Happy Happy

Great grandson Bryce makes me happy!!  Just looking at that face makes my heart sing!  In one picture he is wearing the peapod and matching hat that I made for him.  A bit of a strategic error in the sizing because he is so much longer than we expected, but it’s so cute on him anyway.  I can’t wait to get him in my arms and hug him, rock him, snuggle him.  Of course you all know that he is the sweetest, cutest little boy in the whole wide world!! 

You’ve heard that saying “happy wife, happy life?”  Well I have amended that to include the dogs.  We have had a week of itchy, allergy-ridden pups scratching and doing all the unpleasant things dogs do when they are sick.  What to do—what to do?

First came the vet visit, shampoos with soothing baking soda rinses, ointments, a cooling haircut for Max and so on.  Then the doctor said the magic words, “are you feeding them commercial kibble?”  Of course!  They have been eating the same dog food for years with no sign of allergies.  After much discussion about feeding options we agreed that allergies could maybe, sorta/kinda be the problem and home cooked dog food might be the answer.

Next came the crash course in homemade dog food, what to include and what to leave out.  After turning our kitchen into a food laboratory we discovered that Macy and Max LOVE hamburger, stew meat, chicken or turkey.  Top any one of those with carrots, peas, sweet potato, and brown rice topped off by a drizzle of fish oil and a Tums for calcium and we have happy, happy dogs.  After the first serving they ate they curled up and slept like baby Bryce, followed by turbo time with much running and jumping.

The itching has almost stopped and we are hoping a complete cure is in the near future.  From now on there will be a big pot of dog food cooking on the stove at least once a week, which makes them happy dogs.

Knitting?  Yes I have been knitting the wool/acrylic scarf above in Amazing.  The colors really are!

Life is good!

Summer Slow Down

Do things move a lot slower for you during the summer?  Sometimes I feel like my life is at a standstill.  Thankfully it is not at a dead end, just plodding through deep mud puddles from summer storms. 

I gave DH a new grill for his birthday because his old one more or less blew up on the patio.  He came in one day as I was tossing together a salad to go with our grilled chicken breasts and nonchalantly announced that the grill was on fire.  We managed to put out the fire without calling the family fireman, and the chicken, which he had not yet put on the grill, was cooked in the frying pan.  Not only did I have to heat up the kitchen with the stove, the thing we were trying to avoid by grilling outside, but it took much longer to get dinner on the table (when you factor in the fire extinguishing).  S-l-o-w!!

I’ve talked before about the yellow sock which has become the world’s longest knitting project.  I should get a medal for putting up with this sock for so long!  I keep knitting and knitting and yet it does not get any longer.  This sock should be in a museum!  It defies completion.  I know all that yarn is going somewhere, and though I am ready to start the white toe when I measured it by my sock length card it tells me that I still have another inch and a half to knit with yellow.  This doesn’t bode well for the second sock.  At last count I have knitted more than 50 pairs of socks in my life and this sock may be the end of the run!  

I hope you all have an exciting weekend planned!  Mine includes wrapping meat for the freezer, chopping a huge cutting of herbs, drastically clipping Max’s fur for summer, and of course reading and knitting.  I will take another stab at the sock and start the second brown/green variegated mitt.  I fully expect all of these things to run s-l-o-w-e-r than usual.  It is summer after all and…

Life is good.