Busy Weekend

I don't know if I'll have time to blog again this weekend, so I hope my readers have a great July 4.  Hopefully I'll have some fun pics to post in the start of next week.  My allergies are feeling better and some old, dear friends are staying with us, so we hope to have a great weekend.
PS Did you know you can't buy medicines with Sudafed in them in OTC Oregon because people use the Sudafed to make meth? 

Do You Cobbler?

 Look at these strawberries from the Saturday Market.  Aren't they beautiful?  They were so red when I cut them up.  They taste as beautiful, too.

 Jim LOVES when I make Cuban Sandwiches.  Funny how I never took a picture of the finished sandwich.  I guess we were too hungry.  What's on a Cuban?  Ham, pork (thank you, Market of Choice for having tenderloin in the deli dept!), mustard, Swiss cheese, and dill pickles.  All on a rich Cuban bread (also at Market of Choice.)  I made six of them!!  Slightly disgusting, but it gave us a few lunches for the week.

And finally I made this lovely cobbler.  Although I used the Pioneer Woman recipe, I used less sugar.  And no shortening or lard.  All butter.  Lard scares me, and frankly shortening scares me a lil bit too.  But for some reason pure butter does not.  I know, slightly irrational, but it was a darn good cobbler.  I bought vanilla ice cream (must have the vanilla bean specks for a particular law student in our house) and it was a great summer treat.
And might I mention now what a lovely husband I have.  While I was at yoga he washed all three of our fans to decrease the allergens in our home.  They seriously looked like they'd come from some sort of Steinbeck dust bowl.  What a nice guy.
Wednesday starts the Dudes Weekend around here (plus Amanda.)  Luckily I love all of the Dudes coming to visit.  We have our friend Doug from IL on Wed, Ashwin from FL on Fri, and Harvey the puppy on Sun.  We are also meeting up with my friend Jackson on Sun in PDX. Jim and I are going to a wedding in Salem on Saturday (the house guests will be entertaining themselves) I also have a 10K on the agenda for Monday morning.  Should be pretty fun! 

Summer Time

Summer is here!  On Saturday I rode up to Salem with a friend.  Although I like hanging out with my Little Sister, it was fun to hang out with an adult and do girlie things.  We wore sundresses, had a little wine, did a little shopping, etc.  These fruits are from the market and will be transforming into a cobbler this evening.  

We have made a goal to make sure to get in an outdoor adventure every Sunday.  First stop was Amazon Park Dog Park.  Trooper loved it.  

Then we went on a hike on one of the Ridgeline Trails off of Fox Hollow Road.

 So pretty.  Even though my allergies are no fun, I can't stay inside.  I'm neti potting three times a day and taking Allegra.  Hopefully relief will come in a few weeks. 

 Look at this angel!  He just loves being outdoors too.  After our hike he was thrown in the bathtub.  Now he's passed out next to me.  Life is good for Trooper.

I was able to get in a lot of summer themed things this weekend.  This picture is from Friday.  Jim grilled us some cheeseburgers.  They are on the table under the foil.  Trooper is watching them like a hawk.  Other fun summer things we did this weekend: laid by the pool, hiked, drank beer in our friends' yard, grilled on Saturday, and now we are about to start bottling beer. 

Kindred Spirits

Last night, when Trooper and I were both suffering from allergies, Jim said, "You two are kindred spirits."  We really are. 
I've been able to ride my bike three days this week.  Yay!  When I rode home yesterday evening, I noticed Trooper had an eye booger the size of a dime in one of his eyes.  I took a picture in case we had to show the vet (I'll spare you) and cleaned it.  Jim came home just after me and I went out for a cocktail with a lovely girlfriend (I promise I'm not a bad puppy momma).  When I rode my bike home from drinks, I was so congested I could barely swallow.  Trooper and I need some relief. 
Per his allergist, we actually increased his dose of one medicine as he's been completely taken off the second (the one that gives him GI problems.)  He's now on 75 mg a day of cyclosporine.  (After increasing his dose starting last night, we haven't seen any more weird eye puss.  This leads me to believe it was allergies.)  I'm taking one Allegra a day as that seems to give me the most (minor) relief out of all of the antihistamines. 
Tomorrow I am accompanying a friend to a trial hair appointment (she's getting married next weekend!) and on Sunday we may take a hike or something else fun then bottle Jim's latest batch of home brew.  And spend time with my kindred spirit, of course.

Evenings at the DiVerde/ Zika Household

Trooper and I jogged on the bike path to meet Jim on his bike ride home from work.  Trooper LOVES seeing Jim in public.  He can't believe his luck!  He also loves running next to Jim on his bike.  Basically he loves Jim.  While I was crafting this evening....

