bubbles

Karen's bday

2011-10-02T13:50:00.003-04:00

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light

2009-12-20T09:10:00.001-05:00

Last night I thought we were going to Gail and Mark’s for drinks but they had put together an amazing surprise party to celebrate my new citizenship! I always knew I have wonderful friends but I must say I was flabbergasted, the amount of work and care made me feel so appreciated it was by far the best party I have ever been in this country!

It was Gorgeous Gail idea and they really did a fantastic job of keeping me in the dark. It is hard to know where to start to thank you all for what you did: all the delicious food Gail prepared, the bubbly Karen brought ( and even more specially risking being stranded in Torrington by the predicted snowstorm), the great cookies done by the other Karen, and gorgeous gift she and Rit gave me, the American Flag shaped Christmas ornament I got from Bob and Stacey, but above all it was the hugs and smiles and genuine love and friendship that even at this moment brings tears of joy to my face.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed deserves an Oscar, not for a second he gave any hint that it was a party. He actually even said we might skip it since he was feeling so very tired, he asked me to make chili con carne for dinner pretending we were just going for drinks and he wanted a more substantial meal beforehand.

It was fantastic to enter the room and see them all there, Gail, Mark, Bob and Stacey, Rit and Karen, Marc, Linda, Bill, Frank and Pam, and Karen entering from the kitchen as she got there one minute after I did!

I do feel amazingly proud to be an American but more importantly I feel immensely lucky to have such friends!

Not a bad bird at all!

2009-11-27T08:07:00.004-05:00

T-day!

2009-11-25T16:07:00.001-05:00

At first H-W-M-B-O declared we can do without a bird this year. He decided we shall have steaks and be thankful for that. I thought to myself no need to worry about buying a happy turkey, a free range, organic, hormone free (although being on hormone therapy myself I do realize the advantages of hormones if one have strong breast preferences! I have been feeling pretty chesty lately, but I diverge) the bird should preferably be Mozart listening 12 lbs specimen, all in all had a great life prior to get to his destiny as a happy meal.

I had made peace with the idea, especially because a turkey for two means lots of leftover that even my creative nature can feel challenged to come up with a variety of uses.

We went grocery shopping yesterday evening, H-W-M-B-O wants all the side dishes that usually goes with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner minus the bird, I was not convinced about cranberry sauce with steak but was prepared to please the boss. Then it happened: I found myself surrounded by fresh and frozen birds and could not help but stare and be overwhelmed by turkey lust!

This is my 9^th Thanksgiving here, the worst being the very first one when I did not realize H-W-M-B-O bought a frozen one and I spent all day giving it a cold bath in the bathtub and we still did not get to sit for dinner before 10 pm (I have proof, in the form of pictures, but I refuse to show them here!) the best one being last year’s at a friend’s house, surrounded by her family and friends and all I did was the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie the rest of the meal was prepared by her husband and let me tell you he is one hell of a cook!

In the years in between I was never able to convince H-W-M-B-O to have just the breast, in the light of us being very much into white meat. Some years I did the full turkey, just to please him, once I made a roasted duck( I love duck) and once I just made a nice roasted chicken, refusing to surrender to roasting a full bird that will take us weeks to eat.

H-W-M-B-O saw me eyeing the fresh breasts and finally surrender to the idea, so we are having a roasted turkey breast, with all the trimmings , I have done plenty of research and will do a combination of 3 different recipes, I have this thing about creating my own, sometimes just an adaptation from someone’s recipe, or two or three!

I truly believe we have plenty to be thankful; it was by no means an easy year but still a pretty good one.

Wishing you all a great T-day, surrounded by family, friends or both or like in our case just our two dogs which by the way are crazy about green beans!

Teresa's Birthday!

2009-11-17T16:37:00.002-05:00

I lost her email and wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, so hopefully she will check this blog soon!

The witch's caldron

2009-11-02T14:02:00.002-05:00

da Capo

2009-10-20T16:23:00.003-04:00

I have been trying to help with the restaurant website and yesterday I took a few photos to be used there!

Every time I visit the place I get so many compliments I will be needing an extra chair for my ego!

Bread Fever

2009-10-19T14:27:00.003-04:00

The fever is actually gone by now, all that is left is an annoying cough but for the past two weeks the "bread bug" got me and I have been baking a storm.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed had no complains about having fresh bread in a regular basis!

A Welcome to Teresa

2009-10-19T14:12:00.000-04:00

I have been a bad blogger!

It was not intentionally, just one of those things that happen without rhyme or reason.

Today, out of the blue sky (and trust me the sky is unbelievably blue today), I got a phone call and a request for newer posts! None less than my most gorgeous mother and the very nice friend of her Teresa!

So this post is to officially WELCOME Teresa to my regular readership!

Teresa it will be a pleasure and an honor to know you are checking my little musings on this page.

Green Bounty

2009-07-17T13:23:00.002-04:00

It has been a very wet summer and my garden looks beaten down by the severe storms but I do have to feel glad when I see the green bounty of sugar snaps this weather brought me.

Sunny side of the street

2009-07-17T12:56:00.001-04:00

It has been awhile, one can even say a real long while. I will not offer any excuses or explanations.

Today I could not resist an attempt to capture my big white. I am fascinated by sharks but in this case I am talking about my dog Matisse. It seems he is getting whiter and whiter every day. I think the change gives him a spooky look but at the same time he has mellowed so much it has been even easier to love him.

I went to check where he was because the door to the patio was open and I found him taking the sun in. I went to get the camera fully knowing the chances were slim since usually he likes to check what I am doing and would just follow me but alas this time he must have been enjoying the heat on his bones because he just stay there even after I took a few snaps. Of course my Mr. Bug (also known as Frito Jack) got all curious and managed to insert his head on the last shot I took of Matisse.

He did raise his head when I went for the camera but then he just went back to look like he could not be bored with such a trivial thing as a photo shoot. On the next couple of pictures he does look a bit depressed although I know that if a fire truck drives up the hill he will be back on top of his game howling his head off!

Somehow the order of the pictures got messed up but hey they are all there!

my boys

2009-02-11T10:43:00.002-05:00

Brotherly Love

2008-12-30T08:42:00.002-05:00

Nutty

2008-12-24T13:31:00.002-05:00

Positively Grinchy

2008-12-22T16:48:00.003-05:00

We got quite a bit of snow in the last 3 days! Most of my life a White Christmas was something that only happened on TV, well or the movies but you got my drift (bad pun, bad pun), and even after I moved here it was not that often that we got snow on the days before or around Christmas. Today there is no doubt we will have a very White Christmas by Wednesday.

It would be nice to have some of that Christmas spirit to go with it but I am afraid mine is still looking for me like a lost child in a Mall somewhere south of here.

We don’t go crazy with decorations around the house but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed always makes sure we have a good size tree, one that takes advantage of our cathedral ceilings. Every year goes more or less the same way, does not matter if we go cut our own or just to a place to pick already cut ones: He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed says” Go choose which you want”, so I look around and choose a nice, not too fat, not to tall one, and he looks at it and says” You don’t want that one, is too small!” so we look some more and grab a big tree, maybe nothing to make the one at Rockefeller Center feel bad but still a sizable tree.

Instead of a nice Christmas spirit I found myself hostage to a nasty cold, one that includes a tiresome dry cough and a nose that could put Niagara Falls to shame. Last night no one got much sleep. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed sleeps lightly and often will ask me if I called him, honestly, I was just moaning but even the dogs got restless with my tossing and turning, coughing and moaning routine.

I have a small, errr make it medium size Nutcracker army and a growing one of snowmen. This year the snowmen are on our mantle and the nutty men on our shallow shelves at the kitchen eating area. I keep looking at them and hoping the spirit will catch me but so far it did not happen. But I still have hope I will not be feeling so Grinchy in a couple of days!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-19T16:17:00.003-05:00

If you have a nice fireplace and the remote why bother with outside?

Curious George

2008-12-09T08:54:00.005-05:00

This little fella is the newest addition to my small army of snowman. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got him last saturday, usually I don't name the snowmen, but somehow George needed a name, so we decided to use the store owner's name, he is a nice guy just like George here!

I do realize George is not a popular name now, but alas I never gone political on this blog and I am not about to start now, anyways this guy here does not look like Obama!

Honestly when we first thought about choosing George, the name being a result of where he was bought and the other reference to the children's book about a monkey were the only things that came to my mind. Later I thought about the headmaster from my high school years, but he was not a nice George even if not as bad as our current president.

So cheers to this jolly fella, may he be happy amongst his chubby friends.

Blog Abandonment ends here

2008-11-25T14:10:00.001-05:00

I needed time away to be able to lick my wounds in privacy. Sharing sometimes helps on the healing process and yet I was not ready for that. I can do with the forgiving but the forgetting will take a whole lot more time. That said I also discovered that now there is something called slow blogging, much the same way as slow food goes, meaning it is not because we are a bit too lazy to write something funny or witty, it is because we are adhering to a whole new trend. We take weeks to come up with something and we still get to look cool? How fun is that?

Plenty.

Since I have no desire to get all proustian and go in search of the time lost I decided to concentrate my attention on an American right: The pursue of Gorgeousness, well I know it was supposed to be Happiness but alas I will just trust that the second will come (even if temporary) right along when the first is acquired.

Did you guess I have a party next weekend? Yes, sir, I sure do.

Thanks to my Special K friend now I even have a dress for said party, I must say it took a serious amount of looking to find something that fit reasonably well for an agreeable price. Special K being such a fantastic friend she even got me the shoes to go with the dress. Let me tell you how I love thee shoes. They are the prettiest, sexiest shoes I had in a long time. I did have a pair, bought for my school reunion that was pretty sweet, pointy little ones in very light grey suede. Now they live somewhere in Minnesota and hopefully they are making a niece happy. Actually the dress bought for that reunion is now in Rio and might make another niece happy at some party.

I am very thankful this week to be off Turkey duty, again was Special K doing, since she invited us to her house for Thanksgiving, her husband is the one with turkey on his hands, but I already had proof that he is a very good chef so I expect nothing less than a wonderful moist bird. All I need to make is a pumpkin pie and some lumpy cranberry sauce (special K is very particular about all things lumpy, she cannot stand them but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is also very particular about avoiding food stuff from cans so I will bring the one he likes and she will get her unlumpy one from a can). All in all everybody should be happy and of course thankful.

I cannot forget my very first Thanksgiving in this country, sure because we don’t have such a holiday where I come from or in any other countries where I lived so far. Suffice to say the experience can be called Turkey Spa Day, and involved a frozen turkey by Thanksgiving morning, a whole day turning the bird around in the bathtub in order to make it defrost in record time. Never done one before I did not realize I needed to get a fresh bird or get the frozen one earlier and let it thaw. It was close to midnight by the time the bird was roasted and we could sit for our very late Thanksgiving dinner. I think I even have pictures of it somewhere.

Looking back I do think I have many reasons to celebrate a couple of weeks back and even more reasons to be thankful today.

just sad

2008-11-07T15:15:00.001-05:00

I am beyond upset. I am feeling stupid and somehow redundant. I never thought life is perfect but I truly believe mine was not that bad.

I had always refrain from writing anything here when I was not feeling good, well sometimes I would post something about a bad cold, or a not so good day but mostly I filter my emotions and try to keep my blog light.

Today I feel quite different about it.

I am hurt and for once I don’t know how to deal with it. It crossed my mind calling one of my dear best friends and ask for their help. Ask them to make me feel better. I do know they both are capable of cheering me up but somehow if I do call them I would have to say stuff that right now I am not comfortable to say. Because it would mean I have to admit being wrong, or worse than that to admit I do not have what I thought I did.

I wish I could do what he does, just ignore it, just pretend nothing happened. Just pretend it does not change anything.

Unfortunately he does not believe in saying “I am sorry”, he probably does not even think he needs to say it.

If you take someone for granted it stops you from making the effort to be nice. It also stops you for saying “I am sorry” when you are not nice.

I always have been big about celebrating special occasions. Next Monday it will be 8 years since I move here.

Now I found myself wondering if there is anything to celebrate about it?

Playdate

2008-11-01T14:16:00.005-04:00

The day has been cloudy and not ideal for pictures but I could not resist!

Bring me da color

2008-10-21T14:48:00.004-04:00

I never sing in the shower, and for that everybody that lives in this house should be considered lucky. I do blog inside my head while I am in the shower and today I got myself thinking about the pictures I took while on the road last weekend, and realizing that those gorgeous burning bushes are like prudish New England Victorian girls, blushing in anticipation of their nakedness.

Fall here is such an amazing season, not only because the colors are fantastic but after they are gone the season still appeals to the senses and the lightest breeze can cause a symphony of running leaves. It can get quite loud, like little marathon runners, they roll down the asphalt crackling happily wherever the wind takes them.

We did got the first serious frost yesterday morning, and I was sad to see the last of the poppies lose their delicate heads and yet surprised that my daisies are valiant braving the low temperatures and still doing their very late bloom. I am considering taking a few inside and a have a small vase on my desk. Postponing the grey days of winter is not an easy battle.

