B is for Brownies, or BAD DOG!

Tonight was my night to cook for the family. My mother, brother and his crew included.
I planned and prepared the perfect meal, including dessert:
Chocolate brownies infused with Blood Orange Olive Oil.
The house smelled of scrumptious oranges all. day. long.
The meal was timed perfectly.
All the guests arrived and we were enjoying a hot meal within minutes.
Good company. Great conversation. Dessert anticipation.

Suddenly, an unusual noise caught my attention.
I caught a glimpse of something under the pantry door.
Then, I realized, the dog was not at his usual spot
underneath the table in search of a dropped morsel.
I jumped up, opened the pantry door, and found him…
face down in the plate of fresh brownies.

Greed

Tonight, my daughter and I left to grab a bite for dinner.
My dog, Chester, wasted no time and ran downstairs into the room where
my daughter is [temporarily] storing her boxes after moving back home.

He managed to locate a bag full of chocolaty cookies.
He carefully pulled the package out of this bag and pulled it into the hallway.
He then went back into the room to find more yummy treasures.
As he did, somehow, the door to the room shut.
Trapping him inside, and worse, separating him from his cookies.
My husband came home shortly after and discovered the dog in his predicament.
Chester was freed from his prison, and never got to eat his treasure.

We make poor and irrational decisions if our decision is motivated by greediness: greed for monetary gain; greed that results in a conflict of interest; desire for power, titles, and recognition of men.

“He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.” (Prov. 15:27.)

Robert D Hales

Conference weekend

Sunday, 4 o'clock pm.
We enjoyed two wonderful days of being spiritually fed,
and I was just pulling dinner out of the oven.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
My parents just arrived when  I noticed the sound of running water.
I mentioned it to my husband.
Something must have struck a chord with him because he
made a mad dash toward the master bedroom.
He yelled something from the back, but I was focused on the Prime Rib Roast.
Then my daughter yelled from the basement.
It soon became very clear that we had a flood on our hands.

Inches of water in the master bathroom were
cascading into pools of water in the furnace room downstairs.
Towels were flying all over the house.
Our feet were soaking wet.
Water was dripping on our heads.
The sound of a wet/dry vac hummed along with the chaos.

We sopped up as much as we could (for the time being)
and decided to settle down for a lukewarm dinner.
We breathed, we enjoyed, we visited.
We said goodbye to my parents and went back to reassess.

The basement was finally drying up
(thank goodness for required floor drains)
but the carpet padding seemed to be soaking up water from nowhere.
We decided the best course of action would be to pull the carpet and pad.
I guess the idea of remodeling may become a reality
a year or two sooner than planned.

So…this is what we did after the last session on Sunday…

How was your conference weekend?

What Chester ate today...

I know better, but sometimes I forget.
Tonight, Taylor and I left to run a few errands.
I forgot that I left a stick of butter out on the counter to soften.

Chester remembered...
He ate the whole stick!

He is still licking his greasy lips.

Caught on tape.

Today was a typical day.
Work and school for the household.

What was unique about the day
was a phone call from Taylor as I was leaving the office.

She asked me if I was on my way home yet.
She explained that she could not leave the upstairs
because Chester was getting onto the counter every time she left.

Holding my daughter hostage was the last straw!!
I set a plan in action.
The girls were downstairs and were instructed
NOT to come up, no matter what!

I placed some crackers on the counter
with a tiny piece of chocolate (Chester’s favorite) for scent.
I pretended to nibble and made yummy sounds so
Chester would see me put the food on the counter.

I unlocked the back door so I could make a quick re-entry.
I set the video camera to record and staged my fake exodus.
I closed the garage door for added effect. (Chester is that smart, you know!)
I tip toed around back to listen and watch.

This is what happened the SECOND I walked out the door…

We showed Chester the tape.
He still denies it!

Just for fun…

 

Sometimes…

…when your nieces and nephews are daring their father (your brother)
to eat a dog treat, you try to beat him to the punch.

The result, a doggy treat for two.
He wouldn't let his sister out-do him.
(Not that I ever could… he is pretty GREAT!)

What Chester Ate Today…

In an effort to clear out the leftover Halloween candy,
I bagged it up to take to Family Home Evening with the single adults last night.
Unfortunately, I forgot to set it out and brought every piece of it home.
I also forgot it when I pulled it out of the box and set it on a self in the spare room.

Anyone who knows Chester will most certainly know what happened next.

After the last person left the house, Chester went to work.
The first task was to retrieve the bag on the shelf.
It seems to have taken some effort, because a sack of office supplies that was next to the candy was shredded and the box of tissues behind the candy was dented.

