Party Donations

Rufus' 5th birthday is just around the corner. I still can't believe it.
Anyone that knows Rufus, knows he has everything he could ever need or want and we would like to take the opportunity for this year's party to give to those in need.

There are many local rescue shelters which we donate to often, however, for Rufus' birthday we would like to spotlight one that is close to our family, even though it's over 400 miles from our home.

Carolina Poodle Rescue http://www.carolinapoodlerescue.org/
Although poodle is in their name, up at their Dreamweaver Farms rescue they have all sorts of different dogs and even horses. We first came to know of this wonderful place through my mother in law who is an active volunteer with them (yes 400+ miles away!).
2006 was - the start of Dreamweaver Farms and Rufus was born. They both turn 5 this year!

I don't think it's a coincidence that their initials CPR are also the acronym for a life saving action. CPR rescues animals that have been abused, abandoned or neglected. Some from breeders that don't see the value in their breeding poodle any longer. Some that have spent their entire life in a crate just to be let out to breed. Some that have just been found wandering the street. They all find a home at Dreamweaver Farms. Then comes the adoption process.

When we decided to get a poodle from Rufus' breeder, we thought it was us doing the prospecting. Even more, his breeder Tes interviewed us and made sure that our potential puppy would be going to a safe, caring home. CPR also has a thorough homing process. They check the people, homes and in most cases, the people are encouraged to come to the farm to meet the poodle face to face. Sometimes after picking a dog online, you meet them in person and it's not the right fit, but there's another dog there that you meet while you're there and it's just a fit.

To check out some great stories of adoptions, check out their site http://www.carolinapoodlerescue.org/happyTails.shtml

As with most rescue organizations, monetary donations go the furthest. Some items that are currently in need are:

Paper, pens, and dual pocket folders
Bleach, paper towels and toilet paper
Snap together adjustable collars for very tiny size (need mostly tiny) up to large
Sturdy dog tennis balls (No stuffed or squeaky toys)

If you would like to give a general donations and specify what the donation is for, you can do that. If you don't specify, the farm will get whatever the greatest need is at the time.
You can donate easily at http://carolinapoodlerescue.org/giving.shtml

Let's all get together and help these dogs. We think we're rescuing these dogs, but really, they're rescuing our hearts.

We are blessed to be able to get together, celebrate Rufus' birthday and bless CPR all at the same time. Thank you for your help and hope to see you at Rufus' party 07/30/11!

Doggy treat recipes from Rufus' 3rd birthday

On July 26th Rufus turned 3. I still can't believe it! Of course we had a birthday party :) We technically can celebrate his birthday on both the 25th and 26th because of the time he was born (if you missed that story, check it out here).

This year's theme was Hawaiian island. We had all sorts of leis and luau food for the people including DH's special smoked pulled pork, a tropical chicken salad and pineapple upside down cupcakes for the people. Everyone loved it all. We ended up with 20 people and about 15 dogs. Of course I didn't get any photos of the treats, I barely got to taste any of the food! Will work on that for the next party. Photos from the party will be up soon!

With the price of store bought treats and the questioning of ingredients, I love to bake treats for Rufus at home. We used to have a great doggy bakery in town, where we got his 1st bday cake, but they've since moved. For Ruf's birthday this year, we had a nice array of easy treats. I love easy treat recipes, ones with all natural ingredients that can be found in most pantries. And I wouldn't give my dog anything to eat that I wouldn't eat (or at least try) myself.
I've had a lot of requests for this 1st recipe. It's from a dog cookbook titled 'Cooking the Three Dog Bakery Way' by Mark Beckloff and Dan Dye which was actually a gift from my aunt for Ruf's 2nd birthday.
Here's a photo my MIL took while we were singing Happy Birthday to Ruf with the candle on his pupcake

It says it makes (2) 8 inch cakes, but I made cupcakes (or pupcakes) and it made about 12 total. (I made 2 batches, recipe below is for 12 pupcakes or 2 8 inch cakes)

PAWSHAKE CAKE
(2) cups whole wheat flour
(2) teaspoons baking powder
(1/2) cup honey
(1/3) cup unsalted peanut butter (I used chunky)
(1) large egg
(1) cup skim milk
(1/4) cup chopped unsalted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Spray baking pans with nonstick vegetable spray and dust with flour (or insert cupcake liners).
Stir together flour and baking powder and set aside.
In large bowl, cream together the honey and peanut butter with an electric mixer or wooden spoon.
Beat in the egg and milk.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
Pour the batter in the cake or cup cake pans (about 1/3 way full if making cup cakes).
Sprinkle the top with peanuts.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the top comes out clean.Cook to room temperature.
Store in airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrap well and freeze for up to 2 months (thaw before serving).

