Silly Sunday

I thought of the most lame, boring, but (to me) funny thing today.

I realized that if I say "C'mere," my dog won't come to me.

He will only come to me if I say "Come."

Hahaha.

Perfect Cocoa

I was craving hot cocoa tonight...perhaps because I keep my house at 62 degrees all the time, so it constantly feels like winter inside. :)

I stirred and heated it "low and slow" and made homemade whipped cream for the top. I dusted it with cinnamon and added a few sugar pearls for decoration. Do I take this much hassle with everything? Yes, mostly. After all you kinda-sorta eat with your eyes, right??

Project Clean: Black Light Mission

Earlier in the week, I was convinced I could smell cat pee-pee near the litter box. Poor cat has a UTI again. However, I couldn't shake the question in my head of whether or not any pee was outside the box. I had it out for the cat. I coldly informed Rich that if there was ANY cat pee around the house, the cat would be GONE! Was the cat ever in for the laugh of his life.

We went to Wal-Mart together to pick up a 18" black light first. When I came home, I shut off every light in the house and shined my black light on every possible surface of every room. The good news, my living room, dining room, and bedrooms look pretty stinkin' good. :) Then I went into the kitchen. Oh my, the floor. The floor that I scrub weekly (on hands and knees) with floor cleaner--horrid. Streaks and "black light stains" everywhere. The cabinets also were very streaked and some spots on the walls. The washer and dryer area looks insane. It appears that detergent is somehow EVERYWHERE. But that was not the worst thing. I went into bathroom #1, where the cat litter box stays. It was, indeed, streaked and stained--but NOT with cat pee!! The black light illuminates *every* speck of dust, every water spot, every hard water stain, I mean EVERYTHING. Bathroom #2 was worse. I could hardly believe that both bathrooms appear relatively clean and orderly with the regular lights on. Frightening.

Rich kindly utilized his 6'5" frame to hold the black light for me as I scrubbed both bathrooms from ceiling to floor with hot bleach water. My hands feel like sandpaper now. It took me about an hour and a half to get the bathrooms to pass the "black light test." The kitchen is tomorrow's project. I am exhausted.

P.S. I did not find a single drop of cat pee anywhere but the litter box. I was trying to dig up some dirt on the cat, and ended up incriminating the humans. Smooth move, genius.

P.P.S. I have added monthly "black light cleaning" to my chore list. It was life changing. Whether it's true or not I now feel that I can "breathe better."

Cheesy Penne

Lately I've been cooking "man food" and "chick food." My husband would not appreciate it if I asked him to eat what I eat...the first spinach salad would send him running for our local drive-thru. I've been making dinners for him and then he eats the leftovers the next day. Tonight I made Cheesy Penne which is a hit in our house. I originally got the recipe from Claire Robinson's "5 Ingredient Fix" and I make it every couple of months. It's so, so simple. I have to admit I change the recipe according to whatever I have on hand and I always use a bit more dijon than is called for. If you've read my blog before you'll know that I am really, really bad at measuring things. Just pour, stir, and taste. :)

My recipe for Cheesy Penne

2-1/2 cups cooked penne pasta, al dente (today I used rotini--salt your water liberally!)
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
4 oz. grated white cheddar
1 oz. fresh grated parmesan
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 oz grated sharp cheddar
1 oz grated mozzarella
kosher salt
pepper
seasoning salt
paprika

Set the cooked pasta aside. Over low heat, whisk together the milk and mustard. Add the cream and stir for about 1 minute. Add the cheeses, one at a time, whisking until melted. Add the pasta and season to taste. Serve warm or reheat later but add 1 tbsp milk to reheat!

I enjoyed a couple of bites while I was seasoning. Mmmm. In a perfect world I'd be able to eat cheesy penne and simultaneously be a size 8. :)

VIEW THE ORGINAL FIVE-INGREDIENT RECIPE HERE. IT IS DELICIOUS!

Beach Day

Today seemed to be an exceptionally horrendous day for Rich. His work cell started ringing at precisely 5:13 a.m. Shortly after noon he called to inform me that he would be taking the rest of the day off. Since it's blazing hot practically year-round in South Florida, we decided to spend a couple of hours napping on the beach. It was a gorgeous day! Every time we spend a few hours lazing around at the beach we always say that we should do it more often. And we should. But life beckons, and responsibilities all clamor for our attention...which is why each time I go, I snap a couple of pictures of the perfectly blue waters and white sand. What really cracked me up is seeing the picture my sister-in-law posted today...of the snowman by their house! What a difference. I am very thankful that I do not live near snow!

So delightful! 

A sailboat and a seagull...

Toes in the sand...

Yuuuuuuumm.

Tonight for dinner I was solo, so I decided to have something I'd really like :)

I made ginger-sesame curry fish and an Asian sesame spinach salad. Very delish!

It's Hard to Wake Up!!

This morning, I decided to read for a while before getting up. In my life, this means actually getting up, feeding the cat, letting the dog out for a potty, and then putting the "dog blanket" over mine so he can lay on the bed. It is really difficult to get the dog to wake up enough to take for a potty...and every morning he walks back in from potty time with his head down and goes back to his bed to burrow under the covers and sleep some more. Ah, the life of a 14-year-old dog...

Once I was ready to get up I told him it was time to get up...and it's like a mini canine comedy routine. The pictures I snapped on my iphone will tell the story better than I can...

Step 1: the "paw over head" when I say it's time to get off the bed....

Step 2: "the yawn" ... "I'm still quite tired, thank you..."

Step 3: "I can't hear you." In case you can't tell what's happening, the left end is his head, buried under his blanket, and the right end is his booty.

Step 4: "The look-away" ... protest of my meanness. 

Step 5: "Tired face"

Final step... The "crocodile yawn" ... once I put him off the bed he actually went to his own doggie bed and he is sleeping right now...

Happy Friday!!! :)