#2966 3 things: Mac, MT update, '80s music

 

1. Mac, my black dog, wasn't feeling well this morning. There was puke and poop on the floor, and I knew she did it because she looked guilty and miserable. Her ears normally point up and she holds her tail high, like a husky, but today her ears were flat and her tail was low and tucked. Her eyes were sad and kind of unfocused, and she wobbled and swayed when she was standing. The biggest thing that made me feel worried was that she didn't eat her breakfast at all. She wouldn't even eat a kibble from my hand. I thought I might have to take her to the emergency vet so I stayed home to keep an eye on her. She was quiet and subdued all day and followed me around the house, always laying near me. She didn't want to be petted, necessarily, but she wanted to be close. I'm happy to say that she ate her dinner and played outside a little this evening. She's still quiet and sleeping a lot, and I think that is okay. Hopefully she will be back to normal tomorrow. Mac does have an appointment with the vet on Monday to get her shots, so I'll mention that she didn't seem to feel well today.

2. MT is on day 26 of his Colorado Trail through-hike. He messaged me tonight that he is at mile 310, and camping with a couple of people. On Tuesday he sent a message from mile 288 and he seemed down, lonely and homesick. He seems to be okay again now. He did tell me that when he was hiking yesterday, he heard a helicopter overhead, which was unusual, and then he came upon three forest rangers who were monitoring a nearby fire. MT said he didn't see or smell the fire at all. The thing that's cool is that at mile 310, he has travelled further than he has left to go. The end isn't quite in sight, but it is closer than the beginning of the trail. Amazing!

3. '80s music just hits the spot sometimes for me, and last night I got a belly full of fun '80s music at Red Butte Garden. The concert was called "I Want My '80s" and four bands played: Paul Young, Wang Chung, John Waite, and Rick Springfield. My favorite of the four was Wang Chung. They sounded great, and I knew every one of the six songs they played. They just had a 30 minute set and it was tight and fantastic. Rick Springfield was my second favorite. He was fun. He kept mentioning the elevation and seemed to be having a hard time catching his breath. The crowd happily filled in when he wasn't singing. A funny part of the show, to me, was a singing contest between the under 55 fans and the 56 and over fans. (LOL) 56 and over won resoundingly. We were LOUD and there were probably more of us, to be honest. Hahaha  It was all totally rad!

 

#2941 three things: how are the dogs?

Stella, Harley, and Mac

It has been awhile since I wrote here...I didn't even realize how long it has been. how about an update on the doggos?

Stella went to the groomer yesterday for a (much) overdue bath and a haircut. I think she is perfectly cute with longer hair. I love the way it floops along when she runs toward me with her frisbee. However, she does not like to be brushed, or even petted for a long time, so her floopy gets tangles. Plus, the girl gets Dirty, yes, with a capital D. She plays so hard, and in the winter when the ground is snowy or muddy, she gets little dirt balls in her floopy fur. She was due for a spa day, and you can see that she is pleased with the result. We went to Starbucks and got a pup cup to celebrate her new style.

Harley was recently diagnosed with a slow-working thyroid. She had put on quite a bit of weight since her last vet visit a year ago, and there were other signs, too. She was lethargic, sleeping a lot more than the other two dogs, her eyes were always funny and kinda squinty, and she was losing hair. She had a bald spot on her tail! She just didn't seem excited about anything, and I just knew something was wrong. The vet thought it might be thyroid disease, so she took some blood samples from Harley and quickly found out her diagnosis was correct. Everything else in her dog body is fine, so we got some thyroid medication which she takes very well twice a day, and the changes came quickly and were very apparent. Her eyes cleared up, she plays with Mac again like they used to, chasing each other around the yard and wrestling. I can see that she is losing weight, and the hair on her tail is growing back. We joke that we liked subdued Harley, but she is so cute and fun again!

Mac is the same as she ever was. She loves going for walks and smelling all the smells along the way. If there's anything that motivates Mac, it is food, and she can be vocal about getting a treat. She is on the chonky side, so I have to be careful how many treats I give her. One fun thing is that she has started to be more interested in running after a ball in the yard. She has a particular squeaky ball that she loves. I can toss that around, and she will run to get it. Harley chases after her. Mac will bring the ball back into my general area, but likes for me to chase her around a little bit to get the ball. Sometimes she will press the ball right against my thigh or my bum, which is annoying. Somehow, I think she thinks it is hilarious. Mac looks a bit fearsome, but she is a sweet girl and the dog that is most easily frightened by strangers and noises that she isn't used to. 

There you go, a little update on my pack!

#2881 three things: lessons from my dogs

Each of my dogs have different dispositions. All three are sweet girls, each in their own way. I thought it would be fun to summarize their dispositions. MT, T, and I agree that these statements are pretty accurate.

Mac is a husky/black lab mix

Be like Mac:

  Stay watchful and interested

  Show excitement about things you like

  Be loyal

Harley is a yellow lab

Be like Harley:

Ask for the attention you need

Sleep deeply

Be friendly and affectionate

Stella is part terrier, part ? 

