Hello Dyson Animal

About 10 days ago I was cleaning for my friends visit and I will admit that I hate cleaning but I find that there can be something relaxing about seeing how clean the carpet gets. I had done a bunch of the cleaning and I almost always leave the vacuuming to the end so that I can enjoy the carpet. So I busted out my trusty vacuum and went to town. After about 2 minutes I started to smell smoke and burning electronics... so I turn it off and look down to see what is happening and to my amazement I saw smoke pouring out of the front. So that was the end of my vacuum.

Adios Mr. Vacuum

Then began the hunt for the next vacuum, what kind did I want? What features did I need? There are a million choices and since I have a dog I really needed a vacuum that would get up all of the dog hair and remove it from the couch. This does limit the type of vacuum that I can purchase. I did lots and lots of research on the internet and polled most of my friends and family. In the end I was looking at two different ones: the Hoover pet and the Dyson Animal (small version). I will admit that the reviews for both were relatively positive however some people mentioned that the Hoover didn't last very long and had a few problems (very minor). In the Dyson reviews people talked about how all of the dog hair came out of the couch and the floor and that it was amazing. At this point I am pretty sure that is what I want but should I spend the money. Sometimes spending good money on an appliance is a good investment for the future but in other cases it is a bad idea.

I realized over several days that for me and the massive amount of fur that Lily sheds it might be time to try a vacuum designed to get as much hair up as possible. I decided to get the Dyson Animal (D24), this is the smaller lighter version of the classic Dyson. I found it on Amazon for cheaper than anywhere else and that is always a good thing. I think the hardest thing was waiting several days for it to show up at my house.

The Animal... look at Lily being afraid

On Tuesday it finally got to me and I will admit that I was super excited (I think this is adulthood... being excited about new appliances). When I opened the box I was overwhelmed by what appeared to be lots of work to get it together, in the end it took about 3 minutes it just sorta clipped together. Then I just couldn't wait so I started vacuuming the house... it was AMAZING. I just loved seeing the hair come out of the carpet. It is also pretty quiet for a vacuum, bonus for the dog! I used my mom's Dyson and thought it was a little heavy but not so with mine it was super light.

The Animal is Purple!!

I will admit that I love my new vacuum, it is super light and seems to get all kinds of stuff out of the carpet. I thought there would be more but I didn't do a whole lot of vacuuming when I was testing it. There are a few drawbacks and in the interest of being honest I am going to share them with you. The cord is pretty short, only 20 feet, now this doesn't really bother me since I live in an apartment. Also I have always always had to move the cord around so I don't know why people complain about this. The other drawback is that the canister is small, now this just means that I have to empty it at the end of every room but this is so easy to empty that doesn't really effect my life. I did notice that the new detangle attachment does not fit this model.

At this point I am loving my new toy, I will be sure to update you if this changes. Do you love the moment when you get a new appliance? I would highly recommend this to anyone with a pet or really anyone who wants a new vacuum. Let me know if you get one.

Lazy Sunday

On Sunday after Lily and I had spent much of our time playing outside we decided to spend much of the day laying around the house. I made pancakes for breakfast and they were wonderful. I really enjoy reading so I grabbed a few books and settled on the couch for a few hours.

Super snuggles with my girl

In the afternoon I popped a bottle of champagne so that I could enjoy a champagne Sunday. I really enjoyed sipping on my mimosa while I read. Eventually I felt like a real superstar as I watched the Oscars and rated the dresses that all of the girls were wearing.

For dinner I decided to try and all new recipe, I love Crab Rangoons and I found this recipe on pinterest. I thought it was going to be as good as the ones I get in restaurants but this was a pretty massive fail. I am not sure what I did wrong or if it was one of those things that you cannot really replicate. Either way I will not be trying to make these again and I didn't like them at all so I pitched all of them into the trash and just decided to make some rice. It was rough, really bad. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I totally forgot to take a picture, it was that bad. 

It was another great day with Lily. I love being able to spend time with her when we don't have to go anywhere else.

White Rock Lake

I had a bonus weekend, the one where your awesome plans fall through. My friend from St. Louis was planning on coming in but the snowstorm kept her from getting down here but I am looking forward to seeing her in a few weeks. So since I had no plans I had a chance to just spend some time with Lily. Over the last few weekend I have found myself not being able to spend much time with her so I decided to spend as much of my Saturday with her as possible.

White Rock Lake

After breakfast and waiting for it to warm up just a bit before I headed out. Lily and I decided to head over to White Rock Lake. This is a man made lake just north of the city center (I believe that Sean the bachelor has some footage of him at the lake with his dog, this is that lake). It has a 9 mile loop around it and I think during the summer people spend lots of time out there.