The Future of Scotland

2008-10-19T14:10:00.001-04:00

Far and Away

2008-10-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

I warn you there will be a bit of an overload of photos here. If you are not in the mood for it go and find yourself a blog about politics, I will not be writing about it here.

Yesterday we had such a lovely time, driving around the picture perfect roads on a gorgeous fall day. On the agenda was the inauguration of the Kent Firehouse, a project we have reason to be very proud of, well mostly He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed has reasons to be proud since I was not that involved with the design itself. But alas I think he is in a good mood so I will indulge myself to a bit of the glory.

Kent is one of my favorite places in this neck of the woods, and not just because of the chocolate store (although I confess it does help the town to be on the top 5, what can I say I do love chocolate). The whole town is rather charming, both new and old places are full of character and often make my camera finger “trigger happy”.

The ceremony was short and sweet, first the parade from the old firehouse to the new building, I am quite sure I don’t have a drop of Scottish blood but I truly love to watch those bag pipers play. Mmmm’kay so I have a soft spot for men in uniforms, can you blame me, especially when it includes men in skirts?

The Governor was there and did a good job, maybe it was because it was such a gorgeous day, no one wanted to waste it so all the speeches were short and soon they were cutting the ribbon and letting people inside to tour the new building.

We went to lunch with the owner of the construction company, he was there with his wife and they just came back from 2 weeks in Italy so we had a great time talking about travels and also dogs.

Off we went to Danbury, was not very difficult to convince He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed to go search for the new Brazilian bakery but although we did buy the bread we were a bit disappointed to see the Brazilian grocery store now is reduced to two shelves. I was dreaming to get some Brazilian candy but now is seems they cannot import it anymore.

We detour to Southbury to make an inspection on a small job and decide to get drive home by the lovely back roads, sometimes He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed has some inspired ideas like that!

The best day of Fall so far.

Litchfield Hills back roads

2008-10-19T12:06:00.004-04:00

A Tale of Two Pleasures

2008-10-14T09:18:00.001-04:00

First

I do miss my family in Rio, I truly wish we could go there every year for at least two weeks, mmm’kay make it twice a year for at least two weeks. (no mom not more than that cause I also miss my dogs and they usually are miserable at the kennel). Happy now?

Apart from people the things I miss are the silly ones, dishes we cannot find here, mostly because the ingredients are so foreign they don’t even have a name in English for them.

Above all things I miss bread. Sure there is bread here. Even very good bread. But, and we all knew there was a but coming; somehow it is almost impossible to find Brazilian bread. The kind we eat in Brasil for breakfast, the kind we call “French” there although it has no real resemblance to a baguette. They are made fresh at least twice a day on every bakery.

True I did not use to eat them that often for breakfast after I grown up, simply cause that would be a no-no in any diet. Every time I go visit my mom I do enjoy it every single morning, knowing too well it will not last forever.

Today I ate Brazilian bread. It would be accurate to call it “American-Brazilian bread” since it was made here, but it had all the goodness from a true Brazilian bread. Thanks to my Brazilian friends, the ones that used to be our neighbors, the “almost impossible” became possible.

There is a town, I would say an hour from here, that has a huge Brazilian population and because of that they have a store that sells stuff from Brazil and even a bakery, now actually it seems there is yet another bakery to cater to the Brazilian need of true bread. Unfortunately we never drive even close to there. We have projects all over but not in that direction and it always seem too much to go there just for my cravings.

Last night our friend came by with a bag with half a dozen breads. I am in heaven. I have to confess it was hard not to have a second bread this morning, only the idea of making it last longer, of having one of those breads every morning this week made me stop.

Second

I never cease to marvel at He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed abilities.

Yesterday I climbed the stairs from the basement dreading to tell He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed that our dryer was dead. I just kept repeating inside my head “don’t kill the messenger”. It was not totally dead, as it still produces heat but the drum would not move.

Brazilian way to any dead appliances is “call a guy”. My people is not into DIY, maybe because there is always a “guy”, because labor in Brazil is not expensive like here, and even if usually “ a guy” will make you wait hours to show up one very seldom will try to solve the problem without “a guy”.

I have to say I am glad I have “my guy”. It did not took him long to diagnose the problem, a broken belt. He did some research online and figure the solution. After lunch he went and bought the new belt, I am proud to say I help figuring out how the belt was installed.

I must admit the actual process was not pleasant; He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is very good at what he does but not very good about giving directions in a pleasant way, helping him is not always a smooth operation. It did take 3 times (a charm?) to get everything in the proper place but even if not painless it was not a long process.

Having a broken dryer: a pain

Buying a new belt for dryer: $20

Having my own DIY guy: priceless

Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité

2008-10-07T13:11:00.000-04:00

We all spend 1/7 of our lives on Mondays so I try not to dwell on the cliché if I am having a bad Monday but alas yesterday took the cup!

I decided to get dinner done late morning, I knew the piece of meat I got the other day would require some 2 hours of slow cooking in order to taste good so I started the thing early. Braising is not on my top choices for cooking but once in a while I like to try something different. This is how I end up burning the meat, actually the whole pan!

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed asked me across our desk, “Are you cooking something? Cause if you are I think it is burning!”

He was very, very right. I did manage to salvage most of the meat and scrap the bottom of my Dutch oven until it did not show any signs of the disaster. The house smell of burnt meat for the rest of the day but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was very nice about the whole incident.

How during the process I manage to break a tooth I still don’t know. Not just any tooth but one that will require a crown in the very near future. My only lucky break (no pun intended) was that they had someone calling sick and cancelling an appointment so I was able to go see my “miracle worker” dentist not even 3 hours after the tooth broke.

Sure it was not fun to spend an hour on that chair and I also don’t like the unplanned expense but I have to say my dentist is one of the nicest people I ever met here.

A Monday to remember was not complete before I made some American coffee; well sorry but this is how I call it. It is not necessarily bad coffee but it sure is weak. I like to leave the coffee machine ready for the next coffee, well to be exact half ready as I like to grind the grains just before I brew, but I do fill the water and place the filter ahead. Yesterday somehow I forgot I had already filled the water and did it again, never notice before I saw a weird amount of coffee ready and sure I did not use double the amount of coffee so end up with a big pot of American coffee.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed decide to make some changes in our household. We decided to reclaim our bed. Matisse is adorable but such a bed hog and lately it has been getting worse and worse, either one of both of us end up having a terrible night because our dog takes all the bed.

We knew it would not be easy but had to be done. We move the normal size crate to the bedroom, since Jack’s surgery a few months ago we gave him the extra large crate, wearing that cone around his head was terrible and the extra space made him more comfortable. The large one is so big we can fit both dogs there we think they like to have their own space. We move Jack back to the normal sized one and now we have Matisse sleeping in his crate too.

The first night was difficult; he was barking and crying a lot. The second night was a nightmare, he was barking even louder and more often. We take turns to tell him to go back to sleep, it felt a bit like being inside a movie, a bad movie. Last night he did complain a couple of times but I guess he finally is getting used to the idea. Was one of the best nights of sleep we both had in a long time.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed thinks it was a great way to start his birthday. That and the fluffy omelet I made him this morning.

I know Matisse miss his freedom, but we agree it is fairer, now both brothers sleep in their crates!

Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité.

Rainbows and Unicorns

2008-10-03T11:24:00.001-04:00

I could blame it on Mia but that would be unfair, true she does keep me busier but the reason for not writing here for a week is a rather bad cold, one of those that makes your whole body ache and your brain turns to mush.

I was trying to avoid a post that would consist mostly of some serious moaning and complaining about how bad I have been feeling for days! As you can see the dreadful post is already happening and you cannot do anything about it, complete with exclamation point and all that jazz (I could stop here and save you the pain but alas I am bad, why should I suffer alone?).

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed told me last night that we should get flu shots this year, we have never done it, and well I have never done it, mostly because every year he says it is a waste of time. I am not quite sure why he changed his mind but I agree with the whole idea even if I was never fond of having any part of my body poked with needles. Mmm’kay there has been some acupuncture sessions years ago, they were not pleasant but the results seemed worthy at the time.

……..

Well it has been a while, and I wrote the paragraphs above last week, then I could not make myself post it because it was just so blah!

I am almost over my cold, have been sleeping much better even if not really well (not that I ever did sleep well even when I am healthy). I have been preoccupied with Mia, since last Tuesday night her dad came by and asked me to go take a look because she was acting strange. Sure she was not herself, and I could feel she was running a fever, was definitively not her perky self. After some examination I notice she had a sore back, she yelped when I touch a spot right center on her spine. So I end up telling her dad to take her to the emergency vet since it was almost 9PM and she was clearly in pain. The next day he stopped by to say she does have a spinal infection, was on pain killers and antibiotics and looking really miserable.

I went to visit her a few times, Wednesday she was a sorry looking pup, would not even get up, her tail was trying to tell me she appreciated my visit but the pain was draining her of any energy.

Yesterday she seemed much better by night time; maybe the meds are doing the magic. She was able to walk a bit around her yard and came by me for a belly rub even if she was uncomfortable to get her belly in the upward position.

I do know that I have been writing about Mia a lot, call it my Mia Mania, but this past week went by so fast I never had time for much more than the regular work load so bare with me if I cannot write about rainbows and unicorns!

Missing Mia

2008-09-26T14:17:00.003-04:00

Nip and Tuck

2008-09-17T08:25:00.003-04:00

I was always fascinated by how different dog’s personalities can be. It has been very interesting to see how Mia develops her relationships with my boys. We still have problems inside the house, Jack simply will not accept her presence, he barks like he is insane and pants all the time, circling her and making sure she does not move a step away from this tight circle, the limits he establish for her . Matisse is relaxed and even will lie down and let her sniff at him. True now she really is trying to engage him into playing so she nips and teases, well she is a girl!

Every visit I try to let them have time inside, after 7 minutes I give up and take them all to the backyard where things are much nicer.

Luckily the weather has been great and she spends most of her time running after one of the boys, she does not show any interest in their balls, but as soon as they are running to catch she is running after them. Hey it is still great exercise and she does look like she is having fun.

She got mildly interested in an empty soda bottle and some twigs but her attention span is about 2 seconds’ tops and anyway the boys are way more interesting. I am amazed that Matisse let her steal his stones, I mean Jack never did but if he tries to steal Matisse’s ball the big guy just goes and gets it back from Jack’s mouth. Not so with the lady!

After an hour of running around I can take her back to her house and she is happy to go to her crate, when I get back home I can see the boys are ready for a nice nap, and I swear they both look like they have a content smile.

The only problem so far is that Mia shows a tendency to nip. At first I thought was ok, since she was not doing the boys any harm but now she has been trying to nip at the back of my legs if I don’t pay her 100% attention. Of course those small teeth don’t hurt much but I think it is a very bad idea and should be stopped early or it can develop into a nasty habit.

For now when she nips I tuck her into a sitting, let’s hope she is a fast learner.

The Lady and the Bug

2008-09-15T18:33:00.002-04:00

Miss Mia

2008-09-14T12:51:00.002-04:00

Top Model Material

2008-09-14T11:10:00.001-04:00

I knew it would take a bit of getting used to but I did not expect Jack to react so badly to his new “sister”. I am in charge of Mia for the next 10 days. She belongs to a neighbor and I was the one to offer to take care of her cute puppyness. It is very hard to resist the charms of a young Golden Retriever.

Today I started with her first visit to our house and our boys. I knew it worked well when Princess came to visit two weeks ago, it took a while but they all had a great time outside. Not to happen today since it has been raining buckets!

I cannot say it was totally unpredicted since whenever we take the boys for a walk and Mia is out at her backyard my boys had shown this same behavior, Matisse is very eager to go check her out, very gentle, sniffing her but not being over interested. Jack on the other hand has always barked like mad and usually He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed ends up taking Jack home and I stay with Matisse to visit.

She is very young, under 4 months old, and thankfully also very calm even when facing a non-stop barking reception from Jack. Matisse was curious about her, I was quite happy with my old boy reaction; he would let her sniff him and even kiss him a bit. He totally kept his cool, and also a bit of smug look, like “oh well she is just a kid” attitude.

Initially my idea was to keep her here for a couple of hours but I decided an hour was enough for this first visit. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed even took Jack with him and kept him in the office for a while, let Matisse and Mia have some private time away from the barking machine.

By then she was trying to engage Matisse into playing, she barked at him a couple of times but the big old guy just look at her, turn his head to the side and I almost could read his thoughts as in: “she is kinda of amusing but I am too old for that”.

She already lost her baby fat, although still very much a puppy one can already see the potential for beauty there. The gorgeous blonde/red hair and long legs that will make her Gisele Bundchen of the canine world!

Actually she even has a very fashionable name: MIA!

Dirty Job

2008-09-09T09:04:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday the Historical Society held their “Under the Stars & Stripes Dinner”. We actually did not see any stars as Hanna hit here and it was pouring monkeys. I am not kidding. I'm exaggerating, but that's different. They end up having to transfer the event, which was to be held under tents at the Society gardens, to a Ballroom in town.

