Christmas Was Great!

So far from what I've read, it looks like everybody had a pretty good Christmas. I definitely did! This is pretty much what we've been doing for the last 2 days.

Christmas Day Aunt Gillian came over and we ate steak and mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls and cookies and candy and cheese and crackers and there was more, but naming everything is making me hungry again. Before that we got to open gifts!

This is what I thought of Dad's idea of waiting until after lunch to open gifts.

We aren't allowed to have wrapped gifts under the tree because supposedly we can't be trusted so everything gets put in our stockings the night before. Santa knows the stocking rule, too and I know which one is my stocking. My stocking has a green top and everybody elses' is white because I was adopted after Mom finished the white ones and she couldn't find anymore white ones when she went to make my stocking. I am totally okay with it because it is green and my favorite color is green camo! Plus I know which one is my stocking a lot easier. Grandma didn't believe we knew what the stockings were. First was our gifts from Santa. Gunnar got a new cat fishing pole with the ribbon and bells. That's his most favorite toy in the world and he's really hard on them so he goes through about 1 a year. I got a Frisbee rope toy with a squeaker in the center part. I love it!!! It no longer looks like it does in this picture because it's had 4 1/2 day of me loving it. It says AC/DC on it. Mom and Dad are AC/DC fans so I'm sure Santa was thinking of them when he gave us our AC/DC toys.

Sasha got a AC/DC toy, too. You can't tell, but it says T.N.T. on it, but it's right were the squeaker is so that's usually in Sasha's mouth. I'm not sure why, but Mom keeps singing "She's TNT, She's dy-no-mite" when she plays tug with Sasha and this toy. I'm guessing it's an AC/DC song and also that my mom is weird.

I like playing with the TNT thing, too, but Sasha loves it lots so she's usually guarding it like this:

Mom says Sasha's being cute, I think she's being annoying because she isn't sharing! We also got a could rubber chew toys from Mom and Dad. I got a blue nut and bolt thing and Sasha got a red wrench but they aren't as cool as the gifts Santa gave us.
Grandma doesn't follow the stocking rule. Good thing, too because Santa's gifts filled the stockings full so there wouldn't have been room for more! Plus I like making Mom laugh really hard when I stick my head in the bag to try to get my new toy out.

I got a green camo squeak toy that's really fun to throw.

And Sash got a pink camo t-shirt squeak toy but as you can see she prefers the TNT stick.

See that chewie candy cane? Mom says it's really disturbing seeing that thing undigested. If I get a little too excited after eating breakfast I usually end up not keeping breakfast down. Dad was sure he fed me early enough that I would have been okay, but I got a little overly excited I got sick and then did my normal "don't beat me" face. Mom hates when I do that face because it reminds her how much she hates the people that used to be my family. Mom and Dad made em calm down a bunch and then Mom started working on lunch and then Dad took the steaks out to bbq and made the mashed potatoes. (Mom isn't allowed to make instant mashed potatoes because they suck when she makes them. Aunt Gillian was making fun of her because I guess Mom hasn't been able to make them ever! She follows the instructions and she even follows Dad's instructions and they NEVER turn out. I won't even eat them!!!!) Then everybody ate and Sasha and I begged and then we got some steak, too! Mom made us be really calm after lunch because she said she didn't want to see the steak and the rest of the chewie candy canes.
We didn't get to nap all day long! Mom kept trying to convince me to take a nap so I wouldn't be so tired before bed, but I just couldn't do it! I was too excited. When I'm REALLY tired, I snore REALLY loud and it keeps Mom awake. I don't even wake up to being hit in the head with a pillow or shaken! Mom had to go to work Friday morning and she said it was a good thing she didn't have to do much thinking because she didn't get much sleep.
Speaking of sleep, I'm going to go take a another nap now before Mom gets home and I convince her I need to play fetch again.
If I don't get a chance to post again I want to wish everybody a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Stay safe and don't stay up too late!!

Look What Mom Did!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Card

Hi everybody! Hope you all had a great weekend. I helped Mom make Chex Mix. Thankfully the oven lasted through that. I love helping Mom make Chex Mix because there's ALWAYS pretzels and cereal falling on the floor. Since the kitchen in the new house has carpet (which Mom HATES!) I make sure I clean up the messes for her before they get stepped on and ground into the carpet. I know Mom appreciates my help.

We had some issues sending the Christmas exchange email so if you are coming by to tell me it didn't work or it was weird, we're very sorry! It also left off the link to my site so some of you may not even know it was from me! We're not sure if it's a Yahoo email issue or a Mom issue. We're not going to try to figure it out because it will make Mom eat the entire box of chocolate that my Aunt Gillian gave to her. So, here is my card for those of you that couldn't open it and for those of you that didn't participate in the card exchange:

Okay, now it's not cooperating on here! Since you can't read the writting I'll tell you what it says. Under our group photo (which is our first ever picture with all 3 of us in it and probably the last since we don't cooperate very well) it says "We're begging you to have a Merry Christmas!" Then under our pictures it has our names "Lady Kaos, Sasha Doo & Gunnar" and then it says "Or else this could happen to you." Next year Mom is going to start a lot sooner, like maybe January 1st! She thought starting 2 weeks ago was time enough, but for some reason silly little things kept giving her a hard time. Dad ended up helping her with it yesterday afternoon because she was so frustrated with it and he was having issues with it, too. It finally emailed this morning and some of you say you got it fine and some say it's a weird .dat file even though it left Mom's email as a .jpg! Really weird.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I don't know if I'll be able to post much this week. Mom's crazy busy with work and I'm crazy busy trying to keep the house guarded through closed drapes all day. It's actually warm enough to have them open again, but Mom got in the routine of not opening them last week so now she keeps forgetting! Thanks to everyone that suggested she build a bigger ledge for me. It didn't work because then the Christmas tree and her plants wouldn't fit there so perfectly like they do now. She has an excuse for everything.

We want to thank everyone for leaving such wonderful comments for my mom last week. A lot of you helped her out a lot. She made it through Friday pretty well. My Aunt Gillian and her spent all day emailing each other silly things to help them both get through the day and they both did some baking therapy (although Mom's was more stressful than theraputic because of the oven).

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!

Guard Duty

You know what's really annoying? Trying to do guard duty with the drapes closed! Mom and Dad have been leaving the drapes closed on the big picture window and the patio door to help keep the cold air out during the day. Sounds like a good excuse doesn't it? It's not! It's hard to know what's going on outside if I have to wiggle through the drapes and then the shears. It's really annoying.

