Category Archives: the boys

Bring on the Thanks

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I also realized that while writing my posts day to day I’m always thankful for the activities or topics that I’m posting about (the positive ones anyway), but I often don’t state this gratitude outright. So to make up for what some may view as some lacking thankfulness or gratitude posts, here goes…

* I’m thankful for our home – I may complain about it from time to time, but we’ve got a good thing going here and the neighborhood is awesome (she says having just returned from a lovely evening walk).

* I’m thankful for the boys – it’s not always easy blending a four-legged family, but our guys have taken to it quite well. They’re also always looking out for each other (when the pupster wasn’t feeling well, the kitkat was right there snuggling close and giving him hugs). They’re also great napping mates (see yesterday’s post regarding my love for napping).

* I’m thankful for my darling, non-sports loving, geeky, mellow, moppet-haired hubby – he’s my dream come true and all I could ever hope for in a partner (even if does desperately need a haircut right now). I aspire to be as calm as he can be in stressful situations – I’m sure I’ve said it before, but he’s so go with the flow and mellow its enviable.

* I’m thankful for my car. It’s a very simple, very inexpensive, bargain-priced Hyundai Elantra, but I love it. It’s the perfect size and it has and does pretty much anything I’d ever want or need a car to do or have. Mind you, I’d love a little sporty 5-speed so I could whiz through those Hollywood Hills, but considering this car cost less than my old sporty car that I bought over 15 years ago, I’m just fine. But once we make it rich, a sporty weekend car will be mine! Bwahahaha!

* I’m thankful for modern medicine and awesome doctors – both for me and for the pupster. I’ll sing it to the world, our doctor is awesome – along with our vet! We get special appointments if we need them, we get follow up phone calls after treatment, but more importantly, we get heard. Our doctor heard my casual chatter about little thing that seemed off and immediately suggested that we check my thyroid and even though my numbers were relatively low, she got me on the meds and it’s made a world of difference. She totally rocks!

* I’m thankful for chocolate – okay, I might be PMSing here, but really, nothing beats good chocolate. My friend recently visited Japan and brought me back some KitKat bars (at my request since that’s a common search keyword here for the blog – blog post to follow in the near future) and man, they’re good! Even cooler still, she’s in London this week and will hopefully be able to bring me back some Cadbury Dairy Milks or Fruit & Nuts. How exactly does US chocolate manage to taste so crappy compared to European chocolate?

* I’m thankful for my Mac and the lacking blue screen of death. Ah, so nice and so simple to use. I’m thrilled that I made the switch without argument or dragging my feet. Now I just need to learn to use half of the fun programs.

* I’m thankful for my friends. I seem to have had some slight bumps in the road of friendship these past couple of months, but I’m moving on. I know that I’ve got a great batch of friends that have been in my life for years and seeing them again, or talking to them from time to time feels like slipping into the most comfortable pajamas…just right.

* I’m thankful for NaBloPoMo – it’s brought so many blogs and bloggers that I’d otherwise never have known about into my life. And that’s not counting the cool things you can learn – like yummy Mexican restaurant recommendations while visiting Tucson! So handy and helpful. Fussy totally rocks for starting this up.

* I’m thankful for the time I’ve been able to spend working from home. I know that I sometimes vent about my job – who doesn’t, right – but it’s nice to know that I can work from home, have fun, and be able to take off on a moment’s notice. I honestly believe that working a 9-5 sort of job would kill our relationship (the hubby being a workaholic that doesn’t go to bed before 2:00am), so I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work with something that’s so flexible and creative.

I could go on and on, but I feel comfortable leaving this at an even ten. Well, that plus the pupster is begging for his dinner (and his medicine) and I still have Thanksgiving stuff to research.  So I leave you with a pretty picture from my birthday getaway two years ago (San Juan Capistrano), just because pretty things to look at are just one more thing to be thankful for…

Capistrano_wagon.jpg

I love to Nap

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No, really.  If you were to call my house, anytime between 2:00 and 5:00 you’d likely wake me up.  Mind you, I don’t not sleep for three hours!!  It’s more like 30-45 minutes.  But it’s pretty much a daily occurrence.  A somewhat daily occurrence that the boys love.

My favorite part of the weekend, aside from finally having time to just hang out with the hubby, is what we refer to as snuggle time.   Snuggle time is when we all get back into bed, read a little, and love on the boys.  It’s also one of the few times that the boys will willingly snuggle together (or closer together than they’d normally be).

Sometimes, like today, snuggle time quickly escalates into sleepy time where everyone falls asleep – some for longer than others.  Today, ahhhh…today was a wonderful snuggle time turned sleepy time.  That makes this a perfect Saturday in my book.

And of course, it helps the healing energy to get to the right boy at the right time…Griffin is nearly all better – the ears are no longer swollen and he spends more time not flapping than flapping his ears.  See, there really is something to napping.

