Friday Favorites

I am thinking about doing a recurring topic on my blog called "Friday Favorites".


The only thing that these posts will have in common is that they will be:
products, companies, recipes, methods, etc. , that work for me, personally.


I hope some of you will be willing to play along and add your opinions!


Today's Friday Favorite:
Addictive "Heroin" Chicken-
( a low carb recipe that works for my husband's "No-Wheat" diet)

4 lbs. Chicken parts (wings work great- but I have used this recipe with drumsticks too)

1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup melted butter/ margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
(if using wings cut off pointy tips)

Combine Parmesan Cheese, parsley, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper together. (I do this in a gallon storage bag- it makes coating the chicken ( think Shake and Bake (tm)-lol)
and clean up much easier)

Line baking pan with foil (again this helps with clean-up)

Dip chicken pieces in the melted butter to coat then roll/shake in cheese/seasoning mixture.

Arrange on baking pan and bake about 1 hour.
(recipe doubles well)

Meme from A-Z

Leslie from Hillbilly Heaven posted a Meme, not too long ago....
http://leslieshillbillyheaven.blogspot.com/2009/02/barbara-here-is-my-meme.html

And tagged anyone who wanted to play along, (so consider yourself tagged ;-)

The object is to describe yourself using each letter of the alphabet
So here is mine:

A- My name is Alex
B- I enjoy "Blogging"
C- I have 5 children
D- My husband's name is Doug
E- Etsy- I would love to sell my sculptures on Etsy
F- is for Family
G - has got to be for greyhound
H- is for humor- it makes everything better- movies, blogs, relationships, life
I- Interior Decorating- one of my passions
J- I like Jade, Japanese Irises,the smell of Jasmine, jazz (but only big band/swing), and my
Jack Russell mutt - named Pepsi)
K- is for kitchen , where I spend a LOT of my time
L- has to be for laundry (if you have kids; you understand why)
M- is for "Mom"- My other name.
N- New York (my hometown!)
O- is for- "O.K."- I use that phrase WAY too often when I blog
P- is for the Power of Prayer
Q- is for quiet- with 5 kids and 2 dogs I am not very familiar with this, but I think it sounds like a wonderful concept
R- I am a practicing Roman Catholic- ( but I do need more "practice" ;-)
S- Is for sculpting and scrapbooking (which I do with varying amounts of Success)
T- is for Television- which I watch far too much, Teachers- (for whom I have the greatest respect!!)- and teenagers (well-- not so much)
U- is for unusual- dare to be different
V- is for Virginia (I have lived here 21 years and counting)
W- is for warm and windy- I love warm, windy days.
X- xeriscape landscaping (a good idea, especially when watering plants is not your thing)
Y- is for yellow- Not my favorite color- but still- the color of my house (exterior and living room), daffodils, honeysuckle, lemon meringue pie, and buttered popcorn, (so it's pretty cool)
Z - our last name starts with Z- so my initials are A.Z. (and that's me from A - Z)

Playing with the sign generator

More Humor, To Help Get Over the Wednesday Blues

Click on the picture to enlarge: To be honest , I am Roman Catholic, so I knew this was fake.
Even though, some of us Catholics know that without dogs it wouldn't be "heaven", (and some priests DO have a sense of humor- not many- but some :-)- It's still fake.
Too bad though- I would SO go to that church!

As Larry the Cable guy, would say- "Here's your sign"-
Here's the sign generator-
http://www.churchsigngenerator.com/

So go ahead y'all- have at it.

seeing is bee-leaving

What is this?

Hero being musical !

Know why ???

That's a Bee-flat if ever there was one!

(corny joke)


Sorry

Everybody Loves Hero

Ok, so ALMOST Everybody loves Hero.




Actually, Alaina has not been too enamored of him the last few days

because when she held his head between her two hands to give him a kiss on his nose he actually DARED to give a little growl. (No she was not wearing the Batman mask at the time)

He did not snap, he just gave a noise to let her know that her advances where not really appreciated,
and those feelings were not reciprocated.

