Have a Dog-gone Great Holiday!

With love...

From my blog to yours

Nankin, You're It!

John tagged me for a drabble. What is it? It's a story containing exactly 100 words, which is surprisingly short. My drabble is in the post below. Now I'm passing the drabble baton to Nankin47.blogspot.com

Perspective

"Mom, come get me,” he slurs. “I had a wreck."

"Slow down," I tell myself, but my foot is heavy on the pedal.

His second DWI. I wonder how much bail will be and imagine driving to Huntsville. He doesn’t look good in orange.

I see him--blood on his shirt. Sitting next to him on the railing as they tow his car, I take his hand and we wait--for him to be arrested.

Suddenly, the police wave us on.

We can go? No breathalyzer? Not even a ticket?

His car is totaled, but I've NEVER felt more euphoric.

Who's the Boss?

Chester is 4 months old now and we are enjoying every minute with him. Okay, so he is a little spoiled and has definitely made himself at home. Can you believe how big he's getting? Look at those feet!

Dog Tired

Now that's what I call relaxed! Of course after all the tryptophan from the turkey on Thanksgiving, I was feeling about like Chester.

Hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving...

Superdog

Now that we have a pet Halloween has a whole new meaning. I wouldn't have made Chester wear his Superman costume but he actually seemed to enjoy it. And he really loved all the compliments he got from the trick or treaters who came to our door.

Sit, Chester, Sit!

It's been almost 2 weeks since we brought Chester home and he's been an absolute joy. He's already housetrained, fetches toys when we throw them and sits on command...What a good boy! He also sleeps in our room in his sherpa bed all night long.

Having a puppy is infinitely easier than having a kid.

I wasn't sure what to do on Monday morning when I awoke to thunder, lightening and rain pouring down. I checked the puppy book cover to cover and nowhere did it mention rain in the housetraining chapter. I think inclement weather is worth at least a couple of paragraphs...don't you? I suppose we're going to have to invest in a golf umbrella, however Chester didn't look like he was particularly interested in "doing his business" in the icy cold rain. As a matter of fact, he looked up at me like I was insane when I suggested he might like to go in the backyard without me.

I put papers down in the laundry room and he just played with them. Silly puppy. Fortunately the weather cleared before we had any major accidents. Here he is "sitting" in his favorite chair:

How Much is that Doggie in the Photo...

Ok...so...we got a dog. He's a yellow lab puppy, only 10 weeks old and we LOVE him!!! He is sooooooooooooo cute! Yes, we know, there are pitfalls to having a puppy. But watching him run uncoordinated with those big feet of his is worth it. This is the photo that was in the online ad. Many, many MANY more to come...

Chester is the yellow one, shown here with his chocolate brothers.

Tooty-fruity, oh Rudy!

We "babysat" my daughter's boyfriend's dog this weekend while they went out of town and now we miss him (the dog, not the boyfriend). So we're thinking about getting a dog of our own. The irony is we never had any animals around the house because my daughter is allergic to them. Anyway, here are some pics of Rudy, the yellow lab who's stolen our hearts.

TA DA!

Okay, I'm finally posting pictures of my new bath. I had planned to write about the process but the whole thing was such a disaster I couldn't bring myself to put it into words. Suffice it to say, it took one contractor to really screw it up and another great and saintly one to fix it. We are still waiting for the shower glass to be installed. Anyway, without any further ado:

Houston, We Have Paint

The End is Near?

That's been the promise now for the last several weeks on our bathroom remodel...I'll believe it when I see it.

The Madhatter's Teaparty

Last weekend I gave one of my best friend's daughters a wedding shower. I decided to make it an outdoor event and one of the suggested themes I found online was the teaparty from Alice in Wonderland.

It turned out to be really fun, but the best part was my hare-brained scheme to have my husband play the part of Agador Spartacus from the movie "The Birdcage". If you recall, Agador is the Guatamalan man-servant who falls down when he wears shoes. I figured if I was going to enjoy my outdoor teaparty I needed a waiter to fill up those tiny teacups. He also came in handy fishing the croquet ball out of the pool. Don't even ask what I had to promise to get him to do it...but isn't he cute!




