It's almost time

This week started a little busier than I would have expected it to at work since this week is traditionally pretty quiet as people start to take time off to celebrate the holidays.  Thankfully, the last couple of days have been quiet and I was able to catch up on some projects and prepare for my week off and the start of another year.

Since I had a busy Monday, the girls and I didn't get out for our walk until after dark.  Mina was exceptionally well behaved for the day and we had an enjoyable walk before we settled in for the night.

Tuesday Mina had an appointment to get her Bordetella vaccine, since she and Peaches will need to be boarded while I'm away on some upcoming work travel.  She was happy to see all of her friends at Patterson's and even got to meet a kitty while we were there.  They sniffed noses very nicely and then seemed to be content with just looking at each other.  I was pretty pleased with how calmly she said hello.

On Wednesday we had a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures in the upper 30s.  Since it was the Winter Solstice and I knew it would be dark early, I wanted to make sure we got out to enjoy the sun while it lasted.  We headed out to a local park for my lunch.  While we were there, I placed my second geocache hide.  It is part of a series that a group of local geocachers are putting out celebrating the 12 days of Christmas.  I was excited to get day 10 and had fun with making the container.  

The girls loved our walk and so did I.  The sidewalks were clear and I didn't even need gloves.  And I was savoring the beautiful sunshine. 

I enjoyed a beautiful walk with the shelter dogs on Wednesday night, and I was able to finalize my grocery shopping and a few other errands before heading home.

On Thursday I decided to take the dogs for a lunchtime walk downtown.  With a big storm in the forecast expected to start by early evening, I wanted to be sure we got in a good walk.

We also took a trip to Soldan's to make sure I had some of Mina's favorite chews to help keep her busy during the storm. After work, I ran a few quick final errands and we took a second walk around the neighborhood.  We walked into the garage just before the snow started and, after eating dinner, we settled in to watch the snow fall.

The forecast was 4 to 10 inches of snow and extremely high winds causing blizzard conditions and I was happy to be done with everything I needed to do so I could just enjoy a quiet day at home on Friday.

I worked part of the day today and finished the annual task of signing New Year's cards from our team and finished the day stuffing them into envelopes and making sure they are ready to send next week.  Over 400 cards are ready to go, and I enjoyed the tree and some Christmas music while working, which helped the day fly by.

After I finish work this afternoon, it was time to wrap presents for our Christmas Eve festivities.   Since I have a puppy who would love to tear paper off all of the packages,  they will not be going under the tree, but everything is wrapped and ready to go.

Throughout the day, Mina begged to be let outside almost every hour.  She'd head out and just zoom around the yard, thoroughly enjoying the snow.  I'd let her stay out for 5 minutes and then would force her to come inside where she would terrorize Peaches(or me), squeak her squeaky toy obsessively, or chew on one of her half dozen favorite chew toys.

They ate their meals out of a variety of treat dispensing toys and we did a couple of short training sessions, and Peaches was content to snuggle up on the couch and stay inside.  Mina really wanted to spend more time outside and took awhile to settle down.for the night, but finally crashed around 8:30.  

The picture isn't very good, but Peaches was happy to enjoy the evening on her bed in front of the tree.

I have a few things to finish in the morning, mainly food prep for our Christmas Eve celebration, but I'm 90% done and so I've enjoyed a relaxing evening watching the Food Network and enjoying the tree with a puppy snoring away in my lap.

I decided to finish the blog tonight since I'll be spending Christmas Eve with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona, and then I have to travel to my parent's for Christmas day with them and my brother's family.  

I am really looking forward to both Fiona and Mina's first Christmas.   It should be a lot of fun to see how they react to presents and all of the holiday fun.

The girls and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope you get to spend the holidays doing the things you love with those that you love.