Be like Stella:

Enjoy your play time

Find comfort where you can

Be willing to accept love

#2837 weekend wrap-up

 It is still winter. I just looked out the window, and it's snowing. Maybe it's more of a chunky rain, but there is definitely moisture coming out of the sky and it's 35 degrees. Winter. I am ready for some warm sunshine. Remind me of these words when it is over 100 degrees in July and I am crying for cooler weather. 

Nothing much has been going on the last half of this week. I went to Trader Joe's on Friday. I like to find something new to try each time I go. I found a couple of things this time:

 This is a roasted garlic and pesto pizza with a Naples-style fried crust. One of the women at TJ's said she thought it was delicious, but was surprised at the small size. She said the box says it is three servings, but she ate the whole thing in one go. I probably will too. I'm planning to have it for lunch on Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Why not tomorrow, you ask? Simple. I have something else planned for lunch tomorrow - tamales!

Yes, this is a bottle of sriracha seasoning in a powder form. I used a bit of this spice when I made home-fried potatoes the other night. I didn't use enough to really be able to get the sriracha kick, but it gave nice flavor. I'm going to have eggs for breakfast tomorrow and I'll sprinkle some on the eggs. Why powder instead of the OG sriracha sauce? I'm not sure, to be honest. Maybe on those days when I wish I had a little spice seasoning, it will be easier to bring this wee bottle with me than the giant bottle of sriracha that lives in my fridge. Stay tuned for more about this one.

Mostly I have just been doing regular weekend stuff. I had to go to Harmons to buy more coffee, and then I went to Target to pick up household stuff like toilet paper, dog food, and vitamins, just non-food stuff.  Since I went to Trader Joe's and to Target, I didn't have much in the way of regular groceries to buy this week, so I ordered them online from Smiths, and I'll pick them up tomorrow. I have kind of a love/hate thing with letting someone pick out my groceries. I've only done it a couple of times. I don't have them pick out fresh fruit or veg; I prefer to do that myself, and I got those items at TJ's. I don't shop for regular groceries at Harmons because the prices there are more than at Smiths, but they have the coffee I like, so I go there every couple of weeks. 

Today we got started on our tax prep. We meet with our CPA at the end of the month. Because MT is self-employed and because of the rentals, we have a lot of weird shit that is beyond my capability to Turbo Tax. The CPA is expensive, but reliable. I do my best to keep it organized throughout the year, but we still have to provide all the details for him to plug into his magic tax computer. We'll be ready to go for the appointment. 

Then, of course, there is art. I am sort of obsessed! I really enjoy doodling, painting, and trying new stuff. Pinterest is helpful for giving me something to draw from. I spend a lot of random minutes throughout the day looking at Pinterest, not just for art ideas, but for other stuff, too, like research for Paris and Barcelona, and recipes. Anyway, when I find something cool that I want to try out, I "pin" the post to my own boards. I noticed that I was getting a quite a few on a board I call Simple Art Drawings. Not that there is anything simple about art, but these are different that singular doodles, and I couldn't come up with a better name. 

That's not important, though. What is important is that I made a pact with myself to do at least one "Pinterest project" each week. Here's my first one:

I like it, generally speaking, but I notice on the original that the flowers and leaves are much closer together, and I like that better. I like the scribbly flowers and the overall looseness of the project. I will be trying this one again and working on spacing. Spacing has always been tricky for me. I work on "clustering."

For the art group, the weekend prompt was to do a series of at least three things that started with M. This week, I choose to do photos:

You've got your muddy dog legs, malasadas, and Mac. I wish I'd put Mac's pic above the malasadas so it would look like she was staring down at them. Missed opportunity.

MT gave Stella a little haircut on her nose so now she can see more clearly. Here is a look at all the puppers in photos I took today:

Stella

Harley

Mac

I just happened to catch Stella with her tongue poking out. Harley thinks I have a treat in my hand, and is ready to lunge. Mac looks unimpressed with having the camera in her face. She's also got a stray bit of someone else's hair on her nose!

Still snowing here. SIGH. I hope you had a pleasant weekend and have something fun planned for the week. Cheers!

#2831 mid-week check in

I listened to my favorite podcast, Vibe Check, today. The gurls (their terminology) talked a lot about the Grammy Awards. The three of them were mighty put out that Beyonce's album, Renaissance, was not named Album of the Year. I was kind of put off by their take on that topic. I listened to several of the albums in the category, and I thought they were all good. Yes, I'm sure Beyonce was disappointed, but don't you think Adele was bummed out, too? How about Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo? Those were good albums that I liked a lot. Bad Bunny's album was the first Spanish language album nominated for Album of the Year, and it was excellent. Harry Style's won the award for Harry's House, also a very good album, and I was happy for him. He did make me shake my head in disappointment when he said, "This kind of thing doesn't happen to people like me." I'm like, "Dude, you are a young white man. Stuff like this happens for people like you all the damn time."

