Rolling Melons

Not a deep discussion starter here... But Oh my Goodness. I have decided to try different kinds of new melons. So I bought some and put them in my fridge. One is a Galia melon and I believe should be a cross between a cantelope and a honeydew. The other looks like a cantelope but rougher and I have no idea what it is. Last night in the middle of the night I was writing and got hungry. I open the fridge and thump, thump, melons fall off the top shelf of the fridge and start rolling around. No bid deal I'll grab them, but oh no not these melons they had so much inertia I guess it is from falling from the top shelf they were slamming into the table base and changing directions, then slamming off chair legs and changing directions. I'm trying to grab my now bruised melons I'm sure and, bam, slam my head under the table. The bright yellow one is going one way the rough cantelope looking one is going the other. I end up just plopping down in the kitchen floor and laughing hysterically sure that if anyone had the secret camera on I would have won the $100,000 prize, or whateve it is.

As I'm plopped on my kitchen floor at 2:00 in the morning chasing roll-away melons laughing hysterically, it suddenly occurs to me, "My life is pretty damn good - even supposedly inanimate objects like melons have the power to amuse me." Then I thought, "Or I'm simple minded" but immediately went right back to, "No, life is good and wicked funny!" I hope they taste as good as they roll!!! And I hope your fruit has the power to amuse you too!

Birthday Wishes!

I asked my daughter what she wanted most in the world if she could have anything she wants for her birthday. Immediately she blurts out world peace! Darn, how am I going to pull that off? So, I said well if I can't do that what is your second wish. For her second wish she would like to help everyone in Japan get back on their feet. Do they sell that at Wal-mart???? What else would you like honey, like something for your birthday. Oh well for my birthday I'd like an autographed picture of Johnny Depp. Hmmmm, anybody know him??? So I don't know what to do... I nice card perhaps?

Baked Ruffles

Baked Ruffles Calories 110 Fat 3% Carbs 19g Fiber 2g Protein 2g
Vitamin c 6% maganese 4 phosphorus 4%
Ingredients:
dried potatoes corn starch corn oil sugar salt soy lecithin corn sugar


Well these are good and have less fat. They are only 30 calories though and soy lecithin isn't good for you, so in my humble opinion. Real chips are better!!!!

Nutrition Info on the Chips

Lays Garden Tomato and Basil
Calories 160 Fat 10g Fiber 1 Protein 2 Carbs 16g
and these natural chips actually have some vitamins - 6% Vitamin A, 10% Vitamin C, 4% Iron, 6% Vitamin E, 4% Niacin, 4% Magnesium, 4% Thiamin, 8% Vitamin B6 And they are all Natural

Original Ruffles with Ridges
Calories 160 Fat 10g Fiber 1 Protein 2 Carbs 15g
and they have some vitamins too - 10% Vitamin C, 2% Iron, 6% Vitamin E, 6% Niacin, 4% Magnesium, 4% Thiamin, 10% Vitamin B6, 2% Phosphorus, and 4% Magnesium And they are all Natural

Lays Barbeque Chips
Calories 160 Fat 10g Fiber 1 Protein 2 Carbs 15g
and they have less vitamins but are still natural - 6% Vitamin E, 2% Iron, 10% Vitamin C, 2% Magnesium

Now these new chips that rock my socks:
Food Should Taste Good All Natural Olive Tortilla Chips Yummy!
Calories 140 Fat 6 Fiber 3 Protein 2 Carbs 18g - for vitamins they have just 2% Calcium and 6% Iron

Vegetable Chips supermarket brand no weird ingredients or preservatives (I haven't tasted these yet): Calories 120, Fat 4g, Fiber 1g, Protein 3g, Carbs 18g, 2% Iron

And just for a fun comparison: Snyder's Pretzel Rods Calories 120 Fat 1g Fiber 1g Protein 3g Carbs 24g - 2% Iron too - Yummy too. Less fat but more carbs...

The Great Chip Taste Off

We are holding a Great Chip Taste Off in our house right now. We have purchased a bunch of chips and are narrowing them down bag by bag. So far plain Ruffles with ridges totally beats the new Garden Tomato with Basil by Lays. It was a shocking result really. The Garden Tomato and Basil does taste like tomato and basil and are good. Good for once and a while but not as you go to chip.

We are not testing any chip with ingredients in it that we don't know what they are however. We are trying to eat only foods we can pronounce!

I'll let you know tomorrow about the next rung on the climb to the best go to chip ever!

Dog Update

It's been a couple days since she's been home and I have to tell you - the first day she was aggressive. Now however she is fine. She is actually sweeter than she was before this happened, I think. Or I'm looking at her in a new way. PLUS we are running around the block everyday at 6 am. And I think that is quite an accomplishment, yesterday it was negative 7. I think my lungs were starting to freeze. And it's not easy to run in snowboots, coat, scarf, hat, gloves on the icy messy street. But whatever it is, it is better for both of us than nothing. I think it is helping bond us, so I am having my daughter do all the feeding so she can bond that way...

She is also not allowed to be on either floor of the apartment alone, hopefully soon she will stop chewing all sorts of plastic and other disgusting things, like pencils. Any ideas on how to get a puppy to stop chewing are appreciated. She does have a basket of toys but would rather chew garbage stuff.

