My Dog

Sometimes...I tell ya.

Yesterday morning Sarah calls me.

"Mom, Shelby barfed on your bed, what do I do?"

I was on my way to work and in an area where I seldom have a signal. I couldn't find out how bad it was. Was it on the comforter or under the covers? She had been asleep under the covers when I left about a half hour before. About 10 min later I got ahold of Sarah and found out it was only a small amount, on top of the comforter and hadn't soaked into any other covers. Sarah took the comforter off and shooed Shelby out of my room.

I washed the comforter last night for the 2nd time in 2 weeks.

2 weeks ago my friend J was over. We were standing in the kitchen talking and SHelby had been excitedly jumping around and she ran in my room and got on the bed and peed. For no good reason. She has never done that before. J said he has that effect on alot of women. haha.

Shelby was pretty funny on Sat after I cleaned the livingroom carpet. She was shot out of a cannon. She ran around and around and around. Rolled on her back and scrtatched her back on the carpet and was just overall very goofy. I don't know if it was the scent of the cleaner or that the carpet was still damp but she was hilarious.

She isn't particularly liking this cold weather. It's good though because in the middle of the night who wants to stay up while she is out sniffing everything like she has never sniffed it before? Some nights she was hanging out for well over a half hour. Not so the last couple of nights. She has been peeing and pooping and sniffing in under 3 min.

So out of my league (Tumbledown Mountain)

It was a nice start. Shelby and Sam were eager to get started. I on the other hand had to make a quick pit stop at the outhouse. Oh, that was one of the great things about this trail, it had a VERY NICE outhouse at the trailhead. Seriously.


I wish you could hear what this little brook sounded like. I would have loved to pitch a hammock and just lay and listen to that all day.


See me smiling here? Yeah, I had no clue what I was in for.



This is the trail. Where? You ask? Ummmm....right there! Can't you see it? Well, if you look at the trees you'll see the occasional blue paint splotch. Those mark the trail. At least now we know why they call it Tumbledown.



Sam is a little leary. Can he make it holding Shelby (which he had to carry her through about 3/4 of the trip because it was just too rocky for her little short legs) and would I be able to follow as well. This still wasn't the worst part of the trail.



THIS was the worst part. I tried a half dozen times to get up over that rock. Finally a couple came along and I watched where the lady put her hands and feet and with the help of her husband I was able to finally conquer the mountain.



The views were great though and the little pond was very peaceful.



The map said it was an easy trail. Sam says "not so much". Shelby didn't think it was all that rough since she had a pretty smooth ride.


My legs and arms and hips and knees and ankles and back are all screaming this morning. I took a couple of ibuprofens because there is no time for soreness. It's a beautiful day and brush needs to be hauled. It was a good hike and a better than good workout. I saw a heavyset woman climbing up on our way down. She looked miserable and I'm wondering if she made it up over the big ledge. She was greart motivation for me. If she can make it I can make it and not complain (too loudly).

She's always on my ass

Doo- Dee- Dooing

"You missed the turn"

"I couldn't get over in time. The GPS will recalculate"

"You could have moved over if you weren't Doo-Dee-Dooing"

"Huh? Doo-Dee-Dooing??"

"Yeah, gawking around at the buildings and not paying attention. Doo-Dee-Dooing."

Ok....so MAYBE I was Doo-Dee-Dooing.

Sam and I went to PA this weekend. It's a lot of driving in a short amount of time but we had a good time.

We left Friday night after work and headed to my Aunt's in CT. We decided to have dinner at Cracker Barrel in MA. We had never been before. What a treat!! We loved it. The gift shop was divine and everything was on sale. I got a very cute birdfeeder that looks like a picked out watermelon. Once it is hung up I'll take a pic. It was only $9. The meal was good and inexpensive. We just loved it. My Aunt was in shock. The Cracker Barrel around the corner from her is VERY expensive. Hmmmmm....I guess it really IS true that just about everything is more expensive in CT.

My Mom, step dad, Sam and I all stayed at my Aunt's in CT. Sam and I were downstairs and the "grownups" were upstairs. It didn't matter that we had a floor/ceiling between us, Sam and I could still hear them sawing ZZZZZZZ's ALL NIGHT. It was like a house of horrors. Chainsaws running all night and teeth floating in a bowl in the bathroom. Our bed was very comfortable though. Once we fell asleep we slept well. The next morning Mom said she she didn't fall asleep until after 2AM. Sam and I looked at each other and giggled. I guess she snores when she is awake too.

