Saturday, February 26, 2011

Meet Butch!

I haven't made any posts this week because, as you can see, we have a new baby in our family. His name is Butch and he is 3 months old. While at the vet clinic with Kitty, we met this wonderful man and woman who turned out to speak English. Of course they did, they're British! So we got to talking and they told us about the litter of puppies that they had from the dear stray dog they had rescued from the streets. Baloola is a smallish gray curly haired dog who is very friendly and affectionate. So were her puppies! We looked at the pics they had posted on the board and thought all of them were extremely cute. There was a tan one, a brown one with green eyes, a black one, a white one with black mask around his eyes and Butch (it was certain Baloola was a very popular girl indeed!).  Weeks actually went by and we talked about it (me, more than Mike) and, finally, last Friday, I made the call that would eventually bring this dear little guy into our lives and hearts. He is the sweetest puppy and gets along well with Muffin and Kitty which is a very good thing since they are the bosses of our lives (or so it seems sometimes). He loves all of us but can tell that Michael is "his boy" and follows him around and sleeps in his room at night. Puppy love has struck for sure!
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I Shot My Rich Aunt



Kristen is the dearly departed up there in this poster for the play that is being staged this weekend.  She's not dead from the start though and will be having a great time playing the role of Vallonia.  I sure wish we could be there to see this.  It certainly is hard to have your favorite actress across an ocean in Pennsylvania!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

All snuggled up


Here's a picture of our dear Kitty! I had to snap this one day when she was all snuggled in on Kristen's Penn State snuggie. What else would one do with a snuggie but snuggle, right! I've said on more than one occasion that I could easily be a cat since she is able to find so many interesting comfortable places to take a nap.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Thoughts while cutting the cheese...

Anyone laughing?  If you're part of our family, you would be!  Anyway, I planned to make a thick slice of ham for dinner in the oven and thought that homemade mac 'n cheese would be the winner side dish.  So, into the fridge I dove to look for those blocks of cheddar cheese we bought last trip to Naples.  Yippee!  I found them - both the sharp (yum) and the mild and brought them to the table for the said cutting.  Then I decided that having some of my nice Pinot Rosa frizzante wine would be a good idea to help me assemble dinner.  It sure helps one's mood in any case!


Well, I've run to the kitchen, drained the macaroni, realized maybe I could have made a bit more because I'm not used to making small amounts and I was afraid I'd make too much for the smaller casserole... for the smaller oven that can't fit both the ham and the mac n' cheese in my bigger Pyrex bowl.  Ahhh more cheese was the answer.  I piled that on top to take up a bit of space but I'm sure the two M's will figure this out right away!  They'll feel cheated with the mini dish of macaroni... to have our new bigger oven in the new house (yet to be built)...


I decided to make this wonderful dinner in the oven because my days will be numbered when I can stand turning on the oven and staying in the kitchen for longer than a minute or two.  Yes, no air conditioning in mid to Southern Italy is a bad idea in a kitchen.  But that goes along with the lack of that wonderful invention called a dishwasher.  I am now officially sick and tired of washing dishes by hand.  Not that I could wash them by foot or knee or anything else but this came to mind when my friend's friend mentioned putting a measuring cup that measured water into the dishwasher when it really wasn't dirty...  Oh how I miss those days of loading and unloading the dishwasher!  Of course, once I have one again, I'll get quickly tired of loading and unloading it and think seriously of using disposable dishes!


Then, I looked up to see the news and realized that I'm truly thankful for my small oven, for food to cook in the said oven, for those dishes and water and soap and all of the things we don't even take a moment to consider as we use them or look at them during the day.  I sit in a warm home that isn't in the midst of a horrible Winter storm or in the path of a horrifically scary cyclone (Australia).  Back to pondering and thinking and sipping my glass of fizzy wine and keeping in touch with my friends via blogs and Facebook.  I may not have these folks in the same room with me but we can always stay in closer touch than ever before.  Life is good.  Buona sera everyone!