I wish my dog wasn't "slow"

So as most of my followers know, my husband and I adopted this dog. He is not very bright (The dog, not my husband).  I understand he is a dog and dogs really are not that intelligent but my dog really takes the cake.

He is about 2 years old and he has been crate training since we got him back in October.  Every month or so I give him a chance to not be locked in his crate for the night, and every month he blows it by chewing on something he normally would not, or by pooping and peeing on the carpet (we have a doggy door, he will not use it unless I am home and awake.  When I am not watching he chooses to go wherever).

Well, I have a really busy week coming up at work where I have to work 12 hour shifts, and obviously I can not crate my dog for 12 hours.  So I was going to put him into a boarding house for the week at one of the ranches on the island with a good reputation.  I am getting snarky remarks from everyone that I tell this too, they are telling me I am a horrible dog owner and that I should just get rid of my dog instead of boarding him for the week so I can work.  It's very uncommon for me to work long days like this, multiple days in a row and usually I have my husband home.  But with him being deployed I obviously can not rely on him to let the dog out.

Then what really irritates me is that the people who are making these remarks follow with, "what are you going to do when your baby comes?  Are you just going to lock it in a crate all day and send it off for weeks at a time because you have to work?".  Um...no and my child is not a dog so I would prefer you didn't compare it to one.

Me sending my dog to "doggy day care" I believe is a better option then making him sit in his crate all day.  And for me, it's better because I don't have to worry about coming home to a mess on the carpet all week long.

Am I really such a horrible person???

Home made Hummus

So this is probably the best hummus I have ever had, and it's not just because I made it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Chick peas- drained BUT keep two tablespoons of the water from the can
• About 2 tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons of Fresh Parsley- I picked mine out of my garden yay!
• Juice from 1 lemon

Just throw all of this in a food processor or blender and you are set to go. I will be making this again, this was so good just looking at the picture is making my mouth water!

Book Review- Beloved by Toni Morrison

So Beloved is actually on my bucket list of books I want to read- "Read All Times 100 Greatest Novels". I had to read it for a class so it worked out well!

So a quick summary of Beloved- A young woman Sethe who is born into slavery escapes to Ohio to meet with her mother-in-law and her children who she sent ahead of her.  While living here the white men from where she ran away from come back to take the children.  Sethe commits a horrible crime which shatters her family.  The book takes place in the future when her mother-in-law has passed and she is still dealing with the consequences of her actions from her past.


I feel like Toni Morrison is one of those writers you either love or hate.  Her writing style is pretty complex, and if you are a reader like me who gets annoyed at a "build up" of action only for it to be interrupted by 1-2 chapters of a stream of consciousness, you will most likely not like Beloved.  The most annoying part about reading book like this is when something big is going to happen- Like Sethe is going to attack with a ice pick- and instead of us reading the action, we are told second hand by another character after the fact.  This probably makes me sound like a sick individual but I want to know the gruesome details!

But as a literature snob, I know good writing when I see (read?) it. The language that Toni Morrison uses is like you are reading poetry one chapter after another, which makes sense as to why there isn't much detail about any of the action of the plot.  “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined." After reading three books from Morrison, I have noticed that she makes the reader feel bad for her characters and the crimes they commit.  That the reader is forced to accept the fact that someone could commit the worst of crimes that one cannot even imagine, to escape slavery.

Beloved is on the New York Time's list of greatest books ever written.  It is also in the "Black female literary canon" among many scholars- Although Morrison herself would argue that this particular canon should not exist.

I would recommend Beloved for any poetry lover, or anyone who reads for the beauty of words.  Anyone who is trying to read Times 100 novels, and anyone who has a great appreciation for 20th century literature.

Three Months Pregnant

So this is one of my favorite ultrasound pictures because my husband actually got to Skype in to see our baby.  If anyone here is a submarine wife or family member, you know how extremely rare that is, to schedule something and for him to actually be in port for it!

