Skunk'd

This smelly nasty creature ruined my night last night!
After a long day of work on the house, I let McDuff outside to run around in the back yard. Christian had just left to attend a concert at Brandeis, and Duff and I were going to do some more work on the house. I noticed that McDuff was barking a lot more than usual, so I went to check on him. It was dark in the backyard and I heard some wresting at the bottom of our porch steps; I told Duff to stop barking and walked over to see and SMELL a skunk!!!!
I went into immediate FREAK OUT MODE!!! Here I was trapped on my porch, unable to get to my dog, as this spraying skunk was trying to pick a fight with my family. Luckily McDuff was a bit freaked out as well, and listened to me as I told him to stay, as to not get sprayed any more. I called Christian immediately and told him to turn around and come home, his help would be needed.
Long story short, we got our skunk sprayed dog out of the backyard, Christian had to throw away his oil sprayed clothing he was wearing, McDuff got THREE baths (one in hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap), and the spray smell was gone from our dog, house, clothes, and eventually our backyard.

It was quite the ordeal, one I never thought I would have to deal with in a big city like Boston, and one I hope I will NEVER have to deal with again. The smell of a skunk up close and personal is not something anyone should have to endure, NO GOOD!!!!

EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER!

And thus, there was a fair maiden who was 29 weeks pregnant. It came to pass that she was nesting, big time, and felt that her little babe would need a place to rest his head. Her noble prince charming, who was not a handy man, decided he would rise to this task and make sure the soon to be born little babe would indeed have a place he could call his own.

The noble prince worked all of Halloween night with his good friends Sir Danly and Madame Lisa, to clean and prepare this little resting place. They scrubbed walls, moved furniture and taped the walls in preparation for the hard work the following day. The prince and fair maiden were happy to have such wonderful friends to help prepare the room in such a manner.

The following morning the entire court arouse from the bed chambers early and began the task at hand @ 8:30 a.m. The wonderful King Adam and Queen Marci showed up to help; what noble royalty to help prepare the room for the little babe! Queen Marci and the noble prince began painting the room in the lovely color of peanut butter. It turned out to be a marvelous color for the chamber, indeed.
King Adam came in his street clothes so that he could assemble all of the little babe's IKEA furniture. The king was a true champion at putting these items together! He completed 2 dressers and a shelf, what would the fair maiden have done without such a handy king in the land?

Later that afternoon, the noble prince had another good friend, court jester Evan, show up to help assemble the sleeping space for the babe. What fine friends the prince and maiden have indeed!
The sleeping quarters appear to be ready for the little babe at this time; it is a very exciting time for the young parents. The entire kingdom has helped in the great effort and it has been much appreciated.

At 10:30 p.m. the noble prince was very tired! He had worked very hard for his fair maiden and his little unborn babe. His noble steed, McDuff, was there to comfort his good master after a long days work.

And thus, the young parents waited for the little babe, Berkeley, to make his appearance.

Halloween

Happy Halloween!
McDuff and I got dressed up Halloween evening briefly to go trick-or-treating to our neighbors.

This was a great costume that we got at All A Dollar; not bad for buck! Isn't he evil looking?

This is McDuff's other costume, it is a cute bat, but he HATED wearing it. He is not a big fan of things on his head! I just love dressing him up!

Remember...

To Barack the vote this Tuesday, November 4, 2008!

To all my MA peeps; VOTE NO on Proposition 1!

Pumpkin Gooey Cake

This is for all of my Louisville Peeps (miss you all)! This is a great recipe, and will win over the hearts of any friends or family! It is a great time of year to make this VERY healthy cake!

Cake:
1 yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 Tbs melted butter

Filling:
8 oz. package cream cheese softened
1 can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
8 Tbs butter
16 oz powder sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350

To Make Cake:
Combine all of the ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 X 9 inch baking pan.

To Make Filling:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and butter. Beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and mix well. Spread the pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE!! The center should be gooey.
Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Those of you who know me, know that I don't claim to be domestic diva at all; so you wont see many recipes on my blog. However, there have been some requests for this recipe and I feel obligated to my readership! ENJOY!

A visit to Salem; A Halloween Tradition

Christian and I headed to Salem this weekend for our annual Halloween trip. This year we took my pal from work, Kyle and his wife Debbie. We went a little later in the month this year and the crowds were CRAZY! We did have the pleasure of meeting the Monster of Frankenstein. We also saw the Ghostbusters, witches, pirates, and other Halloween creatures.

One of our favorite things about our weekend adventures is the food! What would the fall season be without a caramel apple? Oh the joy of eating a huge apple covered in caramel on a stick; it is inevitable to avoid getting it all over your face, up your nose, and enjoying every minute of it! Kyle and Debbie decided I win the biggest mouth contest, what do you think?

Part of our adventures in Salem this year included a Candle Lit Ghost tour of the town. We were a bit let down that we didn't get to see any ghosts on the actual tour, but some people in our group got some orbs in their photographs. We however left orb-less, ah Shucks!

After our adventures in Salem we headed to one of my FAVORITE chain restaurants, CHILI'S! We don't eat to often at chains anymore because there are so many local places to eat where we live. I cant help but love me some Chili's however.
Hope everyone has a
HAPPY HALLOWEEN this week!

Dog Party

(Laci and McDuff, Gloria and Bodie, and Julie and Bentley)

Last weekend we had a little dog party at our house. Two of my friends/co-workers came over for a dinner/play date. It is kinda like a mommy/son playgroup but with our dogs. All our dogs are between 22-25 lbs and ages 1 1/2-3 years old. All the pups had a great time playing together and wearing themselves out. McDuff was so happy to meet his new friends!