Tennis Ball

I mentioned that Ginny tore up her old tennis balls? Yep. There it is.... what is left of it anyway. :) Silly dog....

New Toys

Ginny got some new toys yesterday and she LOVES them! She got SO excited when we gave them to her in the apartment. So today we took her outside to play with them and we took a few pictures.

You can clearly see in this picture how VERY athletic she is..... HA! Rarely does she actually CATCH the ball. She misses and runs into the fence or the wall or the ground. She has a good time though! She got new tennis balls made for dogs. She destroyed her regular tennis balls... so hopefully these will last a little longer!


She also got a frisbee! We didn't know if she'd be interested in a frisbee or not, but she LOVES it! Again, she can't catch it (not yet, anyway) but she loves to chase it.

This one shows her athleticism again... ;-)

This was when she was starting to wear out a little, so I got a picture of her and Matt.

She had a pretty good time! :)

Ginny vs. DVD Player

Oh my goodness.... our dog cracks me up! Matt and I watched a movie tonight and when it was over Matt hit the "open" button on the remote control so the DVD popped out of the player. Well this just REALLY confused Ginny! She started turning her head from side to side and creeping up on it. Matt hit the button again and it pulled the DVD back in and Ginny JUMPED back! She started growling at it and making all sorts of funny noises and just didn't know what to think about it! She wouldn't even come close to it for a while. She definitely keeps us entertained! Here is a video we took of her watching the DVD player.... (and Matt scaring her!) :)

(sorry it is so dark... :-/)

Pictures of Ginny

Here are a few newer pictures of Ginny! She is such a sweet dog! Once it gets to be around 8:00pm Matt starts saying it is "HIS" dog. At night she gets so calm and sweet and loves to cuddle. When she is hyper and crazy he says she is MY dog. :)

In this picture she had been playing with my feet and petting herself with my shoes and rolling around on them... she LOVES feet for some reason. She finally wore herself out and rested her head on my shoe and it was so cute!


This was the night that the Rangers made it to the WORLD SERIES! WOOHOO! She was EXTRA sweet and was cuddling with Matt.

I caught them playing here. :)

Ok. She is really is weird sometimes. She fell ASLEEP like this. This is not an "action" shot where she was playing and rolling around... she was sleeping like this. Weirdo! (at least TRY to ignore the dirty dishes and cups on the coffee table, haha!)

Just being sweet... :)

And again....

This was also the night that the RANGERS MADE IT TO THE WORLD SERIES! WOOHOO! (Can you tell I'm excited??) She came and rested her head in my lap and watched with me. She didn't know what to think when Matt and I were jumping around at the end of the game. :)

Caught Matt playing with her again... :)

When you lay on the floor next to her, she will wrap her paw around your arm...

She lays on her back quite a bit. When she is playing with her toys she'll roll around on her back and sometimes she'll roll over then just FREEZE that way. Sometimes she'll stay that way for quite a while!

So anyway, there is your update on Ginny! Matt and I both have the day off today and we're about to take her to the dog park. She LOVES to run!! And BOY IS SHE FAST! :)

Pork Loin Recipes

Lately Matt and I have been making pork loin quite a bit... there are so many different ways to fix it! We had it on Saturday and Sunday two different ways and both were DELICIOUS!!! So I figured I'd share! :)

1. Hidden Valley Ranch Pork. Seriously, this is all you do. Buy a packet of dry Ranch mix. Dip your pork in it until it is covered, bake it for 25 minutes at 450. DELICIOUS! I worried about it being more dry or tough since it was just seasoning but it was the most tender, juicy pork loin I've ever had. Try it! (NOTE: I thought I wanted a LOT of seasoning on ours, so after I put the pork in the pan I put a little MORE on top.... don't do that! It is TOO much! Just cover each side of the pork loin with seasoning and let it be!)

2. Put your pork in a casserole dish. Put about a teaspoon of butter and mayonnaise on each piece and spread it over the top. Then, season each piece with seasoned salt (I used Nana & Grangoat's seasoning - which you can find at http://coxragamuffins.blogspot.com/ ), garlic powder, parsley, and crushed red pepper. Put a handful of grated cheese on top of each piece and bake for 40 minutes at 350. SOOOO GOOD! Is a little spicy (depending on how much red pepper you put) and is juicy and tender. Try it!

