Elizabeth & Brendan

We had a great day.

Eli got a special sausage treat called “Thanksgiving Day Dinner”. He finished it in seconds. Here he is a few minutes ago.

So this guy started doing a weird dance on the red line when Kristen and Jonathan were here.  In the middle of it, the T conductor got on the loud speaker and told him to “sit down”.  Then his friends goaded him into doing it again.  And below is his dance.  B had just gotten the new iPhone with video and was learning how to shoot.

or rather snoring. He is a big snorer, usually when he is on the couch. He gets loud toward the end of the video (at the 16 sec mark) so listen carefully.

We have been having fun in ATL and Athens but promise we will post pictures soon. 

Surgery date has been changed from the 30th to December 7th.  This means that my first surgery was on my niece’s birthday and the follow-up will be on my nephew’s birthday.  Weird.

Now that it is cool out, I have been cooking a bit more. And we are making some good crap. This past weekend I made vodka sauce for the first time and not only was it tasty but we have enough for a couple of more dinners.
Sunday had me making a lentil stew in the handy dandy slow cooker (aka crock pot). I threw in carrots, diced tomatoes, onions, celery, lentils and seasoning then turned the knob and walked away. 5 hours later – stew. Again, freezer friendly and tons of it.

I think the piece de resistance was the butternut squash with sausage and kale. So easy and yet so tasty.  I saw a recipe for roasted winter squash on this web site called Kalyn’s Kitchen and decided to give it try.  Brendan and I adapted it somewhat.

First we used a butternut squash and added kale.

Recipe as we cooked it.

1 medium sized butternut squash (just enough to cover the bottom of a glass 9 by 13 pan)
4 links of spinach and feta chicken sausage
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
Sprinkle of salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1 bunch of kale
2 cloves of garlic

About 28 hours until our flight takes off.
Three days until our first anniversary.
117 days until my birthday.
140 days until B’s birthday.

So I’ve recently become addicted to a new music site – LaLa.

It’s an interesting alternative to Pandora.  The way it works is you can listen to every song on there – and they have almost every song you could think of – once, for free.  To listen to it again you need to “buy” a web song.  A web song costs $.10 and you get 25 free when you sign up.

If you want to buy the mp3 at a later date you can and you get $.10 off.  Like Pandora you can create a mix that will recommend similar artists and songs to ones that you already like.  And in my experience it works a lot smoother than Pandora in that it uses less resources on your computer.  On top of this they have the cheapest mp3’s and album prices around – cheaper than iTunes and Amazon if you do want to buy/download the songs.  Most songs are $.89 and most albums are < $10.

Ok – so why this post pimping La La to everyone?  Well (1) I do think it’s cool and think that folks might like it and (2)  if you follow the links in this post and sign up I get 5 free web songs added to my account.  Win.  Win.

So enjoy LaLa and my first blog post here in a while.

Have you seen this one?

We have and it causes Eli to perk up and run to the TV.  Usually.  Last night it came on and Eli got off the bed (spare room bed) and ran into the living room.  When he returned he had his Pig (who squeaks).  It was the cutest thing since the last time he ran around with Pig in his mouth.  I have to get some of this on camera.  It is hilarious.

Yesterday I was walking to the cafeteria (in the building across the street from mine) with a colleague.  She was talking about how she noticed five (5) dead pigeons along the side of the building where she usually parks.  She found this strange.  I commented that it was odd.  And then we stepped outside and A PIGEON FELL OUT OF THE SKY.  It dropped dead.  Right next to us.  While we were talking about the plethora of dead pigeons.  Dead. Pigeon. Sky. Crazy.

And if you watch Flash Forward on ABC you can see why I was a little freaked out.  Bad things happen when birds die en masse.

We are back from NYC and had an overall good time.

We drove down Thursday and after about 2 and a half hours, Eli got a little whiney. So we stopped, gave him some food, walked him and then I sat in the back with him for the rest of the ride to Long Island. We arrived at Rich’s and Eli finally met someone he didn’t like. He growled and barked and growled some more. All night long. It was fun. And he didn’t go to the bathroom (because he won’t go off leash).

Friday started with Eli going to the bathroom and we were happy. Next we visited Grandma, Aunt Betty and Uncle Billy. Eli was a good pupster. He was calm with Grandma, cleaned up her crumbs and stayed off the couch and away from the wires. Aunt Betty offered to watch Eli for the afternoon and we should have taken her up on it. Later that day, when we went to visit Billy, we left Eli behind at Rich’s. About 3 hours later we get a call from Rich’s friend and landlord. He was in the backyard and saw Eli RIP THE SCREEN WINDOW AND JUMP OUT THE WINDOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! He landed on the AC and then ran into the yard. Brendan and I rushed out of the hospital and drove back to Rich’s. Needless to say, I was a wreck. We found Eli waiting for us on the porch. I was so happy he was okay but still. HE JUMPED OUT OF A WINDOW!!! So instead of going out to dinner, we took Eli over to Kathleen’s and ate there. Kathleen remarked how nice and calm Eli was and then Rich came in. More barking and growling. We calmed Eli down and then James came home. Eli went over to sniff and lick him and was fine. So it seems to be just Rich. Kath thinks that someone resembling Rich hurt Eli. Maybe. After “the incident”, things were fine. Eli slept in our bed that night and growled alot less.

Saturday we went to Queens and visit with Eileen, Kevin, Emily, Lowell, George, Nancy and Debbie when we got there Eli peed and pooped. Everyone was kind to indulge us in our elation and dog-obsession. After awesome food and even better conversation, we drove to Brooklyn.

Because Eli rolled around in something that smells less than lovely we decided to give him his first bath. And it was not too bad. He jumped out of the tub once but that was it. And he smelled a lot better. A lot. We then hung around Brendan’s parents’ house. Eli met Lucy and they played. They chased each other around and around the table, wrestled, jumped and lunged. It was fun but then it got anxiety-ridden. For me at least. I kept waiting to hear something crash or the dogs to yelp in pain. It never happened. Everyone was surprised to hear that Eli wouldn’t go to the bathroom that night and we would just take him to the park in the morning.

Sunday, Eli proved once again he can really hold it in.  We took him down to Shore Road Park and while walking on leaves, he did it.  HE WENT TO THE BATHROOM ON THE LEASH!  Brendan and I praised the crap out of him when he was done.  We were so excited.  Probably more than we should have been but we have had a rough couple of months and this dog is our life.   We walked into the park and then he went #2.  It was a great morning.

Brendan and I dropped the pup off at the house and went to Dunkin’ Donuts for coffee and to watch the start of the marathon.  We saw the elite runners (including eventual winner Meb).  We stayed a bit longer to cheer on the “regular” runners.  Cheering people on in the marathon is a lot fun.  And makes me want to run one again.  Maybe.

Eli was on 93rd street missing us.  But he was being very good around Haley and letting people rub his belly.  He loves that last one a ton.

On the ride home, we had to stop at a rest stop in Connecticut.  I was walking Eli on the grass and he stopped and peed on the leash again!  Twice in one day.  Amazing.  So now we know he will do it, he is just stubborn.  While he started to get bored, we all made it home.  Eli ran around to make sure everything was still in its place.  He is now asleep on his couch.  All is well again his world.

We will be taking him with us for Christmas but may board him from time to time.  I am emotionally drained.  I cannot believe he jumped through a window.  This dog is crazy.