Covert Operation

Miss Abby and Miss Dakota were spotted having a secret meeting out by the fence. I just knew they were up to something and I'll be darn if I wasn't right. The mystery has been solved. Miss Abby was teaching the young and innocent Miss Dakota how to steal cherry tomatoes out of the garden! I spent half the weekend on tomato patrol. Miss Dakota didn't catch on right away, though, and started out by stealing the green ones, and she probably wondered what the big deal was. Then she discovered the red ones. Oh boy...look out! She was a puppy on a mission! If she wasn't stealing tomatoes on her own, she was untying my shoe laces so Abby could sneak in the garden and grab some of her own. These two girls made a pretty good team.

The Lost Ball

Boomer lost his ball under the entertainment center, and a search party had to be formed ...


I wanted to get Paul's butt in the picture too, but thought better of it. He would have gotten me back!

That dog is obsessed with his tennis ball. Actually, it isn't his but was Abby's, but he claimed it as his own for the weekend. He chewed on it constantly and freaked out when he couldn't find it. Apparently he's the same way at home. His teeth are worn down from chewing on the ball constantly. He even drops it in the dish whenever he's eating or drinking so he can keep a close eye on it! Like Abby does, he likes to chew on the ball right in front of the entertainment center, as close as he can get so it keeps rolling under and we have to get up and get it for him. We finally put a blanket down there and stuffed it underneath so he couldn't push it under. Then he switched to the coffee table...losing it underneath, getting up and going to the other side to retrieve it, carrying it back to the other side, and starting all over again...over and over and over again.

What a golden day!

Boy! What a day we're having! Look what we have in our presence today!

Her name is Dakota, and she's 11 weeks old today. Is she adorable, or what?! I want to melt just looking at her. She's sleeping underneath my chair as I type this and I am definitely in puppy love!

Now, before some of you go and get too excited, no..., unfortunately, she doesn't belong to us! I had you freaking out there for a second, didn't I? Hee, hee, hee.

She belongs to my friend Jill and her family. They went out of town for the weekend and she was worried about putting Dakota in a kennel since she's so young so she asked if I would mind dog sitting. Um...hello!! Me turning away a chance of spending the weekend with a squirming golden puppy?? I don't think so! Dakota has a 6-year-old golden brother named Boomer that they were going to put in a kennel for the weekend, and I said no way...that they could bring him too! So here we are this weekend with a house full of goldens...and I am totally enjoying myself!!

Here's another picture of Dakota.

This is Dakota's big brother Boomer.
He's a big brother alright...probably almost 100 pounds worth!

Does she look like she's planning something here or what?
Hmmmmm...what kind of trouble can I get into next?


Boomer has a stripe of hair running down the middle of his snout
that stands backward kind of like a ridge,
so in pictures it looks like he has a stripe on his snout.

That's it for now! Keep checking back and I'll add more pictures...I'm sure taking plenty!

I know I'm not the only one

Look at the picture below...



Does anything jump out at you? Look at the strawberry pot in the middle. Does it not look like a happy Chinese man with big bags under his eyes?! I sat at work all day Monday looking at this picture as I typed and that is all I could see...this happy Chinese man.

I've noticed that I see faces in a lot of things. I can't go to the bathroom downstairs without looking across the sink at the surprised little guys that make up the electrical outlet. I sit in traffic and see the tail lights and bumpers of cars either smiling or sneering at me (probably depending on what kind of mood I'm in!!). They're everywhere!

I'm not the only one, though. I showed this picture to Paul and he pointed it out right away.

I like this happy yet tired oriental strawberry pot man. I think I'm going to hang it up in my cubicle at work. It isn't even my calendar but was left behind by the previous occupant. Thank you, Sandy, for leaving me this happy guy. He makes me smile.

Recipe Swap

Okay...I have to admit that I got a little swap crazy a couple of months ago and signed up for more swaps than I should have and I struggled to keep up. This, however, was the last of the bunch. I almost forgot about it and then realized yesterday that it's due on the 15th so I had better get my butt in gear. This one was for peanut butter recipes. It didn't matter what it was as long as it contains peanut butter. Most people chose desserts...peanut butter cookies...peanut butter krispie treats, etc. I thought I would go a little unconventional on this and throw something different into the mix. I had recently tried a recipe for Chicken Satay Stir-Fry that I saw Rachael Ray make on 30-Minute Meals, and I really liked it a lot. The sauce is made with chunky peanut butter, so I thought why not!

This one was difficult for me to come up with something. I knew I wanted to use the oriental stamps because it's a Thai recipe. I actually don't like this stamp set very much. It's the first one I ever bought from Stampin' Up. I bought it along with the bamboo background. I have actually used this set quite a bit, though. Maybe it's really the bamboo background that I don't like. I don't know. Anyway, does the doodling on the red stripes look okay? I wanted to add something to give that area some visual interest instead of just a plain stripe, but I didn't want to attach anything else to the page. I'm actually quite pleased with it, if I do say so myself. I'm excited that I will actually get one of my own back in the swap (some swaps you don't and have to make an extra for yourself...and I'm too lazy for that!) I had to put together seven of these puppies, and that was quite a bit of work!