Sasha and Gunnar can get up on the window sill and walk because they're little. They are able to walk along the full length of the window and I can't!
Personally, I would think Mom should continue with her morning routine of opening the drapes for me so I can better guard my house. How intimidating is a little dacshund and a huge cat? Not as intimidating as a black lab!!!! Sheesh!

Thanks for sending nice words to Mom. She's doing much better the last couple of days. She says she feels okay enough that I can tell you what happened. You see, 1 year ago this Friday was the day her Mom died. I hated her mom because she was mean to my mom and she didn't like me. She thought my Mom was stupid for adopting a black lab because "labs are the dumbest breed." We all know the woman was WAY off, but I'm not going to get into that right now. Whenever she was around I would growl at her. Anyway, Mom didn't think the anniversary was going to bother her so much because her Mom hadn't spoken to her in over 2 years when she died. Sunday when the Christmas cookies turned into a disaster Mom was already kind of messed up in the head so all she could hear in her head was her mom telling her how she had screwed up and that she should have used her recipes since they always worked for her. Then Mom, Dad and Grandma started talking about what to do for Christmas dinner since the oven is pretty much dead and that got Mom thinking and of course made her sadder. Monday weird little things kept setting her off. Thanks to some very nice emails from Jamie (Sunny and Scooter's Mom) she figured out what was bothering her so much and why she was avoiding talking to people about what was upsetting her so much. Even though my mom's mom was really mean, Mom still loved her because she was her mom and she does have some good memories, especially around Christmas. This is actually the 4th Christmas Mom has had without her Mom and for some reason this one has been the hardest. The first 2 were when her Mom wasn't talking to her, then the 3rd was the one right after she died. This is the first Christmas that it's real for Mom that her Mom is really gone. Mom feels free now that her mom isn't around to tell her what a horrible person she is anymore, but deep down Mom had hope that her Mom would all of a sudden realize what a mean person she was being and apologize to Mom. It hit Mom pretty hard at the beginning of the week and combined with the confusion of how she was feeling, we were all very worried about her. Mom wants me to tell everyone thank you for your friendship and support and hopefully after we get through Friday, everything will be back to normal just in time for Christmas. Mom and I both are sending big hugs and thanks to Jamie. You helped Mom figure out what was upsetting her so much and that made her feel lots better.

I'm Here

Hey everybody! Hope you had a great weekend. It snowed BIG time here yesterday and it's really cold today. It was a negative 10 degrees this morning when Mom and Dad left for work! When they came home for lunch, Mom's boot got stuck to the concrete cuz it's so cold out! We haven't been able to go out and play in it very much because it's so cold. It makes Sasha's joints a little sore and I don't like the "bitter cold" (that's what the weather man calls it). Hopefully it will be warm enough to go play in soon so Mom can take pictures of me playing in the snow and then I can email them to my buddy Mona for her snow post.
Mom made a ton of cookies this weekend and was not happy. Our oven is officially dead and it died before she was able to make the dog cookies! Can you believe that? Mom said it was good that we got the ones done that we're sending to my human cousins and my great-grandma and she does have a good point, but still! Mom and Dad have known the oven was going to not last much longer for awhile, but they've been trying to wait to see if there are any really good sales on ranges after Christmas. The one Mom REALLY REALLY REALLY wants was $1500 when they looked at it a couple months ago and Grandma saw it on sale last night for $1000 ($992 if she wanted the black one) so we're keeping our paws and fingers crossed that after Christmas it goes down even more because Mom REALLY REALLY REALLY wants that model cuz it has 2 ovens! Think of all the baking of treats she could do then!!! So far the burners on the old range are still working, but the one big one up front is not doing so good. We're pretty sure the range and the fridge are older than the house so we kind of knew we'd have to replace those when we bought the house anyway, but we were kind of hoping to wait awhile longer.
I just wanted to let everybody know that if I don't post very much this week, don't worry! I'm going to visit everybody's blogs, but if I don't comment, don't worry! Mom is needing lots of hugs and attention right now and leaks a lot. Don't worry about her, she's not sick, it has nothing to do with her job, she's not hurt or anything else that would need worrying about. Once Mom works things out and gets through this week, I'll try to explain what's going on. I know you all would be very supportive of her right now, but she's not ready to talk about it just yet. I haven't done my Christmas cards yet (thank goodness we signed up for email cards!!) and I haven't thanked everybody that has sent me an ecard. Hopefully Mom will feel up to helping me with those some time this week since there's only 10 days left until Christmas!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!
My nose and ears are cold again so I'm going to go curl up in Mom's blanket on the couch again. Why does it have to be so fricken cold? The sun is shining and it's 25 degrees!!!! At least it's a positive 25 degrees!

Fun With The Human Cousins Part 3 & Artsy Fartsy Friday

Here are the final pictures of my human cousins' visit and it's Artsy Fartsy Friday! Mom and Dad love outdoorsy themes so when they saw this cute ornament in an advertisement they knew they had to make them with their niece and nephew.

First the girl made sure the fluff made a good beard.

Then they put the ornaments together. They were made out of fishing bobbers!

Aren't they cute? If you would like directions on how to make them just let us know and I'll get mom to write out the instructions for you.
This is what I did during the craft time. I was exhausted!

Fun With The Human Cousins Part 2

We haven't seen the pitbulls for a full 24 hours! It's a miracle! I just wanted to let everyone know we don't have anything agains the entire breed pit bulls, we just don't like dogs that come and charge at us whether it's a pit bull, lab or poodle. There's some golden retrievers that live donw the road and they get out once in awhile (no where near as much as the pit bulls) and if they're out I have to stay in my yard because I'll try to defend my property and family against them, too but they're nice and Dad knows their owners and can tease them about their dogs running around again. Teh pit bulls belong to a bunch of kids that only have them because in our area it's "cool" to have pitbulls because they're a "dangerous" dog. Whatever!!! Since cities around here started making it illegal to own pitbulls and other "agressive dogs" pitbulls have become really popular in our area but it's usually teenagers that have just moved out of their parent's house (like the ones up in our neighborhood). So please don't take offense to me complaining about the pitbulls!

Here is part 2 of the pictures of the fun times with my human cousins.

First is the day they played with the toy Jeep. Once again I had to stay in the yard or the house because of those stupid pitbulls!

First the girl showed her little brother how it's done. Incase you can't see in this picture, she is rock crawling. Dad set her up for this one. She thought it ws pretty cool.

Then she showed her little brother how to drive. He did pretty good for a 2 year old!

And of course he also ended up on the rock with my dad's help.

When the battery started to wear out Dad and the boy did some "engine work." Mom says this picture is going on the wall!