I had plans to go in costume, but alas I never manage to make an appointment to check the costumes at the Theater in town, they had a good deal to encourage the guests to attend the party properly attired. Some of our friends did and I was envy.

The dinner was provided by a catering service in town, and she followed a menu from the period. It was maybe the best dinner we had at a party; even He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was impressed.

I have been planning to go there for a cooking class for months. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed gave me a gift certificate for the place for Christmas last year but their website is not updated and I keep meaning to stop there to see what they are offering, but since they are located at a part of town not in our regular route, I never did.

Sunday was spent on much needed home improvement projects, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed decided to clean the roof. There were all sorts of green things growing on it. If there is any upside on loosing the big tree is that the roof will not be covered with sap leaking stuff. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed said he would hose the green things down but when I looked he was on the roof!

The day was one of those picture perfect days, not uncommon after a big storm. The sky was an intense blue; the sun was shining, the temperature was just about right, enough to warm up the skin but not enough to make a person hot.

When he decides to do something there is very little I can do to make him change his mind (more like nothing at all) so I knew the best thing was to get busy with something else. I have been planning to take down my giant sunflowers, they are like small trees. They are way passed their prime and there have been a couple of accidents, like cars hitting their giant heads. It is always a bit sad to cut them down but there always be next year.

After lunch He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed asked me: “Do you want to clean the grill?”

I went all like: “No! Do you see these manicured nails? I intend them to last at least a week”

I don’t get my nails done that often so when I do I try to preserve them as long as possible.

Of course his mind was set on doing it so he spent the next 3 hours doing a fantastic job. It does disturb me a little, as in I feel guilty for not being the one doing it but guess what? I got over the guilt feelings and let him do the job. I still have grease free nails. (yes I have heard about rubber gloves but I am useless wearing them)

I had cleaned the grill before but it cannot compare to the degree to which he does it.

Now I almost feel like not using the grill evah!

It will be such a shame to make it all dirty again.

A happy lady was out last night

2008-09-05T12:57:00.004-04:00

This time it did not even hurt getting old!

I had a fabulous birthday. Before we left for dinner we got a visit from our Brazilian friends and their precious princess, I cannot believe how much she had grown and I don’t think I ever met a happiest kid. They got me a gorgeous gerbera and a cake, I am telling you I felt celebrated like never before. I miss having them as neighbors because although they still live in town we had hardly been together since they moved. I know how hard they work and how busy they are so it did move me that they came to wish me a happy birthday.

Later we went to da Capo for dinner, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was in an extra nice mood and I had a fantastic time, with good friends, good food and plenty of reasons to feel lucky.

Older and Happier

2008-09-05T10:37:00.002-04:00

I feel Grrrrrrreat!

2008-09-04T17:45:00.000-04:00

I have been having a sensational birthday!

It has been beyond my expectations, and yeah I said I was trying to keep them low but alas, I am bad about that.

My day started at 6:00AM with my friends from Canada singing me happy birthday, not just any happy birthday song but a tradition from Guatemala, they are supposed to wake you up, as early as possible and sing this cute song! How cool is that?

I got a truly romantic card from He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, one of those you can see he took his time to choose carefully.

Before I had time to get ready to go out for special girl time with special K my mom called, she did make me feel very loved, and was dying to tell me she had sent me flowers, she manage to refrain herself, just tried the enigmatic approach with a “you will hear from me later”. Just an hour ago I got the longest stem pink roses I ever seen in my life, I actually did not knew roses could have stems that long! (I will post pics later).

I tried to call my twin sister but she was already at her gym so she was the one to call me back, it is not a competition but we always try to beat each other to say Happy Birthday first!

Even my stepfather called me, it was a complete surprise.

Yesterday I got a lovely card from my mother-in-law with a check (hey I already spend it on that haircut today) and today my sister-in-law sent me a truly sweet e-card.

Off I went to have hair done and a great time with special K, we always have the best time, and Jane is a genius with scissors!

Special K took me to lunch at the country club, and it was great since it feels like summer again so we sat at the patio with the view to the golf course! She did use her iphone to take pics of me, and I got her new look too, so now she has to email me them so I can show off here!( yeah I am envy of her i-phone but I truly don’t use a cell phone that often to justify having one)

I got back home to find another card from a friend and a cute smiley mug filled with flowers and big box of Swiss chocolate truffles from my “family” in Montreal.

I tell you this birthday has been blowing my mind with so many surprises and feel good moments!

I am off to get all dolled up for dinner with He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed at my favorite restaurant…

…To be continued

and I think I should!

2008-09-01T14:56:00.001-04:00

This weekend has been exceeding any of my expectations!

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was in a great mood Saturday morning and proposed breakfast at George’s, seems like we have doing it a lot more often and I assure you no one here is complaining.

We had a lovely breakfast and when we were leaving George’s I mentioned that I was disappointed my fried Gail had to work because I wanted to take advantage of a $20.00 I got from Kohl’s and get a new pair of sneakers, since I got back to the gym and mine are showing some serious signs of wear and tear.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed turned to me and said: “If you want I can take you there right now”, I had to look closer to be sure it was my husband, I almost asked him what have him done to the guy I am married, the one that has an extreme allergy to all things connected with shopping. I thought better of it and just accepted the offer graciously, promising not to take advantage of such nice offer.

I have to say for the past 3 days he has been in some sort of let’s start celebrating your birthday in advance mode, which pleases me to no end.

Later on the same day we did some grocery shopping and I dare to indulge myself to a lobster, got it steamed right there at the grocery store and made sure to buy He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed a nice steak since he is not into any seafood stuff. We had a delicious dinner and watched a movie, felt like dating with the advantage of not having to drive to different houses.

Yesterday we had a surprise visit that made my boys extraordinarily happy. It was the very first time they had a “girl” come play with them. Megan was in town and she brought Princess to play with the boys. She had been here once before but it was a 15 minutes visit, sure included sniffing around all parts but it was raining so we never made to the backyard. Princess is an adorable bulldog around 7 or 8 months old, very used to being around other dogs since she goes to dog-camp.

Matisse was adorable around her, very gentle, interested but not annoying, Jack took his time to accept the visitor, he was not so sure what was that about but after 15 minutes they were all playing nicely on our backyard. We had a couple of hours of fun; I just love to see them all interact.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed accepted an invitation for us to go to da Capo for dinner and keep Megan company since her hubby is busy at their kitchen, him being the restaurant chef. I was almost in shock since I did not think he would like to go so soon, we have been there last Thursday, but again I suspect it has to be connected with celebrating my birthday in advance mode.

Today there were some plans to go with Megan to the Country Fair but she decided to spend more time with her husband before she has to head back to Pennsylvania.

Did I mention that the weather is just about spectacular? I am almost afraid to brag in case the gods might get jealous and think I have been having too much fun.

I know Gustav will do some damage down south but around here it has been the best weekend of all summer. Today I spent most of my time just doing stuff that needed to be done, including weeding the front garden and ironing tons of clothes but I even made it to the gym and got my 4 miles of exercise, so all in all I FEEL GOOD!

Passion fruit

2008-08-26T16:55:00.002-04:00

Not the actual passion fruit, maracuja, I hate that stuff. In general I don’t miss much any of the tropical fruits, sure I could enjoy a manga (I never understood why when translated to English they changed the name of the original fruit from manga to mango) but most of what is considered exotic here and pretty easy to find in Rio are not my cup of tea (or sorbet). My passion is for figs. Peaches and blackberries come in a close second place; fruit-wise I live on the wrong coast.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed show his love for me by going into the only place we know that sells them, it is not a place we drive by in a regular basis, quite the opposite but he was driving by it going from one job meeting to another and for my surprise, and ecstatic pleasure, he went inside said grocery store and ask about figs. He got me the biggest box of figs I ever saw in my life.

Of course I already ate 5 of them! Yes, not just one or two, so big is my hunger for this strange fruit. Not strange from where I come from but very rare here. The season for figs is very short, I believe even at the west coast, where you can find them in every market, here in New England it is a whole different story. In almost 8 years I only saw them in a store twice, and they were not in good shape, and until today I only got to eat them twice, once on my birthday, on a salad I order at a restaurant and the second time at the opening of a photo exhibit a friend did.

Figs remind me of my father, he was awfully fond of them too and also of my grandfather, in his case the favorite was not the raw fruit but when it was turned into a hard paste to be eaten with a special cheese not found around here.

It feels like I am already celebrating my birthday. Thanks to He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, figs and sweet memories.

Plenty, if you ask me.

2008-08-26T08:07:00.001-04:00

I have been posting inside my head but somehow when I try to write the stuff down it all sounds a bit boring. I am not promising this post will not be boring, I guess I am just trying to explain why I abandon this place for so long.

I have been busy with this and that, including an overdue visit from a dear friend. Usually he drives down from Montreal a few times a year but this has been the first time this year. He always brings delicious stuff, yeah, he does spoil my attempt to diet but I compensate it by having so many laughs together it is well worth it. He is such a brave friend he even let me drive his pick-up truck around the cemetery. I guess it is a bit reassuring that there is hardly anyone walking around, even if I did manage to scare a couple of squirrels.

It is hard to believe Labor Day is less than a week away. Oh sure, also that other very important holyday MY BIRTHDAY! Mmm’kay, so what if it is not an official holyday?

To be honest I have been less enthusiastic about my birthday than I used to be. I remember the time, not so long ago; I used to start warning people a month ahead. It was not just because being a twin makes a birthday doubly special but I truly enjoy mine. I counted the days to the day; I made special plans, not really being into big parties but separate celebrations, so I could enjoy it with all the important people in my life. Now not so much.

I do have plans to get hair cut and color with Special K, which is always a treat, and there is a possibility we will have lunch together since the whole hair ordeal will take the best part of 3 hours.

I do have plans to have a special dinner with Gail, Mark and He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, so we can celebrate both birthdays, hers and mine. I guess I can count myself lucky it does not fall on a Monday.

I could make He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed life easy if only I could decide what I want as a gift, at the moment I am torn between what I need ( as in a new winter coat, the kind for everyday specially on those snowy days) and what I want (as in a new camera even if the old one is not broken). I always like myself for being practical and yet I still cannot commit to the reasonable decision of buying something I know I need and will use often. How silly is that?

How silly is that?

PS: The photo on the post bellow was given to me by a friend, his grandma used to live at the house behind ours and he found this precious picture of his aunt with our house as a background. Hey the tree is standing there, much smaller than it was by the time it was cut down but looking proud.

Once upon a time

2008-08-26T08:06:00.003-04:00

Mamma Mia! (not the musical)

2008-08-13T12:49:00.000-04:00

I just talk with my mom on the phone, for about 1.5 minutes, it is almost funny how by now I know by her tone of voice (saying simply:“hi honey” or actually “oi minha querida” because she speaks Portuguese not English) that she is in a hurry, most probably at the door on her way to something she is already a bit late to go.

I did not mind at all, specially because this call was mostly to tell her I will go out to dinner with a BFF (more on that later), you see she is always worried that I don’t go out much, that I don’t have much fun, so I make a point to tell her when my days have a potential for awesomeness. All she had time to say was that her cruise to the Greek Islands was cancelled and she had to go get her money back, she said she will call later with the details.

Whoever you are if you read some of my very early posts you will know that mom is into belly-dancing, which I find amazing, actually I would love to have the courage to try it out. Anyways, she is into it and was planning to get a new costume during the trip, apart from glorious Greek Islands she was also going to Turkey. Yeah, mmmm’kay I was a bit jealous, come on it is just human, right?

My mom has a very peculiar way of thinking and she actually had mentioned in a previous call that she was feeling extra good about this trip because for once she would not feel bad about not being with both my sister and I on our birthday. True to be told last year I end making a last minute trip to Rio and all 3 of us spend the b-day, the day I arrive there, together. This year she would be traveling 2 days before the birthday and would be gone for 2 blissful weeks. Not happening anymore. I await what will be her next adventure.

There is a point to this little story but I cannot remember why I started to write it. Maybe it is ADD or an early onset of Alzheimer’s, and I am not even joking, my grandmother did suffer from dementia, by now we think it was Alzheimer’s, but at the time the difference between cortical and subcortical dementias were not clear, or at least her doctors did not go into it.

Oh well now that the point is lost I might as well just tell you about how happy I am that tonight is a Girl’s Night OUT with a very amazing woman that happens to be one of my favorite friends. We had promise each other to get back on track, meaning getting together at least once a month and we did it! The last time we went to da Capo for dinner and it happened on the 16 so hey we are making it happen.

We are even going back to da Capo, since we both agree that a place that treat us as queens, pampers us to no end, from the owners to the chefs and wait staff, what is NOT TO LIKE? There is that minor aspect of breaking a recent decision to get back on a diet, but I trust myself to make the exception for the night and getting back on the horse (most probably the treadmill) tomorrow morning.

Did I forget to tell you internet? Yeah baby, I am back to the gym.