What's that movie? "He's Just Not That Into You"?

Poor Hero- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

But - these pictures were taken TODAY:

Everyone wants a turn Snuggling with Hero.

The story behind the pictures with Will; We threw Hero off the sofa (his usual spot) to allow Will to take his nap. When I checked in I saw that Hero had snuck back on the couch (without waking Will) , so the position of holding "hands" was all Hero :-)

Of course I ran to get my camera- I think there is a law written somewhere saying such things MUST be photographed.

Hero was his usual charming self yesterday at Dog Scouts.

We have started our video taping our "tests" for certification.

Hero nailed: down, stay, heel, and even sit (even though we are breed exempt :-)

Come was less impressive :-(

(We have to work on his coming STRAIGHT towards me.- no detours)

One of the other owners (of a couple of small mixed breed dogs) even expressed an interest in adopting a greyhound- so I chatted him up- telling him just how amazing they are!!!!

The weekend in review

Saturday February 21, 2009

We celebrated Alaina's birthday at:

The Japanese steakhouse,

Thank goodness it is Americanized enough that we didn't have to take off our shoes.

They Do however cook your food right at the table

Some of our party were more impressed

Than others

I can't dress them up- or take them out




(note how Alaina is wearing her new "haircut" lately)



Even Will had a turn trying to catch a piece of shrimp tossed by the chef

(No- he didn't it catch it, it bounced off the top of his head- of course his mouth isn't as large as some other people's :-)

For birthdays at Osaka's, one

"Makes a wish and hits the gong":

Alaina is good at hitting:

The thing she is flinging about is a stretchy rubber hand that is sticky on the end- it reminds me of a frog's tongue (ok- it loses something in translation)
So this is actually just Saturday in review, I will do Sunday next (but I keep getting the "could not contact Blogger" error, so if I can get this much posted I will take it and run

Don't tell her I told you....

Next Saturday is Alaina's birthday - she will be 15. And like most fifteen year old girls her birthday "wish" list includes clothes, money, gift certificates for clothes -**(but only from the "right" stores), money, make-up and other beauty products, money, shoes, and of course- money.
But also- she also wanted to get her haircut.
Now, I had already made an appointment to get my own hair cut yesterday at a local salon, (since Doug had Presidents' Day off from work and could be pressed into doing babysitting duty for an hour or so). But I do have to admit that I am passed being overly picky about who cuts my hair...
We had found a WONDERFUL hairdresser in Annandale a while back:
http://www.paulmichaelshairsalon.com/
and both Alaina and I highly recommend him , if you happen to be in Annadale Va.- unfortunately, we AREN'T, we live in Fauquier County (that is easily an hour drive each way!). I know I am a terrible mother, but I continue to work under the assumption that there are some competent hairdressers SOMEWHERE between us and Annandale. I asked Alaina if she wanted to wait until we could get her to her hairdresser of choice/ or if she wanted to try one of the hairdressers at the salon where I was going. She said she would try the "new" hairdresser, since she just wanted "a few layers and her bangs cut".
Right- I saw you all flinch , you know where this is going...

Quite frankly, I thought the hairdresser did do a good job on her, though Alaina does have A LOT of thick hair that tends to puff up ( something Alaina tries to avoid like the plague )- she wants it sleek, and smooth,-and with all the mousse and blow drying that this women did , well.... You can imagine the hysterics in the car.... (so much for a mother-daughter day)

Though of course once she washed it and flat ironed it at home I think even she had to admit it wasn't a bad cut...

Now as for my hair, well I mentioned that I wanted to get the hair out of my face. my hairdresser dutifully made sure that it could NOT get into my eyes.

