Dog #2

Today was the “big day” I’ve been reminding Sheff, the day I would come home from work with a friend for him!

I picked up Miss Bess on my way home. She’s so much smaller than I thought – kind of beagle-sized. I actually think she looks like a Border Collie / Corgi mix. She rode home in my car wonderfully, curled up and asleep.

The backyard was our neutral ground meeting territory. She didn’t even want to get out of the car because Sheff was barking so loud in nervous anticipation. When I finally dragged her into the yard, they started sniffing, but she has mostly ignored him ever since (she’s been here for almost 4 hours now).

So.. now I brought home Sheff a friend, and he’s excited to have someone to play with, but she won’t have anything to do with him. I feel like Sheff is even more depressed now!!

 

Miss Bess is definitely a people-dog, not a dog-dog. She sticks to me like glue, sits right at my feet and follows me around. Sheff cannot figure out why she doesn’t want to play with him or do more “doggie” things.

She also won’t eat her dinner. We’ve tried several times, and she just knocks her food bowl around, and acts like she’s trying to “bury” her food with her nose. I guess when she gets hungry she’ll eventually eat.

And so.. day #1 of dog #2 = nothing great. I know it takes time for everyone to get accustomed to the new routine, so who knows what tomorrow will bring. At least she hasn’t been aggressive, although I predict that she’s fast becoming protective of me.

However, the most important thing is that I’m saving this dog and helping her find her forever home. If I hadn’t taken her today, she’d still be sitting in a boarding kennel until another foster home opened up a spot.

I’ll be taking both Miss Bess and Sheff to this weekend’s Mardi Growl Pet Parade. It should be a great opportunity for Sheff to see other dogs, and for me to see how Bess is around crowds.

I win!

Back from a fun Nashville weekend! Already got everything put away, the Sunday paper read, coupons clipped, and the week’s dinners planned (nothing excited.. believe me). Watching the Super Bowl now with Sheff and finishing up some school menu analysis.

So… this weekend’s 5K :)

Talk about cold – it was 33 degrees, windy and flurrying! Luckily, I had packed smart, with double layers top and bottom. The Boy didn’t even try on his only pair of sweatpants until that morning.. luckily they fit! But a thin pair of Target sweatpants can only keep one so warm. He also had no gloves, so he borrowed my GAP pink gloves. Oh why did I not take a photo of us that morning!?

Anyway.. we hung out in the Sommet Center until about 2 minutes before the gun went off, to stay nice and warm and people/runner-watch. I think The Boy felt at ease once he saw the variety of people who had signed up. He even said “Geez, I don’t know that some of these people are going to make it!”

The gun went off… we started jogging until the crowd thinned out. Half a mile in a realize that The Boy, Mr “I can walk so fast you won’t be able to keep up” is lagging behind me and looking cold and miserable. I tried to pep him up and throw in some humor or competition to get him to move faster. Fail. He just gave me this look and said “you go ahead”. I felt bad for leaving him in the dust, since this was something he was only doing for me, but knew that if I stuck with him we’d both be miserable (him for being there in the cold, and me for being cold and not going as fast as I wanted to!). So anyway.. I left him and finished just under 41 minutes, about a minute slower than last year. The Boy made it 9 minutes after me, headphones in, looking freezing, mad and zoned out. Poor boy….

We rewarded ourselves with a nice warm Panera brunch. I was so hoping they’d still be serving their breakfast sandwiches, but had to settle for my favorite Cinnamon Crunch Bagel w/ Honey-Walnut Cream Cheese and a coffee instead. Not a bad trade :)

In other weekend news:

We drove around Nashville, stuck in lots of traffic thanks to the many detours going on, and checked out some apartments for The Boy. Hoping he can find something soon and move out of his scary place!

