Dogs and Soup - but not together

Since I have been using my side of the garage as a "workshop" for my Murphy bed I have been parking in the driveway.  This has brought on an unexpected difficulty.  Now I usually opt to go out the front door in the morning rather than through the garage.  As soon as I open the front door Liam is up and at the door like lightning.  Ok, not really lightning...  but it's what I consider exceptionally fast for him.  And usually I would be quick and nimble enough to open door, step outside in one fell swoop and quickly close it again probably before he could even mange to get his rump off the ground.  However, in the morning I'm usually juggling a purse (yes, I do actually carry one these days), a bag full-o-stuff (usually my lunch and snacks) and on occasion - my computer backpack.  It all makes me quite unwieldy.  and slow.

The past few days Liam has managed to make it to the door so fast that I assumed he really needed to "go".  So I let him out and keep an eye on him while I load up my car.  Except Tuesday I noticed that he wasn't really going and he wasn't particularly interested in going back inside.  I had to call the hubby to come and get him.  This morning I figured out why.

He wants to go with me!

Of our two dogs he's not the "oooh! oooh!  lemme ride!!!  lemme ride!!!" dog.  That would be Nikki.  But it seems Liam thinks I'm going somewhere in the morning and he wants to come too.  When he wouldn't go inside this morning I went in to get the hubby.  When we came back out we saw this:

I think it was his way of saying "Mom take your time.  I'll be right here waiting to go when you're ready."

Last night I made my famous "Quick Chicken Soup".  (maybe the rest of world doesn't know it's famous but I think it is...)  It calls for a rotisserie chicken picked-thru, chicken broth, pre-chopped bag of celery, carrot and onion and orzo (small pasta).  Let's just say that I put in waaaay too much orzo.  I usually do - but this time it was even more.  So this morning, after sitting in the fridge all night, it looked more like a casserole.

I scooped some out to take to work for lunch for the next few days.  I also took 2 cans of chicken broth too.  So now I can choose to have soup or casserole.  That way it doesn't feel like I'm eating the same thing for days in a row!!  Genius!!!