Roses from Hubby

The gift I got my husband!

From hubby :)

It's not been such a great 24 hours... very early Sunday morning (1am or so) we discovered Rosie had a prolapsed uterus. (It looked a lot like this picture). Unfortunately the vet wasn't open until Monday.... so I had to wait until then to call & make Rosie an appointment.

Also this past weekend Hazelnut wasn't doing so well either. Her tumor had been getting larger and she wasn't as energetic anymore. I had a feeling she would be passing soon and Sunday evening Hazelnut passed away. She was one of my Star's Rat Rescue girls and she traveled 1,500 miles back in August of 2010. Hazelnut was already around 2 years old. She was a very curious girl who always loved getting off the bed to run around and explore. And she loved sleeping in any kind of cardboard box or oatmeal tube that we put in her cage. ♥


Rosie had her appointment at the vet this afternoon. We decided she would go in for an emergency spay. I was pretty nervous already to put her through the surgery considering she would have been 2 years old around June/July. But the only other alternative was having her put to sleep, because her uterus was coming out and the tip of it was already badly infected. So we left Rosie at the vet to be spayed. (I had a female rat, Cinnamon spayed years ago but she was only around 6 months old). Unfortunately, I got a call directly from the vet himself a little later in the afternoon.... Rosie passed away during her surgery. The vet said her uterus was in really bad condition. Sadly we had to go pick up Rosie from the vet. We dropped her off at my parents house to be buried with Hazelnut...

Rosie was so laid back and special. She was my nap rat. She loved taking naps with me. She loved laying near your feet. She was cuddly and would give kisses occasionally. She was such a friendly little rattie and I'm so sad to have lost her so suddenly...  ♥

My Dad gave me a live in person tutorial on how to make homemade pizza crust a few weeks ago. I never had much luck with getting any dough to rise, lol. But I followed his instructions and we enjoyed fresh homemade pizza the other night. I thought I would share his tutorial with all of you. (Pictures included!). You can double this recipe. I've underlined the ingredients you will need below.

1st step: Combine 1 cup of hot water (the hottest you can get out of your sink tap), 1 teaspoon of sugar & 1 packet of dry active yeast in a bowl. Use a rubber spatula to give it a few quick stirs then let it sit for 15 minutes uncovered.

Hot water, sugar & dry active yeast

When you come back your bowl of yeast should look like it has beer foam on the top of it. (Which is how my Dad explained it to me, haha!) That's how you know your yeast is working.

See: "Beer Foam" lol!

Step two: Pour 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt into your bowl with the dry yeast mixture. Use a rubber spatula again to fold the flour into the mixture using a circular motion, sometimes pressing the spatula into the dough like kneading. Once your dough begins to stick to your spatula add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and continue to work the dough in a circular & kneading motion with the rubber spatula. You will not need to touch the dough with your hands.

Dough ball!

Step three: Once your dough is in a neat little ball. Grab a dish rag or washcloth and run it under the hottest water you can. Wring it out a bit, then drape the rag over your bowl. You want a nice warm place for your dough to rise, so I always pop my rag covered bowl into the microwave and let it sit for one hour. (I keep my microwave unplugged when not using it). You won't be using the microwave- just storing your bowl of dough there for 1 hour.

Damp rag with hot water- let dough sit for 1 hour.

Step four: Take the damp rag off of your bowl of dough. It should have increased in size by now. You can give it a few more kneads with your rubber spatula, but then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for one whole day. Letting it sit for a day makes it easier to roll and work with the next day. And as my Dad said, he thinks it tastes better when you let it sit a day before using it. (Your dough can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge).

After sitting for 1 hour- the dough has risen.

Step Five: Enjoy making homemade pizza with your homemade pizza dough! I know I did! Roll out your dough to fit your tray (don't forget to sprinkle a little flour before rolling), add sauce cheese & toppings. To cook your pizza, heat your oven 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This is supposed to be pepperoni & onion- next time... cheese first- then toppings, lol! Our 2nd homemade pizza! Hawaiian! Mmmm!

Some of these are from Pinterest!

(Graphic I made, my favorite saying. ♥ )

Pinterest might prove to be bad for my wallet, lol. I'm having a lot of fun organizing my Home & Kitchen Decor Idea boards. Most of the stuff is a little out of budget for me, but these dishes... omg. I fell in love with them. I love anything black and white, and damask is so elegant! It matches the color scheme of my favorite living room chairs. (Our color scheme seems to be black, white & a pop of bright aqua or teal).

It's my Valentines gift. ♥ I'm sooo excited! I love them! It's a 16 piece set from Target.

Damask 16-pc. Dinnerware Set - Black/ White

I also bought a gorgeous hoodie on Amazon.com. But the price was right. It used to retail for $180.00 because it was Christian Audigier, but that & the Ed Hardy stuff isn't as popular anymore so it was on sale for $29.99! It is GORGEOUS in person and so well made, I love it! ♥

CRYSTAL ROCK Christian Audigier Love Faith Womens Tunic Hoodie

Soooo.... while Pinterest might be great for ideas, recipes, home decor ideas, it can be bad for your wallet! At least all our bills are paid for the month, lol! ;-)