We also discussed the idea of him adopting his own dog (after moving to a better apartment) and fell in love with this adorable Wheaten Terrier/Mix named Christian in a local rescue group. Maybe this will motivate him to be more proactive in the apartment hunt! haha

Random/Misc. News:

Tomorrow we’re getting Bess! I’m trying to get Sheff excited, but right now he just wants to sleep on the couch. Not even watching the Superbowl… tsk tsk

The Winter Olympics starts this weekend!! I only have a few sporting events that I get extremely excited about – that being Tennis Grand Slams, and the Olympics. Friday night is the opening ceremony, and I have a date with my couch! :)

Wonders at the gym

Escaped work early today, which allowed me to hit up PetSmart on my way to the gym and stock up on food, leash, and zoom groom for Bess – who is arriving Monday afternoon! Quite excited :)

In calorie burning news:

Had a longer than usual workout at the gym today. Started with 30 minutes on the Cybex Arc Trainer. I am falling in love with this machine – perhaps my new favorite! It’s kind of a cross between a stepper and an elliptical – one that is able to better and more efficiently engage your muscles without putting as much strain on your joints… meaning you have a better workout, burn more calories, without having to have your heart rate climb as much. And for those of you who know my “lazy heart” issue, it’s great to have this workout and know that my heart won’t explode!

You can read about the machine at www.arctrainer.com . It’s pretty cool!

After the arc trainer, I did a few minutes on the weight machines, and then a quick mile on the treadmill to finish up. After I started walking on the treadmill, this middle-aged guy in a button-up shirt and headband gets on the treadmill adjacent to mine, and starts walking….

with his arms going in huge horizontal “windshield wiper” motions!

I think he was going to hit me! I’ve never seen anyone walk like this. I didn’t want to get off and start again on a different machine, so I just slowed my pace slightly so I was walking towards the end of the treadmill… of course then I started worrying that I would fall off. But I made it, and wiper man kept on going. What a danger to the world!

In calorie consuming news:

Tonight marked the last of the ‘Week of Snobby Joes’. I enjoyed my week – it’s simplicity and frugality. Especially when I opened my power bill and found that I have to pay $250 for the last month of heating this old house. Looks like there will be many more economic and fiberfull lentil and bean-based meals in the coming weeks!

Baked Goods Galore!

I was itching to get home from work today and see a big box in my mailbox. If you remember, last week I participated in the food bloggers’ Bake4Haiti online bake sale, and ended up winning a couple of items.

Today I received my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (one of my faves!) and “matzo crack” from Anna over at Oats’n’Boats. So good!

Only problem now is that I have a batch of cookies, a container of matzo crack, and my leftover break-up bars all in the kitchen. All for one person. A person who does not need so much access to calorically-dense dangers!

And so, here is the plan:

1. Banish remaining break-up bars to the freezer, until my trip to Athens, GA later this month, where old-college-roommate can have them. I know she misses having me around to bake/cook!
2. Take some of today’s goodies to work to share. My coworkers will probably be very hesitant to try baked goods from their dietitian. Especially baked goods received in the mail from a stranger. hahaha.
3. All leftovers will be shared by me and my invisible twin :)

In Non-Baked News:

• The weather today was such an improvement. Sunny skies and mid/upper 40s. All the snow ‘sappeared, and I took a chair out to the backyard and did some reading when I got home, allowing Sheff to explore the back fields (and I think he started licking the deer’s salt block. yuck!). I enjoyed my time reading until I realized my chair was slowly sinking into the ground. Haha!
• I’m gearing up for this weekend’s Nashville Predators’ FANGtastic 5K – only the biggest 5K in Middle Tennessee! Last year, I miraculously finished this race under 40 minutes. Granted I was also training for the half, so that probably helped. Cold rainy weather looks to be in the forecast… let’s hope it turns out OK Saturday morning!
• Oprah’s show tomorrow (Thursday Feb 4th) is solely dedicated to Diabetes and I encourage you all to watch it! Of course I have a few bones to pick with Miss Oprah (always do!)
1. She has Dr. Oz on there (can’t stand him)
2. The show is focused on the dangers of uncontrolled diabetes. Basically a show of scare tactics to motivate people to take their diagnosis seriously. Too bad they can’t have a show with a more positive slant, showing how people can live long, healthy lives and manage their diabetes. But that wouldn’t be exciting for a TV show, would it?

That’s all she wrote!

Today’s Lesson

I’ve been doing lots of reading/researching today on nutrition news, partly for my high school presentation that I’m still working on.

Some really interesting things I’ve come across:

A study out of Austria has shown that young adults with beginning signs/symptoms of schizophrenia might benefit from taking fish oil, possibly prevent psychotic episodes. That would be such a wonderful alternative prevention, rather than relying on antipsychotic meds that all my patients take, with such messy side effects. High cholesterol, obesity are my #1 reason for doctors to call me in for a patient… and yet those are all side effects of their drugs. Not that I think we could prevent everything (and certainly not reverse schizophrenia) with fish oil, but it’s such a healthy and simple thing to try!

