The Best Weekend!

We had been looking forward to this past weekend for months and now it has already come and gone :(. Our friends Ryan and Randi came to visit us all the way from Kentucky. We had not seen them for almost a year and we had a lot of missed time to make up! Like the old times we laughed constantly and drank lots of red wine and had SO much fun. Ryan was in dental school with us and now he is in an OMS residency in KY.

Saturday was spent watching football for the guys and checking out some fun shops for the girls. Saturday afternoon our friends Beth and Russell came over to hang out and we all laughed so hard at each other laughing at YouTube videos!

We went to the Arboretum on Sunday and then headed out for all you can eat sushi- not the best idea!

Monday night we went to the Ranger's game. The weather was perfect and Brett even caught a ball!!

We finished our fun weekend with our favorite frozen yogurt!! YUM!

I can't wait for our next visit. It better not be so long before we see each other again friends!!!

Canned Art

I have found out that I am a little obsessed with spray paint. No, I don't sniff the stuff- I know that was your first thought (Ryan). I have found that I can make awesome stuff with it in no time!!

So I was a little bored the other day and decided to try to be creative. I had saved this board from the attic when I cleaned it out for insulation. My cousin recently got new furniture and she needed something for her walls to match. I got a roll of wrapping paper that matched her colors, 3 cans of spray paint, a board and went to work.

I cut a strip of wrapping paper and glued it to the board. I then used gold, bronze and brown spray paint to do the rest. I just tilted the board up and sprayed a lot to make them bled together.

This was my inspiration. I found this on the ZGallerie website.

So next time you have an empty wall. Don't go spend tons of money on some piece of art printed in China. Go to your local hardware store and get creative!

In The Dog House GIVEAWAY

Check out this adorable necklace Kari is giving away. Her friend, Christyn donated it. She has an Etsy shop and makes all kinds of cute things. Check out Kari's blog at 2 Dogs and a Blog to enter for this necklace called:

In The Dog House.

Heather's Incredible Shrimp

My BFF, Heather is an awesome cook. She could go up against Martha Stewart ANY day! I have been trying to get her to start a blog so she could share some of her recipes, but she hasn't made the move yet. Among the tons of other things we have in common, we both love to cook. We sit on the phone and talk about recipes and grocery shopping for hours at least two times a week! (not sure when we got old enough for that to be the topic of our conversations!!)

Anyway, here is one of her recipes that I cooked the other night and it was INCREDIBLE! So easy to make too.

Heather's Incredible Shrimp

• 4 pounds raw jumbo shrimp, heads off, tails and shells on.


• rinse and thaw shrimp


• add all of this and shrimp to a BIG dish- one of the metal disposable works great:


• salt


• pepper- lots


• Tony's


• garlic powder


• 2 sticks of butter cut into pieces and spread around pan


• 2 cups white wine- any white will do- I used Sauvignon Blanc


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped


• 2-3 bay leaves- (lay them on top)


• 3-4 sprigs of rosemary- (lay them on top)

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serve with french bread for soaking up the delicious sauce. I got a Pillsbury roll of french bread and cooked it while the shrimp cooked.

You will LOVE this meal.

This is Heather's pic. We were on the phone while cooking and realized we were cooking the EXACT meal on the same night!

BBQ and Football

Cooked Dad's Brisket yesterday. We had Brett's sister and her husband over for dinner and to watch Sunday night football. They brought some baked beans that were awesome too. We also found a new show on the History Channel that my friend Heather told me about. It is called SWAMP PEOPLE. Absolutely hilarious! It is a reality show about alligator hunters in South Louisiana. It comes on at 9pm on Sundays. Check it out!

Dad's Brisket

Here is how I did it:

I used a 6.5 lb, but you can use any size.

Cut away some of the fat.

Lay out a few sheets of foil on a cookie sheet with sides (whatever that is called).

Rub mustard all over the meat.

Place fat side down and season with alot of:

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Tony's or steak seasoning. I also had some cocoa and chili powder I put on there.

Flip over and do the same thing on the fatty side.

Fold up foil to make a boat to catch the liquids that drain off.

