Makin' groomki with ma

On Monday I got to hang out with my mom for the day, and she took the time to teach me how to make a Polish dish called groomki—I am sure I'm totally misspelling this, but I can't find the name anywhere online. Essentially, it's rice and hamburger mixed together, which is then rolled up in a cooked cabbage leaf and covered with tomato sauce. I ate that from time to time as a kid, and Pete had actually heard of it before.

So I figured I'd learn how to make it, and it was pretty easy to make. Of course, Pete doctored his with shredded cheese, Ragu, cayenne pepper, and any other number of ingredients. We both had a couple of the rolls, and the dogs were drooling over it—even Spanky, who wasn't feeling well that night. Next recipe to learn: ma's egg bread.

Now it's Spanky's turn

Our little man-fox Spanky (that's what Pete calls him) isn't feeling so well today, so I'm taking him to the vet. Pete and I were gone most of the day yesterday, and when we got home, we discovered he had puked in a few places around the house, and continued to puke on and off all night. Early this morning he was still puking, and although he hasn't puked since then, he isn't eating at all and looks miserable.

So now we'll "go see doctor," as I like to tell the animals when they don't know what's going on. They know what this phrase means, and I don't think Spanky is happy about it, but hopefully he'll get his tummy checked and will be feeling better soon.

And yeah, if you're keeping count, that's three pets in the last month that have been sick. The only one who's escaped this fate so far is Max. Hopefully he stays healthy, and this little curse of illness upon the Hoogestraat household ends with Spanky.

Me and the motley crew

I'm not sure why, but lately the pets seem to be swarming around me, more so than usual. They like to lay all over my expanding belly, or snuggle next to me on the couch. I don't know if they sense that there's another little life present in the house, but I'm not complaining about the increased affection (for the most part, lol).

Last night, three of them—Adora, Spanky, and Dollie—spontaneously gathered around me on the couch and hovered around me for a good five minutes. It was so odd and funny that I quickly snapped a photo with my Mac (I was working on my laptop). They were being goofy and rubbing against me and each other, and even Baby Jack was wiggling in sympathy.

A nightly ritual

Me, Dollie, Spanky (by my belly), and Adora


This is how we end up every night, with me snuggling under a blanket and the dogs/cats piled around me, sleeping. The only one who didn't join us last night was Max, who was off prowling around in the basement somewhere, I'm sure. Sometimes we mix it up and they all lay on Pete, or we split them 50/50. It's hard to move with dogs and cats on you, but it's super cozy!

Super-duper busy mode

My hastily assembled work area in the kitchen, complete with coffee mug and unopened baby listening monitor on the table—I hope to open the monitor and actually use it, once hell-week is over.



I've been scarce for several days (and will continue to be for a few more) while I finish up a freelance project I'm working on. The deadline suddenly changed, and time to finish the work was suddenly in very short supply. So, I've been living and breathing this project for days now. I'll resurface in a few days and go back to blogging (and reading my favorite blogs).

Oh, and meanwhile, Pete is already recovering and in therapy for his knee. He'll be off for another week and a half, which is wonderful because I love hanging with him, but I'm going crazy from watching the Military Channel and cleaning up after him—but what else is new?

Anyhow, hope you all had a great holiday weekend...now back to the drawing board!



Spanky and Max, looking outside together during a moment of inter-species harmony

A bad case of the dropsies, or, a benefit of having dogs

I have been incredibly clumsy lately, and, as with everything I don't want to take the blame for, I'm blaming this on my pregnant state. As with the peas the other day, I somehow magically flung a dog bowl full of chicken and broccoli soup onto the floor during a recent lunch. I don't even know what happened, because the bowls weren't that full, and Spanky's food made it to the floor still in its container. But when I went to put Adora's dish down, it instead flew out of my hand and (of course) landed upside down, soup everywhere. I quickly looked around and started grabbing paper towels, but Adora was one step ahead of me. She cleaned that floor up like a good little Hoover (Hoogestraat) should, and Spanky even came in after her to do some light spot cleaning. I was left with a slightly sticky, wet floor, which was easily cleaned with moistened paper towels and dish soap. Everyone benefited from my channeling of Dick Van Dyke (as Pete likes to call me during my clumsier moments), which is how it should be, right?

