December 2022
December 31, 2022 - Saturday - Happy New Year. I went to my friend’s house for a new years get together and to celebrate his wife’s birthday. I was told it was someone’s idea to get a dressed up New Years. The first guy I saw when I walked in was wearing shorts and a polo shirt. For a second I thought they pranked me, but everyone else was dress up for the evening.
December 30, 2022 - Friday - I’m finally home and I think Zak really missed me. This afternoon I was looking for a snack. My stocking had some candies and goodies in it. This is one of them. They’re called Reindeer Noses, hence the one red one. They’re malted milk balls like Whoppers. Who doesn’t like a Whopper or two every once in a while.
December 29, 2022 - Thursday - I have my friend’s other pets posted here from last week. I feel like I can’t leave out Yogi, aka Señor Sausage. He’s the best guy to go out with. He’s great with or without a leash which always blows my mind. He will play fetch until your arm falls off and for having short little legs and a bit of a round body he’s one of the fastest dogs I’ve seen.
December 28, 2022 - Wednesday - This is Doja. She’s been here in my photo of the day a handful of times. I sat her the first time when she was a little puppy. This morning while I was working on my laptop she was sleeping at the other end of the couch. She woke up when I got near her to take this but stayed because I think she likes getting her photo taken. She’s an adorable little Corgi.
December 27, 2022 - Tuesday - This is Phoebe. She’s been my photo of the day once before. She’s been pretty friendly this visit but it wasn’t until she saw me putting food in her dish and water in her bowl that she stopped running away when I would walk by. Now she curls around my leg and waits by the door when I go out with the pups. For the second night in a row she’s sleeping on the couch next to me.
December 26, 2022 - Monday - I went to see a friend I haven’t seen in a long while today. She needed some help moving some stuff at her place. We decided to go out for lunch first. We found a good Italian place and even though it’s winter this was still pretty good. It was good to spend time with my friend and her pups. Moving her shelf ended up taking a lot less time than we thought.
December 25, 2022 - Sunday - One of my jobs while dog/house sitting is putting out all the presents and filling all the stockings for my friend’s family and sending them photos so they can show their little girl Santa came. They surprised me and had a stocking with my name on it hidden with all the presents. There were presents and candy in the stocking and a couple of other presents for me too. They got me in the feels with this one.
December 24, 2022 - Saturday - This morning after letting out the pups I drove to my house to let out my pups. I spent sometime on the couch with Zak. Riley is back in town. We went out to lunch and to do a little bit of shopping. She went to meet her BF’s dad’s side of the family in Mexico. It was cool to hear how sweet and inviting they all treated her and how so focused on family they all are.
December 23, 2022 - Friday - I’m dog sitting my friend’s dogs and cat and having to go back to my house for a couple days until Riley get’s back in town. Last night when I was getting out of the car for the last time it was 10° and kinda windy. This morning when I got up to let the pups out it was still 14° but sunny and not windy. I walked around the pool and noticed this bit of ice from the hot tub.
December 22, 2022 - Thursday - I’m going to be dog, cat and house sitting for my friend for a bit. This is Phoebe, she’s been my photo of the day before when she was much smaller. She’s still a small cat but she pretty much runs the house. Right now as I’m writing this she’s sleeping here and the two pups are sleeping on two back couch cushions. It’s a nice, quiet, relaxing day leading up to the holidays.
December 21, 2022 - Wednesday - This evening I watched Prey, the latest movie in the Predator series. I really liked it. While I was on the couch the pups came to get some attention. This is starting to happen a bit more frequently. Biscuit will almost always come get in her spot on my lap and Zak will lay on my left. Biscuit will groom Pancake a lot. It almost looks like she going to groom Zak, but not yet.
December 20, 2022 - Tuesday - I was feeling so much better today. I was going to make these wings last night but feeling crappy all day. I took a break at lunch and made these and they turned out so much better than last time. I seasoned them quite a bit and drizzled with olive oil before grilling them. These were tossed in bbq sauce to finish. These were sticky and delicious.
December 19, 2022 - Monday - I woke up feeling pretty crappy last night. It lasted all day today too. I can’t remember the last time I had a headache all day. I napped on the couch later in the evening. All the dogs took turns laying with me. I got a video of Zak’s feet wiggling in his sleep. He was dreaming and snoring pretty loud too. Biscuit was so sweet. She climbed into my lap and went right to sleep.
December 18, 2022 - Sunday - Almost 11 years ago I joined a small agency. It was full of ups and downs and I made a lot of lifelong friends. At the first of the year I’ll be joining another small agency. In spite of how it my last position ended I’m still very hopeful and optimistic about this new venture. This evening I was included in the agency’s first little Christmas party. We all work remotely so it was nice to be able to meet everyone in person.
December 17, 2022 - Saturday - Tonight I did one of the smartest things ever. My friend and cookie maker extraordinaire had a birthday party tonight in Deep Ellum. I hate driving in Deep Ellum and hate hunting for parking even more so I Ubered. It was a great time and even better not driving or parking. I wish I could Uber everywhere. Maybe I should look into the cost of having a chauffeur.
