Living with a Big Black Dog

I always have felt overwhelmed before Christmas and then after Christmas. This year the time prior to Christmas was relaxing due to the fact that I was home full time. I was able to get everything done during the day and I even wrapped all the presents days before Christmas.

Actually I was concerned about putting the wrapped presents under the tree as our dog, Griffey, cannot be trusted with any kind of paper product. One day she took hold of the toilet paper in our bathroom and started to run around the downstairs tee peeing everything in sight. Then she started to eat her way back. I am starting to wonder why I am baking her dog biscuits when I could probably just stuff her dog toy with toilet paper and she would be happy. Every teacher should believe that dogs do eat homework.  Our son has turned in slightly chewed up assignments before.  I have even gotten over my fear of opening her mouth and sticking my hand down her throat to retrieve something she is eating.  If it isn't paper, it is plastic bags.  If it isn't plastic bags, it is food she is not supposed to have.

When we sit down to eat at night she will lay down next to my husband's chair but we are not fooled.  We know that someone will end up being the weakest link at some point.  Not every night, but it does happen.  She can quickly jump up and grab something off the table and eat it before we can do anything about it.  And then there is the "magic cloth".  That is what we call the bread cloth that we use to cover the rolls or bread in the bread bowl.  She has learned that if she pulls on the "magic cloth" that bread or rolls will fall out.   Someone must always remain at the table while someone is either putting the food on the table or taking it off. 

Then there was the time that I set bread dough to raise out on our back porch during the summer. I thought the dog was in the house, but she was in the backyard and I didn’t notice her. About 30 minutes later I went outside and saw the eaten up bread dough and the dog was running around the back yard belching yeast and her tummy was growing. We gave her 1 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide (as recommended by the vet) and about 10 minutes later she upchucked everything. Okay I hope no one was eating, but I couldn’t let her digest all that bread dough. She has eaten a wash cloth before and we used the same remedy. 

One time she ate a bag of Hershey Kisses that I left out.  I can't believe I did that.  I discovered this right before I went to work.  I took her to the vet and they took her into a room and gave her some solution to make her throw up.  Then the assistant came out to talk to me.  I started to hear all this noise of cabinet doors banging coming from that room and I asked if they left Griffey in there alone.  They said yes and I said never turn your back on the ocean or a big black dog.  They opened the door and she had managed to open the cupboard where all the dog treats were and she had eaten a lot of them.  Griffey knew where they hid the treats.  So they took her outside and told me they wouldn't charge me for all the dog biscuits she ate.  Good thing.  She spent the day at the vet for observation.

Over the years that dog has eaten many things but my most embarrassing incident with her was while we were out walking at noon one day. First of all, if you do not like to hear someone talking about dog feces then do not read on. Well, here I am walking her on a main thoroughfare of town when she decided she needed to “do her business.” I had a plastic grocery bag with me so that I could clean up her mess. Well there she was humped over, and she acted as if she was constipated. She kept trying and I was getting impatient and people were passing in their cars and I was pretending not to notice anyone. Then I looked down and there was a long string like thing coming out of her. It was pink or should I say pinkish…. I recognized it as the apron tie from the apron that she had chewed up a few days earlier. Now when a dog is “constipated” they will stay in that humped position until they are “relieved.” They will not walk and try again later. So there I was and I realized that she wasn’t going to move with this “pinkish apron tie” half out of her. I sucked some air, said a few choice descriptive words and then I took the plastic grocery bag and yanked the apron tie out of her. I swear the dog breathed a sigh of relief and then we went on our way.

Two days later a friend saw me and said she had heard a story about a lady helping a dog relieve itself. So much for living in a small town.

This morning she did her ritual of pretending to be sleeping. Then as soon as my husband went upstairs to get ready for work she ran and found some paper to chew on. I swear she doesn’t do this when he is around as he is the “Alpha Male” in the house. I take issue with that.

All the things she did to terrorize me when she was a puppy are but a memory.  When I was living it, it wasn't so funny.  I had to keep the doors closed to the bedrooms and bathroom and I had to constantly be vigilant to see where she was and what she was doing. 