Surrounded by dogs

Roxie, our old landlord's dog, is staying with us for the next several days, and Adora isn't exactly being the gracious hostess she should be. She has been herding poor Roxie everywhere, nipping at her mouth and using body checks to keep her coralled. Adora has even tried to eat Roxie's food, which Roxie thoughtfully overlooked. Note the literally high-ranking position Adora put herself in outside while Pete was exercising the dogs. Queen of the Roost, indeed!



If you saw Roxie in person, you'd think she'd be the aggressor, since she's a big Rottweiler and looks rather imposing. But no, it's our little circus bear Adora who's being the dominant one, with Spanky a distant third in the temporary pack ranking (of course, we humans are first and second in the pack, with mama-to-be being top dog, hee hee). Spanky doesn't seem to care what Roxie does, as long as he's reassured he's still loved with lots of petting and cuddling.

This is going to be a loooong weekend....

Slow day

Hey, everyone, how are you? I've been feeling really, really tired and sluggish for the last few days, so I've been a bit absent from my posting duties. To remedy my stupor, I've taken the laptop outside to work on my freelance project (and maybe squeeze in a little blogging and surfing). I figured I should enjoy the beautiful weather before the rains come AGAIN tomorrow, and get some usage out of my lonely patio furniture, which hasn't seen many sunny days lately.



And we're also in the middle of painting the dining room/kitchen floors (robin's egg blue, so very lovely!), so avoiding the fumes has been a big motivator for going outside. The doggies are keeping me company and getting some fresh air too. Hopefully I'll be back to my energetic self tomorrow.



And thanks for all of you who expressed your concern and good wishes regarding Dollie. She did indeed come home, albeit a bit late (a day and half later), which is really unusual for her, hence my freaking out. In true cat fashion, she simply strolled up to Pete in the backyard and acted like nothing had happened (he grabbed her quickly so she couldn't change her mind). I was thrilled to have her back, and she's up to her old antics again, running around like a maniac and climbing on every surface imaginable.

Pet bed from Ikea

Spanky has fallen in love with this pet bed from Ikea, even though it was meant for the cats. Oh well, at least he fits in it. Adora tried to sit in it in the car on the way home from the store and practically broke it.



I threw in one of these cushions for extra coziness too.

Red Stripe + Gyro = Two Hungry Dogs

Not so much hungry for the Red Stripe, although I'm sure Adora would give it a try. (Note the scrubbed wooden kitchen floor they're standing on. I only have like 20 square feet of intense scrubbing to go. Sigh....)

This is what it's like for me when I eat a meal at home ALL THE TIME. I'm always surrounded by the animals salivating and begging. Even the cats join in.

You And I Both

Go check out Dallas Shaw's Etsy shop, where this print entitled "You And I Both" is available in lovely candy-like colors, including this sunny lemon yellow.





Shameless Self-Promotion Alert! I took the photos for the yellow print, which were featured on Dallas's blog, Dilly Dallas, as well as Joanna Goddard's blog, A Cup of Joe. And yeah, that's my dog Spanky in the top photo. What a well-behaved little model he is!

Snowy sick day

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, aren't I?

Today I felt horrible, with chills, fever, bad headache, swollen lymph glands, nausea, etc. So I called in and went back to bed for another five hours. That didn't seem to do too much, because right now I feel worse than I did when I got up. I'm hoping I'll feel better tomorrow and Thursday, because I hate being sick on holidays! I also missed Jen and Georgia, and strangely enough, I miss driving to and from work with Pete.

Anyhow, here are some pix from today, taken when I had a few bits of energy here and there (which wasn't often).


Snow, snow, and more snow! Our backyard


Max being goofy in the dining room (under construction)


Max peering outside


Max pleading with me—to go outside?


A view out front


Bored out of my skull watching VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s


Spanky looking solemn


Adora looking bored, just like me


Hot cider and tea with crackers is all I've managed to keep down so far


Watching exciting daytime television


Dollie frolicking in the dining room


Max thinking his private cat thoughts and looking outside

Max and Dollie were fascinated by the snow that snuck in the front door when Pete left for work this morning. I think they know it's too cold to play outside, but they're still restless and bored and curious about all that white stuff.

