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.