And the House was Full

Have I mentioned that my sister and Matt have a new dog? They brought home the cutest little Lab-mix puppy on Kelsey's birthday, and decided to name her Maverick. She's 12 weeks old and has the longest legs I've ever seen. If she were a person she would be a supermodel, I'm sure of it.

Brian and I will be watching her this weekend while Matt and Kels head off to a wedding. We introduced Fenway to his new cousin last week, but we thought maybe they should spend a little more time with each other before we threw them together for a whole weekend. So that, you know, they would have a chance to become friends first.

So Kels invited us all over for dinner last night. I said we'd love to come, but the American Idol finale would be on and so we, of course, had to watch. Which is funny, because they hadn't seen even one episode all season. I was so sorry they'd missed out.

They were nice enough to suffer through all the filler, and even laughed along with me as that crazy guy sang his "Friends Forever" song. I convinced everyone that David C. was by far the better Idol so they, too, cheered when we learned that the adults had prevailed and David Cook won (by 12 million votes! Way to go David C.!).

Kelsey made these really great little pizzas with bell peppers and a rotisserie chicken from Kroger. I'm definitely going to have to steal the idea because Brian and I both loved them, and they seemed pretty easy. We had fun conversation, and overall it was a great evening.

But wait, didn't I start this off with the new puppy Maverick?

Oh yes. How could I forget? The dogs played and barked and ran around the house all.night.long. We gave them treats to try to get them to behave while we ate dinner, but it was a bit futile. They stayed still and quite for maybe five minutes.

Maverick has learned to use her long legs and spent most of the evening trying to get Fenway's attention by smacking him in the face with them. Fenway wasn't thrilled over this. And he tends to get upset if another dog attempts to take a toy or a treat away from him. (We're working on sharing, but I don't have high hopes.) So Maverick would get close to his treat and he'd growl and snap at her which, of course, would scare her half to death and she'd collapse in a ball of legs.

The whole scene was just too funny. As Matt was picking up Mavs' poo from the rug in the front living room, Kelsey said to me "Just think what it'll be like when we have kids."

Oh, surely it'll be quieter, no? It's going to be a fun weekend.

Vote!

Oh, I can barely stand all the incredibly bad fawning all over David A. It's just so blech. And David C. is just pouring his heart out up there on that stage.

I don't know if I can handle watching tomorrow if David A. wins. I can already see the tears and the shaky-voice thank you, thank yous to all the 15-year-old girls who voted for him.

David C. is a true original, and I'll buy the first thing he puts out there.

I just saw Simon wink at David C. I wonder if that means he's really in his corner and just had to fake the fawning on David A.? No, probably not. He just said the whiny David A. delivered a knock-out.

I'm off to vote for David C. I know I can't cancel out all the tween votes, but I'll try.


P.S. I really hope the boxing analogies don't continue into tomorrow. (Double blech.)

Happy Mother's Day

Just a quick note to say happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there, but especially to my mom. She's just the best mom anyone could ever ask for.

She's always made me feel so loved and so special, which I truly believe is one of the most important things a mom can do for their children. I appreciate that so much.

And thanks to my mother-in-law, Janet, for raising Brian to be the amazing man he is today. I know he, too, knows how important a mother's love is.

Hope you've all enjoyed this special day!

Supper is Served

Brian and I have had such a nice weekend. However, it was so hot and humid yesterday I thought we might not make it to the summer months.

The actual temperature was only 92, (which is, believe it or not, hot for Dallas in May) but the heat index, that magical combination of heat and humidity, was 100. And poor Brian was working in the yard. I love that all my domestic, house-keeping jobs can be done inside.

I ran a million errands yesterday, but the one I'm most excited about was my trip to Super Suppers. I now have frozen pork tenderloin and pecan crusted chicken breasts in my freezer just waiting to save dinner some night this week.

I hadn't made an appointment, and I think there are only certain times that you can make your own meals with all the prepared ingredients, but they always have meals ready to Grab 'n' Go.

