I made Ida a cover for her crate and a new dog bed. She now has a cozy little house.
March 17, 2011
Your long awaited update
Posted by leeann raye at 4:36 PM 2 comments
December 19, 2010
Feliz Navidad
Just got back from taking Ida to Walnut Creek Park. She seemed to enjoy it. She managed to corner a ferret or weasel. I'm guessing it was a ferret though because it was not afraid of Ida at all and once we got her to leave it alone, it just started following us. It was a lot of fun but would have been more fun if I could relax with Ida around other dogs. It's an off leash park with a lot of trails, so for the most part I was fine with her off the leash, but as soon as a big dog would come around the corner I would just get scared that she was going to get into a fight. But nothing bad happened except for a minute Adam and I thought we were lost and were afraid we were going to get stuck in the park in the dark.
Our neighbors sold us their dog crate (their dog had outgrown it) so now we are trying to crate train her. Mostly for when we leave anytime that's not for work. She's used to us leaving for work in the morning so she doesn't do anything. But any other time we try to leave she freaks out. She's gotten really used to the crate and seems to prefer to lay in it rather than on the floor. And now when we leave she knows to go in it, and it's only been maybe the 4th day of training!
In other news (non dog related) Adam and I have been feeling a lot like grown ups lately. Last week we bought a car. The weekend before a GIANT flat screen TV. This weekend we got a cable box and a Roku (thanks to Shaw!). Our apartment is the most grown up apartment I've ever lived it.
We were both feeling a little bummed about Christmas coming and not being able to see our family, so we went to Wal-mart yesterday and bought a little Christmas tree and some ornaments. We figured rather than just feel bummed, why not just try to have a little fun. I'm not sure what we will actually do for Christmas yet, but hopefully something special. Our friend Tim is coming to visit Wednesday which is going to be great. I wish I could convince more people to visit, because it sure makes me feel happy when they are here.
Alright, off to go make a Christmas Tree skirt. Perhaps there will be a photo update soon.
Posted by leeann raye at 5:46 PM 0 comments
December 5, 2010
Adam's favorite new meal (not including the salad)
I've been buying a lot of cooking magazine's lately when I'm at the grocery store so Adam and I have been trying lots of new food. He's generally a little hard to please when it comes to food, but he loves this one I found. So much so that we make it pretty much every week.
Chicken Pappardelle with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 8 oz dry pappardelle
- 2 strips of thick sliced bacon, diced
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and minced
- 3 cups cooked chicken
- 1 T. garlic minced
- 1/2 t. re pepper flakes
- 1/2 c. dry white wine
- 1 c. chicken broth
- 1/2 c. heavy cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Bring a pot of water to a poil for the pappardelle. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Saute bacon and tomatoes in a large nonstick skillet. Add chicken, garlic and pepper flakes. Cook until garlic starts to brown.
3. Add wine, scraping the bottom of the pan. Stir in cream and broth. Add pasta bringing everything to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
We usually add more red pepper flakes and some Parmesan cheese.
Posted by leeann raye at 4:53 PM 1 comments
November 8, 2010
blah blah cancer blah blah
What a long weekend. I feel so old. When did my life become conferences? Two conferences in three days was exhausting both physically and mentally.
I spent all of Thursday at the LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance conference. I was invited by one of the faculty in the School of Social Work that does her research on childhood cancer survivors. I thought it would be a great opportunity to see it's a field or work I would like to pursue. The conference began with an appearance from a guest speaker, Ethan Zohn. He's that guy that won Survivor: Africa and then got cancer. I haven't really followed Survivor so I was only kind of familiar with him. He was a great speaker though and seemed really genuine. But after that I really didn't care and lost all attention, which made me feel bad.
I spent the rest of the day listening to boring information about clinical trials and steering committee updates. I was also surrounded by so many passionate cancer survivors that have made their experience their full-time job, but somehow I was not inspired. It really bothered me that I wasn't feeling motivated or inspired by it all. It made me feel like somehow there was something wrong with me because I did not have the desire to dedicate my life to cancer.
But after ruminating on it for the next couple of days (and having breakfast with one of my camp friends) I realized I don't have to care. I guess my feeling is that, yes cancer is horrible and we can all agree on that. And I think it's important that there are people out there advocating for cancer. But I would much rather dedicate my life to fixing social problems. Problems that are caused by people or systems, not just fate and environmental causes.
So I guess it was a good thing I went to the conference, even if it wasn't for the reasons I had originally anticipated.
Posted by leeann raye at 10:39 AM 0 comments
October 28, 2010
The First Part of a Multipart Installment, entitled
Posted by leeann raye at 4:44 PM 1 comments
October 27, 2010
The post my mom has been waiting for
Photos of our apartment! And Ida. She tends to follow me everywhere and finds her way in to most pictures. It's taken me a while to get around to taking pictures, mostly because we didn't have any stuff when we moved in. And pictures without stuff are BORING.
Posted by leeann raye at 12:48 PM 3 comments
October 1, 2010
Goodbye September
Failed apartment hunting, sick dog, head cold, campus "shooting". September was the pits. Luckily it's now October and all I can think about is the changing of the seasons and how much I love Autumn. But apparently there have been no signs that the leaves will be changing colors anytime soon or the the temperature will be any less than 90. I miss Illinois fall.
There is a daycare attached to the Social Work building and the window above my desk looks out onto the playground. It's nice to hear kids laughing and playing, but I'm slowly being driven insane. In order to get the kids inside, the childcare worker sings a song. I hear this song at least 5 times a day. Every day. Guaranteed.
Walking, Walking (sung to Frere Jacque)
Walking, walking
Walking, walking
Yes we are, yes we are
Everybody's walking, everybody's walking
Now we stop, now we stop
Posted by leeann raye at 5:00 PM 0 comments