Weekend

tracks in the snow

Emerson

Oliver

Oliver getting warm after a trip outside

Our days have begun in the negatives.  Negative 15 degrees was the coldest.  A woman told me the other day that she's happy when this type of weather finally arrives because it means Spring is on it's way.  I used to feel this way.  Not anymore.

I'm trying to live in gratitude everyday.  Grateful for every moment, good or bad.  I'm having a hard time selling this one to anyone else in my household.  Oliver and Emerson believe that if the temp's are below zero the cold breaks your legs.  Three out of the four legs to be exact.  Have you ever been outside, cold, trying to convince two dogs their legs are ok and we just need to go inside?  The pep talk quickly becomes begging and then I just give in and carry one while slowly encouraging the other.  I have faith that someday they'll understand my new-found view.  I'm not so optimistic about Jay.

With the cold temp's comes limited time outside for the girls in the coop.  First, leaving their door open means the once warm coop now becomes as cold as the outside.  Second, they aren't fond of having petroleum jelly applied to their combs and this must be applied daily to prevent frostbite if we allow them out.  Third, they don't really want to go outside they just like to have choices.  They don't like to be told what to do.  I completely understand where they're coming from.

I really enjoy having snow on the ground.  Yes, I could do without the super cold temperature but the snow sprinkled over the landscape is just beautiful.  We love to watch the different tracks that appear in our yard, trying to figure out what type of critter it could be.  We believe we've seen fox, squirrel, chipmunk and rabbit {the rabbit pellets that come with the tracks are a sure give away}.  We aren't sure what else roams the land throughout the day and night.

I've been doodling away coming up with jewelry designs.  I'm all ready to give it a go as soon as the tools arrive.  My candle supplies should be here this week and I'm excited to get started.  I'm also going to try making my own diffuser oil.  Have you tried this?  They are so ridiculously priced in the stores so I figured if I use a carrier oil and an essential oil that I like, this should do the trick.  I'll let you know.

Jackson continues his stealing of rubber stamps.  That wouldn't be such a bad issue on his own, except he loves to completely clear the shelves of stamps during his crime spree.  I just can't get him to take off those naughty pants!

Emerson was sick on Saturday.  We aren't sure, but believe he has allergy issues.  It seems when my allergies are acting up, his are as well.  It usually only last 24 hours for him, so he's doing much better today.  Oliver is doing great.  I can't tell you how thankful I am everyday to see him so happy again.  I will do a quick story on our entire Kong experience this week or next week.  To make an extremely long story quite short, I've requested the Kong company review their initial finding as it was completely inaccurate and quite surprising to say the least.

Smells this weekend include:  Breakfast frittata, eggs benedict {made especially for Jay}, homemade stromboli using my pizza crust recipe, thumbprint cookies using some of the slow-cooker strawberry jam I'd canned in 2012 {both recipes coming this week}, and tonight I'm making chili for dinner and white chocolate chex mix and calzones {also using the pizza crust recipe} for Jay's lunches this week as well as yogurt and quinoa salad for my lunches this week.

Hoping you have all had a wonderful weekend!