Bottom line, I love her. I can say that now as she is sleeping on the floor next to me while I am typing this. She looks up every now and then and then sets her head down and sighs. Never, never, ever did I think back 9 years ago when she was a puppy that we would still own her into adult hood.  But here she is and when she does "meet her maker" some day, it will be very sad in our household.  We have talked about it and my husband does want another dog after Griffey and I think we will always own another dog.  But does it have to be a puppy?  Isn't there a place for a geriatric stray dog to live out it's retirement years?

OMG - Yesterday's post

Did yesterday’s blog put you to sleep? OMG – I should never write late at night. It was like I was writing a police report and “just the facts mam.”  That was horrendous.  I will never do that again and will instead keep a food journal on my computer.

Bread dough is raising at the moment and I will post something later on how my schedule at home (or perhaps too loose of a schedule is not working).  It will not be too late though or I may end up with another sleeper.

Our meals on the Pantry/Grocery Challenge

It's getting late and I wanted to make sure I posted what we have had to eat the past couple of days.  I will warn you that it may be rather boring but it is primarily for me as I want to keep a record of what we ate this month.

Saturday, Jan. 2nd we ate leftovers. My DS and DH left in the afternoon to drive to a basketball game and didn't get home til late.  They ate at a fast food restaurant.  I dined on eggs and toast.  I love eating breakfast for supper every now and then. 

On Sunday I made up a batch of chili and put it in the crockpot to simmer while we were at Sunday School and church.  I used ground pork instead of ground beef.  I do that every now and then and the flavor is a little different but just as tastey.  When we got home from church the chili was ready and I made some grilled cheese sandwiches.  It makes a large amount.  We like to dip the sandwiches in the hot chili.  We also had some mandarin oranges.  Later on in the afternoon I baked chocolate chip cookies.  I have about 4 large coffee cans full of chocolate chips that I purchased over the holidays.

I froze the leftover chili into two separate packages.  One will make nice leftovers for my DH and I when our son is gone some evening.  The other half I will use to make chili mac before the end of the month.  Chili mac is simply chili stirred into macaroni or other pasta and heated in the oven with some grated cheese on top.  I take leftovers and freeze them for use in later weeks.  My DS does not like leftovers. If I freeze them and serve them again in a couple of weeks he doesn't consider them leftovers.  Go figure.

Breakfast is cereal or whatever anyone wants to fix for themselves and Sunday suppers are usually leftovers.  My DS had some Kraft Deluxe Mac and Cheese for supper last night. I like having the evening off from cooking a meal.

Today my son turned 17.  I had some bacon wrapped sirloin fillets in the freezer purchased last fall on sale ($1.67 each).  When these go on sale I stock up for special occasions.  We had these along with corn and baked potatoes.  I forgot to put the tossed salad on the table and well, I was a little embarrassed that I forgot it.  We had birthday cake and ice cream for dessert. 

During the day for lunch my DS eats at school.  My husband is home for lunch 3 days out of the work week and packs his lunch the other 2 days.  He either eats leftovers or has a PB & J sandwich (he loves these) or a meat sandwich, tuna salad sandwich or egg salad sandwich.  I have either soup or a salad at lunch.

I always have apples on hand and this week we have bananas also.  I also have plenty of carrots and salad mix on hand.  We have juice along with canned oranges and other canned fruit for anyone that wants them.   In the winter I generally prepare what my mother referrs to as "winter salads."  These are carrot salad, coleslaw, waldorf salad or a simple tossed salad. 

I am not a gourmet cook.  I am a simple cook that can make a meal out of leftovers from the fridge.  I try very hard to have on hand fresh fruit and vegetables and fruit juice and always milk and cheese.  My family only eats basic fresh fruits and vegetables and nothing exotic, which is fine with me.

Tomorrow I will be baking bread as our beloved dog, Griffey, was able to get a loaf of bread off the counter and she ate it wrapper and all. Darn it!!!

It is very, very cold here and by the end of the week they are predicting temperatures at minus 10 degrees without a windchill.  I am spending my days doing housework and checking all the water faucets to make sure that the pipes don't freeze.   This is homemade soup and stew weather and I am sure that we will be having these sometime this week.

Dogs (and other pets)

Griffey Rose

Nine 1/2 years ago my DH asked me if he could get a puppy.  Our dog, Lady, had died 2 years prior.  We had two cats at the time and lets face it, cats are easier to care for.  I had pronounced our family a "cat only" family.  After a couple of months I decided that I was ready for a dog too.

