All Those Children Getting Kidnapped.....

I love dogs. Every few years I get a real itch to add one to my family (I do feel a little trashy admitting that after reading one of Jessica Crapos latest posts - I guess it would mean an end to taking food to neighbors. ;). The last time I started seriously looking into a dog we ended up getting Max. Technically I had a dog until a couple months ago. I adopted a great little Black Lab named Maggie from the pound when I was 19. She replaced a lousy boyfriend. She was the perfect dog: mild, affectionate, a good leash walker, pretty. She did have one little problem. She liked to step in her poop. Most dogs have a natural aversion to their own waste, somehow Maggie was missing that. Anyway, she would step in her poop and then when she was excited to see you she would jump......enough said I guess. Maggie stayed with my parents when I got married, and she died a couple months ago when I was home over Thanksgiving. Anyway, this post isn't really about Maggie. It's about me wanting a dog right now. So, I've been preparing as well as I can - I've been reading some books by the "Dog Whisperer" Ceasar Millan. They are the best parenting books I have EVER read. I'll probably do another post about that sometime. So, I decided to start checking out dogs and the kids and I went to an "adoption" at Petsmart the other day. The woman who was in charge starting talking to me. She was passionate about the dog rescue work she does. She told me how long she'd been involved, how many dogs she had rescued, and a few stories about particularly interesting cases. Then she began telling me about how good it is for families and children to have canine companions. Her main point was safety and protection. "A dog is better than a gun," she said. Then she moved very close to me, so our shoulders were touching, leaned her head in so that our heads were nearly touching, covered her mouth with her hand and lowered her voice (we were in Petmart remember). She said "I've done some research. You know all those kids in California and Texas and......that keep getting kidnapped. ALL of their families had CATS!!" It was all I could do to keep my face as serious as her, and solemnly whisper "oh." There you have it - if every family had a dog there would be no more missing kids.

As a note, I wish not to offend cat lovers, if you like 'em, good for you.

Here's a couple examples that lead me to believe that show me my kids would do just fine with a pet.

Milking a Cow

Riding a Pig
Hugging a Bear
Riding a Horse

"He Cooks.....He Microwaves"

I love that my daughter never ceases to amuse me. She's been really into cooking lately - using works like chef, and cook, and all things related. It started when her dad jokingly told her she could work at McDonalds when she grew up. She was really excited by that possibility. So today during lunch she was talking about being a chef, and the following conversation took place between us:

"I love the food dad cooks."

"Dad cooks food?" He doesn't. Ever.

"Yea, he's the best chef."

"Really, what does he cook?"

"He cooks.....(thinking, thinking).......he microwaves!"

"He microwaves? What does he microwave?"

"Chinese."

"Oh, like the Chinese we get at a restaurant and bring home?"

"Yea, it's sooooo good."

I'm just glad she likes it.

Since I'm on this topic of food, particularly Chinese food - yesterday Quincy helped me make this recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken (and that's what we were eating during this conversation). It's really good. My mom thinks it's really easy - I think it takes a while but it's worth it.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

4-8 chicken breasts - boneless, skinless (I've tried 3 and 7, and think that 5 would probably be perfect).

1 beaten egg

cornstarch

oil

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

1 cup vinegar

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Dip them in egg to coat. Dip them in cornstarch to coat. Cook them in a small about of oil until light tan ( ;) TerriLyn). Place them in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix all the rest of the ingredients together - sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. Pour the sauce over the chicken and stir a little.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes.

Here's a pictures of The Girl helping me, I was kind of surprised, I would never touch raw meat until I got married and was forced into it.

I realize now that I am cementing the fact that this post is a jumble of only loosely related things. Oh, well, it's my blog, I can do that. Some day Quincy will love reading all these things about herself - I hope. Anyway, she said something today that reminded me of my dad. When I was a teenager, he referred to me as an "aggressive" driver. That's law enforcement man talk for someone who goes through tires and brakes quickly. I wasn't really aggressive as in mean, or road rage. I just liked to let my car exercise. I have received alot of tickets though. I've become of big fan of cruise control, but I call it ticket control. As a side note - sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't get out of a ticket by saying you are hurrying to the next bathroom - I think you have to have beads of sweat on your forehead to get away with it - so keep a spray bottle close. I think I have only received one ticket in the last four years (I've been a mom for four years too, that's probably why). Anyway, my dad became pretty good natured in his heckling me. One day I pulled into my parking spot while he was outside. He said something like "Were you just parking a car, or landing a jet?" That always makes me smile. Yesterday I was getting the kids in the car and after I buckled Quincy in, and while I was buckling myself she said out of the blue "Ready for takeoff!" Funny girl.