A couple days later Mom took the day off of work to bake cookeis with her niece and nephew. The lesson learned from this is to never ignore a 2 year old with a big ball of chocolate cookie dough. It was really cute and fun so Mom would probably do it again no matter how much their Grandma and Mom made fun of her having to clean up the mess. Mom said it was totally worth it!

Mmmmm, Chocolate hands!

I learned that little boys taste really yummy! (Don't worry, there was no chocolate on his hands in this picture, Mom made sure both kids knew not to give any of us chocolate.) He always let me clean his hands and his face. He thought it was funny that I licked his hands and I was totally okay with making him giggle. During his visit he tasted like cookies (I only tasted the sugar cookies), spaghetti, sausage, oatmeal, pie, peanutbutter, turkey, ham, chicken, apple, candy, mashed potatoes and a few other yummy tastes. My favorite taste is officially 2 year old little boys because there are a variety of tastes AND all of them are yummmmmmmy!

Fun With The Human Cousins Part 1

Hi everybody! Mom finally had time to go through pictures with me of my human cousins visit. The first part I'm going to share with you is playing in snow. You'll notice I'm not in any of the pictures and thats because there are some neighbors up in our area that don't seem to think it's a big deal that their pit bulls run around the nieghborhood. I hate those dogs and whenever I see them the hair on my neck and back sticks straight up and I let them know they better stay away. Yesterday they were running around and the one charged at my mom, but she stood her ground and then when Dad came home the other one charged him so Dad called the police and when the deputy came up one of them charged at him, too and almost got tazered! The owners are in some major big trouble. Since most of the snow was in the front yard I couldn't go out and play with the kids in the snow. I'm trusted out front, but those dogs had been running around all morning and if they're out running around I have to stay in the fence so I'm not tempted to go kick their butts!

Okay, I think I got that out of my system. Now on to the photos. You have to remember that my human cousins live in southern California. The 2 year old had never seen snow before and the 5 year old hadn't seen it since she was about 2 1/2. That's why it was such a big deal to them and that's why Mom and Dad took them out to play in it even though there really wasn't much to play in. Nothing like what we have right now. We finally got our snow I asked for but first came snow and wind so there's a thick sheet of ice under the snow and it's really cold outside so this snow really isn't that fun to play in.

Here's the pictures:

Before they went out Sasha and I made sure they were all bundled up and wouldn't get cold.

First the kids got down and touched the snow.

Then someone taught them how to have a snowball fight. Nobody was safe! Whining about holding an expensive camera didn't help at all.

Being their mom wasn't a good excuse either.

After the snow was all gone, it was time for some hotchocolate.

I've got lots more to share with you so be sure to check in tomorrow for cookie day and then on Friday for an some Artsy Fartsy stuff.

DUH!!

This article made us laugh: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_sc/sci_no_fair.
Those humans doing the research could have saved so much time and money if they would have just asked any of us!

I Think We're Caught Up

I think we've gotten all caught up on everyone's blogs. That was a lot of work! We checked the email and got a bunch of email cards already! That was really cool! We still haven't started our cards yet. We still haev a couple weeks though (my mom is really good at procrastinating, that's why it took her 5 years to get through college!).
As you can see in the picture above, I finally have energy to pick my head up and hold it up a little. Next week I'm going to show you some pictures of my human cousin's visit. We had a lot of fun.

Mom also needs to update her food blog. She feels a little guilty for not updating it in awhile. They fired the receptionist at her office (she was a pain and real estate is down so that excuse was the final reason needed to get rid of her) so Mom has taken on a ton more work and then when she gets home she isn't in the mood to look at a computer anymore. That's also the reason there's no Artsy Fartsy Friday today. Mom didn't have time to go through stuff to find what she wanted to post today. Hopefully Monday I'll be ready to share my 2 weeks with my cousins with you and that will make up for it. There is a really cute craft Mom did with the kids that is very artsy.
Mom and Dad should be on their way home soon so I better go watch for them. I know Mom really appreciates being greeted at the door when she comes home after a hard and long day at work.
Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Recovering!

Hey everyone!!! Remember me? My human cousins left yesterday and here is a picture of what I've been doing since they left:

Well, kind of. My eyes are supposed to be closed, but I heard Mom messing with her camera so I opened my eyes. I didn't even try to avoid having my picture taken which proves just how tired I am. Mom and I are working on getting caught up reading everyone's blogs, but we have a BUNCH to read. We'll try to comment on your posts, but no promises.
I've used up all my energy and have to go take another nap. I'll share with you all the fun I had with my human cousins soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hi everyone! It's the mom again! Kaos is exhausted. My nephew cried for 2 hours last night before he finally cried himself to sleep which kept everyone awake except for Kaos. She was snoring so loud that once the crying finally ended, the snoring was keeping us awake. This evening the kids are going to go visit some of their dad's family and I think Kaos is ready for the break. She is so good with the kids, especially the 2 year old. Last night the 2 year old was kissing on Sasha and of course my camera was out of arm's reach and turned off and I couldn't convince or bribe him to do it again. It was so adorable!!! I'll be home all day with them tomorrow so I'm going to see if I can get him to do it again.
Thanks for all the encouraging words about me sticking up for Kaos and Gunnar. I couldn't believe when Kaos was accused of biting someone. Once in awhile if you're playing rough with her her tooth might bump you, but that's the closest she's ever gotten and after you say ouch she pins her ears down and curls her tail underneath her and looks like she was threatened with a beating. She is so gentle with the kids though and everybody knows that so my blood started boiling and things just started coming out of my mouth then I didn't even know I was thinking. Nobody will be messing with my babies for a very long time.
Sash is also doing better. She finally slept good last night and she has stopped humping and chewing on the couch pillows. The kids know to becareful with her and Kaos has started keeping an on her. When she can tell that Sasha has had enough she'll go get between Sasha and the kid so Sasha can sneak off to the safe room.
we want to thank Dannon for the awards. I'd post them all, but it's a crazy day at work trying to get everything ready for me to take the rest of the week off so I don't have time to post them all.
With Thanksgiving coming up we want to thank all of our DWB friends for their friendship. It's meant a lot to us and has helped us through some big stuff, especially over the past year. There are a few of you that have a very special place in our hearts from some special support you have given us through emails on some more private matters. This Thanksgiving we are thankful for all of you.
You won't here from us for the rest of the week. I'll try to post for Kaos on Monday if she's not able to. Tuesday our company flies back home so I have a feeling Kaos will be passed out for the entire day.
OH! Before I sign off I have a really cute story to tell you about Kaos. She was up on the couch last night trying not to fall asleep. Our nephew's mom came into the living room and was trying to convince him to come put his pj's on and he wouldn't do it. Kaos went and picked up her alien squeak toy and got her cousin's attention and then backed up towards his mom where she could grab him and then brought the alien to me. We all started laughing and couldn't stop. I threw the alien a fe times for Kaos because she wanted to play fetch but she was so tired she took the alien back to the couch and chilled out again.
Okay, I have to get s few more things done before I leave.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating on Thursday, have a great week and a fun weekend. I promise once things are a little less crazy we will have lots of pictures to share with you next week.
Love
Hilary & Kaos

My Mom Is PAWESOME!!

