Ready to do Some Camping Here

I haven't been to Nolin Lake in years - but I remember it's beautiful.  Hopefully we'll get a camping weekend down on the lake this summer.

Someone is Comfy

L.B. likes to huddle in under the covers when it's cold.  Especially if the covers are on your lap and another cover is over him.

Today's Work View

Today the high was about 17 degrees with wind chills around zero.  We keep our house at about 64 degrees.  Which makes the basement about 58 degrees where our office is. My hands kept getting too cold to type so Jason and I decided to work from the laptops upstairs instead.  There we could settle into our comfy recliners with two blankets, our laptops and a hot mug of tea to boot - oh, and this was the general scenery from our stand-point.  I don't think they really understood what we were doing.  LOL!

Loving Pets Bella Canister

This evening as Jason and I were heading out to dinner we noticed a boxed package sitting towards the end of the driveway in the grass.  ( Our driveway is currently an ice rink and on a hill so that's where our packages get left for the time being. ) I couldn't remember ordering anything so opened it on the way to dinner.  Turns out it was a Bella Canister, Merlot color, from Loving Pets.  And I didn't buy it, but here is how I acquired it.

I subscribe to a site / blog called Go Pet Friendly, which is written by a full-time on the road couple, Amy and Rod, and their two fur kids, Ty and Buster, laying out all the pet friendly ( and some not so pet friendly ) places they have visited in the U.S. and Canada to help others traveling with pets to know where and where not to go.  Great site - check it out!  Anyway, they send out monthly newsletters and in each one they usually feature a product of the month where the first so many people to email their address will receive that item, for free!  Apparently I was one of the lucky ones and got my email in on time.  So now, my fur kids have this very cool, very functional Bella treat canister from Loving Pets.  It's a very solid stainless-steal canister with a suction lid to keep the treats inside nice and fresh for your pups and come in three different colors.  And since it has a rubber, no-skid bottom this one might actually end up in our camper for our RV trips.

I have no affiliation with either of these sites, but I wanted to give a shout out and a thank you to both of them for the wonderful information and products they both provide!

This crew is happy!

Snug as a Bug

It's been unseasonably cold here this month and this is pretty much where L.B. stays in the evenings.  Under a fleece blanket either at the end of mine or Jason's recliner chair - making it very difficult to get up and down without disturbing his Chiweenie-ness.  He'll be happy when he can lay out on the 90 degree deck in the sun again.  Until then, he's Mr. Groucho.

Early Birthday Treat

Ahhhh my current favorite craft beer - Stella Artois!  This went along with my birthday lunch at Old Chicago Pizza after going to the boat and RV show to drool over campers with my girlfriends.  Fun, fun day!

Today's Movie Buddy and My Extra Heat Source

Today was a lazy day of movie watching as the snow came on down all day.  Lois Lane kept my feet warm while I wated Parental Guidance and most of Paranormal Activity.  Love lazy days with my pups!

My Coveted Possessions

I know they are just "things" but my Kindle and my laptop are two of my favorite "things".  My laptop lets me work, play and keep in touch with family and friends.  My Kindle lets me bring my entire library of books with me everywhere I go.  And to think my very own corded phone in my bedroom was my coveted possession when I was a teenager - now you can't pay me enough to talk on the phone at length -  who would have thought!

That Last Pesky Christmas Decoration

It happens every year - there is always one holiday decoration I forget to remove, no matter how hard I look around while all the storage totes are all out. This year I forgot two things - my pair of reindeer over the french doors to the side patio and the greenery with hanging owls pictured above.  Now it's well into January...and it's still there.  I don't think about it until I'm either in the middle of something and catch it out of the corner of my eye or until I'm sitting in my recliner ready to relax for the evening.  Oh well, at least it's not a tree or santa or something. ;)

