Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Eight Paws = Trouble For All

As some of you already know, Jill, Alexa, Gianna, and Cannoli spent this past weekend here at my place. Although the weekend was filled with adventures in shopping, kids having screaming meltdowns, more shopping, some delicious spaghetti with clam sauce, more shopping, some more cranky kids, and a 4-hour garage sale extravaganza, this post is dedicated to our new fur babies.

You'll soon see why two puppies intent on trouble get a kick in their asses by karma. Or by two not-so-happy mommies.

Mikayla took this video so you'll have to excuse the bopping to and fro. Also, Jill and I had no clue she was taping, and if you listen closely you'll hear us talking about poop, hair, toilets and such. I'd suggest you turn up your volume.



From here, I'm going to let the pups tell their tale.









































Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


The Mystery Giveaway Basket -- Revealed!

Many of you bitched and whined at me when Sue won my Mystery Giveaway and I still wouldn't tell you what was in the basket. Well, now you can go see! Sue received her goodies yesterday and wasted no time posting about it. Go visit her at A Stitch in Thyme!




Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Susan Loves Me! She Really Does!

Do you see what Susan from A Southern Daydreamer bestowed upon me? Because Susan knows so many bloggers that she could have given this to, it truly touched me that I was one of the chosen! Thank you so much, Susan!




But why do all these awards have to come with rules? I HATE rules and am known to break them from time to time. Okay, almost always. I'll let you see what the rules are, but that don't mean I'm following them!

Rules are as follows:

* Accept the award
* post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
* Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
* Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.



So like, I don't have 15 newish blog friends to share this with. I do have nine though. Hopefully that will fulfill my obligation. If not, the award just might be snatched away from me!

Cole, from All the Small Stuff definitely deserves some bloggy love from me. Not only is her blog great, but Strudel won an awesome giveaway from her last week. A year's worth of Bark magazine! Now, Strudel as yet doesn't know how to read, so I guess it will be my job to read it to her. Thanks Cole!

Ooh, this is exciting for me. Everyone knows Nikki Crumpet, correct? Well guess what? Now her daughter Lindsey has her own blog, At Least My Dog Thinks I'm Interesting. Oh, the joy!!! Welcome to blogland, Lindsey!

Amy, from Keeping the Sunny Side is next on my list. Sweet, sweet girl, and a great blog to read!

Now here we have Robin from Love Ya, Mean It. Robin is an award winning author, and when she tells a story, she really tells it. No detail is left out, which I love!

Andrea, from My Chihuahua Bites is one of my new favorites too. The first time I saw her blog it was a video of her Chihuahua watching a movie. I was hooked instantly!

Ah, I love Lilly at Pray For Roy. Her hubby, Roy, is presently battling cancer and Lilly keeps such a positive attitude, raising money for Relay for Life with as much heart and zest as I've seen.

Now we come to my good friend Chuck, at Secondary Roads. Two more different people have never graced this planet but I love him dearly, and for some reason he seems to like me too. He even gave me the Zombie Chicken Award recently, and to me? That spells L-O-V-E.

Have you met Ginger from The Gingerbread Shed? I love anything that she writes, but especially when she regales us with pictures of her new baby chicks. I am soooooo jealous. Yes, this Zombie Chicken has chick envy.

I loves me some Yaya. Alicia from Yaya Stuff is a woman on a quest. A quest to become a mom, through the obstacle of infertility. She shares much of this experience with us, but also is funny and goofy as hell. Love this redhead! I always have had a thing for redheads. But we won't go there. Heeheehee.

So that's it. Those are my nine, fairly new blogs that I find absolutely worthy of this lovely award. Girls, (and Chuck), take it with you and wear it proudly!






Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


Friday, April 24, 2009

I'm Nearly Speechless. I Said NEARLY!

You all know my sweet, almost-8-year-old daughter, Madison, correct?

This sweet, innocent child.



The one who did this last year.