Anyway, who really cares? Those awards are all subjective, anyway. Someone is going to get the award, and nine other people won't. So what? Does it make me not want to listen to Beyonce or Lizzo because they didn't win the Best Album Grammy? No, it doesn't. I will continue to listen to all the albums and enjoy the hell out of each one of them. 

I think this was the first time I was not on board with what Sam, Saeed, and Zach were saying. It's okay, though. 

You know what really annoyed me about the Grammys? It happened right at the start of the show during Bad Bunny's performance when the closed captioning on my TV said something like "non-English singing." Ugh. I don't know why there was closed captioning on the song. I don't even remember if there was closed captioning on any of the other songs. I usually ignore the closed captioning, but it was on and I saw it plainly during Bad Bunny's performance. Benito (that's what I hear his Puerto Rican fans call him) won an award a little later, and gave most of his acceptance speech in Spanish. I liked that. 

There seems to be a lot of heavy news this week. I'm still feeling down about the Tyre Nichols murder. The earthquake in Turkey and Syria is awful to hear about and those images of the crumbled buildings are terrifying, knowing that people were in their beds when the earth trembled mightily. I didn't watch the State of the Union address, but it's American politics, so it can't be good. Oh yeah, and the Jazz just traded three players, including Mike Conley, to get Russell Westbrook and some draft picks. 

Ugh! This is not a fun check in! I'm cranky/sad/bummed about so many things!

Ok...so what's good? Here's something:

This afternoon after work, I leashed up the doggos to take them for a walk around the neighborhood. Harley, the lab, is a terrible puller, so MT and I use a harness for her. MT told me to try attaching the leash to the loop on the front of the harness, then the leash would go between her legs and she doesn't pull as much. It really worked! She did much better today on the walk. I gave her lots of praise and kibble snacks along the way to reinforce her good walking. 

Stella gets so excited when we go for a walk that she yips and barks for a good couple of blocks. We stopped while she was in the middle of barking her fool head off, and I petted her and talked to her in a calm voice and she chilled out and had a good walk. 

Mac is an easy walker - I would have never thought I would say that when she was a puppy. She just trots along, sniffing everything and being good. 

After a day of work, I enjoy taking the dogs out for a walk. Sometimes I don't, like if it is raining hard or snowing, or if it's eleventy-hundred degrees in the summer, but most days I do take them out. There have been a few times when the three of them are out of sorts and are terrible walkers, and I'll cut the walk short, but it doesn't happen often. Mostly we all get straightened out within a block or so of the house. The majority of the time, it feels so nice to get outside, stretch my legs, breathe in the fresh air, and have fun with the doggos. Since Stella came to live with us, we have outside play time after the walk. Stella loves to play fetch. Mac has been getting into running after a ball - they have to have separate toys and throwing routes. Harley will sometimes chase a ball, but Mac always takes it from her, so Harley mostly just stands by me and waits to get a kibble and a snuggle. She's my sweetest girl. That 30 minutes I spend with the puppers after work is one of my favorite parts of the day, and I get to do it every day!

Yes, there are times when I really don't want to do it. Leashing them up, herding them out the door, getting them straightened out and walking in the same direction at roughly the same pace sometimes isn't easy or very much fun. Sometimes they pull and misbehave and eat poop out of the yards we pass by. Even on the worst days, though, there is usually something good and pleasant that happens. It is unusual for all three of them to act awful at the same time, and they almost always settle down. Come to think of it, if I don't enjoy the walk, it's usually because I reacted badly to the dog's antics. I lose my patience, and then the walk isn't good for me.

Anyway, that's all I've got for tonight. I'm going to spend a few minutes doing a bit of art. I hoped that I would have some time to work on it earlier, so I could show you what I'm doing, but I read a few pages of one of my books after dinner instead of drawing. Maybe I'll remember to share it with you on Sunday when I post here again.

Enjoy the rest of the week! 

#2829 Wednesday vibe

Happy February! This week has been frigid. Monday and Tuesday, we had high temperatures in the teens, with lows in the single digits. At least it wasn’t windy. Look at me, all Miss Brightside. 

Wednesday is a work from home day for me. I was pretty busy today, which was nice. What had me feeling all happy, productive, and content today was that I was working a little hygge action. I had a really nice You Tube screen on:

There was nice, quiet piano music, and I think you could hear the crackle of fireplace. Light snow drifted down (not in real life, the sky was bright blue today.) I lit a cedar balsam candle that smelled so nice. It was very peaceful, and just right for focusing on getting my work done. 

I usually have You Tube screens like this one whenever I work at home. There are so many options, everything from coffee shop ambience to beach cafes. There are seaside Italian cafes and scenes with a view of the Eiffel Tower. The music isn’t all that great, but the fact that it is unremarkable is good, in my opinion. I prefer wordless music while I work. Sometimes, if I really don’t like the music but I like the background, I will turn to Apple Music for some soothing lo-fi beats, or classical music, or ambient noises. 

