In An Instant

When I woke up this morning (after sleeping all through the night!) I was shocked to see that it was a few minutes after 7:00. I never sleep that late! I even sent Jerry a text at work to say, "Look how late I slept in!" and then I remembered the time change. So it was really 6:00, not 7:00 ;) But either way, I got a solid seven hours of sleep last night. So I hope this insomnia is done for a while.

I had a few hours to myself this morning, while the kids were at church with my parents and Jerry was at work. I'd recorded a show last night called "In An Instant", so Joey and I curled up on the couch this morning to watch it. My mom told me she thought I'd like the show, because we used to love watching Rescue 911 back in the day (remember that show?), and it looked similar.

These pajamas are hideous, but I had to share this pic of
Joey on my lap!

This episode (the debut) was a reenactment and interviews with survivors of the 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis. My older brother lives in St. Paul, and I remember very well the day that bridge collapsed (thankfully, he was nowhere near it at the time). Seeing the interviews and reenactment really put into perspective just how scary that situation would have been to experience firsthand!

It was super nice outside today (39 degrees) so I figured I'd practice Joey's loose leash walking. I took the 30-ft lead (using only half of it) and went for a walk. He's gotten REALLY good at walking with a loose leash when we use the long lead like that; with his 6-ft leash, it's more difficult. When we got home, I took him out in the backyard and let him use all 30-ft of the lead to play in the snow while I shoveled off the back deck.

He played for a few minutes, but he likes being right by my side, so he was basically at my heels while I was trying to shovel, which didn't work out very well. I think he'd probably do really well off-leash, and I'd like to find a place to practice when there isn't snow and ice all over the ground.

We had a bit of a scare at my parents' house on Friday... I brought Joey over there to play fetch, and when we got there, I put him in the side yard while I went inside to chat with my mom for a few minutes before going out to play with Joey. After about five minutes, I went outside, and Joey was gone--nowhere in the yard. I saw that the back gate was open.

Just that morning, when I was walking Joey, the tag on his collar got caught on the leash, and tore it off, so his collar didn't have an ID on it. He has a microchip, but I still had that moment of panic when I saw he was gone. Joey is usually really good at coming when I call him, though, so I called out for him a couple of times, and within about 20 seconds, he was jumping at the front gate, trying to get back IN the yard. Haha!

With his long lead today (30 ft), every time he'd start running, I'd whistle just a second before he'd hit the end of the leash, so that he'd learn to turn around when he heard me whistle (something we learned from Oliver's owner). After a few whistles, it was like he'd learned how far he could run without hitting the end of the leash. I was impressed!

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Anyway, I'm getting super excited for Portland! I don't usually start packing for trips until literally the morning I leave, but I did start getting together my St. Patty's Day stuff:

I found this shirt at Goodwill--perfect!

The weather is looking awesome for the weekend (high 60's!) and I can't wait! Are any of you doing the Shamrock Run?

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! Please don't be intimidated by last week's post--that was a special one for the 100th MM. When I started MM, it was to showcase the SMALL accomplishments that we achieve on a weekly basis--hitting your step goal or calorie goal every day, running a new distance, quitting smoking, etc. The big accomplishments (like losing 100 pounds or running a marathon) are awesome, and should certainly be celebrated--but it's the little accomplishments that get us there!