After successful retrieval, the consumption began.
He enjoyed as much as he could, and then took his actions to a whole new level.
He proceeded to take the leftover candy bars, one by one,
and strategically stash them in various places in the two couches in the family room.

Evan noticed his efforts and proceeded to confiscate the buried treasure.
Thinking he found it all, Evan went back to work and Chester napped.
The story was shared with me when I got home from work
and I have since found, what we hope is the last piece.

If Chester disappears in the middle of the night,
it will be safe to assume he has one more hiding spot!

Thank You Harry

Dear Harry Potter:

Thank you for giving my girls something to love for so many years.
Thank you for the gift of reading… over and over again.
Thank you for their excitement before each new movie.
Thank you for inspiring them to get good grades so they could skip school after each midnight premier.

Thank you for inspiriting others and their great creativity.(see below)

You will be missed.

Crazy about Harry.

How to trap a spider.

Not long after Kylee left for her anticipated end-of-school trip to sunny California
I received this text message…

“I caught a spider last night and put it in the computer room.
Please kill him”

I shared the message with Evan, we had a good laugh and then
I went downstairs, and found this…

She has this down to a science.

What amuses me the most is the process:
1] quickly find a cup. this must be completed before the spider runs away
2] firmly place the cup over the spider. you must be quicker than the spider
3] slip a sheet of paper under the cup, being certain that the paper is also under the spider
4] tape the cup to the paper. this will insure that the spider does not lift the cup up and escape
5] remove the spider from your room. this is a precaution, just in case he does get a way
6] sleep peacefully
7] send text to mom, pleading for extermination

Once again, I shared with Evan. After another laugh,
I declared Evan the grim reaper

Note to Kylee…
mission accomplished!

In case you were wondering…

If a dog (Chester)
eats grapes,
he carefully
picks them off the stem.

It’s all about the timing… OR Momma got her flirt on

As promised, here is my report.

I struggled trying to decide how to best approach “the Bachelor”.
Since I get nervous, and tend to stammer, and sound like an idiot…
I decided to draft a letter.

I talked Kylee up,
included a couple of photos,
and bolded her phone number.
No doubt he will be impressed.

That was the easy part.
The delivery is quite a story…

As requested, we arrived to our appointment
15 minutes early to check in.
Our session began.

As Tay was being photographed,
“the Bachelor” finished his session
and began editing at the desktop right behind me.
He mentioned how exhausted he was
and I opened the lines of communication with a clever reply.

We exchanged a few pleasantries,
he went back to editing
and I went back to fussing over Tay

When we were done with our session,
Tay and I grabbed some fast-food while the photos were being edited.
We returned 30 minutes later as promised.

While we were waiting for our review session,
I mentioned to Taylor that we needed to find the right time
to deliver our special envelope.
Getting to that right moment has been
”an awkward day in Hell”
(I said that out loud!)

“The Bachelor” heard this…. and said something
(I cant’ remember exactly what)
that sent Taylor into an out of control giggle fit.
I said something clever back to him.
The line of communication was now WIDE open!!

We were taken back to the review session
and the cute girl that was helping us
warned us that she would have to leave soon and
someone would take her place.
“The Bachelor” volunteered for this position.
He complimented Taylor and helped us pick out some awesome photos.
He sent these to be printed and we decided to sit and wait for them

We sat in the lobby,
again,  waiting for the perfect moment
to make our delivery.
It did not come.

As I was checking out,
it was mentioned to us that they design announcements too.
We were offered the opportunity to look at some examples.
We accepted and went back to the preview room.
This time “the Bachelor” was our host.

We sat down.
In an effort to make room for all of us,
he grabbed my chair and scooted it over
mentioning that he does that all day with the little kids.
We chose our template and continued to select
an assortment of photographs.

At one point, he leaned over to point something out
and quickly started to apologize for invading my space
he then said it was OK, we were family.

(DOOR WIDE OPEN!!)

I quickly replied “NO, not yet!”
I then said “at the risk of sounding like a creepy old lady…
how did that bachelor thing go?”
He laughed and asked if I sent in a submission?
I told him No, I found out about it two months too late.
I also mentioned that I brought with me a late submission.

I handed him the envelope and he asked me if photos were included.
I assured him they were.
Just as he was getting ready to open it up, 
the  next appointment showed up and he had to go.

Mission accomplished. I kept my promise to my daughter…
Now the awkward moment will he hers
if she gets a random phone call from a stranger.