S'mores Cupcakes

Wow- it has been forever since I have done a baking post! I have done a bit of baking but not really for fun. The fact that I am finally able to bake for pleasure is a good sign for me. It means I finally feel settled enough to do something I enjoy and have enough space to make a mess.

I started receiving Bon Appetite magazine - it was free from Sur La Table so I thought "why not?" I didn't really think it would have much that would interest me but I got my first copy this month and pulled out three recipes. This was one of them so I thought I would try it out. They were a bit time consuming but well worth the effort. Here is the recipe.

Step One- Fill the graham cracker cupcake with marshmallow cream

Step Two- Cover top of cupcake with chocolate ganache

Step Three- Broil some marshmallow cream in the oven

Step Four- Assemble

Step Five- Fill the fridge with leftovers!

Dopler Under the Knife

Sorry for the delayed post but things have been a bit busy. I wrote a whole post at work one day and then discovered you can't copy and paste into Blogger on a PC (like you can on a Mac). Dopler had back surgery two weeks ago and I am pleased to let you know that he is recovering beautifully. He had surgery on a Wednesday - the vet said he found a large section of ruptured disk and was able to remove all of it and cut a small void to avoid an future issues at this site. We still don't know how the rupture happened - it seems like it might be a genetic issue which is very, very rare in Greyhounds. The vet said he was pleased with the surgery and was optimistic about recovery. We picked Dopler up the next evening and he was pretty excited to see us. He was able to walk and take care of business all alone which was great.

The day we brought him home

Judy arrived that evening to be Dopler's caretaker for the next week since the vet suggested 24 hour care for at least 4 days. Thursday night and Friday morning were rough since the pain meds were not as effective as he needed. He paced and cried for an hour and a half before his 5am meds but finally rested after that. I called the vet first thing that morning and we increased the pain meds which made Dopler much more comfortable. I was fearful for a few hours there he might have to go back to the vet for the stronger drugs- I am happy we were able to make him comfortable at home. He was slow to get up and down for a few days but was able to move around pretty well considering he just had a major surgery. By Monday he was really doing well and we were seeing improvement every day. We took the bandage off the incision 5 days after surgery and I was super impressed at how clean that was. He had 12 staples! We took him to the vet last Saturday to have them removed and although he was not pleased to be at the vet (poor thing) he took the removal like a champ.

The incision site today - healing so well but we don't know if he will ever re-grow the hair

Two weeks after surgery he is really doing great. We are trying to slow him down most days- he really wants to go for a walk and even play but that is not allowed for at least another two weeks when he goes back for his 4 week check up. We had been confining him to a bedroom during the day while we were gone- that lasted about 3 days. He decided to destroy a nightstand out of frustration. So now he has free reign again which has been fine. Due to our long hours at work and Dopler's condition we have decided to hire a dog walker to come every day around lunch to let him out and give him some company. He seems to be loving her! He has quickly become the most expensive thing in our house....

Just another Dopler related expense

A Long Two Weeks

We have been busy and life is going a lot of different directions so bear with me. Two weeks ago we purchased all new leather furniture for our living room since it was damaged in the move. It arrived last weekend and we are really happy with it- it took quite awhile to find something good. In addition we had some work done on the house - we were so relived to get it done since it took about 3 weeks to find a contractor willing to do the work. We had the built-in from the living room cut down from a large bookcase type thing to a shelf - which we topped with granite that matches the kitchen (and now the TV sits on it). We also painted the wall behind the shelf a deep brown. We painted the strange tomatoey-orange dining room a warm grey. We also needed our ceiling painted since someone accidentally put their foot through the drywall installing some new speakers in the living room. And for kicks we freshened all the paint in the main living area of the house while we were at it. The work took about 3 days and we are really happy with how it all turned out. Maybe I can do some pictures next week?

The chair in our new set (at the store)

It was good to have it all done since I started a new full time job on Tuesday of this past week! I am working for Plus One Health Management (which was the company that ran our gym when I worked at Marathon Oil) as a Wellness Specialist for Tulane University. The job works with the faculty/staff population wellness programs so I won't have much student interaction but so far it is going really well. The one downside is that the commute is about an hour each way...24 miles of which are over the longest bridge in the world. I may change my tune but the commute hasn't been as bad as I expected so far.

