Cooper the Pooper gets a pool

Summer…well, it just isn’t summer until you are able to burn a big, ugly 4’ round patch in your lawn.  Gee, that's crazy...kiddie pools are 4' and round too!  What a co-inkey dink!

It’s not enough that we had a little blue washtub filled with water for him to romp around in.  Cooper would go to the tub and put his two front legs in it and just stand there, dejectedly.  Wow, he’d say.  No dog should be allowed to have this much fun.  It just obviously wasn't enough.



No dog should have this much fun. 



We got tired of watching him making a fool of himself and we decided together, because all of our important decisions are made together*, that we would get him a kiddie pool.

His doggy daddy and I schlepped into Menardsh (cue the tv commercial guy) and found the pool.  I tried to find the inflatable rings I saw on sale, (not for Cooper’s pool, silly, but for a future trip up North) but they were sold out. 

In the future, Menards, maybe order more $2.99 floats.  Maybe order more.

At home, hubby filled up the surprise pool with ice cold water, so that when Cooper finished swimming and came over to shake violently next to us, we could also appreciate the refreshing coldness.

Myself, I didn’t appreciate the coldness.  Mostly because I was too preoccupied that his long leash would wrap around my ankle (again) and he’d run one way and I’d fall the other, swept off my feet and staring at the sky before you could say “Damn Dog.”

We bought him outside and he knew, he just knew, that the pool was just for him.



I have a Pool!  I have a Pool!!!

$6.99 has never been better spent.  Oh, he had fun.  Buckets of fun.  He splashed.  He ran.  He drank.  He splashed some more.



Dad!  Look at my pool!





Water, water everywhere.  And yes, I think I"ll drink.



Currently he’s doing a very good impression of a big black throw rug on the living room floor... 

Now that is one happy dog.

…dreaming of chasing sticks and resting up for another big day playing in his new pool.

*I just say that. 

Father's Day Steaks and Deadliest Catch

Father’s Day can be absolutely delicious.

This morning we woke up at a leisurely 9:30 and read the paper together with some strong coffee to get our eyelids open.  Although sometimes it seems as though there’s hardly anything actually IN the Sunday paper, I still love it, with all of the colorful ads of things I like to look at, although not necessarily buy.

After reading and caffeining, we put on our walking shoes and headed over to Baumann Park for a couple of laps; we think it’s about 2.5 miles, maybe a little bit more.  My aching muscles tell me it’s the “maybe a little more” part.

Back to the house for showers.  Joe took some leftover pasta salad and a brat to mama’s house for her dinner, then off to have a beer with friend Steve.  (Hey, it IS Father’s Day.  Who am I to argue?)

Besides, I had some serious errands to run…picking up a prescription, exchanging a shirt at Kohl’s and picking up some serious T Bones at Logli, which I promptly marinated.

Here they are, cooking on the grill:

Here’s the Grillmaster on his special day…I'm sure he's thinking about me...



(Steak. Steak. Steak. Steak.)



Shrooms, lovingly cooked in ½ a beer, 3 tbs of butter, and some garlic powder.  These are quite heavenly piled up high on your T-bone.  Or pretty much right out of the pan.

Of course I'm a fungus.  But I'm a delicious fungus.

And of course, Sunday libations. 



Big Carla, on the right, obvy.  Notice how much bigger mine is than Joe's.



yes, this is "Big Carl."



On Cougartown, Courtney Cox has a wine glass that is the size of a pitcher of Koolaid that she affectionately calls “Big Carl.”  (see above.)

I have my own version that I have affectionately named “Big Carla.”  (More often than not, she is my writing partner.)

Tummies full, we’re catching up on some Deadliest Catch.  Still on the agenda:  cherry cheesecake. 

See?  Father’s Day can be delicious.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads!!

Shishkabobs, a cold pop, and Storage Wars. Life is good.



So, we made the most delicious dinner tonight.  This is what it looks like before being cooked.


mmm.....raw meat......e coli anyone?
this is actually the souvlaki recipe

The meat we used was a pork loin, chopped into shishkabob type squares.  The marinade is 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup soy salt, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, the juice of one lemon, 1 tsp oregano...then of course whatever else you like to put on your shishkabobs.  For us it's vadalia onions, green pepper, and mushrooms. 

