Flatuation or Flagellation?

When I was in seventh grade, the ELP teacher came into our class to recommend some books to us. He read a few excerpts aloud to get us hooked. In one book, he came across the word "flagellation." Giggles erupted across the room. Seventh grade boys may not know many four syllable words, but "flatulation" is one of them, and its auditory resemblence to "flagellation" was just too much to handle. Since then, the two words have always connected themselves in my mind.

The other day, when I was flipping through an issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray, I came across an amusing and possibly helpful tidbit I thought I'd share with you:

"Yep, we're going there. Look, the truth is, some of our favorite foods have gassy side effects. Add these natural remedies to the pot, and you'll save your butt.

Toss a handful of capers into tomato sauces.

Add caraway seeds to sauerkraut and coleslaw.

Boil fresh bay leaves with grains and dried beans.

Season broccoli and brussels sprouts with fresh chives."

Second-hand Cooking Magazines

I've just finished going through about a year's worth of Rachael Ray magazines, rereading them and cutting out the vegetarian recipes I wanted to try. I feel bad just throwing them away since there's so much meat left to them, excuse the pun, so if you'd like to look through some picked over RR recipes, let me know. Pretty soon, I'll also have some Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazines that will still have some good recipes left in them, if you're interested in those as well.

Mansfield Park

My reading list from the past few months.

Thanks to b.a. for the idea to share it this way.

Thanks to two nice naps with Fitz, I finished Mansfield Park by Jane Austen a few weeks ago. I had read it before, sometime in high school or at the beginning of college, and I hated it. The premise is that Fanny Price goes to live with a rich uncle when she is nine years old because her own family is so poor. She is ignored and mistreated most of the time, but has a kind cousin, Edmund, who cares about her feelings and gives her good advice. She loves Edmund, but since he only thinks of a sister, she is his confidante when he falls in love with seemingly sweet Miss Crawford. She waits and waits in pain until the end which ends like a romance should. I always wondered why Jane Austen would have created such a weak-willed, pathetic heroine.

I have a knack for forgetting most of the details and part of the plot of any story I read or movie I watch. This is a little unfortunate since I love reading so much, but it works out nicely when I want to read a book and can't get to the library or bookstore. We got Mansfield Park on Netflix, because my nice husband lets me put movies I want to watch on the subscription he got for Christmas. It had lots of "scandalous" insinuations that I was sure weren't present in the book, but despite the parts I suspected weren't true, I enjoyed the movie. I decided to give the book antoher whirl.

Although it wasn't the fastest moving, most romantic love story in the world, there were a few things I liked about it. First, it was realistic. There was no unlikely match between a rich older man and a poor younger woman--just two like-minded people who are in love. And one of those people wasted time liking someone else because he let her flashy exterior distract him from her selfish heart. People aren't perfect, and even the main characters that you root for throughout this book are imperfect. Second, the book ended with repentence from some of the characters. Edmund repented of his interest in Miss Crawford and Sir Thomas Bertram (Edmund's father) repented of the way he had treated Fanny and the way he had raised his children. Beyond repentence, Sir Thomas went forward and did good, inviting Fanny's younger sister to live with them and be provided for. Lastly, I could see why Fanny was so timid this time around, and had compassion on her in her anxiety rather than disdain.

If you're interested in the movie, this version is entertaining, although it is not terribly thorough and adds some unnecessary (ie: not in the book) sexual undertones. This version, with Billie Piper, made for Masterpiece on PBS looks like it will have more undertones and be even less accurate. This mini-series version is on my Netflix instant queue, and I've watched four of the six episodes.

Are there any book-to-movie combinations you love?

Update on my goals

About a month ago, I wrote about some goals I wanted to set. My motivation to get each room in order and painted was to tell myself I could get a dog when it was done. Now, I have a dog! So, one might think that my house was clean and my walls were blue, green, and tan. Unfortunately, that's not entirely true. We haven't painted at all since my last post, and I haven't met my goals each day, even recently.

However, I realized when using a dog as a motivator, I made a mistake. "I can get a dog," doesn't keep my house clean. "I have a dog," does.

