It's Christmas Time

Winter break is finally hear and I have 3 weeks off till school starts up again. With extra time on my hands I've been able to clean the house again and decorate for Christmas. December 15th was Michael & I's 6th anniversary! So to celebrate we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Walt Disney World in Orlando. It was a wonderful time except for the fact that it was warm and muggy out that night. It sure didn't feel much like Christmas. Tonight though we have a cold front that has come in... It's going to get down to a cool 38 degrees. Finally some winter weather for us. It's been so hot this year.



Cinderella's Castle has icicles this year.



The parade was wonderful, made me think of being back at Disney when I was much younger.



With the cool weather tonight I got in the mood to finish up my Christmas decorating. I've been collecting the Dicken's Christmas Villages from Department 56 for several years now. I only put up a small part of my collection this year. Here is a sample of what it looks like.




And then of course.... here is the tree. Funny thing is last week I found one of the lights from the tree torn off and laying on the carpet. Which dog was it?! I guess I'll never know, no one is talking.

Oliver On Duty

Oliver was lucky enough to join Michael at the fire dept. last week for a sleep over. From what I hear he spent most of his morning playing with his new red rubber dog toy and then spent the afternoon sleeping. What a life. Apparently there was a complaint about his snoring during the night. Maybe Winston will be lucky enough to join him next time.

Foil-Pack Taco Chicken Dinner

Calling all low carb eating friends, or those of you who love Mexican food. I made the following recipe tonight for dinner and it was wonderful. It came from Kraft Foods website. Plus it was so easy and clean up was even easier. Instead of salsa I used fresh chopped tomatoes, since I don't care for onions in my food. I didn't have any potatoes to put in this dish, but it was still very good. I think next time I may put black beans and corn in the mix.

Foil-Pack Taco Chicken Dinner
(Click on recipe name to go to website.)

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

4 tsp. TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix

2 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes

1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Shredded Cheese

1/2 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa

1/4 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Sprinkle chicken evenly with seasoning mix. Place 1/2 cup of the potatoes on center of each of four large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top each with 1 chicken breast, 1/4 cup of the cheese and 2 Tbsp. of the salsa.

BRING up foil sides. Double fold top and both ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in single layer in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is cooked through (170°F) and potatoes are tender. Remove packets from oven. Let stand 5 min. Place one packet on each of four dinner plates. Cut slits in foil with sharp knife to release steam before opening. Top each serving with 1 Tbsp. of the sour cream.

Granola

I was in the grocery store the other day ... I was going to purchase some granola to put in my yogurt for the morning. I never knew granola was so darn stinking expensive! A small (very small bag) for $4.00! Are you kidding me? So since everything can be found on the internet, I did a search for homemade granola. I chose this one from Alton Brown on the Food Network website.

Granola Recipe courtesy Alton Brown Show: Good Eats Episode: Oat Cuisine

3 cups rolled oats 1 cup slivered almonds 1 cup cashews 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup raisins Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed. Store in a air tight container once completely cool. (Very important so the granola keeps its crunch.) I'm not really fond of raisins in "things", so I left them out. I have to say I will never buy pre-made granola. This stuff tastes great. It did take some time to make, stirring the granola every 15min while toasting, but worth it. Plus you can create what every type of granola you want. Give it a try.

Winston Was Feeling Left Out

Well apparently Winston thought Zoe was getting all the attention, so he had to get cancer too. Our boy Winston is a repeat offender. He had 2 mast cell tumors three years ago. They were removed and never came back. So we thought we were in the clear. Then the other day we noticed two small masses, pencil eraser size. So off I took him to work to see what the masses were. The initial cytology showed mast cells. He had surgery on Thursday. When they were prepping for surgery they found a third mass, just as they did with Zoe. So once again we are waiting the results of the histopathology to see what grade the tumors are. His first bout with mast cell cancer was grade 1 ... so we're praying for those results again.

The Infamous Gator

We live across from the lake in our neighborhood. Ever since we've lived here we have heard rumors about the gator in the lake. It's been over a year & there hasn't been a single sighting on this gator. Until today! It was just a small baby gator, maybe three feet long. So he wasn't much of a threat. Except for the fact that he has parents. Which I'm sure were somewhere close. I know we live in Florida and that gators are part of our environment, but it's not everyday you come this close to one. Aside from the infamous gator sighting we have been getting our share of rain over the past few weeks. And it's a good thing, because we really needed it.


Here's an update on Zoe. She has been walking outside on her own, I was carrying her before. She still stumbles once in awhile with her back feet, but otherwise has been doing great. Her tumors that were removed came back as mast cell grade 2. Not the best news, but not the worst either. The good news is that the doctor got "clean margins" when he removed the tumors. That means that the entire tumor was removed with no cancer cells left in that area. It doesn't guarantee that another cancerous tumor won't regrow there, but there's less of a chance.


Doesn't her incision look good!?

Zoe needs entertainment.

Zoe has been inside a small cage for three weeks now and she is getting a little stir crazy to say the least. She is almost climbing the walls of her cage at times. Thank goodness she is feeling much better. Her back legs have almost regained all their function. She has also recovered well from her tumor removal surgery. Now that she is feeling much better she thinks it's time to get out of the cage. Sadly for her, she does not have any "get out of jail" cards. She doesn't play board games very well. She does however get some free time out of her cage to stretch her legs or sit up on the couch with Michael & I. Her back is still healing though, so we have to be very careful with her. Zoe has really been very good in her cage. She has only started barking recently, mostly out of boredom I imagine. I went out today to get her some toys to keep her busy while caged up. They are called Busy Buddy toys. You can stuff pieces of food/treats inside these toys. As they are rolled around or chewed on, the treats will fall out. So far she is enjoying them.