I saw this on a board

and figured someone would appreciate it.

Toilet Cleaning Instructions:

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids.

You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self-agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet; the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash and rinse".

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can and quickly lift both lids.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.















Sincerely,
The Dog

sick, sick, SICK

that's how sick we are. mr. waaz got it first, probably from peering inside other people's cars and getting breathed on. We had chicken noodle soup and went to bed early. Then ep picked up the bug and people at church heard him cry for the first time ever. He ate some chicken and dumplings and snot and slept an amazing 6 hours in a row two nights ago and seems to be much more cheerful today (the diaper this morning, however, was NOT cheerful. more like green and lumpy. eww).
Once ep was over the hump, my body decided it'd had enough and so just when the babe was snoozing the aforementioned 6 hours(count em), I couldn't sleep for fear snot would clog my sore throat and nose and I would suffocate. That's right, I was up until 2, folks. No, i did not get up at 4:30 that morning to make mr. waaz some lunch. I accomplished nothing yesterday except to give ep a bath and do three loads of laundry and a lot of moaning and groaning and drinking of steamy beverages. mr. waaz said I looked terrible. Or was it horrible? In any case, it was a no good, very bad day. Even worse than Sunday, when we left the dog for two hours in the BRAND NEW crate and she chewed the metal off the side and crawled through a 4" gap and left smears of poop everywhere. yeah, that's what I said.

getting closer to a house tour...we have a shelf now and two more pictures hung, yay! My house was SO clean a week ago... not anymore!


and because someone mentioned something about whether or not I still sling the boy, here he is a couple of days ago right after eating and before falling asleep. Usually he's up on my hip with his legs sticking out (like when we go for walks), but this "carry" is way more conducive to hands free nursing. did you notice that he was on my back in the valentine's day post? that was so we could cart the dresser etc. home from down the street.
Oh, and in the first pic can you see the red boppy in the background and not curled around ep's butt like it was 5 minutes prior to taking the pic? yeah, he's started scooting a bit, especially towards the mirror, which is now on its side to prevent mishap.

hint hint

www.visitmalta.com

take II* (click on each pic to enlarge)

first, a couple from monday morning (going through the 9-12m box!) and monday afternoon (check out the teeth!):


and my version of yesterday:

a trip to the thrift store: $7 (inc. the pink shirt I'm wearing and missing a pair of brown fleece pants with monkey embroidery for EP)

a trip to the flower department: $15 (roses-with roots!)
a trip down the street wherein the H comes ] [ this close to trashpicking (the owners are PCS-ing-to Norfolk, no less- and since we actually talked to them I cannot call this part of the post by its' alternate title of Productive Constitutional part three)



this totally counts as a "good" V-day, especially with 3" thick lasagna and chocolate bomb cake (recipe courtesy of a fellow chocoholic) for dinner. Too bad I (xx) had to do the cooking and the dishes.

*11 pictures, that is. again, email me if you want the originals to print off.

it was a productive valentine's day

Guess what I got today?

I'll give you a hint:



















it came with a bunch of stuff

















we love the finish on the sides
















we also love looking up music. too bad most of the sites are being shut down due to "copyright infringement."










part 2 will be what else we did
xy

wouldn't this be neat in a kids room?

click here to design your own floor

it's kinda fun :)

Sailor Dog!

Hooray! another picture post.

Puzza has officially been sworn in:



















I don't think she is enjoying her time in the service. She is looking for her chance to go AWOL.












I am pretty sure she hates us for this.

While the H is away the H will play

My tax return came in while I was at work. I made some purchases:
(real pictures to come later when items arrive)

Taylor guitar:


very nice, definitely not $12





















assorted other accessories (i.e. humidifier, picks, strings and whatnot also more than $12) hmm, there goes that refund =/ At least my guitars are replaced now.

And I hear some one wanted a dog to person comparison shot:














that's about all for now. Sailor dog pics upcoming.
XY

chocolate orange muffins

So when you buy multiple pounds of blood oranges, it is nearly impossible for two people to finish them before they go bad. We're doing well so far, thanks to refrigerating the first half and sucking down two a day right after we bought them, but there are still about a dozen left, and they're getting a bit soft. I found this recipe on the net, and modified it into a scrumptious treat that's pretty healthy to boot. Too bad AC's not accepting new recipes for the mountain cookbook anymore! I know these are a lot like the sweet potato muffins I posted awhile ago, but hey, what can I say, muffins are great.

cream 2 T butter and 1/2 c sugar.
add 4 T applesauce and two eggs, one at a time.
sift in and mix just until combined:
3/4 c white flour (have to make sure they're not too healthy so mr. waaz will still eat them, lol)
3/4 c oat flour (ground up oatmeal)
1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
add and mix just until combined:
up to 4 oz grated chocolate (or you can use cocoa powder if you want)
2 T fresh orange zest
1/4 c OJ
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c yogurt and 1/4 c milk (probably could use all yogurt)
1/2 c or so craisins (I used orange flavored)

bake at 375 degrees farenheit for 15-20 minutes (until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean). let cool a few minutes before removing to a rack (or just tipping them all on their sides in the pan like my mother does)

serve with a cup of cappuccino made with your very own espresso maker.














ps: Sicily's in the news
pps: notice that my last christmas presents finally arrived and I'm even putting them to good use!

life in 5 minute increments

We took almost 2 hours of footage, which I narrowed down to three 8-9 minute clips. While uploading them to Photobucket, I realized that this particular video host has decided the average attention span is only five minutes long, and as a result truncates every video to that length. Since I believe that you, my loyal audience, have longer attention spans than the average, I now present part one and two of the clip from last week. (of course, I won't know it was worth it unless you comment, especially you lurkers. Yeah, that's right, I see you out there.)