In fact, I am so into these You Tube things that I will often even have them on in the evening as background when I’m reading or folding clothes or drawing or whatever. When MT was on vacation in early January, I got into the habit of laying on the couch for 30 minutes or an hour or whatever and reading or snoozing. The You Tube screens are perfect for that kind of thing. There are some screens that are just a crackling fireplace. I love it for quiet time! 

This afternoon Mac and Stella were playing with each other outside. Harley was snoozing on the couch under a blanket (she gets cold), so the other two went outside. I was so happy to watch them chase each other around and play. Both their tales were wagging. Mac’s ears were all perked up and Stella had a big doggie smile on her face as she ran around. It was adorable.

This evening during the book club meeting, I rode my stationary bike. I don’t know why I haven’t done that before. The book club meeting is on Twitter, so it was no big deal to ride and read and sometimes tweet. An interesting development happened during the meeting. One of my fellow book club members is a school librarian here in West Valley. She was tweeting that she didn’t have many volunteers for the book fair, so I offered to go help out after work, and she took me up on my offer! I’m happy to go do that. Her school isn’t far from my house, and I love school book fairs. 

That’s all I’ve got for today. Take care!

#2824 weekend wrap-up

It’s been a pretty good weekend. Yesterday might be my favorite day of the year so far. I slept in a little, then took the dogs for a walk and some outside playtime in the backyard. I went to a coffee place that is new to me, Brew Monkey, and it is so cute! 

It looks like a place I might like to go just to read and have a nice coffee and a change of scenery. The coffee, by the way, was quite good. Each month they have new specialty coffees. The one I had was called a Mocha Borgia, and it was a mocha flavored with cinnamon and orange. Yummy! I didn’t drink it there, though. I brought it home and enjoyed it with a sweet roll from Beardall’s Bakery. I was supporting the Magna small businesses! 

After breakfast, it was time for art. I am in a group hosted by Jill the Artist. Each month, she does a workshop for members through Zoom. I was unable to attend the live workshop event, but Jill records the workshops and posts them for the group, so I did that on Saturday around noon. It was a lot like some of our workshops in Crete in which we did some writing and some sketching and painting. It is good and fun.  We did a couple of sort of Valentine’s-related sketches, then we messed around with still life sketches and paintings. 

Drawing clusters of objects is a challenge for me. I have learned that it is easier for me to take a photo of a thing and sketch from the drawing rather than from the actual 3D reality. I didn’t take a photo of my collection of things that I drew. Maybe I will do that tomorrow and try it again. Anyway, here’s what I came up with yesterday:

It was kind of cool, because I painted the background first. The colors are kind of muted here, but it was mostly pink and orange. I let that dry, then I sketched in the candle, the mug and the plant. I decided to use my watercolor marker brushes to “paint” the objects.  

I can’t get over how enjoyable the “arting” is for me. Even when the results are wonky, it’s fun to try. Painting with watercolors is great. 

In the evening, I made myself a pizza. Using pizza dough I’d purchased at Trader Joe’s, along with marinara sauce and quattro formaggi cheese blend, I cooked it up in my cast iron skillet, and I thought it was good. Simple and tasty. I also took the dogs for a walk and had more outside playtime, and everything was working out nicely. 

I picked T up from work, and a couple of hours later, I picked MT up from the airport. It was nice to have everyone home! Stella even came up and slept on the bed with us. Yes, we had all three dogs and both MT and I in the bed. It was mostly fine. Stella would yip on occasion if someone got too close, but mostly, she was really good. I wonder why she decided that last night would be her first night on the bed? I could tell she was feeling very comfortable during the day because she had come up to my room while I was getting ready for the day or whenever I went upstairs to use the bathroom. Here’s a photo of Stella watching Harley wrestle with Mac: 

This morning, we all had a nice lie-in on the bed. MT was telling me about his vacation, and the dogs were being so good and everyone was calm. I took them out for a walk, and it was drizzling. By the time we got home, it was starting to snow, so we cut outside playtime short. I went to the grocery store. We had some inside play time, and then Mac and Stella got into a big scrum. They were fighting over a toy. Actually, each of them had their own toy, but they put them down near each other, and then got all territorial over the toys when they picked them back up to play again. It was awful. I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid to reach for them in case they got confused and tried to bite me. It was very noisy and seemed to last forever, although I’m sure it was less than a minute. 

