Oh Ebo!

Oh Ebo!  Friday the Sheriff and I brought home a fifty pound four legged bundle of fur AKA a German Shepard puppy named Ebo (or as of right now known as the little terrorist).  Yes, we are crazy!  We met Steve the breeder down in Fallbrook after a three hour drive due to an overturned semi-truck, met the little terrorist who was super sweet at the time but oh so SMELLY and brought him home after a quick do it yourself bath at a local feed barn.  Ebo got along with Gracie, let Mr. Pie walk him and was an all-around god dog until we were all under the same roof where he and Gracie exchanged a few words. We put Ebo in a crate to kind of help him get used to the new sounds, smells, and surroundings, he was a PERFECT dog, he never barked, was chill and I was thinking “we got this”.  Saturday we took everyone to the park after a quick trip to the pet store to buy a new crate for Gracie in Ken’s truck and a quick breakfast.  Everyone was doing great!  We spent three hours at the park working on basic commands, walking in a pack, playing ball and not eating our poop (Ebo) and everything was great.  Gracie and Ebo exchanged a few words and Gracie clearly dominated the conversation and basically told Ebo to shape up or ship out.  We took the two tired pups and the three tired humans to Costco, I whipped up a roast for dinner (a first for me) and we all settled in for a quiet night in front of the TV watching “Home Alone” (Mr. Pie had never seen it, can you believe that?).  Sunday rolled around, I decided Ebo and I needed some alone time so I took him for a walk, he did really good and seemed to pick up corrections fairly quickly. Ebo met some of the neighbors and learned how to jump into my car (we start puppy classes tomorrow, he and I).  We took him to get microchipped and some vaccinations and again he was great.  After a quick trip to the doughnut shop for Mr. Pie we headed home and I left the boys so I could go home and start packing up my garage because that’s right I SOLD my condo and I have to be out in a couple weeks.  The Sheriff and Mr. Pie played with the pups until it was time for the Sheriff to head to work (midnight shift, boo) and Mr. Pie to head to his Mom’s house. I showed up about an hour after they left, took care of the dogs and then went back to my house to sell a few items I had posted online from yesterday’s garage clean out.  After I sold the items, I headed back to the Sheriff’s house and as I opened the front door I looked into the crate and I could not see Ebo (panic set in), seconds later both he and Gracie greeted me at the door.  WTH.  I quickly surveyed the scene, checked the bedrooms and I was pleasantly surprised that everything looked good until I walked into the kitchen and there was PEE everywhere, that damn dog peed all over the kitchen.  I called the Sheriff to let him know what his dog had done and then went to wrangle the pups.  Ebo was starting to get a little rowdy and Gracie was starting to get pissed and as I was standing there telling Ebo “NO” the little terrorist bit my leg hard.  I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and told him in a forceful way “NO” and marched him out to the garage crate, I was not going to mess with him anymore, I was done.  Ebo spent the night outside (he has a nice fur coat to keep him warm) I mopped the floor, showered and ate ice cream until it was bedtime.  This morning the Sheriff asked me to find a large wire crate online for cheap, I logged on to Facebook, found one for $50 that was located close to my office and at 1pm today I will purchasing it, no negotiations, nada, it will be ours soon!  

Milo had chewed the crate initially and we fixed it.  Ebo found the weak spot and destroyed it along with squeezing through the small opening.  And the towel inside the crate was on the outside when I left him.

I laughed when I saw " I am surprised "THEY"did not tear anything up", Gracie is perfect it is more like "EBO" that he should be worried about.

I know he will get better, he has had ZERO training so it will just take time.  Pray for me and send wine!! 

I'm Dreaming of....

I am starting to dream about the holidays!   I have had some Christmas tunes playing in the car a bit, found a cute little project for the Sheriff  or Super Dad me to complete and I am dreaming of all of the food that will be cooked/served and enjoyed with others.  

