I have a ring. My old wedding ring was stolen, so this is very nice. It’s a simple white gold band that goes well with my other jewelry. No blood diamonds. Greg surprised me with it during a nice dinner at Annie Pasta’s. And it was a nice dinner, indeed. We got two desserts–creme brulee and tiramisu. The desserts were so good I can hardly remember the garlic chicken I ate for dinner. This was the most romantic I’ve ever seen Greg, and I’ll always remember that night.

Sage and I continue to walk. I love how this path looked in the afternoon light. We have made a decision in our home to get rid of all video games. We are selling them, and will put the money towards bike stuff instead. Sage is getting a new bike, probably this Gary Fisher Mako. He is really taking off–he reads novels in the tub and writes stories for fun. I know for a fact this wouldn’t be happening if we had continued with public school. The one thing that is bugging me is that I do want more community with other homeschoolers. The only group here is very religious, and I finally decided to give it a try, although it is difficult to imagine ever fitting in. I’m telling myself to keep an open mind at the same time I seem to be telling myself that the people in the group probably don’t. Surprisingly, Greg encouraged me to join. I guess we will just see. At least I’m married now. Cohabitators are forbidden membership. Sigh. Seriously? I would try to talk Greg into moving back to Austin if it weren’t for family/Greg’s job here.

I took Sage to see a production of Nate the Great. We got there early, and while we were waiting, we checked out an exhibition of student work. I saw some geodes, and forgetting I was in an art gallery, exclaimed, “Check these out, Sage! It looks like they have little monopoly houses in them!” He told me that they did, indeed, and I argued that it couldn’t possibly be the case until I read the plaque on the wall and realized that yes, these were very well done “geodes” with monopoly houses inside. Talented guy. Silly mommy.

Oh, I almost forgot! Sola, aka Mocha, was taken home by her owner. The poor lady had called the shelter and they hadn’t hung up the flyer I sent or made any record of my call. She saw one of our flyers around the neighborhood, thank goodness. So everyone is happy now, because really? Three dogs was too many.

Yesterday, Sage and I took the two dogs for a walk around the soccer field, and a dog followed us for a mile and a half, even though I tried to make it leave, since Wile E. was acting crazy. At the end of our walk, we went to get in the car, and the dog hopped right in.

She is a real sweetheart, and has obviously been someone’s pet. Sage and I posted flyers all over the neighborhood, emailed one to the animal shelter and put a posting on Craigslist. So far, we have heard from no one. I can’t believe the owner wouldn’t have called the shelter by now!

We are all in love with her. Sage named her Sola, which seems fitting. He knows that we may not get to keep her. The last thing I wanted was another dog. Wile E. has been delighted, because Sola likes to play with him, whereas Salsa and the cats are really not interested. So now we (maybe) have five animals. It is starting to feel like a zoo. I made Sage promise me that he would go with the walks on me instead of riding his bike around so that I wouldn’t have to walk three dogs at once. He, unlike many other kids I hear about, does a good job of taking care of the dogs we have, so I do trust him to take on additional responsibility.

You know, I think we’re officially “dog people.” My cat, Varmint, is not pleased. And Gordon won’t even come in the house, although she’ll come around.

That’s Sola up ahead.

What a pretty face!

This is the “boring” part of the trail, but I love the railroad tracks.

Oh, and Greg and I are tying the knot this Saturday.

For the longest time, I’ve had myself tightly packed away in a pretty small box. The ultimate box of agor aside, I’ve come to realize that the whole routine of going to work, coming home and staying home was not working for me. Duh! Now that I have a flexible schedule, I’m having a great time. Sage and I walk or bike the trail every day. I can’t tell you what a big deal this is for me. The entire time I have lived here I have not hiked the trail. The agor would kick in and I’d feel like I couldn’t breathe, nevermind walk. I’ve consciously decided that I’m letting myself out of the box. The first time I pedaled my bike through those woods, I definitely had an anxiety attack. I told myself that it was no big deal and kept going. I haven’t had one since.

Every day, I take pictures of things I notice on the trail. I feel like I’ve spent so much time not noticing.

This is the first part of the final leg of the trail.

Sage and I both thought this stump looked like a big frog.

The beginning of the trail (from my side of town) has mud galore. I am glad that I have an old minvan for muddy dogs and bikes right now.

I wonder who lives here?

I’m pretty sure that you’ll see photos from more trips–on the trail, to cities, wherever–on here in the future.

Oh, and a miracle has happened. We have left Wile E. alone for an hour in the house three times now without any destruction occurring. Turns out that walking a half mile and then letting him run around freely wasn’t getting his yayas out. Walking at least two miles everyday on the leash at a good clip does. He’s a whole different animal.

Sage and I have been going on the trails a lot lately. Today, we took the dogs and walked three miles. I parked my car in the middle of where we were walking so we could double back if Salsa started limping, but for the first time in forever, she didn’t! So we had an awesome walk.

The trail goes under several bridges. We saw this graffiti, which cracked me up, especially the little heart dotting the “i”.

Another part of the trail has a much better view.

Tonight, I am removing the back seat from the car so that we can fit our bikes in there. Tomorrow, we are going to bike most of the trail, leaving out the muddy part. Then I am going to have to find it in me to still take the dogs for a walk. So far, my favorite part of homeschooling has turned out to be PE. Between the dogs and Sage, I’m sure I’ll end up getting in shape this year!

