All Moved In

I've lived in my new apartment for almost a month now and I really like it. The dogs are adjusting well too. It's a little smaller than my old house but there is more storage space so everything fits in well. Here are some pictures.

Our New Home

I just rented an apartment! It's on one of the prettiest streets in Houston, North Blvd. It's a 2 bdrm/2 bath 1st floor corner unit. There's a little patio and an enclosed area just outside the door that we can use for doggie emergencies. I wanted hardwood floors but the only apartment complexes that have them are way out of my price range. There are a lot of houses and duplexes for rent but this seemed to me to be the best deal. I'm pretty sure electricity will be much lower than in a house too. We'll be moving on the 26th.

I've been looking for a condo to buy but never found the right place. I have a feeling that the oil spill in the Gulf and Continental leaving is going to have a negative effect on the Houston economy so maybe it's a good thing I didn't find a place.

Lazy Days and Sundays

We're enjoying our 3 day weekend while mom is packing up the house for our move and getting stuff together for a garage sale

Homeless

I sold my house on Friday! The process was pretty stressful and I was sad about selling the house but as soon as the papers were signed I was very happy and relieved. I celebrated with my friend Ginny and my real estate agent Ofelia who did such a wonderful job selling my house. (Thanks Ofelia!) We went to T'afia. I had seen the chef, Monica Pope on Top Chef Masters and wanted to try it because there are several vegetarian items on the menu. The food was great even if we did have to leave by 7. Ever since the show aired the restaurant has been very busy.

I haven't decided whether to buy a condo or rent something. Ofelia has taken me to many nice places but I'm having a hard time making a decision. Part of me would just like to rent and not have to worry about anything for a year or so. I'm renting my house back from the new owner for 2 months so I have a month or so to make a decision.

The picture is of my house with Ofelia standing behind the SOLD sign. I forced her to pose for the picture. She made me say that.

Here comes the Bunny

Casual Friday Penguin Style

This rare all black King Penguin was photographed by Andrew Evans of National Geographic on the island of South Georgia near Antarctica.

Tea Bag Speak

No Brainer

Incredibly.

Stupid and Evil

Republicans are stupid and evil. I'm so sick of them. I can barely stand to watch any political shows anymore because I get so depressed. Here is some of the latest from these despicable low lifes. Speaking at the Teabaggers convention in Nashville, Tom Tancredo had the nerve to say: "We do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country. People who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama." He went on to say: "So the race for America is on right now. The president and his left-wing allies in Congress are going to look at every opportunity to destroy the Constitution before we have a chance to save it. So put your running shoes on. Because I'll tell you, I've heard we need a revolution. My friends, we already had it. We lost. I mean, what happened to us in that last election was a revolution."
I'm pretty sure if we did have a civics test most of the teabaggers would fail along with their VP candidate in the last election. If they knew anything at all about the constitution or even cared at all about this country, they would have been as outraged as I was by the way the last administration trashed it. It's all about race with these idiots and they don't even try to hide it anymore.

Dogs news

Here is Rosie the pug being really lazy. I really wish I could relax like this.

A few months ago I had to have Gracie put to sleep and then a few weeks after that I did the same with Sparky. I haven't blogged about Sparky because it was pretty sad. He was my first dog and practically perfect. If I had a scanner I would scan some of his pictures and put them on my blog. Now I am down to 2 dogs, Ginger and Rosie. Having 2 dogs is a lot easier but I still miss Sparky and Gracie. I'm really scared that something is going to happen to the remaining 2. I'm not ready for that. Because I only have 2 dogs and because I'm stressed about money all the time I'm planning to sell my house and move to an apt. or buy a condo. I've been asking my neighbors if they know anyone who wants to buy a house. Tonight one of my neighbors who lives a few streets over stopped by because she's a real estate agent. I feel a lot better after talking to her. Her husband built a beautiful fence for me a few years ago. I didn't know at the time that he lived in the neighborhood. She's coming back over tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Rosie

Rosie turned 10 today. We celebrated with her favorite cake from Randalls.

Put on your Snuggie

Creeps in the Candy

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Makes me want to eat more candy!

Happy Halloween

Halloween Decorations

Here is how I have decorated so far this year.