It pretty much looks like this:

Too bad I DON'T have Alyssa Milano's bone structure, her face, (or even her body)

but I get to have her hair.

ha ha ha

My husband thinks he's funny....

http://fumbledreturns.blogspot.com/2009/02/get-real-dog.html

Happy Valentine's Day !

Wishing you all greyhound hugs, and puppy love!

I can hear Jeff Foxworthy now....

If your two year old's favorite toy is a plastic shopping bag- you might be a redneck

If your two year old has a higher prey drive than your greyhound- you might be a redneck

Perhaps Hero would have won more races if they had the "lure" chase him. :-)

I hope I'm wrong about this, I truly do!

I woke up this morning to hear the story on the news of little Haleigh Cummings, the 5 year old Florida girl who is "missing", And I have such a bad feeling.
I do hope that this little girl just wandered off, and that she will be found safe and sound, I really do, but to tell you the truth I seriously doubt it. I guess maybe it is the fact that the Caylee Anthony story is still so fresh in my mind, but I am feeling terribly jaded. I remember when I was able to give my fellow man (or woman) the benefit of the doubt....
The story as I understand it: The girlfriend of the girl's father was in the SAME bed as the little girl and yet; someone broke into a locked door- propped it open with a brick??- and abducted the little girl without this woman ever waking up.
Really? Is ANYONE that deep a sleeper without the help of drugs or alcohol?
The police are treating it as an abduction, and they say there are "44 registered sexual offenders who live within a five-mile radius of the Cummings home".
Please join me in praying for this little girl !!!
My heart is so heavy!

The world through the eyes of a two year old.

I was downloading the pictures off of my camera, and found some pictures that I definitely don't remember taking.

It seems that Will got hold of my camera, and thus we have the photo essay "A day in the life of someone who is only 3 feet tall".

Pardon my French....

I found this cartoon, while surfing the web. I'd love to give credit where credit is due, but I really don't know where it originated! I thought about photo-shop censoring it, but to tell the truth, I think it is perfect just as is.

A brighter shade of grey...

What a Greyt day for The Meet and Greet at the Warrenton Petco! The weather could not have possibly been any better.

There were so many wonderful greyhounds...

And honorary greyhounds

And people to meet

We were especially thrilled to meet Macy, Buford, Angela, and Tracy of

Treasure What You Have

http://vagreys.blogspot.com/

Whom we have known only through their blog up until now...Thank you Angela for inviting me- it is just what I needed to lift my mood

Yup, they are just as gorgeous in real life, as they look on their blog...

Hero thought that everyone had turned out JUST to meet him...

Buford had to set him straight...

But there were no hard feelings...Alaina and Hero were the first ones to take a break...But I think Macy thought Hero's blanket looked pretty comfortable...

Hero takes a stand....

Zan suggested that I could "guest" post....
And I think now would be a good time...
My adopted "mom" ( you know- the blogging food lady) has been in a funk lately, in a "grey" mood- but not grey in a good way (as in greyhound).
I don't know if it is because of the weather (it has been really cold lately , so cold that no one wants to spend anytime outside.- And the weatherman is not helping- constantly teasing my family, predicting- "passing flurries" but no flurries come to pass),
Maybe it is the country's current economic state- (and all the reports coming to light that Obama's nominees have not been playing, or more accurately "paying", by that same rules as the rest of us),
maybe it is the plethora of nasty viruses that are making everyone feel - blue, or green, anything but in the pink.

*** OR maybe it is because someone sent "Addie" to that terrible office place, from which she has been unable to post in over a week. And now Katy is retiring "Needle Noses". Oh, the humanity! My mom needs a large dose of vitamin "S" (for smiles). I must do something- I must take this into my own paws

I feel I must take a stand!!!

Well, I was planning to take a stand- but I kind of dozed off.....
I mean well....

Everyone's a critic

Hero now believes that he must proof read all my posts to make sure that I am not blogging about anything that he might find insulting or embarrassing.
I am currently cleaning the nose prints off my computer screen.