December 19, 2010

This is really my picture from Sunday - doesn't Ginger look like the picture of comfort. At least the girls like to cuddle.

But my main Sunday project was to make Swedish Creams. Here is the recipe as written by my mother:

Judi learned how to do these and did them for years. Then she stopped because too much work. Janet picked up doing them.

I have never tried.

Swedish Cremes

1 cup butter

2 cups flour, sifted - cut in and gradually add cream

1/3 cup whip cream

Make like pie crust and then chill in refrigerator. It will form a ball.

Work with 1/3 dough at a time.

Roll out 1/8” thick.

Cut with 1.5” cookie cutter – round – coated with sugar. Prick. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 7-9 minutes 375 degrees

Frosting sandwich.

¼ c soft butter, ¾ c powdered sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1 t vanilla Doesn’t sound like you melt the butter, just stir the whole thing together? I will ask her.

Color red or green sometimes.

And this is what I came away with. I had no problems getting the dough to roll out to 1/8" thick. Of course I accidentally didn't get enough butter in it and compensated with cream. It was OK, but a little tough. I found that docking the dough before I cut out the rounds was much more efficient than docking it after I cut the rounds. Though many at the office thought the dough was a cracker until they tasted it.

I think Auntie Janet must roll hers out a bit thicker than 1/8". But alls well that ends well, the cookies tasted good!

December 12, 2010

Sunbathers.

December 10, 2010

Staying at home today to work on recovering from this sinus infection. My two cube mates didn't mind my sneezing at all. They spent most of the day basking in the sun as it moved from room to room. In this pic, Zoe heard me get up, but it felt too good in the sun to actually come and see what I was doing.

November 25, 2010

Before everyone arrives into town I was trying to sneak in a bit of Christmas by getting a few presents wrapped. When I walked out of the room for a minute, Zoe grabbed one of the extra pieces of paper and started munching on it.....I guess I won't be using that to wrap a small stocking stuffer gift.

November 8, 2010

Today I worked from home - my cubemates loved it!

October 31, 2010

Pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating up in Cedar park. Jack and Caroline went as Batman and Bat Girl respectively and they had the coordinating pumpkin at home.

Here are Zoe and Ginger with their victim - who knew dachshunds liked fresh pumpkin? At least there wasn't too much damage to the design!

October 11, 2010

Thank goodness for random holidays! Today I had Columbus day off from work. I soooooo needed the time at home to catch up on all fronts.

How do I know that Zoe is feeling better? Yeah, she's able to get the toilet paper in the bathroom again. Great.

September 12, 2010

Are we getting tired of Zoe pictures yet? I hope not. A bit better today after 24 hours of stepped up steroids. I hope my peanut does OK with the nanny while I'm gone :(

September 11, 2010

Tough day! After a good start and workout, I came home to discover that the Zoester had a setback in the back recovery department. Off to the see the vet for a Saturday morning emergency appointment! Thankfully we were able to get in. Worryingly Zoe has developed a weakness on her right side. This is new because she generally shows a limp on her left side when she injures her back. The one bright spot is that she doesn't seem to be in much pain.

I'm treating her with her medication and me with some Home Slice pizza....and a rice krispie treat.

September 9, 2010

Sometimes I run out of thins to take pictures of.... so when that happens I take pictures of my dogs. I was trying to get on Zoë's level to take a picture. Unfortunately she views that as an invitation to come over and lick my face. Ugh. Breath of death! But a cute photo of her.

August 27, 2010

Zoe on the mend. After a week of treatments, the Zoester is on the mend again. Hopefully she doesn't get too jumpy again any time in the future! As much as we love seeing Sandra, we like it when Zoe is health even more :)

July 28, 2010

Presents from Gramee! These little ducks have just been waiting for the right time to get played with. Mom sent them down in hope that the squeakers would last longer than traditional doggie toys. Ginger checked them both out, but she was more interested in going outside. However, Zoe was all over them! She managed to transport both to the sofa so she could work on them before I even noticed it!

Unfortunately as soon a hole gets into these toys, all the squeaker magic is gone....

July 7, 2010

Well I had some leftover basil from cooking on Monday that I couldn't just throw away. They sell you a pitifully small amount for $2.97 or for $3.97 they give you 5 cups of basil. Anyway it just seemed like a better deal to purchase the bigger one. But then I was left with all this basil.

So I decided to make pesto, but since there was no crusty french bread or fresh mozzarella in the house I didn't want to eat it right away. So I found a recipe where you add everything but the cheese and then defrost and add the cheese. I'll let you know how this little adventure turns out. I'm looking forward to some yummy pesto.

While I was cooking up a storm, we had some lovely sunset light outside that I grabbed for a picture of the day.

And I also gave Zoe and Ginger their new Gramee toys. They are still somewhat dumbfounded when they manage to get the duck to say Afflack!

July 3, 2010

I really don't need to wear a watch. If I'm home, starting at about 4:30, Zoe begins her pantry stalking. By 5:00, she's set up camp eyeing me down from the living room, trying to stare me into feeding her. By 5:15, Ginger joins in the stare down. Don't worry, I fed them.

Our very own yard visitor today! Little lizard decided to hang out on the fence in the backyard.

July 1, 2010

Booth breakdown! These people are serious about kicking you out of their space. I've never seen a convention center break down so quickly as I have in Las Vegas! We did have to wait a bit to get our crate, as per usual, but we were out of there with plenty of time to spare.

I got home oh so late (or early, depending on how you look at it....) and Zoe and Ginger were all over my bags. Ginger reached in there right away and snatched out the Elvis hair wig that was the Cisco live 'hat' this year. Usually she goes for the food so I was pretty surprised that she reached to the bottom of the bag for this one!

June 23, 2010

An almost blog fail. It's time for bed and I haven't take a picture yet today. So here is a quick snap of the Zoester as she is curled up for beddy-bye.

May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day!! A very hot day off here in Austin. Ginger spent short intervals outside getting tortured by the butterflies and she loved every minute of it.

Zoe was even out for a bit too - check out her portrait with me reflected in her eyeball!

I spent most of the day China plannin'! I think we finally have the plan of where we're goin' when! Just a few more flights to book and hotels and we'll be set!

May 27, 2010

Just got back from Dallas and I'm workin' from home for just a few hours. Here are my cube mates, they are hard workers....

May 24, 2010

Argh she got me again! I turn my back for one second and that girl is in the bathroom making a grab for the toilet paper. You can see she wanted to be comfortable while she worked on it - walked it all the way to her bed so she could relax.

April 8, 2010

I can't tell if the white balance is off or if it's just so blue from the field of flowers!! I couldn't get the girls to pose to save my life so this is the best I could get! ugh!