September 2022
September 30, 2022 - Friday - So last week when I bought the chocolate gem donuts I picked up these. I’ve never been a fan of powdered donuts but I thought I’d give them a try again. Also I thought if nothing else they’d be fun to photograph and I could give one or two to the pups as a snack. Turns out I still don’t like them so the dogs had plenty to share. Riley would boop Zak on his nose with them just to powder on his snout.
September 29, 2022 - Thursday - I’ve been transferring my photo library to Lightroom over the last couple of days. The last thing I did before bed last night was work on images from 2019. That was the year I did my Selfie Collection so there were a lot of faces from lots of years gone by. Last night I had a dream I was walking through a very crowded grocery store and I ran into a bunch of old coworkers from lots of old jobs I’ve had.
September 28, 2022 - Wednesday - I’m not a huge fan of ice cream so it last forever in my house. That’s not the case with other kinds of sweets especially Sparkle cookies. This is her Death by Chocolate and it’s great by itself but maybe even better with a glass of milk or, in this case, a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Not a bad late evening dessert.
September 27, 2022 - Tuesday - I was out getting my hair cut this afternoon and was thinking about dinner. I was done with all the work I had for the day so I was in no hurry to get back. Good thing by the time I was done traffic was horrible. I gave Riley a call and we talked it over. It’s a bit out of the way and made even longer with traffic but it’s alway worth it. A little tortellini bolognese from Tony’s is always a good idea.
September 26, 2022 - Monday - I took the day off to got out and spend the day with Dad. We went out to his doctor appointment and then out to lunch at one of his favorite diners. I haven’t had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes since the last time I was here. We came back to his house and watched The Dirty Dozen. We were cleaning the yard a little this morning before we left. Mom has so many flowers still growing around the house.
September 25, 2022 - Sunday - I happened to be looking away from my computer for a moment this afternoon. Just at that moment I saw this guy hop up on the bricks next to our front door. Fortunately Zak didn’t see him. I went over and raised the blinds a bit. That got his attention, but he didn’t move. I took a few photos with the lens I had on my camera but decided to see if he’d stay long enough for me to switch. I went to get my longer lens and found him still laying here.
September 24, 2022 - Saturday - When I was in middle school my oldest sister lived in an apartment walking distance from a Mrs. Bairds outlet store. I remember going there and getting pies, donuts like these and other snacks. Yesterday while I was going through the grocery store I came across these. Like those red weenies from last week these don’t taste the best but they both remind me of being a kid.
September 23, 2022 - Friday - I was working this afternoon and just looked over for a bit and saw Biscuit sitting there on the back of one of the couch pillows. I sometimes wonder if I should trim her hair above her nose so maybe she can see better. Her eyes are so googley and when I give her a treat I have to put it right up to her mouth. Her vision is iffy at best.
September 22, 2022 - Thursday - I’ve been seeing a dietician for a while now. Not seeing as in dating. She does have the cutes country accent though. Anyway, each week I send her a log with a photo of everything I eat. And each week she tells me to watch the sweets and to make sure I eat every 3-4 hours. She also tells me to try to eat good 80% of the time. I’m chalking this one up to the 20%.
September 21, 2022 - Wednesday - Today was a pretty long day of work. Lots to do for a couple of clients. It’s been a while since I’ve been this busy. Tonight after a late dinner I decided to have a snack. I don’t buy milk that often but I was planning on making biscuits and gravy at some point this week. It’s been a long while since I’ve made biscuit and even longer since I made gravy. I have few Sparkle Cookies and tonight an Ultimate Chocolate Chip dipped in a little milk sounded like a great idea. And damn if I wasn’t absolutely right.
September 20, 2022 - Tuesday - I was talking to one of my cousins last week when we went to my Great Aunt’s service. He told me he had this and would mail it to me. This is one of my Grandpa’s business cards he had made when he retired. His name was Santiago too, but everyone called him Jimmy. It’s funny my dad and I are both Santiagos. He’s Jr., I’m the III, but he most everyone calls him Sandy and I go by Bo. It’s kinda funny I didn’t like my name when I was little. No teacher could pronounce it and would butcher it. Now I really like my name though no one calls me by it.
September 19, 2022 - Monday - I was pretty busy with work today, but managed to get done early enough to get out and grill dinner. I had the last of my Shiners in the fridge while I was out. I grilled a these wings with BBQ sauce, corn on the cob and zucchini. Not a bad way to end the day. I guess I’m getting better at this, Riley like them.
September 18, 2022 - Sunday - This isn’t a very good photo but this afternoon I went out to visit dad and decided to take Zak with me. I watched The Art of Racing in the Rain the other day and now I’ve got to take him with me every chance I get. My brother had a couple of his young cows on dad’s property and they seemed really interested in each other. Zak really wanted to play with this young bull. He’s not super smart, but he’s a good boy.
September 17, 2022 - Saturday - I didn’t take a photo all day except for a few of the food I ate and a selfie with Zak when he came to lay in my lap. At the end of the evening while I was watching TV, Pancake came to lay near my head. I grabbed my phone and got this photo of her before she feel asleep. You can see the reflection of the TV in her eye. I have another photo of her years ago like this when she actually used to watch TV.
September 16, 2022 - Friday - Okay no judging me! Yes I had one of these two days ago but unless you’ve tried one of these you have no idea what you’re missing. Yesterday I was wishing the Country Store was closer for their sourdough bread but if they were I would buy these Whoopie Pies way too often. Chocolate Cake with frosting in a convenient handheld package. One of my favorite desserts.