Hey everybody! I'm exhausted! I'm having a lot of fun playing with the kids when Grandma lets me. I really like when Mom and Dad are home because they help me play fetch with the kids and they make everything okay. Right now Grandma took the kids somewhere so Sasha and I have been sleeping. Sasha is stressing out a lot about having the kids here mostly because Grandma is treating us really different. We don't understand it. Mom and Dad must understand it because everything changes when they get home. We get lots of hugs and kisses and then we feel better. The bedroom is our safe room. The kids know if we are in there, they have to leave us alone and boy are we glad we have the safe room. Sometimes we need a break. We're used to sleeping all day, not playing! The kids cry a lot which makes us worried and we go yell at whoever is being mean to them. Mom and Dad try to explain to us that they're okay, but if someone is crying that loud and that much there HAS to be something wrong!!!
Okay, now for the reason my mom is so great. My mom doesn't stick up for herself very often and usually lets people walk all over her. That makes me mad, but I can't do much about but let my mom know that she is loved bunches and bunches. She has major self-esteem issues, but over the last year has gotten a lot better with them. My Mom is so PAWESOME because even though she doesn't stick up for herself, you better never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever say anything bad about her babies or blame us for something that is so obviously not our fault! If you do, you will make Mom turn bright red and she'll start shaking and then she'll say words most people didn't even know existed!!!! We all know about HBO words, but these are words I don't even think HBO would use!!!! Gunnar got blamed for putting a hole in a quilt and Dad ended up proving Gunnar couldn't do that (the location of the rip and the way it was ripped and the fact that Mom gave him a manicure that morning were all the evidence that was needed). It was safer Dad took care of that situation. Then I was accused of biting someone and Mom flipped!!!! There is a bruise, but you can tell it definately wasn't from a dog biting him. Let's just say nobody will be accusing any of us of anything for a very very very long time - unless it's Mom and Dad accusing us for a mess and then there's a very good chance they're right.
I love you Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artsy Fartsy Friday

Hi everybody! This is Kaos' mom. Since she's busy entertaining her cousins, I told her I would make sure I did the post today. She wanted to make sure I got the 2 Thanksgiving themed cross stitch pieces I just finished up today. While I was home for lunch she gave me a list of messages to tell her friends. Here's the list:

1. Kids are great!

2. Kids are awesome!

3. I want my own kids!!!

4. 2 year-olds are the prefect height, especially when they have food in their hands!

5. I love kids.

6. I'm having a lot of fun!

7. I'm exhausted.

8. I need a nap.

9. Kids are cool!

& 10. Kids are messier eaters than Mom and Dad are!!!!!!

I think I got them all. She's having a blast, but I have a feeling by tomorrow afternoon she'll need a timeout not because she's being bad, but because she's going to be to tired to move. After only playing for a few hours last night she was ready to go to bed early (which she didn't get to do) and she wsa out as soon as she flopped onto her bed. Both dogs had a lot of fun sitting under the kids chairs at dinner last night and when I came home for lunch I was told that Sasha snagged a big hunk of cheese as it was accidently dropped at breakfast this morning. The piece of cheese never had a chance with Sasha in the house. I swear she can be dead asleep on the other side of the house and can hear cheese falling and will make it into the room the cheese is falling in before it hits the floor.

Okay, now I'll talk about the artsy stuff. The picture quality isn't very good. I'm not sure why I had so much trouble getting good pictures of these 2. I think these were 2 of my favorite pieces I've ever stitched. There were both a lot of fun and I'm putting them in my "Must Stitch Again" pile. The first one is actually supposed to be something you hang from your doorknob but my mom lost patience trying to teach me to sew and I lost patience with the way she was trying to teach me so I framed it instead. I think next time I'm going to go ahead and try doing the door hanger. Anybody out there know how to teach someone how to sew via email? lol

This next one was the most fun. Doing all the orange got a little boring, but it was totally worth it. I thought this one might look cool as a pillow until I put it in the frame and decided I liked it that was much better (not being able to sew might have to do with that decision though).

I've started working on some squares for Love Quilts. Kaos will share those with you when I finish them.

Kaos or I will try to post on Monday so that you know how much more she loves kids and probably how much she needs a nap. On Thanksgiving day we're going to an uncle's house which is 3 hours there and 3 hours back plus the time we're there so she'll be able to rest up then. Don't worry about her not getting to participate in the Thanksgiving feasting though. We're having a version of Thanksgiving this weekend (we're doing fried chicken instead of the turkey cuz it sounded good last night when we were deciding what to do).

Have a good weekend everybody.

This is Fun!

I have to share this with all of you. Mom took this quiz earlier today:


If there is a cat living in your house tell your parents to take this quiz. I'm keeping an eye on my catbrother after finding out these results!!

A Very Important Letter

Dear Mother Nature,
I hope you get this letter. You should get a special set up with the post office like Sant has so we can mail you letters, too.
I have an issue. I live in Colorado where we are known for snow and well, it's almost Thanksgiving and we haven't seen 1 flake in our area. Towns all around us have had their first snow for the season, but we havn't had any at all. The 80 degree weather is driving us crazy! Mom's office is located upstairs and they've winterized her air conditioner for he year and she gets really hot in the afternoons since the sun comes directly in her windows.
My human cousins are coming to visit in a couple days and my girl cousin wants us to make it snow for her. We REALLY need the snow so would you make it snow sometime between November 20th and December 2nd. Better make it the 21st and 1st because the 20th and 2nd they are flying and I don't want Dad and Grandma on bad roads or my family in the air in a bad storm.
I would really appreciate if you could make it snow for us. Mom is thinking about planting her spring flower seeds and maybe even parts of her vegetable garden. I starting to forget what it feels like to run through the snow.
PLUS snow meals cold weather and cold weather means we don't have to take so many baths. I got a bath this weekend because the weather was warm!!!
Thank you for your time Mother Nature.
Sincerely,
Lady Kaos

