Dog Anniversaries and Stuff I Should Know By Now

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. --Charles Dickens

So here we are again in March. It's a lovely but oddly uncomfortable time. I feel like we're just on the cusp of spring, but Mother Nature tends to come around to smack us down into reality again and hits us with an ice storm here and there like we had last night. Our front deck and steps at the moment are so icy that they are either the best security system to keep people out or the most effective way to trap us in.

And that is March, I guess.

March is also the anniversary month of when Seymour came to live with us from the Victoria Humane Society. It's a nice thing to remember. I still smile a lot when I think of the day we drove down to pick him up. I remember how long it took for us to really get comfortable with each other. Nowadays, the little guy is my shadow: I can't sit for more than a minute before he's scrambling up to join me to snooze on my lap. He's ten years old this year, you know. I have no idea how many years we'll be lucky enough to have him for, but for now, he's as goofy and as playful and as lovable as ever. He's even got a separate bed with a view for the office for when either the hubby or myself are in there working. He's got a pretty darn good life and we're going to love him for the rest of it:

The clocks moved forward this morning. Even though I resent losing an hour of sleep, I feel more energetic today than I have in a long time. I've been struggling to sleep for the past few weeks, what with the bad head cold I had and with life's stresses creeping in. I've decided that I'm at an age now when I have to make sleep a priority because it sure shows when I don't have it. That means I have to eat properly during the day so that my stomach isn't waking me up and that means my brain doesn't have the chance to fire up in the middle of the night as well. And that means that I'm rested enough to make better food choices during the day. As with many things, it turns out that all that sleep stuff is all circular... either a vicious circle or... I dunno... a friendly one, I guess. And I think I always knew that to be true, but it took this long for me to really believe it.

I've taken to cooking up large batches of meals to take for lunch. I try to cook enough to put in the freezer to last for a couple of weeks. They're mostly plant-based with some protein to keep me full. Today I made a Roasted Cauliflower and Lentil Curry. This looks all very well-planned, but in truth, I forgot that I bought a head of cauliflower last week and it needed to be used up pronto:

And I also made a Sweet Potato Spiced Chili (which is not quite finished yet in this photo, but I assure you that it turned out amazing. Also: will someone please tell me once and for all if it is "chili" or "chilli?" I feel like that's something I should probably know by now:

Another thing I think I should probably know by now is how much yarn I need to make a sweater, but I am yet again in the throes of indecision about it. Below is a photo of my current experiment in making a knitted version of the Bergschrund Shrug. I am completely winging it and trying my best to get the dimensions right but I am feeling quite sure that I will need one more ball to get it even close. And OF COURSE, that yarn is nowhere to be found in a local yarn shop. OF COURSE, I have to buy it online, and OF COURSE, I have to make a big enough order to make the shipping worthwhile. Dag nab it. I dunno... maybe it'll work out... we'll see...

And while I am quite annoyed with myself, I am simultaneously impressed with the stitching job I did to attach the two grey panels on each side. It's not that easy to get cartridge rib to line up, but that mattress stitching is looking pretty good if I do say so myself:

So the clock is telling me that it's nearly dinner time, even though my tummy says I just had my afternoon snack. I was so hoping that someone was going to tell me that we were finally rid of this stupid Daylight Savings thing, but it looks like we're stuck with it for at least one more year. Here's hoping my sleep isn't all messed up again because of it. Have a good week!