a99kitten's Musings

I went into my Sunday morning very stressed about my fantasy team. Of course, I always go in to my football Sundays like this :) Drew Brees is on his BYE week so I had to pick up a QB. There were a few decent ones to choose from – Eli Manning (but injured), Carson Palmer (but playing in BAL), Matt Ryan (but playing against my 49ers!) and possibly Matt Hasselbeck (coming off of injury.) I wanted Matt H. but his injury was stressing me out – what if he got injured again in the first quarter and I got cheesed?!

Now, this was on Wednesday AM. Our league puts all free agents on waivers starting at 10am PT Sunday until Tuesday at midnight (so early Wednesday AM.) I had originally wanted David Garrard actually but when I went in to pick him up, I saw that someone else already picked hm up. Dang! So this sent me on my QB deliberations. I ended taking Matt Ryan. He is a good QB but I was a bit stressed about the choice.

Then on Friday I saw that they were saying Matt Hasselbeck would be playing. He was still listed as probable but he had been practicing all week and would play. So I went with my gut and dropped Ryan and grabbed Hasselbeck. Apparently – I just needed a “Matt” in my line up this week :) Although I was still stressed about the injury. Even this morning, I almost dropped him and picked Eli but just said to myself – go with your gut. Whew…worked out well :) Now, Matt Ryan or Eli would have done almost as well for me too. But thank goodness someone else picked up David Garrard ahead of me! :) I got 69 points from Hasselbeck! Very nice indeed. He made up for the very (barely) average performances by my RBs.

Once again Yahoo projected Brandon Jacobs to get 45 points. All I read all week was how the NYG running game would open and Jacobs would go off. Well…they were half right. The running game DID open up…for Jacobs’ back-up Bradshaw! The reason this really sticks in my craw is that years ago I had Tiki Barber as one of my RBs. 2 years in a row actually. I love Tiki! BUT, our league awarded points for TDs and barely any for yards. So Tiki would run and run and run the ball but they would give it to the much bigger back Jacobs to punch in for the TD. GRRRRRRRR.

So then we changed the scoring in our league to reward yards run and not just TD hawks. And then Tiki retired. Boo :( So this year I drafted Jacobs, who stole numerous TDs from me in seasons past, and now HIS runs AND TDs are getting stolen from me! GRRRRRRR…

But anyway, Jacobs got me 18 points today. Far cry from 47. But my PIT Def finally showed up after choking every week since Week 1 (and losing Troy Polamalu.) 7 sacks! Very nice. They got me 40 points today. And Hines Ward did decently.

I replaced my old kicker, Bironas (TEN) with Scobee (JAX). JAX had 0 points today. No kicks. Zeeee-ro. Genius team maneuvering by me :)

In the meantime, I have been slow-cooking Kalua Pork since last night. 20 hours! This morning I woke up to both huskies upstairs by the kitchen. I think they were lobbying for Kalua pork for breakfast :)

The recipe for this is VERY simple. Anyone can cook this – anyone with a slow cooker/crockpot:

Ingredients:
1 4-6lb pork butt roast (so this is actually shoulder – the butcher thought I was funny)
1 1/2 tablespoons Hawaiian sea salt (yes, you need this and not just regular salt)
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring

1. Pierce pork all over with a fork. Rub salt then the liquid smoke over meat. Place roast in the slow cooker.

2. Cover, and cook on low for 16-20 hours (I do 20), turning once during cooking time.

3. Remove meat from slow cooker, and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisten. The meat falls off the bone. Takes barely any effort at all.

I serve this over sticky rice with some Sriracha (rooster sauce!) for spice. Very, very delicious! And easy :)

My Gators won last night – very pleased. I’m sure the Gator Haters will have their usual crap to say but we won so *sticking tongue out* :) I also survived Survivor Football – I chose NYG at home over OAK this week – that was a very stressful pick ;) But no one else dropped out either. We’ve only lost 1 person so far. We all keep picking well!

And I am winning our weekly pool this week! My DEN over NE pick paid off!! I almost chose CIN too but chickened out – doh! Oh well. It all comes down to MNF. I chose MIA and everyone else has NYJ. If NYJ wins, then I tie with 3 others but I have the lowest score (for tie-breaking purposes) so we need 34 as the highest combined score! So send me your low-scoring, MIA winning karma please :)

So a full weekend of long, fun husky beach walks, good football, plus 2 nights of slow-cooking yummy food. I haven’t slept well but that’s fairly normal nowadays. And I baked some chocolate chip cookies during Sunday Night Football. AND finally finished Season 2 of Mad Men! Now can start watching the DVRed episodes of Season 3.

