Smorgasbord #4

I'm getting ready to can pickles with my Grandma and Brianna on Friday. I went to the Farmer's Market in Corsicana to pick up cucumbers that are small enough to become our kind of pickles. I also picked up some dill and a small watermelon. The Farmer's Market was a bit more expensive than the grocery store, but knowing how hard it was for us to grow our garden I didn't mind paying for the hard work that went behind the produce.

4th of July is coming up and I wanted to add a few more decorations to our home. I saw this on Pinterest and it looked easy enough to create. I just bought a cheap picture frame, spray painted it, and printed out the free image to display. The website had a ton of free printables and I may print off a few more for our party next week. I got this garland at Dollar Tree and couldn't resist to add a bit more "pop" to the decor.

Last night, we went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant and I was chowing down on chips and salsa. As soon as we ordered our meal, I started to feel bad and a lot like how I felt at 8 weeks of pregnancy. A few minutes later and I was in the restaurant bathroom paying homage to the porcelain god. We got our food to go and headed home. I don't think Eli particularly likes spicy salsa.

My stomach finally settled and animal crackers sounded good when I got home. We were getting ready to head to bed and I was snacking on my crackers when I saw the doggies looking like Oliver Twist. You would think that we never feed them. I gave them a few crackers and then closed up the lid for the night. They love their animal crackers.

I took the dogs to the pet parlor yesterday because they were in desperate need of a good washing. I asked them to paint Doris' nails. She is a lady and we try to treat her as such. Here she is showing off her pretty pink nails. 

 When I picked them up I asked how Mr. Bates did. They said that he barked the entire time (5 hours!). I felt so bad because Mr. Bates is a very sweet dog, but he is very vocal. Maybe next time we can work it out to where we take him for a shorter period.

Just a little bit of what's going on at Gilburtshire!

More Smorgasbord

Just some random things for this week. I was cleaning up the kitchen last week and glanced out the front window to see this...

 Our neighbor raises goats and every once in a while they get out and run through our front yard. We're not bothered, as they keep the grass down and it makes me feel more like we live on a funny farm.

I was getting ready for work a few days ago and saw how these chubbies were cuddled up with Chris. You can see that he is buried underneath these two, in the top left. I feel bad that Chris hardly gets room in the bed, but I think he likes them cuddling up on top of him.

For Catholic Schools Week, I decorated my door for the Year of Faith. I always try to incorporate my dogs at school. My sis-in-law, Kate, got us a basset hound calendar for Christmas last year. I was a bit upset when the year ended and this calendar was over, but I love that I found a way to use it again. I put a caption above one of the dogs that says, "We have faith in God's plan for us!"

My cousin, JeriLynne, started using acrylic lettering and wanted to make us something as a wedding gift. She had already made these for my cousin's benefit

 These went for a very high price and are worth every single penny. She does an excellent and thoughtful job in creating these pieces.

She made me a set of blocks for Valentine's Day. The other side says "peace" and is for Christmas. They look even better in person. She is very creative and takes pride in her craftsmanship. These blocks look beautiful over the piano. I may have to do some bartering to get some more blocks for the rest of the holidays.

If you are wanting to add some of these lovely pieces to your home, please let me know and I can give you her contact information.

***I think that I will just start having "Smorgasbord Fridays" to just talk about random things going on.

Our Spoiled Babies

Doris and Mr. Bates are treated like our children, so I take full credit for them being spoiled. When we were on our trip we asked each other several times, "I wonder how the doggies are doing?" or, "Doris and Bates would love this!" We really don't like leaving them overnight, so we always ask my cousin to house-sit for us while we are gone. He takes really good care of them and lets them sleep with him. When we came home, they were elated to see us by jumping and licking all over us.

A few days before we left I drove Chris' car and the seat wouldn't stick so it kept rolling back and forth. A funny part of that story is that I drove the car down to my mom's so that I could use hers. The seat was so far back and when I barely tapped the brakes I was slammed forward and my breasts honked the horn. I was so mad at that car, but was also laughing because it was so funny.

Fast forward. Chris had to fix the car so he could drive it the next day for work. The dogs kept barking in the house because they wanted to see what we were doing. Chris closed the garage door and let them come out.

They thought we were leaving again, so they jumped in the car in hopes that we would take them with us.

A few days ago, I had a lazy day with my sister. We chatted and hung out at my house. This is where my dogs decided to hang out

They were so comfy snuggled up with us on the couch. They snoozed most of the afternoon.

And they snoozed all evening with Chris and I

They are our babies and I wonder what will happen when we start having biological children in the near future? I honestly think that they will be great older siblings and will look after them.

Christmas Pictures

A few weeks ago, Chris and I arranged to have Christmas pictures taken with our sweet doggies. We have plenty of pictures with Doris, but not too many with Mr. Bates since he is new to the family. It was a perfect day for pictures in town. I hired my friend, Tammy Koch, to take the pictures. She gave us a fantastic price and really worked with us.

I had bought a "Merry Christmas" felt sign for us to hold. It looks easier than it really was. Trying to hold the sign up, hold my dogs in the right place, and stay in a squatting position was not the easiest task. But it worked

 But most of them turned out like this

It was so hard to keep these doggies looking at the camera. We had the photographer meowing and we tried to turn their heads forward, but that didn't help too much. As soon as they got a whiff of a new smell or a car drove by we lost them.

Here are a few more good shots

Tammy had some suitcases that we could put the dogs in

 But this one is my favorite

Even though we have the saddest looking dogs in the world, they are so sweet and I love this picture. The colors came out so well and the dogs are at least looking at the camera.

And the grand finale....our Christmas card

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

I'm working on writing and addressing cards tonight so they can go out this weekend. I know that if I don't get them done now then they will never get done and I will be sitting with all of these cards in a box.
If I don't post sooner, I hope that everyone remembers the reason for the season. Prepare your hearts for the celebration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!!

Just another day at Gilburtshire

I said in my last post that I was making some new Pinterest recipes. This first one was for a meatball appetizer. It was frozen meatballs, grape jelly, and chili sauce all mixed up and put on low for 4 hours.

I know others have told me that they have used this recipe since their mom taught them, but I never knew about it. They were delicious and a big hit at the Halloween party we went to.

I also made Spice Cake whoopie pies. This was my first attempt with Spice Cake and I have to say that these are probably some of the best whoopie pies that I have made. The spice cake mixed with the cream cheese filling went so well together and tasted somewhat like a pumpkin roll. I had many compliments on these and will remember to make them more often during this fall and Christmas season.

 I also dyed the frosting orange for Halloween flare.

I made this Pinterest recipe last night.

 It didn't have a name, but it was delicious and ridiculously easy. I used chicken breasts, halved new potatoes, and frozen broccoli. I then poured some olive oil over it and sprinkled Italian dressing seasoning on it. It went in the oven for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. 

 The dinner before putting it in the oven

 

And after it was cooked

 

This meal was so delicious that there we NO leftovers. Chris and I devoured this meal. The chicken was very juicy and the seasoning on the broccoli made it melt in your mouth. I would make this any night of the week.

Remember on my last post when I said that we got a new mattress? Well, I think our doggies love it as much as we do. On Sunday, I wanted to wash the sheets with the rest of my laundry, but getting these two out of bed was like an act of Congress.

This is after I told Doris she needed to get up. Can you see that she listened to me?

 I said the same to Mr. Bates and he at least lifted his head.

 But, then he went back to this

He still wouldn't move even with the sheets being pulled up

I finally drug the sheets from under him and he got off them. We have some very sleepy and lazy doggies at our house.
In my next post, I will show you what the doggies are going to be wearing for Halloween.

I said, Hey what's going on??

Gilburtshire has been busy lately. October has been a busy month and it's taken me awhile to sit down and get it all out.

1) We are in the process of refinancing our home. When we bought it, almost 2 years ago, we owner-financed it for 2 years. I was trying to get this done in the summer time when I could commit more time to this lengthy and tiresome process, but things never work out that way, do they?? We're almost done with it except for getting contact information for Chris' last job, which was the Royal Air Force. He hasn't been working there for over 2 years and his base has been nonexistent about a year ago. Trying to find someone who would know my husband and his credentials is becoming a big pain. I have a feeling that this is one of the last things that they are waiting on for us. Hopefully we will get some emails back soon and get this over with.
2) With the refinancing, we are taking out a bit more to do home improvements. Our house was built in the early 70s and it hasn't had a lot of major work on it. We are wanting to put in new windows, as the ones we have are paper thin and several have bb holes in them. We also want 2 new air conditioning units. Ours are off a few degrees and are on their way out. Insulation would also be nice as we can feel air through the outlets.
3) I love my job, but I hate leaving my doggies in the morning. They get up with me, I feed them, and they send me off. This is the saddest face in the world to me. I see this almost every morning after I close the back door and head off to work.