Dogs and Vitamins Just Don't Mix

My dog seriously overdosed last night. Thank the Lord, animal poison control, and the emergency veterinarian that she is still alive. After work I plopped my purse, briefcase, and lunch bag on the kitchen floor intending to get back to them later. I went upstairs to work and my daughter and dog were downstairs. Later my girl comes up with vitamins in her hand and my days of the week plastic pill case from my purse. Apparently the dog got into my purse, how she unzipped it must have been tricky. It does have a big strap on the zipper. I imagine she stood on it and pulled on the big strap with her teeth and got it halfway open. Anyway, when she handed me both things I looked up my dog ate my vitamins on the internet. I found many incidents where dogs stole vitamins and were fine, so I didn’t worry. Three hours later she couldn’t walk, was completely aggressive wouldn’t let us near her, and was like wheezy and barking intermittently but a bark of pain, nothing I’ve ever hear before.

I called the emergency vet because it was late at night, they told me to call animal poison control. I called them back and said I couldn’t get through, so they said either way we had to call from there or from my house. Animal poison control charges $35 for the phone call. For my $35 they told me to go to the veterinarian and gave me a case number. After calling neighbors for help, because I wouldn’t get her in her kennel because she kept biting at me. We finally wrapped her gently in a blanket and got her in. Little did I know one of the main reasons she was so violent is because she was blind. When she got in her cage, I kept saying it’s like she can’t see. She was hallucinating barking at the walls of the kennel, barking at things that weren’t there. It was the saddest thing I’d ever heard or seen. My daughter was crying, to dog was just making noises I’ve never heard an animal make.

Finally we get to the veterinarian, who I’d spoken to by now two times on the phone. When we get there they leave her in her kennel for a while. My neighbor, daughter and I confirm that she can’t see. Now the veterinarian who is supposed to know what to do, I’m thinking, doesn’t. So they have to call poison control and talk to them. They tell them what to do to help the dog. One of my vitamins is 5HTP which is tryptophan, like in turkeys. Apparently the dog had overdosed on serotonin. The vitamin B12 and multivitamin which were the other pills she ate she would eventually eliminate. They poison control told the veterinarian what to do, so they finally took her out back to help her. They came back out with an estimate that I could not pay. I explained that to them and they did the bare minimum for her, which was the medicine the poison control suggested and a medicine to calm her down. They had gotten her calm, so they didn’t want to give her fluids which is what I thought they should do. But what do I know. I figured because when I did get her outside when she was just kinda sleepy before she got really bad she was licking snow, but she wouldn’t drink water. She wouldn’t eat anything either, which is what I thought would help her absorb some of the vitamins she took.

We got out of the veterinarians about a little after midnight, and they did want to keep her because she was still hallucinating at that time. I called the vet at 6:30 am because I couldn’t sleep anyway. I was sick with worry. I didn’t want my daughter to lose her best buddy. Even if her best buddy won’t stop eating things she shouldn’t. At 6:30 am they said that she could see! The neurological effects of the pills she ate had gone away between the medicine they gave and the time she spent there. They said though that she was throwing herself against her kennel whenever someone walked by and was so aggressive they couldn’t do anything with her. I took that as a sign she was better. Since we were in the middle of a blizzard at that time of the morning, at around 9:30 my neighbor who said she loves to drive in the snow and drove us down to get her. They kept taking about her aggression and I was worried that she had permanent brain damage, and she would stay aggressive like she’d been the night before. When they brought her out in her kennel, my daughter and I opened the door, and out came our dog, normal, a bit sedate however, with tail wagging and tongue licking hello. Thank goodness. They are going to recommend a trainer for her, and we’ll see about that, but for now thank goodness she is home, she slept on a pillow most of the day. We gave her water right away and fed her some brown rice. She is lying down again and I think everything is alright. My daughter is ecstatic that she didn’t lose her best friend. Me I didn’t think I cared that much, until I saw her last night. No animal should ever suffer that way. Please be more careful with your purse or your vitamins than I was. She is only 35 pounds and she ate five days of my vitamins, and I am well we’ll just say well over 35 pounds.

Dogs and vitamins just don’t mix.

This week we volunteered at the food bank to distribute food baskets to people who need a little help. It was a good experience. One thing touched me more than anything else. I wonder if it because I’m Jewish and not used to hearing, “G-d bless you.” But then of course I am, every time I sneeze invariably someone blesses me. This “G-d bless you” though that a woman gave me and the two guys carrying her boxes, moved me in an unusual way. It was the way she said it I guess; it carried such meaning and thanks. No matter which faith she was, it is the same G-d. I think people forget that. If terrorists and haters would remember that, we’d all be better off. Maybe it was moving saying, “G-d bless you too.” I don’t usually say that. Well that’s not true; I surely do every time someone sneezes. Of course I hadn’t done anything to be blessed, I just showed up. The people who should be blessed are the people who organize these huge efforts to feed thousands of people. Reflecting on the experience, I guess the difference is that unlike when someone sneezes and it is said out of habit, this time when it was said she meant it and when I said it back, I surely did mean it too.

Happy Holiday Season!