A Death in The Family

Today is a sad day at our house. This morning when I came downstairs, I discovered that our pet parrot, Cowboy, died last night.

We got Cowboy 3 years ago when our friends uncle passed away. No one in their family wanted him, so Jeff took him in. Cowboy was 25 years old then. (They can live 75 +).

Cowboy had a potty mouth when he first came to live with us. Apparently his previous owner had quite the vocabulary and Cowboy picked up on it. I will never forget when he told the loud neighbor kids to f--- off. Thankfully he stopped cussing and we decided we could keep him.
He loved Jeff and nobody else. His favorite game was to chase me around the house and torment me. Then he would laugh at me loudly. Naughty bird! He kept me on my toes, that's for sure.
We will miss his "hello" when we walk in the door and his "cracker" every time we eat peanut butter.

We loved you Cowboy. (And don't worry, I won't let them bury you in the sandbox).

Spotlight

This is my sister-in-law Wendi.  Not only is she beautiful, a mother of 2 boys, and wife to Kevin,  she is an amazing photographer.   She has a studio set up in her home.
 
She took a pause after the birth of her 2nd son, but she is back up and running again.  Check out her blog here for some great deals on photo sessions.   Check out her website here to view her gallery of pictures.

I love this Valentines Day card she made of my kids last year.  Too funny.

If I am really on the ball, (which is not often) I like to have my kids make homemade valentines for their class.  Last year we made these cute airplanes out of gum, smarties, and life savers.  I am looking for some good ideas for this year.  Here's a few I found at Family Fun.

This one uses a skewer, pack of gum, and gummy heart.
Card stock and button candies cell phone.  A little silly, but my girls liked it.
Nathan wants to make this one.

Spotlight

Drum roll please......

I would like to introduce you to my cake decorating instructor, Cassie.   She's a wife, mother, hair dresser and talented cake decorator.  

She recently started a blog, These Sweet Days, where she features some of the cakes she has made.  Check it out (and leave lots of comments as she is new to the blogging world and needs to keep at it).

She makes cakes for all occasions. Check out some of these cakes.

Darn Dogs!

Rusty my dog mysteriously broke his tail. We have no idea how he did it. I never heard him yelp in pain or anything. But his tail is broken... right in the middle. How do you think Rusty broke his tail? (See poll to the right).

POOR RUSTY!

Delicious Snack

Yesterday's post was so disgusting that I felt I needed to blog something to erase it from your memory (if that's possible).
This is my mom's recipe for homemade granola. This is soooo easy and my kids and hubby love it. The best part is you can add anything you like to the mix...yes even chocolate!

Mom's Granola

• 8 cups oats (not quick oats)
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup honey roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 cups raisins

Preheat oven to 325*F. Mix oats, brown sugar, nuts, and seeds. Break apart brown sugar and mix it with your hands then set aside. In a sauce pan mix oil, honey, & vanilla. Heat till bubbling. Pour over dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Spread on a cookie sheet. Don't pack it. Drizzle some more honey on granola to taste. Bake 15 to 20 minutes stirring once while granola browns. When completely cool, add raisins, and any other fruit or chocolate chips.

If you don't like peanuts of sunflower seeds, feel free to add almonds or anything else that you like. Some things I have added in the past are dried pineapple, coconut, craisins, chocolate chips, dried papaya, etc. Go crazy!

Rusty the Cannibal

This is Rusty my dog.  And this is a picture of what he does all day long.

The other morning my friend Becky and I took our dogs for a walk in the patch of desert behind our home.   Rusty ran off and came back with something dangling from his mouth.  It looked like a furry rodent.  I of course didn't take it out of his mouth because I didn't want to touch it.  He eventually swallowed it.

So the next day, I went back out and he went to the same spot.  I followed him to see what he was eating.  And this is what I saw...

Yes, that is a dog leg sticking out of the ground, and yes... my dog was digging it up!

Here's Rusty with a tasty morsel in his mouth.

My parents were walking with me this morning, and I made my dad pull this furry bone out of his mouth.  Does anyone know how to sanitize a dogs mouth?

One word:  GROSS!!!!!!!!!