Gracie Ruth

Yesterday I had Gracie euthanized. She never really recovered from her surgery. When she didn't respond to a second round of antibiotics my vet told me it was probably cancer. She had told me after the surgery that there was that possibility because of her badly abscessed tooth.
Gracie was my healthiest dog. She was the only dog I had never spent any money on except for routine checkups. I thought she would probably be the last dog to go so this was a shock. Now I am ThreeDogMom.
Gracie was my happy energetic dog. She loved getting in bed before I did and stealing my spot. It became a game with us. I would pretend that I was mad and she would pretend to be asleep and not move. Eventually I would roll her over onto the other side of the bed. Gracie could also jump 6 feet straight up in the air. I used to call her my little Masai Warrior Dog.
I don't believe in any kind of an afterlife but it's comforting to think she might be in doggie heaven.
RIP Gracie. Sparky, Ginger, Rosie, Ringo and I will really miss you.

Gracie (updated)

Gracie had her surgery on Thursday. In addition to having her eye removed (enucleation) she had her teeth cleaned and had to have several removed. She is on antibiotics and Tramadol (doggie morphine). She is still not back to her old self but is eating very expensive Paul Newman all beef canned dog food and taking walks.

Gracie

A few weeks ago Gracie damaged her eye. I took her to the vet and she prescribed two different drops for her eye but it didn't get any better. She got to the point where she didn't want to be in a room with light. Last week I took her back and now she has glaucoma. She has to have 3 different drops put in her eye 3 times a day. It still doesn't look any better but I will take her back to the vet on Tuesday and will know for sure. If it isn't any better I will have to make a decision about whether to have her eye removed. This isn't a really big deal for a dog but probably pretty expensive. I've already spent about $700. It's hard to decide what to do. Other than her eye she is a healthy happy energetic dog. However she is at least 11 years old. I've told myself in the past that I wouldn't spend any more large amounts of money on the dogs because of their ages but now I don't know what to do. If it was cancer I would have her euthanized rather than go through painful treatments but this is a relatively simple procedure. If money wasn't an issue I would just have the eye removed but money is an issue. I guess I'm on Gracie's "death panel." Not a place I want to be.

Eating Raw at Whole Foods

My Whole Foods has started carrying a nice selection of raw foods in their prepared foods section. Today I bought a small container of Raw Asian Vegetable Salad with Green Cabbage, Broccoli, Carrots, Red Bell Peppers, Snow Peas, Raw Peanut Sauce and Raw Almonds. It was delicious. I also bought some Raw Hummus. I was pretty skeptical until I sampled it at the store. It tastes better that traditional hummus made with chick peas. They make it with zucchini, sesame seeds, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil,garlic, salt, paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper.

I dated someone for 14 years who ate only raw foods. This was way before eating raw was trendy. During that time I probably ate about 75% raw. It a great way to be really healthy and to lose weight. I'm glad to see that it's becoming popular because I would like to get back into eating that way. Having delicious prepared items at Whole Foods will certainly make it easier.

American Petroleum Institute in Houston

It's getting harder and harder everyday to live in Texas or any place in the south.
Last night, a segment about Houston was the number one story on the Rachel Maddow show. Even though I live here I hadn't heard about our latest embarassment until then. I've considered moving to Vermont because I really like most if not all of the elected officials but I hate cold weather. Austin seems to be the only place to live in Texas if I don't want to be around a bunch of stupid people.
Anyway, here is a video clip from the show:

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Funny Protest Signs

I found these funny pictures on The Huffington Post. You may have to click on them to read the signs. Check out the guy in the middle of the first picture. That about sums it up.

No Pubic Option! Damn.

People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry's flavor!

I just joined a Facebook page called People for a library-themed Ben & Jerry's flavor!

Here are some of the suggested flavors:

- Gooey Decimal System = Dark fudge alphabet letters with caramel swirls in hazelnut ice cream.
- Sh-sh-sh-Sherbet! = Key Lime or a Chocolate/Vanilla combination
- Cookie Bookie = a combination of cookie bits!
- Dusty Stacks = layered ice cream with speckles of cocoa in every layer.
- Li-Berry Pie = Lime sherbet mixed with raspberry sauce and pie crust crumbles (cinnamon sugar, butter, piecrust).
- Liberry I Scream = strawberry/blueberry sherbet and vanilla ice cream.
- Overdue Fine as Fudge Chunk = Hunks of rich fudge brownies in creamy milk chocolate drizzled throughout with golden caramel and sprinkled with mini white chocolate coins.
- Rocky Read = vanilla with choc covered nuts choc chunks and raisins.
- In the Stacks = butter pecan with fudge swirl
- Reference Ripple = anything with PB
- Marian the Librarian Rasberryan = Rasberry and Chocolate with chunks of fudge
- Libguide Licorice
- Drupal Poopal Fudge
- Ranganathan's Raspberry Rules! = Raspberry and chocolate chips
- Free and Open to All = a rainbow of flavors with all kinds of chips-butterscotch, peanut butter, chocolate

