My Mall Venture!

I went to the mall today, man was it packed. Things are still very crowded. Holiday crowds have not ceased here. I didn't go in to the mall. I actually just parked outside the store I wanted to go to. I was out in 10 to 15 minutes. I'm a quick shopper! Get in and get out!

Now if you are my boyfriend or my mom skip over this paragraph! Just go to the next one! I love going to that particular mall I went to today mainly because of the drive there. There's some great bridges leading into it, I get to speed with no fear of getting a ticket. It's my pretend race car driver moment going over the bridges. Woo-hoo!

My big purchase at the mall was a springform pan. Woo-hoo! I'm one of few people that would get excited about that purchase. I plan on making my very first cheesecake for New Year's. Hopefully, it comes out well. If not I have a back up plan for a quick dessert! Should be fun to try a cheesecake though! I'll take pics if it turns out well!

Candy Cane Rawhides!

There's a bit of a candy cane rawhide issue going on with the boys lately. Every time I give the boys a candy cane rawhide Cody growls at Simon. Then Simon goes as far away as he can get from Cody. The other day I was walking out the door and handed the boys each a candy cane. Simon dropped his, Cody growled then Simon hot-footed it to the bathroom. I wasn't going to walk out with one dog perfectly happy in his bed with a rawhide and the other in the dark bathroom. I went into Simon to realize he was perfectly content to stay in there, far away from Cody. I finally decided since I couldn't get Simon to come out of the bathroom I at least made him comfortable in there. I put a bed in there for him. He quickly laid down in the bed with his candy cane.

I wish I knew what Cody keeps saying to Simon when I give them candy canes. He says something that makes Simon get far away. Simon is even willing to go in the dark bathroom to eat his candy cane without the fear of his big bro. Man, they really are funny! The little things they do. They get along great and they always have but there's those few moments where things are rough for them. It's a bit weird though that the candy cane rawhides are making them react this way this year. I never remember this happening before. Oh well we're dealing with it!

The Alarm Clock!

One of my boyfriend's gifts from me for Christmas was a new alarm clock one that is also an ipod dock. I looked quite awhile before purchasing the one I got for him. He liked the one I chose and was anxious to set it up.

He set the clock time and the alarm time. The next day his alarm didn't go off. He figured he set the alarm time incorrect.

Later that day, I happened to be over at his place and I decided to see if I could fix the issue for him. I worked and worked on that alarm. I must have set it 4 or 5 times just to test it. I tried everything! Yes, I even read the directions. I'm typically not a direction reader! I must add the directions were very lame. Anyway, after about 20 or 25 minutes of working with this alarm I finally figured out the problem. My boyfriend set the time incorrect! I kept thinking the alarm was set incorrectly or I wasn't in the "correct" mode to work the alarm but I never once thought the time could be incorrect. I stared at the incorrect time for 20-some minutes. What a dork!...Both of us are!

Our Christmas!

I hope all had a wonderfully merry Christmas! We had a good Christmas! On Christmas Eve we hosted my boyfriend's family at his place. I was super busy this past week getting prepared for everything. Friday night I made an appetizer, a cake, a pie, some candy and cookies. Yep, definitely busy! Great fun though! I was slightly disappointed in the new cookie recipe I used but oh well. I like chewy softer cookies and these turned out crunchy.

Simon was so excited for Christmas! The boys love opening gifts. I had a hard time keeping Simon from opening gifts early. He actually did open 2 that had to re-taped. One gift was for him and the other was one of mine. I'm not sure why the temptation of opening the gifts early was so strong for him this year.

This is national take back gifts day! We do have one thing that has to go back. I got my boyfriend a coffeemaker and so did his parents. He has yet to decide which one he's keeping. I had no idea that days before Christmas when his mom asked him what he wanted for Christmas he mentioned needing a new coffeemaker. I typically have plenty of ideas on what to get him so I rarely ask for a list of things from him when a gift-giving holiday is near.

