Woman in Real Life

Valentine's Day is, in my opinion, more about spreading the love than exchanging big, expensive gifts. I do like to get a gift or two, but I'm happy with little things that say "I care about you." Besides, I like to leave some room in the Valentine's Day budget for takeout sushi. Not having to cook dinner is the best gift!

BEHAVIOUR AIDS FOR DOGS

I am in the camp that believes your companion animals deserve treats at Christmas too. Sure, they don't know it's Christmas, but they are part of the family and they should share in the extra love that gets spread around during the holiday season. It could be as simple as picking up some of their favourite yummy treats. 

Our beagle mix rescue dog, Jolene, received a few gifts from The Company of Animals this year to help with some of her quirkier habits. World-renowned animal psychologist Dr. Roger Mugford founded The Company of Animals in 1979. The company is based on a 100-acre working farm in Surrey, England - it's home to the Training and Behavior Centre, which specializes in dog training, among other things. Therefore, The Company Of Animals is in a unique position to research and develop new products to help resolve pet-related behaviour and training problems. They strive to develop products that help owners and their pets enrich their lives together.

I'm officially a dog fostering failure. And this is one instance where I'm happy to fail. When I decided to foster a dog, everybody told me I would want to keep him. But I insisted I could help more dogs by allowing them to move on to other homes.

It turns out my friends and family knew me best. I took one look at sweet little Ace and I fell in love. I defy you to see him and not want to take him home with you. He is that cute. Ace was abandoned, sad and afraid when Our Angels Dog Rescue pulled him out of a pound in Kentucky. (Yes, our little guy is American.) The family who nurtured him before he came to Canada says that he was the most fearful dog they had helped this year. And they have helped lots of dogs.

As a Canadian, I'm fortunate to live in a safe and prosperous country. I believe that Canadians are known for their kindness and compassion too. Certainly most of us want to help others who are less fortunate. Whether we give our time, skills or cold hard cash, we can all help make Canada even better.

This is why I'm thrilled to be involved with a new campaign that sees Canadians daring their friends, families and co-workers to "give" in whatever small (or large!) way they can. Research shows that one of the primary reasons people decide to give is just because someone asked them to. That’s the simple concept behind Dare2Give, the latest in the My Giving Moment Campaign, inspired by the Governor General of Canada.

Our long weekend started on Thursday, so we managed to fit in quite a bit of fun. In addition to our day trip to Port Dover that I showed you this morning, we spent a few days at my parents' place on Lake Erie. We also enjoyed some time at my sister-in-law's lovely home in the country.

My son did not want to leave their home yesterday. We had to fight to get him to leave the porch. He has soccer practice this week and a tournament this weekend, so staying wasn't an option. He wanted to stay with his three boy cousins (who aren't pictured here because they were at a baseball game).

There are weeks when I take lots of food photos and then weeks when I take few. This past week was the latter, I'm afraid.

Sometimes I'm just plain hungry and I have my dinner all eaten before I remember my dear camera, which generally sits smack in the middle of the kitchen counter. If I put it away I only have to go get it out again, after all. Anyway, for this What I Ate Wednesday, I'm sharing the photos I did manage to take, like this one, above. This is last night's dinner of Tofu Mexicali Scramble on tortillas.

I noticed when I was shopping for my weekly menu plan that I had put down three different tofu recipes this week. I love tofu, but I also like variety. This was a mistake, but I'm sticking with it anyway.

  
We had our first snowfall this weekend. Welcome back, my old friend. Please don`t overstay your welcome. If you could go away by February, I would appreciate it. 

We have been enjoying a lovely weekend with family, including my niece, Maple, above. This big, beautiful gal is the chillest dog I have ever seen.