So I look at a map and pick a place to park and take off. Once we got there we headed off around the lake. It was wonderful, it was just the right amount of cool temperatures and warm in the sun.

I think we walked about 3 miles. It was a little rough for the sole reason that I don't really like bikers. Now I am sure this is a polarizing statement for many of you, this is what I don't really care for: they give me the stink eye for walking my dog. Some of this could be my fault since I trained my dog to walk on the left side of the street, in the manner that is recommended for walking on the street (into traffic on the side of the road). I am sure that I will figure out the right method for the park but it was frustrating to feel a little lost.

Much of the walk was by the marina

As we were finishing our walk we passed the dog park and since I had been meaning to take Lily for a few weeks we decided to stop. It was a pretty neat little park and there were lots of dogs. Lily didn't really play with other dogs much, mostly she just stood around and smelled stuff. But it was great and it was fun to chat with other dog owners.

The WRL dog park

After that we decided to stop by Half Price Books, which is pet friendly! I dropped off a bag of books (maybe 10-12) and browsed while I waited for my offer. I only got $3 for my books which I promptly spent on a new book. Lily did really well, it could have been that she was tired but I was very proud of her.

Just looking for something to read

Once we got home Lily had some water and just laid down for a while. I was going to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law and while I was getting ready she got on the bed and didn't move even when I tempted her with treats.

One tired puppy

It was a wonderful day with my girl. I just love being able to spend time with her and I am looking forward to getting to spend more time out a White Rock Lake. What do you like to do on your bonus weekends?

DVR... amazing

So I finally got cable a few weeks ago and I am not going to lie I am kinda in love with some of the features that my new cable has. In the past few years different people have told me that I would love having DVR because then I could go have a life and not miss my shows. I admit that I am pretty much in love with TV, I find it fascinating. I tend to watch many of the crime shows or drama, I am not too much of a fan of reality tv but there are a few of them that I love.

My new TV... love it

I am living the DVR and I am still learning how to know when to quick fast forwarding so that I don't have to rewind all the time. I really enjoy that I don't have to race home and then still miss the show that I wanted to watch. I will admit that my friends were right I feel so much more complete now that I can watch my shows.

If there would be a top three shows for me I think that they would be: Vampire Diaries, Criminal Minds, and Once Upon a Time. I also really enjoy NCIS and NCIS:LA. But let's be real with one another there are lots of other shows that I will watch pretty much anything.

I think the only drawback is that I really love commercials. I just am not creative in that manner so sometimes I just want to meet the people that think of these things. Have you seen the new sprint commercial, the one with Kevin Durant? I love the moment when she tells him to go play because she has plans... I laugh every time. But I still see most of the commercials since I watch some live TV. What kind of commercials do you really enjoy? I also love the mayhem commercials, so stinking funny.

What are your favorite TV shows? Do you just love to sit down with a nice glass of wine and unwind by living in someone else's life? That is certainly one of the best parts of many of my days.

Java Night

One of my aunts is the choir teacher at a local high school, I have always wanted to be able to go to one of her concerts but until I moved up here it was always just a little crazy because there wasn't typically one when I was in town. A few days ago she mentioned that her Java Night was coming up. This is the one concert that I was super excited about, they serve coffee and cheese cake.

Strawberries and Chocolate cheesecake

I was pretty excited about this since at the moment I am obsessed with Pitch Perfect which is all about singing. It was pretty fun to hear her students sing love songs. I tried not too take many pictures of the students since it seemed super creepy. 

The whole choir sang a few different numbers, none of which I can remember now but they were all very very good. I really enjoyed the witty banter that when on between some of the sets, it was pretty clever. 

My aunt directing the singers

This group of girls was fantastic, they sang a mix of several Taylor Swift songs. Part of it was 'we are never getting back together' and her new single. It was one of the highlights of the night, I loved how in sync they were with all of their voices. It was really good. 

I was thrilled to be able to spend time my aunt at one of her events. I will definitely be hitting this up again next year. I also had one of the plain cheesecake pieces at the end of the event. That is right I had two pieces for dinner... so healthy. All in all it was a great time and I am so glad that I got to go. 

Outdoor Dog Bed

As I now have an enclosed porch and it is starting to warm up here in Texas I have been trying to figure out what to put out there for Lily. I know this sounds strange but I don't really like for her to lay on concrete for long periods of time and I have high hopes of enjoying a glass of wine out there in the spring and summer. So I decided to make her another dog bed.