Holiday Card List, Fires & Stuff

We got the list!! I can't wait to start on it! We signed up for email only because Mom said it was going to be kind of expensive to buy that many stamps and Mom thought that it would be kind of rude for us to be doing email and to get a bunch of cards in the mail from all of you, but this weekend I had a talk with her about it and she decided if you would like to send me a card by mail just email her for our mailing address (hilarysdesigns(at)yahoo(dot)com) and she'll give it to you. Mom and I are still working on the email card. She says I'm not cooperating with the photography part. I think I'm being very cooperative!!
To all of the dogs, cats, and any other animals and humans in California, we're sending lits of good vibes to you right now with all those fires. We hope you are all doing good and are safe. My human cousins that are coming to visit for Thanksgiving live in southern California and we're a little nervous. So far they only have the smoke, but Grandma is really worried that they won't be able to fly out on Thursday. We're keeping our fingers and paws crossed they still get to come. I'm really excited!
I didn't post for Artsy Fartsy Friday again and I'm blaming Mom's bosses. They've been kind of mean to her lately and so she hasn't had much time to do fun stuff lately and when she comes home she doesn't want to look at a computer any more so she can't do it then either. This Friday we promise to post 2 things! They're both Thanksgiving themed. I'll probably be busy entertaining the kids so Mom will probably be posting. Next week we won't be posting much because Mom is taking a bunch of days off to help me entertain the kids and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!!!
One of the neighbor's cat spies is in the front yard so I have to go yell at it now!!

It's Me!!!

Hey everybody! Have you missed me? We've been really busy lately getting ready for my human cousins to come visit. I can't wait! A week from today Dad and Grandma go pick them up at the airport. I'm going to have so much fun with them because they're kids! and I love kids! and kids drop food! and kids like to throw tennis balls for me to fetch! and they drop food! hehe They're going to be here for 2 weeks! My mom has to teach her niece how to make "fun cookies." Mom isn't exactly sure what "fun cookies" are so she bought all the ingredients for every cookie she knows how to make. I'm hoping "fun cookies" are dog safe! While they're here I probably won't be able to post much because I'll be spending all day entertaining the kids, but I'll try to get Mom to post for me once in awhile so you know I'm okay. I can't wait!!!!!
My boyfriend Flash tagged me for the 3 secrets game. This was hard. The first list I made Mom said wouldn't work because secrets are things that all of you didn't already know and you all know I love to play fetch, go Jeeping and have a cool house. So then I made another list and Mom said if I posted it she wouldn't feed me for 2 months! I thought secrets about her would be a lot more interesting than secrets about me but Mom said noway. Boy the things I could tell you about her!!! - But I'm not going to because I like to eat.
So I thought and thought and thought and then took a long nap and then thought some more and came up with this list. There aren't any pictures and I can't tell you why because I'm not sure if that's one of Mom's secrets or not (I don't think it is, but I gotta be careful!)
Secret #1:
I ummm...I have a ......well, a "thing" for blankets. If anybody is trying to fluff a blanket for me or adjust blankets near me or even trying to dry me off with a towel, I ....well, I hump it. it drives Mom crazy - especially if she is holding or is under the blanket.
Secret #2:
I can jump into the back of any pickup truck with the tailgate up but I can't jump over a 4 foot fence. Actually, I physically could but I would never do it out of respect to Mom and Dad. Mom had a 2 foot fence around a garden area in our old house and the only time I ever jumped over it was when those stupid kids from down the alley were teasing Sasha and I had to yell at them. When Mom called for us to come inside I was so sorry I went to my kennel to punish myself (that was before it got stored away) but Mom told me to get out and she forgave me.
Secret #3:
DANG! This is hard! Okay, my third secret is I really do know how to shake hands/paws, but I think it's stupid. I use that trick to get things I REALLY want, but if I'm not that serious about something I act like I have no idea what Mom and Dad are talking about. OH! One time a french fry or something went under our couch and I was determined to get it out but it was back a little too far for me to reach so I was trying to get Mom to lift the end of the couch up to get the fry and so I used my high pitched "I'm being ignored!!!" whine and that always gets their attention. Mom looked at me and said, "if you shake hands, I'll pick up the couch" and she took her hand out and I shook! I thought Dad was going to pass out for a minute because he was laughing so hard. Mom's response was, "those stupid people that write long articles about how dumb dogs are need to meet MY dog!!!!" Mom lifted the couch and I got my french fry and curled up on the couch with Mom for a nice cuddle to tell her how much I love her.
Phew, that was hard. I think pretty much everybody has already played, but if you haven't and would like to, let me know and I will officially tag you. Just remember, don't tell any secrets about the person in charge of feeding you!!!
I better go take a nap now. Mom and I need to finish getting the back bedroom read for my human cousins to come visit! I will try to make sure Artsy Fartsy Friday gets posted this week. Mom has 2 cross stitch pieces that are Thanksgiving themed I want to share with you. She hasn't finished the other fall one because she says she keeps getting bored with it and the face creeps her out. She's right, it is kinda creepy. I'll share it when she finally finishes it.

Goodbye To A Friend

We miss you Girl Girl and loved getting to know you!

I hope you and Fufu are having lots and lots of fun at the Rainbow Bridge!!

Cool Thing About Our New House

One of the coolest things about our new house is the views. We get to see stuff like this.

That's a cloud in the canyon right below our house. Isn't that cool?

Hanging Out & Thanks!

Hey everyone! How was your Halloween & weekend? Halloween was quiet here. Nobody trick-or-treats up where we live. Know what that means? Mom, Dad and Grandma are eating all the candy! I'm okay with that because Tanner & Scooter brought me some Reeses. YUMMY!

They brought me a variety of flavors. Thanks guys!! Mom tried to steal my white chocolate but I explained to her that the dog safe chocolate Joey made is poison to humans. I think she believed me because she left it alone! Nobody tell her anything different, k?

I've been hanging out with Dad all day long. He's been on the conputer all day and finally let me on for a little bit. He went hunting over the weekend and was supposed to go again today but it's been too hot for elk. He saw lots of deer and big horn sheep but Dad was only able to get an elk license this year because we weren't sure what was going to be going on when it was time for hunting this year because of selling the old house and moving. Everything happened so fast he could have put in for a deer license, too but better safe than sorry. It's supposed to FINALLY snow tonight so hopefully Dad will be able to get his elk in the next couple days. Mom says it's really weird that we haven't gotten snow yet because we usually have it by now. Mom says when she was little she remembers trick-or-treating in big snow drifts and always planning her costume to fit over a coat. Not this year! If it doesn't hurry up and start acting like fall soon, Mom is going to go plant her spring flower seeds! I think Mother Nature forgot to turn the cold air on. We still have green leaves on a lot of trees here!

Dad is getting ready to go out and do some scouting since it's getting cloudy and cooling off a little so I better go help him make sure my Jeep is ready to go. It's driving me crazy hearing my Jeep start up every day and not getting to go in it, but I know it's safer for Dad to take my Jeep to the place he's hunting so I'm okay with it.

