Cozy Cave.

I have spoiled the crap out of my dog. She has very little fur, & I'm always worried that she's cold. So whenever she's on the sofa, or laying on her dog bed in my office, I throw a blanket over her. She loves it - she snuggles her head down, sighs contentedly, pulls on my heartstrings. I'm very well-trained.

This has become a problem, because Shadeaux now expects to be swaddled, 24/7. If she gets up & moves during the night (displacing her blankets), she will whine until I wake up & re-swaddle her. This happens several times a night. Obviously, I don't appreciate being awakened multiple times each night, so I've been working on a solution to this issue.

Last week, Shadeaux's new dog bed was delivered. I posted about it on Facebook, to the amusement of fizrep & chaosvizier:



I showed the comments on the Facebook post to hotpantsgalore, who agreed with chaosvizier that a Cozy Cave sounded comfy. She followed up that with some exploration, which led to the following email to chaosvizier:







There was also an IM conversation between chaosvizier & me:



Anyway, after all the funning around, Shadeaux slept in her Cozy Cave for the first time last night. She woke me up twice in the night. The first time, I got up & got her re-situated in the Cozy Cave, but the second time I just told her "Shadeaux, get in your cave." She rooted around until she got her head under the cover & disappeared back inside. I think this solution is going to work!

#whole30 WholeLent, Day 9.

Sleep: Good! I think I've solved a dog-related sleep disturbance. I also got back on track with my pre-bedtime sleep routine. I slept until about 6:30 AM & woke up full of energy.

Breakfast: prosciutto muffin, half an avocado, navel orange, kim-chi, black Scottish breakfast tea.

Snack: cup of barnyard bone broth.

Lunch: the last of the lemon-garlic chicken & veggies, salad, kombucha. This meal did not have sufficient fat & left me unsatisfied. The only fat was probably the salad dressing (a balsamic vinaigrette that included olive oil). hotpantsgalore had the same feeling about last night's dinner. And same result....

Snack: ALL THE THINGS. Hibiscus tea, apple pie Larabar, lamb Epic bar, 4 oz. unsweetened applesauce.

Dinner: Shay made Whole30-compliant chili! SOOOO tasty! I ate it with acorn squash & steamed spinach, with some avocado on top of it. So good. Soooo good.