Chicken Curry & Veggie Stir Fry

This is what is going to be for dinner tonight!   Jason's chicken curry with stir-fry veggies.  Simmering in the crockpot all day.  Making us hungry every time we go upstairs.  It's been a while since we've had this meal - I'm quite excited!  ( I would post the recipe but Jason just pretty much throws chicken, veggies, curry, pepper, garlic and whatever other spices he deems fit - so, there ya go. )

The Boyz Version of P90X3

L.B. and Buddy like to share Buddy's crate when I do my workouts (their crates are in the bedroom as is our workout area).  Lois Lane prefers the bed where she can watch the birds on the feeder just out the window.  I think it's cute how the boys snuggle together - and they stay out of my way!

This Begins Today!

I'm very excited to being the P90X3 program today! We started the original P90X back towards the end of last year, but I ended up with an elbow injury ( not due to the workouts themselves )  and Jason with a shoulder injury so we had to take a couple of months off.  During that time X3 was released.  I'm very excited to give it a try and see how it is.  I'll find out here in a couple of hours.  The beauty of X3 is that it's the same great workout structure packed into only 30 minute workouts 6 days a week rather than the hour to hour and a half workouts in the original P90X.  Fingers crossed that I can keep up!

Secondhand Mammogram

So apparently this Goodwill in Louisville is doing mammogram screenings next week for a cheap fee to help low income women get checked out.  That's pretty cool!  I also found it kind of funny...but still, it's a great idea for the community!

Stink Eye

Sometimes the Chiweenie is not impressed with the camera...or me touching his feet...or the other dogs invading his space...or weird food...or birds...he's an odd little dude.

Is It Spring Yet?

Woke up to some snow falling this morning.  It's pretty, but I'm so ready for spring and summer and the camping it will bring!  So for now I'm enjoying fleece PJ's, hot coffee and some PC gaming until the spring thaw gets here.

Blue Hues

This is why all my upstairs phone photos have a blue or purple hue to them.  ;)  Though the tank is in the process of being sold so it won't be an issue for long.  Sad to see it go, but it doesn't fit into our upcoming travel plans. Time to down-size and hit the road in the coming years!

Jason's Favorite Shirt

Definitely Jason's favorite shirt.  And it pretty much sums up his thoughts for when most people ask him computer questions.  Hey, do you work for free?  ;)

L.B's Grooming Service

Much to Buddy's dismay, L.B. loves to "groom" his drool pouches and remove his eye boogers.  *yuck*

Tilty and Cat Woman

This is Tilty and Cat Woman, my two remaining gerbils. They are sisters and are roughly two years old.  Tilty got her name due to a head tilt she has that was initially caused by a fall and then later pronounced by a small stroke she had. Cat Woman, well, her color explains her name and her brother is named Bat Man...it seemed fitting.  These two are pretty friendly for gerbils - I can pet them and touch them and they will take food from my hands, but as with any gerbil, they do not like to be picked up!  They are fun to watch though.

Green Eyed Monster

Buddy with his giant head in my hand and his alien green glowing eyes.  Kinda makes him look  a little spooky, no?  I had posted last week about him injuring his back...I'm happy to report that after a couple of days on some anti-inflammatory meds, he is back to his old, goofy self.  :)

Molly the ACD Wonder Dog!

This is Molly, an Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler) mix.  She's a smart, sassy little lady and oh so soft!  She's not mine, but does belong to our friends The McDowells!

Treat Night!

BWs is probably still my favorite place to eat.  Their wings just can't be beat!  We had a treat night out with our friends, The McDowell's, and had a great time, as we always do when we get together.  The service was pretty horrible, but the girl was new so it was pretty much expected.  Still won't keep me from returning.  Wings and beer - never can turn them down!

Squirrel!

This little guy and his twin brother live in our entertainment center cabinet.  They were purchased at the Christmas Cottage.  I love them!

Kings Quest!