Palin's Resignation: The Edited Version: vanityfair.com

Palin's Resignation: The Edited Version: vanityfair.com

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Irony not dead, but contemplating suicide

Irony not dead, but contemplating suicide

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White House Garden Party

On Tuesday Michelle Obama hosted a party for the 5th graders from Bancroft Elementary School to celebrate all of their hard work in the White House Garden. After the children harvested the produce they prepared a meal of salad, chicken and brown rice. They had cupcakes with fresh berries from the garden for dessert. Over 90 pounds of fresh produce has been harvested so far. Some is being used by the White House but most is going to local soup kitchens.

Historical Keepsake Photo

Last month, Sherri Goforth, an executive assistant for Tennessee Republican State Senator Diane Black, sent out an email of what is supposed to be an Historical Keepsake Photo depicting all of the presidents of the United States. There is no picture of Obama, but instead, a picture of a black ghost with white eyes, or a "spook," a derogatory term for a black person. I don't want to put the picture on my blog but you can see it here: http://newscoma.com/2009/06/15/racist-and-ridiculous/
When contacted by Christian Grantham of Nashville Is Talking (WKRN), Goforth refused to apologize but instead said: "I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button. I'm very sick about it, and it's one of those things I can't change or take back." She has no problem being a racist and sending out racist material she's just sorry she sent it from the wrong email account to the wrong people. Email, by the way, paid for by the taxpayers of Tennessee. She should have been fired but as far as I know she's still working for Senator Black. Here is Senator Black's contact information if you would like to express your outrage over this: sen.diane.black@capitol.tn.gov

After 8 years of never seeing the VP, you can hardly turn on the news without seeing the dick's smirking face and hearing his opinion on Obama's foreign policy. He is critical of everything Obama is doing including Obama's decision to close Guantanamo and his decision to stop using "enhanced interrogation" (i.e. torture) techniques on prisoners. He is trying to convince anyone who will listen that these policies are making the country less safe. In an interview for The New Yorker, CIA Director Leon Panetta said "It's almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it's almost as if he's wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that's dangerous politics."

Of course Panetta is correct. Nothing would make the dick happier than another attack on this country. The attacks on 9/11 sure worked out well for him and his friends at KBR. He and the other right wing nuts would of course blame the Obama administration even though they never accepted any blame for the attacks on 9/11. The dick's war in Iraq has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has made the United States less safe. Anyone who can read and think can figure this out. It's time for you to go back to your dungeon dick. You had 8 years to f*** up the country. It's time to let the legitimately elected leaders fix the problems you and your little puppet bush created through your lies, greed, and just overall evilness.

Nancy Pelosi in Houston

I went to the Wortham Center last night to see Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at an event sponsored by the Progressive Forum. She spent the first half of the event answering questions submitted earlier on the Progressive Forum website about education, health care, the economy, and energy. After that she talked about her book Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters and answered questions about her life in politics. Everyone who attended received a copy of the book which she signed after the event.

Security was very tight and there were several hundred protesters outside the Wortham holding signs that made no sense to me. One of the signs said something like "When Nancy lies people die." Maybe they are recycling the old George Bush protest signs. Most of their complaints seemed to be about problems created by the Bush administration, not Pelosi or the Dems. I believe the protest was organized by the teabaggers. Probably some secessionists there too. Not very bright people.

Spooning

Pants on Fire

Three-Bean Salad with Quinoa

Here's a recipe I found on the Whole Foods website. I like it because it's vegan and because it has quinoa, my favorite grain.

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked quinoa
Salt and ground black pepper
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces, cooked and rinsed in cold water
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup organic Italian dressing
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Method
Rinse quinoa under cold running water and drain. Bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil in a small pot. Stir quinoa and a pinch of salt into water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until tender and liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover and let cool. Put cooled quinoa, green beans, edamame, peppers, kidney beans, dressing, tarragon, salt and pepper into a large bowl and toss well. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle turned 40 this year. I found this adorable cupcake creation on Cakewrecks. It was made by Coco Cake Cupcakes of Vancouver.

Ben and Erin

My incredibly wonderful and beautiful niece Erin got married this weekend to an equally wonderful person she met at UVA where they are both in graduate school. The ceremony was held on the banks of the Frio River in Concan, TX.