5 fast facts about my family

1.My hubby and I both hate being late. We like to be early to on time
2. Our favorite TV show is M.A.S.H.
3. My hubby is an only child and I am the youngest out of five. This sometimes makes life VERY interesting
4. My cat Rosie likes to lay on my lap any time I am working at my desk. She also likes to sleep under the covers at the foot of my bed (does anyone else's cat like to sleep under the covers? )
5.We collect all manner of Dachshund items to decorate our house with. From Doxie fabric to Doxie salt and pepper shakers, to Doxie Beanie Babies and more! After all, we love our Doxie Sophie Sue.

What are five unique facts about your family?

D is for Doxie and Dutch Oven

Today I am going to blog about Sophie. I blogged about Rosie yesterday.
I have a miniature daschund and her name is Sophie Sue. On April 15 she will be six years  old and has a personality all her own.

 

She's not a "dady's dog" nor a "mommy dog." She's the happiest when we are both home. In fact, her favorite place is to sit with her front paws on me and her back paws on her dad. She hates being cold but  refuses to wear her doggie clothes for more than a few seconds.  She loves to give kisses! I swear that she thinks a kiss will solve any problem in the world!

She has been such a God send. He knew we needed her! She can make me laugh or comfort me. She loves to be a lap dog. She thinks she's the Queen and guardian of the house. Unfortunately, the Queen does not eat unless we are both home.I think she worries that we are not going to come home to her! Why wouldn't we? I've heard speration anxiety is a daschund thing but I am not sure.   She loves to burrrow and play-espcially if you say the word outside!.  She's able to get all of her toys out of her toy box but never manages to put them pack. I'm still trying to teach her that one! She's had so many fun adventures since she's joined our family. I can't wait to share the next one with you.

"Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund."- Queen Victoria


Okay I know I'm supposed to keep my a-z post short so here's a quick run down of why I love cooking in my cast iron dutch oven. Anything you can cook in your oven or crock pot, you can cook in a dutch oven. Whether you want a meal of chicken and rice, pot roast and potatoes, chili, or even pizza, a dutch oven does a great job! All you need to do is practice and have confidence.
 A Few Tips For Dutch Oven Cooking:

1. Keep checking your food. Yes, opening the oven does reduce the temperature temporarily. But its better to know what’s going on in there than to burn or  under cook your food. You can check the food quickly with practice.

2. For easier clean-up, fill the DO with water after you’ve removed the food, but do not use cool water in a hot oven it will crack the oven!

2. Practice makes perfect so use your DO frequently and learn!

4. To make the oven easier to clean you can line it with foil or use a foil or tin pie plate in the bottom of the pan. Grease the oil or pan just like you would the Dutch Oven before usising it.

And last but not least my favorite dutch oven recipe:

Dutch Oven Peach Cake 
12 inch Dutch Oven, butter
1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup cooking oil
1 – 30 ounce can sliced peaches with juice

Butter a 12 inch Dutch Oven.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil and syrup from peaches. Stir til smooth.
Pour batter into a buttered 12″ Dutch oven. Arrange peach slices over top of batter.
Cover oven and bake using 8-10 briquettes under the DO and 14-16 briquettes top for 1 hour or until top center of cake springs back when touched.

Delicious with whipped cream!

Rosie Poem

Rosie

My beautiful Rose

My how you've changed

Since Sophie's been gone

You used to stay in your room

Annoyed, sleepy,, grumpy

Now you romp,fetch and even eat potato chips!

You act more like a frolicking kitten now 

Instead of a ten year old cat

And I don't mind that one bit!

6-16-10 Wordless Wednesday

Here's what I discovered when I went to make my bed!

D is for Dachshund and Ducky

D is for Dachshund and Ducky

Since my last post in a to z challenge was about my cat I've decided to do this one about my dog Sophie and the fact that she is a Dachshund and her new love Ducky. But more about Ducky later. First, I want to tell you little about Sophie. She is a miniature Dachshund aka "wiener dog."  Dachshunds originated in Germany and are recognized by their long bodies and short legs.   There are three different sizes of Dachshunds with three different coat types-short, long, and wire haired. Now to their personality. They have A LOT of personality-at least Sophie does! First and foremost Sophie thinks she is a human. This attitude effects everything she does.  I am never alone. I have a long, low shadow following me around the house. When I try to get some alone time she cries. Typical kid right? Sophie is such a people dog. She has to greet everyone she sees and people rarely stay strangers long when she is there. Her favorite place to be is between her momma and daddy. She tries to sleep between us and often she sits on the couch with part of her on me, and part on my hubby. She has acquired some English too. Selected words like outside, food, toys and play. She loves to play. She especially likes to play with her  new rubber ducky. 
My mother in law recently gave Sophie a rubber ducky to play with.  At first, I was not crazy about the duck. Sophie already had a ton of toys and most of them make noise. I was sure this one would be no different. But I was wrong.  First of all, it is small enough that she can put the whole thing in her mouth and secondly it hardly squeaks! I love the duck almost as much a she does because of these things. 