I doubt we'll worry about taking the coffeemaker back today but maybe. My big interest of the day is going to a movie. We haven't been to a movie in awhile. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to talk my boyfriend into it.

The Door!

I have a little story. This story will describe a person that has a hundred and two things on her mind at once. The other day I came home with bags of stuff in each hand. I placed my bags down near my dining table. I then went to get the boys out of their enclosed area since I was now home. Next up I realized it was time to feed the boys. And as everyone knows there is no time to waste when it comes to getting Sime-boo-boo his dinner on time!!! As the boys were eating I was unpacking my bags of stuff. After that I quickly swung into getting some items prepared in the kitchen. I remember looking over the counter into the living room and noticing that Simon gave a slightly weird glance towards the front door. I didn't think much of it though. Soon I noticed the same slightly weird glance was given in the direction of the door by Cody when he arrived in the living room. I still didn't think much of it. I continued to stay in the kitchen. I'm guessing a good 30 minutes passed by before I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where the boys were both laying in their bed under the window. As I rounded the corner to go from my kitchen to the living room I looked over to discover the front door was standing wide open. I never closed the door behind me after coming home with both arms filled with bags. Geesh! What a dork I am!

Yes, I'm still shocked I left the front door open that long and had no clue it was open. I'm also impressed that neither dog tried to go anywhere! No making a break for it for my puggies! Neither one of them even got near the door. They simply looked over there and then went to lay down like always. I wonder what they each thought was going on with the door? Surely they both thought various things about why the door was left open. Likely one thought was that their mommie is crazy....they're nearly right on that thought! Okay, not crazy just a little preoccupied!

Christmas Party Weekend!

This weekend I made lots of stuff. My boyfriend's family Christmas party was yesterday. I had lots of fun Saturday night baking and making candy. For the occasion we took my 7-layer dip for an appetizer, a cake, and two types of candy. We had lots of fun at the get-together! For the Christmas gift exchange I came away with a cookbook and cupcake carrier. Sweet!

It was great timing for the Cowboys to play on Saturday night since we had the Christmas party to go to on Sunday. We watched very little football yesterday. I did see that the Cardinals won. So to me it was a great football weekend, Cowboys and Cards pulled off victories. The Cardinals have been doing much better lately. If anyone cares to remember I predicted they would be better towards the end of the season!

Texas Sports Weekend!

Oh my gosh! How could the Cowboys lose in the manner they lost last night? You should have heard my gasp as it happened. It was unbelievable! I knew the Giants would ice the Cowboys kicker but no one could have predicted for the kick to be blocked on the second try. It was horrible! My poor boyfriend was none to happy, it didn't bring his weekend to a good close.

In other Texas sports news, the quarterback at Baylor won the Heisman trophy. We were both very pleased to see that. I assumed Andrew Luck of Stanford had it locked up. But instead a QB of a smaller university got it. Cool! And of course I also have to mention that the Houston Texans have made it to the NFL playoffs for the first time. I can't believe how their team has responded to all the injuries they've had. They have a 3rd string QB leading their team, their best offensive player is out, as is their best defensive player. Yet with sheer grit and determination they have made it to their first playoff birth. Crazy and Sweet! True definition of teamwork!

The Mavs will open their season on Christmas day against whom? Oh that pesky Miami Heat team. I hope Miami enjoys watching the Mavs get their rings and raise the Championship banner on Xmas day! We will!

Which One of You is Guilty?

Today I had to pose the question to the boys, "which one of you did this?". Now based on what happened I was fairly certain which pug was most likely to do this particular bad task. But I still questioned them both out of fairness.