Can be frosted with this frosting (we skipped it for the party, may be too messy for 20 or so dogs at once!)
(1) 8 oz. package low-fat cream cheese, softened
(3) tablespoons carob powder (usually found at health food stores)
(1) tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

Another great and easy treat we had was dehydrated sweet potatoes. You can make them in a dehydrator, but I've found it easier to make in the oven. Preheat oven to 250 deg F. Wash and peel sweet potatoes, microwave for a minute or two to soften, slice approx. 1/4-1/3 inch thick slices, arrange single layer on cookie sheet, bake for about 2-3 hours, or a little longer for crunchier treats, checking often to make sure they're not burning.

We also had these two types of treats which came from this website. I loved that I could just throw everything together in my Kitchenaid mixer!

Chunky Peanut Butter Molasses Cookies
4 cups whole wheat flour2 cups oatmeal
½ - ¾ cup chunky peanut butter
2½ cups hot water2 Tbs molasses
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).
Mix all ingredients together, adding more hot water if dough is too sticky. Knead well. Roll out to ¼" and cut into shapes with cookie cutter (I used a dog bone shaped cutter, may want to roll out a little thicker than 1/4 inch so they bake up a little thicker, some of our thin ones burnt). Bake on greased cookie sheet for 40 minutes (or until lightly browned). Turn off heat and let cool in oven overnight (we skipped this too, baked them the day of the party, they cooled for 6 or so hours on racks).

Savory Peanut Butter Biscuits with Cheese
1 cup flour
½ cup milk
2 Tbs peanut butter
2 Tbs grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp baking powder (I forgot to add this and they came out like discs, but everyone still loved them!)
1 egg white
1 Tbs chicken broth
Directions: Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C). Mix flour and milk until lumpy. Add Peanut butter and chicken broth. Mix parmesan cheese with first four ingredients. Add egg white. Mix well or until it has the consistency of pancake batter. Add baking powder. Pour onto cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray, in 3-inch diameter blobs. Cook until golden brown. Serve cool.

More treat recipes to come in future posts. For now, happy baking!

Ready for the weekend!

My original goal was daily blogs M-Th, but since I haven't really been active since, gosh, March, my new goal is weekly blogs. I think I can handle that. Today's a short one though.

Cubs game tonight! Enjoy some photos from our last game. We won't see fireworks tonight, since that's a Saturday night special. Tonight's promo is Geovany Soto Bobblehead Giveaway (1,000): Presented by Daniel Legal & Fantastic Fridays, Ladies Night & Kids run the bases post game.

Off to the game! Have a great weekend :)

Weekend recap

Quick post today - I love that it's lighter later now - DH and I just got back in from gardening. Pics and details on that later, let's get you caught up on some of this past weekend.

Friday night was pretty quiet. I think we watched some race on TV, which means I went to bed early :)
Saturday early morning DH and I went and picked up my MIL and one of her pups Clancy and went down to the ribbon cutting ceremony for the New Smyrna Beach boardwalk. The event was sponsored by Southeast Volusia County Humane Society, Friends of Smyrna Dunes Park, the Obedience Club, Chris' Critter Sitters , and others. This officially opened the boardwalk back up to dogs (leashed dogs that is). Aside from the ribbon cutting, there were demonstrations of obedience and pet first aid. DH and I are interested in the 6-8 hour Pet Tech First Aid class - it covers a lot of good information.

I'll fill you in on the rest of the weekend tomorrow. For now, enjoy some pics from Saturday morning - as you can see, the weather was perfect. And make sure to check out flickr for more pics (and a couple videos) from the day.

Boardwalk ribbon cutting ceremony

The pretty (and long!) boardwalk

My 2 boys - DH + Rufus (in the background is Disappearing Island where DH proposed to me!)
And everyone enjoyed the water, here's Beans and Clancy
Yes, I said everyone - even Rufus!

