Goodbye, Big Dawg

We received the sad news today that my parents had to put our Big Dawg to sleep. The vet was pretty sure she had a brain tumor based on her issues. She was almost 15 years old, which is pretty ancient for a Husky.

My favorite memories:
... when we brought her home as a pup, she was only 5 pounds, all ears and big, beautiful blue eyes

... her standing on top of snowbanks in upstate New York, surveying her "domain" like she was Queen of the North

... teaching her to lick my nose when I said "besame" (Spanish for "kiss me")

... her and my cat conspiring to steal my plate full of mac & cheese

... her and my cat working together to kill cockroaches in Mississippi

We love you, Big Dawg, and we will miss you! I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of this beautiful girl, but they are all pre-digital.

Finally!!

We've been waiting all season for a fun dance routine and here it is:

Kristi & Mark do the Cha Cha Cha:


Mark is my favorite of the professional dancers on the show. He always looks like he's having the time of his life and I love the expressions he gets on his face!

Our Favorite DWTS dances!!

Bean and I are huge fans of Dancing with the Stars. While we are enjoying this season a lot, we haven't seen anything that beats these dances for our all-time favorites:

Joey Fatone & Kym do the Jive:


Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne do the Samba:


Enjoy!

How to make an Apple Pie

My friend Krissie invited Bean over for a pie-crust making lesson. You have to know the back story, though. When I was about Bean's age, I told my mom (Hi, Mamma!) that I didn't like her pie crust because it was too flakey. No one ever told me that flakey was a goal in pie crusts!! Well, she's never *quite* forgiven me for that and so my pie crust skills involve getting one pre-made from the grocery store. Bean, being the dedicated baker she is, wanted to know how to make a *real* pie crust and, since Krissie knows how, let the baking begin!

What do you mean, "Roll it out flat and even?"

I'm getting the hang of this now!

Getting the crust into the pie plate proves to be a little tricky!

Sarah is wondering how much butter Bean plans to put on top of those apples.

Cleaning up after yourself is a VERY important part of this lesson.

Looking, and smelling, good!

A yummy and happy, smiley pie!!!

Excuse me, but my calendar says "April"!!!

Woke up this morning to find this:

For heaven's sake!! It's supposed to be 90 degrees in San Antonio today! Maybe it's time to move home?

Nah.

Silly girl + Camera + April Fool's Day = ??

Here's what you get when you combine a silly Bean and a camera with a timer on April 1st: