Smooshed face

One of the dangers of having a muzzle puff is that when you nap hard core you end up with smooshed face.

Some serious nappage.


Then voila...smooshed face dog. Notice the marked difference between the left and right cheeks (yes, you may click to embiggen). Sometimes he even gets it stuck on his teeth. So very cutiter wootiter.


Sorry about the quality it was too dark to see what I was taking a picture of so I was taking them blind. I suppose that is what happens when you're trying to take a picture under your desk at night.

Presentation

I made dinner again tonight (two nights in a row? I know it's just feels wrong). This time I made sweet and sour pork. Then whimsy struck when I was serving it. The result? A Yin Yang feast.

They have a point

The way it should have been.

Shannon

She just looks...right, surrounded by her children doesn't she?

For Anne

On the importance of librarians:

"That's where all the rest of scholarhip starts, Garion. All the books in the world won't help you if they're just piled up in a heap."

From King of the Murgos by David Eddings.

Fudge? Cake? I just want them normal.

I'm sitting here trying to soak up all the electricity based entertainment I can before we (potentially) lose power. Ernesto is due in a couple of hours and I tend to assume we will lose power so if we don't I'm pleasantly surprised. I think the only thing we get really concerned about when we lose power is the heat. Last year when we did lose power it was well into October and was surprisingly cool right after Wilma. Right now (8:30 pm) it still feels like it's 85 degrees. Today we have vacuumed the apartment, done laundry, run the dishwasher, and I just made brownies. Roland really wanted some so he bought a mix and I made it so that if we do lose power we will have a nice sweet treat. Of course that will be great because the rice crispy treats I made will be gone by tomorrow. ;) We also charged up our weather radio/emergency light/flashlight station. It is a nice little (but not cheap) addition to our hurricane supplies. I think the only other new item was a heavy duty tarp and some duct tape in case of window breakage. We also have some lighter weight tarps for covering our electronics from last year. I did forget to get a muzzle for Bleys though. I guess that will have to wait for a while now. Anyway, wish us a good hurricane.

Thar she blows

We're gearing up for Ernesto down here. The gas stations all have lines out into the street, the grocery stores are crawling with people and those folks with homes are all out putting up their shutters (well I hope they are anyway). The weather people are still hemming and hawing about how strong a storm it will be, but at this point it looks like they are predicting it to be a category 1 when it comes ashore sometime Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Schools have been closed for tomorrow already and the young hooligans of the apartment complex are out running around reveling in the freedom of their first hurricane day eve of the year as we speak. To think we had to wait for the morning of a snow day for them to cancel school, down here they know well in advance. The current weather is hot (it's actually about 88 degrees, but feels more like 95) and blue skies.

Roland stopped by the store a few days ago to stock up on some stuff. We have a lot of canned goods now and he stopped again today to get some more marine fuel for our fondue pot/hurricane stove. I think we are pretty much as ready as we're going to be.

Beeeeeeeeeep

Normally I'm not one for flinging alarmist warnings around the interwebs, and people who have pets and a yard should simply be aware and plan accordingly. Choose your mulch wisely. This mulch is made from the by-products of chocolate making and I'm sure smells lovely. However it can prove a health risk to any animals who ingest it, and since it smells good chances are higher that they will be tempted to eat it. This ends your public service announcement. And no it's not.

Craving

I'm in love with Michigan produce. When Roland was grocery shopping he saw some blueberries from Michigan (Bangor to be exact). He felt compelled to buy them because I love blueberries and they were, in fact, from Michigan. He also got some cherries. I doubt those came from Michigan, but that's ok, I'll just pretend.

I tried to be objective and compare the Michigan blueberries to the pint we had a while ago from an undisclosed location. I sampled a few blueberries plain and also had some on my cereal in the morning. I've come to the firm conclusion that the blueberries from Michigan were far superior to those from wherever the others were from. The container had fewer of the squishy berries you have to throw away, less of the teensy weensy still-a-bit-bitter berries, and just tasted better. I've taken to have a little cereal with my blueberries and milk.

The cherries, wherever they were actually from, are going to be from Michigan in my head. Given that Traverse City claims to be the Cherry Capital of the World, it seems appropriate. It also probably has something to do with the fact that growing up a family from our church had a small cherry farm and would bring some for coffee hour after the service. They were as fresh as you can get and absolutely awesome. I ate the whole package Roland brought home in two days. I'm thinking of asking him to stop for more.

It did make me miss our annual fall trip though. We used to go up north for a long weekend every fall. In October, when the weather was cooler and the leaves were colorful we would drive up the coast of Lake Michigan and stay in Traverse City and Mackinaw City. Would try to plan it for the last weekend when all the shops on the Mackinac Island were open so there wouldn't be so many crowds. We would walk around the shops both there and in Mackinaw City. We would find new and interesting places to eat and pick up a ton of fresh produce from farm stands along the way. We would especially pick up a bunch of pumpkins for carving. Anne always had a sweet Halloween party not only giving me an excuse to sew up a costume but also to carve stupid amounts of really cool jack-o'-lanterns. It was something I looked forward to every year and I miss it now.

