Top Reasons To Stain Shirt as Soon as Leaving Home

1. I Don't have to worry about how I look for the rest of the day.

2. I have interaction with more people as they point out the stain.

3. I have the perfect reason to tie-dye my shirt.

4. I can practice my bird in a birdbath imitation in the water fountain as I desperately try to rinse my shirt.

5. I have a good excuse to buy a new shirt.

Meatloaf

My father-in-law wanted to make meatloaf. He was distressed when he couldn't find a can of seasoning than he always used. I got a couple of employees to help in the grocery store. I don't think any of us know what he was searching for though. He bought the ground meat but asked me if I could make the meatloaf like his mother did. Quickly I clarified. I can make meatloaf. I will NOT include raisins in mine. He chuckled about that, then reminisced about how plump the raisins would get. Nope. I'm not going there.

We have so many food allergies but I'm determined to find delicious healthy foods that we can share.
We avoid:

• barley
• cashews
• dairy (from cow)
• garlic (but powdered garlic is alright)
• malt (except when made from corn)
• mangoes
• rye
• tomatoes
• wheat

So I made meatloaf that everyone in the family can eat. Here is my recipe.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 65 minutes
Serves: 8-9

2. INGREDIENTS
3. 3 pounds ground beef
4. 1.5 cup Oats (Gluten Free)
5. 2 eggs
6. 1 teaspoon salt
7. 1 teaspoon black pepper
8. 1 tablespoon onion powder
9. 1 tablespoon garlic powder
10. 
    
11. 2 tablespoons olive oil
12. 2 tablespoons onion powder
13. 2 tablespoons cornstarch
14. 2 cups Gluten Free beef (or chicken) broth 
15. 
    
17. PREPARATION
18. Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Combine first seven ingredients; mix thoroughly. Split and form into two loaves. Bake until internal temperature in 160°F (about an hour). Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. 
19. 
    
20. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons onion powder and 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a saucepan. Heat over medium to a simmer. Slowly add 2 cups of broth while stirring. Simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon over cooked loaves or serve on the side.
21. 
    
22. For easier storage and clean-up cook the loaves on aluminum foil.

I Don't Know How To Eat!!

How is it possible that I still have not perfected the art of eating? Here I am minding my own business, I take a bite out of a taco and BAMM! I have breathed in a little piece of taco, I'm choking and then luckily I start coughing. It takes several minutes for me to recover. Why don't I know the difference between breathing and eating after 50 years of daily practice? What am I missing?

I am reminded of my childhood. My elders did try to instill social graces into my life. I can remember some of them.

• Don't talk with your mouth full
• Elbows off the table (Mabel)
• Chew each bite 20 times
• Close your mouth as you chew (eat as quietly as possible)
• Sit up straight

Let's take a look. I don't think that I adhere to any of these.

Don't talk with your mouth full - I regularly talk with food in my mouth. Hopefully, my mouth is not full. I do try not to stuff my mouth full as I eat

Elbows off the table (Mabel) - I know that I have rested both of my elbows on the table while I negotiated a sandwich into my mouth

Chew each bite 20 times - Ha, funny, 20 times, ha ha, oh, they were serious. I'm probably lucky if I chew each bite 10 times

Close your mouth as you chew (eat as quietly as possible) - This one I do, except when I'm talking or singing while I eat

Sit up straight - Sit? I do sit sometimes. I enjoy the whole family eating together but it seems so difficult to get everyone eating at the same time. I'm guilty of eating while I do chores around the house, while I take the puppies out. Plus I do not have the good posture that I could. I most enjoy sitting with my hips tilted back, with my left knee up or at least my left foot tucked up under my bottom

At the time of this last choking incident, my mouth was not full, I was not talking, I was not at a table, I'm certain I had not chewed the food enough, my mouth was closed, I was undoubtedly slouching with my left knee up.

So maybe I'll try going back to these basics and see if my choking frequency reduces.

Too Ripe Bananas & Amazing Dog Treats

Yin and Yang napping. We didn't name them that but we sure could have.

I've never knew what to do with too ripe bananas. I've heard freeze them. I could use them later for banana bread-I cannot eat wheat and my daughter only likes bananas by themselves. Recently 3 ingredient dog treats was recommended on Pinterest. (Pinterest has a pretty good algorithm). The original post is Homemade Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats at http://munchkinsandmilitary.com/2015/02/homemade-peanut-butter-banana-dog-treats.html

Ingredients I have on hand in my kitchen: an almost empty oatmeal box,
 an almost empty peanut butter jar and three very ripe bananas.

