Bonus: Quick Snap Day!

The other day on my new food web site I featured carrot-pineapple cupcakes! The cupcakes were the last recipe of the week that showcased only recipes reminiscent of carrot cake. Perhaps these cupcakes were my overall fave from the week! They were quite special if I do say so myself!

This cupcake above is not how the cupcakes were to be decorated!  Some cupcakes were to be decorated simply with chopped pecans while others were to look Easter-ish with dyed coconut to resemble grass and Robin Eggs.

Well what you see above is the result of a husband "helping" to decorate cupcakes! LOL!  I didn't really care how he decorated one of the cupcakes. I certainly wouldn't have wanted all of them to look like this. He even named his cupcake...Spikey! To him the Robin's Eggs were to appear as the spikes. Husbands! Too funny!

Quick Snap Saturday(on Sunday)

Balcony Time

 

 

Our boys have regularly been able to get outside in the mornings to enjoy the sunshine! Yes, the return of the sunshine. We've finally stacked a few days together with nice weather. Our upcoming week of weather looks good too!  So more balcony mornings to come for the puggies! 

 

The trees are in bloom. We've had a decent amount of rain...oh yes, definitely had a decent amount of rain! ;) Things are quite green! I think Spring has sprung!

 

Spring without a doubt is so pretty in Dallas. I love it! I really need to get out this year to take pics of the blue bonnets that grow all around in our area. Blue bonnets are the state flower and only grow in the Spring. They aren't in bloom yet but I'll try to make a point to feature some pretty blue bonnets very soon.

 

In the pic above, notice how Simon is no longer in the sun but Cody is. He likes laying in the sun but for a briefer time than Cody. He moves to the shade when it starts to hit their balcony bed. Cody tends to inch over to absorb the sun as long as possible.

Cruising With Cody!

As usual I'm glad it's Friday night. I was ready for the weekend. It was another long week in my opinion. Having the NCAA tourney going does help a little! I hope the weekend goes by slow. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law will be spending some time with us tomorrow. Should be fun!

Well this wasn't my favorite week as Cody's mommie. I took him to the vet twice. He had what appeared to be an eye infection. I couldn't seem to clear it up using some old meds we had on hand from a previous eye infection. I took him to the vet on Monday, he was diagnosed with an eye ulcer. Have you ever heard of such a thing in the eye? I hadn't until this week.  He was given 2 meds. We went today for a follow-up visit. His eye isn't healing as quick or acting as quickly as the vet had hoped so we were referred to an eye specialist. I wasn't aware they had eye specialists for dogs until today either. So let's just say I've learned a lot this week.

I do enjoy cruising around town with little Cody. He's a great passenger. He always rides shotgun! He is trustworthy enough to ride shotgun unlike his little brother. Simon only rides in the cargo area! Hopefully, Cody doesn't instantly come home every time he gets a one-on-one trip with mommie to spill the beans to Simon that he rides shotgun. Piper gets to ride shotgun too! Poor Simon is always stuck in the cargo area, never given a chance to ride shotgun during a one-on-one trip with mommie.  I would feel sorry for him but I want the car to stay nice so I have little sympathy. Sorry Sime!

After the vet appointment today, I decided to go get our SUV washed. It was in a huge need of a bath. After all the snowy days early this month plus all the rain, oh yeah, it needed a wash badly. There Cody and I were sitting outside waiting on our SUV. We actually got to ride through the car wash part then had to get out while they vacuumed and detailed it. It was interesting to watch Cody's expression as we rode thru the car wash. He was good as gold the whole time. We never had to go inside the building which was nice. Although it's a car wash so I wouldn't have been too apprehensive about taking him inside. It's not like it's the grocery store or a department store. I'm totally against dogs other than helper dogs going inside establishments. I love my pets they are our "kids" but they are pets not human kids. So it's inappropriate in my opinion to be toting them through a department store. I always laugh in disbelief when I see people with their dog at a bookstore or in the mall.  Come on people....they are in fact dogs not humans!  I had to fight with myself a bit to even take Cody with me to the car wash but then again my reasoning was....it's a car wash! And like I said we never had to go inside so no big deal. No word yet on whether or not Cody bragged to his siblings about his first trip to the car wash once we arrived home. LOL! ;)

Quick Snap Saturday!

The Newbies!

