8 pounds of what???

Today, instead of packing for my weekend trip, I bring you my Pinterest Pin of the Day (because pinning is more fun that packing and we all know I'm going to wait until the last minute anyway)

How To Clean Pet Stains Out Of Carpet
(Removed link and photo)

The pin links to a great article on One Good Thing By Jillee. Love her blog, it's so informative, I can while away hours every day just perusing her bright ideas. However, the reason I pinned this particular pin is because I really, really, REALLY need it. Yes, I have a little pee-pee stain maker on my hands.

Meet Maggie. She's an 8 year old Italian Greyhound/Chihuahua mix I adopted a year ago through a special senior citizen adoption program. She was the senior, not me! She's a bundle of nervous energy wrapped up in cuddly cuteness...and she's not fully housebroken. When I first met her (and of course instantly fell in love with her) I was assured she was A) fully housebroken and B) not a barker. Either she had the adoption agency duped or they lied to us. She's an 8 pound barking pee-pee fountain...and all love and kisses and a laugh a minute!

I mean, come on...how can you not love a desk dog!! In a red sweater! Ohmygawdshe'ssocute! Now I can live with the barking, especially since my hearing isn't what it used to be, and she's awesome at letting me know when mail/ups/fedex has arrived or a pine needle has fallen off the tree outside, but the pee stains well that's another story. Seriously, I lose sleep over the pee stains on my carpet! (not really, I just added that for dramatic effect) The hubster and I are planning to replace all the flooring in our home this summer with a nice hardwood or laminate or something like that, but until then we still have the carpet to deal with. I plan on giving the baking soda/vinegar trick a try and see how it works. I'll report on my findings in a future blog...if I can remember, because the old grey mare just ain't what she used to be! Wait, maybe I WAS the senior citizen after all! 

And for today....

Want List

With my birthday coming up in a few days, My Hubby has been asking me what I would like him to buy me, so here is my Want List:

The Ninja 3 in 1 cooking system. 

This is on my list, the TOP of my list because I have a love/hate relationship with cooking dinner every evening. While we are not empty-nesters (that glorious day is coming soon!) our college kids are almost never home anymore so most evenings it's pretty much Hubby-who now has work hours that can go late into the evening, our 14yo son, who I may have mentioned has Autism and me for dinner. Autism Boy (as he proclaims himself to be) is not a "foodie" so he pretty much eats from his list of about 20 or so foods that don't bother him to eat. (It's sensory integration disorder issue-not related to my cooking...or at least that's what the experts tell me) So anyway, I think that one of these one-pot, dump it in and cook it either slow (if I remember early enough in the day that the family will want to eat dinner) or fast (because I kind of forgot the whole dinner thing, again) would be a valuable asset to our small appliance collection.

Next on my list:

The 5X Lighted, Tri-Fold Makeup Mirror

This baby made the list because let's face it, I'm no spring chicken and seeing the age in my face at 5 TIMES regular magnification will be fun. NOT. But it would be nice to actually be able to SEE my face when I'm putting on makeup, eyeliner in particular, lest I leave the house looking a bit more like Cleopatra than I had intended. Again.

And finally, we're back in the kitchen with this bad boy:

The Cuisinart Elite Collection 12 Cup Food Processor

I currently own a 34 year old Cuisinart food processor that originally belonged to my Mom. And while it still works, and works amazingly, the bowl has finally cracked, there are cracks in the base housing and I've misplace a blade so it's not as useful as it was years ago. Not to mention the darn thing weighs in at about 150 pounds so lugging it from the cabinet to the counter requires either my hubby to be home or a team of at least 3 to pitch in and help. Not that this new one weighs much less, when I was out at Bed, Bath and Beyond with Hubby last weekend, he tried to get me to lift the display model and I couldn't. So I informed him that if you get me one of these bad boys you might as well get the bright red because it's going on the counter and staying there and matching the kitchen color scheme is important to me.

I actually think this would go nicely with the Ninja Cooking System for doing all that choppy prep-work before I toss our dinner ingredients into the pot and I'd really love to have both, but I'm not holding my breath...of course Valentines day IS next month!

We have my son to thank for this post...

I asked my 20 year old son for a blog post idea, and he said one word: PONIES. And by ponies he means My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (aka MLP:FIM). So here you go. My son is a "Brony" (male fan of all this pony stuff) and therefore should be happy with this post...and maybe you will be too.

This is the cast of MLP:FIM

They are ponies and they do fun stuff.

Little girls like them,

as do college-aged boys.

No, I don't get it either.

But what's important is that we don't judge.

Oh yeah, and my son made this MLP:FIM/Beer For My Horses crossover video.

It was featured once on Equestria Daily.

Fans of Country music superstar Toby Keith will totally "get" the video. 

Do you think Mr. Keith will like that I called him a "superstar"?

Okay, that's it. I could go on and on about MLP and how they promote a fostering of good values and friendship and pink things...but I don't feel the need. He said Ponies, and I produced a blog post on ponies so my work here is done. 

Laters Everypony!

2012 A year in review? I think NOT.

A lot of bloggers do one of those "Year In Review" posts at the end/beginning of a new year, not this blogger. For me, 2012 was a year to put in a box in the back of the closet and pretend it didn't happen. For me it was a year that took a routine Dr's appointment and turned it into dozens of Dr's appointments, too many blood tests to count, numerous ultrasounds and scans including one where I given a radioactive substance to ingest. Yes, I was radioactive! WTF?! All this and here we are a year later and all these doctors and technicians still have no idea what is growing in my spleen, how long it's been there and what they should do about it. All the while, I had no symptoms or negative side effects and still don't. The upside, there is nothing else going on inside me that I should be worried about and that makes me happy. I love happy.

And all this poking and prodding was woven in with my Hubby's job falling off the face of the planet just weeks after a the big bosses held a meeting at the plant and sent out a follow up memo where the company proclaimed to be doing well and not to believe the rumors of their imminent demise. I'm sure somewhere in Germany, where the parent company is located, there were at least a few pairs of pants on fire. I hate liars.

And despite all this craziness, our homeschooled daughter completed her Senior year of high school on a accelerated plan and graduated an entire semester early. See, some good stuff came out of 2012! As of February 4th, she'll be a college student. I love college.

2012 also gave my Hubby and I a few months to "test drive" retirement while he was on unemployment. This experiment led us to deduce that we both need to invest in some good hobbies between now and real retirement. I now understand how Bingo came into being. I love Bingo.

And with the test drive now behind us, Hubby has embarked on a new career with a good Christian company that seems to be solid, solvent and trustworthy. He's not currently seeing any pants on fire and that gives him some peace of mind. He loves peace of mind.

Well crud, I just did a year in review. Not a full year though so maybe we just won't count it, okay?! What's that??? My pants are on fire??? Uh oh, gotta go! Bye!