Puppy Christmas 2009!

Christmas Day was spent like every other Christmas since we have moved to Utah- quietly and without a lot of fuss.  Since both families are up early in Florida to start their festivities, we usually sleep in late and then call the families and open up their presents with them listening in on speakerphone (thank goodness for cell phones).  This year was no exception.  However, before I get into our Christmas, I just had to make a spearate post showing Kira and Koda's Christmas.

Let's see, they got a huge bag of pig ears from my mom and Mike...here I am trying to open them, which was harder than I would have ever imagined!

Finally, I had to get Jeff to help open them up; the dogs, however, didn't miss a beat!

After getting a little rough with the bag, it was victory and each puppy got an ear.

After pigs ears, it was time to check out the stuffed moose toys from Jeff's parents as well as canisters of dog cookies...

They also got some Jumbones from Aunt Kate, which we didn't open since by this time both dogs were on Christmas overload!

And all that stuff was before we gave them what we had gotten them for Christmas...two more toys each and a huge bag of chicken tenders.

Needless to say, these are some pretty spoiled dogs.  I think they got more presents on Christmas morning than some kids (which is sad), but they had a lot of fun.  They were also Christmas'd out, so the rest of the day was really quiet and peaceful at our house....that is, until I took the turkey out of the oven.

Merry Christmas Everyone...we hope you all had a great holiday with your families!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

And by Mr. Grinch, I am talking about Koda.  My mom sent two boxes of Christmas presents to our house; one full of presents for the dogs and one with gifts for me and Jeff.  One of the boxes arrived yesterday, so when we got home from work (after about an hour commute in the snow), I brought the box in and opened it up.  My mom and Mike had gotten Kira and Koda a HUGE bag of basted pig ear treats and my sister had gotten them Jumbones (which were wrapped).  I didn't make a big deal out of it and just took at the gifts over to the tree.  As soon as Koda saw the bag of ears under the tree, he started going crazy.  He would just sit in the office next to the tree guarding "his" treats...and if anyone came into the office, he was growling and getting all huffy and puffy.  Here is Koda in protective mode over his Christmas present...

Sometimes he would just gaze intently at them and sigh when he couldn't get them open...

He wouldn't even leave the office to come into the rest of the house with us...he just sat trying to get the treats. Finally, I had had enough and decided to put them up on the book case until Christmas morning.  Once he knew they were gone, he laid on the rug and pouted the rest of the night (and gave me the funniest look when I called grandma and told her what he had been up to).  He refused to even come into the bedroom and go to sleep for the longest time last night...he wanted to be close to his Christmas "loot" I guess. 

He even chased Kira out of the office a couple of times last night...but not before she got the sweet taste of what those pig ears might taste like on Christmas morning!

I swear these dogs are the funniest animals I have ever met.  I sometimes think they are worse than kids.  Needless to say, they are really excited about all their Christmas presents and love that they are spoiled rotten.

Now, if we can just keep Mr Grinch away from all the presents before the big day!

Whirlwind of a Weekend!

It was a crazy weekend at our house, filled with lots of last minute errands with a little fun sprinkled in.  It started on Friday, also known as my "lay around the house all day in my pajamas" day.  It had been so long since I had just had a day to myself, to just relax and be- so, needless to say, I really enjoyed my Friday.  Friday night we made some Christmas cookies and the Kandaris's, our neighbors across the street, came over and brought us some Christmas cookies.  They also invited us to their Christmas party on Saturday night, which was really nice of them.

On Saturday, Jeff had to finish some last minute shopping for me, so I went shopping and picked up some clothes and toys for the Salvation Army Angel Tree program.  On the news Friday night, they were boradcasting from the drop-off location and talking about how bare the shelves were and that they still had 1,200 kids that needed to be adopted.  I just can't stand the thought of children not being able to open a present on Christmas morning...that kills me.  And, even though our year has pretty much sucked, we know that we are better off than most and can afford a little extra to bring a smile to a child's face.  So, I went crazy in the stores, getting clothes and toys for all ages and in all sizes.  It was fun to just go shopping and not have to worry about making sure it fits...the Salvation Army could use anything!  I wish I would have gotten pictures of all the stuff we got, but we took it straight to the drop-off center and donated it.  The most amazing thing was seeing all the other people lined up to drop off things as well.  And people were not just bringing in one toy; they were bringing in tons of bags filled with goodies for the kids.  It was a really nice feeling to be a part of something so great, even if just in a little way.  I certainly hope all the kids get to open something on Christmas morning.

After we had warm and fuzzy feelings from seeing the response to all the need, Jeff and I went to the movies to see "The Blind Side".  What a great inspiring movie, especially if you like southern college football.  I especially liked the fact that Clemson made an appearance in the movie...always a plus to see your alma mater in a movie.  Anyway, I would highly suggest "The Blind Side"...it was a great time.

On Saturday night we headed over to the Kandaris's house for their Christmas party.  It was really fun and we wound up staying for almost 5 hours.  They are Greek and had some grilled lamb and other yummy Greek treats....plus, the vodka and cranberry's kept coming so I was a happy camper most of the night...but definitely NOT the next morning!  All in all it was a great party and we had a nice time.  Thanks for inviting us Kandaris's!