He Can’t Seem to Catch a Break

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This has been a tough week for the pupster.  First we’ve got his little bout of whatever after we picked him up at the boarders on Monday, then he’s stuck in a car ride from hell and back as we go to Tucson.  Then today, his ears inflate to the thickness of a checkbook and he scratches himself so badly, blood squirts everywhere.  he can’t walk two steps without shaking his head and flopping his ears.

So yeah, we just now got back from the vets.  And let me just say, I love our vet as much as I love our doctor.  They agreed to stay later on a Friday to squeeze the little guy in so they could see him.  So the hubby and I raced across town, mere minutes before rush-hour gets it’s start on the 101 and made it in record time.

The Doc just thinks that something bit him and he’s having an allergic reaction.  He gave him two shots and some meds and sent us on our way.  By the time we made it home, the swelling had already gone down a lot and the head shaking and flapping has also cut down.

We’re sure he’ll be fine.  We just need to set the timer to remind us to let him out to pee every hour or so (from the diuretic shot).  Mind you, as I was typing the line above, he threw up again.

*sigh*

Poor little guy.  I think I’ll go sit on the couch and cuddle him so he’ll stay still and rest some.

The Pupster is Better!!

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Two hours later he was right as rain. It started with the kisses, moved on to tail wagging and then went to full on moving about and chasing the kitkat around. I gave him a scrambled up egg for dinner (just an egg, nothing added).  We took him out for a brief walk, just up to the corner and he was a full on walking force to be reckoned with.

I’m actually wondering if it was a reaction to the manure/fertilizer the landscapers laid last week. All last week I walked him so he wouldn’t walk on it and wiped his paws down before he came inside. When the hubby let him out yesterday while I was still out, he was out and about on the grass/manure and the hubby didn’t wipe his paws off. By the time I came home, he was liking his paws.

I think I remember something similar like this last year (or the year before) regarding the manure/fertilizer. I don’t remember the specifics just thinking something like “hmm…surely they wouldn’t use fertilizer with something in it with their dog, our dog and the grandbaby running around.”  I have a feeling though that they don’t really think about that since their dog has it’s own fenced in area and the grandbaby spends most of his time on the blacktop riding his bike.  Either way, seems very strange, but I’ll keep a close eye on things and learn from my mistakes.  Hopefully, the lawn guys come today and will cut and bag that crap.

We’ll keep an eye on him though and thanks SO much for thinking good thoughts.

Poor Little Guy

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We picked the pupster up this morning from the boarders and everything was fine. He was happy, he was bouncy, he was his usual self. Now, five or so hours later I came into the living room from unloading the groceries and I see that he had an accident on the rug (so not like him…even when he just can’t hold it, he goes by the back door, not in the middle of the room). I didn’t yell at him (he was left home with the hubby and he’s notorious for not remembering to let him out).

When I put him outside though, he just sat down in the grass with his head hanging. He wouldn’t come to me, wouldn’t even look at me, he just kind of wobbled there while sitting. Eventually, he laid down. The hubby then went out and picked him up and carried him inside – he was totally limp and breathing kind of weird.

So we wrapped him in his blanket and put him on a pillow on the floor. The hubby was laying down with him and blamo, he puked. Twice. I’m assuming it was breakfast since he hasn’t had anything but two dog cookies since he got home. So now he’s just laying there, on the floor, totally lethargic.

So now we’re just keeping an eye on him to see if we have to take him to the emergency vet. I know something is up though since the kitkat is staying close to him (and they’re not that close) and the pupster isn’t closing his eyes and resting, he’s just laying there staring off into space. The only time those two can have a good snuggle is when the pupster isn’t feeling well and won’t growl the kitkat away.

So please, keep him in your thoughts. With luck this isn’t anything more than an upset stomach.

This Just Might Take All the Tea in China

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The thing about leaving town for a bit and having very limited internet time (or in my case, horrible connectivity) is that you come home feeling so behind.  My Google Reader has 145 posts for me to read!  That’s one HUNDRED and forty-five!!  And it was only for a few days.

Something tells me I might need more than just one cup of  tea to catch up..and that’s not counting my own updating that needs to get done.  Plus tonight we have the Feist show and then first thing Tuesday, it looks like we’ll be driving to Tuscon (with the pupster) to shoot Herbie’s show.  Again Since we didn’t get to shoot his Santa Barbara show last night.

But let me just say, no matter how comfy those Heavenly Beds are over at the Westin (and woowee are they comfy!) nothing beats coming home to sleep in your own bed.   Too bad the kitcat decided that we needed to get up around 7:30 to feed him and go get the pupster.  Needless to say, I told him to hush and just kept sleeping – well, as well as I could with his damn meowing for three hours *sigh*  But really, it’s good to be home.

Time to Find Some New Sorts

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When I’m out of sorts, I’m just completely and totally out of sorts. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Now that the boys are both home and the hubby is officially On Vacation (woohoo!) we pretty much had a laid back sort of day. The boys have just been snuggling up to each other (which says a lot considering the pupster is always afraid that the kitkat will get him) all day. And it took a while, but around 5:00PM we all finally got into bed for a little snuggle. And yes, I napped for about an hour. Which of course, didn’t help in the sorts department all too much.

