Today marks the anniversary of buying our first house. Yea! We still love it! Oh no, there's so many things that I meant to repair that I haven't done yet! The Shame!

What fun we had! The mantra was food food food. Pretty much the whole weekend we were either eating out or cooking or shopping for food. These photos were all taken by my father.

First, the folks saw Brian's new place. Dad was quite taken with Brian's toy collection (this picture shows maybe half or less)

Gold's Grocery had aisles of Scandinavian food! My larder is fully stocked.

Then to Whole Foods at Belmar, but we were surprised by an Italian Festival. Sorpresa!


I got a stalk of brussel sprouts at a gorgeous farmer's stand.



After seeing the hilarious King of Kong, we had dinner at Little India's.

Finally, a morning at the dog park with many new beagle pals.


Thanks for coming! We had a great time and my freezer is full for winter ;-)

Now I know the secret to making a perfect steak:

I also made pizza with dough from scratch! and marinara from scratch! and basil I grew! and pepperoni I cured! Ok, that last one is a lie.

Then a corn chowder using lots of veggies, potatoes from Idaho (Thanks Miranda!) and topped with leftover steak. Oh, and homemade cheddar-parmesan biscuits.


Here are some honey mustard chicken wings with avocado, corn, blue cheese salad. On the right are some delicious toffee bars.

Behold! I make salsa now! I loves it so. Julia suggested a salsa making party. It was fun and tasty.








And we discovered a new use for Jem. She's a thorough paper shredder.

What fun! For the last summer holiday the whole family went to California to visit more family.

Amanda brought weird foods and souvenirs back from Russia.

Grandpa showed his new plane to me and Ben. Ben got to go for a ride!







They had cats that did tricks!!! CATS!!



Ben drove the rented Lincoln Town Car.


Buffet dinner! I realize these pictures are not that great, but I was too busy eating to bother moving around for better composition.


Then we went to the beach at Torrey Pines. I haven't been in the ocean in a long time. We saw a pod of wild dolphins!

And then back home :-) in time for school on Tuesday. We had kept Jem at the kennel recommended by our friends, Beds n' Biscuits. They were sooooo much better than the last place we took her. Instead of keeping her locked up all day they have indoor and outdoor play yards where she can run around with dogs all day - her favorite past time. They're very polite and accommodating and they do cute things that are totally cheesy, but I love anyway. Like sending her home with homemade biscuits and a report card.
It says "We enjoyed getting to know Jem! She did great in the play yard and met lots of new beagle pals! She will want lots of rest and treats when she first gets home (she told us to make sure to mention the treats) :-) We look forward to her next visit."

I totally love that. We already have a reservation for Thanksgiving. Indeed, she was very tired and slept for most of the next two days. Like they say, a tired puppy is a happy puppy.

I came home Monday to this:
Ben left a pillow in her crate. When I took her out she was wobbly and bloated, but very happy. What a nut. Ever since they she has been really sneezy. It seemed worse this morning, and yesterday she was kind of lethargic. Overall she's seems like her happy normal self with a good appetite. From what I gleaned on the internet, the most likely causes are:
1) foreign object in nose
2) a cold
3) allergies
Number one would be most likely, since she's been rubbing her nose and the fluff incident is when the sneezing started. But teh internets said any nose running would be only on one side, where the object is, and would have blood in it. She has just a small, clear, bilateral runny nose. Thus #2 or 3 matches. Especially since she was tired all day yesterday. But what can I do about it? Pretty much ride it out. I read that an untreated dog cold will run its course in about two weeks, and treated with the vet's meds it will be gone in about 14 days ;-) I think we'll wait to see if she gets worse being seeking help.

Delicious grilled burgers with roasted Anaheims, sweet onions, and green beans.


Strawberries filled with cream cheese frosting!


Baked sandwich loaf with pork loin, onion, and cheddar, with carrots and yellow squash.

What a haul!!!

Brian made the chicken cordon bleu and oven fries. I made the garlicky yellow squash with basil and glazed carrots with thyme.

Ben took Jem to Iowa for a friend's wedding reception (yes, the drove). So Molly and I have two days with the house all to ourselves!! I'm going to vacuum up a storm and wash every sock Jem has tussled around the house. The other day I counted NINE socks in the basement. Oy.

Things are crazy for me now. School starts in about a week. I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology II, Nutrition, and then a whole bunch of classes I don't want. Because Regis is a Jesuit school their undergrad program has philosophy and religious studies requirements. Although CU covered religion and philosophical thought in all of my liberal arts classes (which were many), none of them will transfer to Regis. Thus I have to take NINE additional courses this semester, just in case I get into Regis (which is my top choice, so I guess it's worth it) (9 is the number of the day, eh?). So I'm adding Comparative Religions, Logic, and Old Testament to my schedule.

Meanwhile, work is changing too. The company I've been with since I graduated college is closing. They've failed to get any new contracts during the last year, so I can't count on regular hours, benefits, or anything. Basically I'll be coming in a couple hours each week to check phones, faxes, and emails to keep our single study running until it's scheduled end in March. Good thing Ben has found such a great job that he loves to keep us going. I'm picking up some hours doing data entry for his boss, but it's not much.

Also this week I volunteered to help the local cat shelter, Angels with Paws. I've spent 6 hours there so far, feeding, cleaning, and giving TLC. It's a no-kill shelter, which I'm not sure I agree with. So many cats just won't be adopted, because they're too old, too mean, or too sick. It's sad but true. I guess there is a barn in the mountains they can take cats who they deem to be lost causes. But I wonder if that's really any better than putting them down. Anyway, I'm enjoying helping out. They're short staffed and are over capacity for cats and kittens. More than help, they need people to take the cats home! If you are at all interested in a pet please come take one. I met at least three on my first day I would love to take home, if I didn't already have Jem and Molly. My rule is we have to have more humans than animals in the house (fish don't count).

Needless to say, my weekly schedule is fairly erratic these days. I really hope when school starts I can find a rhythm.

Before the trip I did some cooking.

Homemade tortillas! So easy a good, I'm making them again tonight. I plugged in my crepe griddle on the porch to keep the kitchen cool. I got the tortilla recipe out of the big yellow Bittman book.

I'll be honest, this picture is just to make Amanda drool:

Turkey and gouda sandwich with steamed green and wax beans from Greg's garden. I still have more beans, and Ben brought home a giant zucchini today. It's tough keeping up!