I am not sure how Christmas is going to go down this year, the Sheriff has it off which is nice, there is Mr. Pie to consider (not sure how much we are going to have to share him this year), then there is the Sheriff’s parents (I invited them to over via the Sheriff, but…..) and then there is my family who of course I want to be with, so things are complicated.  So instead of dealing with logistics I am dreaming of comfort food for the holidays.  I saw this pass by my Facebook feed a few weeks ago and I am thinking that I will be making it on Christmas morning for whoever wants to enjoy it with me. 

The Sheriff does not eat bread, so more for me!!

1 Baguette

5 large eggs

1/3 cup heavy cream or whole milk

4 oz cooked bacon bits

4 oz cheese

2 green onions thinly sliced

In a medium bowl, mix eggs, cream, bacon, cheese, and onions.

Cut a long rectangle through the top of the baguette and partially unstuff the baguette. Spoon the mixture into the baguette.  Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F.  Cut and serve while still warm.

Then there is the Christmas tree, I love the smell of a fresh tree from Home Depot (LOL, the private Christmas Tree lots are EXPENSIVE!) but the thought of shelling out $60 + dollars, watching it die a slow death and throwing it away kills me.  I am not sure I can do the traditional fake Christmas tree, so I have found one made out of recycled materials that is a bit different and will fit the small space we have and it won’t die or cost a lot of my hard earned $$$. All I need is Super Dad’s amazing skills, tools and expertise to get er done! I am thinking of modifying the design so it can be taken apart and stored somewhat easily in the off season.   

I am thinking or replacing the bow with a start and OF course colored lights will be used because white lights are LAME-O!

Oh and Happy Thanksgiving, as always we have so much to be thankful for!  #cantforgettheturkey

Remember This?

So you remember this post and this one?  The second was quite heated, very emotional and probably more info than you all needed to know.  I had and still have strong feelings about getting a puppy.  I miss Milo, he was a rad dog but I am not gonna lie, things regarding selling the Sheriff’s house have been a lot easier with one dog, not to mention the dog hair has been cut in half. The Sheriff and I have talked about getting a puppy and we agreed to wait for a litter that won’t be ready until the end of August if all goes to plan. Well the puppy gods are laughing in my face and on Friday we are headed to Fallbrook to check out a one year old male German Shepard and wouldn’t you know he is from that litter that we visited almost a year ago, yes, the same litter that I said “NO NO NO!” to.  I don’t know how things will go and if and that is a BIG if we get this pup it is going to take some work to make it work for all of us.  Time for me to reread all of the reasons I do not want a puppy again!  

THREEEEEEEE YEARS!!!

Today marks three years that the Sheriff and I have been dating!  I keep looking at the Sheriff and saying “THREE YEARS, THREEEEEEEE Years” and then I add my famous line “this is all your fault”, said when things get a little hairy and he starts shaking his head,  I am always quick to remind him that he pursued me, so therefore this is all his fault and if you want to read more juicy details click here, here, here and here.  Ha, who am I kidding, there are no juicy details, just life!  Happy THREEEEE years to my main squeeze. 

Too Cute!!

I just can't help it, they way are too cute not to share!  I totally stole this photo from my SIL Shannon's facebook page, so all the photo and cuteness credit goes to her.  

Attempting to take a Christmas card worthy photo!

Happy Birthday 70th Grampy!

Saturday afternoon we celebrated Grampy’s 70^th birthday!  I cannot believe he is 70 years old, that is really starting to get up there.  Thankfully he does not act like an old man and seems to have some young blood still running through him.  My parents also wanted to take some family photos since it has been awhile and we have two new sweet additions to the family.  My Mom was not picky on what everyone showed up wearing and with so many people it can be challenging to coordinate everyone’s outfits, but believe it or not we all showed up color coordinated for the most part, it was pretty funny.  Everyone cooperated and it did not take long to get all of the shots they wanted.  We also enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner since we are all pretty much going separate directions this Thanksgiving.  Super Mom made an amazing turkey breast (way better than a whole turkey in my opinion), mashed potatoes, the spinach casserole, brussel sprouts, rolls and cranberry sauce all made it to the table as well via the siblings.  The kids (Mr. Pie & Cole) behaved a million times better than the last time we got together (thank goodness), I have come to the conclusion that it is best to keep them plugged in at all times.   The babies are officially on the move, oh my goodness, they are the cutest things ever and I seriously could sit and stare at them all day long.  

