Baby "Squirrels"

I had the most interesting argument with a client today. This lady walks in with a shoe box that had some holes punched in the top. I greeted her, and the next thing you know she is lifting the lid of the box...never a good sign in my business. Usually means somebody wants to show me something gross or a mutilated animal. :) Three tiny, gray little fuzzies were climbing around in a pile in the box. It was then that I noticed that they seemed to look a little crunchy on some of their appendages. The lady proceeded to tell me that these "poor innocent little creatures" had apparently been in a nest inside her brother's BBQ grill. He had lit the grill, then heard them squeaking and rescued them. One of them had no back feet, they were burned off. One had no front feet. And all three had only half a tail left in an unburned condition. The lady was stroking the little kits, and holding them up by her face and kissing them. Typical moron. The reason that she had come in was to find out what type of animals they were. She was fully convinced that they were newborn squirrels. Her plan was to raise them and teach them how to adapt to being four feet and 1-1/2 tails short of 3 real animals. :)

I smiled and kindly said, "I think they might be baby rats. I've never seen any squirrels that looked quite like that." TRANSLATION: Those are RATS. PLEASE STOP KISSING THEM as they carry bazillions of disgusting diseases and they are really NOT SQUIRRELS!!! The lady looked at me, horrified. Her brain refused to wrap around the fact that she had been kissing, cuddling, and bottle feeding tiny RATS for the past 5 days. Then she went into complete denial.

"Are you a Doctor?"

"No, Ma'am, I'm not."

"Well, can I get a professional opinion? I GOOGLED a picture of baby squirrels and I really think these are baby squirrels! I mean, they are getting really attached to me and they hold their bottles with their front paws. I don't think RATS would act like that, DO YOU!!!!!"

I calmly replied, "Well, I have a world-reknowned exotic animal specialist on site today. When he steps out of his appointment I'll ask him to step out and tell you exactly what they are."

The lady smugly sat down to wait. And when an extremely well-known exotic and avian specialist stepped into the lobby and pronounced the crispy little creatures BABY RATS, I felt supremely satisfied. :)

One of My Favorite Things, Rediscovered!

It's been years since I used a Furminator tool. As a groomer I loved my Furminator. But for some reason, I haven't ever used one on my own pets. Recently I started begging Rich to let me get his cat shaved. I feel like I spend half my life either vacuuming up cat hair, or seeing imaginary cat hair somewhere. Rich has had pity on the kitty, and has informed me how ugly our cat would look sans fur. I can only imagine how lovely my house would look without fur. :)

Finally I decided to order a new Furminator tool to use on the cat. I carefully combed the dead fur out and filled half of a Wal-Mart shopping bag in less than 5 minutes. I can't believe I haven't used it sooner!!! 

You can find a Furminator tool HERE if you would like to rid your life of cat hair! :)

Gas VS Lattes

Today it cost me $42.37 to fill the l'il gas tank on my teeny Corolla. No fair. But still, when I read the following, it's hard to be mad about gas prices. Makes you wonder what we are thinking sometimes! Unfortunately, I don't drink coffee (haven't in four years).

The average latte costs $3.59 for 16 oz. That's 22 cents per ounce~or $28.72 a gallon!

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

                           ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My Amazing Day Off

I haven't had a day off in...weeks. Today I took the day off, and I spent the whole day cleaning, doing laundry, organizing, running errands and grocery shopping. I decided to use leftovers in the fridge to make salsa, then made a garlic topping for the chicken burgers. I love spring and summer because everything is fresh and tastes yummy. I spent FOREVER peeling and mincing fresh garlic. It takes a lot of chopping to make one small bowl of salsa!! I don't know why these pix are so blurry. But anyway it is my salsa, then summer squash and asparagus. I broiled it all, and it was yum.

If I had to pick a favorite day of the week, it would be Sunday, by far. Now when I was a kid, I didn't really understand why people would say that Sunday was their favorite day. I knew that I was supposed to be really excited about spending the whole day at church, but personally I preferred Saturdays. 