Now it is really quiet at my house. Stella doesn’t even want to play. She is up on the bed with MT, staying far away from Mac. The behavior is so unlike her, it breaks my heart. I was thinking that we were all getting along so well, now I feel like we are back to square one. The trust between them is broken, at least for today. They did go out for a walk with MT this evening and had their dinner, then Stella went right back upstairs. Mac is staying with me down here in the TV room. I hope we can get back to fun play times. At one point today, each dog had their own toy and I was tossing toys all over the place, and each dog was being very good about playing with her own toy. It was fun and it was so cute. Harley likes to have a ball rolled so she can chase after it. She then wants me to take it out of her mouth, and she gives it up pretty easily. Mac likes to have a ball tossed in the air so she can catch it, then she wants me to tug it out of her mouth, if I can catch her.  Stella likes to run after her toy and bring it right back for another throw. 

Mac and Stella both just went outside together, and although I can see that Stella is super wary about Mac, it looks like Mac wants to be friends again. She is wagging her tail at Stella and giving her space. I’m glad I’ll be home tomorrow to monitor their behavior. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for peace amongst the doggos. 

#2823 nothing much to say, but there are dog pics!

I’ve been wracking my brain for something to write about tonight. There are a dozen thoughts fluttering around in my brain like…

                Why is my tummy still so upset?

                              Wait! Lisa Marie Presley died?

                                         I did some stretching exercises today and it didn’t go well. I was tired and kind                    of sore. It was ridiculous.

   How is it possible that books I start at different times always seem to get finished at the same time?

       Does Bad Bunny make that air gulping sound on purpose? I’m gonna go with yes, but he figured it out to cover up bad breathing technique during singing.

           Stella is a non-stop playing machine.

I gave the dogs calming chews last night since they were all hyped up from playing and having fun. Those chews worked beautifully. We all slept soundly. I can’t give them those chews every day, though.

                    The Martian is one of my favorite movies.

                                  I HAVEN’T HAD ANY COFFEE TODAY (see first thought about tummy)

  MT will be home tomorrow night!

              I took a 30 minute snooze on the couch this evening and it was wonderful.

                   Mama and I had a nice chat tonight.

See? Lots of randomness, but nothing to really write about.

Here’s something: I managed to take a pic of the dogs while we were out walking this afternoon.

Also, we are all friends now:

And finally, a solo shot of Mac, because, why not?

Have a happy weekend!

                      

#2821 music Monday: Unholy

Today’s writing prompt was to write a haiku about my day.

I took time to make

Some art. Got creative! YAY!

Fell asleep on couch.

This one is also accurate:

Worked from home today

Played with the dogs; no walk - rain

Dentist appointment

I did take the dogs around the block this morning, but after work, it was raining and cold. I didn’t want to deal with getting wet and having wet dogs running around, so I sat on the floor with them for an hour and played. Stella loves to fetch, and steadily retrieved the toy I threw for her over and over again. The bad thing is that when she needs a drink of water, she will drop her toy in the other water dish - maybe she thinks the toy needs a drink too? - and then she’ll bring her dripping toy and her soggy whiskers over for more playtime. I have to trade out her toys so they can dry. Mac loves squeaky balls and wants to chase them, then wants me to chase her to get the ball back. I didn’t chase her, so she laid by me, squeaking the ball and play growling at me when I tried to take it away from her. Harley would occasionally rouse herself to play, but mostly she laid on me so I could pet her. She wanted all the scritches and rubs. 

For dinner, I made myself some chicken fettuccini alfredo using Rao’s alfredo sauce. It was highly recommended by my mom, and she wasn’t wrong. It was delicious! After a hearty serving, I was full and fell asleep on the couch with Mac and Harley. No room for Stella, who grumbled and slept on the loveseat. We are all very mellow tonight. 

MT was on Grand Turk island in Turks and Caicos today. He sent me a couple of photos and we texted for a few minutes. He said Grand Turk wasn’t very nice. The island had been hit hard by hurricanes a few years ago and hasn’t come back yet. He said if we ever went to T & C, we would go to Providenciales. It’s on my list of places to go!

Oh yeah, and I had a dentist appointment. Just a cleaning. Mattie, my hygienist, was very happy with the care I’m taking of my gums. She said she noticed they were much healthier. Flossing is the key, for real.

I filled up my first sketch book! It’s the one I took to Crete, and since I’ve been back, I’ve been doodling in it, and using it for a group I’m in that’s put together by Jill the Artist. I’ve been wanting to do something with the cover of the book to make it not look the same as other books I imagine will come, so I used some Christmas cards that I liked but were more prototypes than finished products, I guess. I trimmed them and glued them to the cover. 

I also did a little something with colors and lines, which I then cut up to fill in the blank spaces. Here it is before I cut it up:

Here’s the finished cover, all zapped up. I rather like how it turned out, and it was lots of fun for me. 

Maybe it looks like a hot mess, but it’s my hot mess, and I dig it! I’m constantly surprised about how much pleasure I get out of arting. 

Enough about my simple life. Lately I have been kind of obsessed with the song Unholy by Sam Smith and Kim Petras. I like the sound of it, sexy and naughty. I’ve liked it for awhile, but it’s really in my ear this week. The video is just as weird and wonderful as I thought it would be. Check it out!