On Sat morning we set Nagatha(my cousin's name for the GPS) for Perkiomenville, PA. We were riding in tandem with my Aunt and Uncle who had been there many times before so we didn't really need it. Except that we stopped to gas up and my Uncle got a little discombobulated and had us traveling east when we needed to go west. Nagatha knew the difference and after about 5 miles I agreed with Nagatha and made the executive decision to turn around. My Aunt was riding with Sam and Mom and I so I asked her to call my Uncle and let him know that we want to take a more direct route but that he was free to go any which way he wanted to. He opted to turn around and follow us.

2 pit stops and 5 hours later we arrived in PA. We stayed at the Courtyard in Collegeville and it was great. The bed was SOOOO comfy that Sam and I never heard the chainsaws. Maybe Mom and Rog slept so good that they didn't run their chainsaws all night. I don't know but we were all in the same room and we heard nothing. And I slept until 7:30am the next morning.

After checking in at the hotel we went to my cousin's for the party. OMG.....their house is to die for!!! It's a mansion. Sam and I counted 4 fireplaces, 9 flat screen TVs, 5 bathrooms, 4 beverage centers, 5 car garage and well over 20 rooms. They have a killer media room with stadium seating. It really is an awesome house. It even has an elevator. And a laundry room with more cabinets and counter space than my kitchen. Unbelievable. And of course there is a pool and patio area comparable to any movie star's house in Beverly Hills. Just the bill for maintaining the grounds would be waaayyy beyond my means. It is gorgeous and my cousins are so gracious and down to Earth. The party was great. T is all grown up and he'll be going to Penn State next year. The catering was great too. The caterer was wonderful. Not only did they put on a good spread they waited on us hand and foot.

We hung out at my cousin's until 10pm then went back to the hotel. We got there just in time to see Tiger Woods sink one of his eagles. I don't know anything about golf. Heck I don't even care about golf but THAT was a shot. I was so intrigued that I followed the game all day yesterday. I felt bad for Rocco but I am glad that Tiger won.

Sam and I headed out for home on Sun morning. Mom and Rog stayed down an extra day because my cousin had set up a tee time for a round of golf.

We had just gotten our new GPS last week so now it was going to be tested. I kinda knew my way back but decided to just let Nagatha take us where it would, with the exception that I did want to go through NYC. It was in Manhatten that I missed my turn while Doo-Dee-Dooing.

About 4pm we were getting hungry. We decided to ask Nagatha where we could eatand how to get there. Bug-a-Boo Creek it was. I must say, it was my first bad experience. Not with the food but the service. We decided to sit in the bar rather than wait a half hour for a seat. The bartender brought us the menu and a loaf of bread right off. But that's where the service ended. It took her about 20 min to come and take our order. We only ordered pasta bowls and it took over a half hour more to get them. We lost well over an hour there. She refilled Sam's glass but not mine. She never asked how the meal was. Didn't bring us the second loaf of bread we requested and we had to ask for the bill. I'm usually very gracious and understanding but we were sitting right directly in front of her yet we could not get her attention. We watched her interact with the couple on the other end of the bar many times, but I guess we were invisible. It cost us $30 for 2 pasta bowls and a Sprite (I had water w/lemon) which I thought was alot to not even get any service. All we wanted was our meal in a timely manner, more bread and to be acknowledged. Not nearly as good as Cracker Barrel had been but that's not to say we won't give them another chance.

About 2 hours later Sam mentioned ice cream. OK. Sounds good to me. Again, Nagatha to the rescue. I punched in Dairy Queen and hit the mother load!!! 9 Dairy Queens in an 11 mile radius! Now that's living the good life.

All in all it was a short but good trip. Nagatha is our friend even though she does speak a bit of a different language gets a bit testy if we don't do what she wants. Even though we slept very well both nights we were very glad to be back home and sleep in our sleighbed. I missed Sarah and Shelby. I think Shelby is mad at us because she slept in her own bed all of Sunday night and a good part of last night too. I hope she doesn't a hold a grudge for long.

Mama please make it stop snowing

All of our paths are narrow.

