Our new addition...Champ!

Every boy needs a dog, or so the saying goes. So we finally have a dog again. We have been putting off getting another dog for several years now, and Nathan has been bugging us for several years now! Recently we started looking and I told Nathan to pray for the right dog to turn up. We have never paid for a full breed dog, but Dave didn't want to go to the pound either. So we contacted the Lab rescue society and were approved for adoption, right after we had called about an older lab puppy in town. We were torn as to what to do; keep our appointment to see the dog, or just wait a week and get a puppy from the rescue people. We decided to just look at the lab in town. The owners told us he was almost a year old and they only had to get rid of him because they were both about to hit the road as a truck driving team. They just wanted to give the dog away to a good family with a yard for him to run in. After driving to Goose Creek to see the dog, we were very impressed with the owners and the dog himself. We left saying we needed to think about it, but it didn't take long. He was a beautiful dog who was already house broken, and although we will miss the small puppy stage, we also were able to sleep last night without too much whining from the dog. And he is Lab mix and not a huge dog. And he was free!! Both the boys love him, even Camden who has been terrified of dogs. Nathan has been playing with him every second he can and they look so good together running around the backyard! So our life has entered a new chapter of having a dog in the family! It will be a doggone good year!

A very yummy dressing!

Well I have finished up with February recipes from my Southern Living 2008 cookbook.  We had some awesome shrimp and grits, some good fish, a tasty lemon velvet tart (and had fun making sugar swirls to put on top), and a great pan-fried chicken and spinach salad!  What made the salad so great was the dressing!  It was 8 oz of store-bought poppy seed dressing with 1/2 cup of blue cheese mixed in.  It called for 1/2 cup dried cranberries also, but I eliminated them. 

No pictures of our food from the recipe book, but I thought I would pass along a great dressing idea.  Now to March!  It involves cheesecake and Girl Scout cookies!!  Looking forward to it! 

Shirley Family Photo Shoot: A lot of pictures!!

Our family won a photo shoot at a silent auction benefiting our church's Peru mission trip last spring. Kim Woods was the photographer and she did a great job making our family look good...especially considering that my boys tend to scowl and frown or make silly faces whenever a camera comes out! She even was able to make my zit disappear! We had the pictures made in the fall, but I have been slack in posting or making copies. So tonight I am doing both. If you normally get our family picture, then you should get one soon!

Camden was super excited to have his picture taken!

Mysteries!

Camden's new favorite show is Busytown Mysteries.  I like this show, especially since it involves my favorite book theme, mysteries!  He goes around singing the theme song ( and other songs from the show that he has requested me to get on my Ipod!) and asking me to look for clues! 

The biggest drawback to this show is that it is on CBS...with commercials!  If I am near, I will fastforward through the commercials, however, I don't get to them all the time.  The lastest commercials have been for a CuddleUPets, some puppet that is a blanket, and an aluminum wallet.  He tells me know that he gets a CuddleUPets and I get an Alumiwallet.  I say I don't want a wallet, but he tells me it is full of cash, debit cards and credit cards!  Just what I need.  I think I should use some of that cash and pay for Disney again where we won't have to watch cheesy commercials!

Camden laying out clues to lead us to Nathan!

I am adding to my blessing list today.  It is easy to think of blessings that involve money, and although I don't want all of my focus to be on money, this week it is. 
Blessing #9  We have horrible insurance that only pays for a yearly physical and not much else unless you meet a huge deductible.  But apparently it covers mammograms as part of the physical! 

Blessing #10  My mammogram was fine and it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  And I learned that you can't wear deodorant during a mammogram.

Blessing #11  We are receiving some of our tax money back in a refund this year!  This may be the last year for this, but I am happy that was don't have to pay a dime!!

Blessing #12  Although we are using the money to pay off our house remodeling expenses, we are also buying me an Ipad!!  Yeah!  And the Ipad is a tax write-off!

Fleischkuechle

We made fleischkuechle last night.  What is it you ask?  Basically dough wrapped around meat.  Deep fried dough that is.  Nathan had wanted this North Dakota delicacy, but I told him that I can't deep fry food very well because I do not have a deep fryer.  So I thought we could find a German restaurant that sold it.  Unfortunately, the closest restaurant I could find was in North Dakota!  So to the stove I went.  The first batch was not too bad, but the second was basically burnt dough wrapped around raw meat!  We threw those out...yuck!

I have again decided that I will not deep fry again unless I get a deep fryer.  Not only did I end up with oil all over my stove top and a thin layer on the kitchen floor that I need to mop for a second time, my house still smells like the fair! 

Nathan helping make the dough-meat balls.

I am glad we also had quiche for dinner!

Who would have thought?!?!

We made chocolate covered potato chips tonight (because that is what they eat in North Dakota) and they were actually good!  I guess anything dipped in dark chocolate is tasty!

Of course being Valentine's Day, chocolate is a big thing at our house.  Chocolate heart shaped cake, chocolate torte, and Dove chocolate in all sorts of hiding spots!  That would be Blessing #6 in my life...dark chocolate!  It is a nice thought that dark chocolate has some health benefits.  In fact the recipe for the torte was called a sinless dessert!  We even added a few strawberries to our dessert plate to make it healthier!  Poor Camden though...he doesn't like chocolate; only gummies!

But he does like hanging with Nathan.  Which is my blessing # 7.  My boys like to hang out.  Being 6 years apart, they don't have a lot of common interests, except Camden trying to like whatever Nathan does!  Which would involve Nathan's Ipod.

Since I am behind on my blessings list, I will add one from last week.  Blessing #8.  I have a paid off car, but this blessing is also sometimes a burden :)  But when I had my flat tire last week (which could happen in a brand new car), I was able to get to a parking lot that was close to home and Dave was at home and able to help me.  That was a true blessing!