A little while ago, the hubby decided that he needed to do a Costco run to pick up a cooler and a case of water for the bands he’ll be working with tomorrow. Of course, coolers are summer items in Costco-land, so none were to be found. But I’m getting ahead of myself in this rambling little story…the important part of the evening…first we stopped at Baja Fresh for dinner. All was fine and good, until we get to Costco, find a parking spot and head in. At this point I realize that I left my purse (!) at Baja Fresh. So we had to double back to pick it up. Since I called to let them know that I left it, they were waiting for me and handed it to me as soon as I walked up to the counter. The guy was so sweet, he said that he actually went into the restroom looking for me.

In my out of sorts daze, I was just about ready to say “it’s okay, it’s not like I left my cell phone behind” until I realized that the purse and all it’s occupants would cost about 5-10x as much as my cell phone would cost to replace. Don’t be alarmed, a huge chunk of that is the actual Coach purse along with my extensive lipstick collection – really, I’ve got it bad. Apparently, when I’m lacking in decent sleep, I’m way to out of it to keep track of the most basic things (or so it would seem).

And of course, the rest of the cooler and water search really isn’t important in this story any longer. So long story short…he found a cooler at the local sporting goods shop and will pick up water at the nearby grocery store. Wow, that really did make for a boring, lame-ass ending. Sorry.

Well, instead we can end things with a little gratitude…I’m grateful that all the boys are home tonight so we can get some good snuggling in before heading out again this weekend (wine country…yum!). I’m grateful that my purse, and all its occupants are safe and sound. I’m SO very grateful that my hubby can love me foibles and all and just shake his head and laugh at my (seemingly) brainless antics.

Gone Daddy Gone

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Turns out I had a second (non-gratitude) post in me after all.  Let me just say, it’s awfully quiet in this house when the pupster is away.  I dropped him off at doggie sleep-away camp about and hour ago and wow, so peaceful.  Let me just say though, I was *this* close to sending him away without his dinner – this would have been tragic considering they only get once a day, AM feedings there.  But at least I remembered to pack his blanket and a toy that he can beat himself up with.  Word on the street is that he’ll have two doxies next door to flirt with.

The quiet is definitely appreciated, as it seems like I’ve got a migraine coming on.  Which sucks because today was the ONLY day I was going to be able to visit with A and her hubby from Cityview.  And now, between the migraine and the commute (and the packing that still isn’t completely done) I’m going to have to bail.  Bummer…I even had wine to give them (paying it forward and all that).

Oh well, I guess the hubby and will just have to head out to Chicago again some time soonish.

There’s Always a First Time…

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In the four Halloweens that we’ve lived here we’ve NEVER had Trick-or-Treaters. So this year, even though I had a coupon for free bag of anything, I decided to purchase nothing.

And yes, as one would only expect, the kids showed up – in costumes, no less! Luckily I had stopped by Trader Joe’s earlier in the day and picked up some 100-cal packs. Granted, I won’t be the favorite house on the street, but it’s better than nothing. At least the parents will have something to snack on!

I was so bad at the giving out thing that I totally forgot to comment on costumes!  Man, see what comes from hiding from trick-or-treaters for the past ten years?

I guess next year I go back to buying a bag of candy and hope the Griffster doesn’t devour it like he did our first year here (it was an entire back of Reese’s mini-cups – tinfoil and all!)

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WooHoo!!! My first official NaBloPoMo post!! Let the games begin! 😀

Happy Halloweenie!*

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I brought the dog into our marriage, my husband brought the cat. Interestingly enough, our cat thinks he’s a dog**. He likes to bark at strangers (when he’s not in Scaredy Cat mode, that is), he eats his brother’s kibble, canned food and dog treats whenever he can, and he likes to play with plush dog toys.

In many other ways, he’s all cat. He goes crazy for turkey or tuna. He insists that if you’re opening a can, any can, that it’s for him. He will search out boxes and bags and will do whatever it takes to squeeze himself inside. In fact, he’s all about hiding inside or under things, but when he hears me freaking out because I can’t find him, he’ll pop out with a meow to let me know he’s here.

Sadly, I’m allergic to cats. Mind you, we don’t let him know this. I don’t get sneezy and luckily I can control it with Zrytec. But let me tell you, when I forgot to take it my entire body, head to toes will start to itch. You’ll see me attacking my hair, my neck, my boobs and my thighs they itch so much. Then I take the meds and within the hour, all is well.

The point of my post…I’m allergic to cats, but boy howdy do I love out little guy!

 

* I just wanted the chance to use this picture – it really has NOTHING to do with Halloween – isn’t he handsome and autumnal though?

 

** Mind you, the dog loves cat treats and will roll around the catnip toys forever and a day.