February Goals and Habits

Before moving onto my February goals and habits, I thought I would recap January. Since breaking down my 2020 goals into smaller pieces I feel I have focused more and was really successful.


1. Leave no dishes in the sink nightly (YES)

I only missed 2 nights, once when I was sick and once when I was away. I used to let the dishes drip dry but now I am really motivated to get them put away and wake up to a clean sink. Lets see if I can keep this going in Feb.

2. Spend 15 minutes a day reading, working on Planner, shredding documents (I find if I just get started I keep going) (YES) I never missed and you know what? I made great progress on my Planner and my reading was stellar. I finished 6 books in January. That's a record. My last book was this one and it was really cute...

3. Do 2 blog posts a week. (A more concrete goal then so many per year)(YES) I managed to complete 2 blog posts a week. Much easier when its broken down by week.

So here are my February Goals:

1. Send one card.

2. 15 minutes of stretching or yoga or strength training

3. Spend 15 minutes cleaning up computer (emails, photos etc)

Wish me luck!

November Swap Card

Slowly but surely we are getting our Monthly Swap cards completed...

I needed a Retirement card, they're hard to come by. I used an MFT die with some cute confetti paper and the Happy stamp and die from Lawn Fawn. Of course, I had no suitable Retirement sentiments in my stash so I computer generated it and I think it looks pretty good.

Keri used a cute chicken set from Sugar Pea and a chicken wire embossing folder to coordinate. This would be a fun card to send someone. Maybe for my February Goals. Stay tuned for those.

October Swap Card

We are slowly getting caught up. This month,we got together and swapped 2 cards. The first card was from Keri....

She used a cute little technique where you put some of the stamped images on the inside where they are visible and some on the outside. What a clever idea. Of course, she used the Lawn Fawn Baked with Love stamp and die set.

I used a new set from Pretty Pink Posh called Happy Snowman and the sentiment was from a Hero Arts Sentiment set...

I embossed the snow bank and put glitter around the edges of my snowman and the snowball pom poms are just too cute.

There you have it! Another swap completed. Stay tuned for Nov.

Puppy Class

Usually once a week, I get my fix of puppies when I attend Puppy Class for Autism Dog Services. It never gets tired when the new babies come in.

Robbie is so sweet and super chill.

Spark is exhausted after a mentally challenging class.

Marshall is a Superstar. Am I partial to chocolates?

Practising for the Public Access Test that they will all have to pass in order to be a Certified Service Dog. That hamburger looks tempting. Luna did a great job resisting temptation.

Poppy (cinnamon colour) is our only full Poodle. She's got lots of spunk, it will be interesting to watch her mature.

These pups are only 9 months old and doing so well!

It's a really good gig. I love talking dog and hanging out with some great Volunteers!

Paper Bag Apple Pie

My Mom clipped recipes out of the Brantford Expositor for years. Mary Moore always wrote a column. I don't think she was local, I believe she was syndicated but she had some great recipes. Fortuntely I scanned this one because I can't find the original at the moment.

I don't know if you can read the date or not but this recipe is from Sept 22, 1962.

Back in the "old" days you could choose to have your groceries bagged in paper. Nowadays the only paper that is available is the one you get at Thanksgiving time for the Food Drive. So I always save it just in case I happen to make this pie which I did for the past Thanksgiving.
You secure it with paperclips and place it on a cookie set and voila, when you open it up you have a perfectly cooked pie.

Now don't fret if you can't find a bag. My Aunt Janet says that you can bake it in an oven just like any old pie, just adjust the recipe a bit. I'll check with her and make sure I get the right temperature and time.

Paper Bag Apple Pie
1 unbaked 9inch pie shell
3 or 4 large baking apples
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter

Peel, core and chop up apples into chunks. About 7 cups. Combine with all the dry ingredients and toss to coat well. Spoon into pastry shell and drizzle with lemon juice. Combine topping ingredients in a small bowl cutting in the butter with a pastry blender an sprinkle over apples. Slide pie into a heavy paper bag and secure with paper clips and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425F for one hour.

NOTE: If you don't have a paper bag, bake as usual. 425F for 10 minutes then 350F for 45-50 minutes

September Swap Card

Believe it or not, we are slowly getting caught up. I hope to use this snowy afternoon and knock off not one but two cards (sadly I had to put my Planner away for the time being).

I just did a simple card with patterned paper but I was stoked that I still had a maple leaf brad in my stash that was the perfect colour.

Keri did a cute card "Have a Brewtiful Day" using a stamp set from Lawn Fawn (we think). We're a pair. That's for sure. The embossing folder is Taylored Expressions. A good one for all things upcoming hearts.

Pet First Aid Certification

I recently spent a 10 hour day getting my official Certification for Pet First Aid. It was a day packed with so much good information and realistic because we practised the techniques on live animals (who squirm and move like in real life)

We learned how to do an overall body assessment looking for symmetry and signs of a problem.

We learned how to properly restrain an animal so we could do an examination.

We learned how and where to check for and measure vital signs. Here we are assessing breathing rate.

In this photo, we have bandaged an ear. Ears and paws bleed a lot so they need to be carefully bandaged.

We practised chest compressions and learned how to do Artificial Respiration and CPR.

We covered so much in our 10 hour course, I learned that I needed to add a few more items to my Pet First Aid kit and that I should likely carry one in the Van with me as well. I now feel much more prepared to deal with any Emergencies that my dogs or pets that I happen to be caring for might encounter.