This Thing Called Life

I’m doing it.

I’m doing it as best I can.

I'm doing it by rote some days.

I’m doing it in survival mode some days.

I’m doing it with all the patience and humor I can muster every day.

I’m doing it with an awful lot of impatience and frustration, too.

I’m doing it with tears and laughter and self-doubt and prayers and determination.

I’m doing it with yelling and slammed doors and some sharp words, as well.

I’m doing it with hope that tomorrow will be easier.

I’m doing it when that tomorrow is even more painful or difficult than any day before it.

I'm really trying to enjoy it, but oftentimes I just do it because I have no alternatives.

I'm doing it when there are moments of joy.

I’m doing it when it isn't enjoyable, too.

I’m doing it because no one else will.

I'm doing it for those times when I feel a sheer rush of exhilaration.

I’m doing it when it’s bone crushing hard work.

I'm doing it and trying to learn something new each day.

I’m doing it when the day’s events bore me to tears.

I’m doing it when it’s nothing but disappointments and failed plans.

I’m doing it even on days when the nicest thing I could say about it is nothing at all.

I hope someday I can be less critical of how I'm doing it.

This thing called life…

Hand the Girl a Coke

In 1971 I was a blond-haired, blue-eyed second grader at Dean Goodsell Elementary School.  Mrs. Inez Nelson was my teacher and the most devastating thing that happened to me that year was not getting invited to Cherie Kelsey's birthday party.

1971 is also the year I fell in love with Coca Cola.

It was this commercial.  Even today it still ranks as one of my all-time favorites!

And I don't mean it was the soft drink that I fell in love with.  My family rarely drank soda or pop... or as we called it soda pop.  That is a bad habit I didn't pick up until my college years.  What I fell for was the whole idea of granola-munching, tree-hugging, sandal-clad people (even though I'd never think to string those descriptions together until much later in life) whose only interest was sharing the love worldwide.  Seeing this on tv is about as radical hippie-peace-freak as my ultra conservative little community ever got.

I'd like to buy the world a home
And furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees...
And snow white turtle doves!

What a way to sell a lifestyle!  And Coca Cola was at the very center of it.  When I pick one up today, that's still the jingle I hear begin inside my head more than 40 years later.  That's powerful!

Last night and today, the social media world is buzzing about Miley Cyrus' performance... appearance... spectacle... I'm not sure what to call it at the 2013 MTV Awards.  Except shocking.  It was shocking!  And it leaves me wondering if she, and other young (and often equally shocking) performers today are shaping the thoughts of today's youth the way this Coke commercial affected me.

If you're a parent, that's got to be a sobering and frightening thing to consider!

Rather than rant with outrage like so many folks are doing, maybe today I'm going to just retreat into my happy place and count it as a blessing that I won't be here to know what the world is like in 2055.

Now... hand me a Coke!!  I'm gonna go work on furnishing that home with love!

The Dog Fight

Thunder has the stand up ears.  Lightning's stents broke skin and we
removed them so his ears flop.  The vet tells me this can be "fixed"
and so that's our plan as soon as money is available to do it!
This is their 6 month picture.

I've always thought that if you spent all the money to get papered dogs you should breed them.  And that's been our plan all along... when the boys mature, find someone with good quality females and let them make some babies.  But getting them through this teenage hormone rush to actually be mature dogs might just change my mind!  It's surely challenging my patience!!

Yesterday, from early afternoon until after midnight was a series of battles.  It ended with both dogs having bloody, though not serious, wounds and me sitting on the couch shaking from stress.

Rounds 1, 2 and 3 were the usual posturing for dominance, complete with bared teeth, snarls and gobs of slobber.  It's the part of their arguing that looks terrifying but rarely goes past the point of posturing.  I don't like that they do it, but I know what it is and how to deal with it.

Round 4 is where when it started going farther.  Thunder's nose got nicked and bled profusely.  There were blood spatters all over the basement floor and up the walls.  A little time, half a roll of paper towels and nearly a full bottle of peroxide later the crime scene motif was gone.

Rounds 5 and 6 were minor scuffles but Thunder's wound got reopened and bled more.  We have an old comforter tossed on the couch downstairs for times when the AC leaves us shivering.  It now looks like it might have once held a bloody corpse in its folds...

Round 7 was time for retribution, I guess.  Lightning ended up with a gash, probably a bite, on his lower front leg.  It looks to be just less than an inch long, fairly deep and ran a stream of blood for almost an hour.  He didn't want to put weight on it for awhile but seemed ok walking by the time we went to bed.

Round 8 found me spread eagled on my tummy over the ottoman with elbows locked and a dog collar in each hand to keep them separated.  That's where Derek found us when he got off work at 12:00 and rushed to answer my SOS call.

In between these fight rounds they are the best of friends.  They will sit and lick each other's wounds with the utmost of concern... the very wounds they just inflicted only moments before.  And run and play and eat from the same dish side by side.  Maybe they are perfectly normal boys?  I don't know.  But I find their behavior completely disconcerting.

While they're being playful and cute and lovey, I still think they'd make awfully cute babies.  And then in the next breath, while they're fighting, my mind screams... cut the nuts!  I don't know yet if we'll get them neutered right away or try to survive their unaltered adolescence awhile longer.