4) Chris and I went to the Texas State Fair with a few friends a week ago. While we were there we ate a Fletcher's Corn Dog, pizza, and Texas-brewed Tea. When I went with my family a few weeks ago, I had a deep fried red velvet cupcake. I would eat that any day of the week.

 

While we were there, we purchased a new mattress. It's similar to a Tempurpedic mattress. We got it delivered the next day and fell in love with our bed. This thing is so comfortable. When you lie on the bed you feel your body sink into it. We have had amazing sleep on this mattress and the dogs love it too. It's hard enough getting them out of the bed already.
5) I tried Taco Pasta Bake from Pinterest last night

I would say it's very similar to a Hamburger Helper recipe, but calls for a bit more cheese. I would cut out some of the cheese for next time. Overall, my husband ate it and we'll make it again for a weeknight dinner. Hamburger Helper would have been a bit easier to make.

6) We're going to a Halloween party this weekend and I'm going to try a new Pinterest appetizer recipe and Spice Cake Whoopie Pies. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Still Caring for Mr. Bates

This little baby is milking every ounce of sympathy he can get from us, including his sister, Doris.

We felt bad for him and let him stay in our bedroom while we were out one evening and came home to this.

We were pretty upset and made him sleep outside. That is until he started barking very late in the night and didn't seem to be stopping, so he slept on the floor. Chris said that he could fix the headboard and pointed out that I didn't like the color of the top square anyways. He may be right.
Even though he is supposed to be taking it easy, he has been playing around, jumping on the couch and bed, and running around the house. Well, he got out of hand and he or Doris took off the scab from his stitches. He needed to go back to the clinic to get it taken care of. He whined the entire way to the clinic and clung to me like static. This is where he decided to sit the entire time.

And here.

And I just figured we might as well take a real picture together. Can you tell that he loves me?

When we got to the clinic they said that him licking the scab is normal and gave him antibiotics and tightened his collar. He now must wear it for an additional week. He is not too pleased with that, but it's his own fault. He should be healed by next week and until then he will be milking the sympathy from us and Doris.

Mr. Bates Loses His Manhood

Chris and I decided to have Mr. Bates neutered; we had Doris spayed a few weeks after we got her. The first thing we learned is that boys are much different than girls when it comes to this surgery. When we took Doris she sat in the car and slept the whole way there and back. She came home, slept some more, and was fine in a few days.
Not the same with this little baby. With Mr. Bates, he whined the whole time we were in the waiting room. They called me at 1 and said that we could pick him up at 4. At 3, when I was just on my way to pick him up, the clinic called Chris and said that we needed to pick up Mr. Bates soon because he was whining so much. When I showed up they were taking him outside and immediately asked me if I was his mother. I walked him back inside and all of the clinic volunteers said is that Bates' mom? They were all beaming that someone was finally taking him home. The volunteer, who gave me his final consultation, handed me a $10 bill. I asked her if he was that bad that they were paying me to take him away. But luckily she laughed and said that I had paid too much. They said that he was not a happy camper and kept barking and whining.

Is that not the saddest and most pathetic face on a dog?
On the way home, he cried, barked, and put his sad little head on my shoulder. I couldn't help but kind of laugh at him.

 Which made me wonder...do female dogs handle pain better than male dogs? Which then brings me to my mother's philosophy that women handle pain better than men. Hmmm....I'll have to think about that one a bit more.

 Doris lying around while Mr. Bates paces in the kitchen.
Mr. Bates must keep his collar on, which he hates, for a week. I'm not sure how that is going to work. Also, he can't be unsupervised around Doris because she might lick his stitches. And, if he needs to go to the bathroom I must take him outside and watch him and then he immediately must come inside. Really wishing we had done this next week when I am out of school and could watch them during the day.

Such a groggy and depressed boy.
He seems a bit normal at home and wants to do everything that he is used to doing. I think he will be just fine as he works that sympathy whine. Just getting us ready for when he have our natural children.