Who remembers King's Quest?  You know, the point and click adventure games from the 90's?  Jason managed to locate all 8 of them for me and installed them on my laptop so I can go back to the old school ways of gaming and maybe actually finish one of the games.  When we very first started dating way back in 1994 we would hunker down in his room in the basement and *gasp* play Kings Quest all evening long!  Such geeks...but we had fun and even had a notebook dedicated to Kings Quest puzzles we ran into and to jot down things we didn't want to forget.  Ahhh those days rocked...and now I get to relive it!  Happy girl!

Installing Windows VM on Ubuntu

Tonight I had to install a Windows VM on my Ubuntu laptop....boo!  I rarely need Windows, but when I do, I do.  Usually for testing in IE (yuck), using Photoshop when Gimp just won't cut it (which is rare these days) or for certain games that require Winblows.  So, that was my photo of the day.  Lame, but so is Windows.  ;)

Soup Kitchen is Open!

We try to feed the birds more in the winter time than in the summer.  We feed in the summer too, because we just like watching the birds while we sit on the porch, but we always ensure they have seed and suet throughout the winter, especially when there is snow and ice on the ground and when it's very cold.  Poor birds need some help keeping full and staying warm!  They seem to appreciate it and the feeders stay full of birds all winter long.  It's hard to tell in the photo, but  there are about five birds on the feeder as well as more in the surrounding area on the ground out of the frame.

So Far Just Rain

A winter storm was supposed to come in, but most of it ended up being just rain, thank goodness.  We got quite a bit of rain before the cold came in and changed it over to snow, giving us just a slight 1" dusting overnight.  However, the cold that came in with the system is horrible!  We woke up to -1 degree F temperatures this morning with -25 degree windchill - brrrrrr!  Jason couldn't even get his truck started and my truck doors were frozen shut.  Luckily I didn't have to go anywhere today...I'll be parked in the house in my fleece PJ pants in the home office.  My old hometown in Indy has over a foot of snow as of this morning so I've been watching them dig out and post photos via Facebook this morning.  Stay warm!

L.B. Knows Buddy Isn't Feeling Good

Today Jason woke me up to come look at Buddy.  He was acting strange and deciding to lay down in mid-stride, while he ate and just in odd places.  After a text to our awesome veterinarian we were instructed to make sure he didn't have a fever.  We did that and checked him all over for any signs of injury but found nothing.  Dr. Rubsch knew we likely had meds on hand from when Blue had his back issues and told us to try some of the anti-inflammatory because it sounded like back strain.  Low and behold, a few hours later he was feeling so much better and now is pretty much back to his normal, dopey self.  Thank goodness!  We're still not sure what he did - it could have been a slip on the slick steps to the yard due to the snow and ice, playing with L.B. or just plain age starting to get to him.  Hopefully it's an isolated incident.  He's way too big to be carting up and down the steps!

Feed me, Seymour!

I love Venus Fly Trap plants.  Though I rarely see them actually eat anything, they are just neat to look at and easy to care for.  They just need a little water here and there.  This one was made to sit it a cup of water to absorb what it needs when it needs it.  I just have to fill the cup every few days.

Pentatomidae at large...

The stink bugs have invaded!  First it was ladybugs during the fall, now it's stink bugs everywhere we look.  Due to the crazy climate of late, these guys are out in full force.  And boy to they live up to their name!  Whatever you do, don't squish these guys.  The dogs keep trying to eat them...yuck.

Good Morning 2014!

Happy New Year!  Today begins a new year, and also a new photo project!  Jason said he would join in with me if I did a phone photo based project instead of a real camera, so we started Project 365 posted via Instagram - one photo a day for a year!  To make it even more fun several friends are joining in.  If you you want to join us, simply install Instagram on your phone (if you haven't already) and tag one photo a day with #2014instagram365 so the entire group can view it.  I look forward to looking back at the end of this year to see a year in review of my life.  I also will try to blog about photos that might tell a bit about my day.

I wish you love, health and happiness in the new year!