In the realm of I wish...

Anne has too much time on her hands. But then again, so do I.

Butter

Bleys and I are all set to visit the Renfrew Center starting in September. They haven't put the schedule together yet so I'm not sure which Sunday it will be though. I'm kind of hoping it is early in the month because I am excited to get started. I just hope that Bleys will be well behaved. I'm thinking I will go over there a little early whatever week I am scheduled so that I can let him sniff out the room we are in and get that out of his system before the people show up.

The dog we observed was very different from Bleys. Max is a 10 year old black Briard who mostly just laid there while the ladies petted him and chatted with Patrice (the owner) and each other. Bleys isn't likely to just lay anywhere for more than a few seconds...if I make him. Chances are he is going to be all up ons. I hope that they will dig that because he is just a friendly in your face kinda pooch. He also still gets very excited about new things/places and sometimes forgets to pay attention to me. I guess we will just have to see how it goes.

Fine.

1. FIRST NAME? Susan

2. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I'm aware of. Since they were both teachers, I'm pretty sure that my parents were just trying to find names that hadn't been ruined by previous students.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Friday.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I hate it with a passion.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Liverwurst.

6. KIDS? No, thank you.

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably since we would have so much in common. ;)

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? This blog is about it. I've never been much good at paper/pencil blogs because I dislike writing so much. Not the putting of ideas down on paper, the actual physical process of writing. Probably has a lot to do with #4.

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes.

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No Way Jose. I'll stick to scuba diving.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Lucky Charms.

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I try to remember for my Sambas, but otherwise no. Plus now that I live down here I wear sandals a lot.

14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not really, I've always been more sturdy than strong. *ahem, Anne*

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Cake Batter (available at your local Cold Stone Creamery).

16. SHOE SIZE? 7.5 depending on the brand

17. RED OR PINK? Red.

18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? It would not be advisable for me to think about this at this point.

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My family and friends.

20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Anyone who feels like it, no pressure.

21. WHAT COLOR OF PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING
RIGHT NOW? Blue plaid pajama bottoms and bare feet.

22. Who is your favorite writer/book/movie? Ack! This is too hard.
---Writer:
---Book:
---Movie:

23, WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The food network (Dave has the remote)

24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Some shade of blue, indigo maybe?

25. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SMELLS? Things being baked that contain cinnimon, the mid-Michigan forest,

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU SPOKE ON THE PHONE WITH? Dave.

27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their eyes

28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? The blog I picked this off of was Anne's, and I like her a whole lot.

29. FAVORITE DRINK? Dr. Pepper, but I don't drink it anymore due to the caffiene, so IBC Cream Soda is what I prefer now.

30. FAVORITE SPORT? Soccer.

31. HAIR COLOR? Just plain brown.

32. EYE COLOR? Hazel.

33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

34. FAVORITE FOOD? Fondue (cheating, probably but who cares).

35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy ending.

36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Probably Pirates of the Carribean II.

37. COLOR OF SHIRT YOU ARE WEARING? Blue

38. WINTER OR SUMMER? Winter

39. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.

40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate

41. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Dave

42. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? caw

43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? War of Honor.

44. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? It's the Dell mouse pad that they send you when you get a computer.

45. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Gentle rain on the roof, the ocean, leaves crunching underfoot.

46. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Feasting on Asphalt.

47. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? The Beatles.

48. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Somewhere over in Europe.

49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I'm crafty.

50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? 1976, Big Rapids, Michigan

Observe

Well I'm all set to observe at the Renfrew Center this Sunday. I'm going to watch Patrice and her dog Max do their therapy session there and see if that might be some place I would want to go with Bleys. They have three teams that visit there as it is and one team that goes twice a month. If Bleys and I were to add on that would be each person would only have to go once a month which is what I think they are going for. I hope that it goes well as I am eager to get started. The Renfrew Center is apparently an eating disorder clinic, but I don't really know much more about it than that. I'm a little nervous but it should be fun.

Realization

For those of you who don't know Katie and her husband are some friends from Michigan who are expecting in November. They decided, for reasons of their own, not to tell people what the sex of the baby is. Super cool. Then, today, she posted on her blog about a project she was working on. She decided to sew up a little baby outfit. Sweet. I've been trying to get other people to sew for years so I can have someone to talk to about it. She chatted merrily about getting the supplies and the frustrations of learning how to sew from a pattern (especially one from Burda where the translated instructions aren't always the best). Then she posted pictures of the cute little dress. What? Dress. Oh crap, does she know what she just did? What should I do? Do I comment on the dress and how cute it is (it totally is), or do I email her and say something about letting the cat out of the bag? I take a deep breath and wait until Roland comes home. He says, just give her a call. All righty. I grab Roland's phone (because he has the number in there and I don't have it in my phone) and call her up. She isn't home and I leave a message, but she does call me back later. We had a wonderful far ranging conversation about all sorts of stuff including her little sewing project. I finally just ask if she really meant to give away the gender of her child. She gets very confused. Then she figures out that she forgot to mention one little thing in her post. The outfit isn't for herself. It is a present for another friend who is having a girl in a few months.