The weather was perfect! Not too hot and not too windy.

We had rose-bouquet plates and napkins, pink iridescent tablecloths and genuine china teacups and saucers. My daughter made the Madhatter cake

Here's the bride-to-be in her wedding veil we made from feathers, netting and funny foam.

The winner of the Most Outrageously Mad Hat trophy


What would a Wonderland theme be without a game of croquet? We even had little pink flamingos on the course. The partygoers who "forgot" their hat were provided tiny tiaras to wear.

Another Bathroom Update

I'm going to spare you the long and boring story of dealing with contractors and subcontractors. Suffice it to say it's been my experience after three bathroom remodels that they must belong to some sort of Compulsive Liars Association and need to join E.A. (Excuses Anonymous). The one-week project as promised has turned into more like 4 weeks and counting...

Finally we got some tilework done. The closet also got tiled because when they pulled the toilet, the valve leaked and ruined the carpet in there. They also broke the commode so we're getting a new one.



The red stuff is called red guard and it's supposed to protect against water damage or mold or something like that...however right now it looks like a murder scene. I'm tempted to write redrum on the mirror.

Another "During" Pic

The remodel is coming along...slowly but surely. Right now the shower bench looks like a cardboard box. The small rectangle to the upper left is a niche...which is a fancy word for a place to put stuff like shampoo and conditioner. Maybe next week we'll finally get to the good stuff like tile and fixtures.

Long Time No Blog

I know, but I've been busy. With what, you ask? We've begun remodelling our master bathroom, we attended my cousin's son's wedding, we had out of town guests, we heated the pool for a swim party, we weathered a storm that was so bad it lifted a glassed top patio table and threw it into the pool, breaking the top into a zillion pieces...

Anyway, it wasn't that the bath was in bad shape or even out of date. The problem was the small shower with the nonadjustable shower head. The people who lived here before us must have been tall. At 5'3" the shower spray hit me directly in the face. After a year of that I had had enough. So we called the contractor and began the task of removing the extremely small shower that spit in my face and replacing it with a linen closet/hamper and removing the large garden tub which had become an extremely expensive laundry hamper and replacing it with a luxuriously large shower. See before and during pictures below:











The downside: lots of cement dust and climbing the stairs every morning to shower.
The upside: it's fun to pick out tile and paint.
The cliche: to make an omlette you have to break some eggs.

A Good Old Fashioned Easter

Nothing says Christ has risen like alcohol, tobacco and a cock fight!

Writer's Workshop Today...

...from 8:30 to 4:30 with an hour for lunch. That's a long time to engage the brain for someone who hasn't been in school since, uh, hot pants were hot.

But I think some of it sank in. It was about Empowering Characters' Emotions and we had to bring our first three chapters and 5 highlighter markers. Let's see if I can remember. Yellow for internalization, blue for dialog, green for description, orange for tension and the elusive pink for emotion. Red underline for everything else. Then we marked up our chapters. What we hoped for was a rainbow effect in our writing...which is what mine was...even some smatterings of pink...phew!

If you're interested, our speaker Margie Lawson is starting an online workshop April 2.

Now I'm all jazzed to start something new. The question is what.

DSL and the new Blogger

It's a big week for me. I was the last living soul on dial up and evidently the last one left on old blogger because they MADE me sign up for the new one tonight. I must admit it was easy...especially with the new DSL. Ordinarily I embrace change but sometimes being the last one on the bandwagon means all the kinks have been worked out beforehand. Hope that's true this time.

Writing Wreport:

I had a request from a NY agent for the first 100 pages of For Richer or Repo today! Also I've started a final draft of my very first novel (paranormal romance) which according to some things I've read lately is very hot right now. CurvyKathy31: Confessions of a Chat Addict is with an E-publisher. Since it's about internet dating I figure an e-publisher would be fitting. Certainly not my first choice but that book is rapidly becoming obsolete...and if it does well online then they publish it for real.

