Mountain of mail

Unhealthy air quality has trapped us inside our house for another day, so Mama and I have been channeling our cooped up energy into productive indoor tasks. Today’s big job was sorting through a giant pile of mail, a stack which starting growing during our month in Italy and has only gotten worse since our…

Waking up warm

It’s been very chilly inside our house lately, so last night I dug our electric blankets from last year out of depths of the garage. I set up my own and Mama‘s on each of our beds, and we slept better than we have in ages. I woke up feeling warm and cozy, rather than…

Smell of pie baking

I love pumpkin pie, so I decided we shouldn’t have to wait until Thanksgiving. I made our first one of the holiday season tonight, and swooned over the magnificent, spicy scent filling the house! Today’s #OneGoodThing was enjoying the smell of pie baking with Mama! Day 321 of 365. And Day 1,052 in a row (here’s the first 366 & the…

Head in her bowl

We ran out of dog food a few days ago, but the air quality was so terrible that I scavenged the little sample bags from our emergency preparedness kits to feed our girl. Despite continued unhealthy air quality, I could no longer put off leaving the house to buy more. Paisley was thrilled with her…

The last Essi

These S-shaped cookies are a specialty from the island of Burano in Venice, Italy. Yep, besides the colorful houses and intricate lace, the island is famous for these delicious, crunchy vanilla cookies with a hint of lemon (also called Bussolai Buranei). Mama and I became addicted to these delightful cookies some years ago. They’re perfect at…

Stir-crazy self care

Unhealthy air quality due to wildfires kept us trapped inside for a fourth day. Rather than go stir crazy, Mama and I decided to dedicate the day to Self Care Sunday. Our home pampering included facials and foot baths, and it felt great! Today’s #OneGoodThing was a day of self care with Mama! Day 315 of 365.…

Patchwork of leftovers

Some days I spend ages preparing a nice meal and we eat very well. Today wasn’t one of those days; instead, our meals were comprised of a random patchwork of leftovers. It was simultaneously an effort to avoid food waste and to take a day off from cooking. Today’s #OneGoodThing was enjoying a bizarre collection of leftovers…