We’ve seen girls reaching puberty at earlier ages these days… seems to be affected by the obesity epidemic, and possibly on the hormones in our food production (although that’s fairly controversial). A study shows that obesity may actually have the OPPOSITE effect on our young boys – by delaying their onset of puberty. So now we’ll have even more mature girls, and even less mature boys. Oh this is so not going in the right direction!

Today is day 3 of Snobby Joes week. Loved the tater tots last night, but loved tonight’s roasted broccoli, perhaps even more. I chopped up one crown of broccoli (probably 3 cups raw florets) and ended up eating the whole thing… roasted vegetables are so much better than any other prep method!!

I wonder if I could introduce roasted vegetables into the local schools here. I’ve spent most of tonight analyzing the elementary school menu, reading through their recipes and scrutinizing their food labels. I was impressed to see butter buds in place of butter for their vegetables, but I wonder if the kids would try them roasted. I was semi-impressed to see their choice of bread “made with whole grain” (it’s a step in the right direction at least… although I bet we could get the kids on 100% whole grain). But definitely NOT impressed by their using full-fat mayonnaise in coleslaw, tuna salad, chicken salad, pasta salad, etc; full-fat cheese (come on!! there are so many 2% cheese slices out there), full-fat salad dressings, and margarine filled with trans-fat. Those are some seriously easy and important changes to make!

Alright, Sheff has been whining at me to stop work and watch last night’s episode of House with him on the couch. Sounds good to me!

A Whole Week of Lentils!

I declare this week to be Snobby Joes Week!

What is Snobby Joes, you may ask?

It’s the wonderful vegetarian-friendly version of Sloppy Joes, written in the highly respected vegan cookbook, Veganomicon. You can check out the recipe here.

Sloppy Joes are one of those meattastic dishes that I miss, being a vegetarian (along with crab cakes and pulled pork sandwiches… when someone finds a way to make veggie pulled pork please let me know!!) Last night I whipped up a big batch of the lentil-y goodness, and had it for dinner on a bun, just like any good sloppy joe. Except then I thought, “What should I serve as a side?” and got stuck. I dug around my freezer and found some frozen corn that I microwaved, but it was lacking.

I realized what I really wanted is a bowl of tater tots!!

And so, to save money and leftovers, I made up my mind to eat Snobby Joes for dinner 5 nights in a row this week, until I depart for Nashville for the weekend. I’ll just switch out the side, to keep things interesting :)

It’ll look something like this:

Sunday: Snobby Joes and Corn

Monday: Snobby Joes and Tater Tots (yay!)

Tuesday: Snobby Joes and roasted broccoli (mmmm)

Wednesday: Snobby Joes and Sweet Potato Fries

Thursday: Snobby Joes and __________?

Yeah, I can’t think of the last side dish. Any thoughts?

OK, the smell of tater tots is calling my name to the kitchen. But one quick thing – guess how many tots equals a serving??

9! That’s it! I could practically inhale 9 tater tots. I’ve been working on my presentation for the high-school class today, mostly on portion/serving size, so I’ve been paying lots of attention lately. But seriously… 9 tots?!?!

I baked 18 for myself :)

Bright lights!

I must say, after a couple attempts, I have really found myself mastering the art of building (and more importantly, sustaining) fires!

This fire took us through dinner last night (leftover roasted brussels sprouts and cheese tortellini) and the latest Netflix movie. The movie was OK, but probably not one I’d rush to see again. And then I got lots more reading done.

This morning was the Australian Open Men’s Final! I taped it live, starting at 3:30am, and starting watching it as soon as I got up (around 8:30). Courtesy of the New York Times, here is our champion, after winning his 16th grand slam!

The  driveway was slick and ice-coated this morning as we walked down to pick up the Sunday paper. Somehow Sheff says immune to slipping, but I caught myself a few times! I also threw a couple snowballs at him, which he found puzzling, since they disintegrated when he tried to pick them up with his mouth. haha

Now, the sun is out in full force, we’re above freezing temps, and hopefully all this snow/ice crap will melt and evaporate by the end of the day. In the mean time, it will be another day at home. Trying to get more reading done, as well as working on my projects for the local schools – menu analysis and PowerPoint presentation for my high school class. Adios!

