Old Dog Haven

I have found yet another reason to 1) oogle cute doggies, 2) pine for animals.

Old Dog Haven is a group that fosters and adopts out elderly dogs, so they can live their last days in a loving home. 

And I want them all.

These dogs are blind, deaf, arthritic, sick.  Poor babies.  I just want to take them in and cuddle with them on the couch and love them until they pass away.  They deserve that.

My heart hurts.

So, That Was Fun

Ah, another Christmas has come and gone.  One of my favorite lines in "Suddenly, It's Christmas" is:

"Christmas carols in December and November, too
It's no wonder we're depressed
When the whole thing is through"

It's over.  It's all over.  Time to take down the pretty lights and the pretty tree and the pretty village.  No more excuses for eating cookies all day.

Sigh.

I think I'm exhausted.  Maybe that's it.

Anywho, we did have a really good Christmas.  We didn't open presents until 8:30am or so - teenagers.  And after about two hours, Tyler had gone back out to his cottage, and we were curled up watching The Lion King.  And then Stand By Me.  And then Amadeus. 

It was a lovely day.

Steve and Steph stopped by for a few minutes that evening to exchange gifts (fluffy robe!!) and then it was back to movies.  Except The Tempest was horrible and Todd and I both fell asleep through it so we went to bed at 8:30. 

It's gray and dreary today, so I'm not motivated to do much of anything.  CB and I have talked about getting together, and I invited some friends over for dinner, but I still need to confirm with them.  Eh.  Whatever.  We'll see what happens. 

Merry Christmas!

Mid Christmas Eve Eve Eve Babbling

Why did I have to come to work today?  SuperBoss isn’t here, the phone isn’t ringing, hardly anyone else is here.  I’ve already organized the three cubes used to for storage, packed up some files, and cleaned and organized the copy room.  Guess I could Swiffer the offices?

Steph is coming in town for lunch so I’m counting down the minutes to that.  Rumor has it our office is closing at 1pm tomorrow, after a pizza lunch.  That’s something to look forward to.

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I haven’t had coffee since Sunday.  My stomach was icky Monday morning so I had green tea instead.  Actually, four cups of green tea.  And I was more alert and energized that usual.  So Tuesday, I stuck with the green tea.  Only two cups that day.  And yesterday, just one cup.  And I was still awake.

I’m on my second cup today and doing pretty well for 11:14am.  This is normally about the time I prop my elbow up on the desk, and rest my head in my hand and “rest my eyes” while moving my mouse around on a document. 

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My shopping is 99.9% complete, yet I’m still a bit disappointed in myself.  I started in September.  My plan was to not have to go to a store after December  10^th. 

Well, crap.

Christmas = 1 / Me = 0

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I am having to consciously bow out of events right now.  I am beat.  I was going to attend Kayleigh’s Rainbow Girls meeting tonight, but in thinking about everything I want to get done before Sunday, and realizing that I still have to freakin’ work tomorrow, we have a party Friday night, we’re going to Bellingham on Saturday…..

Gah!

When am I supposed to cuddle with Tom?!  And wrap Todd’s presents!?

So Kayleigh allowed me to bow out of tonight’s meeting.  I’ll go next month. Promise, sweetie.

(Maybe I can squeeze a soakie in there, too.)

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Speaking of wine (wha...?), you should see the number of bottles in my office.  Holy Zinfandel!   The receptionist and I like to play the game Guess How Much This Bottle Is.  I end up finding every bottle on the internet and getting the price.  I could make a pretty decent credit card payment with all this money sitting around.

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My therapist is not covered on my new medical insurance.  Which means I may have to compensate with drinking more wine.

I think liver transplants are covered, though, so it’ll be okay.

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I have quite the vacuum discussion going on Facebook.  My dad-in-law is very pro Kirby.  I am not.  Let the trash talk begin!!

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I think I’m already starting to get sad because Christmas is almost over.  I am SO not a summer person.  Summer does not make me happy.  Yes, the sun is nice, but it’s boring.   Christmas is festive and bright and colorful!  What can we do during the summer that is festive and bright and colorful?  Outdoor tiki decorations?  Palm tree lights?