My mom had some outdoor fabric, the kind used for making cushions for patio furniture. It is pretty stiff and I think it might be water proof. I am not in love with the pattern but for an outdoor dog bed it is wonderful because it was free. I also had some left over foam from my couch in St. Louis, it was sagging something fierce so I bought some foam squares that went under the cushions and made it manageable. So so far I have spent nothing for this project... awesome.

Instead of taking exact measurements I laid the foam on top of the fabric and just eyeballed it. This was probably not a good idea so if I were you I would measure... my fabric is a little long. I then sewed up the two raw edges with the right sides together. I flipped it open and shoved the foam inside, so far so good right. Then it became time to sew up the last edge... unfortunately I could not get it close to the foot to sew it on the machine so I ended up sewing it by hand. This was super tedious and it doesn't really look that good but for what I intend to use this for it is fine.

This was a bit difficult but I got it in there

The hand stitched edging

Here is what I should have done: I should have sewed up two adjacent sides and still leaving the extra fabric (it looks kinda like a pillow case) and then sewed that edge up last.

I think during the summer Lily will enjoy having it if the concrete is hot. She was pretty skeptical about it and either stood her front paws on it (like the queen of the mountain) or would sit on there. I guess it doesn't really matter because I enjoyed making it. I am keeping it inside so that it doesn't get ruined by the elements or have ducks decide that they can roost in it.

She is looking out over the land and waiting for friends

Banana Muffins

As you know I love bananas, I tend to have one everyday for lunch or for a snack at work. I know that not everyone agrees but I really like my bananas on the greener side so when they start to turn yellow with lots of spots and smell ripe I don't want to have it at lunch but I will cook with it. Most of the time I only have one or two bananas left over so I pop them in the freezer until I have enough to bake something. Just a hint on freezing your bananas they tend to be just a little watery when they come out of the freezer, I just peel them over a bowl and toss everything in there. I know I have shared a Banana bread recipe with you but today I thought that I would share my muffin recipe.

I love these muffins because they have lots of oatmeal in them so they are good for a pre or post race snack when you are going to run. I also find that they are pretty filling. I tend to bake these and once they are cool pop them into the freezer in a ziploc baggie. This gives them a fresh from the oven taste when you warm them in the microwave (for about a minute for 2). I cannot stand stale muffins so this is a good way to prevent that.

Banana Muffins

1/4 c butter (or margarine)
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c mashed bananas (about 3-4)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder

1- Cream butter and sugar until light
2- Add egg and mix well
3- Add cereal, bananas, and vanilla stir to combine
4- Mix the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl, add to the wet ingredients in parts and stir until moist.
5- Grease the muffin tins (I opt for liners, less cleanup) or a loaf pan
6- Bake muffins for 25 minutes and a loaf for 1 hour at 350

If you have been reading this blog for a while you might have caught this post about having weevils in my flour. In that post I mentioned that I made oat flour. Should you want to do that what I did was for a double batch I put 3 cups of oats in the blender and blended until smooth (it looked like flour) and then tossed it into the mix. I didn't remeasure the oat flour, I was afraid that they would be rocks if I added a full 3 cups of oat flour. I found that these were just the right about of moist and tasted just fine. I haven't tried it again since that day but on the off chance you can't have flour this should work for you.


I try to keep these on hand for those mornings when you are running late and just want to grab something and have to eat it in the car. I think I have also taken these to fun parties and they tend to be a hit. I am not too sure where this recipe originated, I think it is from a cookbook that my mom has but I know that I got it from her. Let me know if you try these, I love them.

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I will admit that the first thing I think about when I get out of bed every morning is how long until the coffee is ready. I told you before about how I let it perk while I am in the shower so the time without coffee is minimized. When I was in graduate school I drank Folgers classic, which was pretty good and also cheap. But my favorite coffee brand is Community Coffee, this is a Louisiana tradition and I love it. I prefer the Cafe Special (yellow label) but I have had the blue one as well it is slightly more robust.

At the end of graduate school my mom would mail me coffee and it always seemed to come right when the other one would run out... thanks mom. But as I am realizing that I am no longer a starving student so I can splurge on somethings and coffee is one of those things. As I am picky about my brand of coffee I am also pretty particular about the creamer, it is CoffeeMate or nothing (and by nothing I mean milk and lots of sugar).

A few weeks ago I came across this pin on how to make your own creamer for coffee. I have fallen in love with two creamers as of late: Cinnamon Vanilla Creame and Peppermint Mocha. So I was pretty excited about finding a recipe for creamer that had both of the varieties that I like. So I grabbed a can of  sweetened condensed milk on my next trip to the grocery store and then I was ready. I did chicken out of making this for several days (maybe even a week) I was afraid it would be gross.