The pugs were at my boyfriend's house hanging out with Storm the cat. When the boys arrive Storm's food that normally sits on the floor always has to be raised up due to food obsessed Simon. As I was preparing to take the pugs back to our place I put Storm's food back on the floor in it's usual spot since the boys were about to leave. I needed to take one trip to the car before leashing up the boys. When I came back in Cody looked perturbed. It wasn't long before I went in the kitchen to discover Storm's food bowl had been cleaned out. I quickly turned to the pugs. Simon was standing and watching my every move. Cody was laying down near Simon. I asked the pugs, "which one of you ate Storm's food?". Both of their heads moved from side to side. I followed that question up with another one, "Come on, tell me which one of you ate the food?". Right on cue Simon gives a huge burp! It was all I could do not to laugh. I already knew it must have been him, the burp was his confession. I made myself refrain from laughing because he needed to be disciplined. That darn over-active eating thing within him! It gets him in trouble every time!

Cookies and Christmas Preparation!

The first batch of Christmas cookies is currently in the oven. I'm making my favorite Christmas cookie....snowballs. I love those delicate little powdered sugared cookies. I look forward to making them every year. My boyfriend's favorite is gingerbread! Although when it comes to Christmas cookies or cookies in general he's not picky! I think he's gotten used to not getting gingerbread cookies until Valentine's day. The last 2 Christmases I haven't had the time to dedicate to gingerbread cookies. They need to be rolled out and decorated. So the last 2 Valentine's days he's received a goodie box containing gingerbread cookies. It's kind of nice that way and extra fun to focus only on those cookies for him at that time.


Next week will be a very BIG week for me. I plan on finishing up my Christmas gift shopping. Plus I plan on doing a ton of baking. I just hope I can accomplish all I want to.


Yesterday, I went to purchase some cookie tins to fill then give away. The cashier at Target questioned why I was purchasing so many tins. She didn't question it in a rude way, she was simply curious. I think this is the first time I've ever had this complaint that I'm about to mention.....where's all the good wrapping paper? I have yet to find a good selection. I saw Justin Bieber wrapping paper, definitely not buying that! I saw way over priced and too fancy looking for wrapping paper. And then I saw some just non exciting designs. There was one design that had a cute moose with a Christmas train theme, the Christmas Express. Seemed cute enough but on second glance I noticed they changed the wording from "Christmas Express" to "Christmoose Express". I didn't like the wordplay with the word "Christmas". The word Christmas to me should never be altered! Just my opinion. I know it was just wrapping paper and a cute moose/train theme but still I didn't appreciate the wordplay. Needless to say I'm still in search of Christmas paper.

Rooster Days are Numbered...I Hope!

If I'm extra tired lately it's Simon's fault! He has awakened me way too early the last 2 mornings. The other day it was just before 4 AM when I first heard the sounds of Simon. Yep, you read that right 4 AM. He continued to do his barking routine about every 20 to 30 minutes until I got the idea to put him in the spare bathroom. I whisked him up, took one of the pet beds and put him in the bathroom then shut the door behind me. Then this morning he woke me up at about 5, I first ignored him then he started up again about 20 minutes later so I once again went out to where the boys sleep in the hall and in a fury I scooped him up and put him in the bathroom again. Not a peep out of him until I was ready to get up. Sometimes with Simon more drastic measures have to be taken for him to get the point. With Cody I can simply tell him "no" and he gets it. Simon is hardheaded and you must really let him know your feelings, he can't sense feelings as good as Cody.

The spare bathroom is super dark and it's nearly the farthest thing from my room. I'm not sure how I got the idea the other morning to put him in the dark bathroom but I did. He instantly got the message and was quiet. I am now hopeful that after a few more times of an irritated me putting him in the bathroom he will soon get the message that barking early in the morning is not appropriate unless the house is burning down or a tornado is about to hit. Otherwise I don't want to hear a peep out of the boys until I'm ready for them to be up. That's how it used to be! They slept until I got up! Cody still does, this is just Simon that started this wanting to get up with the roosters thing. Weirdest part though is he doesn't actually appear to want to get up he just barks for no apparent reason. After hearing him bark if I go out to him he makes no effort to get up out of bed. It's like he's seeing if I'll come to him!

Guess what boo-boo your early morning wanting to be a rooster days are numbered. I'm determined to break you of this habit! All I want for Christmas is my Sime to keep quiet in the early morning hours.