Her favorite things in life? Mastering the monkey bars, reading any book to do with animals, watching Animal Planet, making Power Point slide shows, and listening to music. Not just any music, but rock. And not just any rock band, but Nickelback. For Madison, the sun rises and sets on the asses of these four guys.



Now mama here is not a rocker. Unless I'm stuck in the car with Jimmy I just don't listen to it. But Madison? Any time she has the chance she's got her MP3 player stuck in her ears. Daddy's fault of course. He's even uploaded all of Nickelback's songs on there for her.

So is it any wonder that I wasn't aware that one of Madison's favorite songs is titled S.E.X.?

Another song she loves is Just To Get High. This one she was curious about and asked me what it meant. I listened to the song and told her that Chad (lead singer) was telling a story about losing his best friend to drug use. I explained to her that he's telling this story so people will understand that using drugs can not only ruin their own life, but those of the people who love them. She got it. I thought it was a lesson well learned.

But I did not know about S.E.X.!

Yesterday, she asked me if she could go out front and use chalk on the driveway. I'm all for artistic expression, so, "Sure Madison! Have fun!"

This morning as Mikayla was taking her bike down the driveway for her ride to the bus stop she found something interesting. So interesting that she came back in the house to tell me about it.

"Mommy, have you seen the driveway?"

"No, why?"

"It looks like Madison was writing out song lyrics and there's a word out there you should see. Bye!"

Once she left I waddled outside to see what she was referring to.

I almost wish I hadn't.

This is what I found.



For those who can't make out the words, it says:

Gotta be somebody
Sex
I'll come for you
Animals

What the bloody hell? I looked up the lyrics of S.E.X. and that ain't them!

So I did some more sleuthing, and thank God! She was just listing the name of songs on one particular album. But still. Should my almost-8-year-old be listening to this stuff? Is there any way to stop her now that her father has gotten her completely smitten with the band? So much so that Wednesday night they were at Nickelback's concert, where Madison stood in awe for 2 hours straight.

Can I take that away from her? No way! She's an innocent and doesn't know what sex is, so she listens to those lyrics with a completely different frame of reference than you or I would. At least for now.

Excuse me while I go hose down my driveway.

And take a Klonopin.






Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


Tuesday, April 21, 2009

It’s a Dog’s Life

Life here at Tiney’s casa has been interesting lately, to say the least. Having a new puppy in the house is both pure joy and frequent aggravation.

For the past several years the only fuzzies we had were our kitties. Kitties, in case you don’t know, are basically self reliant. Feed them well, change their litter, give them some lovin’ and that’s about all there is to it.

And then there’s Strudel.

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Just look at that fuzzy face. Could you stare into those woeful eyes and not fall in love?

And that sweet puppy tongue. Every little puppy–breath-infused lick makes me melt with love.

And when she’s sleeping? Nothing could be cuter and more peaceful looking.

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It’s even cuter when her half-sister, Cannoli is here for a visit and they nap together. Here they are sleeping with Strudel’s “baby” stuffed dog.

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Look at those faces!






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Awwwwww! I’m in love!

Later that same day they took another nap on the baby, this time forming a choo choo. Can you tell who is who?





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Cannoli is a few shades darker than my Strudely Doodley.

Now don’t these pictures make you want to go out and get yourself your own fuzzy puppy? I highly recommend it, although make sure you’ve got enough time for training and lots of patience.

I’ve got plenty of time. Patience? I’m not so good at.

Strudel is really good at going potty outside like a good little girl. But she’s also quite adept at going potty inside on the kitchen floor too. I have a neighbor who told me of a little known training trick. If your puppy goes potty on the floor, don’t yell at the puppy, yell at the poop or pee.

