Meet Ernest

Ernest is the fat, lazy datschound who has been staying with us since Thursday. We are pet sitting for a friend of mine. He's been pretty good (with the exception of one four-in-the-morning fiasco, when he was sent to doggy time out) and is a very sweet dog.

He's quite quirky, which makes him endearing. His only toy is this blanket:


Even though he's quite a tiny fellow, he drags this thing around the house. I've been impressed by his ability to manipulate something so much bigger than him. Also, he creates a nest and burrows inside it. If you look closer, you'll see the tip of his nose and paw on the right hand side:


Mostly he just sleeps, but I can tell he's sad and misses his family. They are coming to pick him up this afternoon, and I'm sure he'll be excited to see them.

New Job Anxiety

After tomorrow the summer officially begins for me, which means the start of my new job. I always have anxiety when I start new employment. I don't handle change very well, for starters. Plus, my perfectionist nature doesn't function well in a state of "I don't yet know what I'm doing, and that's pretty obvious to others."

This summer I have decided to become a writer. Some of you are laughing right now, thinking this is typical Katie sarcasm, but please try to stifle that giggle, because I'm being completely serious. I've always wanted to be a writer. I took a creative writing class at the end of my time at BYU, and got some positive feedback from my professor. I started a novel, and he volunteered to help me with it if I ever finish writing it. Since then, novel writing hasn't had a lot of room on life's agenda, which is why I opted not to get a summer job this year.

This summer I'm going to sit in front of a computer screen, and I'm going to try to write down one of the stories I've had swirling around in my head for the last few years. I've always wanted to write a book, and I feel like now's the time to give it a shot, before my future children come along and and are vying for my attention. What's scarier than me thinking I can accomplish this, is the fact that my husband has enough faith in my minuscule amount of creative writing ability to let me do this for the summer and be happy about it. In fact, he is encouraging me to do this. Bless his heart; he really does love me!

Anyway, over the last couple of weeks I've been having a tad bit of anxiety over starting my new state of "un-employment." I've been picturing myself staring at a blinking cursor for 2 months and ending the summer with nothing to show for it (except for the 20 pounds I will have put on after drowning my writer's block sorrows in hot fudge sundaes and Oreos). Part of me wishes I'd tried to find a position waiting tables at Chili's or Ruby Tuesday, so I wouldn't have to worry about it (then I reflect on my Ihop days, and realize that, no, that's a lie. . . no part of me REALLY wishes THAT).

Anyway, I figure if at the end of the summer I have a book, even if it's a book that no one will ever publish, and no one will ever read but me, I will have accomplished something great. I can cross "write a novel" off of my bucket list, and call it good. I'll know I'm just not cut out to be a novelist, and I can move on. But, until I try, I'll never know . . . so here's to trying.

Just When Everything Seemed Peachy

A teenager had to burst my bubble. This is what our car looked like at about 6:15 this evening:


My Mazda Bebe is dead, and I am very sad. I loved this car. The good news? Chad and I are both fine. The kid has insurance. It was completely unavoidable, since we were stopped at a stop light and he decided to forget how to use the brakes. Oh, wait, I mean, his brakes "didn't work" even though the officer on the scene seemed to find nothing at all wrong with them.

Tragic.

I'm looking forward to a lot of phone calls with insurance agents, paper work, and hopefully a rental car until ours is either repaired, or, if it is deemed totaled, replaced.

Although, I've got to say, it was pretty funny to hear the kid on the phone, "Yea, I just hit Miss Reese's car."

What a way to start the summer.

Because We Value Your Advice. . .

Well, 64% of you voted that we should, indeed, purchase a puppy. And of course, we couldn't disappoint you, readers, so we went right out and bought her.

OK. So, in actuality, much as we love you, you weren't really going to make this decision for us. See, it's great that you want us to buy a dog, but you're not the ones who are going to be paying for her, or picking up her poop, or buying me a new pair of shoes when she decides to devour my turquoise heels. Which is why, even though 64% of you were in favor of the puppy, we are still without puppy at chez Reese.

We wanted her. We did. But, the more we started thinking about it, the more we realized that the timing just isn't right. With me not working all summer, which translates to no money all summer, adding the expense of a dog while we try to replenish our saving account (something that's not looking as smashing as it once did after renovating our money pit), just isn't going to be the wisest idea. So. Don't fear, 64%, eventually we will add a puppy dish to our family, but for now we are puppy-less. Plus, we're kind of leaning towards a male puppy, after doing a bit more research about the breed which suggests the females have a bit of a diva/stubborn streak that the boys don't. So, come fall we shall see.

Since I know you are now terribly sad because there are no puppy picture updates to satisfy you, I've got a bit of a consolation prize. Go make yourself one of these:

It's called a pizzookie and you can find the recipe here.

My sister, Lauren, and I made these last night when I realized that the end of the school year is upon me and I have no grading to do at night. This means I can do irresponsible things that I only dream of doing during the actual school year (like make ridiculously rich desserts and watch a chick flick instead of grading or going to bed early).

After consuming one of these bad boys (Oh, who am I fooling? It was more like two due to portion size!) I'm pretty sure my blood sugar jumped a tad bit. In fact, I think I might now be a diabetic.

I made the hot fudge recipe that comes with it, but we used store bought vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

So there you go, chums, go mourn the loss of future puppy posts and tantalize your taste buds with this exceptionally yummy snack.