Cinnamon Vanilla Creamer, homemade

I finally decided to get it together and make the cinnamon vanilla cream version. So, I followed the part of the directions where you heat the milk and dissolve the cinnamon in the milk on the stove. This part went OK until it started to smell a little burnt so I pulled it off the stove to cool. I eventually mixed everything together but left out any of the cinnamon that didn't dissolve and stuck to the funnel or the pan. At this point it looks a little more like cinnamon milk or just milk with black chunks (think Oreo milk).

Chunky-Monkies on the bottom... ew

I pop it into the fridge until the next morning where I am a little anxious as this is the best part of my morning and what if it ruins my coffee. So I shake the creamer to get it all back into a homogenous solution (wow am I a chemist or what). I then get my coffee and head back to my room so that I can do my hair.

Right before the first sip

My first sip isn't too bad but it isn't very sweet. As I keep drinking it the burnt smell became all I could taste and there were some serious nasties in the bottom of my cup. I did finish the majority of the cup that I poured but I used CoffeeMate for the rest of the coffee. I am not saying that this is terrible but I am going to tell you that I didn't drink it again nor will I ever make it again. It is possible that a different flavor might be better and if you try it let me know.

The Graffiti Run

I ran my first 5K of the year over the weekend, the Graffiti Run. You can check out their website here in case you want to see if it is coming to your town. I found a GroupOn for the race so I got a discount on the race, which is always awesome. This is the first run like this that I have ever done, previously I mainly ran races in St. Louis that were either benefits or for St. Pat's day. I was pretty excited about the race and I just new it was going to be wonderful.

Pre-Race Excitement... also we are pretty cold

My friend Lindsay and I got up early to drive over to Ft. Worth for the race, the morning dawned pretty cool but by the time the race was about to start it was warm enough to pull off a few layers. So we both strip down to our white shirts and running tights. I wasn't too sure about running in my good pants but I really didn't want to wear shorts and then I realized they are running clothes so I just did it. We then move over to the cattle call area where they have lined people up to run the race, heats took off about every 5-7 minutes so we waited about 25 minutes before we were allowed to take off.

As we reach the first color area we are pretty excited but I was a little frustrated because I am used to running on streets or in more organized races but the first color was pink and I love pink. I didn't get too much pink on me, mostly my ankles looked bright pink. We then keep running down the narrowest trail that I have ever run on and hit up the blue throw. At this point I am enjoying the run as people are starting to spread out just a little more. However, the second mile did not have any fun stations... that was a little painful. Eventually we get to the end of the run and realize that it was a great time, I don't know that I will do another one but it was a good time.

That cloud of color is the color powder

Now for the color throw: they give us a packet of color I choose yellow and Linds chooses purple. As we watch people jump around there is a part of me that is skeptical about getting really dirty but in the spirit of it we gave it a shot. Here is how it works: everyone packs in really close and then they throw their color powder in the air and then it falls on you.

We survived... also we look hideous, and to think we went to breakfast like this...

After the color throw we decided to head out, we then decided that some breakfast sounded good, it was after 1030 so McDonalds was out. I realize that a bagel sounded wonderful, we then headed out to a bagel place. I look at her and don't realize that we are both super dirty, like pretty gross. We stopped to wash our hands and then realized that we looked a mess, but we were committed. I think that was the longest I have ever waited for a bagel. But it was worth it.

This is what my shirt looked like as I tossed it in the washer... too bad most of it came out

We had a wonderful time, have you ever run one of these type of runs? Do you like to get dirty? Here are my helpful hints should you do one: bring extra clothes (shoes included), bring wet washcloths, a beach towel to sit on after, bags for your clothes. We only had the towels... oh well at least we had those right.

Happy Birthday Lily

One of our first pics together... she is so cute

On Saturday Lily turned 6!!! I will be honest and say that I don't know her real birthday but she was 4 months when I got her on June 2, 2007 so I decided that February 2 would work for her birthday. I have loved having her as a part of my life and in many ways she is the best part of me. I thought I would share some of my favorite pics of the two of us or just her since you may have never gotten a chance to have her give you sweet kisses.

My mom knitted her a sweater, she loved it.

She likes to watch for strangers when we sit outside

Watching me get ready every morning, I just want to go snuggle her

Hiking around in a park

I would post a million more pictures but I think you have seen enough of her for today. Most evenings we lay on the couch and watch TV and just enjoy cuddling. She is so special to me and I am so thankful to be able to be her mom. For her birthday we didn't do to much but we did have a great day together.