I have postponed the decision way too long, with really bad consequences which include a huge allergy to look at myself at any mirrors, but since not witnessing the crime does not mean it is not happening I finally commit and got my act together and started yesterday.

I know not to expect miracles, it will take time and effort and tons of discipline to get back in some sort of shape, the goal is to get down at least two sizes, 3 would be fantastic but also so unrealistic I agree with myself 2 will make me a happier enough person.

I just remember why I wrote the first part of this post, I have to get very serious on that diet and exercise combo because there is a chance, not a big one but still in the realm of possibilities, mom will consider a visit. HERE.

Now you can use a fork on me, I am done.

2008-08-12T13:06:00.000-04:00

I was having a not-so-bad kind a day until half an hour ago.

We are in dire need to buy groceries and that means the choices for lunch were on the sad side. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got a tuna sandwich with the last can and I got a rather sad looking ham sandwich but neither got to enjoy it at all.

The moment I sat down a pick-up truck parked in front of the house to go to the Subway next door, blocking one walk-way, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed had his first half of his tuna when he suddenly jump out of his chair and run outside because a woman in a SVU was on top of our lawn in the process of parking to also join her –as-bad-her-half for a snack. She did manage to block the other walk-way.

Everything happened so fast I did not react to He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed leaving the table so Matisse grab the chance and took possession of the second half of He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed tuna. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got back inside to find his lunch gone and it totally spoiled it for me too. He actually did not say anything to the woman, he told me he thought I would get upset if he did.

I clean the dishes away and went out for a cigarette also fuming about their lack of consideration. At first I was not planning a confrontation, was more like “I cannot believe this people”. I got back inside and sat here and just realize I simply could not let it go (guess I did not let it go yet but it will happen soon) without saying something to these people. I had to wait a good 20 minutes until they came back, this time all the “happy family” together so I ask them what was wrong with Subway parking lot, they claim it was full, which I checked and it WAS NOT , so I told them the next time to at least not block both walk-ways. I cannot say I was surprised about “you don’t-own –the-street” answer.

All I can hope is that I got the full week doses of “encounter with JERKS” done by now.

Maybe we can get him in the movies?

2008-08-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

Mondays are hard on my dogs. No we don’t send them to work on a factory in order to earn their keep (although from time to time we wonder if they could do anything to help pay for the superior dog food we give them, being the only brand that their fragile stomachs don’t complain about).

Mondays are difficult because after a couple of days of open-door-to-the-backyard-police we are back to the scheduled times. No we don’t think it is cruel, specially because we don’t own enough clothes to change 5 times a day because their muddy paws are all over our pants and also because Jack does not stay out there by himself, he needs human company and he makes it clear with some very loud barks.

COME PLAY BALL! NOW!

HOW ABOUT NOW!

COME! COME! COME!

Sometimes I swear I hear a “momyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” at the end of those barks.

Sure enough he will bring the muddy ball (yes due to the enormous amount of rain all we have out there is tons of muddy mud, and of course one really large tree in many pieces, not small enough to move… but I digress, which happens often when I look at that tree, hummm not so much a tree now being in the horizontal position it is. He does bring the ball inside if I leave the door open and of course I had just sweep and mop the whole house and I am not very happy that no one can believe I did it not half an hour ago.

Last weekend He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got the gate to the tomato patch working, for what I am graciously thankful, even if our tomatoes are doing poorly I wanted to be able to pick the very few ripe enough now. He had a hard time to get the hinges in place, because everything is so wet, especially the wood posts.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed also split some wood, I found that rather attractive, a very manly thing, but alas he does not let me stand close since one cannot predict the way those split pieces are going to fly. He was super nice to move the stack of wood close to the fence, instead of the edge of the deck, that was too precarious a place and Matisse already managed to dislodge a couple of pieces.

I did some weeding, halfheartedly I confess, and pick the last 6 blueberries my bushes produce; there are none to come, a very disappointing crop this year, you do the math, 3 bushes=1 cup of blueberries for the whole season. On the other hand I have so much tarragon, oregano and thyme I am looking for new recipes, and also getting slightly sick every time I open the fridge since it smell like way too much tarragon drying in there. When too much of a smell becomes a stink?

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was in a mood to please me so he decided to give Matisse a bath, Jack had his the day before but we did not have time to do both. They are both blowing out their summer coats, I thought that happens only with winter coats but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed had enough hair in his hands to prove it. He brushed Matisse while he was still dry and came up with enough for a third dog. I do know giving the dogs a bath is hard work, but even if he will never admit it I think he likes it. He is always talking with the dogs, while they are in the bathtub; it is a very daddy like thing, and he comes up with the funniest ideas. This is why now we call Matisse by a new nickname: “Hey hon, don’t you think Matisse looks just like Pierce Brosnan?”

Cuteness overload

2008-08-09T13:40:00.003-04:00

The neighbor down the street got a new puppy, she is a Golden Retriever called Mia.

Matisse is very interested in making friends with her, in a cute gentle way, not normal Matisse approach but alas I am very happy about that. Jack on the other hand is unsure what to think about this small furry friend. SO far he gets very agitated around her, barks his head off and scares her. I truly hope it gets better with time.

Because Mia is such a cute puppy I end up looking at old pictures of Jack and decided I should share some of them here.

unBEElievable

2008-08-07T08:51:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we had a pretty quiet afternoon, Jack (also known as Bug) was at his usual spot, half under my desk, and half around my chair. He likes to be close all the time and I have to be careful not to move the chair too abruptly to avoid hurting him. Suddenly he jump out of his spot and was very agitated, run to the front door, and even He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed reacted and went after him, assuming maybe he was in a hurry to go potty. But the little Bug was behaving in an odd way, doing some sort of little dance with his front legs. He would go from jumping on me to He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed and then do the funky move with his legs. He was clearly trying to tell us something. Since Matisse is the one prone to weird behavior we were both very surprised. I honestly thought he was having some sort of seizure until finally we saw this hairy black thing fall on the floor, we both mistake it for a big spider but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was fast and step on it a second after we realize it was a huge bumblebee.

Not the cute looking one with yellow stripes but an all black fuzzy creature.

We still have no clue how it happened, meaning Jack had been at my feet for over an hour just snoozing. I am assuming he did not bring the bumblebee with him but rather it had enter the office using one of the two holes in the screens and somehow it got to his paw.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed took both dogs for a walk to give Jack time to calm down. I check his paws and did not see any swollen spots and he does not look to be in any pain so life goes back to normal.

Now I wish we had the little dance on video, sure I was worried about him and everything happened so fast there was no time to think about capturing the whole thing on camera but I truly wish I could show my Bug doing his “I’m NOT a bee keeper” dance!

Baby Bro

2008-07-31T09:19:00.003-04:00

He was on MSN yesterday, for about half a minute. But he promised to call before Sunday.

We simply don't talk as often as I wish and sometimes is hard to remember he is not a baby anymore. He is even married to a lovely girl from Kentucky!

I know I have their wedding pic here somewhere but I could not find it, so here is one taken some 10 years ago.

Burn Baby Burn

2008-07-31T08:21:00.000-04:00

I have been known to be prone to small accidents, maybe this is one of the reasons He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed don’t allow me to use the lawnmower or the new thingy he bought to cut the brush(oversized weeds) taking over the yard.

Most of my life I have a permanent collection of small bruises, some of them I have no clue about how they got there and some of them did still have the yelled 4 letter word attached to their memories. Generally I don’t blame myself if doors jambs, chairs, tables, or any generic corner of something decided to jump and attach me. I mean I swear I had clearance; I did spend 5 years in architectural school so I should be able to guess distances, better, NOT.

On the other hand I hardly ever have any kitchen mishaps, if my memory serves me right I had broken not more than 6 glasses my whole life! Plates if you count the two broken by radical temperature changes might get to a high number of 3. Considering the amount of time I spend sharpening my knives (I just cannot deal with blunt knives), very seldom I cut myself.

All of it is just to try to explain how annoyed I am because of yesterday’s accident.

I decided to cook some beets early in the afternoon, so they would be cold for a salad by dinner time. One of the advantages to work from home is that you can have this sort of impromptu decisions and act on them. So I got the 4 beauties in water and set the stove alarm to check on them in 15 minutes, and so I did. They were ways from being done so I set for extra 10 minutes, walk back to my desk and decided it was way too hot to stand it without the AC. Turn it on and thought to myself “ I must pay attention to the alarm sound since this noise from the AC is so loud”, then of course I proceed to get distracted and suddenly I smell something burning, the funny part was that my first thought was “ hey the AC is burning” so I turn it off and then it hit me.

The sweet smell of burned beets.

The pan is scorched beyond salvation but I did manage to recover 85% of the beets, and they even taste pretty good after the burned part was removed and they had time to “air the smell”.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed did not complain too much, maybe because he still remembers the time he got the electric oven on fire.

But Holly Golly Miss Molly I hate to waste a perfect good multi-purpose pan.

Standing tall and proud

2008-07-28T08:56:00.001-04:00

We spent the whole weekend fixing the fences and cleaning weeds that transformed the backyard into a jungle. And we have the pains and aches to prove it. We are both moving around like we are 103 years old and moaning a bit but it was worth it. There is still some work to be done in order to let the dogs out there, the little fence to the tomato patch is now screwed in place since the post that held the hinges seems to have disappear, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed suspects the guys that cut the tree down just got that post into the shrewder along with some of the smaller branches they cut.

We still have to spread the woodchips, now they make a small hill close to the fence and we know way too well that Matisse will think of nothing but jumping over the fence from that advantage point. Because the whole lot of woodchips is soaked wet from the rain we had to leave it for another day since our muscles could not deal with any more abuse yesterday. I have to say it took longer than I thought but I am very proud of He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed work, sure the fences are a bit crooked at some places but they are standing, and somehow it looks a bit more organic with the not so square angles.

I finally had the courage to clean the mess the tree truck did on my garden at the side of the driveway. For weeks I would stare at it and just felt too overwhelmed by the amount of work it would take to fix it.

The worse part, close to the garage doors, are still looking a bit bare since they really did a SMASHING job driving on top of all kinds of plants and flowers but at least now it looks neat, bare but neat.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is always great about sensing when I need a “pick-me up” gesture so while he went to his church(Home Depot) to get a few bags of concrete to set the new fence posts he got me a big vase of black-eye susans that were on sale. Right now they don’t fill much space but I know they spread and by next year will be all over.

I wish I had taken “before” pictures of the jungle so you would have a better idea of how much work it was but we will settle for “after” pictures, maybe even today.

We are both on the short side so even if we are not standing tall( mostly cause of the aches) we are damn proud of our hard work.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

2008-07-22T14:27:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was a busy one. In a not-all-work way, this is rather very nice. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was in the mood for a breakfast at George’s, it is amazingly busy for such a not-anything-special kind of place. I guess it could be called a not-so-grease-spoon place or a friendly service and honest prices place or yet a not-plastic-food place. Best of all it is about 3 minutes from our house so even if I am not big about going out for breakfast I have to admit it is almost like staying home.

We always bump on someone we know there, we don’t always can remember their names but alas it probably is a mutual thing. We have lived here for over 7 years and maybe we have been to George’s 10 times all together, so it is not something we do often but makes for a great way to start a weekend.

After breakfast we went to BJ’s get dog biscuits and paper towels (much used by dogs lately since they been a bit sick) and with that out of the way He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was gracious enough to take me to TJ Maxx for some much needed couple of Capri’s for 10 bucks each( yeah I got lucky). Shopping does not agree well with He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed so he drop me there and went get some work stuff done at a nearby town, but honestly it works perfect this way.

After last week disaster at the washer (as in I did check his pockets, recover the cell phone, some coins, some dog bags and a couple of pens but somehow one elude me and you can imagine the rest of the story) he does need a couple of shirts and shorts but he said he was not in the mood and I can live with that even if it means washing and ironing the survivors a bit more often.

We got back home and I could not complain that He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed needed to work, so I just kept myself busy between dogs and house stuff but by mid-afternoon I was again feeling like being more social so I called G and we went to grab a coffee at our Target Starbucks. It always feels good to be able to do stuff on the spur of the moment, it is not the way things happen are here, people usually need to know in advance and for a while it bug me. So to my surprise we end up making last minute plans to go to Da Capo for dinner, she had been there with me last Wednesday but it has been a while since we did anything all four of us.

I was very pleased to find the restaurant very busy, G knew at least 3 other tables, mostly some relatives of her and next to our table was a couple we did some work maybe 4 years ago. Going to Da Capo is a bit like going back to Rio, because everybody knows me there, they make me feel very special and apart from that the food is delicious. Actually we will be going there tomorrow because it will be the official ribbon-cutting-by-the-mayor-affair, but will happen at lunch time so we need to get back to normal work stuff after it.

