hello, little one!

On December 8, 2010 we welcomed our little boy into the world.

He decided to make his entrance a little early :) This was fine by me for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, he came at 38 weeks on the dot. This means that he was considered a full term baby which was great news! Secondly, I am so pleased that he will not have to deal with a Christmas birthday for his entire life!



As you can imagine, we are overjoyed and totally enamored with the little guy. We all seem to be coping with the sleep deprivation fairly well although I am definitely looking forward to a time when I can sleep more than 2 hours at a time! And the thought of sleeping through the night? Well, that is too much for me to even fathom right now! The excitement would be too much!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all!!
We have so much to be thankful for and it is important that we not forget our blessings.




We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year... for the first time. I am typically very involved in the cooking process, but we've never hosted before.



Especially since I just hit the 9 month mark... I definitely could not have done it without the help of the hubs and my mom. They were unbelievably instrumental in helping getting the house rearranged and tables set up for dinner.


"Please drop something....Please drop something!!"






The "adult" table... (ha! It's my house so I made the cut!!)



The table for the kiddos.



We always have a buffet line of sorts. So, here is the table before it has been loaded down with the delicious Thanksgiving feast!



Amazingly, DM actually picked up the camera. He was kind enough to grab a few action shots.



Of course, he snagged one of the rapidly expanding belly.... I'm not even sure if this picture really does it justice!



Thanksgiving Creme Brulee.... YUM YUM YUM!


My beautiful sister (and mother) helping out making some appetizers for the youngsters.



Speaking of youngsters... here they are lined up for dinner!



An attempt at a smile... no such luck....





I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours!

m.e.s.s.

Since you've been so kind thus far to indulge me in my life that revolves around food... I thought I should share a tidbit with you. You know, to keep things honest around here.

So, this was my kitchen after making a few different things the other night. Like Woah. This is what happens when your dishwashers are already running and you scarcely have a moment between things to do for the different recipes.


I'm a little scared as to what Thanksgiving will bring.

Cheese Wafers

I know... food posts... Sorry, I can't help myself. These were actually supposed to be for last week but, as I mentioned, Blogger hates me and wouldn't let me upload photos.

Anyway, someone in town makes the most delicious cheese wafers. Whenever I'm in the mood and I think about it, I will try to recreate them. Honestly, I've only done it a couple of times because I have the memory of a walnut. But that's not the point. I decided to make a few the other day (in two different flavors...hence the different colors) and they aren't as great as the mystery person's wafers but they are pretty good.



So, I think I'll keep 'em. And gorge myself on them.

Aaaaaaand you might get out of more food posts in the near future but since that is what will be driving my existence over the next few days.... you might not. Just think of it as a Thanksgiving teaser!!

Cornbread Stuffn'

I may have mentioned... but I'm not a huge stuffing fan. So, I'm testing and tweaking a couple of recipes for stuffing this year and I found one I really like. Sure, everyone else might think it tastes like a foot but who cares?! Last night (EDIT: Tuesday night. Blogger hates me and has decided not to let me upload photos at my own discretion) I decided to try out a new recipe- with a few changes to fit my personal taste (are you noticing that it is all about me? I should seek some help.) It's a cornbread stuffing so that is what I had to make first. I choose to make my cornbread in a skillet. Because I live in the middle of nowhere and it seems like the right thing to do. Plus, it makes me feel all farm-y and like I belong on a giant homestead where Maw makes her cornbread in the skillet while Paw rounds up the cattle for feedin'.

Sorry. I have a vivid imagination.

Look, I'll show you a crappy picture because it was nighttime and the lighting stunk but I was too lazy to do anything about it (I'm nothing if not honest...)



Moving on, my cornbread underwent a transformation and became stuffing. The end.


*I should really work on my story-telling skills....

Puppy Love

I don't think I tell you enough how much I love our puppy dogs...

I know what you are thinking... that I tell you too much. But, trust me, it isn't enough!!



This dog? Well, I can't help but be utterly smitten. He pretends to be aloof and independent. But he's not. It's all a show. He pretends that he doesn't care if I'm around. But he does. He might not be constantly at my heels like the others but even though he will let me out of his sight for a few minutes he will undoubtedly follow me to wherever my final destination is. And I sort of think that is his MO... to make sure that I am in my final destination before he drags himself out of whatever his current sleeping position may be and lumbers to my new location to, of course, find a new sleeping position.

Something Scary

Well, here is something utterly disturbing that I thought I should share. This is what I've managed to do to my office today... and it is noon. Send help.

Fabulous Fall

For as much as I whined and complained about the cold weather the other day (sorry... thanks for listening!) I must admit.... it is a beautiful autumn day today.

I'm loving the warmer weather and the fall foliage :) If the weather could stay warm I would be in heaven!

And I know what you are thinking and the answer is no. I have not been diagnosed with multiple personalities. Key word: Diagnosed.