Blog Block

It's similar to writer's block...only worse. Because it's a symptom of a much more serious malady--BLS (Boring Life Syndrome). I used to have lots to write about...and when I didn't have anything urgent on my mind I could always put up a pic of my pool...lol.

It's not that I'm not happy. (Sorry, John for the double negative.) Things are going along swimmingly. But let's face it. When all the plates are spinning as they should that makes for pretty boring blog posts. Maybe I should bring back Freaky Fridays. Boy, was I popular then!

Snowy View From An Upstairs Window

Okay. It was only a light blanket and it barely lasted a day, but it's still pretty cool for a native Texan (pardon the pun.) We've had an unusual amount of the white stuff this year and us Texans are always fascinated by it. Saturday morning it was so cold the ducks in the canal were surprised to find the surface had actually frozen over. They were making sudden U-turns upon landing to keep from skidding across it. A few who didn't realize in time found themselves doing some figure skating moves deserving of 10s from every judge. Fortunately the freeze guard on our pool seems to be in excelent working order.

Enough about the weather! I didn't watch the Superbowl but I did catch half-time. I thought Purple Rain was very appropriate considering it was pouring down rain (oops...more weather talk...sorry). But what was that on the "artist formerly known as Prince's" head?

Wintery Mix

After a whole week of overcast days, iffy road conditions and tons of rain, sleet and ice, it was bright and sunny today...thank goodnesss! I really do start to wither if we have too many consecutive days of gray.

Fortunately I had my monthly writer's club today which inspired to me add five pages to my work in progress.

Things have finally slowed down at work and I'm looking forward to getting on with my water aerobics classes.

One final thought before I turn in for the night. Who came up with the term "wintery mix"? The media uses it all the time now to describe weather conditions. Don't they realize "Ice and Snow" has fewer syllables?

I'm ready for a summery mix!

Out w/Old...In w/New

The tree's been de-balled, the lights have been un-strung and everything festive's been boxed and tucked neatly up in the attic. Time for a new year and new resolutions. The last couple of years have been pretty stressful for reasons I won't go into now. So I want this to be a year for me...I hope it doesn't sound too selfish. I'm really just speaking in a health-related capacity.

Tomorrow, along with 2 co-workers, we are joining a water aerobics class two nights a week. I've done water aerobics before and it's really fun and easy and not only gets your heart rate up and burns calories but it's very low impact and if you do ever break a sweat you don't really notice. The hardest thing about it is pulling on that tight Lycra suit. And the additional "hair" management I don't usually worry about in the winter.

We'll see how it goes.

On another note...I'm off this week. This is payback for the week I worked between Christmas and New Years. I don't really have any plans, but I do hope to write some.

One final thing. About Saturday night. I just want to let all the neighbors know in case they were wondering that my husband wasn't yelling those horrible obscenities at me...it was at the TV...and more specifically at the Dallas Cowboys.

Remember This SNL Classic?

From the Saturday Night Live Transcripts:

Tom Brokaw Pre-Tapes

Tom Brokaw: Okay, who are we up to?

Voice of Producer: Uh.. we're still on Presidents. Gerald Ford.

Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford? Well, he's in good shape..

Voice of Producer: Just covering our bases, Tom. You never know..

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. [ graphic of Gerald Ford, "1913-1996" appears over Tom's left shoulder ] "Gerald Ford dead today at the age of 83."

Voice of Producer: Okay, good. And, one for next year.

Tom Brokaw: Alright.. [ graphic of Gerald Ford, "1913-1997" ] "Gerald Ford dead today, at age 84."

Voice of Producer: Uh.. a little sadder.

Tom Brokaw: Alright. [ sad ] "Gerald Ford dead today.. at age 84.."

Voice of Producer: That was good. Good.