September 15, 2022 - Thursday - Today I snacked for breakfast and for lunch I made myself something more like a quick, real breakfast. I ordered some sourdough bread with my last grocery order. I sure do wish Country Store was a lot closer. Their sourdough bread is amazing! Even still this was pretty good with cheese and a sunny side up egg. Zak and the girls were big fans of this today too.
September 14, 2022 - Wednesday - One other stop we made on the way back home yesterday was at the Country Store in Itasca for some of my favorite desserts outside of Sparkle’s cookies. My nutritionist won’t be so happy about this but i picked up a few of these Chocolate Whoopie Pies. I unwrapped this one to eat as a snack in the middle of the afternoon. The two in the back are still wrapped. I’m not sure how long these will last.
September 13, 2022 - Tuesday - The service for my dad’s aunt was in my dad’s home town of Taylor, Texas. The service was so well done. Several of her grandkids spoke and did such good jobs sharing stories. It was so good to see so many cousins and distant relatives at the reception. My brother drove us and as we were leaving town he stopped at the meat market to pick up some of our childhood favorite snacks we would get any time we visited our grand parents.
September 12, 2022 - Monday - My dad’s aunt passed away a few days ago. Her service is tomorrow morning. After work I did a little packing and then headed out to dad’s house. We’re leaving really early tomorrow morning to pay our respects. I didn’t have time to make dinner at home so I picked up a quick bite to eat along the way. I was sitting in my car eating and this was the view of the setting sun.
September 11, 2022 - Sunday - I spent a part of the afternoon setting up a shoot in the dining room on my dinner table. I had to ask Riley not to eat any of the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies until I took a few photos first. This are the Butterscotch Toffee Oatmeal that I’ve shown here a few times. These are definitely one of my favorites and even better they’ve recently been added to Sparkle All Over’s full time menu.
September 10, 2022, - Saturday -Went to meet a friend for an early brunch. She saved me from being lazy all day. Hahaha The restaurant is in a small shopping center. Part of the patio faces the parking lot and across the way is a vet’s office. We saw lots of dogs come and go but towards the end of our meal. We this old guy and his owner walk by. He was quite an old guy. His back legs were getting a bit weak.
September 9, 2022 - Friday - Today I wasn’t busy hardly at all. I ended up getting out to run some errands. One of the errands was going up north to pick up some cookies. I have a bunch of Monkey Grass growing in the front yard. I got my camera to a photo of these buds in the sunlight. Since all the rain we’ve gotten recently we have a huge mosquito infestation. My ankles were all eaten up when I came in from taking this.
September 8, 2022 - Thursday - I wasn’t too busy today so I had some time to get stuff done around the house. When I made spaghetti a while back I made a bunch and froze some of the sauce. Riley made us dinner tonight. And by that I mean she heated up the sauce I took out of the freezer this morning and cooked some pasta and mixed it all together. She did serve me and bring me a bowl of this. It was really good. Again.
September 7, 2022 - Wednesday - When Pancake comes to lay with me she’ll lay down right next to my right leg or hop up on the couch pillow behind my head. Biscuit, when she does come to lay with me, will curl up in my lap in the crook of my left knee. Pancake will stay in her spot, but Zak get’s up and leaves. He’s afraid of Biscuit.
September 6, 2022 - Tuesday - I had a really cute photo of Biscuit from earlier today, but I ordered State Fair Corn Dogs with my last grocery order and that’s what Riley and I had for dinner. I looked up how many photos are in this Photo of the Day collection and this is it. In the 12+ years I’ve been doing this I am now up to 4252 photos.
September 5, 2022 - Monday - Today I came across a deal for the streaming app Peacock. It’s only $20 for the first year. I had been wanting to watch Yellowstone and Modern Family for a while and now I can. Not only that it has Sunday Night Football on it. Today while I was watching S1 Ep1 of Yellowstone, Pancake came and got in her spot. Her mohawk isn’t what it once was but it’s still kinda cute.
September 4, 2022 - Sunday - This morning I made some avocado toast for Zak and I. I’ve tried making poached eggs and as much as I like them, it’s just way too messy for my liking. I make slow sunny side up eggs with a little olive oil in a little skillet. I cook the eggs until the whites are completely set because runny whites are gross. The yolks are usually set like a medium egg and it’s less messy eating them that way. Today the yolks were more photogenic.
September 3, 2022 - Saturday - Today I spent most of the day at a friend’s house. We grilled and had a great lunch with other friends. It was a good to spend the day just hanging out. When I got home I was craving a little something sweet. I had this Butterscotch Toffee Oatmeal cookie from Sparkle All Over. I even heated it up for a few seconds in the microwave. They’re delicious but even better when they’re warm.
September 2, 2022 - Friday - This is usually at least a small part of every day. If I’m busy all day Zak is in such a big hurry for me to sit down and almost the moment I do he rolls over on his back and put’s his head on my lap. I don’t think I’ve every had a dog that was so needy or maybe he’s just super affectionate.
September 1, 2022 - Thursday - I’ve made this creamy chicken and mushroom orzo lots of times over the years but today was an especially good batch. I don’t measure anything so every time it’s just a little bit different. My grocery delivery brought me Chobani Greek yogurt and white mushrooms this time too. Usually I use Baby Bellas. I also seasoned it with a bit of Ziziki’s seasoning and a heavy bit of cayenne pepper. I was really good.