Here are some things we've learned the hard way to keep out of reach:
-Dexter's underwear
-Dexter's undershirts
-Pajama pants
-Cardigans
-Bras (these are filched from on top of the dresser--they're a great chew toy and worth the effort to get)
-Plastic cups
-Travel mugs
-Pens
-Make-up brushes
-Lip gloss
-Empty food wrappers
-Empty tupperware

One thing we DO try to leave on the floor as a distraction while we're gone is Fitz's kong. This toy is great because it's durable, and you can stuff whatever treats your dog likes best inside. At first, Fitz wasn't very good at getting the fillings out, so he'd lose interest. Then, he got better and was persistent for a really long time. Now, he's really good at getting out the big treats we've been jamming inside, so I think we're going to have to switch to filling it with peanutbutter and smashed treats to make it a little more interesting.

I have improved as a result of setting my goals, however. I (usually) don't wait as long to do the dishes, and I at least have to have few enough dirty dishes to keep out of reach down in the sink. I'm even better about picking things up off the floor and wiping surfaces off since when I cook I always have a wet-nosed helper nearby. I definitely put my clothes in the hamper or closet, especially clothes I want to wear ever again.

I've even started making my bed every day because it's one of Fitz's favorite relaxing spots, and I think that between the sheets is definitely one place I want to avoid massive amounts of puppy hair. Keriann helped me meet my goal of getting each room unpacked and picked up. She coached me as I unpacked in our office, which ended up only taking an hour and a half. If I had known it would be that quick...

My new goals:
1. Do lots of little organization projects around the house so that staying picked up is easier. And so our closet doesn't look like this:2. Post (and follow!) a weekly cleaning list.
3. Paint the rest of the house!

Pictures

For lots of picture of our first day with Fitz, view our Picasa album here.

He just killed a spider for us, and obeyed us when we told him to spit it out, so he's definitely a keeper. He's also house trained and hasn't chewed anything up at all! What a good boy!

Our Evening with Fitz

Photo by Aunt Keriann

Gustav = Fitz

After a long and painful deliberation, we finally came to the decision that our new puppy's name is Fitzwilliam. Colonel Fitzwilliam is a minor character from Pride and Prejudice that we both really like, and Fitzwilliam is Mr. Darcy's first name. We also think Fitz sounds a little bit Irish, and he's got reddish hair. We actually liked Gustav pretty well, but we wanted him to have a name from his new mom and dad and a name that was often used in Scandinavian royalty just didn't seem to fit his personality.

He's been such a good boy all night! It will be interesting to see what he's really like once he gets more comfortable here. He loves looking out our sliding glass doors at what's happening in the back yard, and he didn't beg at the table at all during supper. He just laid on the floor like this:

Now, all we need is a tag with his name, and it will be official!

Puppy Preparations

After we left the animal shelter last night, we went on a date at Graze, a restaurant on the ped mall in Iowa City. I had bought a $25 gift certificate to Graze on Restaurants.com for $4, so it was a pretty decent deal. We had the Pesto Veggie Pizza, Spinach and Three Cheese, and the unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you are) named Half-Ass Ice Cream Pie. We were a little too distracted by the prospect of spending Wednesday night with Gustav to enjoy much time looking into each other's eyes, but that was just fine.

Afterwards, we picked up Keriann and went to PetCo, Gordman's, and Target to get our puppy supplies, which are shown above. (I'd noticed when I went to Gordman's last week looking for something else that they had a decent puppy section.) Some of our favorite purchases were the Bear Biscuits (which are apparently also fed to bears in zoos), blueberry, yogurt, and almond flavored bite-sized treats (which may taste a little too girly), and the "tire" frisbee. We read that he doesn't get super excited about toys when they're just laying around, but we saw him bring a tennis ball in from outside last night and heard he likes fetch, so we had to get tennis balls and some other toys too, just in case.

We're going to pick him up today at 4:30, but still haven't decided on a name. Pictures of Gustav at home to come!

Our Growing Family

Don't make assumptions. I'm not joining the "She's Having A Baby" club. However, we are adopting a son of the canine variety.

Click here to see photos of Gustav (who may receive a new name) who should be joining us at home tomorrow!

Garage Sale

Are you planning on having a garage sale this spring? Or, do you have some items you'd like to sell at someone else's garage sale without the hassle of having your own?

Dexter and I have a lot of things we want to get rid of that don't quite seem like Craigslist material, so we were thinking about having a garage sale. I don't know that we have quite enough merchandise to make this worthwhile, though. So, if you're interested in making this a project with me, let me know!