December 16, 2022 - Friday - I follow a food photographer on Instagram and YouTube. The other day she shared a photo of a bunch of jelly donuts. I'm not the biggest fan of them, and I’ve not had one in years, but it made me want one. I stopped by the store today while I was out and picked up a couple. I took a bite out of each of them for this and I must say they were terribly disappointing. No wonder I don’t care for these.
December 15, 2022 - Thursday - I usually take a break from working around lunch to get something to eat and to let the dogs out for a bit. I usually stay out with the dogs to make sure Zak doesn’t figure a way to open the gate and to make sure Pancake doesn’t just walk through the gaps in the fence and wander off. She only does this once in a while. Zak will try to open the gate if I’m not watching him. This might be one of favorite photos of him.
December 14, 2022 - Wednesday - I met a friend for a belated birthday lunch. She has the same birthday as Dad except almost half his age. After lunch we walked over to CVS. She needed some meds for her kids. I needed these meds too. I remember these from when I was a kid, but I think these are much smaller than they were when I was little. Or it’s because I was little they seemed bigger.
December 13, 2022 - Tuesday - Zak was a stray before he was picked up and ended up in the animal shelter where I found him. Consider that background he’s really well behaved indoors. He doesn’t get into the trash or mess with food on the shelves or on the table or counters. The one thing he does do is make ghost costumes out of blankets when he’s anxious. He’s really good at it. You can’t see them but there are arm holes too so you can carry your candy.
December 12, 2022 - Monday - Today I went out to my dad’s to pick up my little sister and take her to the airport. On the way I pulled over to look up the directions to where we were going to meet. This was the restaurant where I pulled over. I actually had to look up on Maps to find out the name of the place because this was the only sign I saw. I have a friend I worked with who thought I was Italian for a long time.
December 11, 2022 - Sunday - I love Biscuit and Pancake. They’re sweet little pups, but my favorite are big dogs. This is probably one of the things I like best about having a large dogs, they make great armrests. Today we were relaxing on the couch watching the Cowboy game. Zak wasn’t too interested and dozed off here by my side.
December 10, 2022 - Saturday - Tonight we had dad’s surprise 80th birthday party. It was great to see all the family and family friends. My brother made lots of BBQ. This is my niece’s little boy’s plate. He was very particular how he made his sandwich with the smoked sausage. I told him I was going to make my sandwich just like his. He made sure I sat next to him so he could help. What a cool little kid.
December 9, 2022 - Friday - This evening after significant discussion with Biscuit, Pancake and Zak, we decided to have breakfast for dinner. Specifically oatmeal with Honeycrisp apples, cinnamon and a little bit of brown sugar and honey. The dogs come running into the kitchen as soon as they hear me chopping the apples. Zak drools a bit while he waits for his serving. He doesn’t like waiting for it to cool down first.
December 8, 2022 - Thursday - If you’ve followed me for a while you may have seen that my mom collected dimes. None of us know why. Since she’s passed several of us find dimes from time to time and we all share them with each other. I’ve only found a few. I tell the rest of the family it’s because I know I was mom’s favorite and I don’t need to be reminded as much. I keep the small pile on my desk.
December 7, 2022 - Wednesday - Today I met a friend for lunch. While I was out I stopped by I Love Pho to pick up some Chicken Noodle Pho for dinner. I came home put the stuff in a bowl, covered it in plastic wrap and went back to work. This afternoon I went to the fridge and say the condensation on the plastic wrap and thought, “This would make a cool photo.”
December 6, 2022 - Tuesday - When we were at the grocery store yesterday I picked up a box of mini-croissants. I already had the little bars of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate at home. This evening I pulled out my waffle maker and a few minutes later we had a crispy, buttery, chocolatey dessert. I so glad my friend sent me a picture of these years ago. I’m even happier that these are quick and easy to make at home.
December 5, 2022 - Monday - I consider Zak’s Gotcha Day his birthday now. They guessed he was 3 when I adopted him so that makes him 6 today. Riley and I went grocery shopping and I decided to get us some steaks to celebrate. I baked us some potatoes and grilled some corn too. This is for the pups. Zak gets the bigger pieces and the girls get the little bites. They were some happy dogs today. I poured the juices over their regular dog food too. Love my Zak!
December 4, 2022 - Sunday - I was packing all my things today to get ready to go home. I was putting my camera in my bag and Phoebe was sitting at my feet. I got this photo of her sitting still being a sweet girl. I can’t get over how calm, sweet and affectionate she’s become. I was here a month or so ago and she’s even better than before.
December 3, 2022 - Saturday - This is the sweet girl I’m sitting this weekend. She was such a terror when she was younger. So full of energy and going non-stop. Now she’s one of the sweetest pups ever. She can still get excited but she so much more calm now. She’d sleep at my feet at night but the moment I woke up she would come up and lay at my shoulder and go back to sleep while I rubbed her belly.
December 2, 2022 - Friday - Today I started dog/house sitting for a friend. She lives in the same neighborhood as one of my other good friends. I called him and I met him and his son out for dinner. We had fajitas for dinner but started the meal with some really great margaritas. These have a bit of pineapple juice in them. We both got one to go. Not a bad way to spend a Friday evening.
December 1, 2022 - Thursday - No Photo