Thanks again Tanner & Scooter! You guys did a great job!!!

Not Much Going On

There isn't anything exciting going on right now. Mom is feeling tons better. She came home and took a 3 hour nap in MY napping spot! I was okay with it because I knew she didn't feel good. 24 hours after she took the medicine she was fine. Mom does have some advice for everyone though. Don't fall asleep while watching Steve Irwin. She couldn't find anything to watch on tv and wasn't planning on falling asleep. She likes Steve Irwin and so she started watching his show about the crocs at the Australia Zoo and then she fell asleep and started having some really weird dreams.
Mom and Grandma are really excited about going to the cooking school thing tonight. Mom read in the newspaper some of the things they're going to make and got even more excited. She LOVES to bake and has always wanted to make Chocolate Molten cakes but has never tried because she was nervous. She says the instructions seem way too simple. Tonight she gets to watch someone make them! After the lady makes something, then they having a drawing to give away the dish and the food in the dish and she's keeping her fingers crossed she wins the cakes. I looked over the list, too and there were no dog treat recipes. I was bummed but I saw Mom looking over the dog treat recipe in the book that came with the food dehydrator and she also has some new dog themed cookie cutters she wants to try out so I think we'll get to try some new treat recipes.
While Mom and Grandma are off having fun Sasha and I have to help Dad get his hunting stuff together. He goes hunting starting Saturday so I have to make sure he has enough good and supplies. He'll be hunting close enough to home that he'll be able to come home every night which is great because if Dad's not home to protect the house, I don't get much sleep.
See, I told you nothing exciting was going on here. Mom says we'll gt to go do something fun this weekend, but I don't believe her. I don't think I remember how to ride in a car, play at the park, walk on a leash or eat icecream anymore! Mom wants me to point out that I get to run around our neighborhood off leash a lot now, but I'm not going to!! That totally misses my point completely!
As long as I'm not bored to death tomorrow, I'll do an Artsy Fartsy Friday post. I'm off to take another nap now.

Recovered

Hey everyone! I think I finally recoverd from all the birthday partying at my house. It looks like we're done with birthdays at my house until my birthday in February. Good thing because we're exhausted! Last night we finished off the last of the rib bones, but Mom said she has some dog treat recipes she wants to experiment with so I'm helping her decide which ones we should try first and what modifications we want to make to them.
Mom got her new food blog up and going. Right now she's bringing everything over from the old blog, but after she gets the last 2 on she'll share some more recipes and gadgets. She is much happier using Blogger for that one, too. That will teach her for thinking about trying something new! OH, almost forgot to give you the new address! Here it is: http://hilarys-kitchen.blogspot.com/. This Thursday night Mom and Grandma are going to a Taste of Home Cooking school. Taste of Home is my mom's most favorite magazine and they do these cooking school things all over the country. Last year our local paper started having them come to our town. Mom couldn't get tickets this year, but she made sure she got them this year. Mom says she'll get to win all sorts of prizes and will get a goody bag so hopefully she'll have more fun gadgets to share with you and of course some new recipes. I'm sure Mom will tell you all about it on her blog, too. She has a count down started in her calendar she carries with her. Doors don't open until 6:00, but she's thinking about getting there at 5:30. That gives her enough time to come take care of her responsibilites (ME!, Sasha and Gunnar) and then get to the school where they're holding the event. And she says I'm the weird one?!?!?!
If you haven't done your story for the DWB - What it means to me blog yet, don't feel bad. We haven't done our's either and I've been saying we were working on it for a long time now. Mom isn't going back to work after lunch today because her new medicine is making he feel not so good so after a nap, Mom and I might work on that. I'm not sure why Mom went to work this morning. I told her she was a weird shade of green and Sasha and I tried to hold her down, but she said there was stuff she needed to get done. Dad came to find the crackers for Mom a little bit ago and he said she's not getting much of anything done and isn't going back after lunch. She really needs to learn to listen to us more!

Birthday Week Day 3

Today is the final birthday. Good thing because I'm exhausted and my belly is full. Last night Dad took Mom out for dinner and Mom of course ordered ribs and they brought the bones home to us so we got to enjoy a nice rib bone plus we get more tonight and for the next couple of nights. Dad got Mom some fishing stuff and some baking stuff that I'm sure she'll be sharing on her food blog. One was a pastry mat for measuring and the other was this chopper, scooper & measuring thing. Plus after Mom's doctor's appointment they're going shopping for some more stuff. Mom sure is spoiled!
Okay, today's happy birthday goes out to Grandma. Happy Birthday Grandma! She doesn't want us to make a big deal out of it so that's all I'll say. Thank goodness because I'm exhausted. I'm going to go take a nap now to get ready for more partying tonight.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Birthday Week Day 2

First I better tell you that there won't be an Artsy Fartsy Friday this week. I'm exhausted after only 1 night of birthday partying and I still have tonight and tomorrow to go! I'm going to need to take all day to recover and I can't even talk Mom into doing it for me because she has a doctor's appointment and some shopping to do Friday. OH! I also need to tell you Mom's Food Blog is frustrating her so she's going to switch it over to a different site (probably Blogger, I told her to stick with what she knew!). The old one will stay up until she gets the new one going, but she's not going to add anything new to it. She tried all day Friday to get Bravenet to let her upload pictures and again on the weekend and she decided to give up and start over. I'll let you know the knew address.

Okay, here's pictures from Sasha's party last night. We got cheese with dinner of course and then after dinner Mom and Dad got out her gift. We had to take it outside because she goes crazy. She had one at our old house but it finally deflated. This one didn't last long at all!!!! Mom and Dad were pretty dissapointed. Part of it was Sasha though. Look at these pictures! She's crazy!!!! She eventually ran it into a rose bush and poked a hole in it and then I got it and well, no more big ball. We went back inside and played with all our other toys.

Today's birthday is my mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I LOVE YOU A BUNCH!!!! I don't have a picture of her to show you because she's always on the other side of the camera. We can't find the box with film pictures or I would show you some cute pictures of when she was a puppy. I think she hid it on purpose so I couldn't show you any pictures. Dad and I went out to the shop to wrap Mom's gifts a couple nights ago and then put them on the dining room table to torture - I mean tease her. Dad and I have some other surprises planned for her but I'll have to tell you about them later in case Mom gets on here today to see what I said about her. I'm going to list 10 things I love about my mom in honor of her birthday and the letter game that was so much fun to do.

1. She is a very good snuggler. I get in bed every morning to snuggle with Mom after the alarm clock goes off and before she gets up to get ready for work.

2. She is a sucker for sad puppy eyes. If I get in trouble or want something I use my big brown puppy eyes and I'm forgiven or get what I want.