Cook at 250 for about 6-8 hours.

Cover tightly with foil for and cook at 350 for another hour.

It comes out looking like this. Sometimes the top will be black.

I also found a recipe in this book that Brett's parents gave him:

It is a really neat book and has alot of good recipes. Most of them are for a smoker but I just do it in the oven instead.

Butter Stuffed Cabbage

Take a stick of butter and let it soften slightly.

Roll the butter in 1tsp of each:

onion powder

garlic powder

salt

pepper

It will look like this:

Cut a chunk of the core out of a head of cabbage and stuff the butter in there.

Place it on foil with the core side up. You may need to make it stand up with more foil.

Cover tightly and bake. I put it in with the brisket at the end so I cooked it for about 3 hours on 250 and 1 hour on 350.

Here it is. Delicious.

Garage Sales and Fall Decor

As I was waking up this morning Brett was coming home from a 30 hour shift of no sleep. Needless to say, he went to sleep...and I went to play!! I hit up several garage sales going on around us and found so many things that I just could not resist!! I then went to The Dollar Tree where "Everything really is a dollar." to get some great fall decor. I just had to share my bargains with everyone!!

2 garlands, 3 crows, bag of 10 big leaves= $6 total.

1 garland, 2 bags of gourds and pumpkins= $3 total. The place mats were a wedding gift made by my great aunt. They are reversible and have a Christmas pattern on the other side!

Green vase-garage sale: $2

Cat tails and sticks from $ Tree: $3

I went to a garage sale and for some reason felt bad for leaving with nothing. I settled for this basket for $1. (I know Mom, you have TONS of baskets I could have had.)

Ribbon $ Tree-$1

House plant from Home Depot: $3

total= $5

3 skulls, 1 package spider web= $4

$ Tree

Candelabra- garage sale-$2

Jars- garage sale- $0.25 each

candles from $ Tree- $1

total= $3.75

Awesome table from garage sale- $15.

I am going to touch it up a bit and I'll post a better picture when I do.

The rest is stuff I moved around from other parts of the house.

The iPhone's attempt to get an overall shot.

Since I was in the "fall" mode, I made some pasta with Parmesan Pumpkin Sauce from Williams Sonoma for lunch. Yummy!

So as I am posting this I hear some commotion behind me.

Brett (and Dot) have just woken up and they have spotted the crows. He said she saw them first and jumped up on the table and of course he was encouraging her to "get 'em"!!!!

Don't worry. I don't normally allow my dogs on the table. I just thought this was too funny!!!

I also got some other treasures I just thought I had to have at a garage sale. I'll share those when I figure out where they can go!! ;)

A Few of My Favorite Things

This is kinda random, but these are all things I use often, love and some even make my life easier.

What: Keurig Coffee Maker

Where: Bed Bath and Beyond

Why: quick, no clean up and really good, strong coffee

What: Method Laundry Detergent

Where: Target
Why: no messy pouring, just squirt it in and wash

What: Mrs. Meyer's hand soap, dish soap and countertop spray

Where: Central Market or Mrs. Meyer's website

Why: fresh, clean scent-- Basil is my favorite

What: Gascon Malbec and Riedel HUGE wine glass

Where: grocery store/many places

Why: inexpensive and delicious/ makes you feel fancy and you can put the entire bottle in if you don't want to share!!

What: Clorox Clean-Up with Bleach

Where: grocery store...

Why: cleans anything, leaves a fresh, clean smell and doesn't streak

What: KitchenAid Mixer

Where: Bed Bath and Beyond

Why: Looks cute on counter and is SO much easier than a hand held mixer

What: Caldrea Candle Herbs of Provence Scent

Where: Target

Why: If you smell it you will understand. You can also get dish and hand soap and countertop spray.

What: Sonicare Toothbrush

Where: Your dentist, Bed Bath and Beyond, Wal-Mart, Target, etc..

Why: Healthier gums and teeth (I can always tell when my patients use an electric toothbrush). (Doesn't come with the cute pink stripes-haha. We kept getting ours mixed up- yuk!)