 

 

I understand this is a slightly odd pic to feature for Quick Snap Saturday, but I can't help it.  These new little critters are too cute. The newbies above are the first toys out of the toy box each day. Plus, I've picked them up and put them back in the toy box each night for the last 6 nights. These were the toys presented to our "kids" last weekend for Simon's birthday.  They've been the fave toys to play with this week. The monkey has definitely made the rounds. I've discovered him in all areas of the house.

 

Is it obvious which toy belongs to which pet? The little Care Bear should be extremely obvious! Who knew they made Care Bears for pets now?  You know I had to get one for our little girl. I loved the Care Bears as a youngster...still do! They also have Pound Puppies for dog toys now. Anyone remember Pound Puppies? I had a ton of Pound Puppies as toys. I was also an avid viewer of Pound Puppies cartoons.  However, the boys will not be given a Pound Puppie toy, I'm not going to let them chew on their own kind! Not happening!

 

The lion and the monkey pictured above do have specific "owners". Can you guess which toy is Cody's and which is Simon's?  Well, Cody's toy is bananas 4 him. Whereas Simon's toy is that brownish/gold-ish color he gravitates towards and the shirt makes a mention of roaring. That's Simon! Not that he's noisy but he has this presence about him. You know when Simon is nearby! 

Sunk!

Where's Spring? Apparently the city of Dallas and the east coast did not receive the memo that today was the first day of Spring. It was rainy and chilly here. 

Here's some words I never thought I'd say, "the sink sunk".  LOL! Yesterday late in the afternoon I heard a strange noise. Sounded kind of like packing tape going across a box.  I probably should've checked out the sound but I casually looked around then went back to what I was doing. About an hour later in quick succession a crash-boom-bang loudly went through our place! Okay now I'm up on my feet frantically looking around. Piper has meanwhile fled to the next county upon the first crash sound. Two pugs are barking as well! Simon is on his feet looking around barking, Cody remained in bed and barked. Typical Cody! I soon arrived in the kitchen to see our sink had fallen through the counter and was now lodged in the cabinet. I couldn't believe my eyes! Needless to say our sunken sink needed attention right away. I had quite the mess to clean up from it being drilled back in place. Weird, never heard of that happening before. We've had some minor earthquakes and foundation shifts in recent months so perhaps that contributed to the sunken sink issue.

Brad's tennis season is supposed to start tomorrow but another rainy day is on schedule for us. I doubt he'll be playing his match but who knows, maybe the weather report will be wrong. Or maybe the rain will skip us! ;) Otherwise our plans for the weekend include NCAA watching. My bracket is doing alright! Brad's bracket is in sad shape! Thursday was a very bad day for Texas schools, none of them won. Which means his bracket nearly went crashing to the floor with the sink!

March Madness! Let the Games Begin!

My bracket is filled out! Is yours? I love March Madness.  I grew up watching it and I still try to get in as much action as possible. I'm ready, bring on the Madness!

I chose a team that I haven't seen any of the "experts" choose. However, I didn't go out on a limb I don't believe. The hardest thing is not picking with your heart. Pick with your head!

I have to admit though, I look closely at the Pac 12 schools as well as all Texas and Oklahoma schools. Oklahoma schools? Well there's a lot of talk here about Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Brad's general rule is to cheer for Texas teams first then Oklahoma teams if a Texas school isn't in the running. Similar to my thinking about watching for the Pac 12 teams. 

Brad still hasn't completed his bracket. He went off to work with his empty bracket in his hand. He didn't have a single game filled in. LOL! He'll try to get it done while working this morning or at his lunch break!

Should be fun! Looking forward to some great college basketball action. Still undecided as to what Brad and I are competing for.  Most likely dinner and a movie night! Sound like an extra date night out is worth playing for!  

Simon's Bday Pics!

Simon enjoyed a lovely birthday. He was wined and dined. Or should I say he was peanut buttered and caked! Hee Hee!

He received a jar of pb! His fave stuff! His mommie baked him a peanut butter and banana cake. Trust me, he was a happy boy! His siblings were happy too. Both of them sampled his cake. Cody will continue to partake in the cake whereas Piper got only a one time tasting. She did eat the cream cheese frosting but wasn't into the cake. As a substitute I made her 2 hard boiled eggs last night. So she gets a bit of eggy goodness while her bros dine on cake for the next few nights.

Below are some pics of Simmie bday festivities.  Notice the pic of me giving him a slight sampling of his cake. I was a bit worried he was going to dive in. If you notice I'm partly restraining him and partly offering him a taste....multi-tasking!