And now on to the not so good news- Dopler is sick again. He started acting strange two weeks ago when he wouldn't go upstairs or get on the couch. He cried out a few time while running and then last Monday he started limping a bit. I took him to the vet, the exam didn't showing anything so he was prescribed some pain meds and rest. By Tuesday afternoon Dopler was screaming in pain every time he stood up and wouldn't put his foot down. I called the vet and increased pain meds. By 6pm it was too much (for him and for us) so we took him to the emergency vet. He got the good drugs there, got an x-ray which was not really telling and stayed the night at the hospital. Next morning the surgeon suggested a CT scan and spinal tap (he thought it might be meningitis) which are both done under anesthesia. Thankfully the vet said he was in a lot less pain but he still needed another night at the hospital. Spinal tap came back normal, the vet thought the CT showed a ruptured disk but the radiologist said no so we had to wait for the second opinion. Meanwhile the vet said we could take Dopler home since he pain was under control. I was really nervous about bringing him home but when we arrived we found that Dopler seemed normal again, was in great spirits and showed no signs of pain. Friday the CT 2nd opinion came back as a severely ruptured disk at the base of the spine (first opinion was also amended- I think a radiologist had a "teachable moment"). So we have decided to do back surgery on Dopler. The surgeon feels he is a great candidate and we are crossing our fingers that he will recover really well. He will have surgery on Wednesday and spend 1-3 nights at the hospital. Jason's mom is coming to help us with Dopler during the first bit of recovery at home since we are not too sure what to expect. He will have 4 weeks of restricted space rest (thankfully it is not cage rest). It was a rough week with a lot of hard decisions but we are glad a diagnosis was made we just hope the course of action is the best for Dopler. Dopler is currently resting peacefully next to me after a hand fed breakfast of dry food and turkey baby food (since he is being picky again) and some pain killers. He has showed no really signs of pain and only a slight limp so we are hopeful surgery and recovery will be smooth.

Christmas

Robert and Judy arrived on Friday the week before Christmas to bring us Dopler and help with setting up the house. It was nice to have their help and spend some time with them. Dopler was excited to see the new house (and eventually us). He checked it all out and then found his pillow and was content. He has adjusted remarkably well to the new house and has continued to eat like a champ. We have our fingers crossed that he is all better.

The week before Christmas was filled with unpacking, cleaning, trips to Lowe's, grocery shopping and a lot of hard work by the men. Jason and his dad finished the media room the day before Christmas and it looks great. I will get some pictures up soon. The room has a huge screen and projector and it truly rivals going to a movie theater. They worked really hard to get it just right.

We decorated for Christmas but it was hard to get into the Christmas mood since it felt more important to get settled but we managed to finally get in the spirit.

The stockings by the fireplace- I got a super cool Advent calendar - I have been wanting one for two years!

Dopler's stocking had treats...

We discovered that Dopler had found this present sometime before Christmas (lucky he can read and it was for him already)

Dopler after opening his present

Jason in man heaven with his new drill

Of course some baking had to be done

From the beginning

Okay so I owe a couple of posts- lets see if I can get caught up. We closed on the house on December 8. We thought it was a bit weird that the previous owners were at the closing, but I guess that is how they do it here. Closing went well and we spent the next two days cleaning and painting. I was surprised how dirty the house was and was not too pleased with the amount of cleaning necessary. It makes me want to never clean a house when I move out again!(though I was raised better). We painted the largest guest room a nice blue color. The weekend after we closed we headed to New Orleans to spend the weekend with our friends celebrating Bekah's birthday- it was a good time (maybe a bit too much of a good time).

