blogging from 13 inches below...

Well its that time of year. I pack up my sleigh (the focus) full of presents, and LOTS of warm, heavy clothes...and make the 8 hr drive up to MA. With benadryl in the doggies tummy, and Erin by my side playing "mommy bird" (thats another story for another day) we made it in pretty good time...almost exactly 8 hrs. Connecticut was seriously bumper to bumper from the time we entered the state till the time we exited.

The dog finally woke up, poor guy...to a rude awakening of cold cold weather and a potty full of snow and ice. He slipped, he slid, he skidded as he tried to lift his leg. Had to crate him in my bedroom since he slept 8 hrs driving up, and was wide awake all night.

Up this morning, and out the door...think he's finally resigned to making yellow snow, cant find any grass anywhere to water. I'm excited, the snow slows him down enough that I can just let him righ out the back door and he cant run away anywhere. We had a nice off the leash walk in the woods on the trails behind my house. Then went to the soccer field and played "catch me."

I think Emmitt could get used to this living out in the woods in a nice neighborhood. Hes calm, and happy to be off the leash. Doesnt go too far from me, and always always comes right back when I call him.

I know where I'm going to move him next....! (and no, there wont be snow)

Well addressing the 13 inches below...we are getting a BLIZZARD with wind and snow and everything. I shoveled the deck only 30 min ago, and already its past my ankles again....Tomorrow I will wake to snow up to my knees...so sad. I can deal with the inch that was on the ground already....up to my knees; not cool!

Blog slacking

Its been too long, I've been a blogging slacker.

I apologize...tho this isn't read by many...

Well Erin or (Eryn) as she writes it, is visiting me. Helping me schlep the doggie up to MA for christmas. Emmit and Eryn love eachother...we baked peanutbutter dog biscuts yesterday for our neighbors dog's for Christmas, (yes I am one of those people...) First the cookies for Drew's coworkers, then the cookies for the dogs...Did I mention I love to bake. I like "winging' it too. I usually look up a recipe and then sort of edit it in a way I think would taste better, or at least be slightly healthier. Usually my expiraments work out, sometimes not so much....
Think I get it from my dad, we have a general knowledge of what foods do what things in recipes ie what are binders, what help make things rise or give it certain tastes, and then with that knowledge we apply it to random foods. Each time I go home I usually do this. Last year we altered the Gingerbread men recipe. The traditional one calls for so much LARD! (thats tons of saturated fat by the way) not good for my dads already partially clogged arteries...so we substitured a "lighterbake" ingredient (its basically mashed prunes) they tasted really good, they were still soft, but didnt have that "lardicious" flavoring.

Anyway so back to the dog biscuts, mostly just peanutbutter, flour, egg water, and a bit of bran. Emmitt was a big fan, he wasn't happy about sharing them with his friends. Guess he'll have to learn that to be a good puppy we must share our favorite things with our friends sometimes.

He'll get over it.

We have been walking by all the decorated houses on our nightly walks lately. Someone decided to put out fake deer, not the ones that are white and light up and move, they look like real deer. Emmitt wanted to chase them, but then noticed they weren't running away...I went up to touch them to show him it was ok. He wasnt cool with that, started barking and proceeded to freak himself out. Guess he only likes deer when they give a good chase.

Monday night he got to chase some in our back yard. Drew went out the sliding door that leads to the back yard to take out the trash. Usually Emmitt will sit and stay with me while we wait for Drew...however monday...he saw a deer, or a squirrel. I'm still not sure, all I saw was a flash of a white tail, and then a flash of a white dog, and lots of leaves rustling around and being kicked up....There was a moments panic from me as he charged into the woods. I couldn't see a thing since it was so dark, just the eerie glow of his eyes from time to time. Fortunately he must like the food we feed him, because a moment or two later he was back, so happy to have chased something, even if he didn't get to bring it back for us. Haha, good dog!

Its been a loong time..

Ok, so I think last I wrote Drew and I were in "eviction" hell...we wasted our fun, January vacation money on a hotel, a moving van, and lots of days waiting to move into a place. I just want to skip all that...fast forward to now. We are happily moved into our new townhouse...a whole .20 mi from the last 2 places we have lived in the last 6 years. What are we, nomads? Seriously we are like in the Kelley tribe that moves around the planes of Owings Mills, searching for...buffalo? hmm think thats the wrong state...guess here we are searching for...hmm a way out of here..so far no such luck. However, having 3 floors means the dog can run up and down the steps still he passes out, he can play tug of war as rough as he wants, and he has 2 doors to get to the outside through! He couldn't be happier...well really he could be, because now hes seen snow...and he HATES it! First he growled at it, then sniffed it, then tried to bite it...Apparently the snow won, because he has been going hours upon hours with out going to the bathroom (lets just say this little pup normally does his business 4-5 times a day, sometimes twice on one walk...and im not talking about coloring the snow yellow...) Fortunately today (after 3 days of holding it so long he could not sit down) he found his friend Regan, a Mastif having no problem browing the snow, so he decided he too could get in on that action! Good thing!

Well moving on from the dog's ass...Its getting to be Christmas time! (hmm interesting transition there...) Anyway, as far as I'm concerned once I break out the big hubbard squash for Thanksgiving, its Christmas. Nothing like a 15 lb squash to get you in the mood for gingerbread and other goodies..This year we are giving all our friends, neighbors and coworkers homemade cookies and fudge to save money. Tomorrow I am starting on the chocolate meringue snowflakes (martha stewart's got nothin on me!) Yea thats right, I am going to pipe the cookies into snowflake shapes...tho maybe I should wait to boast till after this expirament! Then its onto peanutbutter munchies, and peanutty buckeye bars, and maybe some chocolate thumbprints, and some fudge and finally some turtles! Good thing New Year's is just around the corner..all his coworkers can resolve to go on diets after this cookie extravaganza!

Anyway, merry Christmas, and here's to loosening our belts this time of year!!