And I did win FF this week :) Beat my opponent 236 to 132. So I am now 4-1. Not so bad. But next week is a very, very tough (has AP, Wayne, Mendenhall) opponent – boo :( New week of football stress….

Tried a new recipe tonight. I wanted to do more in the slow cooker because well, it’s easy :) A lot of slow cooker recipes are full of carbs and yummy cream sauces though. Yummy for sure but not so healthy. So I found a few scouring the internet this AM and grabbed some ingredients.

First up today is “Chicken and Wild Rice”…I did swap out some of the ingredients (that I don’t like) though. My version:

2 slices of bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lbs boneless/skinless chicken breasts – sliced into thinner breast steaks (recipe called for thighs with skin.)
6 garlic cloves chopped (was 1/2 cup ea of onion & celery – blech)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 thyme (recipe called for sage – I didn’t have any-doh! But thyme can sub for sage)
6 oz converted white long grain rice (recipe called for 8oz)
6 oz wild rice (recipe called for 4 oz)
8 oz brown “baby-bella” mushrooms cleaned and quartered or sliced (I bot pre-sliced!)
3 cups chicken broth, or enough to cover ingredients (I used a little over 2 cups)
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish

Microwave the bacon on high for 1 minute. Transfer to your slow cooker. Add olive oil and spread evenly on bottom. Place chicken in slow cooker. Add ingredients in order given above (except last salt & pepper & parsley.) Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until rice is tender.

Uncover and let stand 15 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste if desired. Garnish with chopped parsley (if you want….)

The smell of the cooking at about the 2-hour mark is dee-lish! :)

2:45min mark – husband asks what’s that dog food smell. Sigh…make your own stoopid dinner….

It tastes YUM!!!!! Even husband had to admit it was quite tasty. I highly recommend it! And super easy. Enjoying tonight with a glass of bubbly and the last 2 episodes of season 2 “Mad Men” :)

Storm has been on his Cushing’s medication (Trilostane) since September 20th. He started on 1 dose of 10mg and then 1 week later moved up to 2 doses per day of 10mg. This is pretty low for his body weight but his doctor said body weight isn’t the only measurement for Cushings’ dogs (so yes husband, we ARE listening to his doctor and not you…)

All this week he has wanted to go on the walks in the mornings. This is a *great* improvement in his energy level! He has been choosing to not go on walks in the mornings for a few months now. This was one of the reasons I originally knew something was wrong and, sure enough, lack of energy is a symptom of Cushing’s. Now, AM walks for us are 1.5 – 2 hours every morning. For the past few months, I would take him out for 20 mins or so but he is a husky…they should have energy – even the lazy, couch-loving ones :) So he is now doing 1.5 hours or so. Not uphill hikes yet but I am hoping we get back there! When he wants to stay home – I take Angelus on those (who just wants to go and go and go….)

He even tried to be alpha with another dog this past week! The fact that he showed any real interest in the other dog’s existence is good. He just hasn’t cared about meeting other dogs lately. Storm has known he is “2nd boss” or the “underboss” since he was about 16-18 months old. He used to try to challenge Angelus but Angelus had none of that. For a couple month period of time we would have to pull them apart on occasion (usually a treat was involved) but this never happens now. They are great pals. Storm knows Angelus is the alpha (under me of course.) However, he views this as a 2nd in command kind of job. Like Chewie :) All other dogs must bow to him. And he has Angelus there to back him up (who has protected his little brother on numerous occasions.) Angelus has beaten up (blood drawn after they attacked Storm) 3 other dogs in defense of his little brother. He is a good big brother…

This cartoon ALWAYS pops up in my head when thinking about their relationship. Angelus is nicer to Storm than Spike is to Chester….but same idea :)

p.s. these old Looney Tunes/WB cartoons rule over anything they produce now IMHO…

Now, Storm has always been the lazier of the huskies but he would go (and go and go) if he was out there. And this week he has wanted to! So I am very happy with this improvement!

