Aw, Nuts!

I read stories all the time about how kids embarass thier parents. Some repeat inappropriate phrases, throw tantrums, have bratty attitudes, etc. I got a glimpse today of what that will feel like. Let me start by saying that, yes, while I love my dog I do realize that he is just a dog. Ty and I will never call ourselves his mom and dad. I know lots of people that do that and it is fine. Its just not our thing.

Now that, that's out of the way back to the story. I took Nuts to PetCo this afternoon. I did a late presentation last night followed by an earlier morning presentation in a different town so my boss kindly let me have the afternoon off since I was stuck in a little town in OK in the middle of no where last night. Nuts desparately needed a harness. I keep choking him on our walks. The other day he started chasing after something and I was pulling hard on the leash to stop him and his collar popped right off of him. His collar is the kind with a plastic snap.


We had quite the adventure. It is windy and rainy here due to the effects of Hurricane Gustav. This means that my dog will not go to the bathroom outside. He is scared of the wind and hates getting his paws wet. Yes, he is a spoiled apartment dog and not fit for the outdoors! I did make him go number one before we left the house. (Sorry for the number 1 analogy, but I can't bring myself to type anything else!)

So we are in PetCo in the leash section trying to find a harness. I can't figure out how the dang thing works so I start walking around to find help. As we are walking around Nuts stops and starts going number 2. I was so embarrassed. I mean I know that dogs go in that store all the time, but really number 2 right in the middle of the aisle! I start frantically looking for the clean up stations only to find that they are out of paper towels. I then I have to go find an associate to ask for paper towels and to have them help me with the harness. Luckily, they are very nice about these things at this store. They always volunteer to clean it up, but I would feel horrible if someone was cleaning up my dog's mess so I never let them. The guy gets me some paper towels and then helps me put the harness on Nuts. While he is putting the harness on Nuts, he tinkles a little. (Not the guy; Nuts.) Nuts is known for doing this. In fact, he does it everytime he hears my bff, Chesley. She has a really high voice that gets him way too excited.

After this episode is over, Nuts and I continue to roam the store. I pick out some treats from the treat bar and go to check out. We get to the check out counter and the lady there says she thinks we have the harness on wrong. She bends down and tries to fix it and guess what happens!?! He goes number 1. That dog cannot be trusted in PetCo!

So now I have a glimpse into what it is like to have your children embarrass you! Got any good embarrassing stories about your kids or dogs?

Recipe: Monkey Bread Minis

Yum, Yum, Yum! Monkey Bread Minis.


You will need a muffin pan (12).
Ingredients:
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinammon
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:
1. Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, microwave 4 tbsp butter and the syrup until melted, 30 seconds.

3. In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup sugar, brown sugar and the cinammon.


4. In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, the remaining sugar and the salt. Pulse to combine. Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and pulse with the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. Pulse in buttermilk until the dough just comes together.


(I should tell you that I do not own a food processor. I decided to just mix it with my hand held mixer. What a mess I was making with the flour! So I just dumped in the buttermilk and mixed it all together. It seemed to work.)


5. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface; pat into a 10-inch square. Quarter the dough, then cut each quarter into 16 equal pieces; roll into balls. Okay, this was way too much math for me! First of all I don't have any idea what 10 inches looks like and second of all who is going to take the time to quarter the dough into 16 equal pieces. I quarterd the dough that I had spread out into what I thought looked like 10 inches. I then just pulled off pieces of dough and rolled them into balls.


6. Dip each ball in the butter mixture then coat with the sugar mixture. Place 5 to 6 coated balls into each muffin cup. Press to compact. Don't forget to spray your pan!


7. Bake until cooked through and golden, 15 to 17 minutes. Tent with foil if the tops darken too quickly.


Sweeten the deal: stir together 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tbsp milk and drizzle over the bread as it cools. I mixed this together and put it in a ziploc baggie and cut a corner of the baggie to drizzle it over the monkey bread minis.

Nice long weekend

Man, I could get used to 3 day weekends! It was so nice and relaxing. We had our wood floors installed on Saturday! Yay! Since we had workers at the house Ty stayed home and studied and I ran errands. I went all over town finding items for a blog swap that I am participating in. Saturday afternoon Ty and I headed over to a sports bar, Indigo Joe's, for an alumni watch party. I only stayed until half-time. Football can only hold my attention for so long. Don't worry I didn't leave Ty all alone. We had met his 1st year mentee there. Every 2nd year medical student is assigned a 1st year medical student to help them adjust to medical school.
And yes, Ty took a Saturday afternoon off, which he means he had to make it up later. That means date night at Barnes and Noble. I like to spend the evening browsing books and catching up on my gossip magazines. Sunday was pretty uneventful. Since I had flooring in my kitchen I was excited to make a big meal: steak with spicy green salsa, corn on the cob and mini monkey bread for dessert. I will be sharing a recipe tomorrow....

Our next house project is to repaint the dining area. It used to be all wood panelling. Ty filled in all the cracks to make it one smooth wall. We chose a yellow/beige color for the walls. It turned out a lot more yellow than we were hoping for so we are searching for a new color.

I bought a new rug to protect the wood floors from ice and water. Crushed ice from the refrigerator door always leaves a few drops on the floor.

It was hard to get a good picture of this area--too much sunlight coming in.