Here is the driveway.
Sam is trying to get the porch steps cleared but he finally gave up and just cleared a narrow path.
Poor Wellaby had to stay inside while the driveway was being plowed. The snowman is still under that pile of snow but he is snug as a bug in a rug.
That roof is not giving me a warm fuzzy feeling. Sam will be getting up there on Fri to clear it off. The trusses can take the weight but the ice and water shield only goes back 3 feet and it does leak if the ice creeps up beyond it. The snow is so high that Sam can almost climb onto the roof of the doghouse to get up on the roof.

It's crazy. Absolutely NUTZ I tell ya. Snow Snow Snow. Today was the 2nd in 2 weeks that I have missed work because of bad storms. Normally I would love the chance to have a lazy at home but now I'm starting to worry about summer vacation time. Just like the kids I will have to work all summer to make up for time missed this winter.

More snow predicted for Friday and Monday and possible next Wednesday. Arrrrrrggghh

Wake me up when it is May.

Hey Mom, do you mind....

.....if I check my MySpace??

Snow Snow go away

A few weeks ago it all began. This pic was actually from the third storm of the season back on 12/13/007. It seems like it snowed every single day in December except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day which turned out great for visiting.

This has been a crazy winter. Tonight's storm has Mr Snowman almost completely covered.
The trek to the outhouse

Following her own path back

"Oh Mom, when is this snow going to stop? I really am more of a warm weather dog"

The snow tunnels are starting to look like something out of "The Shining". And it's barely Jan 1. It's not GOING TO BE a long winter, it already IS a long winter.

Check out these crazy nuts. It's a wonderful fundraiser and I just may get brave enough by next year to take the plunge. Don't hold me to it though ok?

Merry Christmas night

Just a few highlights:

Redneck Christmas

I asked my dad if he drank all of those beers that morning. He said no it took him a few days.
Shelby had to be in on every conversation. She was such a good girl. She made her rounds making everyone feel welcome.

My cousin Debbie loved her so much that she tried to sneak her out the door in her bag.

She sat for a few minutes like that. She is crazy.

This is her newest cousin DJ Jasper Jazzy Razzamatazz Spazz or just plain Jazz for short. Yes he is as adorable and cuddly as he looks. What a sweet little baby he is. He and Shelby had fun chasing each other and rassling together.

Shelby finally had more Christmas than she could take. She crawled into her bed and collapsed into a coma. I tried picking her up and she was like a bag of bones. She was so tired that she just laid limp on me. Hopefully she will sleep through the night and not be up playing at her usual time of 1:30ish.

I've had enough Christmas too. Next year I'm dragging out all the empty totes at 5pm and anyone still hanging around can help put Christmas away until the next year.


Hope your day was fun.

Merry Christmas Eve

Christmas comes early at Boo's house. We celebrated on Sat with my Mom and Bro and the in-laws. Shelby got a new stuffed penguin from her Grammy and as you can see she really likes it. She took it over to her bed for safe keeping and a little exploration.

She is very possessive and wasn't willing to share with Baby Kit. It really wasn't a big deal. Baby Kit wasn't interested in the toy, she was more interested in making sure Shelby was kept busy so she would be terrorizing her.

We had a good time and good food and good gifts. We've all had a bumpy year so it was good to all be together under good circumstances.

Yesterday the kids and I went to my father's for a redneck Christmas. We got together in the garage because it was the only place big enough for all the festivities. My father decorated the tree himself. It was a Charlie Brown tree with a strand of white lites and about 100 Budweiser bottle caps as ornaments. He took the label off a Budweiser bottle, put it on top of the tree upside down then he put the label back on so it was right side up. I'll have pics tonight to download and I will post them. It was actually pretty cool. I knew my father had talents but I had no idea he was into holiday decorating.

I have another busy day ahead. I have to stop in at Walmart one last time before Christmas. That should be a blast.

Sam and I are having Xmas with his family this evening. It will be a casual evening with finger foods and holiday snacks. Shelby will get to meet her newest cousin Jasper and her favorite cousin Zoe.

Even though it has been a busy weekend I have had a chance to get caught up on some sleep. The weather has broke and it is sunny and close to 40. Sam shoveled over 2 feet of snow from the roof on Sat and thanks to rain overnight the roof is now completely clear. My driveway that was too slippery for the average car on Sat is now clear as well. This is very good considering I will have about 30 people coming here tomorrow afternoon. I have a beef stew in the crock pot and laundry going in the washer. The dishwasher is empty and the rugs have been vacuumed. A quick swoosh of the toilet bowls and I'm ready for another round of visitors. I'm hoping to post more pics tonight especially the ones of my father's tree but if I don't make it back around today I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa is very generous with each and every one of you.