Recipe Review: “Break-Up Bars”

Obviously… snowy weather slushy weather calls for some baking. On my obligatory grocery shop before the storm set in, I wandered down the baking aisle.. not sure what I wanted to make, but sure that I needed to pick up some ingredients. I already have all the flours, sugars, and seasonings at home, but added to my cart – chocolate chips, devils food cake mix, and some cream cheese frosting (I know, canned frosting is nothing like homemade, but I wasn’t in the mood to start from scratch).

Today, deciding what to make (cookie vs. brownies vs. cupcakes vs. other baked good categories) I went through my bookmarked recipes and found these goodies! Called “Break-Up Bars”, they are layers of shortbread, caramel and chocolate, and can ease any emotional female :)

With the recipe calling for 4 sticks of butter (Paula Deen and Julia Child get excited!) and making 24 bars, I felt my arteries constrict voluntarily and decided to halve the recipe (somehow, I can rationalize that, although the nutritional profile remains the same).

This was a fun recipe, and reminded/taught me some new things.

What is the formula again for the area of a circle? Ah yes, pi x radius^2 (don’t you all use this to calculate the area of a pan when you’re changing the quantity of a recipe?? haha)

How do you make caramel without a candy thermometer?

What is this soft-ball stage you speak of?

I found the freezing weather outside to be very helpful in cooling these bars, layer at a time, before adding the next layer.

I was going to  be a good food blogger and take photos at each step, but I found myself having mini kitchen-crises and unable to photo-document the experience. But I assure you that if you go to the origin of the recipe here, you will find beautiful photos and step-by-step directions, written especially for the broken-hearted.

I’ve already had one request for some of these goodies mailed out. That actually might be a good idea, to prevent me from inhaling pounds of butter and sugar by myself.

Tonight…. leftovers for dinner, a homemade fire, and the latest Netflix movie! Oh.. and probably one of these bars with Mayfield’s Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert :)

Slushy

I survived the storm! It ended up being nothing more than 2 inches of slush, so no need to fret. My kind neighbor invited Sheff and I over for the night, which was a nice change of scenery.

Now that I’m back here, showered and dressed, I think it will be an inside kind of day while it continues to rain/sleet outside.

I missed the Women’s Aussie Open finals (sorry Henin, but I was cheering for you in my sleep!) but can’t wait to see Federer and Murray battle it out tomorrow morning. The game starts live at 3:30am… should I wake up early for it? I guess a true Federer fan would. Or I could set it to record, and watch it ASAP when I get up. A Sunday morning with the paper, coupons and Federer is pretty much perfect, right?

As for now, I have Melody Gardot singing away, courtesy of GrooveShark, and a recipe ready for testing, courtesy of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy.

I’ll let you know how it all turns out! :)

My first foster fur baby!

So a few days ago, my mom and I seriously talked about getting another dog around here, for Sheff’s sake. Poor nervous wreck boy… I think all this isolation just isn’t good for him!

But, I didn’t  (and don’t) feel ready to permanently adopt another dog, especially because I have no idea where my life is going, and it’s a huge commitment to bring a dog into your life!

And so… what’s the perfect solution?? Foster for a local rescue group! I’ve had plenty of experience with fostering dogs… we started fostering while I was in high school with Houston Beagle and Hound Rescue, and then my mom switched to Lab rescue (a BIG switch) while I was in college. I think we’ve probably fostered at least 30-40 dogs by now!

After a little googling, I came upon East Tennessee Border Collie Rescue, and contacted them immediately about becoming a foster home. Since Sheff is part collie (at least I think so), I know he’d love to be around another intelligent and active dog. Two days later… I get a phone call about a dog they think would work for us!

So… meet Bess. A lovely, well-behaved 6-7 year old female. She definitely looks like a she has some strong cattle dog DNA in her. She’s been in foster care for a week or so, and isn’t getting along well with her foster brother. Apparently she likes to be the dominant dog. Perfect for us! Sheff is submissive beyond believe, and I think the pressure of being an only/alpha dog is freaking him out.

After we get through the blizzard that is this weekend, Bess should be making her way to our place, and we’re quite excited!!