On Saturday, we finished making cookies and got to a lot of the stuff in the house that had been piling up for weeks now.  One of the things on our to-do list was to hang our new oil painting up.  We won this painting at SETAC at a silent auction.  The colors are vivid and bright and I knew exactly where we could hang it...in the basement on the brown wall.  The colors match exactly.

I love it and think it looks great.  Another great find in New Orleans!

Finally, yesterday as Jeff and I were running around the house and completing tasks, this is what Kira and Koda were doing...looking cute as usual...sharing a bed together in the office!

                                                                                

Finally, after a late start, we are getting into the holiday spirit.  Just one more week to go!

Butter Cream Icing

This weekend I finally got around to making a cinnamon sour cream cake that I have been wanting to make for weeks now.  My first obstacle was finding cinnamon chips- definitely not as easy as it sounds.  I looked everywhere in Utah and finally had to have my mother-in-law ship some to me from a grocery store in Florida.  So that tells you how very badly I wanted to make this cake!

After it came out of the oven, I decided that I wanted to frost it (which was not required in the recipe, but I thought it would be a nice touch)...so I started whipping up some butter cream frosting.  Well, Kira and Koda went absolutely nuts!  They kept trying to get up on the counter and get some, so finally, after the cake was frosted, Jeff let them lick the spatula.

What can I say?...these are dogs after my own heart!  And, no worries, the spatula was thoroughly cleaned after they licked it! :-)

Anyway, as with all sugar rushes, they eventually hit a wall and this is how we found them late Saturday night...socked out on the couch!

Just goes to show you, everyone loves butter cream frosting!

Greener Living with Dr. G Radio Interview

On Saturday, I was interviewed for Greener Living with Dr. G, a live CBS affiliated radio program out of Connecticut about the off-gassing of 1,2-DCA from molded plastic decorations.  It was a really fun experience and got the state of Utah some national recognition for their investigative work into the potential health effects from this problem.  I was on from about 5:30 until the show ended at 6:00 pm.  The funniest part was that while I was upstairs interviewing, Jeff, his parents, Joe and Julie and the kids and my family were listening to the interview over the computer in the comfort of their homes. 

Here is the link if you want to listen to the podcast of my interview...http://www.wtic.com/Greener-Living-with-Dr--G/1634184.

Thanks, Dr. Ginsberg, for having me on your show!

Merry (early) Christmas...to us!

Jeff and I decided a while back that we were going to treat ourselves to a new LCD TV for our bedroom for Christmas this year.  We still had an old, bulky CRT TV and wanted to switch it out.  With all the chaos in our lives lately, we decided to treat ourselves a little early this year.  Jeff and I went to Sam's on Saturday and got ourselves a new 32" Vizio LCD flat screen!

I was excited to get it and figured that we would just put it under the tree until Christmas morning (after all, it was a Christmas present)...but Jeff has another idea.  As soon as we got home (and I had struggled lugging the large box into the house), he wanted to set it up!  That entailed me trying to drag the damn thing up 16 stairs and into the bedroom. 

Even with limited mobility, Jeff did an amazing job setting up the TV (with my lifting help of course).  So, here is our armoire with our old TV in it...

...and now what it looks like with our new Christmas present in it!

Then we spent the rest of the night just laying in bed and watching it (well, in our defense, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was on that night).  Man, do I love Christmas!

On the Road to Recovery

Well, it has been a little over a week since Jeff came home from the hospital and I have to admit, he is orders of magnitude better than he was.  He is getting around well on crutches and his pain is subsiding.  He is still bruised pretty badly, but the incision looks good and the staples should come out on Monday.

His mom flew out for a week to help us out and get him into a rhythm at home.  She headed back to Florida this afternoon, but was a real life saver to both of us while she was here.  Not only did she  take care of Jeff so that I could work, but she also took care of me when I got sick and run down from not taking care of myself while Jeff was in the hospital.  We are so lucky to have such incredible families!

Kira and Koda were a little skittish of the crutches at first, but have learned that they just have to be a little more careful around dad.  Overall, they have been really protective of him and are so glad that he is home. 
Here are some pictures during Jeff's recovery.

We have even found Kira sleeping on Jeff's crutches!

And Koda tries really hard to heal daddy with his special powers, which include sleeping on his leg!

...And just when we thought that life was beginning to make a turn for the better...

...BAM, we get knocked down again (literally).  It all started when we got home from SETAC on Monday night.  I was excited to pick up the dogs and looking forward to cooking a Thanksgiving meal and having a really lazy weekend to catch up on sleep.  Little did I know that while I was busy at the grocery store stocking up on all the Thanksgiving goodies, that God was up in heaven looking down at me and having a big laugh at my expense!

On Wednesday night, I asked Jeff what he wanted to do- either sweep and mop the floors or give the dogs a bath.  I figured he would pick floors, but this time he surprised me and picked baths for the dogs.  Man, was that a bad idea.  After we had given the dogs a bath, Jeff went upstairs to shower.  He must have had the dogs' shampoo residue on his feet because as soon as he stepped into the shower, he slipped and fell.  I heard him hit from the bedroom and came running in, but by that time I knew it was too late...his hip was bruising and he couldn't stand up.