Unholy music video

#2820 Saturday with Sandy

I had a very good night’s sleep on Friday/Saturday. For one thing, I was extremely tired. I took MT to the airport on Friday morning - he was on his way to Florida to go on a cruise with his parents and wanted to be at the airport by around 4AM for his 6AM flight. Neither of us slept very well on Thursday/Friday because we were worried about missing the alarm. Friday was kind of a daze. I took a melatonin to ensure good sleep and went to bed around 9PM. I got up this morning around 8AM. 

Another thing that might have made me feel so tired was that I received a shingles vaccination on Friday afternoon. My arm is still sore!

This morning, I fed the dogs and took them for a walk. They are doing well while we are out walking, but getting out the door is kind of a fiasco because they are so excited to go. Here’s a before-the-walk photo:

Mac is kind of blurry because she had just jumped up, all four feet off the ground. Harley wears a harness to reduce the stress on her throat when she pulls. Stella is excited about the whole thing. She often has this face.

After the walk, they are a bit more calm, and look like this:

Today was nice and mellow for me. After the walk, I made a pot of coffee, had some breakfast, then wrote in my journal for awhile. I cleaned up the kitchen, a fairly quick job, then settled on the couch to finish a book I’ve been reading since November. I liked the book, but I was reading other book club books at the same time. Since the book was my own, I didn’t have to hurry to finish it. I enjoyed the book, even though I thought it was quite long, over 500 pages. 

T had to work this afternoon, so I dropped him off, then decided to go to the library. I hadn’t been there for awhile, since I was reading my own books. I decided I needed a little something new, light, and maybe quick. What book to choose, though? WARNING: nerd alert! I didn’t see anything right off the bat that interested me, so I turned to my Goodreads list. There were so many books on the list, that I decided to sort it in the order I’d put the book on the list, and just pick the oldest one. I’d put it on the list sometime in 2020, so yes, the book was there, but it did not fit the new, light, and quick criteria. I got it anyway. As I was driving to Harmons to buy coffee, I had a stern conversation with myself. Why would I have books on my TBR list from over two years ago? There’s no way I was going to be able to read all the books on my list, so I decided to get rid of all the books I’d put on the list in 2020 and 2021. I went to another library, returned the novel I’d picked up at the first library, then chose another book that was still on the list and fit the criteria. I feel better! Currently, that TBR (to be read) list on Goodreads only has 34 books on it. Some of them I own, so it’s good. 

New book in hand, I decided to try out a coffee place in my neighborhood that I’d read about in the Axios Salt Lake City newsletter called Azúcar. It is a Latina-owned business and I was excited to try the Mexican mocha. I also got myself a pastry, which are locally sourced from Mexican bakeries. 

It was pretty late in the day, around 5PM, so the pastry wasn’t exactly fresh, but it still tasted nice. I think it was pineapple, maybe? The coffee was delicious. There’s the book I picked up at the library! I can see myself going back to Azúcar regularly. It was nice to sit there with my book and my delicious treats of coffee and pastry. 

Back home, I took the dogs for their evening walk. It was pretty dark and there was a lot of activity in the neighborhood for some reason, so we didn’t stay out long. The doggos were okay with it since it was their dinner time, anyway. 

After a nice chat with my mama, I watched a movie I’ve been wanting to see since I got back from Greece, The Two Faces of January. It is filmed almost entirely in Greece, with the first part in Athens, and the biggest part in Crete, including Chania. It was awesome to see familiar sites! I love to watch movies that are filmed in places I have been. 

Now it is bedtime. Mac and Harley are already sound asleep on my bed. Stella sleeps downstairs on any couch she chooses. I’ve invited her to come upstairs, but she rarely does. It’s okay. I don’t really want three dogs on the bed!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

#2819 three things: routine, ritual, and three dog home

Today I was thinking about rituals and routines. They are kind of the same thing, but subtly different, maybe. I read online that a routine is something that just needs to be done, like taking a shower or making the bed. A ritual is an action that contains a type of reverence; it is a more meaningful practice with a sense of purpose. Here is what I think are examples of my one of my routines and one of my rituals.

1. A routine. Every night, I have a routine when I'm getting ready for bed. I take out my contacts. I floss my teeth (because you can't neglect your gums!), then I brush my teeth for two minutes. I have an electric toothbrush with a timer, so it's easy. Then I rinse brush for a minute. I wash my face and put moisturizer on my skin. I put on my glasses and put lotion on my hands, then I go to bed. I rarely deviate from this routine because it takes care of all the stuff I need. 