Last Giveaway!

OK PEOPLE! If you haven't already gotten your "Go. Seek. Love." shirts DO IT NOW! I just ordered mine today! Check out J & Summer's blog to find out how to get your name in a drawing for a FREE PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION! I haven't won a giveaway yet but I'm not giving up that easily.... :) I'm feeling good about this one! So check it out!

http://coxragamuffins.blogspot.com

Adoption

HELLO AGAIN! I am determined to win one of the giveaways going on over at Jason and Summer's blog! So here goes on of my entries! :)

Go to http://coxragamuffins.blogspot.com and support their adoption! Buy a tshirt in the month of October and get your name in the drawing TWICE! Plus, all of the proceeds go directly toward their adoption! The giveaway this week is a free CUSTOM CAKE! I'm thinking that the Rangers are going to win their upcoming series and someone is going to want a sweet Texas Rangers cake to serve at their game watching party.... :) So check it out!

Gumbo

Recently Matt and I have been putting together weekly dinner menus. Because we spend more time planning out our meals, we have been spending less at the grocery store! I HAVE to have a list when I go to the store or I come home with all sorts of junk food that we don't need. :) We try to plan our meals to where we can use leftovers for the next meal. SO... for example, we had sausage for our "Beans, Rice and Sausage" night, and shrimp for our "Broccoli Shrimp Alfredo" night. THEN, you take the leftover sausage and shrimp and mix it in with this $1 box of Zatarain's Gumbo.... WOW.


This stuff is DELICIOUS!!! It is spicy but not too spicy. All you have to do is mix the package with water, let it boil for a little while, add your meat and let it boil a little longer and its done. Did I mention that it is delicious? This will definitely become more of a "regular" around our place! Especially since it is so cheap! We buy a big bag of shrimp for $5 and use it for several different meals.

Try it sometime and let me know what you think. I don't think you'll be disappointed! :)

Music Video

These are two of my favorite artists! Check out Brad Paisley and John Mayer:

Not Much

Yes, another post about Ginny. You see, there really isn't much else going on with us right now. Besides the fact that Matt was sick for nearly a full week and now I'm at home sick today. :-/ I am REALLY hoping I don't have it for as long as Matt did.

Matt took Ginny out to the lawn area behind our apartment. I snuck out on the balcony and watched them. :) We take her to a big fenced area every day so she can run off the leash and that is where she usually uses the bathroom. We are trying to get her to go on the leash so when it is raining or FREEZING we can just step outside and not have to walk around to the fenced area. So this was Matt trying to be patient with her. :)


Going for a walk!

She LOVES to lay on your feet. I don't know why, but she does! She fell asleep like this on Matt's feet the other night. She is so sweet right before bed. She falls asleep on the floor then when we wake her up to get in her crate she wants to cuddle and will just lean her head on you. She'll stretch a little and grunt a little then crawl into her crate and plop down and go to sleep. She is really good about going in her crate at night... not always so good during the day, but OK. :)

Ginny Meets Vacuum Cleaner

Lots of posts about Ginny, I know. :) She is about all that is going on with us right now! It was a pretty rough week around our apartment! Monday night (the night we got her) Matt started feeling sick to his stomach and ended up being up all night long back and forth to the bathroom. He was sick almost all week! He still doesn't feel 100% but he is MUCH better now! So picture Matt being VERY sick.... then add a new dog (a BIG dog) to the mix that wants to play and get in his face and who is still learning the rules and you have one grumpy husband! :) Now that he is feeling better they are getting along more. :)

She still has a lot to learn, but she is really learning very quickly. She is a really good, sweet dog and I think she is really smart. The only issue we're seeing is that we're not sure how well she gets along with other dogs. She seems to get a little more aggressive when she sees another dog. Her paperwork and her previous owner say that she gets along fine with other dogs... so hopefully thats true. We are going to try to take her to a dog park this weekend sometime to "socialize" her some and see how it goes.