Sunday He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed had a meeting at 8:30 so we just buggy out of bed early and he got going and me and the “boys” had a good time doing a major cleaning, ok, they don’t help much with the cleaning but they were good boys. There were no big fights with the vacuum cleaner, by now they just avoid it instead of challenge it. True is Matisse was already not feeling well so I guess that was one of the reasons he barely move from his spot.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed called to let me know he was bringing some meat to have burgers, I had plans to do some gardening after lunch but it was awfully hot and humid so I change the plans to spending some time with a very interesting book.

Monday morning arrived with a very sick dog, I hate to see my big guy walking around looking so miserable, I took him out at least 5 times before noon but there were also some “accidents” in the house, not that I blame him. By 3pm we agree a visit to see the vet was in order, she was tied in surgery but they told us to bring him and she would see him as soon as she could.

Now he is medicated and seems to be recovering. He actually likes the special food he is supposed to eat for the next 10 days so I am not complaining. Well apart from the heat… enough already!

I see hairy people

2008-07-18T16:11:00.001-04:00

I promised to show the new haircut: TA DA!

by tomorrow the curls will be back

Should I buy a Lotto ticket?

2008-07-16T08:46:00.001-04:00

I am having an exceptionally girly week.

Yesterday I met with the Social committee of my sorority chapter to plan the “socials” for the incoming sorority year. Yeah, I know, I never mentioned it here but I do belong to a sorority, with all those Greek letters, but not related to any colleges. I was “adopted” by this group over 3 years ago, and I call them “my girls” being that the ages are mostly between 70 and 80’s. Actually I was told this is the biggest sorority in the world and we do a bunch of good charity stuff but we also have some fun while doing it.

Today I have a dinner date with G, we always have a great time together. Lately we only manage coffee at the nearest Starbucks cum Target place but we both agree we need more time, you know, the whole catching up and talking relationships stuff works better with a glass of wine or 3!

Last but not least tomorrow is Special K get together for haircut and color day! Yuuupie! We go to this private salon and Jane always work wonders and make us feel pretty, oh well, maybe if we don’t look anywhere down from our necks!

It is very unusual for me to have this much ME time in the same week. I just feel REALLY lucky!

Wilderness Wondering

2008-07-11T17:16:00.001-04:00

We live in a small town, not tiny but small, specially compared to other places I lived before.

At first I was enchanted by the squirrels on our backyard, at least until Matisse went thru a window to try to catch one, I am still amazed he did not hurt himself, considering the window broke in a thousand pieces.

We are just one house removed from a very busy street but we often see skunks and raccoons, a few times we saw coyotes by the end of our street and once we were having dinner and I just saw a fox across the street out of the kitchen window, but mostly we keep a healthy distance and try to be careful while walking the dogs.

Since the big maple went down we have been walking the dogs a lot more, they miss having the open yard to spend some energy running around, Matisse rolls his rocks around (he is a true Mick Jagger) and Jack just keep bringing his ball to play catch, so we try to compensate and take them out for walks a bit more often then we like.

Last night while we took them out one of the neighbors drove by and warned us about a black bear she just saw on her backyard. We cut the walk short and did another very short one before bedtime.

This morning I was careful while taking them out but at the same time wondering if maybe she was just kidding. By late afternoon I was surprised when He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed came home after a meeting and told me that the bear was seen by two other neighbors, one of them we know well and have no reasons to doubt.

I have very mixed feelings, at one hand I am afraid, especially because of my dogs, having no idea how they would react if we encounter the bear, but at the same time I really want to see it. I mean I have seen bears at the zoo, and close enough, I mean safe but not from a mile away, but to have a chance to see a real wild one, although one that fancies a visit to town seems to be a very special thrill.

I HEART GREEKS

2008-07-10T08:15:00.002-04:00

Da Capo is officially open for business. The last few days have been very stressful for my clients with all the final inspections and they did have some glitches last night with the computers but the mood was festive. They will start advertising today, on the radio and newspaper, so yesterday was supposed to be a soft opening but they did have a nice crowd wanting to try the new place.

The food was divine; we already tried the desserts last Sunday when we stopped by to check if things were under control. I am very picky about desserts, even in good restaurants around this area they don’t prepare them in-house but they do at Da Capo. They keep it simple, just 3 options of Italian classics and a New York style Cheesecake and every one of them are very well done. Monday we stop there on the way back from another job and end up staying for 4 hours helping with last minute stuff. Our reward was the best pizza I had in US territory. Mmmm’ kay in New York I can get thin crust and the right kind of mozzarella but in our neck of the woods it is simply impossible, well it was until yesterday. Last night I barely had to look at the menu to choose, well I did spend so many hours designing the menu I can almost list the dishes in the right order by head. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed seems to be quite pleased with his choices too.

Sunday when we were there they held their staff meeting so we end up getting to know all the waitresses and waiters, yesterday it felt nice that most of them remember us. Our clients are very happy with what Boe Studio did for them so they treat us like royalty and hey it feels REALLY good. We get the kind of pampering I was used in Brasil.

Yesterday we met yet another cousin, Sofia, a very bubbly girl from Corfu, which by chance I visited some 10 years ago. She told me about her favorite Brazilian dish, I was surprise her choice was bacalhoada, which actually is more a Portuguese dish but we do make it around Easter in Brasil.

The past two days I have been having trouble with my left hand; the pain starts at my wrist and spreads to my hand, I am giving it a day to get better if not I guess a visit to the walking clinic will be in order.

Ooops I just heard the radio blurb for Da Capo, she practically went verbatim with what I wrote for the menu, somehow it makes me feel GREAT. It makes me feel like a I belong to something that is part My Big Fat Wedding and part Big Night, a nice italian restaurant owned by Greeks from New York.

After a long hot day

2008-07-03T17:03:00.002-04:00

Feeling hot and bothered

It is time for sandals baby!

2008-07-03T12:03:00.003-04:00

Look at those lil piggies!

Thanks to Special K (the BFF not the cereal) now I have freshly done toes and nails.

We always enjoy our girl time together and she wanted to have a mani and pedi, I could not afford it right now so she treat me to it! Special K is not just good for my looks; she also does wonders to my mental state.

We had some good laughs and manage to improve each other’s day apart from the sheer pleasure to have presentable, oh strike that, to have extremely good looking nails and toes now.

Bring the sandals out!

We all need names

2008-07-02T10:31:00.000-04:00

We live in a quiet street, well maybe not so quiet since we are just around the corner from the busiest street in town, but still most of our neighbors are old people that live quiet lives.

My favorite are a couple, well into their 90’s, they drive this old big car (yeah, not good with names here) and they always wave to me and sometimes even stop for a quick chat. They do go out much more than I would expect someone of their age, by and large it is the miracle of America for me, since in Brasil old people mostly just stay home.

They once told me they have been married over 75 years and they do look like most of it has been happy years. Once they mentioned that they go to the hospital twice a week because she is under some treatment, but apart from that he just drives her around, she is fond of driving around.

I went to take Matisse for a walk, I usually take one dog at a time specially when I know there are plenty of temptations in the form of squirrels and birds and chipmunks. I was just out of the door when I saw the ambulance drive by, and the old couple car behind it, he stopped almost in front my door, because the ambulance was waiting to get to the main street, he looks at me and puts his hands together in an universal gesture that means “pray” while he looks ahead to the ambulance, I respond in kind and nod and he makes the sign of the cross and drove away.

I don’t really know them; I don’t even know their names. They are the old couple in the big car. I just got a bit disappointed with myself, because I wanted to pray for her, and I did but I could only refer to her as the old lady from the old couple with the big car.

a-poppin'

2008-07-01T11:12:00.002-04:00

They have not been very lucky, with the amount of rain we have been getting and specially because the storms have been fierce and they are so delicate. I truly love the way they look like butterflies on a stem, almost like they are made of paper. I love flowers but I even love them better if I planted them as I did with these poppies. Again it came to me for free, just a package of seeds from some magazine and they seem to love the spot I choose.

We still don’t have a backyard in working order. Actually every time I look at the dismantled fence and the sad dead tree I feel a little helpless. The whole thing looks so desolated it is rather overwhelming.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed said we might be able to fix some of the fence this coming weekend, being it will be a holiday, not that he ever makes much difference as he probably will work right thru it again.

It will depend on the weather since we have to pour new footings for the posts and wait until they dry to be able to get the fence up. We need to get the small one first, around my raised bed, since otherwise the dogs will get to what is left of my tomatoes and herbs.

I am keeping my fingers crossed since life is way better when we have a yard for the boys. Looking at the state of things they will probably think we built them a jungle gym.

Blinking

2008-06-27T10:24:00.004-04:00

Today two different things got me going down “Memory Lane”.

The first one was a message on my orkut page, from someone I have not heard of for maybe more than 10 years. It was not more than a simple hello from the past but it did make me smile.

The second thing was related to work, I am doing a project that involves scanning and reproducing an old photo and I wanted to test my Scanner capabilities in order to access if I can give the printer the photo already scanned and this way make things less expensive for my client.

So I went and dig a little brown bag of old photos, I have but just a very small fraction of my life in pictures, due to my travels I made myself keep just essentials (you cannot believe how heavy paper can get).

I moved here in late 2000 and by 2001 my mom came visit for Mother’s Day, and again in 2002, yeah,,,,, I know I was spoiled! I could not resist posting these two photos, they are so much: “Mom takes Manhattan”

The first one was taken in 2002, we still had grass on our backyard, there is no fence around it, Matisse was just a 6 months old pup and the garage was still the ugly “rose” color!

Time truly flies!

Just because

2008-06-25T11:56:00.000-04:00

Tornado Relief In Iowa

Stirred NOT shaked

2008-06-23T14:53:00.001-04:00

It came so fast I did not have time to save even my first sentence.

Again it was a fierce storm; it came with a vengeance, the sky got dark and in a matter of minutes was coming down like a waterfall. At one time beautiful and scary, I still flinch at each time lightning flashes and even knowing the thunder will follow don’t stop me to again close my eyes.

The power blinked twice so we just turn the machines off until it felt the worst was gone.

I have seen many storms, the tropical ones in Brasil always deserved respect but this year here it seems they are more frequent and of course more damaging. I cannot exactly explain what it does to me. I am not exactly afraid but still I cannot say I watch them without getting stirred.

Color me HAPPY

2008-06-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

Pink has never been my color. I do wear it in the baby hue version and I even have a favorite ring with a pink quartz but let me tell you since yesterday I have been tickled pink.

I had heard He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed use the expression many times, I always found it cute, but was never sure I experience the feeling. I went to the printer yesterday, to pick up the menus I designed for da Capo and the owner said: “They came out pretty good, and by the way your files were great, you did such a fantastic job I wish all my jobs were this easy”

If you read a post called Spring Cleaning back in May you will remember I have not done this kind of work in a long time and must say the amount of anxiety related to this job was by no means small. I did the best I know but send the files to the printer expecting to hear she found problems with it.

I have to say I am beyond delighted that she did not find any problems with it, she find it great and even asked if I would be interested in doing some work for her! How awesome is this?

Purple was never my color but I have to say I am past being tickled pink I must be a bright purple right about NOW!

Updated Landscape

2008-06-17T07:04:00.001-04:00

Mad birds!

2008-06-16T08:48:00.000-04:00

Since last saturday we can hear they are mad, there must have been a lot of relocanting nests going on!

Not much sleep here!

2008-06-16T08:47:00.000-04:00

It has been an eventful weekend.

Where should I start?

Following a simple idea let’s do it from the beginning.

We were supposed to have a dear friend visiting us this past weekend, it has been too long since his last visit and I was really looking forward to this one since we had some awesome plans. Unfortunately problems at work got in the way and he had to cancel. Oh well I know he will come soon and we will have a jolly good time. But I digress.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed knew I was disappointed and suggested going out for breakfast Saturday morning so the day did start pretty well.

After breakfast we run a couple of errands (one of them being going to deposit a check from a client YUUUUPIE) then we got all set to go have fun at the rodeo happening at a town close by.

We often work weekends so it felt like a mini vacation and also a bit like being in a movie, since I love the whole small town Carnival plus rodeo stuff. Between us we took almost a hundred pictures, sure some of them miss the bull or the cowboy; they can be just so quick! We drunk ice cold lemonades and cheer the cowboys loudly.

Since morning it was hot and humid but half way thru the rodeo the dark clouds started to appear and the winds pick up quite a bit. The rain came hard and fast, everybody running for cover and we waited half an hour until was ok to be able to walk to our car without being soaked wet.

On the way back we stopped by a client to have pizza and went to check on a new client project but it did not feel like work.

On the way back we did see some damage caused by the storm and people at the pizza place were talking about power cables being down. At my front garden I could see some hollyhocks and delphiniums that had suffered from the high winds but I was totally unprepared when He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed let the dogs out the backyard and said: “You better come see this”

Where we used to have a huge maple tree now we had half, the enormous trunk split and the part that fell managed to hit another tree at the back and took that one down too. The branches reach all the way thru the fence and the Subway store next door!

I always knew it was a big tree but before half of it was down I did not realize the size of the beast!

I know we are lucky, I know it could have been much worse if it had hit the roof or any part of the house, I keep repeating it to myself every time I look at the backyard and see this surreal view. We are lucky.

