The Class Dunce

We've been training Heidi for awhile, but she is still super giddy around other dogs....

And then she forgets we exist and totally ignores us.

However, lately she seemed to have turned a new leaf.  We went for a 7 mile run yesterday and she heeled fairly well, and when I let her off lead on the trails she would come back to me on the first call without harassing the local fishermen or other dogs at all.  

(This is success for us.)  

So I was hoping today at her first day of school... ahem obedience classes, 

she wouldn't make a total fool out of us.

Key Word : HOPING

Before the class even started she broke NOT just one, but TWO leashes.  

The second being that of the burly looking training instructor who lent it to me as a replacement, 

And who was not at all impressed with the Doodle's shenanigans.  

(which I think is unfair really - 

like why would I be at obedience if my dog was already obedient... amiright?)

Can I also add that she decided to run laps around the field both of these times while barking and being a nuisance and EVERYONE was staring at me while I was shouting...

HEIDI COME!  

COME HERE RIGHT NOW!  

COME!!!!!

I imagine it must be like being a parent feels like when your kid throws themselves on the floor of the supermarket and has a tantrum because you won't let them have a toy or icecream or something.

Like all the other parents are watching and thinking 

"Thank God my kid isn't so awful."

Yeahhhhhhhhhh.....

So here we are... after all our hard work training... the class dunces.

Wish us luck for next Monday.

God knows we'll need it.

ps.  For those of you who are fashion bloggers, or are just nice people in general, my bestie, The Queen City Girl, Garenday has entered the My Career My Way Challenge from Lucky Magazine.  I know it would mean the world to her if you could take a little time out of your busy schedules to vote.   She is super duper fashionable and is also a good person and she is my friend.  So just vote for her!  Dooooooo it!  Doooooooooooo it!    Look how fantastically chic she is..

She deserves it!

Click here to Vote!!!

Put A Star On Your Chart

Remember how when you were a kid they had those charts with chores and you got a star if you did one of your chores?  Yeah I never had one but I sarcastically tell Nick to "Put a star on his chart" every time he does something useful.  However, lately I seem to have become a nagging wife.  I dunno where it came from but out of nowhere I just can't stop myself from nagging him.  It's like word vomit.  I don't mean to be so irritating - I swear.  But seriously I just wish that we had a clean house and when he is playing computer games our house is not getting clean.  And to be honest I get a little bitter.  I know I'm not the only one here....

However, Nick swears he does the same if not more than me!  Therefore I devised...

Put A Star On your Chart!  

The DeCourcy Family Chore Sheet

It's an excel document to keep track of who's done what.  Annnnnnnd it really brings out the competitive side of him.  Which is totally useful.  Oh no honey I can't believe you've scored higher than me on the chore chart again!  Damn it *wink*wink*

The chore chart is in trial stages at the moment but if you think such a chart could help you deal with your lazy husband/wife/life partner, let me know and I will share it with you on google docs.   

Oh and also I would like to give a shout out to my favorite of all housewives (even if she isn't technically a wife) Martha Stewart for creating some stellar cleaning charts, which mine is loosely based off of.  

Anniversary Round 2

Yesterday was our anniversary.

Two years.

I'm not gonna lie now, last year when I wrote a really super mushy post about how fabulous married life was and everything I was kind of lying....

 I mean I just found the first year pretty hard, and not that fabulous.  

Even though I was in love with him and everything.  

I just hated England, and I was unemployed, and we were poor,

 and I missed being an independent woman.  

(And by independent I mean living with my friends 

and calling my parents up whenever I needed a bank refill.) 

But anyways being married is soooo much better now.

But it's still annoying sometimes, for instance yesterday when Nick got me gardening books for our anniversary.  I like gardening, but he had told me that he was shopping for my present in a jewelry store, and had also told me that he took time off to get his passport renewed the week before.  

This is when my imagination starts running wild.... 

Needless to say... my face looked something like this when I opened my pressies....

And then I threw a major bitch fit.  

He's still getting hell for it now actually.  

Luckily after two years I have learned a little something about forgiveness.

And I try not to be a huge bitch.

Even though I fail most the time.

In fact I'm probably failing right now 

since I am sharing this anniversary drama with the world wide web.

Oh well.  I want you readers to know that I love him.  

Even though he messes up sometimes.  

Cuz I mess up even more than him and he still thinks I'm cute.  

And he's nice to me 99.9999% of the time.  

And he is awful at holding grudges and he forgets why he is mad at me really quickly 

which is great for me because if I were him I would be mad at me for weeks at a time. 

 And I guess that is what I've learned about this whole marriage thing this year.  

Forgiveness is super important.  

I love you, Nick.

The First Feast

This is me.  Holding zucchini like a creep. 

A happy creep.  Finally all our hard work has paid off. 

