Totally Addicting Pretzels

This weekend I am using the Superbowl as my reason to whip up a batch of these completely addicting pretzels. The only reason I need an excuse to make them is because I've made them practically every weekend this year. I had them on New Year's Eve and was instantly hooked. They are simple to make and so much better than just plain pretzels.

Start with sourdough pretzels. This time I used the big tub from UTZ.


(We knew someone once who wasn't from this area and he didn't say Utz as a word, he said You-Tee-Zee. So of course now that's what we usually refer to them as also.)

Break the pretzels up into smaller pieces and put them into a big baking dish.



Combine: 1 cup canola oil, 1 package ranch dressing mix, 1 teaspoon each of garlic powder, dill weed, and lemon pepper. Mix well and pour over the pretzels. Stir the pretzels to coat them all with the oil and spice mix.



Put them into the oven at 350 and stir them every 5 minutes until the oil is almost all absorbed. I think it usually takes 20-25 minutes for this quantity. They are good warm, but I think they are best the next day. I think other spices might be interesting to try. Maybe a touch of cayenne? Or perhaps the bacon salt that I can't seem to find a good use for beyond home fries.

The nice thing about using the tub of pretzels is that you can store them right back in it. I imagine they would keep for longer than 2 days, but I can't actually confirm that....

Supersized Trick or Treat

This is what will face the trick or treaters that come to our house on Friday. A big bowl of assorted FULL SIZE candy bars.

I love the looks on the kids' faces when they see them and try to decide which one to pick. And there have only been a few times that I've had to pull the bowl back from someone grabbing multiple bars.

We've always done full-sized bars for Halloween. The good thing about it is I think it provides some extra insurance against our pumpkins being smashed or our house being egged. The down side is that you are stuck with BIG candy leftovers.

A New Camera

So it turns out that Santa is actually pretty good at picking up hints, and he left a wonderful Nikon D60 dSLR camera under the tree for me. It came with 2 dvds and a 1 inch thick manual, so it may be a while until I can do anything special with it. Back in the day I did have a fairly nice camera, so I should remember some things which I can apply to this one. Although half of what I remember involved choosing the right speed film and threading it into the camera. I don't miss that at all. At least changing the lenses seems the same.

Hopefully I will have many good photos to post soon. I'm sure there will be many of sleeping dogs, at least through the winter.

Luna was curled up in a ball sound asleep, until about 8 seconds after I got the camera out.

Uniquely Chic

Everyone loves getting flowers. Even if it's because you turned 40. It's even better if you get an arrangement that's called "Uniquely Chic":

Isn't it chic? The online description says it's a "vibrant mixture of opulent orange and zesty pink flowers casually arranged in a clear glass cube container." Who doesn't love zesty flowers?

I guess it could be easily confused by the delivery guy with this:


I can't find this one on the website, but I'm thinking the description would be something like "an earthy mixture of generic daisies, crunchy purple buds, and plastic berries in a terra cotta pot."

Don't get me wrong--I'm grateful to get flowers of any kind. They are both beautiful, and I was happy with the arrangement and most importantly for the thought behind it. But if the person sending them thinks that they sent something that is "chic" then what is actually delivered shouldn't be the complete opposite.

Uber Christmas Lights

I would never want this at my house, and I'm very thankful that none of my neighbors do either, but it is still very cool. Apparently it took them over 6 months to set up and there are over 200,000 lights.

Dear Santa:

For Christmas this year, all I really want is new toys. Lots and lots of new toys. My stash is running really low right now, as low as it has ever been. I admit that I can be a little tough on them sometimes, but that's doesn't mean I shouldn't get them. Check out the pathetic state of my toys right now, you'll see how badly I need some new ones.

These are probably my best ones.




It's all downhill after those.




I'm a big fan of bunnies. I use them for training for bunny patrol.





I've been a really good girl this year. (Does "this year" include just the time between last Christmas and now? Because this:

happened before last Christmas. So did the incident with the tree.)

If I get some new toys for Christmas this year, I promise to be extra good all year long. And I'll try my best not to totally destroy them all the first day I get them. Thank you in advance, Santa. You're awesome.

Love,
Luna

Puppy + Christmas Tree = Bad

Don't let this innocent face fool you.



As soon as she was alone with the Christmas tree, Luna went nuts. We just picked it up yesterday, and all we got to do to it was put it in the stand and string a few lights. I decided we didn't have enough lights, so we stopped there, planning on picking up more today and finishing the rest of the decorating tonight. When I went home for lunch this is what I found:



The photo doesn't really capture the true damage. She chewed apart all of the lights, ripped the cords off, yanked the bulbs out the sockets, and tracked stuff through the house. I found a plug and some wire upstairs, another cord and plug on a chair, and pieces of green plastic in other random spots. And since it's only our second day of having a tree, we actually remembered to water it, so the water was completely full when it fell too.

Luna was scheduled to be spayed tomorrow, but now we've had to push that until January. The vet didn't want to take a chance; she tends to be very delicate (hard to believe after looking at this picture, I know) and if she were to get sick after the operation we wouldn't be sure if the surgery caused it, or some random tree light did.