Yeah, you heard me. At any given time of the day you can find me leaning over a puddle, yelling, “Bad potty! Bad bad potty!” Then I have to do a little dance whilst holding paper towel in one hand, enzyme cleaner in the other, while Strudel tries to eat the cleaning supplies. Oh yeah, fun times! I won’t go into the fact that if it’s a #2 accident that I don’t see right away, it magically disappears. Into Strudel’s belly. She does not do this outside, so I can only assume that she does this to get rid of the evidence, knowing she’s just committed a house training misdemeanor. She’s just lucky that the local law enforcement (moi) loves her so much, and will even let her lick me after a certain amount of time has passed for her mouth to be deemed clean enough for kissing.

She is exhibiting some true signs of talent though. You can see here that any sign of unwanted intruders will be dealt with swiftly and with little mercy.

Especially if they have any paper in their pockets.

I think she’s also learning the “attack” command, but none of us have taught her that. Either she’s completely brilliant, or she’s a puppy savant, because hey, it’s usually one of us she’s biting into.

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Thanks baby girl. I didn’t like those pants anyway. Or my black croc. Or my black slippers. Or my pink ones.

She is quick to learn though. Check this out. I made this video just for all of you.

I’ll do a lot of things for and because of this fuzz-butt, but picking up poop is not one of them. I did what I call “poop patrol” once, and that was enough. It is now the job of the little ones, and for some reason they find a certain amount of joy in doing this. This has to be a trait they’ve gotten from their father.

Why is it that I can ask Madison to pick up dog shit and that’s not a problem, but asking her to clean her room is like waging a war? Again, her father’s genes.

Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

Birthday Graphics


Hey everyone! Today is Jill's 33rd birthday! Please drop by to see her and give her a big birthday kiss!


Love You Sister!




Sis, I love you so very much, and hope that today is a special one for you. I know that because of certain circumstances you'll have to make your own happiness, but I want you to make sure you do it! Go visit Mickey and have a fabulous day!

There's no way to put into words how much I love and adore you, how much your presence in my life brings me joy daily. You may be the little sister, but I look up to you for your selflessness, iron strength, love of family, and for being one of the best mothers I know. There is no better sister in all this world and I want you to know that not a day goes by that I don't thank God for you and your friendship.

I love you, Jill!!! Muuuuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!


Define: Friend








Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


Sunday, April 19, 2009

And the Mystery Giveaway Winner Is...

...No! I can't tell you just yet. I'm too damn excited! Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

glitters




I've got to tell you, this was a friggin' blast for me! But I'll admit, I was a bit worried about who would win. Would it be a regular Froggy Bloggy visitor, or would it be some random stranger from Zimbabwe?

Well, I needn't have worried. Someone that I adore won!

See?



Cool huh? Aren't you excited?

Oh wait. That didn't tell you shit, did it?

Hold on a minute. Strudel is trying to tell me something.

What is it girl? Huh? A sign? Around your neck? What the hell do you want that for? Have you been spending too much time Facebooking with Crumpet? Okay, okay girl, Mommy will put the sign on you, but only 'cause you're so cute.









That's right! Sue, from A Stitch in Thyme WON!!!!!!! Wtg Sue!!!!!!! I'm soooooo excited to send this package to you!

See? Real live proof in my handwriting! Sue was numbers 30-33!



For anyone who's never met Sue, here she is.



Oops, wrong picture. That's Sue and Sue's ass after a long day of scraping grout off her new tile floor.

Here she is!



Okay Sue baby, email me your info, and I'll get this stuff out to you. Soon. Possibly this week. Definitely this month. Probably.







Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!


Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Outdoor Wednesday --- Love is in the Air



Thank you Susan, at A Southern Daydreamer, for hosting this fun weekly event!

The knockout roses in my yard are blooming like crazy! Look how gorgeous!



And because I love to play, and found a really cool free photo editor called Lunapic I did this...

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A little lizard that I spotted on the a/c unit's hose.



And hey, Strudel loves to be outdoors!



And she also has a new boyfriend named Zach. He's a hottie, don't you think?



Don't forget to visit Susan to find all of the other bloggers doing Outdoor Wednesday!




If you haven't already, be sure you click here to enter my Mystery Giveaway!





Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!