Wordless Wednesday 10

...and Happy New Year!

Tug-a-Jug

We got Meiby a Tug-a-Jug for Xmas and I think she hates it!

Orange... bread?

This weekend I wanted to make some cookies. My husband and I decided that sugar cookies sounded good and I remembered these lime sugar cookies being excellent. I had a bunch of oranges, but no limes so I thought I'd try it with oranges. But before I started, I decided to look through a magazine of holiday cookies that I had picked up last year.

I found a recipe for Orange Cookies that was pretty simple and I had everything I needed for it. The process seemed strange from the beginning. The dough was thin and sticky. I ended up with this (after tasting a couple of course):

It was one big fluffy, cakey cookie. So I poured the rest of the "dough" into a baking pan and it became Orange Sweet Bread:

It tasted good but the texture was strange... almost like cornbread. I won't make it again but luckily my husband likes it so it's getting eaten. I'm sticking to my well-known recipe next time.

A New Level of Cold

This weekend I don't think the temperature ever got higher than 8 degrees F. We stayed home pretty much all weekend, watched movies, stayed warm on the couch ;)

We'd take Meiby outside when she needed to pee and she'd do it right away, then walk in a couple circles and sit down, picking up her little frozen paws. I didn't want to risk her getting frostbite in zero-degree weather so I'd pick her up and take her inside and she'd finish her business on her designated puppy pad. No problems all weekend! I think she finally gets it! Of course it helps that we were home to supervise her all weekend.

I had to go back to work today and my poor (brand new) car didn't want to start this morning. It's still only zero degrees right now with a whopping high of 11 degrees today. It hurts to breathe out there!

Someone's Been Naughty...

I told Meiby that she needs to be good so Santa will bring her treats... but she doesn't get it. It fact, I think she's grounded after yesterday. We've been leaving her loose while we're gone for short periods of time for several weeks now without incident. We'll leave a puppy pad out for her in case she needs it. We also close off the bedroom door (because, for some reason, she thinks the bedroom is a big litter box) and, generally she's very good on her own. She doesn't get into anything she shouldn't, etc.
Well, yesterday she pushed the pad upside-down and then pooped on the kitchen rug while we ran out to get some lunch. Then later, while I was at work, Nick left her loose for a couple hours while he went out to get some gifts. When he returned she had shredded the puppy pad and somehow gotten into the bedroom (must not have been properly latched and she pushed it open), pooped and peed on the carpet and then got into the garbage and shredded used kleenex all over the room. When Nick got home she was making a bunch of noise because she couldn't get out of the bedroom (the door shuts by itself and she has no nose to pry it open with.) I'm glad I wasn't there when he discovered what she had done. So after Nick cleaned up her mess he started wrapping presents and of course she's got to walk all over the paper and chase the scissors... but she's "helping" ...
I'm not at all surprised about any of this, though, except for the puppy pad shredding. I know she'll get into the bedroom garbage and poop in there any chance she gets, especially if she gets stuck in there, but she's never destroyed anything in the living room. I guess it's back to the crate for Meiby when we're gone... at least until after Xmas.

Chubby Puggy

Originally uploaded by ameetek16

Sure, the camera adds 10 pounds and the sweater probably adds a few too but I weighed Meiby this morning and she has put on some weight!. She's now 17 pounds at just 2 weeks shy of 1 year old (OK, maybe not "chubby" but she was around 15 pounds about 2 months ago). She's certainly not getting the same amount of exercise now that it's cold and snowy outside. She still looks healthy though, just a little broader in the chest and a little "foldier" if you know what I mean. She's a big girl now, nearly an adult! They grow up so fast :p

Wordless Wednesday 9

Tuesday Review: Pug Ornament

As I said I would, I ordered an ornament from Pugnotes.com with some super cute black pug artwork. The site says to allow 2-3 weeks for delivery but this got to my house in about 4 days (so you probably still have time to get one before Xmas.) Thank you Melissa and Emmitt ;)

Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale and Cowboy Jack's Beer Bread

We acquired a six-pack of Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale this weekend. I haven't tasted it for a proper review yet but it's a Michelob product so I'm not expecting much. However, I thought it would make a good addition to some beer bread so I whipped some up last night to go with dinner. I used this recipe because it was simple, quick, used few ingredients. It had mixed reviews but I figured I'd give it a try. I have to say I'm not impressed. I've made beer bread several times before (this recipe is good) and it's always come out really tasty and moist (it's one of my husband's favorite foods.) This time it was super dense, dry and rock hard. I added some chopped walnuts and I think that was a good idea(compliments the pumpkin spice and brown sugar flavors) but I'll have to try it with a different base recipe next time because this one was awful. Anyone have any good beer bread recommendations?

Coincidence?

This is the hook I used to make Meiby's sweater:

It's the one and only hook (out of probably 15) that she chose to destroy... I guess it's time to buy metal hooks :)

Turtleneck Sweater

turtleneck sweater
Originally uploaded by ameetek16

I modified Meiby's sweater because it kept creeping down over her "shoulders". I made it longer and skinnier at the neck so it now looks like a turtleneck. We left it on her all night one night last week and she had somehow gotten one "arm" out through the neck hole... We take it off of her before bed now :)

Wordless Wednesday 8

It's a bit late but here it is:

What do you want for Xmas, Meiby?

Food

Treats

Snacks

Toys

Cookies

Warmth

... did I say Treats?

I put up our tree this past weekend, for the first time in our new house and, obviously, the first time since we've had Meiby. She seems pretty unphased by it. She did try to eat the fur off the top of a stocking though. We just have a small fake tree with fiber optic lights and it's lifted off the ground so there's nothing for Meiby to get into trouble with. We only have about 8 ornaments but I'll probably get a few more this year (like this one.)

So Cold!

It was barely 16 degrees outside this morning with a fresh coat of ice and snow. Poor Meiby peed immediately but after a few minutes outside she started getting so cold that she laid down in the snow to keep her little princess paws out of the snow. I took her inside after a while and let her warm up while I got ready for work. Then I took her out again and she did the same thing, refused to poop. Nick got her to do it later but it got us thinking about alternatives. I've heard of people having litter-trained their pugs. I think Meiby could get it without much trouble because she already looks for an absorbent spot in the house (like a towel) whenever she does happen to pee or poop in the house. Yea, we might be supporting her wuss behavior but this might also be a good solution for whenever Nick finds a full time outside-the-house job (he's home all day with her for now). Obviously pugs are not cats and won't cover their business with litter when finished and I'm not sure Meiby wouldn't try to eat the litter... I was thinking more along the lines of washable junk towels in a tray (or even newspaper) that would be cleaned up as soon as possible after her use. I'm back and forth on the idea of teaching her that it's ever OK to pee/poop in the house but I have a feeling that she's going to do it on occasion anyway. I think it might be more important to stress to her that it's never OK to pee on the carpet!

The Stylish Pug

Originally uploaded by ameetek16

I made Meiby a new sweater this weekend. I used the same crochet pattern as last time but used a much thinner yarn and smaller hook. She doesn't seem to mind wearing it but it keeps slipping down since she doesn't have much "shoulder" to hold it up.

I had to try it on her a few times while making it to see where I needed to increase/decrease to make sure it would fit... and she ran away with the yarn still attached (notice the yarn is not only still attached to the sweater but it's also hooked around Meiby's tail):

I'd like to add that I'm not generally the type of person to dress up an animal... but since I like to crochet and it's getting colder outside, I thought I'd try my hand at making a warm sweater for my pup...

...don't judge me ;)