mega distractions

 It’s 3pm and it’s been snowing since early this morning… Carm has been out to snowblow the laneway but since he’s come in the snow has started to fall faster and heavier! The radar showed it ending ages ago but somehow the snow keeps falling.

I guess it’s a good excuse to be lazy again! Not that I seem to need excuses these days…

Yesterday Jo Ellen and Don (and Romy the poodle) came for a simple lunch… I say simple but if I’d been starting from scratch the tomato soup would have taken ages, but luckily I roasted tons of tomatoes from the garden last fall so the soup was a breeze. Instead I put the effort into focaccia! It’s a long drawn out process but one that I enjoy. But oh so much olive oil!!! Between the four of us we downed over ⅔ of a baking tray! There’s a few pieces left to have with supper tonight :-)

With Romy as a mega distraction, Lupa got to put into practice some of the things we learned from all those videos I watched last week! She’d gotten good at getting onto her mat and I suppose she had learnt some impulse control from the ‘games’ we played but I was very surprised at how the mat gave her a focus and a place to be that helped her to (semi) ignore Romy. It’s still a giant work in progress but overall I was happy… (oh how far our expectations have fallen!)

I wonder what would happen if we let the two dogs free? I fear bloodshed but I’m not experienced enough to read them. Lupa was super-focused on Romy and doesn’t seem to read doggy calming signals - she really is a terrier (terror!).

After J & D left it was time for the dogs to eat and then Lupa crashed - hard. She didn’t even make it to a bed but collapsed on the arm of the sofa! Such a tired puppy :-)

(it’s past 8:30 - the snow stopped hours ago)

Awesome!

“focaccia fresh from the oven at exactly the right time”

“Lupa rushing to the mat”

“freshly snowblowed laneway”

“dog snuggled on my lap”

so many videos

 The week has flown by… the winter is flying by… but to tell the truth, I’m done with winter! Another storm, more snow, some freezing rain, above freezing temps, below freezing temps, more snow, all thrown at us in less than a week. We’ve had a few sunny, but cold, days which were a blessing.

It’s been a bit busy too - Friday we did a whole body clip on Lupa - she looks a bit like a dork and she has a few strange discoloured spots with black outlines. Saturday Trudie & Leo came by for a supper of ‘sausages & peppers’. Sunday afternoon we had a family lunch at Mom & Dad’s. Mom made Christmas morning wife saver and I brought a burnt sugar cake so there were lots of carbs for everyone! The whole family was there except Juliette, plus we had an extra: Shenna’s friend Kelli, from NZ, who is taking a semester at Queens.

Kirsten and the girls were staying the night so I joined in. We had lots of laughs!

Carm picked me up Monday late morning - I was exhausted so basically just chilled for the afternoon before going to Trudie & Leo’s for supper. Aside from a trip to the hairdressers (the worst haircut ever!) on Wednesday, I spent the rest of the week watching dog training videos. I signed up for a 4 day ‘summit’ which included videos from multiple trainers every day. I’m not sure how much I retained but there was lots to learn and maybe it will motivate me to do more with both dogs. And hopefully gave me a few more tools to work on Lupa with her reactivity towards other dogs.

I’ve done very little cooking this week, relying on leftovers and takeout for our suppers. I did try a recipe for Thai chicken noodle soup that was a bit of a bust - not enough Thai spices, nor enough noodles, plus my mushrooms were a bit old… I’ll have to zuzz up the leftovers with more curry paste and another handful of rice noodles.

Grace scared us with a little bout with something last week but is now fully recovered and eating up a storm.

Today would have been a lovely snowshoe day as there’s some fresh powder down, but I’m a bit bletch and felt vaguely nauseous at times which sapped all my energy. I did get it together enough to make the ‘biga’ for tomorrow’s focaccia which will hopefully be ready in time for lunch at 1:30! 

The weekend was capped off by a fun sibling chat! Yay for technology :-)

Awesome!

“birthday party with the family”

“getting home after a night away”

“Lupa staying on the mat when I rang the doorbell!”

“a bit of sunshine in the afternoon”

a blurb of photos

 I don’t have much to say (ha ha… famous last words!) but I wanted to post these photos so they are in my timeline. It’s been a good few days.

Awesome!

“burnt sugar cake”