The baby is doing great.  At first the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat with the doppler so we had to go to the ultrasound.  As soon as I saw my baby, baby was doing somersaults inside the womb like a crazy person!  The doctor said that's why it was hard to find a heartbeat because the baby won't stay still.  The baby looks very healthy and is doing fantastic, and according to the ultrasound LOVES V8 vegetable juice.  I am glad my baby is happy!

I know my husband is having a hard time "connecting" with the baby.  I feel as though sometimes it's not quite a reality for him yet. I hope when he gets home he feels differently, but I tell him not to worry because a lot of guys don't feel "connected" even if they are home with their wives.  This deployment has been hard on the both of us.

I heard the second trimester really flies by, and hopefully this is true because the faster I can get through the trimester, the closer it is to my husband being home.

Baked Crab Rangoon

What you shall need:

• I can of crab meat drained and chopped (6 ounces)
• Cream cheese softened (4 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons of light mayo
• 2 teaspoons of finely chopped green onions
• 12 won ton wrappers
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Spray mini muffin tray with cooking oil ( or grease however you would like)
• In a bowl combine crab meat, cream cheese, mayo, green onions and fresh ground black pepper
• Place one wonton wrapper in each muffin tray. Then place mixture inside of each wonton wrapper; about a tablespoon of mixture for each. Then if needed, fold over  edges

• Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges have browned.
• Eat deliciousness.

Titanic: The Musical

(Picture Source)

Titanic: The Musical- Diamond Head Theatre

Step back in time to the early 1900's and board the greatest ship ever built- The Titanic. Diamond Head Theatre presents Titanic: The Musical. 

Many may think that walking in to see this musical that they would be greeted by the much loved "Kate and Jack" story that so many have seen from the movie. You couldn't be anymore wrong. Instead, this musical focus's on the ship in it's entirety using real passengers stories from the maiden voyage.

The musical opens up with a very strong orchestra overture (Musical Director :Megan Mount), creating a powerful but mysterious atmosphere. All the lights from the theatre focus on the well rehearsed orchestra empathizing their wonderful talent. The orchestra is strong throughout the entire musical. Right before intermission when the Titanic strikes the iceberg the orchestra breaks out with one of the most suspenseful numbers that will leave the audiences in their seats anxiously waiting for the 15 minutes of intermission to be over.

There are some very talented vocalists as well. Cody Garner is showcased very well as Barret- the stoker man. One of my favorite musical numbers is "The Proposal"/ "The Night Was Alive" with Garner and David Herman. Their voices really work well together and bring a piece of "heart and soul" in the piece. 

Another singer who will not go unnoticed is Kim Anderson who plays Kate McGowen. Her number in "Ladies Maid" captures the audience dreaming of their own "American Dream". 

The audience is also shown some comedic relief throughout the heavy drama through Zenia Zambrano Moura- Alice Beane's character who is a second class passenger who only wants to mingle with the first class passengers. In Act 1, scene 8, Beane is parading around the upper deck with the first class passengers while they are having their "afternoon dance" session.

The set was simple, but it moved around in almost every scene- detaching and reattaching different elements to create the illusion of the different parts of the Titanic. The costuming was also well done with each class passenger dressed in the appropriate timepiece. Hair and make-up (Norma Hirota) was gorgeously done.

Titanic: The musical will be running until April 22.

My thoughts on group work

Dear College Professors,
Please stop assigning group work.


I am so frustrated right now after looking up my grade for my Gender and Sexuality course.  My professor for this course assigns group work all throughout the semester.  I have had three film reviews and now a book review that we have to present in a group.  I got a good grade for my first film review because I was in charge of the group and handed out assignments to everyone in the group and followed the guideline for the presentation.  However, I failed my second review because my group was impossible to work with.  The assignment was to chose one scene from the movie and discuss what significance it has in relation to what we are leaning about.  My second group wanted to pick 5 different scenes.  When I stressed that we needed to pick one they "out ruled me".  Then, the person who was supposed to bring in the movie showed up to class late so we didn't have time to prepare.  We have 15 minutes to present, 5 of those minutes wasted because we didn't have our material ready, and then the other 10 minutes rushed because everyone was skipping around to "their scene".  I am just sitting there super frustrated because it was a disaster and it would have gone a lot smoother if we did it the correct way.  It's unfortunate that my grade is based on that presentation when I tried so hard to get my group together, sending emails, texting people with no answers.  No one responded and just showed up to class having no clue what was going on.