Another cold day in March

Brr - it's still cold here! And it's not supposed to get out of the mid-60s tomorrow. This morning I had a materials meeting out at the Daytona airport for the VMA, the Volusia Manufacturer's Association about ICC regs, mostly terms and conditions. It was pretty informative and had a pretty good turnout. But then I had to endure Bike Week traffic out on ISB - not fun.
This is what's coming up for dinner - warm and spicy food should help us keep warm inside! It's fresh Florida shrimp seasoned with cayanne, paprika, EVOO, salt, garlic and lemon and then can either be grilled or broiled. Normally, I would let DH cook this on the grill, but it's too darn cold out there, so it's into the broiler for a few minutes on this one. I'm serving it with steamed rice and veggies for a simple weeknight dinner.

Today was Rainbow Tuesday at Debbie's Health Foods, one of our local health stores, that meant 20% off every regularly priced item. I got a supply of fruit and nut bars, dried pineapple and dried papaya and of course the BEST potato millet bread which is made fresh from a bakery in a neighboring town.

I have GOT to do some posts about our CA trip before it's time for our next vacation! Hopefully I can get some good posts drafted this weekend.

Pavilion at Port Orange

Looks like our little town is moving up in the world. Construction is going strong on the new Pavilion at Port Orange. The part I'm most excited about is the 14 screen Hollywood Theatres. We have to drive about 30 minutes to go to the newest theatre in town and it's over on beachside in the heart of the tourist district. Needless to say, I think it's been over 1 year since DH and I have gone out to see a movie here in town.

I love the look of the new Pavilion, reminds me of the outdoor malls in California and even Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. Looks like they've edited the list of shoppes and restaurants coming to the new Pavilion at Port Orange in the fall (it's the new shopping center on Williamson near the Taylor Rd. Publix here in PO).
Circuit City and Barnes and Noble are off the rendering now. Although this article from just last month show Barnes and Noble signed a lease for the spot. The article also says the store will open March of 2009 which I see as impossible. They also say they'll have Starbucks which will be welcome since the only other Starbucks is in our Target.
Belk fashion department store will be the big anchor store, along with junior anchors Michaels, Marshalls and Home goods. A national pet store is also in the plan, 1 place says Petsmart , another shows Petco .

Now also on the list:

Shops: ATT store, David's Bridal, GNC, Lee Nail Spa, Rack Room Shoes, Sunglass World, and Visionworks

And food: Alfredo's Restaurant, Cold Stone Creamery, Olive Garden, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Red Brick Pizza , Red Robin Gourmet Burgers,
From their press release The Pavilion at Port Orange will offer customers a unique shopping experience with Main Street style architecture, two-story themed buildings and extensive landscaping in an open-air pedestrian-friendly environment. A focal point of the development will be a seven-acre lake surrounded by numerous upscale sit-down restaurants overlooking the water. The center will also feature a community pavilion along the lake that will serve as a gathering place for residents and tourists and a covered children’s soft play area. Curbside parking will provide customers with easy and convenient access to the shops.

New Partylite product!

Last night was the reveal of Partylite's new Spring/Summer products and catalog. Although the party lasted for nearly 4 hours, we all had a great time at the Regional meeting. The new summer catalog is in addition to the current Winter/Spring catalog - I'm not sure when the new products can be bought, maybe March 1?
And of course they had Quarter Auction - my mom and I won so many things! I'll probably be having my next Partylite show in April or May - I'm excited!
So here's some snapshots from the new catalog:
New Spring/Summer Partylite products! The candles on this page are like little sorbet scoops - so cute! If you want to view the pics close up, check out my flickr page Partylite folder, and choose all sizes. New scents: Pineapple Coconut, Mango Ginger, Passion Fruit and Papaya. Yum, Yum and YUM! Love the bright colors, perfect for summer.

New Iced Tea Fragrances - Iced White Pear Tea, Iced Green Lime Tea, Iced Red Raspberry Tea - and the jars can be used as drinking glasses! And new print,

I love the linear lights set on the left page - perfect for a summer outdoor party. On the right, neutral colored candle refills in several scents - what a great idea! And mini-reed diffusers. New scent, Citrus Bloom Citronella.

This is one of my favorite pieces - the photos don't do it justice. They took down the new product display before I had a chance to check it out up close and personal, but even from a distance, it's breathtaking.