He also is drinking a bit less water. Still more than his normal levels, but a bit less than it has been for the last few months. He is still acting like he is starving to death. I hate to think that he feels so, so hungry all the time. Like he is actually starving. But again, a symptom of his disease and he is not starving. But someone at work actually said, in all seriousness, (as she gave the buddies chicken and cheese), that the buds didn’t get fed enough! OMG! They have formulated their plan and put it work for them. It’s called the sad, pathetic, brown-eyed puppy plan. Boogers…

So, all in all, a week or so of improvement for Storm on his medication. He gets his next test on 10/22. This will show us how the medication is doing in his blood, do we up the dosage, etc. They said “oh Storm….he is sooooo sweet….can you pick him up as soon as he is ready?” Ummm….ok :) I guess he makes a bit of a howling fuss…what a buddy :)

Yes please…

Pucci in purple :)

Such a gorgeous shoe…I would look soooo cute in these! I will take it! :)

I seriously need to build my Halloween costume around these:

PINK boots!!! Not something I could wear around normally, unless I gave up my day job to work as a stripper. But for Halloween? Perfect! Now what could I be that would be work appropriate(ish)? Hmmm….

Last year I didn’t dress up :( The year before I was an Eskimo girl with my 2 huskies – they are very key to my costume :)

Eskimo and her sled dogs

That was a cute costume that was also comfy. Will definitely need to recycle and wear again.

The year before I was Little Red Riding Hood (see – the huskies are key!)

Red 2006

I didn’t like that costume as much (or that picture – look like a frackin’ undead Red!) But it did go well with my little wolves :) And I cannot find a single picture of me with them in that costume. What the heck? I know we took some. It was fun to walk around in that costume with the buds. *Pretty much* everyone got the reference. It’s too big for me now (HA!) but the costume is really great movie-like quality. I need to find the name of that manufacturer and check out their other costumes.

A few years ago I was Jeannie.

brunette Jeannie :)

That’s a very comfy costume to wear actually but it was FREEZING that year so going outside = bad! Plus it’s too big for me now too! (double-HA!) I do like comfy costumes though. Nothing that will make me hot, with a big rubber head/mask, be itchy, stuff like that.

I have always wanted to be Slave Leia but husband’s head would explode if I wore that anywhere. I told him that I WILL wear it to Comic-Con one year (while I’m still able to pull it off!) – even if only for a couple hours. But obviously not a work-appropriate costume.

I have the white Leia dress from Star Wars. But that whole costume is really the hair. and not sure I can get that to how I want it so it looks good. And I don’t think I should *really* use Cinnabons since then the huskies would want to eat my head! :)

Last year I found a cute Indiana Jones-girl costume. And a cute Batgirl so maybe I’ll look for those. I’ve always wanted to be Wonder Woman but the costumes for that are always yucky. You’d think they would make a good one since she is SUCH a popular character.

I can’t think of any other good ones that would go with the huskies. I have always wanted to get them some sheep costumes made. So they can be wolves in sheep’s clothing :) And then I could go as Little Bo Beep :) THAT would be cute!!!

I have never dressed them up except for the 1 year I got them each to sit for a millisecond while I got pictures of them in a Darth Vader costume.

Darth Angelus

Darth Storm

I went through almost a whole bag of liver biscotti to get them to sit long enough to put the costume on and take those pics. They said quite clearly that they are not clowns for our amusement :)

The year before I did put an angel halo on Angelus and devil horns on Storm. Storm shook his off and chewed them :) I can’t find those pics though…my guess is Storm found a way to delete those too :)

If I recycle, I will be the Eskimo girl again I think. This picture always me laugh because we were being inappropriate with the fuzzy popsicle (?) that came with my costume :)

Girls are funny :)

I could get a little toy sled for the buds or something to make it different! Oh well..who knows. I better get on it though. Only a little more than 3 weeks to go!

Well, it was not quite the relaxing Tahoe weekend I had hoped for…

Saturday AM I took the huskies on their morning walk (in the 24 degree weather!!) and they had a good time. Storm wanted to come back after about 30-40 minutes so I dropped him off at home and took Angelus back out. Angelus always wants to be out investigating!

About an hour later as we were walking down our drive-way back to the house, I see that I have 2 missed calls from home.  Weird. Call husband and he answers the phone saying he needs to rush Storm to the vet. WHAT?  Storm apparently got up on the kitchen counter and found his Cushing’s Disease medication. His current daily dose is 20mg and he ate the entire pack of pills equaling of 150 mg.