If money were no object (here’s where Todd chimes in and says “But it is…”) I would decorate the shit out of every season.  I’d have different dishes and bedding for each.  I’d put out bunnies and flowers for spring, tiki torches and grass skirts for summer (all three weeks), and orange and purple lights all over the house for fall.

And because I would have all of this crap, I would of course need bins for everything.  Red and green bins for winter, purple bins for spring, black bins for summer and orange bins for fall.

What?

And then I’d need some place to store all of these bins.  Which brings me to….

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Did you know you can buy attic stairs to install?

These houses up here just have a hatch.  No ladder, like the pull down doors and ladders in Texas.  So to get in the attic, we have to drag our ladder upstairs, Todd puts on his mask (loose insulation up there), Todd moves the little hatch panel out of the way, then I have to hand stuff up to him or he hands stuff down.  Ridiculous.  But now!!

My next semi-big purchase will be stairs.  Once we have those, I can put boards across the beams up there and store stuff!  Like you’re supposed to in an attic!

I’m so excited.

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What else is going on?  You’re probably itching to get back to your wrapping and your baking and your cuddling.  I should let you go.  If I don’t get a chance before Sunday, have a very Merry Christmas.

Or Happy Christmas, as they used to say.

Or Merry Ho Ho.  Which my mama always said.

Merry Happy Ho Ho!!

Happy Solstice!

Most people love the Winter solstice because it means that, starting tomorrow, the days get longer.  I don't much care for that.  You  know me, I love to sleep.  And I feel guilty about sleeping when it's still light out. 

Whatever.  To each their own.

Now please enjoy this ecard I made at Some Ecards.

Gawd Help Me, I Have An Idea

I love the mini top hat fad that’s happening right now.  Very cute and festive.  So in my surfing, I found a pic of one and sent it to Trish with a note that said:

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure we need these for our New Year’s party.”

Trish replied with:

“OMG YES”.

Except these hats are $10 at Party City.  And we’ll probably have six or seven woman at Trish and Dan’s for New Year’s and you know that if Trish and I have cute party hats, EVERY WOMAN should have a cute party hat.

So I started looking around for cheaper ones, maybe some in bulk.  Amazon has a bunch, but holy shit, they range from $2.99 to $750 (I kid you not).

While I could afford to buy seven of the cheaper ones (well, I would want Kayleigh to have one too, and she’s going to her friend’s for New Year’s so her friend should have one….) or ten but that’s $30 for a bunch of hats we may never wear again.  And if I got the nicer ones, we’re looking at over $100.

So then I started thinking (say it with me) “How hard can it be?!”  I could totally make a bunch of these!

Then came the search for the How To and I found this blog.  She bought the little top hats in the doll section of a craft store.  Brilliant!  I could just get some ribbon, feathers, bling and hot clue the stuff on there.  Then glue the hat to a headband or an alligator clip and WALA.  Instant craftiness!

Oh, but what if I can’t find the top hats?  NEW YEAR’S WILL BE RUINED!!  I found some in bulk at a craft site, but that store is now closed until mid January.   OH NO.

But then!

In trying to find that MomDot.com site, I came across a couple of other DYI site and oh my gawd, they actually make the top hats out of cardboard!  EVEN CHEAPER (and I could make them at my office since the next two weeks will be absolutely dead around here).

Oh, the possibilities!  And the option paralysis.  But one way or another, we will have mini tops hats on New Year’s Eve.  I mean it!

Round 2 of the Holiday Festivities!

Can I just say how much I love Sunday mornings?  Especially when I don’t have a damn thing to do.  Todd had a shoot this morning at 9am, so I slept and cuddled with Tom until I decided I should maybe get up since the game started at 10am.  I made coffee and had an English muffin and watched the Seahawks frickin’ whoop up on the Bears!  You go boys!

Anywho, festivities.

I attended Rachelle’s party stag last night.  It seems the last few nights finally caught up with Todd and the poor guy was just exhausted.  So he stayed home to prepare for his shoot and work on our Christmas card picture (cards will be in the mail on Tuesday.  I mean it!)

I had a lovely time (dressed in my swanky outfit) visiting with Rachelle, Shaun and Jamie (who happens to live in Rachelle’s building).  They’re really the only people I visited with because I don’t have much in common with Rachelle’s other friends.  

Shaun just bought his first  hot tub (with a house attached) and Jamie is, once again, in school getting her MBA, so there was lots of catching up.

I was home early enough to catch Saturday Night Live, so Todd and I cuddled in bed and watched that, then drifted off to sweet sweet sleep.

And here we are.  Our last festivity is this evening, when we trek over to Doug and Ann’s for our gift exchange with them.  Ann got a ham and some sides, and Todd and I will take our new magical brie dish - brie, sliced in half, with Todd’s homemade cranberry sauce slathered in the middle and on top.  Great for the holidays, and also for Halloween as it looks like someone slaughtered a pig on a plate.  Just beautiful.

Until then, I will snooze on this couch in my jammies and watch Tombstone for the second time in two days.  That movie never gets old.

Doc Holliday – “Nonsense!  I have not yet begun to defile myself.”

Round 1 of the Holiday Festivities!

Wednesday night, we had my holiday work party at Garage.  Todd and I were uber festive in our Santa hats, and our receptionist was the life of the party.  People bowled, ate, took photos, played pool and drank a lot. 

While it was fun, I very much felt like I was in high school again.  If it weren’t for Todd and the receptionist, I wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to.  I was very much the newbie outsider. 

But I’m 36 now, so it doesn’t hurt quite as bad as it used to.

On Thursday, we had our new friends Erin and Collin over for dinner.  Erin and Collin are actors and movie makers, so the conversation revolved around movie talk for three hours.  And I could actually keep up!

Last night was the Ugly Sweater party at Kristin and Kyle’s.  We haven’t seen them since their wedding in September, so it was good to just hang and chit chat with them.  It was a small group (even better) and I made a new friend.  Coincidently, she writes NotMartha.com, a DYI and neat ideas blog.  It’s pure porn for me.  I suspect she is my long lost twin.

I also learned that her husband, Kirby Krackle’s bass player, was born in West Virginia.  So we had much to chat about.

Today is all about catching up.  On sleep, on cleaning, on water.  Then we’re off to Rachelle’s holiday party tonight.  I think I’ll go swanky.  Black dress, faux fur pinkish coat.  Super heels.  Yes, it feels like a swanky night.

Random Thoughts and Other Crap

While I am 150% into Christmas this year, I am obviously old and don’t care about my presents.  We have a ton of gifts under the tree and I have yet to bend down there and look to see what I have.

It’s too hard to get back up.

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We went to KMTT’s Winter Warmth Concert last Thursday evening.  I enjoyed Florence and The Head and the Heart and Mat Kearney,  but the venue (WAMU Theater) was cavernous and sterile and cold.  There was no “warmth” there whatsoever.  And I was tired, so I was cranky and just not in the mood to deal with all the little 20 somethings who were drinking and dancing around all carefree because they got to nap after their shift at Starbucks and despite all of that alcohol, they would be probably be able to bounce back up at 5am the next morning feeling oh so perky and ready for life while I had to take Friday off because I knew there was no way in hell I’d be able to get up on time for work after going to bed at midnight.

Yes, maybe I’m a little bitter because I have to work a desk job in order to be an adult and pay my mortgage.  Hmph.

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However, taking Friday off was just fine with me.  I slept in until 9ish, and I had a leisurely breakfast and then finally got my butt in gear and went shopping all freakin’ day.  It was wonderful.

I might have also had a happy meal for lunch.  Oops.

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Friday night was pizza and movies.  We watched Super 8.  I didn’t care for it.  While it’s JJ Abrams, it was just like every Spielberg movie ever made, all rolled into one. 

Yawn.

The kids liked it, though.

Then we watched the new Green Lantern.  It doesn’t matter what it was about.  Ryan Reynolds is hawt.