Weekend recap

Friday was Uncle Nick's memorial service. It was a nice service full of good memories of times with Nick. The service was at my FIL's church Seventh Day Baptist Church of Daytona Beach. The church building has been around since the early 1900s, but the chuch itself started in Daytona in 1884! It's a beautiful little church with tons of character, from the wooden floors to the stained glass to the aged pews. After the service, Nick's ashes were released into the Halifax River near the Orange Ave. brige, one of his favorite old fishing holes. A reception was held at one of his brother's houses in South Daytona.

After the memorial, DH and I went home and watched The Mummy 3: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I'll call it entertaining. No where near as good as the first 2, but I stayed awake and that usually means something. Brendan Fraser was back as Rick O'Connell, but instead of the great Rachel Wiesz as his wife, a new lady was cast, Maria Bello, who was ok, but has done better work. Jet Li was the Emperor, and he was ok too.

Saturday DH and I did some work around the house, went to lunch with his mom and step-dad and then ran some errands. Rufus had a playdate at my MIL's in the afternoon and then we stopped at the new ice cream shop Neighbors for doggy day around 6pm. Ruf approves of their ice cream, but we still prefer Ritter's for dog night as Neighbors had limited outside area for all the pups.
Sunday was the finale of Winterjam with the Volkswagon show in Port Orange around the City Center lake. DH and I went over around noon and there were already a ton of people and MANY cars and vans around the lake. The weather couldn't have been better. And get this - they had food as usual, but Hooters was there! So nice to have their wings and not have to drive across town for them. We met a big black stnd poodle named Willy and I wished I had brought Rufus. But then after walking around with all the people, I was glad he had stayed home - it would have been too much for him. Here are a few photos of the day, taken from my camera phone which has pretty good photo quality in daylight.

Speedweeks

Well, the headaches are finally gone and I've got some blogging to catch up on! We've still got plenty of CA vacation photos to go through, so let's start with a weekend recap. Last week was speedweeks here in Daytona. The crowds weren't as big as in past years, most say due to the economy even though the Speedway reduced the 500 tickets to $55/pp, which, for the biggest race of the year, is usually a pretty good deal. They didn't reduce the tickets to the other races though, which would have been nice becuase DH and I enjoy going to the truck races. So Friday was the truck race, Camping World is now the sponsor I think. It was broadcast on Speed TV, which our cable providor Brighthouse still doesn't broadcast in HD (grr). As if being broadcast in 'regular' format wasn't bad enough, Speed TV's coverage is terrible. Let me tell you that probably around 1/3 to 1/2 of the laps weren't broadcast. They always go to commercial when green is on - why not when there's a caution, which there were 6 of that night. They've also got some strange new rule regarding pit stops for the truck series - it's tire or gas, not both. Yes, if the drivers need both, they must get one, do a lap and stop back and get the other. Why?? I don't know, it's just another way for Nascar to regulate the event. Todd Bodine, who doesn't have a major sponsor, won the race, the first repeat winner in the event’s 10-year history. Saturday was Valentine's day, and I'll do a seperate post about that later, but was also the Gatorade Duel races, 150-mile races, and serves as a qualifying race for the Daytona 500 . I didn't watch these races, but DH did. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch won the Duels this year.
Sunday brought the 51st running of the Daytona 500 (200-lap, 500 miles). I didn't watch this one either, but from Wikipedia, was called on account of rain with 48 laps remaining. The leader at the time of the red flag, Matt Kenseth, was declared named the winner, his first Daytona 500 win in his ten attempts and the first win for Roush Fenway Racing. Even though the race did not run the full 200 laps, it is a full race as NASCAR rules state that any event can be ruled a complete race once the halfway point plus one lap is reached; in this case, it is 101 laps or 265.5 miles. Next year's race is on Feb. 14.

Short post

This one's going to be short. I haven't had a chance to take pics of our gardening progress, so no pics in this one.

I've got a meeting to go to shortly - it's our local Relay for Life Kickoff event. The relay iteself isn't until May 1, 2009, but we've got to start planning the event and raising money for cancer research.
This year's (well, next year) opening ceremony starts Friday May 1 at 5:30pm at the Port Orange City Center. The relay continues through the night (rain or shine) until 8:00am Satuday morning.

And that's it for today. Short and sweet.