Long story short, I had to call 911 and have an abulance come and transport him to the Emergency Room.  After some X-rays and a CT scan, the orthopedic surgeon told us it was a intertrophic fracture of the femur- basically, Jeff had broken his hip!  If the fracture had occurred just a couple of millimeters up on his femur, he may have needed a hip replacement.  So, we were lucky that it was fractured lower on the femur.  Still, he went into surgery on Thanksgiving, which was terrifying for me- alone and scared in a hospital room while a doctor tries to piece together what is left of my husband's hip by inserting a rod and two screws into his leg.  Not the best way to spend Thanksgiving, but he should make a full recovery (after four long weeks on crutches navigating our three story house).

Here is a nice look at the new hardware Jeff now sports as a reminder of Thanksgiving 2009!

Poster Presentation...and an Interview!

On Saturday in New Orleans, I had to present a poster on an air quality study that I worked on with some researchers from Utah State University and Hill Air Force Base.  Here is my poster all hung up and looking good...

The poster received a lot of attention during the day.  This was due to the fact that Dr. Doucette, the researcher at USU also attended the conference and gave a presentation about the study.  Coupled with my poster which was presented the same day, there was a much buzz about it.  I was even approached by a writer for Science News, who wanted to interview me (twice) for an article on the off-gassing ornaments.  The link to the article can be found here...http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49897/title/Case_of_the_toxic_gingerbread_man

After I was finished with the interview, I met up with two of my bestest friends in the world, Zhao and Kristi.  Kristi and I went to grad school together and I absolutely adore her.  We both met Zhao last year at SETAC in Tampa, as it was her first year at the conference and we became fast friends.  Zhao is completing her Ph.D. at Harvard and is super smart.  Here are us three girls making up for lost time at the conference.

I miss you girls already and hope we can get a yearly picture of the three of us for many years to come!

After the conference ended for the day (and I was finished with my second interview), Jeff and I headed to the warehouse district for some dinner.  We decided to head to Mulate's, which is one of the ten most underrated restaurants in the country.  And I was so glad we decided to try it as it was one of the best and most authentic meals we had while in New Orleans.  Jeff had a fried seafood plate with shrimp, crawfish and catfish and I had crab au gratin...it was delicious!  They also had a live band and people were square dancing!  It was so much fun and we could tell that all the locals came here to have a good time on a Saturday night (always the mark of a good local restuarant).

As we were walking back to the hotel after dinner (with really full tummies), we decided to have a little fun and took the following pictures...

After we got back to the hotel room, Jeff took this picture as I was looking through the SETAC program deciding what I wanted to go see the following day...

...see, it wasn't all play, there was a lot of work involved in this trip too!

SETAC 2009 in New Orleans

This year, the annual SETAC meeting was in New Orleans...of course, Jeff wanted to go with me, as neither of us had ever been.  We left on Wednesday, November 18 and flew into Louis Armstrong International Airport via Dallas.  As the conference didn't start officially until Thursday night, we spent Wednesday night and all of Thursday checking out the city.  We started off in the French Quarter walking down Decatur Street.  The buildings were so old and the architecture so pretty, it was like actually walking into the old south in the past.  I loved it!  Just take a look at some of these gorgeous structures.

We walked along the Mississppi River and saw the Huey Long bridge, which connects New Orleans to the rest of Louisiana.  It was beautiful and there is even a ferry that takes cars across...too cool.

There are so many things to see in the French Quarter...from wishing wells, to farmers markets, to art in the street.  Plus, you can drink in the streets...what could be better?  Here are some of the things to see and do in the French Quarter...

We walked and walked through the French Quarter that day; I estimated we walked approximately 60 blocks during the day.  We toured the Margaritaville store and got Jeff some cigars.  We finally made our way to Bourbon Street...yippee!

Bourbon Street was crazy; those people party all day long there!  And, if you don't want to party, there are plenty of other temptations to keep you occupied!

We decided to stop and grab some lunch on Bourbon Street, so we walked until we found this really cute outside cafe...it was adorable, with live music playing and yummy food!

All these birds starting hanging around us during lunch...little finches and pigeons.  I thought they were hungry, but they wouldn't eat the lettuce I gave them.  They wanted something better than that!

After lunch, we walked back to Cafe Du Monde, which is a famous little cafe that is open 24 hours a day all year and serves only coffee and beignets...it is a must see when in New Orleans, so we grabbed a table and enjoyed their offerings.  Boy, those were some yummy beignets (fried doughnuts smothered with powdered sugar).

We then walked back to Jackson Square, where there is this incredible old catholic church and museum.  The inside of the church and the square itself is absolutely amazing!

It took most of the day, but we finally made it back to the hotel.  Overall, it was a really fun day with tons of new experiences and photo opportunities.  Here are some more pictures from our first full day in New Orleans.

I am ready to move to New Orleans...with all the character and history, who wouldn't want to live there?