Wearing Out Grandma!

A weekend or so ago, I house/pup watched at Maddy and Matthew's about an hour away from here while they were out of town visiting his family.  I had a great time with my grandpups and tried to take as many various pictures of them to make Maddy and Matthew jealous of the time we were spending together. :)  I sent them throughout the days.

Zola looks so grown up with my bifocals.

and Daisy in a hat!

I got costumes for them but since Daisy was MUCH bigger than the child sized shirt I'd bought, I made it into a cape.  And I lied to them about a squirrel being out there.  They're so gullible...

I was there from Friday morning until Sunday night.  On Saturday night, we had a movie night and while it LOOKS like it was an all nighter with a few inappropriate movies, we only just binge watched the Derry Girls's latest season.  They loved it as much as I did, I'm sure!

That night, I put the girls to bed and got into bed myself and that's when they started the twilight bark.  I had Taylor Swift on their google home speaker and turned it up remotely but that didn't help.  They're huge Swifties but not when they have to go outside JUST one more time.  So I pulled on some pants, jacket and pair of socks.  I didn't put on shoes because I was only going to give them 3 minutes to do their business.  

I got them all harnessed up again and we headed out the door.  We stepped out on the patio and I pulled the door shut.  And suddenly thought to try the door.  It was locked.

I was outside with the dogs, no shoes, no phone, no keys...  It was 10pm.

Thankfully the neighbor across the drive had their lights on so I rang their doorbell.  The girls thought there was stranger danger going on and wouldn't let me near the door with the neighbor standing there.  I had to yell my dilemma over their barking and he was quick to grab his phone and a pad of paper and then ducked out of sight while I sat at his picnic table.

The only phone number I had memorized still were Robb's and Ryan uses that phone now and never has it handy.  And then Meri's number.  Those are the only other phones on my plan so that's why I had them in my head.  So I called Meri and got Maddy's number.  Whew!  Maddy answered and gave me the code for their front door. WOOHOO!  We got back in, but since the girls hadn't done their business yet, I put my phone and the house keys in my pocket and we went right back out.

On Sunday, I attended church a couple miles away and did some garage sailing that afternoon.  

The girls and I had a great time and Maddy and Matthew had a good trip too.

We had dinner together and then I headed home. 

Whew! A weekend to remember!

Dog Sit

It's been a good week!  Some moments have been tough, but I would have had that anywhere.

I saw those lists on FB that say, score a point for each high maintenance item you do, like manicures, daily makeup, permanent makeup, shave legs every day, etc.  I scored a big fat zero on that little quiz...  And that's ok!

I was never a high maintenance girl...

This morning, Maddy and I ran over to a Kwik Star or Trip and picked up some breakfast sandwiches for the 3 of us.  When we got back, we ate in front of Meri on a DUO call.

Apparently things are able to go on without me just fine at home.  Who knew?!

Don't you just love Meri's "cat" eyes?  I think the eye glow was more vibrant at some point and I was trying to get her to recreate the look, so this is what I got. Oh well...

I have so many ideas of things I want to can.  That'll be next week.

But for now, this is my view.  What a relaxed dog!!  Not all the time tho. Zola is a very high strung little dog, but I just love how she rides side saddle on the couch. She and Daisy have been wonderful and I've enjoyed letting them be my comfort dogs.  They're really good at knowing when I just need to hug them. That must be what they were raised to do.

They're good at it.

Well, I was wondering what to do until I started work today and my other choice was to load up boxes for the dump.  The blog won!

Maddy and I are planning a big morning of making freezer meals and food prep tomorrow before I leave for home.  We have all the groceries now and they have a new deep freezer ready to take on some serious cooking.  :)  

Let's fill 'er up!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Val Treats

 I actually worked out this morning!  It's been several days...  Probably the day before Thanksgiving.  I only walked .3 miles on the treadmill as Meri skipped the walking portion entirely.  We'll be back in the swing of things by tomorrow.

Last week I made SUPER thick plain yogurt.  It made a great base to add a packet of onion soup mix to for chip dip over the weekend. Thus my extra 4 pounds...  Well, that wasn't the only reason I guess.

I intended to use it for lots of things but didn't.  So now I have 2.5 cottage cheese sized containers of the stuff waiting to be used.  I'll be creative...

Today I put about a cups worth in a mug and then added one of those packets of sugar free pink lemonade powder that you'd normally add to a bottle of water.  It is totally delicious!!!  I have found my new sugar free treat!

Maddy called me last night and gave me the measurements for Zola.  Zola is an odd shaped tiny wiener of a dog.  

I had found a diy dog coat pattern online that is totally based off the measurements of your dog. The 1st measurements Maddy gave me a few weeks ago, looked REALLY odd when I drew them out on paper.  

That didn't look right...  As it stands, the new measurements are 3 inches shorter than this length. If I can figure this out, then I'll make one for Daisy too.

New developments on my MIL, so I'm getting busy getting the house ready for her homecoming.

Life is a rush...

Where's my yogurt?

Dreaming big

Meri and I worked out again this morning.  I'm beat.  But feeling productive, like maybe I am on my way to a better shape.  

Hope so.

Maddy and Matthew's dog Zola, ate the stuffing out of a dog toy and ended up at the emergency vet clinic last night.  We find out today if everything came out ok, but that poor thing!  She might need surgery.  Please send a prayer for her!

Isn't she a sweetie?  I can't wait to meet her!

Meri and Shub came over yesterday and played Frisbee in the back yard with Leon and me.  It's a heavy Frisbee, I guess for Frisbee golf.  

I kept not catching it on purpose because I kept thinking of the boomerang on the Road Warrior and thought I'd lose some fingers.

OH!  One of my garden spots is in!  

I agonized on how to use up some of my fabric stash to line it, instead of using the store bought weed barrier.  I mean... I have SO much fabric!!!  

Found that wool fabric is the best to insulate the ground and keep the weeds to a minimum.  

I'll probably spread the grass clippings on top of it so it won't look TOO odd in the neighborhood.  I've already put weights down on the edges to keep it from blowing off.

And it wasn't enough to make a wool cape out of anyway...  So it'd probably be made into scarves or a bag anyway.  And who has time for THAT?!

I'll let you know how it works. If it works.

Pay no attention to the pile of branches on the one side and the board that is out of it's hinges.  That'll be a next year project, fixing that up.

I've got 9 cherry tomatoes in.  And about that in mini sweet pepper plants.  I started them both in my mini hot house, the pepper seeds from an actual pepper that I got at Aldi.  

While Meri was in the back yard, she gave me some ideas on how we could finish up the area behind the garage.  The grape vine might go somewhere else.  Maybe the back of the yard.  Don't know...  Maybe let it grow along the fence?  Eh... we'll see.

And we need a stairway going down the hill.  I'm imagining something like this.

But then again, if I let my imagination REALLY go, I can imagine something like this...

So many plans in the works and ideas that need to be fulfilled before I can move on to the next one.

Do you have any plans that really need to be thought out well before the next phase?