3. She is a really good baker. She bakes us treats and even lets us try some of the nondog treats.

4. She is a MAJOR slob in the kitchen. When Mom is in the kitchen we know that we'll get to clean up a mess eventually. If we hear mom say crap, oops, dang it or any cuss words Sasha and I come running because we know Mom made a big mess for us to clean up.

5. She wears fake finger nails because she bites her nails and makes them sore if she doesn't and fake nails are PAWESOME for ear, belly and under the collar scratches.

6. She feels safer taking me with her when she goes to work outside the fence so I get to go explore the outside the fence area a lot.

7. I can talk her into playing fetch more and longer than anybody else I know.

8. She lets me sleep in the big bed if Dad is gone for some reason or comes to bed late.

9. She's not strong enough to pick me up and hold me like a baby like Dad does.

10. The 10th and BEST reason I love her is: She's MY Mom!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

PS Mom, if you're reading this I didn't tell them this is your 30th birthday like you said not to do. Can I get an extra cookie tonight after dinner?

Birthday Week Day 1

This week is very busy with birthdays at my house. Today is Day #1 with it being Sasha's 6th birthday. Sasha's birthday starts off the same way every year. Mom uses her highpitched voice that hurts my ears so I go hide in the living room while Mom and Sasha have their moment in another room. Every once in awhile Mom uses her high pitched voice throughout the day, but it's worth it because on Sasha's birthday we get lots of cheese. If you're wondering about what Mom is saying in her high pitched voice, don't ask me. It's something about her little girl being a year older and how cute and stuff she is. Sasha likes Mom using her high pitched voice because it usually means she gets lots of scratches and belly rubs and extra special attention.

Mom was going to make us a special treat for Sasha's birthday, but Sunday night Mom and Dad found a really good deal on t-bone steaks so we got some very yummy bones instead. It was driving us crazy waiting for Dad to give us the bones and then we saw Mom get out the special bone chewing blankets and we knew it was time. They were very yummy!

Sasha will get her gift later. Mom said they couldn't buy it early because it was too big to hide and considering what it was she knew Sasha would sense it was somewhere in the house so in this case it has to be a last minute gift. I'll show you pictures of the gift later. Okay, now I'm going to let Mom talk about Sasha's birthday. Happy Birthday to my older sister Sasha!!!! I Love You!!!!!

Kaos's Mom: Today is my little girl's 6th birthday!! I can't believe she's 6! Sasha and I have a very special connection because I had her before I met my husband. She was actually supposed to be a Christmas gift for my mom's neighbor. She didn't like all the cute puppy stuff that I thought was adorable so she gave her back to my mom. I told my mom I wanted her but at the time I was in an apartment that wouldn't allow pets. I was in month 6 of a 12 month lease. That was the longest year of my life not having a pet living with me. The day my mom was able to pick Sasha up she spent the night with me. We snuck her into the apartment that night and then they brought her neighbor over the next morning. That sucked. I was there for Sasha the first night away from her dog mom and then they came and took her away the next morning. When the neighbor gave her back she said that we could keep her until she was potty trained and calmed down and then she would take her back. My mom said noway because then we would be attached to her and wouldn't be able to give her back. Even though she was my dog I still worried about the neighbor coming and saying she was ready to have her back now and my mom letting her have her. She stayed with my mom and sister until I was able to move that June into a house that allowed pets. It was great. Sasha finally got the attention she needed and the care she needed. I got her fixed and updated on all her shots and everything was good until I had to move back to my mom's house. I couldn't stand my roommate anymore and I was completly broke. We moved into the tiny room at my mom's house and we did okay for a year. Sasha was miserable, but okay. She got blamed for stuff that she didn't do and my mom was mean to her. She had a Saint Bernard (a very sweet dog that would let Sasah sleep in her tail or on her back outin the yard and would throw pieces of her food to Sasha as a treat - it was so cute!) and there was also the black lab that my brother had abandoned onto my mom because his girlfriend didn't like the poor dog and yet my little dog got blamed for a big puddle of pee in the family room. After we moved back to my mom's Sasha started acting like she didn't know she was potty trained so she got blamed even for the large puddles. I pointed out to my mom there was no way Sasha's little bladder could hold that much liquid, but Sasha still got blamed. I was working 2 jobs at that time trying to get caught up so a lot of Sasha's care did get left with my mom and sister. My sister did okay, but she was in highschool and was busy, too. I know my mom wasn't nice to Sasha and I don't know what all she did to her but I do know it wasn't good.

When I met my husband we hung out a lot at his mom's house. It was an escape for me to get away from my mom, but Sasha got left at my mom's. Finally I asked my husband if we could talk his mom into letting Sasha come and right away Sasha and her new Grandma bonded. I was able to go to Cancun for a week (free!) and my husband came by every day to check on Sasha because he knew I was worried about her. The week I went on vacation was actually the week before we closed on our first house. When I came back I started packing and Sasha was a completely different dog. She was very clingy to be - more than she normally was - and was horrible when I was gone. We did a lot of work on the house before we actually moved into it and we started moving my stuff first because I didn't want to pay another month on my storage unit plus we needed to get Sasha and I out. The day that we actually moved into the house I wasn't planning on bringing Sasha yet because there was still painting that was being done and I wanted to be able to have her full attention when I moved her in because there was so much newness. Well, my mom called and said she was bringing Sasha over because she was going crazy. Sure enough, Sasha thought she was being left and she was acting crazy! For the first few months Sasha had some potty training issues which took her almost a year to get over. I couldn't understand why. It was only by the front door even though she went out the back to go potty and she seemed to do it mostly in the middle of the night. That first Christmas she was a mess again. We got the boxes of Christmas stuff out and she got worse about pooping by the front door and she'd hide and acted weird. Then she was fine when the boxes were away and then when the decoration boxes came back out to be put away she did it again. I thought it was because she was afraid of being abandoned again so any time there were a bunch of boxes around I made sure she had lots of attention. 3 years ago around Thanksgiving my mom stopped talking to me altogether and I quit going to her house. After a few months Sasha was fine - totally fine. We had Kaos for a year by then and she was nicer to Kaos and even to Gunnar. All I could think of was she finally was out of her puppy weirdness. When my mom died last December I had a hard time with it. Kaos is my nurse and takes care of me when I'm sick or sad, but I needed Sasha to be there for me at that time and I think she knew it because she stopped hiding under the bed all the time and would sit with me on the couch and even in my lap and she never used to do that. I know she may not have fully understood what was going on, but I believe she knew a bad part of our lives was finally over and we were free. We didn't have to worry about the mean lady anymore. Of course I was sad that my mom had died because she was my mom and I did have memories of her that were good when I was younger, but the bad ones were the ones that made me feel trapped and once she was gone her power that she had over me was gone, too and I was free and so was Sasha.