Rich and I decided, before we got married, that if we were going to make it very far in life then we needed to have a real relationship with God. Not just to learn how to walk the walk and talk the talk, but honestly learn and understand what God expected from our lives based on the truths of the Bible and not just blindly follow whatever the "church crowd" was doing. We have taken seriously the task of figuring out what we believe and following our core beliefs in our everyday lives. We were both fortunate to be raised in Christian homes--but at some point every person has to decide what he or she is going to do with God in the long term. 

I won't bother writing out the whole story (after all, this blog can't have THAT many followers)....but we found FBC just three months after we moved here. We had been attending another church but from the first service, we knew that FBC was OUR church. It is not a big church, but it is a GREAT church! We have been so blessed here! We have, in a Pastor and Pastor's wife, real people that have become our dear friends. Our church family is amazing, and our church is reaching others. We have grown so much since we came here. It is wonderful to hear God's truths brought before us by a truly humble man who is being greatly used. Our hearts and lives are challenged and touched as our Pastor preaches from the Bible. Instead of using God to make his own points, he lets God use him to make HIS points. 

As we continue to grow spiritually, we find that we have an even stronger desire to give our Sundays wholly to God. And that's because we aren't giving our Sundays to God. He gives us something on our Sundays. Giving time to God is not a burden or an inconvenience, it is the least we can do for a God who has done so much for us, and has blessed our lives with such joy and abundance beyond anything we could have accomplished on our own. Is life perfect? No, but through all of life's troubles and worries, I know that my God will supply all my needs, and knows the path He has planned for us! Yes, Sunday is our favorite day!! 

Moissanite VS Diamonds

I found some earrings that I thought were made of diamonds....and I liked them. Then I read that the stones were actually a man-made stone called moissanite. Being a bit of a skeptic, and not truly sure if this was just some fancy way to sell CZ, I submitted a request for information to the GIA. Imagine my surprise to receive a detailed response. I have posted the response below, because I found it interesting. Who knows, perhaps I will buy those earrings after all!!!

Dear Elizabeth:

Synthetic moissanite, produced by Charles & Colvard (http://www.moissanite.com/) is an option to a natural diamond. I would suggest that you look at the synthetic moissanite in person prior to purchase to make sure you like how it looks. If this is an online purchase, please read the vendor’s return policy in case you decide you do not like it once you see it.

As for its durability, hardness refers to resistance to scratching. The hardness of synthetic moissanite is 9.25 and the hardness of diamond is 10. The hardness of ruby and sapphire is 9.  Toughness refers to resistance to breaking, chipping or cracking. The toughness of synthetic moissanite is Excellent. The toughness of diamond ranges from Good to Excellent because diamond’s toughness depends on cleavage planes.

I’ve not seen an independent gemological research paper stating that the color of synthetic moissanite will change over time.  In comparison, colorless CZ, another diamond simulant which is also a synthetic, has been documented to become yellow over time.

A notable feature of synthetic moissanite is the appearance of doubling of the facets. You will have to decide if you like the way this looks. To see what this looks like, please click on this link: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1186&bih=697&q=doubling+facets+moissanite&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=. If the link does not work, I went to Google Images (http://www.google.com/imghp) and searched on this phrase: doubling facets moissanite. It is still best to view the synthetic moissanite in person.

As for its brilliance that depends on how well cut the stone is. Brilliance is a combination of all the reflections from the surface of the stone and the inside of the stone. It gives the stone its brightness and flash.

Good luck with your purchase and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Rose Tozer

________________________________
Rosemary Tozer
Senior Librarian
Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center
GIA World Headquarters
The Robert Mouawad Campus 
5345 Armada Drive
Carlsbad, California  92008