I also know we are lucky we were not here when it happened. Let’s say I am easily scared by loud noises.

Yesterday was a full work day, we clear branches that were hanging over the fence, we move them around in the yard and we start the long process of taking fences down so the guy that will do the job of taking down the remaining of the tree and removal of the whole of it can get his equipment in. It is a painful job to break away the concrete of the posts footings, maybe because we put them in ourselves.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is very good at this sort of stuff, he really knows what he is doing and this time was even better about giving me directions. I try to be useful but sometimes all I can do is handle him the tools, at one point I took a 5 minute break and he kept working so I asked him “Do you want anything?”

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed: “A 20 year’s old body!”

Hey smarty pants who doesn’t?

It was over 6PM when we call it a day, mostly because by them we both were barely able to move, we took a shower at the basement bathroom (sure the one upstairs had a plugged shower drain, as they say when it rains it pours, but not down the drain!)

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed was a mind reader and agree to walk across the street and have dinner at the Mexican restaurant, I was way too exhausted to cook, apart from the whole thing of now not being able to let the dogs out back since we removed a part of the fence, using the grill gets to be a nuisance because of having to close the door all the time.

We went to bed early, agree about getting up earlier today and when I turn off the lights He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed told me softly: “If you hear a big noise during the night just run for the hallway or the bathroom, they will be the safest places”.

Do you think I slept much after that?

HOT!HOT!HOT!

2008-06-10T08:21:00.001-04:00

Actually it is even worse now, from the time I took this picture to now it went up to 103.9F

Not even 9 yet, I can only imagine what will be by 2PM , but I wil try to ignore it!

I am showing the two versions, so if you need to know in celsius without using any brain cells.

Peony Explosion

2008-06-09T12:38:00.001-04:00

To Like and to Love

2008-06-04T09:46:00.001-04:00

My bug had his second surgery yesterday; he is one unhappy pup right now. Although according to the vet this time should not be as bad as the last time he seems to be in worse shape. He did sleep almost thru the night, thank God for strong medication but it is easy to see he is beyond miserable. I hate to see him walking around the house with this broken look, even his ears hang different, actually his whole body language gives me the impression he is rather very depressed.

The only good thing out of this is it does remind me why I choose He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, because he could not be more caring, he talks to Jack in a comforting voice, he made sure Jack had a nice pillow on the living room floor so he would not attempt to jump on the coffee table to be close to us, he was the first to get out of bed to take him for a walk since for a week Jack is not to go to the backyard. Actually even before taking Jack to the vet he was the one to make a point on spending time with him at the backyard playing ball, knowing the poor thing will not have much play time for the next week, he also gave Jack a bath the night before also knowing it will be another 2 weeks before he can have another.

There are many reasons why I love He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed even if sometimes marriage seems to be related to the Mafia, they seem to be involved with waste management business in the sense that it is very much like “ I deal with your crap and you deal with my crap” deal; and also because eventually people do get hurt.

Days like today when I have the chance to see the best in him renew my belief that I not only love him I actually like him a lot.

Eye Candy

2008-06-01T13:23:00.000-04:00

It has not been a very eventful weekend. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got his picture on the local newspaper, kinda nice being recognized by the volunteer work he does for almost eight years. He sure deserves some nice words but at first was very shy about the whole thing, actually one of my friends called to congratulate him after she saw the picture on the paper e even a neighbor from down our street stop him when he took the dogs out for a walk and he is just not comfortable with the attention. Sometimes I forget how bashful he can get. Which is somehow endearing, in a way I cannot fully explain but simply is.

Friday we both got our eyes examined, yeah,,, mmm,kay,,, we both need stronger glasses but that was expected , what was NOT expected was THE-MOST-EXPENSIVE-EYEDROPS EVAR prescription I got!

I mean when I mentioned to the optician (not sure if it is the proper name) that I feel like I have sand in my eyes most of the time, he simply smiled and said he had the solution, and wrote the prescription. Did he mention it would cost over 100 bucks? And did he mention it comes in a doll size bottle, FOR OVER 100 BUCKS?

I mean by now I have very good eyes but need something for my high blood pressure and He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed heart attack. The eye drops will cost more than my new lenses, since I am keeping the same frames. I actually told He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed to return them but he said I should try them.

I have never been so careful to get eye drops in my eyes like I am now, not wanting to waste any precious medicine I even use a mirror to be able to help my aim. Maybe it did not cost an arm and a leg but how about an eyeball?

I have no clue what they are called!

2008-05-29T17:57:00.001-04:00

He GOT IT!

2008-05-27T16:12:00.000-04:00

Now tell me: Don’t he look adorable? Just like a cute puppy? Just clownish enough to make him unique but not silly?

Yes, yes and yes!

The one thing no one could suspect is that this is not just yet another funny looking pooch.

He is a super male dog! He has 3 BALLS!

Well to be precise he has one now, after the initial normal surgery to remove the regular pair.

We took both dogs to the vet for shots and also because we suspect Matisse had ringworm (he actually has a severe allergy to bug bites, which I must say sounds a lot easier to treat). So he got his shots, a prescription for his ear infection and then was Jack’s turn so when the doctor went “hummmm” while performing a check up to see how he was healing from she found an extra ball, smaller than the ones removed (which were bigger than usual) but not small enough to be mistaken by scar tissue or anything else but an extra testicule. She proceeds to explain it is a very rare thing, way rarer than it happens to men but she wants to have it removed anyway.

So poor Jack is in for another couple of weeks of misery and my legs will be bruised for another month (oh well I never look good in skirts anyway).

I did think about suggesting we join the circus, hey is it that wrong for me to want him to make some money? But the true is because the reason he was neutered was that he has an enlarged prostate there is not much of an option, no matter how many balls he has they all have to come out.

We will probably schedule it for next Thursday, if it goes the way it was last time we will be able to have a night of sleep by Tuesday of the next week.

Not a bad weekend at all!

2008-05-26T09:22:00.000-04:00

What a glorious day!

We are having just the perfect weather and it just feels SO GOOD!

It is Memorial Day here and we will soon go see the Parade in town, I really enjoy it, somehow it reminds me of my grandpa since he was in the military. I always get a bit teary eyed when I see all those old veterans marching so proud.

Afterwards we are going to my BBF for BBQ which makes me feel we are on vacation since it is so seldom we take a day totally off work.

My little Jack seems to have recovered well from his surgery , yesterday they both got a bath and looks all clean and fluffy but now we discover Matisse has ringworm so tomorrow a vet visit will be in order. They both need their rabies shots done so it was already known we need to take them to the vet but this added problem with the ringworm was really not in the plans.

Saturday we had a nice day, it started with breakfast at George’s, we seldom go out for breakfast but it was very good and from there we did some errands around town, which always make me feel good, somehow it just feels right to have a busy Saturday morning out!

I got my zucchini plants in the ground, they look so small but I do know they have the capability to grow like mad in no time at all. I also did some weeding and cleaning and it made me quite a bit achy but also made me feel good. I just love this whole Spring-Summer being out in the yard thingy.

Yesterday He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed spend all day long battling with numbers and the civil engineer comments on a project we will be doing on the shore; he was not happy and actually much stressed by the time he called it a day at 8pm.

Well I better move my gorgeous and immense butt and get ready for the Parade!

I have two bleeding hearts and I am HAPPY!

2008-05-20T09:15:00.001-04:00

It is one of those unexpected gestures that can make your day. Maybe a couple of weeks ago one of the girls from the dentist office just across the street came by to tell me how she enjoy to look at my blooming tulips and I told her what to expect next when the iris start to bloom and the peonies and later in September dozens of giant sunflowers. Yeah, I admit I am quite proud of my garden. It is a bit on the wild side, not very planned, spur of the moment design but it does bring me pleasure. Come to think of it a good part of my garden was the fruit of someone generosity. I do buy bulbs and seeds and plants but somehow I have always been fortunate to have neighbors or even sometimes strangers offer me plants!

I think it was the very first spring we moved to this house that Marge from down the street stop by and just brought me a vase of those sunny looking little yellow flowers, she must have said the name but I never remember it. She was the very first person I met at my street and a wonderful human being. Marge passed away a couple of years ago but until now I always could look at those cute smiling faced little yellow flowers and see her in my garden. For some strange reason the original plant did not come back this year so in the same place I planted Forget-Me-Not thinking I will never forget Marge.

My iris and peonies came out of a clients house, he did not wanted them anymore and He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed knew I would love to have them so he just loaded the Jeep full of very sad looking plants as it was high summer, but they came back and every year they spread and look even more luxurious.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed has always been very good about giving me plants, at first I found it a bit odd that he refers to it as “your garden” since it is “our house” but I came to accept it graciously and just feel glad he is always willing to help me preparing flower and vegetable beds. The man sure has a way about digging!

Via free-cycle (very smart web idea) we got some day-lilies, hostas and things I don’t really know the name but they look good. I never had a green thumb, the only other color you can find my thumb is black caused by one of my various home improvement accidents, and to be honest prior to living here I hardly had planted a thing in my life. I did not even know I liked!

Both bleeding hearts plants look shell shocked but I know they will bounce back and next Spring my hearts will be “ableeding”.

Spring Cleaning

2008-05-16T12:54:00.000-04:00

I feel bad about not writing here more often but this new job designing the logo and menu for a restaurant had consumed so many computer hours and so many brains cells apart from hours of sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night and the whole job invades my brain.

I know I can do a fairly good job but it has been a while since I used the programs needed to design this stuff so I found myself a bit rusty at the edges, spending way too much time trying to figure out how to do stuff I used to do in a daily basis 10 years ago.

Oh yes, it has been that long, sure I had done a logo here and there in the last 10 years but now I have a bunch of new software which in theory should make life easier but since I am learning them on the run ends up making me feel a bit anxious about how to get the final product to look just as I want.

I must admit that one thing that aggravates the problem is my visceral allergy to phone calls. I just don’t do phone easily, somehow I feel I must have used all my phone hours while I was a teenager and now it is always an agony to use the darn thing. The problem even applies to friends but when it concerns clients or suppliers it grows to an almost paralyzing phobia. I basically loose the ability to get the words from my brain out of my mouth, my language skills also suffer and I am afraid I must sound like a moron because I truly feel like one.

As anyone can see I have been overanalyzing the whole thing, not that it will help an iota but it is one of those rollercoaster emotions, and even medicine induced patience( in the form of a low dosage Xanax) is just not cutting the cheese.

I do know that the core of the problem is intimately related to pride. I hate to admit I don’t know something. Something I should know, or have known how to do. Blogbi tells me I can be a bit more rational about it all,,,,, mmmmkay , sure no one knows everything,,,, sure one is not born readymade and full of knowledge ,,,, there is that old thing called learning,,,, it is a process and takes time but has been proved to work. So I will learn. Next time I will be better. Especially if next time comes soon enough and I don’t have time to forget the stuff!

No Mom it is not Alzheimer’s . I think it has to do with storage capacity. I need to get some stuff out of my brain to have space for new stuff.

Brain Spring Cleaning Is Overdue!

Girls & Boys

2008-05-14T14:08:00.001-04:00

I really miss not being there for Mother's Day!

Tracy O.

2008-05-13T12:49:00.000-04:00

It might not be as impressive as the one in Sioux Falls but we had to show Kent Falls to Tracy!

Missing "auntie" Tracy!

2008-05-09T17:45:00.000-04:00

The boys have been looking around the house wondering where she is! She did such a great job of spoiling them now they think she is their "personal ear rubbing" slave.

It was great to have her here, she is so easy going and fun to be with that we are all a bit sad it was such a short visit. Oh well she promise to come back!

Poppies and puppy

2008-04-25T13:37:00.001-04:00

Bed Bug Bite

2008-04-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

I admit that being busy is not reason not to blog. But at least it explains why I didn’t. There were plenty of things to write about, not sure all of them worthy but mostly it were just a lack of je ne sais quoi, not exactly a muse since I have many who visit me.

I will soon be posting photos of my tulips; I never cease to be amazed by their beauty. They are pretty rare in Rio, while I was growing up; to me they are a bit like princesses, or any other thing I just read about in books but never truly experience. I do need to remember to take the bulbs from the ground the coming fall and get them un-clumped since now I have quite a few that simply got together, like they are ready for a garden party.

It has been unusually dry for April (I AM NOT COMPLANING), actually the weather has been gorgeous the past 2 weeks, sunny days and coldish nights, very good for sleep if you don’t have a very unhappy dog crying from 3 AM on. True he has reasons to be unhappy.

Last week we discover that Jack has a terrible UTI and also an enlarged prostate. The vet advice was to get him neutered as soon as possible since it will get worse if we keep him intact. Because Jack comes from very accomplished parents (the dear boy has champion blood in him, of course I knew about that without looking at his papers) we had to get the whole “neutering” idea approved by the owners of his parents since we did sign a contract saying we would NOT get him neutered. They were most gracious and agree since it is due health issues.

