A Little Of This..... A Pinch Of That.....

Tomorrow is a big day here on the Ridge. I think you have probably noticed the pattern by now, if you have been reading my posts for any length of time. When a birthday rolls around, I cook a birthday dinner. We have two birthdays in January that we always have to put on delay, because without fail we will have enough ice, snow or a combination of both on and off all month long. As it goes, the only people that is going to be able to reach the house on J.D.'s mountain are the ones with four wheel drive and that doesn't always guarantee success. Long story short (ha... right), tomorrow we will be celebrating Brittany, Michael and Melody's Birthdays. I cooked gumbo yesterday and put it in the fridge for the ingredients to mingle and give it that 'it is always better the second time heated up' wonderful taste. That was Brittany's dinner request. Tonight I made potato salad and fried chicken to put in the fridge and reheat tomorrow. That was Melody's dinner request. Last but not least tomorrow I will make Michael's dinner choice, Cavatini. Then since I am the cook I will also throw in a nice green salad because that is my choice....... :o)

Melody decorates cakes and does a wonderful job of it. Last year for my birthday, Chris went to Kroger and bought my cake. I want you to know that I have been relentless when it comes to giving her a hard time about it. I have even told people that my ex-daughter-in-law made my cake last year. Melody volunteered to make the cake for tomorrow. Hmmmm do you think I should be concerned about that? We'll see..... lol

As promised, I have added some more pictures of Paddy. We are still working on the housebreaking part of adjusting to each other. There are times when I can take her out with out her leash and she is good to come back to me when I call her, but then there are times when I call her and she just keeps on trucking. I tried taking her out on her leash and we walked and walked all over the yard with no potty business being taken care of at all. The minute we come back in the house and I turn my back she decides this would be a good time to take care of business. So we are going to give crate training a shot and see if that will work for her and us.

She took up to both of us real quick, but she has trust issues to a certain extent. When she sees either of us, that little tail whips back and forth like windshield wipers in a heavy down pour. As you start walking toward her and reach your hand out to pet her, the tail stops wagging and she tucks it between her legs and cowers. Bless her heart, my heart aches for her. It is more than obvious that someone has mistreated her in the past. She wants to be a part of our little family so bad, but she has that fear that someone is going to hurt her. We will get past that eventually with lots of love and patience. Buddy didn't trust men when he first came to live with us and it took nearly a year for him to get past it, but he did. In fact before he died he considered J.D. his favorite playmate. He loved the games they played together.

I am just about finished with my cooking, so I am going to go ahead and publish this post. I have a mess across the room calling my name..... "Jo come wash us, give us a rinse off Jo and then we want you to dry us and put us away!!" "Jo! Jo! Jo! why are you ignoring us Jo!"

Hope the rest of your weekend is blessed with beautiful warm weather and sunny skies.