The Insanity Plot

Last night I was fairly certain that my pets were plotting to drive me fully and utterly insane. I got into bed at 12:45. Within 15 minutes, my dog was sitting up in his kennel, making super annoying little moans and cries. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I got  up and took him out for a potty break. He delivered, so I assumed that was the problem and snuggled back under the covers with my 5 pillows. Within 20 minutes, quiet (but very annoying) growls started drifting my way. I attempted the SHHHH sound. The dog is typically well-behaved, so imagine my shock when he was yipping and barking low, muffled barks by 1:35. I thought that perhaps Lassie was trying to save the day, so I got up and checked to make sure everything in the house was ok. The stove and oven were off, the iron, etc. I checked all the locks on the doors, and looked out of the windows to see if perhaps something outside was disturbing him. With everything checking out normally, I once again crawled back into bed to catch some Zzzz's. 2:15 a.m.--annoying whines filled the room again. I got up, and moved the kennel into the living room and closed the door. Angry, indignant barks followed. I got up again, and moved the kennel next to my bed. Then I administered a rare dose of doggie discipline. Feeling as if I had gotten my point across, I once again got back in my bed. Blissful quiet until almost 3:10, when the dog once again started whining and being generally obnoxious. By this time I had reached that point that you see parents reach in the check-out line at the grocery store when little Billy wants a candy bar. They will literally do anything just for some peace and quiet. I opened up the kennel and stuck the little monster next to me in the bed (I HATE  having little furry things in my bed). The next thing I know the cat is sitting on top of the dog, boxing his head with amazing moves, and the dog is crawling all over Richard, waking him up too. By this time my mind is racing towards my next move. I put his kennel into the walk-in closet. Boy did that ever NOT work. The cat sat outside the closet door and annoyed the dog. I'm sure he was just rubbing it in that he was FREE. By this time I STORMED out of the bed (4:05 a.m.), to retrieve the barking dog from the closet. I grabbed the dog, looked him straight in the eyes, and crossed that line straight to insanity. "I NEED TO SLEEP!!! BE QUIET!!! STOP BARKING!!! YOU CAN SLEEP IN THE BED, YOU CAN SLEEP WHEREVER YOU WANT, JUST SHUT UP!!!" The dog looked at me with his beady eyes, and seemingly satisfied that he had pushed me over the edge, proceeded to snuggle up next to us in the bed and slept soundly until 8:30 a.m.

I'm Old, and I Could Die from Stress!!

Every day at work leaves me laughing about something crazy that happens. Today was an 80-something-year-old couple, babysitting their son and daughter-in-law's old dog for a couple of days. Apparently Grandma felt that the dog needed a little special TLC to make him feel better. Now, her son is an apparently wealthy attorney. And conveniently, he has a credit card on file for emergencies,  for when he is out of town. Now Grandma came in today, with a list of demands to make the dog's life more comfortable. And kindly reminded me that when both her son and daughter-in-law drive $100,000 cars, he should be able to afford a few hundred dollars for his pooch. When I asked her if she'd like me to call her son to get the charges pre-approved, she gave me a look of shocked horror, grabbed her chest, and said..."Seeing this dog uncomfortable is stressing me out....and I'm old. My heart is old. And I could die from this kind of stress!!" Then she winked, and continued... "I raised my son to treat his dog better than this. If he needs some cash to cover the treatments, I'd recommend that his sorry self sells one of the Porsches!"

Yummy Veggies!!

I decided to make pasta & veggies for dinner tonight. We have really been in the mood for fresh veggies lately. I used about 2 cups of chopped broccoli florets and 2 yellow summer squash. We didn't eat any meat tonight. I love to make simple pasta dishes because they are tasty and fresh. You can use really any veggies--asparagus, peppers, carrots, etc. I typically use bowtie pasta. 

I started by boiling my bowtie pasta. While that was cooking I started my veggies. I peeled and minced 4 fresh garlic cloves. I chopped up 2 cups of broccoli florets and 2 yellow summer squash. I cut the squash into about 1" thick pieces because we don't like it mushy. I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in my wok on medium-high heat and let the garlic cook for about a minute until it was just turning golden. Then I added the veggies and sauteed them about 4 minutes until tender-crisp. I added a little seasoning salt, garlic & herb seasoning, black pepper, fresh grated parmesan and tossed in the pasta. Yum.