Happy Birthday Cody!

Me, tasting my frosting!

Oh it is I, Cody Peterson. Today is my birthday. Mommie has told me happy birthday several times and sang to me some weird birthday song she made up and soon I will get cake and presents. While my mommie uploads a new pic of me I decided to take to the computer and do my 2nd blog ever.

My biggest wish for my bday was 78 degrees and sunny. The moment I felt the blast of cold air when mommie first took us out early this morning I knew that wish wasn't going to come true.

Next up I'm hoping for a plane ticket to Florida....I want to be a beach bum! I seriously doubt there's a plane ticket amongst the gifts I have yet to open but a little guy can wish. In all seriousness I suppose a brand new toy would suit me just fine. I haven't had a new toy in awhile! Back at Halloween time but that was awhile ago. It's clearly time for a new toy.

My mommie made me a cake last night. She gave us a few nibbles of a couple of the ingredients that went into the cake. Oh and she borrowed a special pan so she could make me a bigger cake than normal. So this will be the biggest cake I've ever had. Yay for me! Only problem is I have to share with my bro. I guess he's a good kid though, he shares with me when his bday comes around. I suppose it's fair. Well y'all, Cody is out! I gotta get my party started!

Cowboys vs. Cardinals....Game of the Week!

Tomorrow the Cardinals and the Cowboys face off as they did last year. We have an extra side bet riding on this game. If the Cards win I get dinner out courtesy of my Cowboys loving boyfriend and obviously if the Cowboys win I will be treating him to dinner at his choice restaurant. I have a feeling I will most likely be the one paying for dinner in the near future.

The boys wanted to weigh in with their own thoughts on the game. Notice each boy is wearing his team's color! Cody was super patient and cooperative. I can't say the same for Si-Si. He just woke up and was not in a picture taking mood. After a couple snaps of the camera he walked off set! Lol!

I'm technically a winner either way I suppose. Although I won't be rooting for the Cowboys per say! I'll keep kind of quiet and secretly hope my Cards can hang in there. I'm all for any Texas team unless they are up against the Cards or the Sun Devils then it's a bit harder to pick a side. The best part about tomorrow will be that I actually get to see the Cardinals play. This will be the first time this season the Cards have been shown here. So I'm mostly excited just to see my team!

p.s. click on their pics to enlarge so you can read their signs!

Christmas Decorating!

Welcome to December! Cody's birthday is right around the corner. He says, "Let the countdown begin!" Next Wednesday he and his little brother will be delighted with a specially made doggie cake. He will also be delighted with a brand new Christmas toy. He will get either a penguin or a gingerbread man or both since his little bro won't care about the toy that much. Plus Cody gets a little hoggish when it comes to new bday toys!

I finally decorated for Christmas. It's only the first day of December so it's not exactly late into the season yet, I say "finally", because I planned on decorating Tuesday night but I chose to do other stuff and the decorating got pushed back to today. I put up window cling decorations every year. I had a terrible time this year with getting them to stay on the windows. One of the best windows in our place for decorations has the boys living room bed directly under it. Good thing Cody wasn't laying near there when the window decorations began to fall. If you know Cody you know he's rather skittish. Doesn't take much to scare the little guy. The decorations started to fall down around Simon, it was kind of funny how quick he was to jump up to sniff each decoration. Cody stood in the background watching all this and barking. He's helpful! Lol!

Here's the most interesting part of my decorating this year. I came across a box that I'm sure I've seen before but I suppose I've never taken the time to open it. Can't believe I haven't opened it before. It was clear the box was straight from the manufacturer and never been opened. Inside the box was a ceramic snowman holding a tree with cardinals around him. He's sensational! What a great find! I do remember buying that snowman years ago. It had to have been at least 3 or 4 years ago that I bought it because I remember I still lived in Phx and this Christmas will be my 3rd Christmas in Dallas so at the very minimum it's a snowman that's been waiting to see the light of day for at least 3-4 years. Like I said before, great find!