Ben's new best friend
Oh my. How did it come to this? We have a dog. A puppy, actually.
Meet Jem.
Jem is a 3 month old beagle we got this morning from a breeder in Littleton. She's very sweet, quiet, and playful. And truly truly outrageous.
By the way, this was her first time seeing grass and dirt. She's a scent hound, so "walks" are more like "wander around and sniff." But Ben is already getting her used to the leash and the "come" command.
How to . . . have a good day off work
For certain reasons, work has been very light lately. In fact, I was told not to bother coming in one day last week. What do you do with a surprise (paid!) holiday?
1) Sleep in (just a little!)
2) Bake and play all the live long day
3) Document it for devoted blog readers
So here's your chance to see what I do in my time off and how all my lovely creations get made.
How to make Brownies
Start with a good recipe, such as the one in How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Melt your chocolate and butter together while you gather the rest of the ingrediants.
Add sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt, beating after each addition. Stir in flour until just barely combined.
Give the cat some canned food as a treat to get her out from under your feet. Add butterscotch chips and spread in a greased pan.
While the brownies bake, plant some herbs.
Test the middle for of the pan to make sure it baked through. While waiting for it to cool, admire the lovely contents of your fridge and decide what to cook next. Cut a "test" brownie, then eat 3 more.
How to Bake Bread
Get a good recipe (again from Bittman). Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor. Whir away while you add warm water.
Look in dismay at the lever you mangled by putting the toaster oven in in front of it. Sigh and remind yourself that it's still functional so there's no reason to replace it. it's just ugly and sad. Then set your dough in a warm place to rise.
Save the Goran mines of Death Mountain.
Shape the dough into dinner rolls. While you make the soup for dinner, let the cat out for the third time that day (but her first day ever of exploring the backyard). Save "Ooo, so brave, kitty!"
Put the buns in the oven and rock Guitar Hero.
Serve with creamy parsnip soup. Admire the gorgeous flowers your husband brought. Think about how lucky you are.
Pasta and soup
Baked eggplant parmesan (with sauce from scratch) and steamed asparagus. Spring is just around the corner!
Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, onion, and mushrooms. 
pardon our dust
I did a little fiddling with the template and layout. Sorry for pictures that don't load and unfinished edges. I'll try to work on it a little more.
It's CATURDAY!!!!
What is Caturday?? A celebration of the hilarity of cats, sometimes with funny captions. But first, let's meet a new cat
Cate picked out a cuddly long gray-haired cat who was just itching for love. They named her Mona, and she's working extra hard to earn Trevor's cold heart.
But BACK TO CATURDAY, which is really about online pictures. Do a search or go to this website to brighten up your dreary days. Here are some of my favorites.
An no funny captions (or should I saw, Cat-shuns. OH!!) but here are some funny pictures of the Demolisher:
Endless
I love the new Endless.com, run by Amazon. Great organization and search terms, great prices, great layout (no flash!) and free overnight shipping. Right now they're giving you $5 off to use overnight shipping. I got two beautiful pairs of Kenneth Coles for super cheap. They have 1 year return policy and they pay for return shipping. Who could ask for anything more?
Happy Birthday
Hello! I'm 25 now! I had an excellent birthday, even though my family got snowed out of visiting.
That weekend we went bowling at Lucky Strike, had dinner with friends, and played with my new present:
Thank you to everyone who pitched in for my super cool gorgeous flat screen HDTV! Our games look fantastic, I don't have to squint from the back couch, and we get most network HD stations with out antenna (no cable for us!). Also, I discovered this rad channel call the tube that
plays music videos ALL the time. It's a dream come true (sniff!). On my actual birthday we played games with friends and had pizza and ice cream cake. I won boggle and scrabble :-)
In other news, I went to a new craft store with a new friend. Fancy Tiger has great fabrics, yarns (including crewel!), and vintage goodies for making hip crafts. I got some great fabrics for my wall projects and a tiny crewel kit.
I saw The Queen this weekend and loved it. One of the best made movies in a long while, definitely recommend it. Should have won Best Picture (my Oscar party was fun, by the way. Shawn won the pool).
My HOA is hilarious sometimes. They do an awesome job keeping the grounds clean, especially with the constant snowfall. One day we came home to this on our door:
Overkill?