Relax!

During football season (especially once cold weather hits) a lot of our weekend afternoons are spent curled up in the den watching game after game on TV.




Whereas it used to bother me tremendously (and, on really nice days it still does)...on chilly days I've learned (or, am learning) to appreciate it. Because it means snuggling up with puppies and taking advantage of whatever relaxation we can find. And I'm all about relaxation...

Holiday Idea

I just thought I would share this.

A couple of days ago, we received a very sweet baby gift from some friends in Texas. It came wrapped in Christmas decor (yikes...it is just around the corner!) and I must admit, there was something about the wrapping that I loved.

This little guy! The little felt Santa that you can turn into an ornament. I've used ornaments as wrapping accouterments many times before so perhaps I am a little biased... but nevertheless I thought it was very cute!

And, it can be something you try out this holiday season!

The Perils of Fall...

(First of all, before I get started, let me just say that I chose this picture because, for whatever reason, I like it a lot. Some random lady shot it of us when we were in the mountains a couple of years ago. I have another version- probably a better version so I don't know why I didn't choose that- and yes, I could go back and change it, but quite frankly it takes a long time to upload pictures on this site and I'm too lazy awesome. Now that I think about it- the other version is way better. We look better and you can see more of the mountains and the fall colors. I really should have chosen that one. So, just pretend it is a better picture. Looking at this one I don't even like it. So, yeah, pretend it is a better picture. Secondly, at the moment, it just seems pretty cool that at some point in my life I was able to fit in a pair of jeans that didn't have a gigantic elastic waistband that came up to my shoulders... Now on to the post!!)




Sooooo.... I do it every year.

Every single year.


In the midst of summer I yearn for fall. As I'm out sweating buckets while dealing with the animals, or trying to peel my melted skin off the scorching hot seats of my car I think of the cooler days autumn will bring and I smile. And I must admit, I was exceptionally nostalgic for cooler weather this year as my body is pumping an inordinate amount of blood through my veins thereby increasing my internal temperatures to that of the sun. Plus or minus a few degrees, of course. Anyway, in reality I've never really been able to fully appreciate fall. Because, as beautiful as it is, it means that winter will soon come screaming like a madman from around the corner and knock us all out. I do not love gray days with naked trees. I do not like bundling up in layer upon layer of clothes until I am scarcely able to move my arms and they just hang from my body at a 45 degree angle... I just do not like it. But, during the heat of the summer I think to myself "You know what? Fall won't be so bad. It will be great to have cooler weather!" Then I go on about my merry way reveling in my optimism that the changing season will bring me great happiness and comfort.

And then it happens.

Fall arrives.

And I curse it.

Because, the truth is, we will have a few days of pretty, cooler weather and then the North Carolina weather patterns start kicking in. Which means reasonably nice days with absolutely frigid nights. Which means layering clothing less you want to turn into an icicle in the morning while walking to your car or, in my case, going to fend off 1000+ pound animals as they try to steal their buckets of food from me before I've had a chance to even walk through the gate. Which means constantly putting blankets on said large animals and then taking them off, and putting them on, and taking them off, and putting them on, and taking them off. I think you get the idea. Or, as the past couple days have been, it does not mean reasonably nice days with frigid nights, it means frigid days with frigid nights. And today it means frigid and rainy with a frigid night.

And so I sit here and yearn for summer. For the hot air that is so thick it is hard to breathe. For the bugs and the buckets of sweat, and the melted skin on the seats of my car.

Cookies!!

Our annual Oktoberfest- Beer & Brats was held at my office this week. Everyone is asked to bring a dish so.... I chose cookies. And I made them from scratch...because I am awesome. They are chocolate with toffee and, in my humble opinion, delicious. The problem? Now I have extras at my house which I need to get rid of STAT! Because if my face gets any "rounder" (as my mother has mentioned) or "retains any more fluid" (as my boss has mentioned) they are going to tie strings to me and walk me down the streets in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Love,
All of us at THREE DOGS ANIMAL SANCTUARY
xoxo

Amusement

While in the mountains... we went to a little amusement park- to be discussed further at some random time in the future when I finally get around to it.



The boys (well, most of them) decided to hop on a ride or two.



This one was called "The Tornado" and it was basically a cross between the teacup ride and the giant swing ride you see at amusement parks.



You hop inside this little round pod which has a wheel in the middle. That wheel controls how fast your specific pod will spin. Meanwhile, the entire pod is swung around in a circle along the perimeter of the ride.



Did I explain that well? No? Sorry, I haven't had much sleep and, ummm, also I don't know how to explain it.



The boys loved it...



And it looked pretty fun too! As long as you don't think about whether or not the maintenance on a machine like this is up to date, whether your pod will unhinge itself and go flying over the edge of the mountain, etc. You know, things like that.



I'm pretty sure they weren't thinking about that.



They probably weren't either