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Saturday, we ran some errands, then delivered gift baskets/bags to our neighbors.  That’s the best part of Christmas for me.  Spoiling people.

We put in wine for the grown ups, fancy Christmas sodas for the kiddos, Todd's homemade banana bread, some chocolates, shortbread cookies and a little fun thing like a game or finger puppets.

I love our neighbors.

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Saturday night, we went to see Twelfth Night’s “It a Wonderful Life” at Kenyon Hall.  Todd wasn’t in it this year.  It was lovely, as always.  We ended up hanging out with some of the cast at a local bar afterwards.  Low key, easy evening.

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And Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update is totally worth mentioning.  Alec Baldwin, despite being a prick sometimes, is freakin’ awesome.

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Todd got up early on Sunday to meet Ron for coffee, so I finally woke up at 11am.  Kayleigh came into chat, so I just laid in bed until noon and talked with her and cuddled with Tom.  Once I finally got up, we had breakfast, then K decided she wanted to make cookies.  So, she baked and I cleaned while we listened to Christmas music.  It was just like being a kid again, hanging out with mom on the weekends.

And it made me a little homesick.

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Once Todd finally returned, we chilled out on the couch for the afternoon and snoozed.  Then we went to the store for dinner supplies and I cleaned up his kitchen so he could cook, and he made a wonderful dinner of fried rice (I swear to gawd I’d starve if he ever left me now) and then there was “Hell on Wheels” and “Grimm” and then taking Jamie’s neighbor basket to her and then finally, sweet sweet sleep.

I like sleeping way too much.

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And to prove that the holidays are in full swing, we have two evenings with no plans the seven days.  We’ve got my winter soiree, dinner  with new friends, an Ugly Sweater Christmas party, a responsible adult Christmas party and a gift exchange with Doug and Ann.  Oh, and then a few days later, dinner with Doug and Ann.

I live for the busy times.

Now if I could just stay awake during the day…

By Popular Demand!

It seems my veggie enchiladas are quite a hit.  I've gotten two emails recently, asking for the recipe.  I feel so special.

So, my post from 2006, on Life Out Here:

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Chef Raechelle

I made enchiladas tonight for dinner.
Difficult? you say.
No. Not at all.

Who's up for a recipe? A first for this blog....

Enchiladas de, uh, Me
Serves 2 (or 4 if everyone eats just one)

1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 white onion, sliced
4 medium mushrooms, sliced (optional, I like mushrooms)
4 taco size tortillas (whole wheat or flour)
1 small bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 cup (or so) of shredded cheese (pepper jack or cheddar)
Olive oil (use when needed)
1 can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (or any other brand...I just haven't tried any others)

Saute the onion in the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the rest of the veggies. Keep on medium heat, covered, and occasionally stirring, until all is tender.

Meanwhile, pre-heat the over to 400 degrees. Once the veggies are tender, turn off the burner and heat the tortillas, separated by a paper towel (so they don't stick to each other*), in the microwave for 30 seconds (this makes them soft and they roll easier when they're soft).

Pour a little bit of the enchilada sauce in an 9 X 9 dish (or a bigger dish, if you're making more than 4) just enough to coat the bottom.

In a handy assembly line, fill the tortilla with some of the veggies (this works best if you put the tortilla down on a plate or something. With the veggies, they'll be too hot to hold, as I learned tonight), sprinkle some cilantro on the veggies, then roll the tortilla so that the opening is on the bottom. Place the enchilada in the dish, up against the side, so you have room to fit the remaining 3 in there. Repeat the assembly line with the remaining 3 tortillas. You may have veggies left over (I always do) so you can nibble on those while waiting for the enchiladas to bake.

Once all of the enchiladas are in the dish, pour the rest of the sauce over them coating them. Sprinkle the cheese and remaining cilantro over the top. Bake in the over for about 10 or 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and you think the sauce is hot. Take the dish out of the oven, and let it settle for 5 minutes or so. The sauce needs to thicken so everything doesn't slide off when you pick up the enchiladas to put them on the plate.