Fresh Produce is Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

Soooooooooooo excited to finally go grocery shopping and have a good produce selection...I bought so many fresh items that just haven't been looking so good throughout the winter months. I also bought more dried lentils! I had curried lentils recently, and decided to start making my own. They are delicious! I bought spring mix, fresh baby spinach, romaine, fresh basil, tomatoes, green onions, snap peas, snow peas, broccoli, squash, asparagus, strawberries, bananas, avocados, limes, grapefruit, fennel, mushrooms, & carrots. YUM! I posted a link for curried lentils to my FB page. Also, I improvised on "vanilla" greek yogurt this time around. A 6-oz cup of vanilla Chobani has 13 grams of sugar. A 6-oz cup of plain Chobani has 7. So, I bought a large carton of the plain, then added 3/4 tsp. of vanilla extract and a packet of Truvia. Perfect. I think next time I'll use just a half packet. 

I also got to use my new reusable bags. They are just 2 that fit neatly inside the cart. I LOVED them as much as I thought I would. Gaze upon their awesomeness HERE and see where to buy. 

DEATH TO PANDA BEARS

I went 20 minutes out of my way tonight to go through the Panda Express drive-thru on my way home from work. I ordered 1/2 steamed veggies and 1/2 chow mein with barbecue pork & an eggroll. When I got my food I asked for sweet & sour sauce for my eggroll. The girl working the window told me they were out of sweet & sour. First of all WHAT KIND OF CHINESE RESTAURANT DOES NOT HAVE SWEET & SOUR SAUCE!!! Second of all, DUCK SAUCE IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SUBSTITUTE!!!

I began the drive home, and when I was driving down the highway I noticed that my food smelled a little funny. I opened up the box and discovered that my box contained fried rice (GROSS) and mandarin chicken. Now excuse me but I didn't order that. However, it would have been a HUGE hassle and a 30-minutes round trip just to go back and get the right meal. With the current price of gas these days, the gas money would have probably cost more than the food.

Panda Express, if you're reading this, I WISH DEATH TO PANDA BEARS!!!

Just Another Day at the Office


There's one thing that's always been true about my job. No two days are the same! Now you may wonder why there is a picture of a baby peacock in all its shiny blue and green glory on my blog post when I work at a dog/cat only practice. Well....


Today started out normally. Everything was going well until a patient (aka dog) that had been hospitalized for several days collapsed in the dog-yard during his morning potty walk and...died. The dog had been sick for several months, and a TON of different doctors, ultrasound specialists, radiologists, internists, etc. had not been able to diagnose exactly what was wrong with him. Once we got the go-ahead from the client, we performed a necropsy on the dog. Since it was a busy day and the dog was being sent out for a group cremation, the Dr. decided not to suture the dog closed after taking samples from the body cavity. We bagged up the dog and stuck him in the holding freezer. That's when the client's agent called (yes, to add to the story, he is one famous dude) to inform us that he and his band had decided to come and "view the body." Unfortunately by this time the dog had been in the freezer for a few hours. And, oh yeah, his intestines and organs were hanging out. What a peaceful way to see Fido for the last time. 


With about 25 minutes to go, we RAN back to pull the dog (name withheld due to doggie HIPAA, lol!) out of the freezer. His frosty little paws were not a good sign. We placed his abdomen on heating pads, so that the skin would be pliable enough for us to stick his guts back inside and staple him shut. Also his face had frozen into a funny position so heating pads were stuck there, too. His ventral abdomen (the bottom side) was covered in gut goo and some other bodily fluids had leaked out and frozen by then as well, so the next thing you know there is a dead, partially frozen dog in the bathtub getting a full-on spa treatment. Just for the record, it is super creepy to bathe and blow-out a dead animal. By this time we are all laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. 


Enter, PEACOCK!! A girl comes running in the front door, and says, "There is a peacock on the highway!!! We are feeding it a bagel but it is trying to cross the street and we aren't sure what to do with it!!" The next thing you know my boss is running out the door to catch the peacock. I'm unsure how that whole chase went, but about the time Mr. Famous and his band pull up, she is running back in the door with a clucking peafowl in her arms. Somehow we all managed to pull a straight face, and it's a good thing this dude always shows up stoned...otherwise I'm sure he would have caught the undertones of hysterical laughter. We were all barely containing snorts of laughter.


