My name is Brutus, and I'm an addict.

Today is my semester break day. It was going to be a snow make-up day, but the high school teachers freaked out that they wouldn't have enough time to grade last week's finals (even though grades aren't DUE until Thursday at 3pm). Now our snow make-up day is scheduled for February 17 which makes President's Day weekend a three-dayer in stead of four.

Anywho...my husband and I have been pretty worried about this little guy lately...

Brutus has had a rough three months.

{Brutus Ordeal #1} It all started in November on Apple Cup Saturday. We woke up, stoked to go to our favorite college football game of the season - WSU vs UW (go dawgs).

Unfortunately, Brutus had other plans. He is usually so peppy and cheerful, wagging his tail, jumping all over the place, happy little guy. We knew something was hurting him because he literally could not move. His head was cowered down, and he was scrunching his spine in odd ways.

We knew we needed to get him in ASAP, so Josh and his mom's husband took him to the vet to get him checked out. They took x-rays, and found out he had some sort of neck injury.

Yes this is actually Brutus. They gave us the x-rays on a CD.

The result was putting him on some steroids. Luckily, we fit the vet appointment into our day early enough that it didn't affect our afternoon Apple Cup plans (the dawgs won, btw). We had to make Brutus take it easy, like no stairs, no jumping up or off of things, etc. The most hilarious thing about this was that we started to notice that Brutus loved medicine time. The mere sound of pills shaking in a bottle caused him to bolt toward the sound. Apparently he thinks they're treats. This caused no alarm, and we had no idea that it was the beginning of his "addiction"...

{Brutus Ordeal #2} Sometime in December, Josh sends me this picture on my cell phone while I'm at work, teaching...

Brutus was having some sort of allergic reaction to something and his face became red and swollen. The next day, hives appeared all over his fur.

Apparently dogs can break out in hives, too.

One phone call to the vet later, we gave Brutus benadryl to alleviate whatever allergy his body was trying to fight.

{Brutus Ordeal #3} I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. Brutus chewed up my brother-in-law's fake tooth retainer. We found shattered little pieces of the entire thing scattered all over the upstairs while I was downstairs wrapping presents and the boys were upstairs playing video games. Sheesh.

{Brutus Ordeal #4} This brings me back to the beginning of this post: With my day off, I was finally able to bring Brutus to the vet because his hind legs have been a little weird the last month or so. He sits off centered, drags his legs behind him when he runs, refuses to jump up on the couch, struggles up the stairs when it is slick outside, etc. Once again the vet prescribed him steroids. As soon as she walked into the room with the pill bottle, Brutus got super duper excited. I looked him in the eye and said, "I think its time for an intervention."

Hopefully he's able to pull through this addiction and heal. Otherwise we might be making a trip down to WSU for a $urgery con$ultation. Yikes! Get well soon, Brutie!

Friday Night Home Cookin'

Right after I splashed milk all over my arm. I'm a messy chef.

Two recipes for the price of one!? Holla! On tonight's menu we have Zenkichi Pasta and Orange Creamsicle Push Pop Smoothie. Yum yum yummers.

Recipe #1 - Zenkichi Pasta

Ingredients

3/4 bag of Broccoli (12 oz)
1 lb Penne Pasta
1/2 bag of Bacon Bits (3 oz)
1/2 jar of Sun-Dried Tomatoes (8 oz)
7 oz container of Pesto Sauce
3/4 pound of Chicken

Cook pasta. Prepare broccoli and chicken. Slice sun-dried tomatoes and chicken as necessary. Drain pasta. Add pesto. Shlosh Mix everything together. Enjoy with garlic bread.

Finished Product

Recipe #2 - Orange Creamsicle Push Pop Smoothie

Ingredients

1 can of Orange Juice (or any juice you'd prefer)

1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1 cup of Milk

1/4 cup of Sugar

2 cups of Ice

Add all ingredients except ice in blender. Once creamy, add the ice and blend again. Mmmmmmm...

Smoothies Galore

Special thank you to Jordan and Jess for buying all of the ingredients, and...uh...making everything.

Skate Weekend

Here are some shots from the second annual skate weekend at my parents' home on Loon Lake.

The crew for the weekend...

Scoty and me (disregard the Coug jersey :o)

Danny & Whitney

Amy & Jordan

Matt "the model" posing for some serious hockey shots

It was so fun to enjoy the winter weather!

Thankful for our fun visitors this weekend.

How to drive in the snow...

In my backyard with my pups Brutus (pug) and Breaker (lab). They give me kisses.

Welp. It is finally happening. I was a little bit jealous of the west side of the state (greater Seattle area) because they were kicking our bootays earlier this week in the snow-department. Hrmph. That's our job! This is precisely what the inland northwest is KNOWN for. Snow. Lots of it. Hrmph.

(insert dramatic operatic music here)

SNOW DAY!!!!! Even though the Seattle area is facing a combination of "Snow-pocalypse 2012" AND an "ice storm" at the moment, we're getting ours. Boo ya. Spokane Public Schools hardly ever cancels school, and today they did it. My prayers have been answered. I feel so much more justified today as I sleep in, sit on the couch, and "grade papers" (ok...let's be honest...watch Dexter on DVD).

The only negative? We were going to have a Semester Break Day on January 30. This is actually a very, very valuable day (teachers, I know you understand). It is a day when I can actually finalize grades, write real comments instead of picking pre-made cheesy ones, and prepare for a new semester. Unfortunately, it also served as a snow make-up day. So we'll lose it to make up for this one. Bummer city.

{Oh yeah...the title of this post. Almost forgot.}

This is a pic I took from my car window yesterday afternoon.

Driving Tip #1) In the words of my father, when driving in the snow, "Be a steady Eddie, not a frantic Fred." Well said, Pops.

Driving Tip #2) Keep your foot on the gas. Don't be a weenie. Be bold. Cocky, almost. This will help you.

Driving Tip #3) If you don't have anti-lock brakes (does this even apply to anyone anymore?), pump 'em. If you do have ALBs, don't pump. Let the ANTI-LOCK feature do that for you.

Driving Tip #4) Steer through it. This is pretty important on turns. Just go for it (See Tip #2).

Driving Tip #5) Avoid stopping on a hill at all costs. In Spokane, you can pretty much plan an alternate route for anywhere you want to go that won't involve hills. Sorry Seattle-ites. This isn't really an option for you...

Driving Tip #6) If the light is yellow and about to turn red, keep going. Even if they snap a photo of your car with one of those fancy-schmancy red light cameras, isn't your license plate completely covered in snow? Don't worry, they won't find you.

Driving Tip #7) Make sure you carry with you at all times: A hefty car scraper. Nice gloves. Boots.

Driving Tip #8) Don't be afraid to drive five to ten miles per hour UNDER the speed limit. No one needs to be a hero. Take it down a notch.

By the way - even though we do own a Chevy Silverado w/a lift kit, I usually drive my trusty Honda Civic Hybrid in the snow.

I feel like I have more control with this little front-wheel drive car (it has snow tires - not studs - snow tires). It suits me just fine.