Full of piss and vinegar

Around 9:30, just about the time of night when we all settle in for a long winter's nap, Shelby got shot out of a cannon. OMG...she was vicious. She had Sam trapped under the covers and she was going for the jugular. She was growling and barking. She jumped off the bed and back onto the bed. The she started running on the bed, about a zillion laps. Round and around and around and around, until I was almost peeing my pants from laughing. Down off the bed and back up again. She chewed the hell out of her crab. Under the bed and back up on the bed, back down again, back up again. A few attacks on Sam then back onto the floor again. She scratched at the bedroom door so I figured I'd let her out to go pee and work off some of her energy. When I opened the door she bolted out through the kitchen and into the livingroom. Running laps. She missed the Xmas tree by fractions of an inch. I finally caught her and scooped her up and stuck her outside for some cooling off. She went to the bottom of the stairs, peed and came right back up again. I let her and she was on the move. OMG....She had me laughing soooo hard. Her antics went on for close to an hour. When she did finally settle down she slept like a rock.

It's going to be a long funny winter.

A little more Thanksgiving

Busy schedules delayed Thanksgiving with Sam's family. We got together today and you know what? It doesn't matter what day you get together on, if the food and company is good that's all that matters. Sam fired up his turkey fryer and the bird came out perfect

I have been watching alot of Food Network lately and have been inspired. Check out this pumpkin that I cooked.
It was a perfect serving bowl for the stuffing that I made. It turned out even better than I had imagined.

It was a nice center piece for the table which was very festive.
While the turkey cooked, we bowled a couple of strings on the Wii. Sam and I definitely want to get our own Wii. It was great fun.

Shelby joined in the festivities as well. She played and fought with her cousins, Zoe and Goose. Turns out that it doesn't matter if she is the smallest dog in the house, she can be quite a scrappy little thing. They only had a couple of scuffles and are still best buddies.

I love this pic, check out her eyelashes. She is such a doll.

Snuggling

Sam and Shelby were still snuggling when I left this morning. I don't know which one I'm more jealous of.

20 years old

My daughter is twenty years old today! How can a 29 year old woman have a 20 year old daughter? Oh yeah, that's right, I'm not exactly 29.

Hard to believe. It seems like she should be 20 but it doesn't seem like I should be the mom of a 20 year old.

Remember the cake and ice cream I spoke of a few days ago? We ate it last night. Matter of fact that's all Sam and I had for dinner. Don't you love being a grown up and being able to do naughty things like for go dinner in favor of dessert?

My ex put on the party. That's the other good thing that has been happening lately. I'm not in charge of every stinking (and sweet) thing that involves the cherubs. He actually stepped up to the plate, with no provocation.

My ex has 2 dogs. Shadow, who is a black lab and Maizy who is a shih tzu. They have been co habitating for almost a year now with no issues. Shelby goes over to play too. The three are like peas and carrots (and string beans). I don't know what happened last night. A bone or something became the object of all of their attention and the next thing you know I feel like I'm at Michael Vick's. Where do I place my bets? I'm betting on the scrappy white dog with a loud bark. They fought. And I mean fought. They would have fought to the death, I swear. The barking and yelping and growling and yelling was amazing. The mass of fur, I couldn't tell where one dog stopped and the other started.

I was never so relieved as when I glanced up and there was Sam, holding Shelby. OMG....my baby was saved. He had managed to drag her out of the edge (I said Edge ;-0 )of the fight. She was barking her head off and struggling to get down. Those little dogs are quite the scrappers.

At that point I did what I do best. I burst out laughing. QofQ and I were laughing so hard we were almost peeing our pants. We know it isn't really funny but darnitall that was hilarious.

Don't you think the mom is the one who should be celebrated on their kid's birthday? After all she is the one who did all the work. Yeah I thought so too. I'm gonna fill my pie hole with more cake when I get home.

Happy Birthday Heather. Mama loves you bunches and bunches.

Busy weekend

I had a super busy weekend. Sam and I were planning on having friends over on Sunday to watch the Talladega race. That is one of my favorite tracks. When one wrecks they all wreck, and this weekend was no exception. It was on a smaller scale (only ten cars affected) but it was still fun to watch.