At the end of the day Mr. Famous got to see his dog, "sleeping" peacefully, the peacock was contained, and everything was ok but WHAT A RIDE!!!! I guess that's why I stay in this field; it is certainly never boring. It makes me laugh inside when I tell people I work in an animal hospital and they say..."Awwww....it must be so much fun to get paid to play with puppies all day!!" 

One of THOSE days!!!!! :)

A Little South Florida Remix

Jamaican Banana Bread

Cooking spray
2 tbsp stick margarine, softened
2 tbsp tub light cream cheese, softened
1 c sugar
1 large egg
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 c mashed ripe banana
1/2 c skim milk
2 tbsp dark rum or 1/4 tsp imitation rum extract
1/2 tsp grated lime rind
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 c flaked sweetened coconut
1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 tsp margarine
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp dark rum or 1/8 tsp imitation rum extract
2 tsp chopped pecans, toasted
2 tbsp flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 8"x4" loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside

Beat 2 tbsp margarine and cream cheese at medium speed; add 1 c sugar, beat well. Add egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir well. Combine banana and the next 5 ingredients (banana through vanilla), stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternatively with banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mix after each addition. Stir in 1/4 c pecans and 1/4 c coconut.

Pour batter into prepared pan; bake at 375 for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, remove from pan. Let cool slightly on a wire rack.

Combine brown sugar and 2 tsp each margarine, lime juice, and rum or extract in a saucepan; bring to simmer. Cook 1 minute; stir constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in t tbsp each pecans and coconut, spoon over loaf.

The Yellow Obsession, Continued

By clicking HERE, you will see my latest yellow obsession. :)

For all of you who are requesting Becky's blog site address:

Click HERE

{What I Love Wednesday}

Yellow & Something Cool from Becky's Blog

Lately I've been obsessed with the color yellow. It sort of hit me by surprise, because I used to hate yellow. Perhaps it's because, as a teen, I convinced my mom to let me paint my bedroom a frightful shade of yellow called "banana split." It was even brighter and more offensive than it sounds, believe me. It was such a brazen shade of yellow that you could tell it was yellow at night with the lights off. Maybe it's true that your tastes change every seven years, because it has been about seven years since that awful bedroom was yellow. The color of yellow I'm into these days varies from mustard to turmeric. I'm not sure what got me so excited about yellow. Perhaps it's the fact that I love accenting my closet full of purples with yellow handbags. I've got two. I got my first yellow purse at Leenalu in downtown Richmond. It's one of those annoying stores where you wish they had on online store, but it's just a boutique and they don't. I found some of the most amazing accessories there, too! My second yellow bag came from Rich for Valentines' Day. He did an amazing job picking it out. I don't think the colors are showing 100% true in these pictures, but here are my yellow bags.

The bag from Rich :)

This is the bag from Leenalu.

Now I'm thinking of using a beautiful, warm spice yellow in the master bedroom of our new place. We move soon--a perfect time for a face lift. :) I found the perfect textiles at Ethan Allen. However, the occasionally sensible soul inside of me can't see paying EA prices, because I'll probably be onto something else sooner rather than later. So, we'll see what happens!

SEE ETHAN ALLEN'S YELLOW BEDROOM TEXTILES HERE! 

Now, onto the latest piece of awesomeness from my cousin Becky's blog. I am a greedy little hound when it comes to her blog. I love it! I'm always waiting for her to post something new for me to read. I love the little tips and tricks she gives, the items she posts about (how did I LIVE without some of it?), her sense of humor, and watching her decorate her new house, one room at a time. I'm fascinated with the way she repurposes things, and they look amazing once she's done!! This time it's an "accessory" for grocery shopping. Now I do try to remember to use my reusable grocery shopping bags, but these "bags" take the cake. I ordered two in baroque sand immediately!! 

Find what I love HERE!!