We picked up our black labrador puppy in late June.  I remember when we went to pick her out of the litter that I wanted to pick the puppy that was sleeping.  But no, my DH chose the puppy that kept stealing the toys from the other puppies and running around.

DH named her Griffey Rose.  Yes she has a "male" dog name.  My DH is a Cincinnati Reds fan and he is a fan of Ken Griffey Junior and Pete Rose.  I was surprised that he didn't try to add Bench to her name for Johnny Bench. 

The summer of 2000 was rough for me.  That dog terrorized me.  She used my legs as a chew toy, was constantly biting me and jumping on me all the time. I hated to be around her.  She chewed on anything and everything and her energy was boundless.  I thought that we had made a mistake.  We took her to puppy training and she was pronounced the feistiess (sp??) lab that the trainer had ever seen.  I should add that the trainer raised lab pups.

When I was home alone with Griffey I kept her leash on her as she was constantly grabbing somethng and running through the house.  At least I could grab the the leash and reel her in. 

Griffey was 7 months old when my DH went on a trip to Kentucky to help Habitat for Humanity.  He was gone a week.  I got up every morning early before work to walk that dog in the cold.  I walked her at noon and at night.  About the 4th day into this routine I was walking the dog and she looked up at me and it was as if she was thinking "He must be dead so I must be nice to her."  Everything changed and she became a good dog.

Oh, she has her bad habits of eating paper out of the trash can, stealing any food from the table if you are not looking (she lulls us into a sense of security) or she runs the fence barking at people and scaring them.  We call this BBD security (Big Black Dog). She is my companion now.  Her age is showing.  Her face has gray on it as do her paws and belly.  She sleeps the majority of the day but comes to life when it is time for a walk. 

I would have given Griffey away in the first few months that we owned her, but I stuck it out.  My main reason was that my husband loved that dog and I love him.  Now we think occasionally about what it will be like when she is gone someday.  The immediate response is that we will get another dog.

Pets can be expensive.  It costs money for the food (we buy Iams), the annual trips to the vet, the medications for heart worm and flea control, the operations to have them spayed or neutered and more.  Griffey takes Proin pills twice a day at a cost of $20.00 per month.  I now make her dog biscuits but I purchase her rawhide bones.  When we go on vacation we board her at a nice kennel where she is treated well and they know her.  This costs about $9 per day. 

Sheircon and me

We also have a cat, Shiercon, and she is now 12 years old.  She is fed veterinary food and she is in remarkable health.  But again, she goes to the Vet once a year for a checkup. 

The bottom line, pets cost money and they can put a dent in the budget which may not be frugal.  We own the number of pets that we can afford.  IMO pets add more to our lives than anything I could purchase with the money I would save by not having a pet.

Pantry Challenge - January 2nd Shopping

This morning I got up early and headed to Hy-Vee for their one day sale.  I purchased the following:  5 cans of shaving creme @ 88 cents; 5 - 8 oz. packages shredded mozzarella @ $1.00; 2 - half gallons of milk @ 88 cents and 5.89 lbs. of bananas @ 29 cents. The shaving creme was on sale at a price that only comes twice a year.  Also I looked in my freezer this morning and I did have a few packages of cheese in there.  So 5 pkgs. of the cheese was all I needed.  My total with tax came to $13.18.

From Hy-Vee I stopped at Fareway (a mere two blocks away) and picked up 1 Dole Romaine Salad mix for 69 cents as it was expiring today and 1 box of their store brand Raisin Bran cereal for $2.19.  My total was $2.88. 

I had only spent a total of $16.06 for the upcoming week.  I felt pretty good about my purchases until my DH came home from his run and told me he needed Gatorade.  Darn!  My stockpile from the summer was gone!! 

Now I know there are recipes online for "homemade gatorade" but it just isn't the same as the real thing.  Since my husband is a die hard runner, he needs gatorade to rehydrate and replenish his body after a hard run.  It is a definite need.  I was able to purchase a 51 oz. can of gatorade powder at Wal-mart for $8.98 with tax.  It makes 6 gallons and should last the month but if it doesn't, we will head out for more.  Gatorade to a runner is like milk to a child. 