Actually its not that hard.  It's pretty easy.  All the little seeds needed was a bit of love and water.  

And this is Heidi.  Looking at me like I'm crazy.  

I've had requests for her to feature more on the blog (hi beans) so here she is.   

Can you believe we have a patio under all those weeds she's standing in?

Ugh, our vegetables get all our attention ...

Anyways we picked the two biggest ones today.

And we dug up enough potatoes for two.  

And took cliche dirty potatoes in our hands pictures.

And this is what I made with them.  I sliced the zucchini into 1/4 inch rounds, placed them in a non stick grill pan over medium high heat, and grated some good Parmesan over the top.  When they got nice and melty I flipped them over and did the same on the other side.  So they had a good crust.  I tossed them into a spinach salad with a bit of balsamic and olive oil, walnuts and salt.

I made a tangy mint sauce for the potatoes.  While they were boiling I chopped an onion up and cooked it in some olive oil until it got translucent.  They I added some boiling water and a few large handfuls of finely chopped mint (also homegrown from seed) to the pan.  I let it simmer down and reduce before adding salt and lemon juice.  It tastes kind of like that mint chutney you get at Indian restaurants.  Sooooo good.  

Everything was absolutely delicious. I kept wondering whether the food just tasted better because I grew it myself, or if it was actually better.  I think it was actually better.  The potatoes were much sweeter, and the zucchini had the best texture.  I don't know how to explain it.  Just go plant some things.  and water them.  And watch them grow.  And eat them.  It is the best feeling ever.  

In other news : We took Heidi to check out an obedience class Monday.  We start in 2 weeks.  I'm scared shes going to be the class dunce....  I don't think I'll ever be ready for parenting. 

I went to Leeds with my friend on Wednesday night and saw Bright Eyes.  It was some really deep shit.  I've been feeling a little emo since then.  

I got a Groupon for osteopathy a few weeks ago and it has been awesome.  But Friday he did something called Applied Kinesiology on me.  Anyone done it?  It was weird.  He put a magnet on my stomach and then put test tubes of different things in it and apparently he can diagnose me from how my muscles reacted to the test tubes.  So apparently I have a fungus in my intestines and I need to take nettle root pills.  This fungus is making me eat sugar too.  So that's cool.  I can blame the fact I just ate a brownie on a fungus and not on my lack of willpower.  Also according to him I am NOT gluten intolerant.  Hooray... except why do I feel so shit after eating it?  But he says I am sensitive to chocolate, sugar, and alcohol.  Balls.  

Victory Garden

Hi Friends,

Gardening is this new hobby I have.  And I'm so addicted.  I feel like a loser but actually I think gardening is in right now.  So maybe I'm one of those hipster kind of losers.  hell yes.  Goal in life fulfilled.  Anyways I don't really care about pretty flowers, they're beautiful and everything, but they seem so vain and fickle.  We have a few in the front yard and I tend to let them die.  My adoration goes almost entirely to my utilitarian kitchen garden.  What can I say.... lately when I'm not eating food I'm trying to grow it.  Check it out...

My strawberries were doing really well until Amy came for the week and we didn't water them.  Oops.  There are still a few hangers on but I doubt they'll amount to much.

Being from the Midwest I just gotta grow corn....

 as Nick would quote the infamous Kid Rock, 

"Skinny Models, you can keep those!  I like big corn fed Midwestern ho's."

Heres the window box herb garden plus a little salad.

Here's a view of the whole shebang.  

Tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, zucchini, peppers.  

There are some potatoes, radishes, and spinach just outside of view as well.

I'm currently trying to decide whether to pick and stuff these zucchini flowers with some cheese and fry them... or let them grow to proper zucchini size.

Here's another view of the set up.  

It's dog proof.  

Heidi loves the organic fertilizer, which wasn't working out for my plants.  

So I made Nick build a fence.  Ahhh husbands are so useful sometimes.

Oh and here are my little tomatillos.  I know I shouldn't have favorites, but I am dying to make salsa verde and no one in England knows what a tomatillo even is so it's really important these are a success.  Seriously the only salsa they have here is mild Old El Paso.  Bleh.  Sorry but it just doesn't cut it.  

I just can't wait to make my own!

In other food news, this week is Sheffield Food Week, and today Nick and I had a nice lunch in a pop up restaurant but I found two black curly hairs in my food.  Which was pretty unfortunate, but at least they comped the bill and I could see a man with an afro making my food because seriously who knows where that could have come from!  Also tomorrow night we are going to a food foraging lecture, which I'm super excited for!  Foraged food recipes to follow.

We also attended our first scuba diving class last week, which was cool.  We got a great deal on Groupon.  Does anyone have a scuba certification?  We are trying to decide which certification to go with.... like the one where you can go it alone or the one where you still need a guide.  Any tips? 

Also I just joined Daily Mile and need more friends.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? Bueller?