Fun with treadmills

Thanks to Dr J and her friend Bugsy for finding
this jem.

Sweet

Roland and I got our anniversary present from my parents yesterday. They sent it late because we were out of town on our actual anniversary and well, it is perishable. They sent us a chocolate mousse cheesecake. It arrived in a large Styrofoam cube which we had to cut open and then it was pretty well frozen and surrounded by plastic bags with dry ice in them. We ended up having to leave it out of the fridge for about an hour before we could actually cut it! Good shipping I'd say.

Anyway, we tried some for dessert last night and it was awesome. Full of rich creamy goodness and mega chocolatey. We both enjoyed it tremendously and are quickly trying to think up other holidays/dates that we can use as an excuse to get more when this one disappears. If you are in need of a gift idea that is different (and delicious) I would suggest sending a cheesecake.

Seriously

The world cutest drug dog in training.

Woot!

Now with 27% more sequins

Another thing I noticed this trip was that Disney has been quietly updating some of their attractions. Well one of them not so quietly. They did update Pirates of the Caribbean and re-opened it when Dead Man’s Chest opened and they made sure everyone knew about that. The update there primarily involved putting audio-animatronic Captain Jack Sparrows in the ride (3 of them). They also added a really cool mist effect at the beginning with Davy Jones made the music better (remastered maybe?) and added some of the music from the new movies. All in all a very nice upgrade. What I hadn't heard anything about but immediately noticed was they have made some improvements to Fantasmic. Most of these changes are in the form of new costumes (Prince Eric's pants were blinding) and different Dragon wings, they also painted the mesh backdrop and changed some of the movie portions. They also freshened up the black light paint on the snake, which I had noticed last time was a little worse for wear. I also noticed that they changed the ending movies at the Great Movie Ride. They added some Pirates and some Narnia among others. I don't know the old one well enough to know what got cut out though. It was nice to see that they are always making improvements.

Buffet Madness

One thing we made a point to do this trip was to try some new restaurants. My favorite find was the place we went for our actual anniversary, Boma. It is a buffet style joint over at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We went to Jiko over there on our honeymoon and really enjoyed it but this time we decided to try Boma. Between us I'm pretty sure we tried almost every dish and I liked every last one of them. Some seriously good food. Some of my favorite items were the butternut squash and creamy corn soups, the calamari and curry noodle salads, the bobotie, the entire dessert table, and a bunch of other stuff. Then to add to the awesomeness of the evening our waitress brought us a special dessert for our anniversary. It was a square platter with some small specialty cookies and truffles and with Happy Anniversary written on it in chocolate, sprinkled with teeny tiny Mickey Mouse shaped sprinkles. It was a fantastic evening and I totally loved it. I highly recommend it.

One of the other new places we tried this time was also a buffet. We tried out the Biergarten over at the Germany Pavilion in Epcot. It was also very good (although my mom makes a better Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte - I think they didn't use any Kirsch or something. I especially enjoyed the various wurst and the braised red cabbage was good as well. It is family seating which means that your party will most likely be sitting with another family. The tables seat eight and they try to fill those up as much as possible. I think I would recommend going for dinner (we went for lunch) because then more people would be up for getting the giant liter sized beers that would be sure to liven up things. They had a good quartet that played a set during the meal including bells and Alphorn. They were quite good and even took a request from someone near the front. Our waitress even told them it was our anniversary and they gave us a toast.

It's just a different style

One of my favorite things this time was back at MGM again. They have this attraction back behind The Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney: Live on Stage called The Magic of Disney Animation. You can watch a short bit where a cast member interacts with Mushu to explain how characters come to life for a movie and then you can go through an exhibit about animators and characters. Then at the end you can go through a short little learn to draw a character segment. A person sits up front and goes through step by step how to draw a character. You can see how he or she does it on a camera and you try to imitate him/her. It lasts about 9 minutes and you have to be quick to keep up, and as I mentioned before they don't give you an eraser.

Now let's get something straight right here and now. I don't draw well. Never have, doubt I ever will. But I love this attraction. I don't care if half of my Pooh was totally bigger than the other so he looked a little trippy. I got to draw Pooh! Some of the young people (mostly middle/high school girls) get very upset if their drawing isn't up to snuff, but I eat this up. The bonus part is you can just do the drawing thing without sitting through the other stuff. I'’m afraid I made Roland do this a number of times while we were there. I got to draw Goofy, Pooh, and Minnie Mouse! It was awesome.