2. A ritual. Maybe this is going to sound strange, but making coffee is a ritual for me. I fill up the water tank with cool, filtered water. I grind the beans, then measure out the fresh grounds into the filter, adding a dash of salt. The filter container with the beans goes into the machine; the pot is ready and waiting for the coffee to brew. I turn on the machine, waiting for the whir of the motor, then I press the desired number of cups. While the coffee is brewing, I put the rest of the supplies back in the cupboard and clean and put away the grinder. By the time all that is done, there's enough freshly brewed coffee in the pot for my first cup. It is a routine, certainly, but it's also kind of a meditation. I like the flow of it. I also don't do it every day. I only make a pot of coffee two or three times a week. The other days, I will usually just pop in a K-cup or stop at Starbucks.  Maybe that is another difference between a ritual and a routine - the ritual might not be something that happens every day?  I don't know.

3. My three dog home. There is certainly an adjustment period when adding a new member to the family. Stella the Aussie dog is settling in and finding her voice (literally) with the other two puppers. Stella loves, loves, loves to play fetch and will happily chase a thrown object and bring it right back to you for another toss. I tire of the game much more quickly than she does. It's hard to deny her a toss, though, because her eyes get so bright and she gets a happy dog smile on her face. Harley sometimes loses her dog mind when Stella starts happy-growling and shaking her head around with the toy in her mouth. Harley will start barking, which causes Stella to bark. Mac was joining in the chorus, but she has stopped doing that, thankfully. 

Going for walks has been interesting. The first few days, not one of the dogs could seem to walk in a straight line, so their leashes kept getting tangled up. Stella was so happy to go walking that she would yip and criss-cross the sidewalk, sometimes walking under Harley or hopping over Mac's leash. It was funny and annoying. I spent more time stopping to untangle leashes than walking. The three of them are getting a lot better at it now. I was telling Lizzie and MT on Tuesday that I didn't know if this three dog thing was going to work, but they both reminded me it had only been a few days. I also said the same thing when we got Harley a couple of years ago, and now I can't imagine being without my Harley Bear. It's only been a week since Stella got here. Stay tuned for further updates.

#2781 making up for a lost couple of days

How do you start to write a post after a couple of weeks away? I have so much to say about the time I spent in Greece, from the glimpses into ancient history, to the friendliness of the people, to the food, to the art retreat, to the the absolute joy of experiencing all of it with my sister.

I intended to write every day this month, but I missed those first two days. I think my reasons are valid, though. On Tuesday, the first, I flew home from LA in the afternoon, then went to see Post Malone in concert that night. I was dragging at the concert, but I’m glad I went. I would have been sad to miss it because I did have a good time. Posty is fun to watch and he puts on a good show.

Yesterday, the second, I was in full jet lag mode. Thankfully, Wednesday is a work from home day, so I dragged myself downstairs, fired up the coffee maker, and did the very best I could for the Company. 

When I logged off for the day, just before 5:00, Mac and Harley sensed that I was done working and knew

it was walk time. I didn’t want to do it. It snowed most of the afternoon, and it was cold. We didn’t have a lot of snow, but it did stick to the grass. Mac loves to walk in the snow, and she was woofing at me to take her out, so I did. It was the right thing for all of us. The cold air felt good. I was bundled up in my puffy jacket and a hat with a glove on my right hand. My left hand was ungloved so I could reach into the kibble bag to reward Harley for good walking. 

It’s true! For the past couple of days, Harley has been walking very nicely right at my side! The only time she has pulled me is when she saw her friend Henry, the St. Bernard, and when we passed by the house with the dogs that bark aggressively. She gets anxious when we pass their house, but she’s getting better. I thanked MT for working with her while I was gone, but he said he hasn’t been doing anything differently. I don’t know why there is a change; I was giving her kibbles before I went on vacation but it didn’t have the effect it has now. I’m keeping fingers crossed that this is the “new” Harley!

After the walk, I helped MT with some paperwork he needed to print, sign, and scan. After that, I was basically a worthless glob of a human. I took a melatonin to ensure a deep, blissful sleep and was completely out by about 7:30. I woke up at 5:00 this morning, feeling like I could get through the day and be fairly productive. I did okay, I think. Now it is 8:30 and I’m still up, although I feel myself fading a little. 

There’s a wee recap of the first two days of the month. In the days to come, I will write about my time in Athens and in Chania. I’ll likely also have a post about Munich, Germany. We spent two nights and a day there on the way back to the States. 

To close out today’s post, here is a photo from Chania, Crete, a place that might have the most enchanting little side streets I have ever seen.

#2682 weekend wrap-up

I've had a pretty nice weekend so far. 

Yesterday, I stopped by my favorite French pastry shop, Les Madeleines, to get some breakfast. I got a kouign-aman, a pain au chocolat, and a latte. I gobbled the chocolate croissant in my car, which was a mistake. The croissant is so flaky and delicious, it really needs to be savored, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait. 

It was a beautiful day, so I drove up to Red Butte Garden for a stroll. Coffee in hand, I sauntered through the Garden, taking in the green leaves of the mountain mahogany trees, a few early hardy yellow daffodils, the ice-covered pond, the bundled up cypress trees, and the gorgeous view of the valley from the top of the water conservation garden. Here are some pics:

This is one of the mountain mahogany trees. On the ground, you can see some tiny, white flowers called snowdrops.