Serving tip: using 2 spatulas, one on each side of 2 enchiladas, works well to get the enchiladas out of the pan. Serve with refried or black beans.

I say wala. Enjoy!

*I have since learned that you can place the tortillas on top of each other and heat them IF you sprinkle some water between them first.  That will steam them, and keep them from sticking.

Busy Busy PARTY Tired Busy!

I actually had to go back and look at our Google calendar to remember what happened last week.  How pathetic is that?

I had a sewing date with Stephanie because I got a wild hair to make Christmas pillows a couple of months ago.  Unfortunately, but the time our sewing date rolled around, I didn’t give a shit about pillows anymore.  But Steph did, so she persevered.  Love that girl.  It was good to have some female bonding time, as well.

On Thursday, my buddy Jenn from Tacoma came up and we went to lunch at, what she calls, The Fun Market.  Which is actually Melrose Market on Capitol Hill http://melrosemarketseattle.com/ .  It’s a very cute place – sandwich shop, wine bar, gift shop, flower shop.  Very cozy.  And the lemongrass potato soup was awesome.  It was nice to have some social time in the middle of my day.  And since Jenn and her husband Scott are moving to Hawaii for a year, due to Scott’s job, it was even more warranted.  Much like a trip to Hawaii next year may be.

The Seahawks actually won their game on Thursday night.  That’s two or three in a row.  I’ve lost track.  It’s hard to sit down and watch the games when they’re playing so badly.  But Marshawn Lynch is healed and back in, so we’re in a winning streak.  I’m not holding my breath that we’ll see a championship this year, though.

Friday was pasta (not pizza) movie night.  We watched X-Men First Class (I’ve given up on reviewing every movie.  Life is too busy right now) and I fell asleep a few times.  Not because of the movie, just because I was wiped out.  Guess the busy week caught up with me.

But, by golly, I was up at 9:30am on Saturday and ready to go!!  It was party day!  Todd and I ran to Costco (quickest Costco trip EVER), then hit Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier One, Dress Barn, the liquor store, Marshall’s and QFC.

BAM.

Back home to clean and prep and shower and beautify.  Steve and Steph were the first guests (out of about 40) to show up at 6:15pm and after that, it’s all a blur.  Tons of friends, karaoke, Winter Wizards (vodka, peppermint schnapps and Irish cream), cookies, a surprise guest from the past, tacky shirts, pretty green and red fingernails, photo ops, an accidental shot of Jack Daniels (damn you, Raff!), the cutest freakin’ little girl EVER, singing “Sweet Caroline” at the top of our lungs, and finally, at 2:30am – bed.

And then on Sunday, taking a bottle of wine and truffles to our next door neighbors as an apology for being so loud and as a thank you for not calling the police.

At least we don’t do this every weekend, right?

And why don’t we do this every weekend?  Because we’re getting’ too old for this shit.  My legs still hurt from standing all night and I’m still sleep deprived from going to bed at 2:30am.  I am proud to say, however, that I did not get a talking to the next morning, as Rae-rae behaved herself very well, despite inviting almost every single guest over for dinner and her famous Veggie Enchiladas.  All for this week.

I wasn’t really hurting on Sunday, but the last thing I wanted to do was leave the house.  Alas, it’s what we do for family.  We had our annual Christmas lunch with Katherine, Todd’s stepmom, at Bamboo Garden.  So yummy.  So meat free.

After that, back home to tidy up a bit and snooze on the couch.  A lazy Sunday indeed.

And this week is already proving to be a doozie.  A fun doozie, but a doozie nonetheless.

A quiet evening tonight, dinner with film peeps tomorrow, KMTT’s Winter Warmth Concert on Thursday, the day off on Friday (WOOHOO!), finish up Christmas shopping and mail mom and dad’s package, Twelfth Night’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Saturday and…..oh.  There’s nothing on the calendar for Sunday.  Not even a Seahawks game.  Huh.

I’m sure something will pop up.  I’ve been meaning to clear out the crawl space.  That sounds like a good project for a cold December Sunday.

Cause gawd forbid I should sit still for a day.  No can do.