Well, it's back to the couch for me. I've got yet another episode of 100 Greatest waiting for me, and then it's on to the news and such. Dare I say I was so bored today I would have preferred to work? But I hear we ran out of work and people were sent home early, so I guess this is the better of the two options, with the 4-8 inches of snow we're getting today too.

Time to eat more saltines...

Busy Bones...

...the pacifiers for dogs. Ah, peace and quiet!

Happy Thoughts—Day 5

My furry children. Life would not be as happy without them, and I know this is true, because Pete and I lived without pets (except the fish) for the first few years we were together. And let me tell you, I was always lonely for the poke of a wet nose, the touch of a furry paw, and the warm and happy lick from a happy dog. They truly make us happy, and remind us of the simple things in life.

My lazy day off

I had rather lofty goals for today, but after driving Pete to work this morning before dawn, I realized I was tired and still run down, as I have been for over a week now. So I headed back to bed and slept a few more hours, with Spanky and Adora keeping me company. When I got up, I grabbed my iPhone and started playing, just like Claire suggested (thanks, Claire). It was fun, spontaneous, and I felt a little like my old creative self again.

I'm still moving a bit slow, but I am planning on swinging by Target to get a few supplies, then heading to Gottlieb Hospital to greet the newest member of the family. More about that tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are a few photos of our lazy morning in bed. See more at vivid.

"And they call it puppy love..."

A good motivating factor for getting your dog spayed is to watch her and your (neutered) male dog run around the house for hours, humping each other, sniffing each others' hoo-has, and whimpering in sexual frustration as they knock magazines off the table and generally tear up the house.



Adora wasn't fixed when we got her, and it's been something we have to do that's just been on the back burner with our recent wedding and all, but that magical time is here again. And it's an almost disturbing site to watch them, since Adora and Spanky normally act as brother and sister, fighting over bones and our affection, teasing each other, and getting annoyed when the other one sits on their face (that would be Adora sitting on Spanky's face). I get a weird sensation when all this goes on, as if I'm watching siblings chasing each other, and I end up feeling thoroughly weirded out.

I can't say that the recent episode when Pete and I tackled Adora in that McDonald's parking lot last weekend to put her little Pup'sters doggy diaper on her while children pointed and mothers looked on, horrified, was any less of a motivating factor. And I do admit I tire of taking Adora aside after she has once again torn off her plastic britches and explaining to her that she needs to keep them on, because mama doesn't take her underpants off and sit on all the furniture when she has her period, now does she?

I'm making an appointment for Adora today.

The Bottom Lounge featuring The Duke Spirit

Well, fellow bloggers, I'm off to see The Duke Spirit at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago tonight. I've never been to the Lounge, and I've never seen TDS, either, so this should be interesting. Needless to say, I won't have any new or exciting posts for you tomorrow. Nor will I be able to read all your wonderful blogs tonight, sigh...

But I will be back tomorrow night, after our trip to the vet with Spanky and Adora, and a little running for me on the ol' treadmill. So I hope to be back in the safe confines of blogland soon enough. Hope you're having a great Monday night, whether you're vegging on the couch or whooping it up at some dance club.

See ya tomorrow night!

(Photo courtesy of The Duke Spirit)

Photo of the Week: "Drowned Rats"

In honor of all the wet, dreary weather (and slushy weather to come this weekend), I thought I'd post this image of our dogs, Spanky and Adora. This was taken after they had gone on a two-hour walk with Pete through the woods, hills, and streets of Warrenville. They had an absolute blast with him, but it rained almost the entire time, so the three of them came back totally soaked. Did it bother them at all? Not one bit. In fact, they were all gleeful and happy when they came crashing into the nice warm and dry house, getting mud and leaves all over the place, Pete included. Of course I tsked tsked and grumbled about the mess, but I found it hard to stop smiling at my three adventurers.

Hope this weekend finds you having a thrilling time doing whatever it is you love!

Skunked!

Yesterday morning, in the dark pre-dawn hours before work, Spanky got sprayed by a skunk. Pete and I noticed that familiar smell near our house, typically in the wee hours of the morning every day as we were heading out to work.

