Merry Christmas Eve

This morning I woke up to rain, darkness, and Rusty peeing the kennel. It took quite a bit to get my thinking brain on and build some patience. I decided to bake and cook and give Rusty some time out of the kennel.

First he got his peanut butter Kong and I got ready to cook. My plan was two recipes, one a vegan modification of a Turkey Pot Pie with Pumpkin Crust and the other recipe was Vegan Scones which were written as Ginger Currant but I switched to berry.

For the pot pie I substituted tempeh for turkey and my veggie mix was a little different. I used almond milk instead of dairy milk. I really liked the end result, I think it is probably too bland for most people but perfect for me. It will be a good dinner to eat over the next several days.

I almost didn't want to put a photo of my scones because when you look at the Daily Garnish photos hers are beautiful and mine are messy. :) Her blog is probably one of my favorites right now.

Obviously my modifications included removing all the spices, currants and ginger (nothing I had on hand). I added a heaping cup of frozen mixed berries and chopped them up a bit at the suggestion of my sister. I also use Ener-G egg Replacer (again, what I have on hand, although I am hearing a lot of good things about using Chia seeds), and I was in the mood for full whole wheat this time around.

I really enjoyed the recipe and will definitely do it again. I even froze the Earth Balance before hand.

You can see the bowing in Rusty's front legs are pretty bad right now. I have to keep reminding myself that this dog's body is pretty broken. He pushes my patience so much sometimes and it is just terrible in the cold and wet of winter.

Hopefully he will rest well and no accidents while I enjoy a Christmas Eve meal at the Mexican restaurant.

A Lazy Friday

My goal for the Christmas weekend is to be as unscheduled and undemanding on myself as possible. I even had a plan laid out in case I didn't sleep again last night - which means naturally I did.

I shocked myself and Nim today by going for a little hike. Today I could have easily spent most of my time knitting and/or baking.

It was in-between rain "events" and I told myself that I would only go until
a. started pouring, or
b. I lost motivation.

The rain held off, but you can see we are totally clouded in. AND if I go out with friends tonight I know Nim will do better spending hours in the house with no stimulation because he got to burn off a bit.

In news regarding the the Solstice: the 21st may have actually been the shortest day. The entire thing is confusing to me. Regardless, I can say with absolutely happiness that at least one or two days ago, we passed the shortest day of 2011.

Good Morning Winter Solstice

Hooray! Shortest day of the year! I know, I have a long winter ahead, but it is still nice to know the days will slowly grow. Also, this morning is VERY cold, but we have sun!

I really wanted to hike but I am still not feeling great and I know better than to push it. So we did a short and gentle walk around town.

After a single day I have gone back to green tea. I actually don't mind black tea, but it is stronger and although I drank less than my normal daily ridiculous quantities of green tea I still think it kind of made me shaky. I will still drink it from time to time, but definitely not daily. Or I need to start with black and switch to green for the end of the day.

The Eve of the Solstice

Tomorrow is the day I am waiting for - then I will find something else to countdown. :) Shortest day of the year is almost here!

Today we got surprised by a bit of sun. I am not complaining and neither was Nim. It was cold but I made sure to get in a quick walk on a service road on Tiger Mountain.

Countdown to the Solstice - Surviving Tuesday

Before I could wash the dogs and get my grocery shopping done I had acupuncture. What was amazing was that she right away focused on my calves which have been really bothering me this past month. All the stress I am carrying is drawing all my energy up towards my head leaving my calves with very low energy. She also suggested I switch to black tea for awhile (I have developed a huge green tea habit being back in school). Black tea is more for the winter months while green is more spring/summer. I was actually able to find a little bit on about this online. I wish I knew more about the seasonal influence of what we eat/drink and when we need it.

After relaxing the last thing I wanted to do was wash the dogs and shop but I try to really streamline my trips out of the house. Once I got into the washing it was OK. First Nim...

I bathe the dogs at Le Chic Pet in the Issaquah Highlands. I actually found this place when in desperation I learned that the only self-wash place in North Bend was tubs in an open room. Definitely not an option with Rusty.

I really like the owner at Le Chic Pet - she is a very down to earth and nice woman.

Today we are trying a new shampoo on Nim. I have had luck with Emu oil on all his injuries and I am hoping the shampoo works well. He has a tendency towards dry skin. At least the smell wasn't offensive. Apparently it taste good too because he kept trying to lick it off.

Nim looking clean and angelic:

Rusty I wash last. He is about 30 pounds lighter and more frail and WAY more challenging to wash. We both hate it. He spends the entire time plotting his escape over the edge of the tub. Even Nim isn't so stupid as to think that would be a smart jump and it would hurt Rusty a lot more.

When Rusty isn't plotting his escape he is either people watching out the glass door or he is figuring out the least helpful way he can lock up his body to make the experience as miserable for me as it is for him.

The dog was STINKY! Between the cold, the mud, the accidents, the weekly swimming, being a senior...it had to be done.

Because it actually wasn't raining for long in Issaquah I took a break between stores to get both dogs out quickly. Not a great walk or adventure but at least it was more than was planned for them today.

Countdown to the Solstice - Tuesday AM update

I got about 9 hours of sleep last night. It has literally been MONTHS since I have slept that much. I keep trying, but my body and brain just doesn't want to sleep. It is a relief to actually get that much sleep.

I have noticed I am spending a lot of time on a handful of blogs - some helpful and inspiring, some not. I had to put myself on obsession restriction. I always can tell when I am doing more harm than good with my surfing because I feel worse than I already did! :)

So why not be better about updating my own blog?! Especially with things that matter to me. And especially when I have a cute photo of a shirt to post.

Saturday there was rumor of sun in in Seattle and I literally couldn't get out the door fast enough. First I walked Rusty around North Bend so that he could really stick it to all the visitors in town for the Santa Train by walking AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE in all the crosswalks. I am that person with the senior dog well behind me. Yup.

Then I loaded up Nim and we headed to the U District. Sidecar For Pigs Peace (lovely vegan store) was having a bake sale benefit for the Pigs Peace Sanctuary. Sun + vegan baked goods = relief for me.

You are looking at the front and back of my newest shirt! I have wanted to buy myself one for years and decided Saturday was the day. It is a nice green color and the pig is so adorable.

Overloaded in sugar, I then thought it would be a good idea to walk Nim around the U Village Mall. It wasn't - although some baffling people watching opportunities. We left the area and got as much sun as we could in the surrounding area before driving back to the darkness that is North Bend.
Today's big plans include Costco and washing the dogs. I didn't have much gifts to wrap this year, but the few I did are now done! (My apologies to my mom who I think is trying to catch up on way too much wrapping detail right now).

Countdown to Solstice - finished quilt

I finally finished my quilt. The pattern is "Akatombo" from the March 2008 Quilters Newsletter.

It actually is supposed to have some "easy" applique in it. The problem being, applique just isn't very easy to me for whatever reason and I end up not really liking what I do. Once I faced reality that I was never going to applique some of the blocks, and that the quilt would be OK without these blocks, I was able to finally bring the quilt together.

Even without the applique is it a nice quilt. None of the fabrics are too bold.
These clouds that will not leave North Bend is probably the reason I have had a low level sore throat and a rough headache for about 4 days. Sunday it actually rained, but not enough to really clear the air I don't think.

When I can muster it up we get out and walk the neighborhoods. I shouldn't complain when it isn't raining or freezing, but it is still dark and dreary and that is hard to motivate in! Only a little longer and we can start lengthening out these days again!