My husband wanted to know how could *I* be so dumb. Hmm…it was pushed back next to all of their treats (which were untouched.) If I answer you, I will yell at you. So I choose to ignore this stupid question, and your “anger” at this, and work to find a vet for Storm right now.  It was early (8ish on a Saturday) so our “normal” vet in Truckee (actually only been there once but they were great) wasn’t open yet.  But the nearest one was 40 minutes away in Reno so we just went to the regular one, who opened at 8:30am, and were there as they opened.

Got him to the vet and explained what happened. They gave Storm medicine to vomit it all up and wanted to monitor his vitals for a bit.  When we went back to pick him up, the doctor said that in addition to vomiting up his breakfast and the medicine he stole, he vomited up 3 peach pits. We had a box of peaches in the office kitchen this past Thursday and Friday so apparently Storm stole the pits out of people’s garbage cans. I’ve asked people not to throw food away in their desk trash cans because one of the symptoms of Cushing’s is the dog thinks they are completely starving to death. So Storm searches out trash cans every day. I put them on up people’s desks when I see they are gone for the day but during the day, people just forget. I might have to reconsider bringing the buds in. First the box of truffles (that was a scare) a few months ago and now this. Who knows what else he is getting or could get. Sucks though – they have been coming in to work for 9 years (Angelus) and 7.5 years (Storm) with no incident.

Anyway, the vet said it’s a good thing we got those peach pits out as they will clog up a dog’s system and then surgery is required as they are not small enough for them to “pass”.  Hopefully those 3 were all he ate :( I guess we will see over the next few days…but I saw this as the silver lining or upside on the morning as we wouldn’t have known about the peach pits.

By the time we got home, I was tired. I didn’t get to bed till late the night before and woke up early. Then throw in some upset and stress…pretty much took my energy for the day. So I bagged my plan of a hike and did a couple things around the house and watched an episode of Bones (David Boreanz can always cheer me up!) Did go out to our favorite sushi place for dinner. Was very yummy as always. And a very nice family wanted to sit at the bar so we offered to move down a seat so they could squeeze in. The father sat closest to us and was very funny to chat with. He loved his sushi :) The best part though was when we left it was snowing! I was very excited :)  Went home, took the dogs out in the snow fall for a bit, then turned the fireplace on (LOVE gas fireplaces) and read more of “The Lost Symbol” and went to bed.

Sunday morning means football!!! Got up early and took the buds out into the snow. They both had a great time! The snow left a thin cover over everything – certainly not a ton. But enough for the buds to enjoy it! Along with the 22 degree air. They were finally not “baking hot”. And Mom had 3 layers of North Face on :)

Then it was home and football time!!! I made a couple changes to my team this past week with BYEs and injuries happening. Dropped Jamal Lewis (CLE sucks – period) and picked up Glen Coffee (RB-SF). According to the fantasy “experts” this was the genius move of the week. Eh – I guess so. He got me 26 points which is OK but not great for an RB. I should have picked up Mendenhall. That was just dumb on my part not to. At the end of the day, I do not have any RBs that just break out and go crazy and rack up points. Plus as soon as the fantasy columns praised Coffee as the best thing this week, I knew he wouldn’t be. Somehow it always works that way.

But I did drop my non-performing WR Berrian and picked up the SF Defense. My PIT defense hasn’t been playing well at all this year (Troy Polamalu is out and apparently they can’t get anything done without him) and SF was at home playing STL. The fantasy “experts” ranked other available defenses higher for the week but I went with my gut here and it paid off – I got 85 points from them!! YAY! If I would have been able to pull out a win this week, it would have been due solely to these guys. I would have worn my Montana jersey to work tomorrow! But nope, no jersey-wearing. But they kicked ass :)

My gut betrayed me with my WR move though. I benched Hines Ward as he was up against the SD D (what D?) plus he hasn’t done much this year. I also had other WR’s up against more “pourous” defenses. Uhh…yeah. Hines got 38 points for my bench compared to 8 for Colston, 10 for Walter and 17 for Cotchery. I. Am. Idgit.

