Speaking of Animals . . .

We've ran into some interesting critters in St. Louie. One weekend camping trip turned up this turtle, frog, and water snake (husband was in heaven).

One night, we came home to find this nasty opossum on our deck. We see these a lot - they look like crazy big nasty rats. Totally gross.

And tonight, we dressed as a dog and a frog to get a $3 burrito from Chipotle. Not Cafe Rio, but its the closest we've got. I'll take it!

And while Dan went to class, I celebrated Halloween with the classic movie Hocus Pocus. Good times.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Woof.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that Spjute's are NOT animal people.

Case in point:
1 - once a neighbor left 3 guinea pigs on our front porch. They actually were really cute, so we begged and Mom let us keep them. The cage stayed in the laundry room, but after a couple of days, it would start to smell. Rather than cleaning it every other day, we put the cage outside in the shade for a couple hours to air it out. One day we accidentally left them outside. All day. In the hot summer. The poor guinea pigs were gone by the time we got home. (RIP little g. pigs!)

2 - After my grandma moved in with us, my mom got a cat to be a companion for grandma. We tried to name the cat, but it only ever responded to "kitty" so the cat was forever just Kitty. And it hated people, so mostly it just stayed outside.

3 - That is all. Those are the only pets we had (unless you count the 24-hour gold fish from the fair, which I don't). So you see, we are NOT pet people.

Let me tell you about why dogs and humans should not live together. They smell. They shed (everywhere!). They bark and annoy the neighbors. They ruin your lawn, and your neighbor's lawn. They are crotch sniffers.  Their food and upkeep cost a fortune. . . need I go on? Husband thinks that one day he'll bring home a dog. Not if he still wants to be called husband.

Well, last week, on the eve of my birthday, I got a phone call. A sister from church was in the hospital, and we needed to find someone to watch the dog.  To make a long story short, we have the dog. Its sleeping on my couch right now (which of course is covered with 2 towels and a blanket.) Husband was super excited. Have I mentioned yet that husband LOVES animals? His love for animals is as strong as my non-love. Guess what? Molly is a man-hater. It runs and hides every time Dan comes into the room and barks at him if he gets close (unless she's in her pink purse - its her "safe place"). Sigh. Happy Birthday to me!!

Spamit!

General Conference weekend is THE BEST. Saturday morning we had 4 missionaries over to watch with us. It was crowded, but the Spirit they brought made the session even better. Listening to a living prophet is just amazing.

Food is always a big part of Conference weekend for us. While I was out grocery shopping for the week, I saw a can of Spam at the grocery store. Normally, I don't notice the Spam and walk right by it. Because Spam is totally gross. But for some reason this time it caught my eye. I stopped, and must have been possessed, because I put a can in the cart. There was a small reason for my madness: Husband LOVES spam. (It's a Hawaii thing.) He's always telling me about how great Spam is, and that if he made it for me I would like it. I decided that buying Spam would make me the best wife ever, and Conference Weekend was the perfect time to make husband's dreams come true. I was right.

Barf.

See how happy Husband is? Oh dear.

Apparently you slice it.

Then put it on the griddle. (Next to the super delicious french toast.)

There was some great conversation during the Spam cooking process:

Me: "Husband, that stuff stinks! Like really bad!"
Husband: "Alicia. You're breaking my heart!"

Husband (after taking a few bites): "Oh goodness. Now this takes me back!" (as if he's some 80 year old man reminiscing about his childhood.)  :)

Me: "I'm trying to remember all the funny things you said about the Spam."
Husband: "Nothing was funny about the Spam. It's delicious. You just don't get it." (followed by a dramatic sigh)

Just in case you were wondering, that stuff smells NASTY. It was so bad that I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Just picture the pink Spam above, but a little darker. And nasty smelling. True to my word, I tried it. Guess what? It tastes just like it smells: NASTY. It was slightly better with ketchup (what would this world be like without ketchup?)

Hope your Conference food was better than ours!