So why, Oh why, on a college level are we required to do so much group work?  Don't professors know that there is always one person who actually cares about their grade and the others are slacking?  I have my book presentation on Monday.  I have already emailed everyone twice and I have gotten no answers except from one person in my group.  It's due on Monday and it's Thursday and it's not even discussed yet.  I might go lock myself in a closet with a knife if Sunday rolls around and I still haven't heard from my group.  I have emailed the professor about this and she said "It isn't her problem" and that I just have to find a way to make it work.  What the Hell?????

An Update on my life

Hello all!

(11 weeks pregnant)

I am sorry for the lack of posts. For any of you who have been pregnant and got stricken with the morning sickness bug for the entire first trimester, I am sure you understand! Things are getting a lot better. I am actually starting to function again so I am planning on going back to writing every day like I was before I was taken down by the alien creature inside of my body.

Some exciting news- My house will be going on the market in a few months! I am really excited about this. My husband worked really hard to "flip" this home and I truly think we are going to make a profit from it. Also, the interest rates are really low right now making the real estate a "buyers market". I will put the pictures online as soon as it's official!

And the reason our house is going on the market? *drumroll please* We are moving back to Mainland United States! My husband hasn't gotten his official orders yet, but we are pretty sure we will be in Washington by the end of this year.

I am going to try to get some last minute hiking done in Hawaii, the trails I have wanted to do but haven't. I think the only two are Diamond Head and KoKo Head. As much as it has been an experience living in Hawaii, I am excited to go back to a place where we can have a house with a garage and a HUGE yard for the dog to play in. Island style life just isn't for me, there isn't anything bad about it...I am just a small town loving girl who needs space away from people. You can't even get that with the hiking here, believe it or not there are always a lot of people around on every trail, it's crazy! First place I am going to eat when I get back to Mainland? Panara. I have been dying for a broccoli and cheddar bread bowl. Nom Nom Nom.

Book Review- Sula

For my major author class we have shifted from reading Yamanaka to reading Morrison. Morrison's style of writing is very poetic. Morrison gets a lot of credit for her literature because it has this harsh truth behind the meaning of the story. Sula is no exception.

Sula is about two friends that grow up in a black neighborhood on the top of a hillside. In the novel, the white folk have basically pushed the poor people, including minorities up to the top of the hillside so they can have better farming and what not. So on the top is this very close knit community. The two young girls are shown in the beginning having a very close relationship that they even seemed like "one of the same". However they choose different life journeys, one staying in their hometown and the other venturing out to the city. When Sula, the venturing one, comes back to the community after many years she notices that the attitudes of her fellow community members has drastically changed. The reader is then shown the difference between the two women.

I wouldn't say that Sula is Morrison's best piece of work, I did really enjoy The Bluest Eye and I just started her greatest novel Beloved. But it is still a pretty good book, it's definitely an easy read because it's short and the language, although poetic, moves along pretty fast. I also really enjoyed the character Shadrock, as he reminded me of my grandfather for some reason, in a nice way of course!

Mommy Posts

I have decided to add a separate tab on my website, "Mommy Posts". In this section of my blog you will be able to easily navigate to my mommy blog posts. Here you will find posts that range from product reviews, mommy "advice" (I use that word loosely), rants and raves, and the hardships and joys of raising children. I hope you enjoy!

 [This page is currently under construction]

Why is my Child a Sleep Fighting Ninja?

10 Things I Learned After Having a Second Child