Mari is freaked out that Grampy is 70!

Caroline is helping Grampy figure out his math problem, Mari and Grampy are shocked he is that OLD, Grampy needs a little help with his candles and Mari is late to the party!!

Girlfriend is over the selfies!

Trick or Treat & Birthday FUN!

Happy Birthday & Happy Halloween!

Super Mom bought all of us tickets to a Haunted House at the Newland House in Huntington Beach to get us in the spooky spirit of Halloween, the event venue had the potential to a really good event but it totally bombed and it was nothing like the advertising said it would be, oh well the kids still had a good time.

The little kids!

The BIG kids!

The babies were really tired and hungry so they were not up for having their picture taken.

After the Haunted House we went out to dinner to celebrate Super Mom's birthday, it was nothing fancy, just Avila's El Ranchito but it was quick and could accommodate a large group.

The Birthday Girl!!

Grammy and her kiddo's

Make a WISH!

Getting a little help from everyone!!

The babies were up WAY past their bedtime but they were troopers, look how big they are getting!!

Not a fan of Grammy's birthday cake, more for me!

Mr. Pie dressed up as Michael Myers (I have no idea who that is) but he was happy so that is all that matters.  Mr. Pie had plans to trick or treat with his buddy Charlie but early in the day Mr. Pie got sick and puked so we had to cancel his trick or treat and sleep over plans.  After a three hour nap he rallied and wanted to eat dinner and go out trick or treating so I took him with the neighbor girl and the Sheriff stayed home to hand out candy.  We think that Mr. Pie ate too many samples way to fast and that is why he got sick, he never had a fever and it was a one time puke.  We were going to take Gracie with us but her prong collar became really loose and she was barking at everyone so I kept her home. 

3 Years Later & How it All Got Started!!

TRUTH!