My final total for the day came to $25.04.  I'm still pretty happy with this.

One more comment about my DH, he will eat anything I prepare and he never criticizes me.  He is a tremendous support to me (and I am not talking financial).  We laugh a lot in our household and we tease each other a lot.  We are a team and I love him more and more each day.

Cold Weather and Exercising

I awoke this morning to a chilly temperature of minus 8 degrees.  Brrr.  The high today is supposed to be 5 degrees.  On days like today I prefer to brew some coffee and put on another sweater and stay inside.  My DH is a different story.  He is a runner and has run 12 marathons in his life.  He ran the Boston Marathon twice.  After reading the morning paper my DH put on his running clothes and headed out for his daily run.  He was gone 45 minutes.  Oh and the temp was still minus 8 degrees.  Here he is upon his return. 

The ice on his mustache makes him look 20 years older.

Notice the running tights he is wearing.  I think he looks very cold but he denies it.  Right after I took this picture he took our black lab for her morning walk. 

In the winter I prefer to exercise inside when the weather is cold.  Over the past few years we purchased two exercise "machines" that I use constantly.  One is a Bowflex power tread and the other is a Bowflex weight bench.  I use the Power Tread 5 times a week for 30 minutes and I burn about 400 calories each time.  I lift weights with the Bowflex weight bench twice a week.  BTW - we have a t.v. in the basement so I have the option of listening to the t.v. or a d.v.d. to pass the time. 

Our Power Tread

Our Bowflex

(Please excuse the mess in our basement.  I will be facing that sometime this month.)

My other form of exercise is our black lab, Griffey.  Every day she walks into the kitchen at around 11:30 a.m.  That is when I walk her and if I should lose track of the time, she reminds me.  I do have my limits with the weather and refuse to walk in the pouring rain or if the temp is below 15 degrees.  I also go along with my DH in the evening for her evening walk (unless it is too cold).

She was looking out the window waiting for my DH to come back from his run. 

She knows when he returns, it will be time for her walk.

Recently I priced what a membership at Curves would cost and I considered it for a brief time.  Many women in our community are members of Curves.  When I compared the exercises and machines that are used at Curves vs. what I have available at home, I decided against it.  The one benefit to any fitness club would be the social aspect and the help of a trainer.  I am happy that we put our money into our own exercise equipment than in a monthly membership somewhere. 

I never exercised much until about 5 years ago when I was in my mid 40's. I knew then that if I didn't start working out and making it a priority, I would regret it over time.  IMO there are two advantages to exercising:  mind and body.  I feel better when I get out and go for a walk and it helps to alleviate any winter blues that may come my way.  The other benefit is I don't get sick as often and I am doing what I can to keep unwanted weight off. 

Between lifting weights, power treading or walking the dog, I work out a total of 1 1/4 hours for 5 days a week.  For my money I'll stick with what I got.  We have two great machines here at home that I enjoy using and can use at any time that works into my daily schedule. Also, my DH is a cross country coach and my DIL and DS are both coaches.  If I need any diet or exercise advice, I only need to ask.  

I have one goal for 2010 and that is to add Yoga and Pilates to my routine.  I have purchased two dvd's for workouts at home and my goal is to become more toned and to strengthen my lower back.  Now I just have to figure out when I am going to fit this into my schedule. 

Does anyone have any fitness goals for 2010?

Pantry Challenge Meal Planning

I thought I would try to post what we will be eating each day, at least for our main meal.  Today being New Year's my family reminded me we usually have cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I had forgotten.  Since everyone had slept in late and had eaten breakfast, I decided we would have a mid afternoon meal today.  I set about making homemade cinnamon rolls using a quick rise dough recipe and then I looked in the fridge and freezer for something other than plain eggs to serve.  I had some bacon, frozen homemade pie crust dough, plenty of eggs and swiss cheese.  I made a quiche.   So at 4:00 this afternoon we dined on homemade cinnamon rolls and quiche just in time for the Rose Bowl.  We had some mandarin oranges in the fridge leftover from a recipe earlier in the week also.

I love to serve my family meals that I make up on the fly as I love a challenge.  Makes me think of Grandma as she did this every day of her life.