Day Before Thanksgiving filler Entry!!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Side dishes for turkey

How To Cook a Turkey

How To Get Along With Your Family.

Garden Update 15

 Well. There isn't much of the garden left, but there is still a garden and it is a happy garden.

On Saturday while I was running around like a crazy person doing all the work in the world, I took a break and went to check out how the garden was doing. I haven't spent a lot of time with the garden lately, I pulled a couple of tomatoes off a few weeks ago and a pepper, but there hasn't been a lot going on there. I also had to take out a couple of baby brocs but that was a while ago. The remaining brocs don't look too chewed yet.

But on Saturday I pulled a lot. I took out all the tomatoes and a couple of the peppers. It was time and the plants were dead or clearly on the way there. I felt bad but not as bad as I thought I would. I think they and I were ready to let go.

Sad isn't  it?

The peppers are allowed to stay because they are still making peppers

They are little peppers, granted but they are peppers and I'm not going to pull them out if they are still productive.  Unlike the tomato plants the peppers are still green and pretty and healthy.

Speaking of green

Aren't they cute? So little and bug chewed, I'm still keeping the hope alive.  I'm not unplugging frankenhose and removing the rubber mulch blanket that's presumably keeping them warm at night. My flowers in front are still blooming, but I think its because they have a nice blanket of dead leaves to cuddle up with at night.

Work, work, work

Saturday I worked, I raked the yard again, went to the Raleigh Christmas Parade 2009 - Austin thinks its weird, Raleigh is weird. Then I raked the yard again and then I went to the library book sale where I exhibited a total lack of self control,  and then I did some laundry and then I went Christmas shopping, successfully. I worked like a puppy all day. And that doesn't even bring into account the 1413 dog treats I counted Friday night.

Sunday I finished up the laundry, got depressed because the yard was covered in leaves again,  and made more dog cookies.  Yes, more dog treats.  These cookies are for the Church cookie sale so don't look at me like that, like I have a dog treat making "problem". These cookies are completly different from the other cookies, these cookies are shaped like barn yard animals! There will be beef bullion cows, chicken broth  Chicks, bacon  Pigs and parsley/mint flavored Bunnies. Thus far its just the bunnies but I have great plans. To make room for these plans I bagged up all the Christmas cookies as well as the Thanksgiving cookies. Work, work, work!

HAPPY    SUNDAY    !!!!!!!!

HAPPY    SATURDAY   !!!!!!!

Friday Cat Blogging

Friday

I Love Community*. If you liked the first few seasons of My Name is Earl, you will love Community. Its like MNiE but without the list and the creeping pathos.  Also? Joel McHale is really hot. And everyone else in the cast is really, really good and they are a true ensemble, even that asshat Chevy Chase! Chevy Frickin Chase is acting as part of an ensemble,
for this alone you should watch the show. I mean, who knew Chevy Frickin Chase could share a stage?

You should just start watching and then make your friends watch it. You could blog about it! And I would be blogging about it and it would be blogging synergy! And more people would start watching it and they would be happy and the world would have happier people in it and that would be a good thing. Watch the show, save the world.

Okay.

Oh, before we talk about Dogger, we have to talk about these new aps they have for the I-Phone*. My phone is wonderful and I love it, but as rawking and dead sexy as I find my phone, my phone doesn't have the very interesting Epicurious recipe ap or something called  the Smart Chief ap that lets you find substitutions for recipe items you forgot to go buy. I want this! My phone lets me keep up with football scores and Facebook but I want even cooler aps!

Okay. Now onto the dog.

Dogger had her follow up appointment, this would be her 274th post surgical follow up appointment since last April. Her infection is gone and  the vet, drum roll please... Wants her to go for more walks! That is his solution. I see it maybe a little differently: I think she needs fewer walks. It happens the same way every time, she's infected or lame and we stop walking, she goes back onto crate rest and antibiotics and she gets better, in fact she is doing really well, she's bouncy and happy and full of energy and the vet says "Take her for more walks!" and I take her for more walks and everything is fine and the vet says "Take her for longer walks!" and I take her for longer walks and lo and behold she gets another infection or she pulls up lame AGAIN.

It's a vicious circle. The better she's doing the better the chance something is going to go wrong.  Someday she's going to be doing phenomenally well.  She'll have gotten her muscle mass back, she'll  be running on her walks and jumping  into cars and being a real dog for the first time in years. I'm going to be very excited about all of this and I am going to let her off her leash in the back yard  for  two seconds and  she'll go instantly  septic  and die.

Dogger has another appointment in two weeks and I'm going to tell the vet that if this happens again,  she's going back on his table and he's going to open her up and remove the cat gut. No crate rest, no ABT, no anti-inflammatories. Surgery. Done, I'm done with this. We're done with this.

*I'm not getting paid

Santa Me

Yay! I got  two more Christmas presents! and these two came with free! gift! wrapping! So score one or two  for me! and my best girlfriends at home who will get gifts that do not look like they were wrapped by a poorly coordinated toddler! Whoo-Hoo! I'm very excited by this.

I am making progress on Christmas! Yay! I think this is very exciting news. So far I have some of my list taken care of, but not all my list. Some people are doing really well and are going to have a great Christmas and love me some are going to watch other people have a great Christmas and hate me. I need to even it out a little. A lot. I need to even it out a lot.

I thought I was going to get this one thing for some one but now I don't think I'll be able to get what I want for what I want. There are a lot of choices and after reading too many reviews  of too many variations of the same thing, I don't think any of them are going to be "right". I may have stop shopping for it online. I'm going to have to go old school and hit old fashioned brick-and-mortar retailers - Which is a turn off, I hate the public and I loath paying retail, but actually having fewer choices to over think might be a better in the long run.

Merry Christmas! I hope you love it! I had to go to the mall to get it. I had to drive my car and find parking and then go inside with all those people and sales tax. The receipt? I burned it. Merry Christmas.

If you are a dog in my life you are going to have a very, very good holiday season. You might even have a good New Years Eve if I can figure out what cookie shapes would be appropriate. I am all about matching the cookie to the holiday. It's important and it totally matters to the dogs. Totally...

I believe that Dogger likes her turkey gravy cookies even more because they are shaped like turkeys, it lets her know that I respect her intellect and that all your dog really wants - And steak your dog also wants steak! And if you give your dog steak (and some appropriately seasonal shaped dog cookies) your dog won't bicker about their IQ verses your IQ or which one of you is better trained or if you really love them for their brain or if its just about their capacity to play fetch with you for hours when they would really rather be at home reading The New York Times . Do you really want to know how fast Fluffy breezes through the Sunday puzzle?