Pup & Stuff Portrait Friday #13

Stuff Portrait Friday, sponsored by Kristine

It’s Stuff Portrait Friday, and that means I acually have a post today! I’m sure you can hardly contain your excitement.

First up is something that isn’t where it should be. This was a tough one for me. Not because my house is so incredibly neat and clean that I didn’t have any options, but because I had TOO MANY options. I had to make a montage to fit it all in.

And even that wasn’t enough. I had another pic that wouldn’t even fit in the montage!

You’ve seen our butler’s pantry before. I did finally put the booze and some of the other junk away, but now you can see the remnants of Penny’s diet over the last few weeks (don’t worry—there aren’t any lamdas; I’m talking about the baby food jars). And the mini shop vac has been sitting there for at least a week.

Next up: something broken that we kept:

The part of the phone is being played by a mocked up image I found online, but J.P.’s phone really does look kind of like this. Because he ran over it with the Passat. But it still works—even the camera!

And this is some food we have in the house that we never eat (or drink):

In the Japanese tradition, J.P.’s mom never shows up at our house empty-handed. She always brings something to eat or drink. As you can tell from the cellophane-wrapped boxes, we’re not big tea drinkers. I think she’s figured this out, because recently she’s been brining Dunkin’ Donuts instead. Note the absence of Dunkin’ Donuts pictures in this SPF category.

And finally, a pooch pic to start the weekend off right. Penny’s holding her own against the cancer—she’s still with us, enjoying as many rawhides as we’ll give her. She also likes it when I massage her neck: “Yeah, Mom, that spot riiiiight . . . THERE!”

Why do I do this to myself?

Not much time. Leaving town in seven hours, must be at airport in 5 1/2 – 6 hours. Things I need to do before I leave:

• Check in for flight
• Pack
• Pay bills
• Sleep
• Drop car off for service

And here I am blogging. Will I never learn?

Penny for your thoughts

No SPF for me today (as you probably already noticed). But not because anything’s wrong. I just decided to get some things done around the house today instead of spending hours and hours in front of the computer as I do on most Fridays.

I think Penny’s been feeling better these last few days than she has in a long time. We started her on some antibiotics on Monday, and it really seems to be helping. I have no idea how antibiotics can help cancer, but I’m not complaining! She’s also been on prednisone and an anti-nausea drug for the last few weeks.

We’ve been feeding her anything that we think she might be able to keep down, and the list includes baby food, scrambled eggs, boiled chicken breast, and Chips Ahoy smeared with peanut butter. She’s loving the special food and the extra attention she’s been getting, but it seems nothing can make up for the loss of her beloved rawhides. So the last few nights I’ve broken down and allowed her ten minutes of chew time. So far, so good—there hasn’t been any puking since last Monday. WOOHOO!

Have a great weekend!

Is it wrong . . .

. . . to be depressed by this?

I know that with everything else going on in the world (and even in my own house!), Marshall Field’s becoming Macy’s shouldn’t even be a blip on the radar. And yet I am saddened by it.

When I was growing up, *THE* department store in Minnesota was Dayton’s. You know the story—it was where you went during the Christmas season, just to see the fabulous window displays. Every year, you could walk through a life-size children’s story display (complete with animatronic characters) in the auditorium of the flagship Minneapolis store. My grandma loved that store, and she gave me the bug.

A few years ago, the store’s name was changed to Marshall Field’s. Even though the Dayton’s (and in Michigan, Hudson’s) name was no longer there, the merchandise and store environment remained the same because the three brands had all been owned by the same company. All right, I can live with that, I guess.

But now, NOW it’s been sold and they want to turn it into Macy’s! What will be the point of that? I can get crappy service and filthy dressing rooms at a Macy’s in any city in the country. There’s nothing special about it.

I’m saddened by the loss of uniqueness and the inevitable decline that this old friend will certainly undergo when it becomes part of the Macy’s brand. But I’m a glass-half-full kind of girl—at least it means more time with my family as I’ll no longer have to make time for shopping when we visit Minnesota.

Pup & Stuff Portrait Friday #12

Stuff Portrait Friday, sponsored by Kristine

All right, enough of the depressing posts. It’s Friday, and you know what that means—portraits of stuff! And a pup! This week’s theme is random, and it’s a fun one.

First up, pictures of my kitchen. I was excited about this selection because my kitchen is sorely in need of cleaning. What a great excuse to clean it! Then I remembered that I already had pics of the kitchen, from when we redecorated last year. Score!

Here’s what it looked like before:

I HATED the light fixture that hung over the table. The entire thing was plastic, even the “brass” rim. And? It was all one piece, so you couldn’t take the dome thingy over to the sink and wash it. Have you ever tried to clean a light fixture while it’s swinging wildly in the air? It ain’t fun, and that’s why it was always dirty (well, that’s my excuse anyway).

Here’s what it looks like now. Well, almost—you’ll have to imagine the dirty dishes, the mail and homeless crap that always sits on the island, and the two coffee makers.

And a few more shots, for good measure. I made this valance myself (well okay, I had a little help—thanks Mom!), out of napkins that I bought at Pier 1.

Here’s what it looks like now. If you look closely, you can see Penny outside.

And finally, a shot of the kitchen window. I wish I could take credit for these window treatments, but I actually paid someone to design and make them. Hey, I know when I’m out of my league.

Next up (yes, we’re only on the second topic) is a picture of my handwriting. I decided to stick with the kitchen theme here, and went for a recipe.

If you like cheesecake, this is an AWESOME recipe. Let me know if you want it, and I can take a picture of the other side of the card. As you can tell by the fact that it calls for 40 oz. of cream cheese, it isn’t exactly low cal. But it’s totally worth it.

The last “official” picture today is something random. Since people have commented that they don’t know what I look like, I thought you might like to see this:

When I was in MN a few weeks ago, my grandma gave me a photo album which is still sitting on our kitchen table (I told you the kitchen’s a mess!). Every picture in it is of me, and pretty much only me. There are advantages to being the first grandchild.

And for our bonus pup picture this week, I present Deer in the Headlights. Have a great weekend!