Yesterday we took a happy and unsuspecting dog to visit the vet. There was a funny moment when the nurse was giving us instructions how to take care of Jack, she asked how we call him, being his name Frito Jack, so she goes like: “you use Frito, Jack or both names” so I had to tell her that I often call him bug.

Jack is a little bit of a clown without the help of a giant cone attached to his head. Now he is the impersonation of the sentence “miserable as a dog”. Yesterday he was not supposed to eat much, just a handful of kibble to take with his painkiller/anti-inflammatory pill and I had to hand feed him since he could not figure how to approach the bow with the cone on. He also had a hard time when we went for a walk before bedtime, it seems the cone get in the way and he just keeps looking at us with that “what the heck is going on?” expression and the one that says “how I am supposed to get a good sniff and find a place to pee”.

It was not even 3 AM he woke up crying and nothing would make him better, he was banging on his crate, not even 2 feet by my bedside. No amount of soothing talk helped. I felt tempted to allow him in bed, even knowing he is a terrible bed companion, he trashes all the time, cannot be still for longer than 5 minutes. Since the bed is really high, he usually has problems to jump on it even when he is all ok, I decided against it, but oh boy he was bawling.

I even end up suggesting he might need to go out, yes I know, not a tempting idea at 3:30 AM but alas, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed did get dressed and took him for a quick visit to the grass in front the house. At times like this I feel very proud of He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. Jack did perform but it was not what was making him miserable, by then we knew he was in pain but he is not to take another pain killer until tonight. It was one long night, after some 2 and half hours we gave up and got up.

Now he still looks bewildered but he is starting to learn to navigate the giant cone, sure we will have some bruises due to the banging of the legs (our legs) but since it cannot compare to his discomfort I will suffer (almost) silently.

Now both dogs are snoozing and I have to agree with He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed it is amazing how parents can do it, I mean newborn babies will go like that for months, I have an improved appreciation for those people that can still have a life in less than 3 hours of sleep a night!

I will try to give his medication a bit later tonight and see if it helps us all to have a few more hours of sleep. We can only hope the bed Bug will not bite.

Emotional Alzheimer's

2008-04-07T17:26:00.000-04:00

Before He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed got in the picture I had a few other relationships. A couple of them were very meaningful ones and some just for the fun of it. I cannot say I learned a lot but I did learn something. Men are different from us.

If you want something you have to say it, if you specifically do not want something you also have to say it. Is that simple. Mmmmm,kay you might still not get what you want but they will appreciate you cutting the bs. Guessing is not something they like to do, they don’t enjoy it, and they don’t believe it is some sort of sport.

Yes means yes, no means no. Not much grey area there, I truly believe maybe is a female word.

If you ask him what he is thinking and he answers “nothing”, it might be a lie but it certainly does not mean you should start to probe. When a woman answers: “nothing” that is an invitation to dialog, men simply think it is an easy way to avoid a potentially long talk.

Now, it is simple, so how come from time to time I manage to forget all this stuff?

Fresh curls!

2008-04-06T17:11:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since I felt as fresh as dew at dawn, and nope it did not happen today either but last week I had a couple of good days and I feel like I should have stop by here to tell you all about it but somehow time just slip away.

It always feels special to have a girl day out to have hair and nails done. To make it even better it is something always done with my special K, not a brand of cereal but one of my very BFF. I was in daring need of some mood boost and special K is just the one to do it for me. I cannot think of anything, apart from a magically achieved 20 pounds weight loss, that can give the same amount of oomph!

So off we went to let Jane do her magic on our hair , this time my hair magic involved a more dark chocolate brown silky color and a shorter cut, then we got a quick bite in town and got ready to have our nails and spend even more time talking about everything under the sun.

At this time of the year special K is awfully busy so it has been over a month since the last time we got together, way too long.

Friday to make the week even better we both volunteer at a fundraising wine tasting, we had a reason to get the nails done since we worked at the reception desk, getting tickets, giving change and doing the fun part that is stamping people hands with smiley faces to allow them to either the regular room or the VIP upstairs. It is quite funny how you can get such a different reaction from people, some are so nice about it and some just so weird, hey the ink will vanish with simple soap, one would think they thought it was a permanent tattoo if you see how some wince!

I was feeling specially good because I got tons of compliments due to new look since I had my hair straight, some people did not even recognize me ( that was overdoing it cause it is not like I had plastic surgery, even if I am starting to wish for it).

Today my curls are back, what makes He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed much happier since he was never a fan of my unnaturally straight hair (sometimes I think he wishes for the rain to make me more curly!), along with the curls I also welcome myself to a better mood, not sure if it is just wishful thinking but I have great hopes for this coming week.

The Bunny saga go on!

2008-03-31T18:51:00.000-04:00

This time I took advantage of the new Photoshop Express, it is not as powerful as the full version I use on my mac but it can be very helpful!

The font god went crazy on the last post!

2008-03-29T16:43:00.000-04:00

My name is Bobbi Boe and I am bread maniac

2008-03-29T16:27:00.000-04:00

I know it has been happening a bit too often lately, but I truly love to bake bread (mmm,kay I confess I also love eating the fresh of the oven goodness ). The last batch is just a simple recipe for dinner rolls, with some poppy seeds and sesame seeds on them. They will not be a favorite recipe, I have another recipe that delivers a much nicer roll, but alas I was in the mood for trying something and having just one envelop of yeast kinda put a damp one the other two recipes I have intentions to try.

I did remember to take pictures before I try the first roll. Taking the photos was no easy task because Matisse is also a bread lover so I had to use just one hand while trying to keep him away from the basket.

Yesterday we got our stained glass window back from our fantastic friend that redo the glaze for us, now He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed just need to paint it (I would do it but somehow this end up being his project so I am keeping my busy fingers away) and then we can hang it in front of the kitchen window.

Our friend is also a fan of bread and this is yet another reason I decided to bake today, although now that I am not that happy with the result I am not sure I will give him those, maybe I will buy stuff and make the brioche again.

The house smells so delicious (partly because I also did some serious cleaning earlier today) and even my boys are a good smelling bunch after they got baths. They now are my Vanilla Bean Boys since He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed bought a new shampoo for them. At first I was worried it would be too sweet a smell but the vanilla is very subtle and all in all they just smell very clean.

The sun is still shinning, actually it was a glorious day, still cold but gorgeous, makes me even more impatient for spring temperatures. I did check my herb garden and there is not much there, I am afraid the rosemary is not coming back this year and neither the tarragon. I can always count on my oregano and chives; they are so hardy and wide spread that even harsh winters don’t do them much damage.

I am feeling pretty good about finishing a work thingy, just a boring job but it needed to be done and now it is, at least my part of it. Now all I need is some inspiration to come up with a nice dinner.

Little buns of JOY!

2008-03-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

Cinnamon and Raisings buns

Little bundles of JOY!

2008-03-25T09:48:00.001-04:00

Livia and Sophia on Easter Sunday

Where are those pictures?

2008-03-25T09:48:00.000-04:00

Blogbi has been giving me an especially hard time about being so lazy with my posts. I was tempted to just add a few pictures, since there was much baking and cute kids in front of my camera lately, but alas I decided to make an effort to update you masses of curious people out there.

I cannot quite put a finger on it but I have been feeling like there is a village somewhere missing its idiot, my mind wonders and wanders and I still feel slightly lost.

In general things have improved; the sun has been shining for the last 4 days in a row. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is not all well yet but seems to be recovering from the badly injured knee and even if we are not both completely over the BC (brutal cold) we can say we see the light at the end of the tunnel, it is blinking but it is there!

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed said he was feeling discombobulated himself. I suspect that has a lot to do with a very painful knee and also the very painful amount of taxes we soon will have to pay. I feel kinda lame since there is nothing I can do to change any of those things.

I have been drowning myself in chocolate, mmmm’kay it was EASTER remember? But it is over now so I run out of excuses and find myself in need of a good dose of discipline.

Is it just Tuesday? Man, this week feels like it is going to be a real long one.

Better bring those pictures here.

So far not a funny week!

2008-03-19T18:16:00.000-04:00

I have been real bad about posting here.
He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed fell on the stairs to the basement and hurt his knee badly, today we went to the orthopedic clinic and it seems he did managed to do a nasty sprain, so he needs lots of TLC!

I have bunnies coming out of the oven, just trying to adjust the fantastic brioche recipe to a traditional bunny recipe, they do look cute but I realize I could have done smaller ones and not just 4 big bunnies!

I went over the neighbor and gave them one of the large bunnies, since I felt bad that I never shared the first brioche bread with them. I have a feeling that I will be making this recipe again soon since He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed went to the kitchen and just bit one of the bunnies ears off!Well as I said he needs some loving so I will not complain about him eating the bunnies before the right time!

I need LifeQuil

2008-03-12T16:48:00.000-04:00

Seriously I had enough Dayquil and Nyquil already. I am even taking the grownup sinus pills, not just the colorful cherry flavored fun liquid anymore. But although I realise it has been helping with most of the symptoms(very slowly for my taste but alas they come in only come with one speed) I need a Life back. One that is not defined by how lousy I feel after not sleeping well for over a week.

The goddesses must have been listening cause I had a delicious talk with my adorable Lotte!

That I can say is the best LifeQuil I know.

I am DONE

2008-03-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

The initial idea was not to write until I feel better and can write something that makes some sense (mmm,kay… I did not say lots of sense or you would think you are reading the wrong blog) I gave up the initial idea simply because it feels like I am NEVER going to feel better.
Yes… I know I will… feel better… eventually…but honestly it only matters if I can feel better NOW.
Can it be NOW? No?

It is NOT pretty. I have a pink eye (the right one, not meaning the opposite of the wrong one but the one on the right side of my face), my upper lip is hosting the “Cold Sore Festival” and I am pretty sure my nose will fall since it is peeling, both sides, and I used about a million tissues on it (yeah the ones with aloe but it feels more like sandpaper). My head feels like it is going to explode but then it might be just the part affected by the sinus infection although all the other parts seem to have decided to go along with the explosion idea just for the fun of it. My whole body aches immensely, not only the joints and muscles, all of it, the parts I like and the ones I don’t care much about too.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed has been pretty good the last few days, more caring than usual, more keen on making me take pills and get some rest, he even got a couple of meals home so I did not have to cook. I do find him smiling at me, a little smile that sounds like: “I told you it was brutal so now you know” but I don’t mind. He is totally right. It is BRUTAL.

So much so I am just about to drag myself back to bed … see ya when it is OVER.

Extra Post(because it is thursday)

2008-03-06T14:44:00.001-05:00

I am not a complex person. I am actually very simple, not much to figure me out. If you treat me good I will be good for you. If you are nice to me I will be extra nice to you. If you give me chocolate I can be a wonderful person to you. If you give me extra good quality chocolate the-one-I-was-dying-to-have I will be super nice to you and will be your sex slave for a whole week (not this week but some week before spring, I promise).

I don’t even keep it a secret, so I am trying to make life easier to anybody involved, well anybody involved with my life. Yeah, I am that good, go ahead, you can say it too, I know, it is a gift and so simple.

I have to quote it because it just makes all the sense:

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Intergalactic Tunnel

2008-03-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

I know it has been too long since my last post but the options were NOT GOOD. If I did write in the last week it would have been about lousy weather (enough with winter already!), lousy clients (WHY they take so long to pay us?), He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed running for the Grumpo of the Year Award (and I must say he could have won it with his eyes closed) or myself moaning and complaining about getting whatever bug he had and feeling? You guess: LOUSY!

Nothing much changed but I decided enough is enough and why have a blog if you cannot go ahead and write about anything you fancy.

To be honest something did change, one of the dogs is also sick and tossing his cookies in a timely manner. Oh joy!

Then today I get an email from my Ma and I had to laugh so I decided to share this little nugget of funnyness with you.

She wrote that the package I sent her did not arrived yet, she did confirm that it arrived in Sao Paulo on the 23rd, just like the post office here told me via email ( once it arrives at the destination Country the American post office no longer keeps track of it), so she took the information to her post office and they confirmed it indeed arrive on the 23rd, they also informed it went to Rio and arrived there on the 25th , but it went to a neighborhood at the other side of town, so maybe it is why it is taking 10 days to cross town and get to my Ma hands. She wrote me not to worry, stay cool and just pretend I live in Alaska.

Ma it only took 3 days from here to Sao Paulo, the problem is the intergalactic tunnel between those neighborhoods in Rio.

Yeasterical!

2008-02-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

I knew better and I still did it!

I got my Gourmet magazine Saturday, I have been trying to ignore my culinary magazines since I started a diet, knowing too well the temptation would be humongous, but then Saturday was a boring day, with He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed being sick( the poor man is all achy, and truly looks like he is suffering a lot, most probably is the flu with a touch of arthritis to make things more interesting). Anyways there was not much to do around the house (mmm’kay what if I was not in the mood for cleaning or ironing, give me a break it was SATURDAY!).

