Here it is, January 9th, and I've yet to properly blog about Christmas or New Year's or resolutions, or anything - so I'll try to cover it all quickly. The kids got here on Christmas Day in time to enjoy a late beef tenderloin dinner. Our dear neighbors also joined us for the meal. Later, we played some cards. Here's a picture of Lindsey, trying out the new chair in the library....

...And here's Rob in the church pew...where he belongs.

One of my gifts was the publication of season II of this blog, Bob and Big Lou, Livin' the Dream. I just love it.









Bob and I went up to Shipshewana's Ice Festival and watched the ice carving competition. It was a pretty warm day and they were definitely struggling with some of their artwork.


I believe they must have commissioned one of the artists to do this grand piano, and the nativity below, as they weren not part of the competition.












This dragon got third place.












And here I am, posing with an ice nativity.















On New Year's Day (we did nothing on New Year's Eve) we went down to Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream in Carmel with Brent and Lindsey. We were anxious to sample one of Bub's Big Ugly Burgers that was featured on Man Vs. Food. The Big Ugly starts out as 22 ounces of ground beef, but it cooks down to about 16. If you eat one, you get your picture on their wall - two, a larger picture - three, even bigger - four, a life-sized cardboard cut-out of your own bad self. Adam Richman, the host on Man Vs. Food, vowed to eat four of the Big Uglies when he visited Bubs last summer, but he only managed to conquer two and one quarter of a third B.U. On the show they said that a stick of melted butter was brushed on the buns of each burger.


Well, Brent already had his picture on the wall. He ate one and considered taking on another. He was pretty sure he could do it, but didn't really want to. Bob ordered one and cut it into fourths and I enjoyed one. Very tasty, but I doubted that a stick of butter was on the bun. We asked the young waitress who agreed with us. She thought they just brushed the bun with melted butter. So, I don't know if they just did that to Adam's burgers when he was in their establishment, or if there was some embellishing done or what, but anyway, it was a really good burger, considering its size.





I'm not making any resolutions this year, but I, and the ladies in my step class (Step Sisters) have (once again) taken on the Big Loser Weight-Loss Challenge. We've all weighed in and we all have our goals. We'll weigh in each week for eleven weeks. The competition will end the week before spring break in March.


Speaking of weight loss, Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog has really been enjoying the Good Dog Cookies she got from Santa. She could use a little exercise herself, but then, she is getting up there in years - she celebrated her 11th birthday over the holidays.









Recipe of the Week: Is for Maddie's Good Dog Cookies. Enjoy.


Good Dog Cookies

2 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup oil

2 beef bouillon cubes

3/4 cup boiling water

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water and allow to cool. Combine the flour, dry milk, egg, oil, beef broth, and brown sugar. Mix well and knead dough for about 1 minute.
Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut out bones. Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes.