Friday bullets, Oct. 27, 2017

Because it's been that kind of week, I am sneaking under the wire with these.

• B. now has a car. We found it and bought it while he was here last weekend. After several misadventures with the battery, and a safety check (and a little more money) at the mechanic, he now has a reasonably decent car. This is good because I was not looking forward to worrying about him in the winter driving around on his scooter. I don't think he was looking forward to driving around on his scooter, either.
• Does anyone else think that food prices have gone up significantly in the past few months? Please say yes, because otherwise it means my grocery shopping skills are slipping.
• There was a dead mouse on the kitchen floor this morning. In my book, a dead mouse is far preferable to a live one. There was also a small window between the time J. left for work and the next person entered the kitchen in which it could have arrived. Our best guess is that this was a gift from Nefertiti. The past two days she has been lying and staring under the stove. I think the mouse was under there somehow and that she finally caught it. It doesn't seem to matter that she doesn't have her front claws. She's that kind of cat. Personally, I'm thrilled to have a cat who is a good mouser. We've had various instances in other houses where we had issues with mice, and this makes me very happy. D. wasn't quite so happy when I asked him to dispose of the mouse, though.
• We promised TM that when we moved to a place with more land, that we would get him a husky. Well, here we are with more land. As a result, we have now sent in our deposit to a breeder to reserve a puppy due to be born sometime next year. (Don't get started with breeder vs. rescue, please. We've had our share of rescue animals, but I also do a lot of research. With our current population of children and animals, the whole thing is going to work much better if we start with a husky puppy instead of a husky rescue. And yes, the breed in this case is very important.) 
• We have now talked R. out of seizures multiple times. If we can get her breathing deeply and look around and notice where she is, and that nothing scary is happening, she can now calm down and the seizure aura (or whatever it is) will go away. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The brain is weird.
• It's a good day at the thrift store when you find 16 new in the box glasses for $6. That's just thirty or so cents a glass. Glasses have a short life expectancy around here, and I don't like to spend more than fifty cents per glass, or maybe as high as a dollar if it's really nice.
• The newest game from the master of play involves bedtime. Recently, I have to be sure to get into their bedrooms in time, because it seems they are sleeping in some sort of space sleep pod that leave to head to the sleepy-time planet. If I don't get there in time, then I will miss saying good-night because they will have already blasted off. Usually I have to help L. adjust her invisible helmet when I kiss her good-night.
• A. is still looking for a vet she likes. (I'm more than happy to let her do the leg work on this set of doctors.) It seems when you are 19 and have a Great Dane puppy, it is difficult to get vets to take you seriously. The first vet completely dismissed A.'s questions she had from the research she had done. The second vet told A. that there was no way she could socialize or train Olive herself and that she needed to get help. I've trained dogs, she is doing just fine. I can bet you a lot of money that if it were I, the not-so- soft-spoken-51-year-old, who had brought in the dog, it would have been a far different conversation. I bet if I had just been in the office with A., the conversation would have been very different. 
• A. also informs me that I have yet to do Olive's 5 month update... because people are waiting to hear. Olive is a smaller Great Dane, at currently 48 pounds. She is now officially taller than Kenzie, though she still tries to walk underneath him. She's a pretty good puppy. I am also supposed to tell everyone that she knows how to shake now. And that she has nearly 200 Instagram followers. Can you tell that A. is just a little smitten with her?

• K. had an orthodontist appointment this week. (Sorry Chicago friends, we were just in and out.) We are now on the train to have his bone graft done after the holidays. Sigh.
• I kind of made up a new dish tonight for dinner, mainly because I never got it in the crockpot this morning. So, I figured I could do it on the stove top, and ended up tweaking it a bit. Do you want the recipe? It was one that everyone ate. Remember I'm giving you the amounts for 12 people, reduce as necessary, or just make it as is, and freeze the rest. That's what I would recommend.

Pepper Steak

Some round steak, sliced thinly (I think I used about a pound)

Green peppers, chopped (I used 3)

1 onion, chopped

Tomatoes, sliced (I used four)

Brown the steak in a little bit of olive oil in a large frying pan. Remove and set aside. Wipe out pan, and heat a little more olive oil. Saute the peppers and onions until they begin to brown. Put in the following for the sauce.

3/4 to 1 C. of soy sauce (use more if you like things a bit saucier)

1-2 tsp sugar

1-2 tsp salt

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

1-2 tsp ground ginger

some pepper

Stir well. Add the steak back in as well as the tomatoes. Simmer until sauce has thickened a bit. Serve over egg noodles.

Enjoy!