The boys were playing.  Jim's teaching Trooper "Dead Dog" (which involves playing dead.)  Trooper almost has it.  Can you see the fluff on the floor from Trooper attacking his toys?  I imagine he feels like a wolf tearing the viscera from his prey. 

Easiest Baked Tilapia

As it was the summer solstice, Trooper was allowed on the patio all evening.  He just came in at 9:30pm because that darn Siamese cat got his goat and he freaked out.  Otherwise, he would've been allowed out there even later.  According to weather.com, the sun is currently setting at 8:59pm in Eugene, Oregon, but there's light in the sky until at least 9:30pm.  It went up to 80 today for the first time this year, and it felt like summer.  Although my allergies are still bothering me, I'm thankful for the warm and dry weather.
I made a nice tilapia for dinner this evening.  It was fast and simple.   I broiled Jim's for a few minutes longer and he liked it (with additional hot sauce, of course.)
I am sad to say that another friend has lost her mother to cancer this week.  Until recently, I never realized how many lives are taken by cancer.  I guess we just have to try to take care of ourselves and be thankful for our loved ones every day. 

Home Again

We're so happy: James made it home safely!  After 12 hours of traveling, he arrived at PDX.  Trooper and I met him at the entrance to the parking garage.  (PDX unfortunately discriminates against dogs that aren't in cages.  I keep telling Trooper: after the whole gay rights thing is solved, we're on to dog rights.)  I wish I had video of Trooper greeting Jim.  He was jumping in the air and flopping around, kissing him on the mouth.  Anyone watching must have been pretty amused.
In preparation, I made Jim a lovely banana bread and pre-made a pancetta/ asparagus lasagna for this evening.  Since I have yoga, Jim can just pop it in the oven.   Do you cook with pancetta?  If not, I beg you to start.  It's kind of bacon's hipster cousin. 

Nasal Woes

I bet you've all been on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about the Neti Pot.  Well, it was weird.  I've done it twice.  It sort of feels like you're drowning.  And it's hard to get it out your nostril and not down your throat.  But it does offer temporary relief.  You have to do it at least an hour before bed to allow any liquids to drain.  (Yum.)  By the middle of the night I wake up again feeling congested.  That's the worst part of these allergies: I can't sleep through the night.  I do have some relief today because it rained and isn't windy, so there's less pollen out.  I've undergone an intense cleaning of the house to try to get any extra pollen up. 
Trooper and I have been best pals while Jim is gone.  He came with me to my Little Sister's softball game this morning.  Right now his best dog pal is over playing with him.  Last night I ordered myself a pizza and watched a rom com.  Tomorrow I am running in an 8K and in the afternoon retrieving Jim from PDX.  Trooper will be riding with me, of course.
I am making myself meatball marinara sammies tonight.  I made homemade meatballs and will put them on hoagies with TJ's marinara and mozzarella cheese.  And don't tell Jim, but there may be a homemade banana bread awaiting his return. 
It's weekends like this that I'm especially grateful for my lil pup.  Isn't funny how much love and emotion we put into a small animal that was domesticated from a wolf? 

Neti Pot

Tonight I Neti Pot.
I've heard and read that using a Neti Pot to wash out your nasal cavities can help allergies.  I think the goal is to wash out the allergens.  I hope it doesn't feel like water boarding my nose.  I also wish I could Neti Pot my eyes.
I have given up on allergy medicines.  They don't seem to be working.  I am so congested that at times my ears clog and it's hard to swallow.  I bought a gel eye mask that I put in the fridge to put over my eyes and that helps give some temporary relief.  I am hoping the pollen levels decrease soon.  We live downwind from the Grass Seed Capital of the World.  Who knew.  I also get some relief at work, I'm assuming because the air is filtered through the air conditioner. 
Trooper went to Puppy Day Camp today.  I dropped him off at 7:30am.  He goes to Opportunity Barks, which is owned and run by two women who LOVE doggies.  He runs around in a field where he can see cows and hills and roll in the grass.  If I was rich I'd pay for him to go every day while we're at work.  The owners even feed him lunch.  Ha!
We miss our pal, James, but we are glad he was able to be with his family this weekend.  Trooper and I both are both wishing we were there. 

Allergic

I have never been this allergic in my life.  (Let me be dramatic, readers, it's my blog.)  If you visit pollen.com, it will tell you that Eugene, Oregon has one of the highest (if not the highest) pollen levels in the US right now.  The weather has been so nice that I can't bring myself to stay inside, and even if I did, our windows have to stay open, so our apartment is full of pollen. 

