What I am Thankful for...

And this is in no particular order...





My Sweet Ones...(and a pretty good hairday for me.)







My Sexy One (this picture was taken almost a year after having Lucca...just want to say that I am not thankful I have gained back 5 lbs since then...)











The last of my three. My dog Thompson, who just turned 10 and is watching over his family...












The newest member of our clan, Miss Ivy. A crazy, lovely one year old Berner, who needs us just as much as we need her.












And last but not least, to all of you. My ever supportive, ever forgiving readers. I'm very thankful for you.

RECIPE THURSDAY

As wintertime sets in, and the nights get colder, I turn to soups to make me feel comforted and sastified. Here is a recipe I found several years ago that sounded strange, but is, in fact, one of the most delicious soups I've ever tasted.
Enjoy.

AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP

(yummy with crusty bread)
serves 10-ish

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, with
liquid
8 cups vegetable broth or stock
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2/3 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

HOW TO MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN:
1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
2. Stir in rice, cover, and simmer another fifteen to twenty minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in peanut butter until well blended, and serve.

AND THE WINNER IS....DRUMROLL....

##########CrystalGB###########

Congrats girl - so funny!!

Send me your email address.

OUR BELOVED PETS

In May of this year our sweet Bernese Mountain dog RIVER passed away. He was only
6 1/2, not all that young for this breed, but the lose of him was breathstealingly sad for me, Daniel, Isa and our 2 other dogs.
I have never been through the death of a pet, not that I can recall anyway. There was probably a few kitties that passed when I was little, but I just don't remember it - I don't remember the feelings that come over you when someone you love is ripped from your life.
These feelings of loss and loneliness, and just plain wrongness, were all new to me. And on top of it all, he passed so quickly I had no time to prepare - it was like, "He has cancer, we need to do a biopsy, sorry the needle pierced a vital organ..." Just a day and he was gone...

Well, since then, we have all felt an emptiness in the house. We've thought about another dog, but decided it would be sometime in the future.
Well, future came in an unexpected way.

We barely had time to move through the grieving process over Rivey when Pilot, our golden got sick. Now, Pilot is a retriever so she loves to chew and eat things she shouldn't - and in our house that is toys. We put them away as best we can, but she always manages to find something. Normally she will just poop the toy or sock or piece of cloth out (sorry)
But not this time. She had an obstruction. All last week she was at the hospital, in and out of surgery, highs and lows, and hopes that she would be back at home where she belonged by the weekend.

Unfortunately, this weekend came and so did the horrible infection. She was very sick, and we were not going to put her through another surgery. When I visited her on Friday afternoon I saw "it" in her eyes. Dogs are not like humans. When they've had enough, they've had enough - and I believe she'd had enough.
Regardless I wanted to see if she could make it through the night, maybe a miracle...but she couldn't. She became septic, and at 3 a.m. Saturday morning my husband held her as she slipped from this world.

I don't tell you this story to depress you, but I'm a writer and if I don't write about what's on my heart, I'll lose my mind.
Pilot and River deserve to be remembered.


Today, they will be...









"God saw you were getting tired
And a cure was not to be.
So He put His arms around you,
And whispered, "Come with me."
With tearful eyes we watched you suffer
and fade away
Although we loved you dearly,
We could not make you stay.
Your loving heart stopped beating,
Hard working paws to rest.
God broke our hearts to
prove to us,
He only takes the best."
~ Author Unknown

AN EYE FOR AN EYE contest

Okay, so it's a good thing that this blog is anonymous because I'm going to ask you to give me your best REVENGE STORIES - or your best FANTASY revenge story. I know mine. It has something to do with a vat of mud and drivers who ignore the rules of the road!

In honor of my sexy, MAC VALENTINE (from Playboy's Ruthless Payback) who lives by the moto, "eye for an eye," I'm going to be looking for the greatest story of revenge that you've got.

And hey, it's fine if this is about your "sister" or your "friend" :-)

You have until SATURDAY NIGHT to get your stories in and I'll read them Sunday and decide! ***********UPDATE: DUE TO THE THOUGHTFUL NATURE OF THIS CONTEST - I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU GUYS A FEW MORE DAYS TO GET YOUR ENTRIES IN. DEADLINE WILL NOW BE TUESDAY NIGHT. THANKS!

!!!!The winner gets a $25.00 GC from Amazon!!!!!

Good luck

THE HOLIDAYS APPROACH-ETH

SOME SAY That when Halloween is over - and I mean literally when the clock strikes midnight on November 1st - the holiday season has begun. Now this would be an easier concept for me to embrace if I didn't live in Southern Cali, where just yesterday I was at an outdoor birthday party, singing and sweating in the 80 degree weather.
Seriously people, I'm from Minnesota, where snow on Halloween isn't all that big of a fluke occurence.
I think the thing is I need cold weather to accept the fact that Christmas is coming.
Perfect example...WE BUY OUR CHRISTMAS TREE AT NIGHT TO RECEIVE MAXIMUM COLD FEELINGS!

So what about you?

When do get yourself in the holiday mood?

And more importantly, WHEN DO YOU START SHOPPING???


*****some INCREDIBLY LARGE pictures from Halloween of me and my little spooks:-)