I just finished reading this great book, called The Daily Coyote. I loved the story of the free-spirited woman who ended up adopting a baby coyote and raising it. I’m somewhat convinced, after reading the entire book, that I heard wrong when I adopted Wile E. Perhaps they said German Shepard and Coydog, not Cowdog? Looking at the many photos in the book, I have to wonder. His behavior is so similar to the coyote’s as well. Or perhaps that’s just dogs. Salsa has always been a bit of an anomaly as far as dogs go, so I don’t think I’ve really learned all that much about dogs in general. Anyway, check out The Daily Coyote blog.

Other highlights of the day:

The cat looked in the bathroom, saw that her favorite potty, The Bathroom Rug, was hung up and went on the hall carpet instead. She refuses to use the litter box because her nemisis uses it, and she doesn’t want to go outside because it’s too cold. Big baby.

We baked brownies and took them to Greg’s shop today. I am proud of myself for only eating half of one.

The computer connector thingy is broken and will cost $100 to fix and replace.

And, we are about to head off to piano lessons in a minute.

For Zay who paid me the compliment of asking for my chili recipe last night.

This chili was made on the spot, as the gourmet vegetarian three-bean chili I was attempting to make didn’t work out at all, since our pintos that we’ve had in storage since forever waiting for Armageddon refused to cook in spite of being soaked all night. So…

First, I roasted two pablano peppers that I had impulsively bought at Krogers earlier in the day. I did it on the grill, cooking them until the skins were bubbling off the pepper and could easily be peeled. Here is a link to another way to do it if you don’t want to break out the grill.

I chopped up two smallish white onions, one red bell pepper and three cloves garlic and added them to 1 1/2 pounds of “chili meat” aka chunky looking ground beef. So the veggies basically fried in beef fat, which is yummy. I peeled and chopped the pablanos and added them to the mix. Then I drained the fat off and added a can of fire roasted chopped tomatos and a little can of tomato sauce.

At this point, I added a tablespoon or two of pretty generic chili powder. To amp up the flavor, I added a tablespoon of adobo sauce from a can of “chilis in adobo sauce.”

Being beanless, I rummaged in the pantry and located a can of kidney beans. I drained those and added them to the chili. Then it simmered until the cornbread was ready. It was served with sour cream and cheddar cheese, although it would have been Asadero if I’d had any. Also, the cilantro was wilted, or it might have found its way into a few bowls as well.

I really love this butter and buttermilk cornbread recipe. I reduce the sugar to 1/2 a cup and my family can’t stop eating it. It’s the stick of butter that goes into making it, I’m sure. That, and the rich taste of the buttermilk, which I’ve taken to using in pancakes, muffins and in Greg’s case, poured over saltines–surprisingly good!

Since every post needs a picture, here is one of Salsa and Wile E. admiring my breakfast of leftover chicken thigh.

I shamelessly copied Margaret and posted the first bits from the first posts of each month of the year. I’m not sure how telling this is, because unlike a year or two ago, I now have a more difficult time writing openly on my blog. Also, so many of my posts are a whole bunch of junk muddled into one entry that I’m probably listing the easiest stuff to write about, since my first sentences tend to be that way. Anyway, I thought it was a cool idea, and a chance to review the year, just a little. The first bit from this exact day last year was a bit of foreshadowing, I think.

1/1/09–I’ve just been loving the vacation from school lately. Although, subconsciously I know I’m going back soon, since I woke up to a dream of my boss chewing me out and me quitting on the spot.

2/9/09–This absolutely sucks. Yesterday, I “did something” to my back while I was cleaning and moving stuff around in the living room.

3/6/09–Take some baked chicken and chop into bite
size pieces, add a package of frozen mixed vegetables (or whatever leftover veggies are in
the fridge) and a can of cream of mushroom soup.

4/12/09–I’m sitting here listening to Aaron Goldberg, because his complex jazz tunes make me feel more sophisticated than lonely.

5/10/09–A few minutes ago, I rescued this ladybug from a bucket of some sort of sludge that Greg has left in the front flowerbed.

6/8/09–I’ve never been all that into watching YouTube videos, but I’ve seen the light. I LOVE how you can type in the name of a stitch that you need to learn (today it’s a ladder stitch) and a nifty demonstration comes right up. Bless these people for doing this!

7/13/09–I had to get some stuff off my chest, but I couldn’t just leave that out there. Not with evil frenemies lurking about looking for something to gossip about! If you want the password, let me know.

8/19/09–My black moleskine has been seeing some action lately. I have so much going on that it’s just too much to blog about without feeling overwhelmed, so I write it down there instead.

9/5/09–I just went on a Cowboy Junkies binge, no pun intended. I was singing Working on a Building at the top of my lungs, and then ended up ordering five of their CDs.

10/3/09–I got inspired yesterday by a post I read about heroes and English class. It made me think about how an alternative program such as the one I teach in would benefit greatly from an English class that focuses on heroes.

11/01/09–I’ve been having vivid dreams lately. Early this morning, I met a man who had been working for himself since 1981. If I believed in “guides,” I’d have to say he was one.

12/4/09–Anytime we’ve been at home today, Sage has been badgering me to check The Weather Channel to see exactly when it is going to snow.