I am fanatic about bread and have been toying with the idea of making brioche, one of my top 3 favorites, but always end up thinking it was too much work. All those seductive descriptions on Gourmet magazine made me crave the thing worse than ever but I was still resisting. Mostly because I did not have all the ingredients but that is a detail. So I learned about a new food search engine and being slightly obsessed with the whole brioche idea I try it there. Voila! Another recipe even more promising than the one I read on the magazine. I knew I was doomed.

Sunday we had to do some grocery shopping and I end up buying the said missing ingredients, but still postpone the baking of bread. Since I know myself well I did get the eggs and butter out of the fridge, just in case, since they needed to be at room temperature for any recipe.

Then when I thought I was safe, it was late enough to start any baking project, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed decided he needed to go back to bed since he was feeling lousy, so what is a woman fanatic about bread to do?

MAKE BRIOCHE!

I honestly try to reason with myself, since there was a 2 hour rise followed but 10 minutes of kneading and yet another hour rise, all things considered (the oven time being short 35 minutes) the bread will not be done before 9PM. That is silly, a little voice told me, the weekend will be over and your rule for allowing non-diet food window of opportunity will be almost closed!
But not quite!

So I did it! And it is a thing of beauty, and on top of that it is probably the best bread I ever baked, which I already knew it would be by the way the dough was just about so perfect to handle.

I confess I ate 2 slices, still warm from the oven, and yes with butter on top of the first one (the guilt was way too big to allow butter on the second slice, and yes I did make it a smaller one). He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed did have a warm slice himself but being sick I don’t think he was able to taste the full extent of my bread wonderfulness.

Only today I realized I should have taken a picture yesterday. I should take the picture before I had my first slice. Oh well I will get over it. Since He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed approved the bread and had a nice toasted sandwich for lunch today, I also froze two slices for a future French toast) now there is little left of my thing of beauty. I must say I feel content, baking bread is more rewarding than cooking, maybe because I don’t do it every day or maybe because it seems to involve a bigger transformation between ingredients and the result.

By the way if you want the recipe just email me!

How old can you be?

2008-02-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

How many can you have?

Being a twin I learn about competition even before I was born, and to be honest I never liked it. I think we only shared one BFF, actually our very first friend ever, at age 4, but after that we had a silent agreement to have different BFF’s and make our lives easier.
I never liked to compete, maybe this is the reason I never excelled in any sports, was kinda good at swimming if it did NOT involved a competition.

At 45 I feel a bit silly about calling anyone a BFF but I do believe having female friends is the most important thing in my life. (mmm’kay… so He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is pretty important too but this is not what we talking about now)

Apart from the 3 I already mentioned in this blog there are two other women in my life that make me a better person, and even if I am not a phone person (sometimes I believe I “used” all my phone hours when I was a teenager and now I just hate the darn thingy!) I do feel I can call them anytime. We are very alike in some ways and very different in others and we sure had quite different life experiences but we easily found ourselves choosing the same dish in a restaurant or pointing the same clothes at a store, agreeing on those mundane ways that makes us feel connected. Sometimes it gets to be a bit scary how we can second guess each other’s choices.

Being with them has enriched my life beyond my expectations. I feel lucky that I got to know them, I feel blessed that they “get” me, I feel proud that they know they can count on me.
They constantly remind me why women need other good women in their lives.
Being part of their lives is a huge deal for me, be it because we support each other on diets, or we can laugh about our significant others silly similarities or we can have a therapeutic shopping day even when we are both broke!

I can be buying gifts for her kids or twisting her hand to let me pay for coffee, and don’t take me wrong, we can get pretty serious about stuff cause life is not just glasses of wine and rosy days. The connection is there no matter what we do together and funny enough even if we just talking on the phone and saying we have been bad and should not go that long without going out together.

Earlier this year one of them lost her sister, my heart hurt terribly even if I never met her sister, and I don’t dare to say I knew what she was going thru but I can easily say I would like her around if I ever have to go thru the same.

So I don’t really know the rules for how old you can be to have BFF’s or how many you can have but those two(now don’t smirk …you know who you are!) would be awfully deserving of the title!

Winter Wonderland

2008-02-22T15:43:00.000-05:00

It is a magical winter wonderland outside, what was predicted as 4 inches of snow was updated to a FOOT, I did notice something like that would happen when I got up this morning and the storm that was supposed to arrive by late morning was already here before 7am!

As soon as I opened the door to the backyard the dogs were ecstatic with the fluffy white stuff. There short barks sure sounded like: “WOW! IT IS AWSOME DUDE!”Now is almost 4pm and He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed agree to go outside and take a few pictures of me and the boys!

I guess it shows I am wearing 3 layers of clothes! I feel like the Michelin guy!

Veramente

2008-02-20T09:32:00.000-05:00

My dogs know it will snow today, how they know is beyond me but they have been pacing around, they gave me the special treatment, they gang up and place their heads, each dog on a thigh, press as hard as possible, do a little moaning, and don’t forget the begging eyes, big caramel eyes with expressive eyebrows all four of them fixed on me. Pretty please with sugar on top: CAN WE GO TO THE BACK YARD? NOW?

It is barely 9am and it happened already 3 times, right now Matisse just did the special walk around my chair, he is just waiting for Jack to come help him with the plan. They did not go for the loud approach, the one that comes with real loud barking and jumping , that is reserved for afternoons and mostly used with He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, unless I ignore their soft approach then I am deserving of the loud one.

I have no means to explain to them that today we will only get maybe an inch of the white stuff, and even that is only going to happen real late afternoon or even night time. The radio and TV weather people did promise a much larger storm by Friday, maybe the last one of this winter? But my dogs have a very bad perception of time, tomorrow is way beyond their understanding, the day after tomorrow is an abstraction of huge proportions.

Jack is getting even worse about eating lately, he has always been picky, his routine includes ignoring the food at first, and reluctantly agreeing to eat a bit, but that includes a couple of stops, when he will sit down, look around like he is trying hard to remember what he was supposed to do, look at me with an expression that says: “ Eat? You mean I need to finish that?...Oh… ok … if it makes you happy”

But sometimes he will look at the food and simply dislike it, so at first I could fool him shaking the bowl: “oh now it looks so much better I will eat it”… then he decided that the rearrangement of kibble did not improve the taste so I would sprinkle it with some water… it worked for a bit… then maybe if I use chicken stock… now he is into yogurt.. I eat half a cup for breakfast and he decided it is just the yuumiest thing on earth and cannot wait for his kibble to be smudged with a bit of 0% fat Greek yogurt, and yes dogs are not supposed to eat dairy when they are done with puppyhood but be my guest to explain that to a very stubborn adorable wirehaired pointing griffon.

Now I am off to the gym, it feels like a day for a double post so be warned I might be BACK!

Wobbly Bits.

2008-02-15T17:48:00.000-05:00

I just got back from the gym, had to drag my wobbly bits there but even if the weight loss so far had only reached the 4.5 pounds mark I do notice the bits are less wobbly this past week. I am quite happy with my new headphones; He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed came up to the bat and bought it as a let’s say late Valentines’ Day gift. He did try the “I don’t believe in Valentine’s Day” approach so I had to explain it is NOT A RELIGION, you don’t need to BELIEVE, just get on with the program and since I made your life so easy choosing an inexpensive , much needed, headphone just be happy about it. And he did, meaning got happy about it and bought it.

Actually what I bought him as a gift was met with less enthusiasm, well the card went well and also the bag of licorice (I love licorice in the sense that I can have it around the house and NEVER be tempted, I tried it a couple of times and never got to like it at all) and again I digress … it was the whole new pillows idea that did not meet his approval. He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed claims changing pillows are AN EXECUTIVE DECISION, as in not to be made by myself alone, no matter how old and grungy his pillow looks.

I have to admit he did give it a try, but said pillow end up on top of my head by 3am so I guess it is going back to the store. I am keeping mine, well it was a double gift idea, not exactly romantic but hey I was thinking on the right direction.

I was looking forward to going to a Dog Show in Hartford but He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed just told me he is feeling achy and possibly even flu-ish (lets us all pray he is wrong and it is a bit of cold) so all plans are cancelled and I will have to do with a gym visit and watching Becoming Jane with my dogs.

Now is time to go and make my famous low-cal, low-fat, and low-sodium Chinese LoMein.

Arrivederci bubbles!

This is so puuuurty!

2008-02-14T08:43:00.000-05:00

TALK TO THE PAW

2008-02-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

Today I feel discombobulated (mmm,kay I admit I learned the word just last week but I immediately knew it would fit me every so often) .

The lovely snow that fell last night , and made the walk-with-the-dogs-before-bed-time such a fun time, what with all of us jumping on fluffy snow and some of us burying our noses in it, now is part snow, part slush and part water that might be soon be part ice since temperatures are falling like crazy.

I can hear the plows going around, the biggest truck being the City one with a new guy that cleans our street like a kamikaze, I am not sure if it is because he is new to the job but he does it with a vengeance (specially one directed to corner curbs) so I always try to avoid walking around while he is doing his thing.

The walk up the hill to the gym has to be postponed or maybe even cancelled depending on how things will improve or not after noon and the whole thing just throws my day out of planned schedule which just spoils the very little amount of discipline I have to keep exercising. Did I mention that I did not go yesterday due to a very bad sinus headache?

Luckily the dogs decided the weather is too nasty to play outside, but not before Matisse gave me the look that is his equivalent of “TALK TO THE PAW”, complete with rolling eyes and a sharp bark that says: I WANT TO GO OUT NOW! Let me assure you, that dog is all caps all the time. True he does not get as wet as Jack, thanks to a really wirehair double coat. They are the same breed but for some reason Jack has a much softer coat and gets soaked wet in less than 3 minutes.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed ( I have to confess I borrow this one from his aunt, it seems is something that run on the male side of the family as this is how she refers to his uncle) or maybe it is due to the BOE name(Best Obey Ever), but I digress. Today he seems awfully quiet, not that anyone could accuse him of being talkative ever. I am not even thinking on Brazilian standards( everybody knows we talk way too much)but maybe quite is not bad, sure quiet is much better than when I get the feeling that I am annoying him just because I am breathing(maybe too loud?).

We don’t do the whole big celebration on Valentine’s Day (yes I have been able to celebrate both American and Brazilian Valentine’s since they happen 6 months apart, lucky me, and if you forget to buy something for your special one you better know you can do it on June 12 by Brazilian standards) anyways we don’t buy (literally don’t buy) into the big consumerism validating romance but I would totally NOT mind getting new earphones( the big but lightweight Sony ones we saw at that store will do) since the tiny ones I wear now to the gym just annoy the hell out of my ears. Nope, not an Ipod girl here (even if I do LOVE everything else Apple).

SO there will be a card maybe even cards(meaning I will get one too).

I shall make a scrumptious meal, shame it is not nice outside because He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed loves a steak on the grill but maybe I will go for his second favorite Swedish Meatball.
Now it is raining cats-dogs-monkeys and parrots but Matisse wants proof so I will let him go before the TALK TO THE PAW shows up again!

Happy Valentines to you all!

enjoying a rare moment of sunshine

2008-02-10T10:52:00.001-05:00

They are coming back... I know they are...

2008-02-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

Blogbi is giving me a hard time about me writing “I just got in a diet”… yeah… yeah… ON a diet.

It is again a problem with translating from Portuguese, where the words for IN and ON are interchangeable and let’s face it, I am the one NOT EATING DELICIOUS FOOD no matter if I am IN it or ON it! Actually when I get ON a diet it is like I am IN THE ZONE, in this case not a good zone, but still a magical place, one when I can see myself in single digits sizes in the not so near future.

Last week was not a good one, never got much better since I last wrote here, that being one of the reasons I left this place for a few days. My hormones are out of whack and so far my doctor had not been very successful about getting it fixed, by now I think maybe I should be fixed myself.

Yesterday I managed to lock myself out of the house, and sure it was snowing and I had a lovely 45 minute wait until “He-Who-Must-Be –Obeyed” came home to rescue me. We managed to improve the day by going to the grocery store (I used those 45 minutes to make a shopping mental list, note to self: include orange juice in next mental list), the part that cannot be called an improvement was the one where he forgot to turn the lights off and we found the car did not want to move being without any juice (in this case battery instead of orange).

Not having the cell phone make it a bit more annoying and the whole episode end up including my first trip in a taxi in Torrington!

Today I woke up very achy and “He-Who-Must-Be –Obeyed” wants to know if I am “catching something”, well to me catching imply intent and I have no reasons to want to catch a cold but it might catch me at some point. I know there will be a day I will wake up and the only part of my body that will not suffer from arthritis will be my hair, but I hope it will not happen in the next …say 20 or 30 years. I bet today’s achiness (it is a word, I checked it out) is just some silly cold.

The snow if falling hard now, the guy on the radio says the temperature is supposed to drop some 20 degrees in the next 4 hours so I decided to give myself a day off the gym, oh come on… I went yesterday!

Now sounds like the perfect time to make my third cup of coffee and enjoy the company of my two crazy dogs.

...the bubbles are coming back…very slowly but they are!