No other place would make sense

Somewhere in between the one thousand "last minute changes" I have to do today, I decided to fit in laundry. Laundry, not because I thought it would be fun, but because the jeans I've worn 5-6 times are starting to stink. My Dad once told me that he used to wear his jeans until he could smell them, then he'd wear them a couple more days. I on the other hand decided to wash mine once they became offensive. So with 5 giant piles of sorted laundry on the floor, where else was Lola to nap for the day? On the clean laundry of course.

Design of the Day

A new section here at Heather Ink! Everyday I will post a design I found either around the web, from my home or new stuff that's coming out.

Click the "Read more" link below to see the full post.

PoachPods, Silicone Egg Poachers

Just crack your egg into the cup and set in a pan of boiling water. The end result is a fabulously domed egg with no mess, and because the egg won't stick to the silicone there is no need to add butter or oil.

These little jems are available at Amazon.com, two for $9.95. Click the link below to go there.

Working breakfast

It's not the easiest thing to keep typing over, but when I have a lot of emails to send or work to do I like to eat at my desk. Lately we've been having a soft boiled egg, homemade wheat bread soldiers for dipping, homemade lemon curd and a banana for health.

Be careful of what you ask for

FAMILY ALERT. OLDEST NEPHEW IS SET TO ATTEND A PROM. ALERT. ALL SYSTEMS GO.

Not only does he have his drivers permit, but now he's going to the prom? With a date? What? This is not possible. Alright. Maybe it is possible, but I will never say I like that fact that he is 16, with giant feet and a deep voice. (I am still taller than him though so all is not lost.)

With the tuxedo rented and the plans falling into place, my sister bravely decided to invite 22 high school kids to her home for a pre-prom party. I received a call for help with the invitations. Yay! If I can't be there to take a thousand embarrassing photos of the kids then I will do my best to contribute in other ways, other embarrassing ways.

For the invite's creative direction my sister was thinking "clip art" and "something with a tuxedo theme." I was thinking, "Do I have any of Jen's prom pictures?"

After a quick call to my parents, a couple of scanned photos arrived in my email box.

My creative direction was falling into place. Last week I picked up some great free dingbat fonts from BittBox.

The theme of the prom is "Our own constellation." Puke. Gag. Vomit. Regardless, these stars worked out perfectly. I got the rest of the details from my sister, and she unknowingly was supporting my endeavor to make this:

I hope she likes it!

Because there's nothing else worth watching on television these days

I had never been interested in watching the show Dog Whisperer. The name alone puts me off. We had heard both good and bad things about the show in the course of the last few years, and never we never really cared enough to investigate it ourselves. Recently we started watching a few episodes here and there, and now it's our favorite work-from-home lunch hour entertainment. We're totally sucked in. We like how Cesar commands the dogs just with his presence, not his voice or having them sit and stay. The dogs know he is in charge. Henry and Lola know we're in charge but only about 85% of the time. They are good dogs but we'd really like them to be great, perfect, not lunging at small children dogs. They understand not to eat our shoes, sleep on the sofa, steal food off the kitchen counter or bark at the garbageman. They do not understand how not to excitedly leap head-high when people come to visit, walk calmly on a leash or bark at the neighborhood children riding their bicycles. We really want them to be more relaxed and less worried about what is going on around them. Cesar says that to make that happen we need a dominant pack leader emoting a calm-assertive energy. That in stressful situations if the pack leader is calm the dogs will eventually learn to be calm, they become calm-submissive.

Thomas speaking to the dogs: "Do you like having me as your pack leader?"

Me to Thomas: "WHAT?!"

Thomas: "I am clearly the dominant male."

Me: "And that matters, why? I am clearly in charge around here. I am the dominant pack leader."

Thomas: "I am the dominant one."

Me: "I am the dominant one. I do most of the feeding, walking and caring for these dogs. They know I am in charge."

Thomas with his knee on my back pinning me to the floor: "Say, 'I'm the dominant one.'"

Me: "I am the dominant one."

Me again after incessant tickling while still pinned and immobile: "Don't you feel that two people in a loving marriage should really face this together rather than one being dominant over the other?"

Thomas releasing me: "Yes, but then you can't claim you're the dominant one!"

So from this example we can see that I displayed calm-assertive energy and male-mind-boggling marriage rationale to overcome this heightened situation. And as thought before, I am the dominant one!