What I do know is that last night was difficult to endure!

Lizard in the House

Between trips up to shuffle dogs in and outside, I sat down and was looking at Facebook and Pinterest... you know, killing time.  Something caught my attention on the floor near our walkout basement door and when I got up to investigate it was a little lizard, maybe 2 1/2 to 3 inches long, with gray and tan stripes going the length of its body and a brilliant blue tail.

Decision point:  Do I freak out, climb back on the couch with my legs tucked under me screaming "Lizard!!" and hyperventilating or do I worry more about if it's poisonous or just a curiousity if the dogs get ahold of it?

It's already been a rough day with dogs making messes (and chewing up remotes and 'helping' me bring dirty clothes down to the laundry) and price gouging by a plumber.  Of all the service people I've ever needed to call in to help on a house project, it's the plumber that always leaves me feeling like my checkbook has been raped.  Seriously... It was almost $300 to replace a 7" piece of copper pipe and another $200 to flush the drain in our shower.  I shot him down when he wanted $215 each to put handles on the water spigots outside.  That's a $2 part at Home Depot and while I have no clue how to do it right now, I'm a smart girl and for that price I will figure it out.

Enough rant.  Obviously, the plumber has me a little disgruntled and upset...  So freaking out about the lizard would have been easy.  Oh, what a fit I could have pitched!

But I didn't.

I Googled it instead.  If the reports about the NSA keeping tabs on our computer activities is true at all, I bet someone finds my Google search record both fascinating and... disturbing.  Probably more disturbing than fascinating, really.

Oh well.  Back to the lizard...

It's a Brittle Blue Tailed Lizard that's seemingly taken up residence in our basement.  It's there along with a couple of cave crickets I've been ignoring since it's supposedly bad luck to kill the little beasties and I haven't been bothered by them quite enough to find a cup, dance around like a maniac and catch them for release outside.  My laziness has granted them a reprieve and probably will with the lizard, too.  I'm not too proud to admit that.  Ignoring it gets me out of doing a lot of stuff. Or I guess if I'm putting it in more flattering terms... Unless it poses a real threat I'm pretty much of the opinion 'live and let live.'  And this little lizard doesn't seem to be any threat at all.

Photo from http://www.georgiabackyardnature.com

This one isn't who's in my basement... he (or she?) moved too fast for me to get a picture.  I didn't even get a single bad shot so I'm borrowing one from someone else who's had a lizardly encounter.  These blue tails are non-poisonous, eat lots of insects in the garden and around the foundation of a house.  I understand they will bite if cornered and provoked, but it sounds like even the bite is no big deal to human or dog.  That bright blue tail is a decoy device and it breaks off if you grab it then the lizard grows a new one.  Going out on a limb here and saying that's the 'brittle' part of it's name?

All those advice memes urging you to do something you've never done before... yeah, I think I'm good on new things for awhile now.  Thank you very much!  Seems like almost every day lately has been throwing me into doing new things.  Willingly often; otherwise pretty frequently, too.

Crusty Bread Love

Today it was rainy and cold... it felt much more like October than August and so it seemed like my best shot in months at a bread baking day.  Besides, there's a recipe I've been holding back for just such circumstances.  It's one of those recipes that sounds almost too good to be true.  There's only 4 ingredients, no kneading and the promise of an amazing rustic crust.  I mixed it up this morning and left it to sit the requisite 12 hours.  It just came out of the oven.  Of course, I couldn't wait to take a taste!

Here's a link to the recipe I followed for Super Amazing Easiest Bread.

Yes!  It is as crusty as it looks and it cracked open like that all by itself!!

What I loved about this bread, besides the fact that it was beyond beginner level easy, was the crust.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!  The crust is amazing!  While I think I will get a sourdough starter bubbling away again and use it for bread, I am definitely going to be baking it using this method.

Just learning how to get that amazing crust was worth the effort of making this bread today!

Seriously!  The crust is that good!!

The texture, or crumb, of the bread is nice!
And I sliced it just moments after pulling it from the oven.

In the linked recipe, she mentions that she reduced the salt from 1 3/4 tsp down to 1 tsp.  I'd put it back to 1 3/4... I didn't think it tasted like it had nearly enough salt.  It was flat like that first generation no sodium bread from 30 years ago.  More salt would probably take care of most of what I thought it was lacking in the flavor.  [Edit:  It did seem extraordinarily flat tasting when it was fresh from the oven, but when I had more this morning it is actually pretty darn good bread as is.  I admit it... I rushed to judgement!] The addition of other flavorful ingredients would also be a tremendous boost in taste.

Maybe I will try this recipe one more time and add some parmesan cheese, Italian herbs and garlic powder.  A bit of finely chopped olive salad and some shredded sharp cheddar would also make a delicious variety of this bread.  And so would just some dried rosemary, then serve it with a little bowl of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar (aka Italian butter) for dipping.

And... I'm sorry, sweetheart, but we WILL be buying some covered clay baking pans.  Not sure where we're going to find them yet, but find them we will!  My one covered casserole dish that's big enough to hold a loaf just isn't going take care of all the baking I want to do.