Ideas for blog entries radiate out from my mind like the spokes of a wheel. Which way to go? Which one to choose? I think about them all: Bella wants computer time; Pookie would like to be talked about; the Paul Revere curtains are all photographed and waiting for their moment; I finished my slippers; I started my rug (hooking); and probably more, but these are the ones foremost in my mind right now. I sit down to write and nothing comes out.

I hope that one of those will find their way into a slot so I can move forward. Soon.

It’s both of those things out there this morning. Not only is it pouring rain, but the wind is howling and the trees are doing a frenetic dance to its tune. The rain is being lashed against the windows. By looking at it out there you’d expect it to be really cold. But it’s 51 freakin’ degrees! Yesterday it never got above 33 degrees during the daylight hours. Cold and damp, too. If it had stayed cold we’d be having a blizzard.

It’s not really cold enough to have a fire going, but I started one anyway. It makes me feel better. I liked this rather creepy reflection of the fire and the rattan chairs in the sun room. Do you see Mrs. Cardinal on the bird feeder? Poor thing!

I am going to hunker down inside today. No way am I going out in that gale. I’ve already got the ingredients for dinner, (either Chicken Fingers with Chipotle-Honey sauce or Cornflake Crusted Chicken Fingers with coleslaw) so no need to do any grocery shopping. I am almost finished with my slippers and I hope to finish them up. Just one more sole to go (and I am halfway through that already), and then all the sewing up and weaving all the ends in. I have a good book to read too. And ... the Food Network is back!! Thank goodness! The dogs have some tasty filled bones that I bought the other day for such a rainy day occasion to keep their boredom away. Bella just went to the door asking to be let out. I opened it. She just stood there sniffing the air, watching the rain pour down and decided she really didn’t want to go out after all.

Wherever you are today, no matter what your weather is, I hope you stay warm and dry! I’m just glad to be staying home.

This weekend we had arranged a walk for us and a play date for the dogs with a friend and his Golden Retriever. When we got to Jungle Habitat we were greeted with a barrage of cars, people, and a lot of activity. What the heck? we thought, is going on here? The vehicles with “State Forest Police” emblazoned on their sides were particularly worrisome. We decided to park and see what all the fuss was about before getting the dogs out of the truck. As it turned out they were only there to set markers on the paths regarding certain hazardous spots. They said “an accident” had occurred back in December. When I asked about taking the dogs for a walk he said “sure, the trails are open but remember it’s hunting season.” I mumbled something about probably not safe to let the dogs off lead and he was quick to point out to me that dogs were supposed to be on lead in the park, never off. oops. I never knew that. Every time we’ve been there people have their dogs loose all over the place. We opted not to be drug around the Jungle by our dogs on lead, so we headed off to Green Turtle Pond instead and we parked at the top of the road and walked down.

Bella likes her Golden friend, Kayla. At first Bella is a bit overwhelming for Kayla, being too pushy and a tad dominant. She just wants to play and Bella has always played hard. Before long they settle into a happy companionship that consists of running. A lot.

The call this shot “the three amigos.” (Alex, Kayla & Bella)

The snow has mostly melted but the road was still icy in spots and we really had to watch our footing. Bella did pause now and then to offer me a good shot of her by herself. Can you believe how big she is?

We thought they would wear down after a while, but they were still at it on the return trip. Of course, they had to find a puddle of mud to play in! Kids!

We hope to have more play dates/walks in the future. Next time we’ll try our normal Jungle walk, hopefully without all the state brass!

I hate stripping tinsel off the tree. Why is it that before Christmas all the decorations look so festive and after Christmas they just look tired (or maybe I am just tired of looking at them) and you can’t wait to take them down. Once it’s over, it’s over for me. Kind of like deflating a balloon. That’s about how I’m feeling. Yesterday I took down all the “fresh” boughs and tossed them out. They were brittle and shedding needles everywhere, making a fine mess to clean up. So, the dining room is completely de-Christmasized but the living room is not. I did take all the tinsel off the tree and the snowflake ornaments, leaving only the garlands and the lights. Hopefully today I can finish the job. The outside decorations will just have to stay up a few weeks longer under we can get the ladder out to take down the wreaths.

Here’s how Bella feels about the whole Christmas-(toy)-overload thing.

We had a surprise snow on Sunday afternoon, almost a mini blizzard. It was not predicted, yet huge flakes of fluffy snow fell for about 3 hours. The wind blew and the snow was really falling horizontally. So pretty! We ended up with about two inches of snow, but it was blowing and drifting so it’s hard to tell how much we really got on the level. It’s also frigidly cold! We’ve had a lot of wind lately and it’s not my favorite thing. It finds its way through every little crack and crevice of the house. We had both the fireplace and the wood stove going all weekend, so we were cozy and happy playing our newest Mario Wii game.

PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t take my Food Network (and HGTV) away you big bad stinkin’ lousy Cablevision! I hate you! On Sunday I tuned our TV to the Food Network channel hoping to watch Iron Chef. Instead of Iron Chef I got someone yakking about why Scripps has pulled “your” Food Network and HGTV channels. My first reaction was to throw the remote through the screen, but of course then I wouldn’t have any TV at all. But ... but ... WAAAAAHHHHHH! I called the number listed to complain but I doubt it means anything to them. We are being held hostage for no fault of our own. Here’s hoping they work out some agreement money-wise that they can both live with without sending our cable bill sky high. 

I’ve been sort of a slug over the holidays with company and Rick home a lot. I need to get back into my groove again of walking the dogs each day, knitting, learning how to hook, trying new recipes etc., etc.  And, I have these two new books to help me with the hooking and knitting bits.

The Fearless Knitting Workbook (which I got for Christmas) has lessons like this:

How fun does that look? The Basic Rug Hooking book looks great too but I just got it the day before yesterday and I haven’t really had a chance to look at it in-depth just yet. I’m anxious to get started and see how I like it.

So, I have plenty of things to keep me busy, Food Network or not. Here’s to getting back to routine!

Side note: I just read over this entry before hitting the publish button and realized it makes no sense at all. Oh well. Just what’s on my mind this morning! I’m hitting the button anyway ...

Here is Alex in his reindeer finery. I know you all wanted to see all the dogs so dressed, but that was impossible. Every time we put them on Bella, she promptly removed them. Every time we put them on Hailey, Bella promptly removed them. sigh. That girl! The dogs and cats all had a great Christmas and had fun opening their presents. Rick made a wonderful video of them which you can watch here. Just so you know, Bella is the one that’s “naughty” while I dig some paper out of her mouth, and also the dog that runs off into the other room with presents two times. Alex is the main package opener, while Hailey is the hot dog eater. I hope you like it!

We enjoyed my sister and brother-in-law’s visit very much. Time flew by too quickly, and given that nearly one entire day was taken up with getting our hot water heater replaced (the electrician had to come too), it made it seem even shorter. We took them to the train on Saturday afternoon and they spent their remaining two days of vacation in NYC.

We didn’t have snow on Christmas day and it rained the next day, melting all the previous snow and leaving us with a green scene again. This morning we are having a few fitful flakes (try saying that ten times!) but it’s not going to amount to anything. Still, it’s pretty to watch and after all, it is my birthday today. Happy Birthday to me! This week is supposed to be bone-chillingly cold with some snow forecast for New Year’s Day. I’m not going to hold my breath ...

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

P.S. Don’t forget to watch the link to the video of the kids opening their presents!