On Wed night I made a list of stuff that I wanted done by Sunday morning.
1) Closing the pool
2) scrub both bathtubs
3) clean the microwave (don't ask)
4) take out the AC's
5) get groceries for party
6) pull down and clean up dead branch (branch almost broke off from the last storm but not quite)
7) Scrub all three toilets (yuck, I hate that job)
8) take out and clean the shelves in the fridge
9) put away totes from Halloween decorations
10) I don't remember what I had for this but I know we had 10 things on the list. Actually Sam added one more item but I told him I wouldn't resort to scheduling or listing that.

Anyways by late Sat afternoon, we had accomplished none of the items on this list. Yup that's right, none. Now we were under the gun. We spent the better part of Sat trying to get the pool closed and was faced with one challenge after another. It's still not completely closed. The only thing left is the cover, which I have to buy a new one because the mice had a field day with it. Sat night we got groceries, I cleaned the microwave and Sam put away the totes. I had just cleaned the fridge about 2 months ago so I gave each shelf a quick swipe, and I took care of the bathrooms on Sunday morning. The dead branch was the only thing we didn't do. It's still hanging there. Sarah's friend K was hanging from it trying to pull it down and it wasn't budging so I'm not too worried about it coming down unexpectedly at this point.

In our defense, we did do a bunch of things that were not on the list. We cleaned his place Sat morning and we mowed and weedwacked at my place in the early afternoon. Believe me, there was not one lazy moment all weekend. By last night at 8pm I was exhausted. It doesn't help that it gets dark so darned early now.

Sunday morning I was awakened at about 6:15am. A really loud honking sound was going on. Sam jumped up and went to the door to see what was going on and there was a whole gaggle of geese flying overhead. They were making their annual trek south. By the time I cleared the webs from my brain and the seeds from my eyes they were gone and so was the photo op. Those honking honkers.

We did learn this weekend that a watched pot will boil.


Have you ever had deep fried turkey??? OMG...it is so awesome. Juicy and tender and it cooked in under an hour. The clean up was pretty painless too.
Shelby loves getting made of and the girls just loved playing with her and cuddling her. By the time they left Shelby was passed out in her bed. She stayed in the living room even when we retired to the bedroom. She was too exhausted to even walk in there. I did go and get her and put her to bed in her bed in my room. She slept like a rock all night.

Shewelaby

Sam started calling her that awhile ago and it has stuck. She also goes by Shelbs, Shelbenegger, Shelby Schwartz (not really sure where the whole schwarzenegger theme comes from), Shewelabeast and Heather affectionately calls her Tubby or Sissy Girl. To me she is Mama's Baby and here you can see why. She is watching Red Sox with me. She is a true member of Red Sox Nation. Yup, she hates the Yankees too.


She is sooo sweet

Shelby's been skunked

And no, I didn't teach her how to play cribbage.

She got into a little black and white trouble. Not much, seems like it is just a little on her face and front legs. Not a full blown shower. But that on top of a flea issue has me a little frustrated. I had taken care of the fleas ( I saw one one her and we all know that if you see one there are probably dozens hiding out) and now this.

She's not quite due for a trip to the groomer but I do believe we'll be making a special concession.

After spending the night in her kennel, you can see she was grateful for a little couch time. (that's her own little doggie sofa)


She is still adorable, even in this messy state.

First time for everything

I don't think it was either one of these guys, but I had a bird do the poopie thing on me last Friday night. It was the first time that ever happened. "C" says it's good luck. I didn't feel very lucky. Luckily I had on a loose, blousy, gauze shirt. I was able to rinse off in the water without much fanfare. It hit so hard on my side that it kind of felt like I had been hit with a rock. It was quite gross and it happened mere seconds before I was getting ready to unwrap my Subway Sandwich.

We went to another family reunion on Sat. This time it was my mother's extended family. I committed the great photographer's faux pas. I didn't check my battery before leaving home and I didn't bring my camera case with me. I was only able to get about 10 shots at this reunion and the first 6 were of Shelby. It was her first time swimming in the lake.

She wanted to go in the water so bad but couldn't figure out how to jump in.



So Heather came and got her. But she didn't like it.


So she swam for shore.


She saw her saving grace, this small raft, which she struggled to get up onto.


And there she sat, a shivering, beaten down pup.

I'm sure she'll grow to love the swimming as she does it more. Heather wrapped her in a towel like a baby and she laid there so cute. (I really hate having dead batteries)