Simple enough the recipe called for: 1 1/2 cups uncooked Oatmeal, 1 large Banana, and 1/2 cup Peanut Butter. That didn't match my ingredients. I had 1 cups uncooked Oatmeal, 3 medium Bananas and 3/4 cup Peanut Butter. Also probably because of the change of ingredients, my treats could probably been cooked even longer than the 20 minutes at 350°F. Either way the pups love them. So don't be afraid of changing the proportions.

I made two big ones with my dog bone
cookie cutter and the rest about 2 inch rounds. 

Update 08/26/2017: both of the dogs loved these!!

Daisy Masking Her Favorite

Daisy Masking Her Favorite Toy

This is Daisy. She is sleeping with one of her favorite "toys," an old roll of masking tape. She "rescued" the extra-wide roll of tape from a project Casey was working on about a month ago. She loves it.  She carries it around; plays tug-o-war with us or Gray; throws it up in the air; we roll it away for her to chase, and then as shown it's fabulous to cuddle with!

Daisy's other favorite is a rock. She just nudges the rook slightly as she jumps at it in puppy play stance. The movement of the rock then fuels more excitement. Sh carries it into the bathroom and up onto the couch with her.

With two puppies, even from the same litter like our two, I am able to compare and contrast their preferences. Both pups: love to play; love to be pet; love to get treats; love to hear accolades "good boy," "good girl"; love to romp; and love a nice nap. How each of these is appreciated differs. 

Time Flies

Everyone knows from The Doctor that time is "like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

... and still I felt like as soon as I would start something an hour or two or three had passed with very little to show for it.

I have good intentions; I have plans; I set goals; I try to be reasonable about how much I can do without neglecting my other more immediate responsibilities. Some days I can zoom through. Lately, I think that I am working, maybe even thinking in S..L..O..W.. Motion.

A Quarter of His Life

I mentioned how bad I feel about keeping my 3-month-old puppy confined and denying him to jump, run, climb and much of his play time.

The person I was speaking with matter-of-factly stated that it was better to crate him for one day than mess up his leg forever and he wouldn't remember it anyway.

It really bothered me. First, I always think it's ludicrous when people say the baby won't remember, the puppy won't remember. I have no idea what puppies remember. With human babies, I decided that I would try to provide colorful, varied experiences even if they can't remember. My child would be completely different if I had kept them in the closet for the first 3 years. Even though they can't remember the first three years now.

Second, it isn't for one day. It's for one month. At 4 months old he will have spent one-quarter of his life recovering from this injury. That's huge!

I know that I don't have any other choices but I feel totally justified in empathizing with his whimpering.

Summertime Slime - Elmer's Glue

It's summertime again. Maybe not by your calendar but all the signs are here:

Tons of Empty Elmer's Glue Bottles!

1. The beaches begin to fill up. I went to local public beach, IRB and parking was tricky. There were no free spaces. Did you know towns and cities expect people to PAY for parking?
2. The water is filled with swimmers and boats. The water is perfect: calm, not to warm, and clear. why would anyone be anywhere else!
3. Dawn is before 7am and Sunset is after 8pm. Sunrise starts sneaking in just a little bit earlier and earlier and everyone including the sunset loves slowing down and spending the late afternoon at the beach. 
4. We see Watermelon for sale every where. I love watermelon. Good thing because I get to enjoy: watermelon soda, watermelon mint tea, watermelon smoothies,watermelon italian ice and of course watermelon.
5. We see tons of flowers blooming. we have areas that are very manicured and areas that are au naturel. Now all the flora are feeding the bees and butterflies. I love watches the insects flutter from bloom to bloom. 
6. Nests. Every year we have several nests to watch. We regularly have at least one dove nest, one mallard duck nest. Its summer when those chicks leave their nests. Every summer the mallards take their "sord" meandering thrhough our yard, out our driveway, across the street to who knows where. The dove chicks stay in their nests until summer when they ty to fly. Last year a nest in the rafters of our gazebo had one fledgling land on my head. The onset of summer also brings the mamma sea turtles onshore to build their clutches (a borough they dig and put 100 or so fertilized eggs in).
7. And of course my daughter, now 11 craves creating slime! I have no idea why but she loves creating slime every summer. She tries different recipes. Then she tweaks the recipes here and there for endless variations. I should buy Elmer's Glue by the  gallon drum!