So last night when it was time to decide what to do for dinner, we went straight to the freezer to make one of the meals I'd bought earlier in the day, right?

Of course not.

I went to Kroger and bought halibut fillets and corn tortillas and pico - all the stuff you need to make fish tacos. And didn't they turn out pretty?

Brian had such a great time cooking them. (I apologize for my very crooked camera work here. I guess I was too excited over the tacos to hold the camera straight.)



But trust me, he had a blast making them (I even threw out a few Top Chef references) and we now have a new dish to serve when we have guests for dinner. Unless I just decide to feed them frozen Super Suppers meals.

Reunited Over Margaritas

Brian finally made it home yesterday. He was in Mexico for four days, which is a really long time to be away from home.

I left work early to pick him up at the airport and immediately noted that it was Cinco de Mayo and we positively HAD TO HAVE MEXICAN FOOD AND MARGARITAS! He reminded me that he had been eating real Mexican food from the real country of Mexico for the last four days.

But he loves me dearly and said "Of course we can have Gloria's." He'd actually already prepared himself for the inevitable.

We went super early to beat the crowd and had a great time catching up on the last few days. He went deep sea fishing and played lots of golf. And ate a lot of Mexican food. I watched the Kentucky Derby on TV and went to a wedding. So we had a lot to talk about.

We also made a stop to see my sister and her new birthday puppy, Maverick. Oh, she's so cute. She's ten weeks old which means she's still sleeping all the time; It's the calm before the puppy storm. And Brian didn't break out in itchy bumps, so that was some good news.

One more Mexican food dinner didn't make him break out in itchy bumps either.

Just a Little More About Fenway

Fenway really needed a walk on Saturday. I'd been out at dinner Friday night and Brian was out of town. So Fenway was really in need of some attention and exercise. This was proven by his constant running through the house in circles at 20 miles per hour Saturday morning.

I grabbed his walking collar and leash and he bolted to the front door, sat down with tail wagging, and patiently waited for me to get him strapped in and ready to go. Seriously, it actually happened like that.

It was such a beautiful day here on Saturday. It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was out and about working in their yards or taking a walk.

Twice on our 40 minute walk, strangers in cars stopped to love on Fenway. Most people have really good feelings about Westies. They're friendly looking, perky dogs and their faces are featured prominatly on those cute dog food commercials.

Really how could you not want to stop and love on a face like his?

Warning! We're Not Bird Friendly at Our House

A few nights ago Brian let Fenway out in the backyard. He noticed Fenway made a beeline for a specific spot in the yard and started sniffing and rooting around in the grass.

Turns out there was a big, dead pigeon laying in the grass right by the house. Thankfully Fenway didn't seem too inclined to eat it or play with it so we were able to avoid the dead animal stench on our lovely, clean dog.

Even more thankfully, it was trash night. So Brian scooped up the nasty bird, bagged it and tossed it in the trashcan out back. The trash truck came the next day, the bird was gone, and I didn't give it another thought.

Fenway woke me up this morning at 6:45AM. This is an ungodly hour for a Saturday. Especially considering I had only put him to bed and gone to sleep at 2AM. Really, just because he sleeps all day doesn't mean I get to do the same thing.

I roll out of bed and pop my head out of the bedroom and yell down to Fenway that it's still nighttime, he needs to quit barking and go back to sleep. Please...I begged.

The sun was just barely peeking out through the clouds and I noticed this funny little pattern on the top window in the den. Because I was standing on the landing upstairs I was at just the right angle to notice the weird smudge, and it was perfectly pigeon shaped, wings out in flight.

(I know it's hard to make out, but I hope you can tell that there is a giant bird-shaped smudge right in the middle of that beautiful red circle I made with my mad Paint skills. )

I plan to keep the smudge there forever. I want it to remain as a warning to other pigeons who think it'll be fun to call our backyard home. They won't make it here. It's just too dangerous.