In honor of Sophie's new I've made a song. Well actually I "tweaked" a song. I took the "Rubber Ducky song from Sesame Street and made the words to apply to Sophie. If you haven't heard the original song you can Google it.  Here's my version: 
Rubber Ducky
OH!
Rubber Ducky
Your the one
You make play time
Lots of fun!
Rubber Ducky
I'm awfully fond of you! (bobobodeo)

Rubber Ducky
Joy of joy
When i squeeze you you make noise
Rubber Ducky
You're my very best friend its true

Every Day
When I make my way to the toy box
I find a little fella who's
Cute and yella
And chubby
Rubba dub dubby!

Rubber Ducky
Your so fine
And im lucky that your mine
Rubber ducky im awfully fond of you

ooh....
Every Day
When I make my way to the toy box
I find a little fella whos
Cute and yella
And chubby
Rubba dub dubby!

Rubber ducky your so fine
And im lucky that your mine
Rubber ducky im awfully fond of
Rubber ducky im awfully foooond
Of you! 


 Do you have a pet with a personality all their own? 

Wordless Wednesday-My 3 Loves

Wordless Wednesday

My two babies. 

Me with my niece Kaylin. Yes I am smiling but I'm concentrating on taking the picture. 

Kaylin with Sophie

My Girls Part 1

I have two girls. Each as different as night and day. That is to be expected though-escpically when they are a cat and a dog. . Today I am going to blog about Sophie. I will blog about Roise later this week.
I have a miniature daschund and her name is Sophie Sue. She is a little over four years old and has a personality all her own.

 

She's not a "dady's dog" nor a "mommy dog." She's the happiest when we are both home. In fact, her favorite place is to sit with her front paws on me and her back paws on her dad. She hates being cold but  refuses to wear her doggie clothes for more than a few seconds.  She loves to give kisses! I swear that she thinks a kiss will solve any problem in the world!

 

She has been such a God send. He knew we needed her! She can make me laugh or comfort me. She loves to be a lap dog. She thinks she's the Queen and guardian of the house. Unfortunately, the Queen does not eat unless we are both home.I think she worries that we are not going to come home to her! Why wouldn't we? I've heard speration anxiety is a daschund thing but I am not sure.   She loves to burrrow and play-espcially if you say the word outside!.  She's able to get all of her toys out of her toy box but never manages to put them pack. I'm still trying to teach her that one! She's had so many fun adventures since she's joined our family. I can't wait to share the next one with you.

"Nothing will turn a man's home into a castle more quickly and effectively than a dachshund."- Queen Victoria

The First Cut

Well I cut out my pattern today. I was hoping to be able to cut it out yesterday but I discovered the pattern had issues. The yardage on the back was only half the amount I needed. I had also misread what size I was. I had no idea that you had to get measured and go by the measurements not your ready to wear size. I have never worn a size that big! I mean I know I am a voluptuous woman but oh my goodness!It's definitely a good diet/exercise reminder motivator. Well i got my piece of material home and prepared and I was good to go. Here's a picture of my material pinned and ready to be cut. Yes, in case you are wondering I was pinning on the floor. The table hurt my back to much-it's to low. Honey, now you what you can buy me for Christmas-a sewing table. :)

Pinning the pattern made me wish I paid more attention in math. I was starting to get frustrated Thankfully Sophie came to rescue! For those of you who don't know my husband and I have a miniature dachshund name Sophie. She's my pride and joy. She always into everything and seems to senses when I am stressed or upset. I think that she thinks it is her duty to cheer me up and she always does. Well I was getting frustrated when she jumps off the couch onto the cutting board. She starts sniffing around everywhere and comes across my box of pins. Well being the curious dog she is she sniffs the pins. As soon as she does, she lets out a howl and starts running around the couch endlessly! She made me laugh so hard I started crying. Thankfully no pins got stuck in nose. I think that they scared her more than anything. After that she decided she was going to observe my sewing from afar. :)
Well I cut the pattern out with no problem and have it the sides marked and ready to begin sewing. I am curious of one thing though. Is it normal to label pattern pieces with tape? I never have but then I have never cut out a patter before.
Well I am all set and ready to go. I just need to figure out which machine I am gonna use. I have 3 (I'll explain why I have three for some other blog post). I need to finish setting up my sewing area as well. I am hoping to start the machine work this evening or tomorrow.
Love, peace and sewing pleats!