This is one of the paths through the forest, still a bit snowy.

Can't NOT take a photo of the waterfall whenever I am at the Garden. 

Here is the ice-covered pond.

Another view of the pond and a couple of my favorite trees, the white birches.

Look how clear and blue the sky is! The temperature as I walked around was nearly 50 degrees F - that's 10 C. I was wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt with a heavy sweatshirt on top, joggers, and sneakers. I was perfectly comfortable. There was no wind and it was dang pleasant out there.

I got home in time for my book club discussion. We are reading It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. It is different from most books we read because it is kind of a romance. Having read another book by this author, I think there might be some kind a weird twist coming up. I mean, there will definitely be a twist, because that is plot, but it might be kinda weird, based on the other book we read of hers. 

After book club, it was time to eat my KA. It was so, so very good. Crunchy and sweet on top; tender and buttery on the inside; caramelized chewiness on the bottom. I'm drooling just remembering. Those pastries are so decadent, I limit myself to one a month. Plus, having that limit practically guarantees that I will love it each time I have it.

Later that night, MT and I went out for dinner at Copper Creek Pub. For dessert, MT wanted a frozen custard from Culver's, which is next door to Copper Creek. He ordered one concrete mixer (that's what it's called, don't ask me why), paid the money, and was told to pull ahead and they would bring it out to us. We were in the drive-through. The two cars behind us were given their food before MT ever got his mixer. We waited nearly 30 minutes before MT kind of lost his sh*t and went stomping into the restaurant to either get the mixer or his money back. He got his money back. I don't know what the problem was, but whoo-boy was MT cranky!

This morning I took the puppers to the dog park. MT didn't come with us because he wanted to work on getting the tax information together, plus he said he wasn't feeling very well. Mac and Harley had a great time running around with their dog friends, and for a bonus treat, I took them with me to the Starbucks drive-through where they each got a pup cup (that's a wee cup of whipped cream). It was fun to watch them eat it, and also pretty messy. The barista was generous with the squirts of whipped cream, so on the first lick, whipped cream went flying all over my hands and onto the seats and floor. The girls got it all cleaned up, though, and I could see they were very happy. Here's a pic of them waiting for the pup cups.

This afternoon I went to lunch with my friend, Liz. We went to Fiddler's Elbow in Sugarhouse. I'd never been there. It's a cool space, and my French dip sandwich was delicious! We had a nice conversation about travels and books and other stuff. She and her husband are heading out on a two-week road trip through the southwest, stopping at several national parks along the way. They were supposed to be going to Greece with a tour group, but the agency cancelled the trip. What a bummer! I was looking forward to hearing about it. I will be glad to hear about her road trip, though. I haven't even heard of some of the parks they are planning to visit.

When I got home from lunch, MT said he was feeling very poorly. He is cold, his body aches, his throat hurts, and he has a headache. Uh-oh. I went to Walgreens to pick up some at-home covid tests. (I haven't ordered any from the government. Yet.) He took the test and it was negative. I'm still going to sleep in the guest room for a few nights until he feels better. 

It's been a pretty busy couple of days, but busy in fun, good ways! I love that I have tomorrow off to do a few things around the house and relax a bit.

I hope you are having a nice weekend, too!

#2676 winter is NOT over

If I was a groundhog, I’d run back into my house today, too, just like Punxsutawney Phil did. The sun was shining, but it was too dang cold to be out and about. Six more weeks of winter, it is, I guess.

When I woke this morning, Mother Nature had blanketed the ground with a fluffy layer of snow. I can’t tell you how many inches were in the yard, more than one, less than six, probably, and it was cold, like low teens cold. The sky was that white blue that it gets when there is no warmth in the air. The sun came out, but he didn’t bring any warmth with him at all. The temperature stayed around 20 F (-6.7C) all day long. Mac was delighted with the snow and wanted to tromp in and out the back door all day long. The thing is that my workstation is right by the back door, so I was getting thoroughly chilled each time she came bursting through the door. A dog’s gotta do what a dog’s gotta do, though, and I can’t deny her the joy of running through the snow when she can. I do draw the line when Harley wants to sit inside and look out the open door. Sometimes I will allow it, but today was not that day.

This photo of Harley was not taken today, because there is no snow on the ground, and I was allowing her to sit inside but look out the open door. It is a preferred position for her. Not today, Harley!

Here’s Mac this morning, before the sun rose all the way. She’s a snow puppy!

After work, I have the habit of taking the dogs out for a walk in the neighborhood. I really didn’t want to go out this afternoon, but they both looked at me with those eyes and I had to do it. As they say, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing, so I bundled up and off we went. I could only stand it for about 15 minutes, though! It was long enough for the girls to stretch their legs and be happy.

It looks like the forecast for the rest of the week calls for slightly warmer temperatures and sunny skies. We might even get into the 40s next week. Woohoo!