Our Home ... in its current state

Some friends and out-of-town family have requested pictures of our house.  So here it is:

The Living Room

 The Piano Room:

The Foyer:

The Dining Room:

The china cabinet on the left in currently in the process of being painted.  I will post pictures when it's done!

Spare Bedroom (Coral Room):

I still have a few projects to do in this room.  I am going to paint the bedside table and an armoire.

Happy 1st Birthday, Riggins!

July 16, 2013, was Riggins 1st birthday!  And I decided to bake him a dog-birthday cake.  Y'all, this is sort of a big deal because I am not a chef, and I kind of hate to cook - just ask Jeff.  But, it was Rigs's special day, and he'll eat anything, so I decided to go for it.

I found a recipe for his cake here: http://dogs.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Dog_Birthday_Cake_Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 jar of beef baby food
• 3 eggs
• some bacon bits*
•  couple scoops peanut butter*
• one block of cream cheese

*Notice how my measurements for these are real precise - NOT.  I was real careful with what I put in the actual cake part because I didn't want to make the poor dog sick.  But as far as the bacon bits, I just poured some into the batter.  I did make sure to get the "pieces of real bacon" bits and not those stupid imposter crunchy things.  As for the peanut butter and cream cheese for the icing, I just mixed some together.  To dogs, and most people, peanut butter + anything = goodness, so I didn't figure that Riggins would be particular about the cream cheese to peanut butter ratio.

Directions:

1. Mix flour and baking powder together.
2. Cream together the butter, oil, baby food, and eggs.
3. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet mix, and then add the bacon bits.
4. Pour into a 8" baking pan.  (I used a 9" round one, and it worked fine.)
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  (Oven times may vary.)
6. Mix the cream cheese and peanut butter.  (I used a hand mixer.)
7. Let the cake cool completely and then spread on the icing.

That's a pretty good looking dog-cake, if I do say so myself.

Then, it was time for Riggins "party" ... okay, so it was just the people living at my house and one of our friends, but it was a party to Rigs.  I gave Riggins some new toys that I bought for him, and then it was CAKE TIME!  We decided to give him the cake outside - mainly so that the pictures would be better, but also so he wouldn't make a mess in the house.

Let's be honest, somewhere deep inside, I was slightly worried that even my dog wouldn't like my cooking, But HE LOVED IT!  He immediately started licking all of the icing off, partly because that is the best part, but mainly because he doesn't have hands to pick it up and eat it with.  So Jeff helped him.  He bit into the cake and then gobbled it up super fast.

All gone!

I'd say that it was a successful 1st birthday for this handsome Dane.  

Happy Birthday, Riggins!  I hope you have many many many more!!

Me and the Birthday Boy - he wasn't to sure about that hat