is meek and cuddly, other times, he's a fiery ball of you-know-what.

**(If I tend to write my sentences in this post with an old fashioned British style of speaking, it's because of the book I am currently listening to, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I LOVE listening to books read by British people.  LOVE their accents!)**

Ah, sweet silence coming from the laundry room.... maybe he fell asleep!

Max came from a breeder in Missouri, and the pick up from the airport, was actually pretty easy and went smoothly.  I am glad I called ahead, because I assumed I would pick him up in the baggage claim area.  When I got online a couple hours before his flight was due to land, the airline's website didn't say which terminal the plane would land at.  I did some Googling and found the number for the office that would be able to answer my question.  Turns out that live animals are delivered to a cargo office off-site from the terminals at the airport.  Bad news... it was hard to find... Good news... I could park for free right outside the front door!

When she brought him out from the back, he was bouncing around inside his crate happily and excitedly.  I expected him to be cowering, whimpering, and maybe even vomiting!  So that definitely was a pleasant surprise.  I tried so hard to get some cute pictures of him running around in my back yard, but he wouldn't let me get more than 2 feet away from him.  This is probably the best photo I was able to get of him.  He is adorable to be sure, but we definitely have our work cut out for us in training him.  I'm excited for my parent's dog, Charlie, to come and play the "big brother mentor" for a couple weeks.  Hopefully Max will develop some better manners while Charlie is here!

Everything, including the kitchen sink....

What I am NOT going to do is give you a long and boring recap of Christmas for us.  Suffice it to say that our kids did well this year and that was before we decided to throw a new puppy into the deal.  Eric got some much wanted (and expensive) bicycle parts to upgrade his ride, I got the long coveted MacBook Pro (even more expensive) and we even put in a new kitchen sink.

Many props to Eric for the sink install. As is typical in home improvement projects, what should have been a 2 hour job turned into a 2 day job.  Props to me for only buying fast food once during the 2 days with my kitchen torn apart.  Although at one point, water to the whole house had been shut off for much longer than the 15 minutes we expected, so I had to go with Eric to Home Depot on one of his many, many, many trips just so I could use a potty that flushed.  I also learned why I shouldn't shop on the internet past midnight.  I ordered everything for this sink online and somehow in my sleep deprived state didn't notice that I ordered 2 faucets instead of one.  For the price I was paying for this faucet, you'd think I'd do the mental math and realize my cart total was $250 higher than it should have been.  At least the cost to send back the extra faucet was only $8.  I also ordered the wrong type of Reverse Osmosis faucet.  Who knew there was more than one kind?  Not me...   But overall, the sink and faucet are amazing and it's staggering to see how many dishes can be piled in there before you can see them.  My goal is to keep it empty and shining.  Flylady would be proud.  It's not empty or shining right now, though, so I better not spend all day playing with my new toy (my mac) and get some housework done.

Today is the first morning I've had home alone in almost 3 weeks.  Eric and the kids have been off since December 22 and they all went back to work/school this morning.  It feels weird to have an empty house.  I spent most of my free time yesterday reading  this book:

I hope I can have my house organized and puppy proofed by Friday morning.  Having a deadline really helps me get stuff done.  The last year has taught me that having no big time commitments just encourages me to procrastinate.  This year, I'm taking classes at the local community college and breaking in a new puppy.  Fun stuff, but busy stuff for sure!  Maybe my house will actually be cleaner because I'm more busy with other things.  Let's hope a little reverse psychology is just what I need to get my act together for 2012!

Annual Photo Shoot

I usually like to take my own family photos.  Well, I don't LIKE doing it, but I don't want to pay another photographer big bucks for something I can do myself.  But this year, a girl in my ward advertised that she was doing family photo shoots for $65... so how could I turn that deal down?  I couldn't!  You can see more of her work at www.acritchfieldphoto.blogspot.com.  Annie is amazing and I'm so sad we are losing her to the big bad "Y" up in Provo.  But it's good news for my Utah friends...  if you ever want to hire her, just let me know and I'll give you her contact info!

Thanks Annie for giving me some gorgeous family photos to put on the wall... now I just need to get them printed and hung up somewhere where every one can see them!  

A Picture of your Dream Job

Two Christmases ago, I got this…

And I couldn’t have been more thrilled.  And then I became overwhelmed.  It took great photos on auto, but I knew they could be even better on manual.  And then there is Photoshop.  Trying to learn how to really use my camera on manual settings and do the basics in Photoshop was about more than I could handle at first.  I’ve learned a lot since then, but I have a lot more to learn.  I love the idea of taking portraits for a side job, but at the same time, it scares me.  I don’t feel like I’m experienced enough to handle it.  More often than not, people want their picture taken for big events, or when they have a group of people together that don’t get to see each other very often.   That’s a lot of pressure, and as I discovered over Thanksgiving break, sometimes when you are under pressure, you blank out.  At least I did!  It was a good learning experience though, which everyone needs, right?  So for the next year, I’m going to go into “portfolio building” mode.  I want to try to do as many portraits as I can of different types… couples, teens, kids, families, babies, etc.  I’m hoping that if I practice enough, I’ll be ready to make some money off this hobby of mine in a year from now.  I’m also planning on signing up for some classes over at the local community college that start in January.  I’ll admit, I’m nervous about that too.  Every time I think about putting myself in a group setting with other photographers, I panic… but I just need to have more confidence in myself!  So, it’s official – if you know me and want me to take your pictures, I will!  Free of charge – as long as I can include any pictures I take of you or your family in my portfolio.  Win, win, right?

A Picture of My Favorite Drink

I could wax rhapsodic all day about how much I love Diet Coke, but when I was google-ing an image to include in this post, I stumbled across this blog post that expresses exactly how I feel about it.   And please don’t leave any comments about how bad artificial sweeteners and caffiene are for me.  I know all these things.  Like the other blogger says, “The Diet Coke Obsession is a cult movement, sorta like Scientology… but a lot less weird.”  On a side note, I don’t endorse most of the stuff printed on the linked blog above, so don’t explore it on my recommendation.  I’m also becoming a fan of Dr. Pepper Ten… but it will never take the place of my One-True-Love!