Dinner Dilemma

I have a problem when it comes to dinnertime.  I am horrible at coming up with ideas for dinner.  When we got married I was sure I would be cooking more, well, it's come in waves, but I would say we eat out quite a bit.  I've used the excuse that it's hard to cook for two people, but I have finally figured out why I don't cook.  I never have any food in the house!  And that stems from my hatred for the grocery store.  I HATE going grocery shopping.  

This always happens to me!!

Just the thought of it makes me cringe.  Tonight, instead of going grocery shopping, I dusted!  I found that more enjoyable, ha! I typically make Ryan go with me so I will “enjoy” grocery shopping.  We will usually buy food for a week maybe two weeks and then once we run out it’s back to eating out.  We end up with a lot of frozen foods and packaged things that will heat up easily.  Every time I go I swear I am never going to buy them again, and they end up in my cart every trip!  I love the idea of coming up with foods from scratch and eating fresh foods, but the fresh foods I buy always end up going bad before I use them.  

Don't these look yummy!? 

And I seriously loathe eating out all the time (plus it will save us some money to eat in) but somehow it always seems easier to go grab something than actually taking my butt to the grocery store.  

I read Shine every week for recipes, but they always seems so hard and/or overwhelming, but practice makes perfect right?  I’m going to drag myself to the grocery store and buy items that I will actually use.  I’ve been considering going to one of those places that you pay to have someone show you how to make the meal and then you can take them home and freeze them (I know these places have a name, but I can’t think of it, probably why I haven’t done it, haha!).  So, moving forward I'm going to try really hard to have meals at home like this:

The Story of Miles

I've been trying to write about Miles for a while now, but every time I sit down at the computer he is in my lap.  He is a very active dog and he is currently chewing on a bone so I figure I have a few minutes.  Miles was a very unexpected gift.  On my way home from work two Thursdays ago (I can't believe we have had him for two weeks!) my mom called to talk to me about a dog our good friend Laura had found.  I had seen his pictures on Facebook but really did not paid any attention to him.  Well, as it turns out Laura and her husband were looking for a home for this sweet boy and my mom told me he would be the perfect dog for us.

We had friends from Mississippi coming to stay with us and were due to arrive any minute, but I called Ryan anyway and told him, "I don't know what I will do if you say no."  Ryan and I have wanted to get a dog for a while, but just assumed we would wait until we had a house.  Ryan was initially a little hesitant about getting a dog, but I convinced him to at least go meet him, so we had our friends come with us up to my parents house to bring our puppy home.  

Miles was found at a MARTA train station somewhere in Decatur.  He had obviously been there a while because he was severely matted and obviously hungry and thirsty.  He was covered in ticks and flees, which is the reason he is completely shaved.  We found out a few days later that he had hookworms, but those are easily treated and he is back to normal.   We believe Miles is some sort of poodle mix.  At first we believed he was a Wheaten Terrier/Poodle mix but lately everyone we have talked to seems to think he is a Bichon/Poodle mix.  I think we will know more when his hair starts to grow out a little more. 

 

Miles was a little timid at first, he wasn't eating or drinking much, he didn't even want treats, what dog does not like a treat!?  I think that just comes with being on the street for so long.  It only took him a few days to get into a routine of eating on a regular schedule.  The best part about Miles, he was already potty trained.  He (knock on wood) has not had an accident in the house!  He was so well behaved that we decided to give him free reign of the living room (everything he could get into was removed, or so we thought).  His reign was quickly taken away though.  He did great on Monday while we were at work, however Tuesday was another story.  

 We came home to quite the mess.  

 

Which prompted us to purchase a new home for him during the day.  

He has been much better (even if I do feel guilty for keeping him in there all day).  Our only issue right now is he keeps waking me up in the middle of the night.  We have tried keeping him in the kennel but he wakes up at 5am and starts whining.  We tried letting him sleep with us, which the first night worked beautiful, he slept through the night right in between us.  However, the second night I woke up to him chewing on Ryan’s xbox controller at 2:30am and then around 4am he was wondering through the bed and wanted to play as soon as he saw I was awake.  I don’t know how parents do it with kids.  This dog is making me sleep deprived.  

We have truly loved having him in our home.  It's hard to think of him on the streets, I'm just glad he won't have that life anymore!  He is just one of the family now!