What: audiobooks

Where: I buy alot of Half Price Books

Why: sometime make me make a few extra blocks after a 3 hour drive they are so good.

*I am listening to this book which is the 3rd and last one of the series. They have all been awesome!*

Like Father Like Son....or not

This is Sam, DDS, MD, PhD, MS...and so on.

Well at least that is what we were hoping for after being in training for almost 10 months. We figured that was equivalent in dog years to the 10 years post college his dad was spending in school to get all of his degrees.

This is his favorite spot. In Brett's desk chair. Guess he is studying to be better.

This is the shortened version of his story:

• My parents found him hungry and lost by their lake house.
• He had collars but no tags.
• Brett had been wanting a pointer.
• Sam is a German Short Haired Pointer.
• Perfect?
• Not yet.
• He had heart worms and two intestinal worms.
• He was a runner and gun shy.
• Found a trainer.
• Trainer thought he had potential.
• Trainer said 3-4 months.
• At 6 months Sam was "sweet and a lover but wasn't birdy enough".
• Trainer needed a few more months and only wanted to charge us half for those months.
• 8 months- Sam was "such a lover and is doing well but he has a little further to go."
• Trainer didn't want to charge us the last few months.
• June- trainer calls and says Sam needs a break. Heat was getting to him.
• He comes home.
• He has learned his name, knows NO and WOAH, responds to a whistle.
• He can point but is gun shy.
• We don't blame the trainer. He obviously gave it all he had. Sam is just stubborn.
• He is like one of those kids who is sent off college and they fail out from partying and skipping class. Apparently this is all Sam did. Trainer said he was the king of the kennels and and some days just refused to work.
• So anyway, he is home. It is hot. He BARKS while outside ALL DAY so he sleeps inside.
• He also wakes me up all night and drives me crazy.
• He has flattened some of our landscaping and tracks in dirt and mud.
• Dot and Sassy are so rude and refuse to play with him.
• 
  
• Brother's dog Radar spent the weekend with us and he and Sam were best friends.
• They slept outside together and never barked and played all day.
• 
  
• Sam needs a friend.
• We don't need another dog.

• I need sleep.
• Hoping he gets better in the cooler weather.
• He is so lovable and just wants to be part of the family.
• I am trying, but I am spoiled by my perfect rat dogs.
• He is handsome and oh so sweet.
• He is staring at me right now wondering why I am always irritated at him.

• Anyone have a dog that wants to play?
• Maybe he needs to go to doggy day care so he can have friends and use his energy.
• Now I'm going to be a mom that stays at home and still sends her kid to day care to get them out of her hair. UGH!
• I won't be like that.
• I'm sorry, Sam. I am trying.
• I really am.

On The Hunt

We went to check out the dove/duck lease on Labor Day. All 3 of the pups got to enjoy this trip.

Dot becomes an entirely different dog when she is on the hunt. She was born knowing how to hunt and it is so entertaining to watch. She quietly sits and looks for birds. She will see a bird and look at it and then look back at Brett to see if he is going to shoot.

Look at her up on two feet trying to get a better view.

Dot found the dove in the tall grass and is bringing it back to show it off. Her favorite retrieval is when it falls in water and she gets to swim out and get it.

Here she is. Hard at work.

She passes it off to her dad with an award of a wing. As much as Dot likes to eat, she knows better than to eat the birds.

Sassy sometimes will go get birds, but she is easily distracted. She entertained herself by chasing her shadow in the water all afternoon. Dot obviously didn't get her skills from her scatter-brained mom!!

Sam worked on his point until the first gun shot was fired. He then retreated under the truck and refused to get out. He will not be the hunting dog we were hoping for I'm afraid.

Dot cooling herself off. She didn't take her attention off of the sky though.

Brett said "And this is why she is my favorite." after she brought him a bird he couldn't find. I was scared to ask who all this favoritism was between! They have a special bond that I just can't compete with!!

We took the EZ Grill and cooked deer meat burgers for dinner.

Even the pups got to share one.

As soon as they were done the sun was setting. We got to enjoy the beautiful view as we ate our redneck-tailgate burgers!!