Tom Brokaw: Okay, what now?

Voice of Producer: Now let's do one for if he's shot.

Tom Brokaw: Well, what are the chances of that?

Voice of Producer: We're just covering contingencies.

Tom Brokaw: I mean, it just seems that Gerald Ford..

Voice of Producer: Look - you're the one who wants to spend the whole winter in Barbados, okay? Now, we gotta be ready with something, just in case. Alright, Tom?

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. [ graphic of Gerald Ford, "1913-1996" ] "Gerald Ford shot dead today, at age 83."

Voice of Producer: Uh.. add the word "senseless".

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Gerald Ford shot dead today, at the senseless age of 83."

Voice of Producer: Um.. uh..

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. "Gerald Ford shot senselessly dead, at the age of 83."

Voice of Producer: Good, good.. Okay, now suicide.

Tom Brokaw: What?!

Voice of Producer: Just read it!

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Gerald Ford dead today, after jupming out of an office building, senselessly."

Voice of Producer: That's a nice touch. Okay, moving on.

Tom Brokaw: Okay. "Gerald Ford dead today, from an overdose of crack cocaine."

Voice of Producer: Good, good.. Next.

Tom Brokaw: Alright. [ graphic of Gerald Ford and a commuter plane ] "Stunning news from Michigan, as former President Gerald Ford was chopped into little bits by the propeller of a commuter plane."

Voice of Producer: Good. One take.

Tom Brokaw: Alright, we got it?

Voice of Producer: No. We've got "eaten by wolves".

Tom Brokaw: What? Now, come on!

Voice of Producer: Just read it!

Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford isn't gonna be eaten by wolves!

Voice of Producer: Taft was.

Tom Brokaw: Really? Taft?

Voice of Producer: Uh.. yeah.

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. [ graphic of Ford surrounded by a pair of wolves ] "Tragedy today, as former President Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves. He was delicious." Now.. now, that's just superfluous, you know?

Voice of Producer: It's a former President, Tom. What do you say - he's not delicious?

Tom Brokaw: Alright, fine.. what's next?

Voice of Producer: The double story.

Tom Brokaw: Alright. [ graphic of Ford and map of France ] "A fireball destroyed France today, and Gerald Ford is dead." Now, what are the odds of that?

Voice of Producer: Fine. We'll get Stone Phillips to do it. You know, I'm sure Stone Phillips would be thrilled to break a story like that!

Tom Brokaw: Alright. Let's keep moving.. [ graphic of Ford and the corpse of Richard Nixon ] "Stunning news from Yorba Linda today, as Richard Nixon's corpse climbed out of his grave and strangled Gerald For to death."

Voice of Producer: Excellent.

Tom Brokaw: Alright. [ graphic of Ford and circus lion ] "Gerald Ford was mauled senselessly by a circus lion in a convenience store."

Voice of Producer: Good. Next.

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Gerald Ford is dead today, and I'm gay." Now, wait a minute!

Voice of Producer: What? That'd be a huge story - Ford dying, and you coming out!

Tom Brokaw: But I'm not gay!

Voice of Producer: Today you're not gay, you know.. but then one day you wake up, you like men, and Gerald Ford dies, and we're screwed. Everyone's hearing about it from Dan Rather!

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. what's this for?

[ graphic of Gerald Ford and the Zimbabwee flag appears ]

Voice of Producer: Alright, this one's for if we're invaded by Zimbabwee.

Tom Brokaw: Would I still be the anchor if Zimbabwee invaded us?

Voice of Producer: Yeah.. if you break the Gerald Ford story, you will..

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Hola bambe, hungala dimba Gerald Ford.. *click* *click* *click* *click* ..hola bambe, allah bumba bubba hulla humba hey."

Voice of Producer: Very nice. Very nice. A little sadder, please.

Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. [ sadly ] "Hola bambe, hungala dimba Gerald Ford.. *click* *click* ..hola bambe.."

[ fade ]