Monday, June 14, 2010

New Book, New Puppy, and a Sprouting Garden

Happy Monday!!! I am trying to stay really positive this week because it may be my last week of freedom from a job. I have to make this week the best one yet. While I will miss having all the free time in the world, I really can't wait to start working again, especially because it's going to be a job that I LOVE!





My Family's Newest Addition

All my life my dad has insisted that he would never buy a small dog. When I was young I had a large Airedale Terrier, named Nicki. We got rid of Nicki when Joe was born (my parents, both at age 40, couldn't handle a dog, a 13 year-old, and a newborn...oh well, I understood). So now that my brother is 13 my parents have finally decided to let him have a dog. For some strange reason they chose one of the smallest dogs known to man (and the ugliest, in my opinion); a wire haired dachshund (aka a Weiner dog!).


When they told me they were buying a weiner dog, I laughed out loud.
I'll admit, however, this dog is actually quite cute, but what dog isn't cute at 10 weeks old? My family chose this small dog because they had met its mother and saw how tame and relaxed she was. My dad had this false impression that all small dogs were wild and crazy, but this dog proved him wrong.


Oh, by the way, her name is Scarlet.
When you live in Ohio it's fairly common to have a pet named Scarlet, Gray, or Buckeye (yeah, we're all OSU football freaks!).





Garden Update

Not only do we have flowers blooming in our backyard....



We also have kale (below), pumpkins, and acorn squash! The broccoli, peppers, cilantro, and spinach have yet to show their pretty little faces.



These (below) are the rows of pumpkin and acorn squash. We've got about three pumpkin and three acorn squash sprouting. We're not sure why the other seeds haven't sprouted yet, but we're not too worried about it. This was our first experience building a garden from scratch so we didn't expect everything to go perfectly.




Funniest Book Ever

Are you in the mood to laugh so hard, you cry? You've GOT to read this book! It's called "This is Where I Leave You", By Jonathan Tropper. I'll admit straight up, it's pretty crass. Believe it or not I'm pretty crass myself, so this was right up my alley. It's about a Jewish family who is sitting shiva (sitting for 7 days, mourning the death of a loved one). The man narrating the story is taking us back through his hilarious childhood throughout the seven day shiva. The stories are just so funny, I can't put this book down! I promise you will not regret checking this book out at your local library.



GIVEAWAY UPDATE

Gina is having a SALSA giveaway to celebrate here one year blog anniversary!

Coming Up
Tomorrow I will post 5 urban food legends (ex: sugar causes diabetes....not so much!).

Here is a challenge for you; today, stay positive no matter what. My plan is to look at everything as if the glass is half full. This will help make the day fly by.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a GREAT Monday!

27 comments :

  1. OHmygoodness the puppy is SO adorable!

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  2. Aw, Scarlet is a cutie! The garden looks like it's off to a good start. Not too many weeds yet!

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  3. What a cute dog! I LOVE small dogs; my dog is only about 17 pounds at 12 years old.

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  4. Thanks for the book recommendation. I could use a break from fitness, nutrition, and business material that I've been absorbed in lately.

    Have a great day!

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  5. What a cute puppy - I never had a dog growing up but my husband wants a dog. Now.

    Thanks for the book recommendations - I hope my library has it too.

    Love the looks of your garden - looks like it is going well!

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  6. Awww Scarlet is SO cute!! I've always wanted a dog but my parents aren't big dog people! Your garden looks like it's coming along well.. I can't wait to see the results!

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  7. OHHH my gosh that puppy is soo adorable!! I LOVE LITTLE PUPPYS! you are going to have so much fun with her!

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  8. i know i am going to get blasted here.....i LOVE dogs, but they have to be able to jump up into my small truck, AND their head has to be at a height that i don't have to bend down to pet their head.
    garden looks great! i love it when it starts to sprout.
    looking forward to your next few posts!

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  9. We have a longhaired dachshund and LOVE him. Dachshunds can definitely be yappy dog and have a reputation of running away. I think it's all about how you train them. Our dachshund can run off leash and isn't too yappy... I've always wanted a wirehaired :)

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  10. Yay for the new puppy!! She's very adorable :) Im so jealous of your graden...I cant wait to get one of my own so that I can plant yummy vegies!!

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  11. The dog is really cute! I love animals... some animals I like more than most people. haha.

    Your garden is looking really great Gina! All the hard work is paying off and you have beautiful plants. No vegetables taste better then home grown garden veggies!

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  12. Aww the puppy is cute! So exciting that the veggies are growing in the garden! That sounds like my kind of book! I will def. get it!

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  13. I wish I lived in Ohio so I could steal your produce because you are going to be overloaded with delicious produce pretty soon!

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  14. congrats on the pup Gina! how fun.....yes enjoy your last week-you deserve it!

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  15. oh my gosh, scarlet is adorable! She looks so sweet. I would love a doxie :) Your garden is coming along so nicely, yay!

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  16. Scarlet is really cute :) Weenie dog or not, cute :) Enjoy this week, girlie! You'll look back fondly of it no matter how bored you are now! That book sounds hilarious! I'll have to rent it from the library.

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  17. I see you will be discussing sugar and diabetes...I teach a nutrition course and the textbook does not state this causes diabetes, but students very much have the impression and the textbook indicates they are related, which they are, but not so much causal as DM is a multifactorial disease of course. They have a project question about 2 conditions caused by excess sugar intake. I never give credit for DM and I think this really confuses them. The correct answers are of course dental carries and potential for a poor diet with risk for obesity. I tell them the obesity may cause the diabetes. I also accept hyperglycemia as a response. Not sure why I just went through my whole grading process, but it was just interesting because students always claim eating sugar will turn you into a diabetic. It's just a little more complex than that.

    Oh, the puppy is too cute. We had a dog named Nikki when I was growing up.

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  18. Thanks for the book recommendation - I just added it to my list!

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  19. aweeeee!!! i just wanna cuddle that little puppy and love it to pieces!!! ur so lucky, enjoy all the many lovely adventures soon to come ;)

    xoxo <3

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  20. Look at you all Martha Stewart like with your garden! I'm so impressed.

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  21. that puppy is SOO cute and love the name scarlett!!!

    there is some major action happening in your garden!

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  22. That's really good that your vegie garden is growing. I attempted to grow my own vegies a few years back and they didn't turn out good at all. As a matter of fact, some of them were kinda mutated. I grew corns, cherry tomatoes, zucchinis, and bell peppers. None grew out right. The weather in my city is not suitable to grow stuff because it's usually cold and foggy.

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  23. Scarlet is very cute!

    Great job with the garden! Nothing better than seeing things sprout and grow! :)

    And the book sounds great! Thanks for the recommendation!

    Enjoy your last week of freedom! :)

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  24. O.M.G--I love that dog! I have a doxie and I just love them--they have the best personalities ever. I seriously want one in every hair coat and in every color!And from what I've heard, the wire haried ones tend to be a bit more mellow--that's probably good because they can be wild little things!

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  25. oh... puppy is sooooo adorable!!! I wish I had one too!
    happy last work-free week! Enjoy~~~

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