Homemade King Cake

One of the shining moments of this time of year is Mardi Gras Season, when I was younger I didn't fully appreciate the festivals and all of the parades. However, I am starting to realize what I am missing and since I find that I never seem to make it down for the parades I am learning how to bring Mardi Gras to my house. In my parents home town the best king cakes are from a donut shop called Meche's, these are seriously amazing and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I looked into ordering one and they run about $40-50 and I realized that is just a little out of my price range these days for things that I don't really have to have.

Once I decided that I was going to make my own king cake I looked all over pinterest and different food blogs for a king cake recipe. Since I wanted to replicate Meche's I knew that I needed lots of cinnamon and a yeast based dough. Some recipes use Brioche bread as the base like some of the most famous king cakes from New Orleans. I found that I don't much care for those type as they are a little dense for my personal taste and the fact that I grew up on Meche's. So I kept looking until I found a recipe that looked like it work for me. I found the recipe on this blog and I haven't really modified the ingredients to much but mainly the execution.

Homemade King Cake

Ingredients

2 Pillsbury French Bread loafs (or any refrigerated French Bread loaf)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
6 Tbsp butter melted

For Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
8 tsp milk
Food Coloring

Directions
1- Unroll the french bread on some type of silicon mat since the dough is pretty sticky
2- Mix together the cinnamon and sugar
3- Spread the melted butter across the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture
4- Cut the dough into three strips lengthwise
5- Braid the dough the same way you would braid your hair, I find that this part is a little difficult but just kinda twine it together until it looks good. You could just cut it in two parts and twist them.

6- Put the two braids together on a cookie sheet, mash the ends together so they kinda stick together
7- Pop the king cake into a 350 oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the bread it cooked
8- Make the icing by mixing the three ingredients together, it should be runny. You might want to add the milk slowly but make sure that it runs off the end of the spoon.
9- For a traditional king cake separate the icing into the three parts and dye one part green, purple, and yellow.

10- Drizzle the icing all of the cake
11- Enjoy it warm

I have made this a few different times for different Mardi Gras parties. I love to make this, it isn't quite as good as a Meche's king cake but it works in a pinch. I enjoy eating it for breakfast for several days after I make it. Let me know if you try this and how you think it matches up with the king cakes that you have had.

The breakfast of champions

On a side note, my king cakes do not have a baby in them but should you choose to I would not bake it the oven as it will melt but you can stick it in after. I would totally put one in my cakes when I take it places but I don't have any so if you have one laying around go ahead and put it is there. Enjoy the king cakes and I hope your Mardi Gras is wonderful.

Pin Failing

I am somewhat addicted to pinterest, this means that I often pin lots of things and never look back at them. In the recent months I have been trying look back through these pins and see if there is anything that I should try and that I would like to try. I am looking at craft pins and food pins... this does increase the chance of failure since it is food. Last weekend I decided that I would try a few new pins... here is the story of those pins.

The first pin is: a brownie in a mug. Yes I know that after the failed chocolate chip cookie for one, which you can read about here, but I was home alone and wanted something sweet so a brownie for one was the way to go. I used this pin, which is one of those picture pins and I kinda like those. I will admit that I was super skeptical but since I am trying to cut back the amount of crap that I eat there was not a single cookie or candy or really anything sweet in the house. I wanted something sweet and I didn't want to make a whole pan of anything so I made the brownie in a mug.

Brownie in a mug... fail

Yet again I was sucked into believing that this would be yummy but it was a lie... it was bad. I wasn't really sweet and it was just a little bitter. I think that ice cream would have helped, I also think that it was better since I used a ramekin instead of a mug since I find in the mug leaves a nasty raw spot in the middle. Again it was terrible but at least it was over and I didn't actually eat all of it.

The second pin is: Taste like lasagna soup. I found this one from Bobby Deen and it is a lighter version of Paula's soup of the same name. Now I will admit that I was pretty excited about this one because I LOVE lasagna and in a soup, what could be better. I did alter the recipe a little by using ground turkey instead of turkey sausage (I couldn't find any). But the main point of this is that it did not look like the picture and it tasted nasty. I am not saying the recipe is bad but I am saying that I did not finish what I was having for lunch and I certainly threw out the whole pot. I had hoped to have it for lunch all week, it was no good. I am not sure what I did wrong but ew. I think they added cream in the original to make it look that color but not in the recipe.

Does not taste like lasagna soup...

Pinterest tends to bring good things to my life but I will admit that these were some pretty big fails, I will probably keep making things that I find on there but I don't think I will be making any more lighter dishes from Bobby Deen. I made his shrimp and grits and that was a little rough too. I think for some classic southern dishes it is the fat that makes the meal and without it I might be healthier but I am still hungry. I hope that my next pinterest adventure turns out better than the last few I have had some serious failures as of late, but I am still enjoying the adventure.