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.