Friday Five

1. D skipped his workout yesterday evening so that he could come home and relieve me of Leroy duties so that I could go for a run. I had a delightful 3.5 mile run, and came home to a plate of pancakes for dinner. I topped my pancakes with some lingonberry spread that we had picked up at Ikea. Not exactly the same as a plate of swedish pancakes from Ann Sather, but it was still quite delicious.

2. Ahh, Easter. Back in the day Easter excitement centered on getting a fancy dress for church and looking forward to an Easter egg hunt after we arrived back home. I've always been a sucker for Easter candy, and still enjoy making a yearly Easter basket. And let's be real -- when it comes to Easter candy, my "less processed" rules kind of fly out the window. I do draw the line at Peeps and Cadbury eggs, because, well, ewww, but, give me some Reese's mini peanut butter cups in the pastel wrappers, a handful of jelly beans, and another handful of Cadbury mini eggs, and I'm a happy girl, indeed.

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3. However, if you are interested in making your own Easter candy, there are several awesome tutorials out there. Fans of Cadbury eggs should try this recipe. If Peeps are more your style, there's this Martha Stewart recipe and this recipe that relies on a bunny-shaped cookie cutter from Heart of Light. Not Martha has a number of awesome tutorials for Easter treats, such as these instructions to make surprise eggs.

4. This week's request at the library is How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend by The Monks of New Skete. Hopefully this book will give insight on housetraining and how to deal with separation anxiety. Leroy's doing really well for being a part of our household for less than one week. Slowly but surely we'd like him to feel comfortable being in his crate while we leave the house to run errands. Yesterday he had a bit of a whinefest when I left him in his crate while I checked on the status of the laundry machine in the basement (still broken, sigh). I think it'll definitely take baby steps to get him comfortable with being on his own, but I think everyone will be happier when that happens.

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5. My parents are visiting this weekend! Logistics will be a bit challenging given the added dimension of the dog, but I'm looking forward to seeing them and hanging out in the city. Hopefully we'll get a chance to hit up Reading Terminal Market or one of the farmers markets in town tomorrow. The weather forecast is a little gloomy, but hopefully the rain will be intermittent so we can wander around town.