The Sheriff and I have been dating for three years come the end of this month, crazy to think it has been that long.  Somedays it seems like he has been part of my life FOREVER and other days it seems just like yesterday that we met, crazy to think that it all started with a click of a button.  For some of you, you may not know the back story of how we met, because I don’t think I have ever shared this on the blog and I never really planned on sharing it, but it has been three years, so I think I can share it now.  For starters we met on match.com, if any of you have ever tried your hand at online dating, dude it is intense and not for the weak.  Only a few people knew I was doing the whole online dating thing and I only told a select few for safety reasons (otherwise I would of kept it a secret) in the event that I went missing they would be able to tell the cops where I was and who I was with.  I had been on match.com for a few weeks, it was lame and was not working for me so I had pretty much decided that I was cancelling my membership but waited to the end of the month before I was billed AGAIN.  Throughout my short lived time on there, there was this guy who started messaging me out of the blue, he would send a couple messages and then disappear mid conversation, it was annoying but whatever I did not really care, I was not interested and done with online dating so whatever.  After a few more random messaging sessions I looked at his profile again and he had mentioned something about paddling, hmmm, I thought for a moment do I know this guy?  I was in my second season of paddling at this point and kind of freaked out that our paths might have already crossed.  Because paddling was a huge part of my life at that moment, I knew I wanted to meet someone who liked water sports, paddled or was willing to give paddling a try because I was not going to give it up for “some guy”.  I messaged him asking about the paddling reference on his profile and explained to him that I paddled for DOCC, I did not put any of that on my profile because I did not want any of the crazy online daters to be able to track me down anywhere.  We chit chatted a bit about paddling, my online dating experience was coming to an end, this guy would pop up here and there and for some crazy reason I gave him my phone number in the event that wanted to contact me again.  I moved on with my life, kind of forgot about him until he started texting me again, again it was very sporadic and I really did not care.  Sometimes I would respond, sometimes I would not, this went on for a long time, we are talking months people, he asked me out a couple time, I always found reasons to say “no”, then one night, Friday, November 23 to be exact, this guy texted me late at night, I was in bed and sound asleep so I did not get it until early the next morning as I was getting ready to head out to winter paddling practice.  I knew he was working late at night so I thought ok, if this guy is going to text me late at night when I am sleeping, then I am going to text him early when he should be sleeping, so I did and I was surprised that he responded saying “you must be going paddling”, I responded “yep” and he said “can I come?”, I said “umm, well, yes, I guess, I can’t really stop you” and he said “I will see you at Baby Beach” and then panic set in!  After I had an internal freak out moment, I thought to myself this is perfect, I have not showered, my hair is a mess and I have no make-up on, I will NEVER hear from this guy again, fantastic, I cannot wait to get this over with!!  So we meet at the beach, he meets my friends, I have no idea how to introduce him so I kind of just left him alone to fend for himself, he seemed to be getting along with my friends, my friends kept looking at me with the look of “who is this guy” and I tried to keep it together and told them I would explain everything later.  We paddled, it was fun, practice was over and now I had to talk to him again, all of my friends were going to breakfast so I reluctantly invited him along.  We devised a plan on what to say to people if they asked how we knew each other, saying it was through work, but up until that point he had no idea where I worked and I did not really want to tell him but I did making him promise he would not become some crazy stalker.  We had breakfast with my friends, hung out afterwards in the parking lot and then that was it.  I was pretty sure that I would never hear from him again and I was cool with that.  I was wrong he texted me later in the day asking if my friends liked him, I did not respond for a long time, not sure why, I guess I had just mentally prepared myself for not hearing from him again and wondered why he was continuing to contact me.   To my surprise he wanted to go out again, so we had a coffee date, where I basically told him if you are not looking for a long term relationship or you want to play stupid mind games DO NOT WASTE MY TIME, my clock is ticking and I do not have time to mess around with stupid guys.  Yes, again I was prepared to never hear from him again and wouldn’t you know it he kept calling and the rest is history! 

Now it is time for a ring and some babies, my clock is ticking!!!

Hungry?

Apparently we will not be eating dinner on Sunday, doh!

Week two of our meal plan and I feel like I have scored a major victory, I planned ahead (two weeks in a row), shopped and now it is time to chow down.  Last week’s dinner plan did not go exactly as planned, on Thursday we had an unexpected/expected (aka the Sheriff forgot they were coming over) visit from the Sheriff’s parents at lunch time, so being that I come home every day for lunch their unexpected visit made it possible for me to finally meet them.  Yep, after three years of dating I finally met them, don’t ask me why it has taken soooooooo long to meet them, that subject has a huge range of emotions on my part.  Anywho, they waited for me to get off work and we all went out to dinner so no cooking that night and Saturday night due to the thawing out of some lobster meat that was going to be used in Thursday night’s dinner we rearranged things on Saturday night, so some of last week’s dinner plans made it onto this week’s line-up, do you follow?   

I mentioned last week that I would be making a honey balsamic chicken dish and I would report back as to how it was, it was a newbie and I am always nervous cooking new meals as if it is my job to make sure it tastes good and lives up to everyone’s expectations.  Well, let’s just say winner winner chicken dinner!  It was so easy to make, I made the marinade for the chicken the night before and marinated the chicken overnight for added flavor, chopped up the potatoes and tomatoes, drizzled some olive oil, salted and peppered the dish, topped it with chicken and threw it in the oven and lightning speed.  After about 20 minutes I added the asparagus and dinner was done!  I also made a really good white wine sauce (recipe below and found somewhere on the internet by my assistant google) for our zoodles and clams lobster; did you know that finding fresh clams is darn near impossible?  

White Wine Sauce

4 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

5 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 white wine

1/2 chopped parsley

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat.

Add garlic, red pepper and sauté until golden.

Add salt, pepper, wine and butter.

Stir for 2 minutes, remove from heat and add pour on zoodles.