Thank you for letting me get that out.

Jim is leaving tomorrow for the weekend, so Trooper is going to be the man of the house.  Right now Trooper is on the Atopica only (going back on the antifungal on Friday) and he hasn't had any GI problems.  We'll see how the addition of the next medicine goes.  We're both going to miss Jim a lot, but we'll be fine.  I plan on drinking wine, eating gourmet snacks, and crafting.  All until Jim returns on Sunday.  And run an 8K Sunday morning.  If you know me, you know I love Jim more than anything.  I cry a lil whenever he leaves for longer than a day.  That's just the way I roll. 

The Great Outdoors

I caught two rainbow trout while fishing at Carmen Reservoir.  It was a good day, but a long one.  In the end, I was with my Little Sister for ten hours.  That's a long day together.  She had a lot of fun.  She got upset a few times (when she wasn't catching fish, when she didn't win the prize for the biggest fish, etc.)  She strives on attention and needs constant praise.  The group that took us out was super nice.  They cut and cleaned our fish and sent each kid home with their own fishing pole and tackle box!  

Jim and I took advantage of the nice morning (good thing, as it's now raining) and went hiking at Spencer Butte.  It's about 20 minutes south of our apartment.  I thought these ferns were so neat.

There were a ton of little flowers growing.  It looked like fairies and gnomes should be living there.

You could see the Cascades from the top.  The snow capped mountains didn't turn out in the pictures.  Trooper LOVED the hike, of course.

Tofu Friday

I made this really yummy tofu dish tonight.  I added my own touch by adding in sauteed eggplant.  I think it was worth it.  Next time I'll make more of the sauce.  I needed a veggie dinner after eating Five Guys Burgers for lunch at work.  (Which was good, but it's no Culver's or Portillo's.)  We'll be keeping this recipe. 

Update

Trooper is doing fine.  The allergist said to take him off all medicines for 72 hours to see if his GI tract cleared up, which it did.  Tonight we'll start back on the atopica, and after we see how that goes, he'll start back on the anti-fungal that he has to take with it. 
I, on the other hand, am ALLERGIC right now.  I've never been so allergic.  I woke up with swollen eyes.  So far Clartin and Zyrtec are useless.  I'm hoping the pollen lets up soon. 
Tomorrow I am going fishing with BBBS.  It's actually in the same spot that Jim and I went hiking on our anniversary!  It will be at the reservoir at the base of the two waterfalls.  My LS and I have had a few issues this week.  Her mom gave her a cell phone (she's 10) and has been very excited to call me.  She tried to call me 8 times in one day.  I have had a few talks with her about boundaries.  The final straw was when she called me twice at 11:30pm (to tell me she had to get stitches after she was hit in the head with a softball).  Then I really had to lay down the law about calling me, with her and her mom.  Hopefully the message was heard.  We have to leave for fishing at 7am, so she tried to back out, but her mom said she had to go.  I think she'll have a lot of fun once we get there.  I guess mentoring isn't always easy but it's worth it.

Special Needs

Our doggie is a special needs boy.  Tonight he went with me to watch my Little Sister's softball game.  He jumped up on the bleachers and sat right next to me.  He loved being outside.  He's had a rough time adjusting to the new medicines.  Although his itching has decreased drastically, he's been having gastrointestinal issues.  He's woken us up at 4:30 or 5am a few times to go #2 (usually he'd sleep until 8 or 9 if we let him), has thrown up a few times, has had runny stool and bad gas, and has ignored his food a few times.  All of these are unusual, and he's also gone to the potty inside twice.  Very weird behavior for our dog.  We thought maybe he was acting out since Jim's been working, but I don't know that he'd skip his dinner if he was acting out.  I've been coming home at lunch and trying to exercise him every evening.  Poor pup.  Jim called the vet after work and the assistant said to skip his medicine tonight and the vet should call him tomorrow.  So, we have a special needs doggie. 

Bespectacled

I have known since Saturday but didn't blog about it: The Legal Beagle has new reading glasses.  Law school has taken its toll on his eyes.  I needed new contacts and forced him to go to the eye doctor (although he didn't put up too much of a fight.)  Luckily I have eye insurance through my work for both of us.  I took a few pictures of him in his new glasses tonight but he won't let me post them.  He looks very handsome and lawyer-like.  If I do say so.
I realized today that Jim and I met seven years ago this month.  If you're wondering how we met, it was at a small block party in Sycamore, Illinois.  We both went with friends and his friend started hitting on my friend.  So by default Jim and I had to talk.  We went to a second bar and kept talking, and I thought, What a nice guy!  And then my friend was ready to go.  We got ready to go and Jim said good night.  And let me leave!  I was at my car and turned around, walked back in the bar, and gave him my phone number.  And told him to call me.  The Tuesday after that, he called me! I still have the piece of paper I wrote his number down on.  I knew he was the nicest and handsomest guy I'd met and luckily I took some action. 
And that's how we became the DiVerde/ Zika household. 