Quick Snap Saturday!

Happy Birthday Simon!

 

Of course Quick Snap Saturday has to feature Simmie! It's his birthday today! The day little Simmie-boo-boo graced this world with his presence 13 years ago! Yay Simmie! I'm so pleased to be your mommie little man!

 

Look how happy he looks in this pic, he's smiling! I can't get over how cute Simon looks. He looks so comfortable in between us. He's in total chill mode! 

 

Somebody though didn't get the memo to wear Cardinals gear! Somebody showed up and instantly said, "Oh, I thought we were wearing Cowboys shirts". No biggie, Simon and I still let that Cowboys wearing person in the pic. Nice of us, huh?

Cue the Drumroll....

I have an announcement concerning a side project I've been eagerly working on. I've started a food website called Never A Dull Bite. The website can be found at www.neveradullbite.com!

It's completely dedicated to recipes. All types of recipes that I have used and continue to use. I will be updating it regularly. My goal is to provide at least 3 new recipes a week with the hopes of 4 recipes going "live" per week. Basically it's 90% recipes and 10% real life.

Yes, this blog will continue to exist. So don't worry about that. Now that the new website is up and running I can get back to blogging on this site more. My goal with this blog is always at least 2 posts a week. And this blog will continue to feature much more about our daily happenings and the pet trio. I'm quite excited about the food website. As I feel I should have started one a long time ago. I love trying out recipes. If anyone has a recipe to send me. Go ahead and email me or post it in the comment section here on this blog or on the new website.

I have been rather quietly working on building the new website. It took a little longer to "build" than I thought it would. This site right here is a blog where I use a template that is already installed. But the food website is a REAL website not a blog. I had a lot more to do to get it running than I had to do for this little ole blog. ;) It's been worth it. My main goal is to get the new website to grow and become a fun side project for me. Who knows it may lead to something else....like a cookbook! What a dream!

Quick Snap Saturday!

 

Dumped On!

 

Where did the ground go? Where are the bushes? Two questions the pugs were likely asking themselves and each other this week. It's so funny to see their expressions as they look around at the snow. Wish I could have gotten a pic of Cody tasting the snow. He had a little snowy beard around his mouth from his taste test.

 

The weather has thankfully improved the last 2 days. We still have a thick layer of ice covering our balcony. The boys did a little ice skating on it earlier. :) Our balcony gets little to no sun most of the year so that ice could be there a couple more days. For the most part most of the snow has melted. It was nice having the snow storms of the last 2 weeks but I think I'm ready to turn the corner, onto Spring. Tonight we change our clocks, as time change occurs in the middle of the night. We will be 2 hours ahead of AZ by Sunday morning!

Round 3 or 4?

Is this latest winter weather blast round 3 or 4? I've lost count! All I know is Cody is convinced we suddenly live in Green Bay! And I'm ready to see the sunshine again! Oh wait, the sunshine accompanied by at least 50 degree temps would be blissful. I've never seen a start to the month of March like this. It's the first ever March I've experienced winter blasts.

Another first occurred for myself and the pugs today. Last week we racked up a first by walking while it actively snowed, well today it was actively sleeting while we walked. Let me tell you, you haven't really been living until you have walked two pugs while sleet is pelting you in the face at a sideways slant. My hood was no protection for that sleet early this evening. Better yet you truly haven't lived until you have walked one extremely disgruntled pug and one Energizer bunny pug. In bad weather Simon reminds me of the Energizer bunny, he just charges right on through. We must be the funniest sight outside walking. Simon leads, while I'm in the middle and Cody is most frequently dragging his pug feet with the most pained look he can display on his wrinkly pug face. Ah yes, we're definitely quite the sight!

Freezing rain is currently coming down, however, it's transitioning into snow. Fresh snow flurries are predicted to greet us as we wake up in the morning. Oh but the REAL kicker is the temp. Drum roll please.....7 degrees! Yes, you read that correctly, 7 degrees with the wind chill factored in tomorrow morning. Yikes! Safe to say I won't be able to handle that for a full walk with the boys. The walks will be short. I'll walk them some indoors down the hallways of our building. The exposure to the great outdoors will have to be brief, the boys were not built for 7 degrees nor was their mommie. Unsure how bad things will be by morning, the status of work is up in the air. It may very well be another snow day for big D!