Occassionally she just kind of acts like a dummy and will start rolling around and chasing her tail or something then she'll just freeze. The other day she froze on her back and just stayed there for several minutes. She was perfectly comfortable just like this!

Ok, so you're probably wondering about the title of this post... so I'll get to it! This is actually her SECOND experience with the vacuum cleaner but we didn't get the first one on video. She basically had the same reaction though! She definitely wanted to stay BEHIND me, but her reaction is so funny when it came right at her!

Notes about the video: It is pretty loud. We had the washing machine, dishwasher and then the vacuum cleaner going. Plus we used the digital camera and it squeals the whole time. Also, you might notice the hole right in the middle of the front of my shirt.... we were out in the "dog area" at the apartments today playing and she tore a whole in my shirt. :( Anyway, enough delay - here is the video!

What All Did Ginny Do Today?

She went outside for a short walk EARLY in the morning.
She ate her food WAY too fast when she came back in.
As a result of the last thing, she threw up on the living room floor.
She played "fetch" with a tennis ball.
She went outside on the balcony and watched all the cars passing by and LOVED it.


She went in several times to check on Matt because he is sick today. (She can open the bedroom door if there isn't something holding it shut on the other side)
She went for a ride in the car and kept her head out the window the ENTIRE time.

She sat on the floor with me and kept pestering me to keep petting her.
She fell asleep with her head rested on my feet and it was VERY cute.

She just went for a walk and had dinner and is now laying on the floor resting (like in the picture above!). She sure is cute. :)

Meet Ginny!

We would like to introduce you to our new dog, Ginny! Any of you who know me will believe me when I tell you that I have been asking for a dog every day since we got married. Our plans all along were to wait until around December when we could move into a bigger apartment. So October is close enough. :) I did good to wait this long... although there were a lot of days I begged and pouted. :) So let me tell you a little bit about Ginny...


She is a Catahoula Leopard dog. She weighs about 40 lbs and is full grown at around a year old.

We got her from a family that found her and has been taking care of her. They have three or four other dogs and just couldn't keep her. They brought her over to visit last night and we just fell in love with her!

She is spayed, microchipped, up to date on shots, crate trained, house trained, knows basic commands like "sit" and "down" and of course "NO!" :) She is very well mannered and seems to be a really quick learner. She loves to have her belly rubbed! :)

She needs to work on walking on a leash and staying off the furniture! She has only tried to get up on the furniture a couple of times but definitely understands when we tell her to get down.

For some reason she absolutely hates if you "buzz" like a bee. We will have to use this wisely because she REALLY hates it! It can be a very effective training tool though!

She still isn't TOO sure about where she is, but she already seems to be warming up. She loves hollow bones stuffed with peanut butter! We gave her one tonight while we were eating and she never even tried to mess with our food.

The family we got her from was very nice and it was obvious they loved her! They were sad to see her go and shed a few tears before leaving her with us but before leaving the woman said, "I'm glad she is going to make someone else very happy." The family wasn't looking for money for her, they just wanted to be sure she was going to a good home. We ended up getting her, her crate, two dog beds (giant pillows), a collar and leash and her favorite toys and bones from her last home.

We are already crazy about her! We know it is probably going to be very difficult for a while getting her used to her new home and continuing with her training, but we're looking forward to it! Here is a short video of her:

I can guarantee there will be more pictures soon! :)

LISTEN UP!

Unfortunately I don't think I have a huge blog following to really effectively spread the word, but I'm going to try anyway!

You MUST (no exceptions) go to Jason and Summer's blog! THIS MONTH ONLY all of the proceeds from their t-shirt fundraiser go directly toward their adoption! There will also be FREE GIVEAWAYS throughout the month! Check out their blog to find out how to get your name in the drawings. (posting this information on your blog is just ONE way to get your name entered!) Not to mention that if you go to their blog you will see a really cute picture of their family in their Go. Seek. Love t-shirts! :) SO DO IT!

http://coxragamuffins.blogspot.com/