Flax and Fun

We finally took our mortar and pestle out of the box (it was a wedding gift.)  Jim used it to grind up flax seeds, but I think the little buggers are too small and oily.  So he used the coffee grinder.  We started putting the ground seeds on our oatmeal.  Between that and the bottles of red wine, I am working hard on keeping the ol' ticker healthy.

This is a picture of my lil guy after his bath last night.  He LOVES laying on the balcony, keeping watch over his kingdom (our area of the apartment complex.)  While I went to yoga tonight, his wonderful dad took him to the dog park and let him play at our apartment with his best puppy friend.  Yoga was Intense with a BIG I.  My friend and I have been going to a Vinyasa Yoga II class and it kicks my butt.  It's on Monday nights and I'm usually hurting until at least Wednesday.  And I got to use my new yoga mat bag!

Our neighbors were either fighting and/ or partying until about 5am last night/ this morning, which caused the dog to run around like a crazy animal, which caused us to be awake at ungodly hours.  We are finishing our BLTs and sweet potato fries and hoping we don't get a 4:30am wake up call again. 

I hope my readers are enjoying my blog.  Someone I love dearly told me today that it makes her feel like she's with us and it kinda makes her want to blog.  Sometimes I think a blog is a little bit egotistical (assuming everyone wants to hear about the mundane parts of your life) so it's good to know that people enjoy reading it.  I'll keep blogging, readers!

Sunday Funday

Well, it's Sunday evening again.  Jim is giving Trooper his bath and we're enjoying the nice weather.  We tried to soak up as much time outside as we could.  Book Club was wonderful on Friday.  We've added a few new gals who are all great fits for our group.  On Saturday I took my Little Sister to the park.  I bought a ball and a Frisbee and we just played outside for a few hours.  Then we took Trooper to the dog park.  We went to a BBQ, but before we left my eyes had an allergic reaction.  It's happened to me a few times before, where I must get something in them and the sclera (whites) start to fill with fluid and turn red.  They look red and glazed and like the whites might explode.  Sounds delightful.  So I just take a Benadryl and put in some antihistamine drops.  Trooper has been doing great with his new medicine, hardly any itching, so Jim said, "Maybe you need Atopica."  Today Jim went golfing and I cleaned like a mad woman.  We are adjusting to us both working all week.  When he came home we took the Puppers to a park on a hike and stopped for ice cream on the way home.  Once the pup is cleaned we'll all be snug at home.  I'm making shrimp etouffee for dinner.  Ha, I just heard Jim said to Trooper, "You're a dirty dog, aren't you?" 

Happy Friday

Friday is upon us.  Tonight is my Book Club meeting.  We've moved to Friday night.  When you're a working gal you go to bed early during the week.  We wanted to have total, unspoiled book fun.  And to drink more wine.  I can't lie.  I made sliders to take, some of which are wrapped in bacon.  The sun has actually been out all day (big news for Eugene) and I'm hoping the sliders and sitting outside will make us feel like summer is upon us.  I'll have to dust off the flip flops for this weekend.
Jim is really enjoying his summer job.  It seems like a great fit for him.  We're still working out the kinks of transportation and puppy duty at lunch.  He walked to work the first two days, about a half hour each way.  Today he rode his bike.  I'm taking the car so that I can come home at lunch to check on Troopie Z.  Hopefully we'll figure out a good mix of biking/ driving/ dog letting outting soon. 
Tomorrow I am hanging out with my LS.  Next week we are going fishing as a group.  Should be fun!  She was recently given a cell phone, which has added an increase in her communication.  Ten seems a little young for a phone, but that's just me.  If we have children, I am going to pretend we're Amish when they're around.  Just kidding of course, but I don't know how parents handle technology.  Gah!

More Crafty Creations

Well, Jim is crafty at least.  Here's the forced "first day of work" picture I took as we were running out the door this morning.  It's mandatory.  

Here's my new yoga mat bag that I made!  Jim said it looked "un-yoga."  I took that as a compliment.  I used a pattern from a book I checked out at the library: Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.  One day I may add this book to my collection.  If you can see, there's even a small pocket on the side.