My top-rated QB? 20 points.  :( Sigh…oh well. I finished the night with 213 points. Not bad but not great. My FF opponent this week finished with 126 points but has his QB, a WR and DEF still to play tomorrow in MNF (writing this Sun night but will post/update after MNF.) So I am pretty much sunk this week. I would have had a 50/50 shot but the PIT Defense that I rightfully benched couldn’t stop Antonio Gates (my opponent’s TE) from scoring a trillion points (and SD STILL lost?!?! Ugh) He got 61 points from his Tight End. Ridiculous. Serves me right for barely winning with (my TE) Dallas Clark in MNF 2 weeks ago I guess.

Mostly sad in my losing because in looking at my team – they kinda suck. No one is a solid points getter. Don’t get me wrong – they are all good real life football players but fantasy-wise they are inconsistent.  So week to week – they are undependable. And now I am playing the much harder/well built FF teams in our league. So I am anticipating losing at least the next 2 weeks as well :( Brees is on a BYE next week (along with Colston) so I have to add waiver wire fill-ins. I haven’t even looked beyond that yet.

So…I was highly stressed about my Stormy, didn’t buy the purse or shoes I was going to get (was debating which), am sad about my fantasy football team BUT very happy the Niners won so handily! :) And I survived one more week in Survivor with my HOU pick (but everyone else survived too!) My weekly picks…ummm…we don’t need to talk about that…I had 10 correct picks (along with 4 other people.) But the winner had 11 so 10 just means 2nd place loser.

Oh well…on to week 5…at least the Gators will be playing (LSU!) on Saturday. I sure hope Tebow is cleared (and healthy!) to play by Saturday….

I love my huskies.

And I love the northern breeds in general. I want to see them all in happy, loving homes like my guys are. But yhey are not the best dogs for some people. And unfortunately, sometimes people are attracted to their beauty and don’t do any research on the breed to find out if they (the dogs) are right for their (the people) lifestyle. They require a lot of exercise and people time. And some people just suck. So there is a need for animal/dog/husky rescue. This organization is for NorCal so of course I support it even extra amounts!

Even if you can’t send them a cash donation, they are also part of a cool recyclable program!

NorSled is now participating in the EcoPhones Recycling Fundraiser program. EcoPhones pays up to $300 per item that we submit!! Help us without spending any $$$$’s or time.

There’s nothing to buy and nothing to sell. We simply ask that you and your friends donate your consumer electronics to NorSled:

* Cell Phones
* Ink Jet Printer Cartridges
* DVD Movies & Videogames
* Portable DVD Players
* Laptop Computers
* MP3 Players
* X-Boxes, Sony Playstations, Wii
* Digital Cameras & Digital Video Cameras (DVRs)
* Digital Picture Frames
* Portable Navigation & GPS Devices (Garmin, Magellan, Tom-Tom)

So if you are around here, or know anyone who is, and have any of these items and was going to get rid of it anyway – please contact NorSled. Here is the link:

http://www.norsled.org/helpus.html

And you should look at the adorable guys and gals they have looking for new permanent homes! :)

I do need a purple shoe for fall/winter…and I’ve been told I do very well with peep toes :)

I needed a new black bag. I’ve been looking for one that grabbed me since last winter! I don’t like shiny leather black bags – tend to look cheap to me. And I like some kind of textured leather as the smooth will just get knicked up by husky paws :)

I was just saying yesterday how I needed to look for a good black bag. Apparently, Kate Spade heard me…this morning I received the email announcing her Friends & Family sale. 30% OFF!! I immediately looked for the shoes I’ve been wanting (the Genny in Poppy) – sold out in my size :( I got sad…but then thought “Oh, check out black bags” Ding-Ding-Ding!

I found the Tarrytown Quinn in black. It’s similar in style to the red KS bag I have already and I LOVE this style. Great for work, errands, out & about, etc. Husband hates this style as he thinks too big but then always wants me to carry his crap! Not ALL bags can be cute little baby purses.

This was regularly priced at $395. On sale for $179 PLUS 30% using the Friends & Family code AND free shipping. So $136 shipped? A *steal* for such a classic bag! I’m very excited for its arrival :)

Kate Spade Tarrytown Quinn

Of course once on the site, I found this one….I am drooling…I LOVE this color green. I wanted another bag from her that I saw in the KS store in Stanford Shopping Center LAST summer! But I never got it and then it sold out. And this bag is even more perfect – can visualize looking SO cute on jeans and sweater days! Sigh…30% plus free shipping is a very good deal…