Well, yesterday Pete took Spanky and Adora outside to do their business before we left for work, and the three of them went into the backyard. I was upstairs when I suddenly noticed the smell of skunk wafting up through our bedroom window. My first thought was, "Dammit, they got sprayed." A few minutes later Pete appeared with both dogs and asked me repeatedly to call Spanky upstairs. I figured Adora got sprayed and he wanted to isolate her, so I called Spanky and he ran up and into his suitcase. I immediately noticed the horrible smell permeating every pore of my being.

Turns out Spanky got sprayed and NOT Adora, so I quickly made Spanky run back downstairs and into his cage. The house was overwhelmed in a matter of minutes with the odor, and I can't begin to tell you what it actually smells like in person. Not that normal skunk smell that you and I are used to, but an extremely strong, nauseating odor that smells like a mix of super-strong onions and fecal matter. Yum.

Since we were leaving for work and had already overslept the day before by two hours (and hence got to work very late), we had no time to delay and had to keep Spanky in his cage until we got home to deal with him. He sulked and let us know how unhappy he was with this arrangement.



I got the full story on the way to work. Pete had been outside with Spanky and Adora when the dogs suddenly bolted for the front yard, where the skunk seems to hang out. Pete ran after them, and came around to the front of the house, where he saw the skunk with its back end up in the air, ready to strike. Adora thought the skunk was playing and copied its play bow, ready to have fun. Pete called Adora to him and to her credit, she listened and got away from the skunk. Spanky, however, would not listen to Pete's commands and instead darted after the skunk and was promptly sprayed by the angry creature. Spanky apparently freaked out and was running around our neighbor's front yard, rolling his face and body around in the grass, desperate to get the smelly goop off of him. Pete said he looked like a chicken that had its head cut off, running around in a panic and a look of terror on his face (I would imagine the chicken heads also look terrified, but I didn't ask).

When we got home, we slathered Spanky with a skunk-deodorizing liquid we had picked up at Petsmart on the way. That neutralized the smell for the most part, but the directions said to wait until it was completely dry until we bathed Spanky. So we left him in his cage to dry off overnight, and this morning we're going to give him a good soaking to get that stuff off of him. I'm sure he'll really enjoy that.

I found an interesting website that explains everything you want to know about skunks, including how to remove the odor from pets, clothing, yourself, etc. Very informative, but learning how to wash skunk funk off of my dog is not the way I wanted to spend my Saturday. Hope you're all doing something more fun....



(Skunk photos courtesy of The Skunk Stripe)

Photo of the Week: "Spanky In a Suitcase"

Okay, okay, I know I keep using photos of my pets as "Photo of the Week" candidates. But I can't help it, and can you blame me? They're all so darn cute and funny.

Anyhow, this is Spanky relaxing in a suitcase. It's an old, beat-up suitcase that I borrowed from my parents and took with me on my honeymoon, and I absolutely hated it. It had four rickety wheels, but one came off, and it had no extending handle for easy pulling. So essentially I had to drag it around each airport, and it was big and flat and heavy and awkward. Holes had started to develop all over it, and it was just plain annoying and cumbersome.

Well, I emptied my clothes from the suitcase after we got back from Hawaii, and left it sitting open on our bedroom floor. At one point I had just washed one of the dog's blankets (an old comforter from Target), and had folded and tossed it into the suitcase for a moment as I cleaned our bedroom. But before I had a chance to put it away, Spanky fell in love with the damn thing and made himself a little nest.

So now every time I head upstairs, whether it's to use the washroom or put something away, Spanky runs up there with me and immediately gets into his suitcase, expectantly looking up at me. I'm not sure if he thinks we're going away again and that he'll be taken with if he stays in the suitcase, or if he just finds it to be a nice cozy little bed. Perhaps both are true, but he is one happy little dog when he's safe and secure in his old suitcase.

I don't have the heart to take the blanket out and give the suitcase back to my parents...yet. Maybe he'll get bored with it and forget about it. He still likes sleeping in the crack formed between Pete and me at night, so he hasn't totally abandoned the luxury of our soft bed for his little traveling den. But he sure takes lots of naps in that old suitcase. Perhaps he dreams about going on trips with us to fun places like dog parks, Petsmart, camping....