Quarantine: Week 4

Here we are at the end of the fourth week of quarantine and the end of spring break. It was a nice, quiet week, with the only zoom meetings involving friends and family, and one online session of office hours, so no complaints from me!

There was the usual amount of clinginess and hilarity from Ginny:

modeling a new pair of ears I bought

I was sitting at the kitchen island
and she wanted up, so I held her in one arm
and read my phone with the other and
she fell asleep like this!

I was working late one night and
this is how she was sleeping!

I love looking over at her while I work
to see what pose she's decided on!

watching for squirrels

"celebrating" National Unicorn Day

hanging out with my mom

she was *slightly* less annoyed by the
unicorn bandana than she was about the costume

any sunny spot is the equivalent of
"if you build it, he will come"

she likes to keep an eye on the nonexistent
goings-on in the neighborhood

while we worked outside, she sat in the car
with the windows down and watched us

she's over it

her ear is in the water while she is sleeping
and you can see just how much she cares about that

during a family zoom call, we put her and
my brother's dog Max on the screen;
if you follow me on instagram,
you know how much she loves him

We had some delicious surprises delivered/dropped off:

Georgetown Cupcakes from my Work Wife in California

cookies from a local bakery
courtesy of my awesome neighbor

homemade treats from my BFF/baker extraordinaire 

We dyed some eggs:

I've had this Dachshund egg for about 15 years -
one of my former fifth grade students made it for me
and now she is my colleague!
I love her so much!

We did a little work in the yard (not our favorite thing to do!) and made some discoveries:

My lilac bush is blooming!
My grandparents had one in their yard
and the scent always reminds me of my grandma!

There's a bird nest with two eggs
in one of our trees!

But the big news of the week? We painted our front door and adirondack chairs!

That might not seem particularly impressive to any handy or crafty people out there, but for us, this is huge!

We've lived in this house for almost 18 years and we've never done anything to our front door aside from adding a storm door several years ago. It's always been black and I've said every year, "We should paint the front door a fun color!" and then we never do because that is not something we'd normally enjoy spending our limited non-working time doing. However, all of this time at home was just what we needed to get it done!

I love the color yellow. The color of sunshine. The color of happiness.

That's what I wanted on the door.

Once the door color was decided, we had to figure out the color for the chairs, and we decided to paint them a bright red. Why red? Well, our house is white, with black shutters, and if we had a yellow door and red chairs, we'd have the four Mickey Mouse colors for a subtle nod to our love of all things Disney!

We spent yesterday and today sanding, priming, and painting, and we are thrilled with the results!

before

before

handle and lock removed

edges taped

first coat of primer

before

first coat of primer

I have never been more excited
about a paint color!

Here we go!

one coat finished

two coats finished

all done!

all done!

after

after

after

I LOVE IT!!!!!

Happy Tails to you!

Lovely Lyrics: Touch the Sky

I love the movie Brave and I think Merida is an amazing character! Her desire for independence and her declaration, "I'll be shooting for my own hand!" makes her the type of princess kids can look up to!

This quarantine has got me longing for adventure, so this song seemed fitting for Sing Song Saturday!

Touch the Sky

from Brave

When the cold wind is a-calling

And the sky is clear and bright

Misty mountains sing and beckon

Lead me out into the light

I will ride, I will fly

Chase the wind and touch the sky

I will fly

Chase the wind and touch the sky

Where dark woods hide secrets

And mountains are fierce and bold

Deep waters hold reflections

Of times lost long ago

I will hear their every story

Take hold of my own dream

Be as strong as the seas are stormy

And proud as an eagle's scream

I will ride, I will fly

Chase the wind and touch the sky

I will fly

Chase the wind and touch the sky

Music and Lyrics by

Alexander Mandel & Mark Andrews

Happy Tails to you!

National Siblings Day!

Today is National Siblings Day and also Framily Friday!

I wrote last Friday about how much I love my two brothers, but I'm not the only one…C loves being a big brother.

My brothers were 5 and 6 years old when C and I starting dating in 1988, and since C is an only child, my brothers became his brothers.

He is an amazing big brother, from making trips out to Seattle to visit one brother at University of Washington to sending the other brother frequent NHL updates and statistics so he'd receive lots of mail while he was in basic training. It is one of my favorite things about C…how awesome he is with my brothers.

Our Wedding
December 1994

My Brother J's Wedding
May 2014

Our Vow Renewal
December 2014

My Brother G's Wedding
August 2019

So lucky to have such amazing siblings!

Happy Tails to you!

Laughter

Today is Thankful Thursday and I'm keeping it simple.

Laughter.

I'm incredibly grateful for laughter.

Sometimes that laughter is the result of watching The Office, Parks and Rec, or Brooklyn 99...

  

Sometimes that laughter is because I'm married to someone who is hilarious...

after being on a trip for two weeks
and having nothing but each other's company,
he still made me laugh as we were
trying to take a selfie on our flight home

And sometimes, it's because of Ginny...

yes, she's sleeping, and yes...
HER EAR IS IN HER WATER BOWL

Whatever the source, laughter makes everything better and during these crazy times, I am so thankful for it!

“Life is worth living as long as there's a laugh in it.”

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery ~

Happy Tails to you!

Rainbow Riley

It's fitting that Wiener Dog Wednesday falls on April 8 because my family's first Dachshund would have been 25 today. Her name was Muggsi and she was an amazing dog. We'd never had pets before that because of my brother's allergies, but he had a bit of a health scare when he was 11 and my parents were very worried and willing to do whatever for him! What did he want? A Dachshund! So from that time on, we were a Dachshund family, and now 25 years later, we've had a total of 13 in our family!

While Muggsi was never technically my dog, in many ways it felt like she was. Only a few months after Muggsi joined our family, I moved from Canada to the U.S. in order to keep my green card. C and I had only been married for eight months! I moved to a new country, back in with my parents and brothers, and I got a job as a counselor at a residential treatment facility for adolescents. Not where I thought I would be at point in my life!

My brothers were in school all day and my parents worked all day. I worked from 5:00 pm to 1:00 am. So I had a lot of time on my own during the day and Muggsi and I did everything together. She saved me from the loneliness of missing C. Originally, the plan was for Muggsi to sleep in her bed in the mud room, but I snuck her down to sleep with me every night when I got home from work at 1:30 am and then snuck her back up to her bed at 6:00 am and no one was the wiser for months!

C and I ended up having to live apart for 4.5 years before he was allowed to live in the U.S. (yes! During the first five years of our marriage, we had to live apart for 4.5 YEARS!), and Muggsi was my best friend during that time.

In my kitchen, I've got stuffed Dachshunds on top of my cabinets to represent each of the 13 gals we've loved. I've got the five "family" dogs along one wall – Muggsi, Holly, Murphy, Carmen, and Ava.

Along another wall are our dogs, which until today, meant there were seven – Chelsea, Molly, Gunni, Maddy, Ginny, Duchess, and Sadie.

Then today, the stuffed Dachshund that represents Riley arrived. It is so perfect – rainbow, with stars on the feet, tail and ears! I'm so glad to have one for her to add to our kitchen!

Happy Tails to you!