Mmmmmmm.
 And here's what it looked like afterward, once it's been cooked...




These are allllllmost done...





All hail the Grillmaster!!



...and the general consensus is that they ROCK.  Yes, indeedy.  What goes better with this type of dinner than a lovely beer?  Unfortunately our beers are a little tiny bit frozen.  A lotta bit frozen.  Currently we're waiting for them to thaw.  The dorm fridge we got last year is way too efficient.

Dinner?  Check.  A cold one?  Check.  Newest episode of Storage Wars?   Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!!

I love my new stamps!!

Are you lucky enough to have someone else volunteer to do the family budget and pay bills?  Bully for you.  It’s not fun and games.  

In our house, I like to do them myself.  (HI, my name is Chris, and I’m a control freak.  Hi, Chris!!) 

If you are the one paying the bills, however, then you know that there are some you cannot pay online.  If that is the case, there is something that can really perk you up or at least put a smile on your face while paying bills…the new stamps from the post office with Pixar Characters. 



These!  These are the stamps I love!!!



They are so cute.  They are so colorful.  They brighten up your bill paying envelope, and as I have found, really put you in a better mood!

I try very hard to match up stamps with the actual bill I’m paying…like putting a Cars stamp on the envelope for the car payment.  Or the UP stamp on the Com Ed bill now that the air conditioning has been on more.  Or the Finding Nemo stamp on the envelope for the dentist. 

Credit card from Toys R Us?  Toy Story.

Bill from Orkin?  A Bugs Life.

Gym membership?  The Incredibles.

Boogie man removal service?  The Monsters stamp.  (that one really goes without saying.)

Will anyone on the receiving end get it?  I don’t know.  It doesn’t matter.  All I know is that it turns a chore into more of a match game.

And games…now those are fun. 

Where the heck have you BEEN???

Hello little blog.

Where the hell have you been?

I know, I know, it’s been a while.  I’m so sorry. 

(sneers) No, you’re not.

Will you ever forgive me?

Smell my feet and maybe I will.

***

Well, at least that’s over.  Making up is hard to do. 

It’s been a busy month.  Yesterday was my niece’s baptism.  Here’s a little picture of the little angel, Ashlyn.



I know, right? 



She slept on my brother’s chest right up until the time the pastor poured a little holy water over her tiny little sinless head.  Doesn’t seem fair, does it, that in some faiths you’re actually born with original sin.  Kind of like you have one strike already against you the second you pop out.   

During the ceremony, my nephew Cole was able to dip his fingers in the baptismal font fast-as-that and stick them in his mouth before his horrified mother was able to stop him.  Later, Cole and I discussed this incident and I asked him what that water tasted like, and he told me, “fish.”

The church service was lovely; the pastor performed a wonderful sermon.  The only hysterical fly in the Lutheran ointment was that the pastor performing the service sounded exactly like Jerry Seinfeld.  I thought it was just me but my sister later confided she thought so too.   I smothered giggles from time to time during the service, but then remembered that was exactly why I used to get smacked in the back of the head during church at St Mary’s in Plainfield when I was young.  Good news, I wasn't sitting next to Dad this time, though.  Advantage:  Poopwa.

On the way to the baptism, we saw a sign out front of a business on Route 30 that said,

Family Owned Business

"Shut up." 

"No, you shut up.” 

Seriously, I can’t make that shit up.

Saturday was my niece’s graduation party (note to Delaney:  you're going to be a freshman???)  where I was able to visit a lovely long time with my family and friends.  Lots of ping pong was played, little boys pretended to be pirates, babies were held and passed around, and we all caught up on the most recent gossip.

Case in point:  my sister said that she was in Target the other day and overheard the Target cashier giving the third degree to a customer buying the book "50 Shades of Gray".  The cashier was telling her in a stage whisper, "it’s a very erotic book, practically porn!"  My sister said the poor customer buying the book turned 50 Shades of Red. 

Two Jennys, an Amanda and a Chris giggled over that a good long while and stood in the kitchen outdoing ourselves on what would be the most embarrassing thing to set on the conveyer belt to be checked out with that book.  Like baby oil.   Or clothesline.  Or a “personal massager”.   (Or all three.) 

This is what happens when I get around my family.  You can see where I get my sense of humor.

Ah, good times.