On Monday December 13 our furniture arrived. What an interesting day! When we left Norway one of our movers wore a "utility kilt" and our Louisiana movers all had gold teeth...see all the fun cultural differences? They were nice men and moved us in quickly. It was pretty hilarious to be asked where to put boxes from storage since I had no idea what was in most of them. We did have some troubles though. Our king size mattress that was stored in Houston for 2+ years was not wrapped and boxed properly so it was exposed to the elements for who knows how long and damaged. The bolts and support legs for our bed were nowhere to be found so it was a bit of a pain to not have a bed for a few days until the moving company sorted it out. In addition to that it turns out that our Norwegian movers used a plastic based product to wrap and protect our leather sofa and chairs. Well evidently leather and plastic coupled with temperature and humidity changes in a sea container don't mix. Thankful our moving company has been pretty good and has given us cash to replace our mattress and leather furniture. So we have a new mattress which is uber comfortable and new leather chairs and sofa on the way.

This is the worst of it but the whole sofa and both chairs had this pattern imprinted on them

I spent the next week unpacking. I knew it would be weird to unpack the boxes from storage since I hadn't seen that stuff in so long. It wasn't quite as bad as I expected but I did have a few surprises of things I didn't remember. I was pretty happy to see my KitchenAid mixer, rice cooker and a few other kitchen items. I have also found that the kitchen is a bit smaller then I am used to. I am using both my pantry and one guest bath linen closet for kitchen storage- lucky we have room there. The goal was to get as much unpacked and cleaned as possible before Dopler arrived with Robert and Judy on Friday!

Bringing it to a close

I know I know I owe a post on how things are going here with the house and move etc. But I don't have any pictures since they are all on Jason's camera and I can't find my cable to transfer photos! But in a nutshell things are moving along- we have had a few hiccups but overall things are good. Christmas was very nice and we are enjoying the house. I will post more details later.

I thought I would recap 2010 though since it has been quite a year.

It was the year of the never ending winter and record cold temperatures in Norway

We saw the Northern Lights

I had a great trip to New York to see Brandi, Chris and Austin

I got the opportunity to see Copenhagen (and assist with a school trip)

We had an amazing 10 days in Italy with Chris

We said goodbye to a friend who holds a big piece of our hearts

We had a relaxing trip to Egypt

We had one last Norwegian adventure

We packed up our lives in Norway and returned to Houston

I got to spend some time in California catching up with family and see some beautiful sites

We had an amazing weekend at the Texas State Fair with some great friends

We tried to enjoy all the perks of living in a big city

Then we moved to Covington (pictures to come) and are excited for what the next chapter of life will bring! Happy New Year!

First Impressions

We moved out of the apartment in Houston last Tuesday and then spent Thanksgiving weekend with Robert and Judy. It was a nice relaxing weekend - Dopler enjoyed having us all together and getting some turkey. Tuesday we left behind being "Texans" and drove to Louisiana to become "Louisianians". It was very strange to think that this is now home. We are staying at a very nice Residence Inn until we close on the house (12/8) and get furniture (12/13). The hotel is within walking distance of Jason's office (and seems to be home to a lot of roughnecks) but the best part is they offer the traditional free breakfast AND free dinner! Pretty cool.

We haven't been here long but as usual I have a few observations already. So here are they are:

• The State Troopers are everywhere and seem to love to pull people over (and gun in ridiculous spots like the clover leaf off ramps where you can't see them). And no we haven't been pulled over :)
• There is lots of fun Cajun and french words and signs to try to sound out- my favorite so far is the river in town named Tchefuncte
• The grocery store is filled with 100's of choices for frying oil, fish fry coating, Cajun spices and a whole section for roux but they only carry 3 types of refried beans on a bottom shelf (one of those types is the store brand)
• They have roads called "frontage" roads - now I am used to this concept since Texas loves frontage roads. But I have already gotten lost since these so called frontage roads aren't quite the same since they ohh don't run along the frontage of the highway!
• You can buy LSU and Saints items anywhere! Grocery stores, gas stations, Home Depot, restaurants - literally anywhere. You can get Saints plastic forks at the grocery store but no vegetarian refried beans
• New Orleans is kinda scary (we don't live there- we live on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain). The news this morning reported 4 murders overnight in the city. New Orleans metro area is about 1.2 million and seems to have the highest murder rate in the US.

We are looking forward to getting into the house and getting to learn more about the area!