When we started the remodeling of the old house to get it sold Sasha hid a lot, especially when there were only hardwood floors. It took me awhile to realize my mom's house had hardwood floors and that's when I knew my mom did something bad to my little girl when I wasn't around and of course I started feeling even more guilty. She was a little weird about the boxes when we started moving stuff, but what we were storing stuff at Grandma's house so when we would take a load of boxes we would make sure the dogs saw it was all going to Grandma's house and when the Jeeps were being moved to Grandma's they went and then saw them there when we'd take more stuff. Kaos has abandonment issues also and I know that's pretty much a trait of a rescue dog and even though Sasha really wasn't a true rescue dog, I still consider her one because I rescued her from my mom. They would get excited seeing us load up the trucks wih boxes because that meant we were going to Grandma's. We stayed at Grandma's a week and then moved to the new house and both Kaos and Sasha are going through a puppy phase. Kaos has always been playful but when Sasha and I moved back to my mom's house Sasha stopped her playful stuff and started her hiding phase. Now, Sasha is an instagator and hardly ever hides under the bed. If she's hiding that means she's not feeling good or just needs a few minutes for some alone time, but those moments are very rare now. I think she knows she never has to worry about going to the mean lady's house ever again and she isn't reminded about the bad house anymore because there is only carpet and linoleum in the new house. I never thought about the hardwood floors being an issue for her before but when you are that low to the ground, the floor is a big part of your daily life.

Sasha may be our oldest furkid but she will always be my little baby. We've been through a lot together and take care of each other. I can't believe she's 6! I was going to show you some puppy pictures, but that was before I used my digital camera all the time and I can't find the box of pictures of her on film (I'm never moving again!!!!). Trust me, she was a cute puppy. I've learned a lot from Sasha. I've always had pets growing up so it wasn't that I learned how to take care of a living being, it was that I learned about myself and that her symptoms of abuse were very similar to how I was acting. I wasn't pooping by the front door, but I was hiding a lot. Instead of choosing to go hang out with friends, I'd hide in my room. I almost didn't go out on the first date with my husband because I wanted to hide in my room, but something made me not chicken out and I am so happy I did go and so is Sasha. I'm sure Gunnar and Kaos are, too. Now, Sasha and I don't hide, we're both more playful and smile a lot more - and they aren't fake smiles!

Happy 6th birthday to my little wiener dog. I love you very much!!

Artsy Fartsy Friday

Yes, it's true it's Friday and I'm doing an Artsy Fartsy Friday post! Mom is also supposed to be doing a post on her food blog today about some very yummy cookies. We're going to be doing some Halloween cookies this weekend, too I think so she'll have more cookie recipes next week (if she has time to do a post).
Okay, this photo is called "Eye of Heaven." We were getting ready to go up a trail and all the guys were getting their tires and shocks ready and Mom looked up and thought the sun looking through the trees was cool. When she pulled it up on the screen when we got home she said if felt like someone up above looking down on them, that's where it got it's name.


Hope you enjoy the photo. Have a good weekend everybody.

Did You Hear The News? - Updated

DWB has it's 1000th member and there's a winner for the guessing game!!! The dogs over at It's the Dog's Life are celebrating because their Mom guessed the right day we'd get our 1,000th member! I was so close! I was only a week off! That's okay though, it was a lot of fun guessing.
Since we have our 1,000th member do you know what that means? Lots of treats!!! It also means you should get your story in for the DWB What it Means to Me Blog. Don't worry, Mom hasn't done our story yet either. Mom WILL be doing our's this weekend , cuz I said so. When you have your's ready, email it to my mom (HilarysDesigns (at) yahoo (dot) com) or email it to Ben's Mum (hehe, I love saying Mum) and they will get it posted for you. If you would like your picture on, go ahead and send it, too. If you haven't checked the stories posted so far, you should definately go read the stories so far. Grab some kleenex though. Not because they're sad stories, it's because they're some very touching stories. If your Mom leaks like my Mom does, make sure it's a full box!
The 1,oooth member is a boxer named Angus. Be sure to go say hi to him. I bet when his mom submitted the request to be on DWB she had no idea that they would become so popular! When I posted my hi & congrats comment, I think I was #43. I've NEVER had that many comments for one of my posts before! That would take me forever to read all of those plus then I'd have to go visit all the new dogs that came to visit me and leave them a thank you comment! That would be an all day job.
Congratulations to It's the Dog's Life and Angus!!!!!!!! Time to PARTY!!!!!
***I just wanted to let everyone know that Marvin's story is on the DWB What it Means to Me Blog!! Have your kleenex close! Mom is still leaking after reading his poem! We've missed his poems a lot!***

Go Visit Mona & The Mommy!!

This is one of those moments that DWB members are so good at - supporting each other. For those of you that know Mona & The Mommy, you need to hurry over to their blog and send them some hugs and good vibes if you haven't already. Their good friend Jody went to the Rainbow Bridge and Mona and The Mommy need our support. If you don't know Mona & The Mommy, trust me, they have the biggest hearts ever and would definately do the same for you even if they didn't know you. We didn't personally know Jody, but we know he meant a lot to Mona and the Mommy and Mona and the Mommy mean a lot to us so we are very sad and are leaking a little, too.
Thank you!

After you go visit Mona and the Mommy I need you to keep your paws crossed for my sister Sasha. Two nights ago she kept dragging her butt on the floor and licking it a lot. Mom and Dad picked her up and looked her over to see what was wrong and she had a really bad sore on her butt. Dad cleaned her butt off a little and Mom attempted to hold on to Sasha. Mom says it's easier to hold onto me in a situation like that than it is to hold onto Sasha. After we moved, Mom can't find the stuff they put in the cheese to make it Magic Cheese that makes us feel better when we hurt so Mom asked Grandma to get some for Sasha. Yesterday morning Sasha didn't even come say bye to Mom before she left for work so Mom said if she wasn't feeling better soon she was going to call the v-e-t. The V-word seems to have had some healing powers because when Mom and Dad came home for lunch Sasha was running around and then when they came home from work she was being crazy with me. There's still a sore on her butt but it doesn't look as bad. Cross your paws that it gets better because Mom doesn't do so well when she has to take one of us to the v-e-t when we're sick (she seems okay when we have to go get shots though - what's up with that???) and Mom has a doctor's appointment next week (no worries, just a yearly check-up). Mom doesn't do good in doctor's offices, even the vet. Dad has to drive her to the appointments and go in with her and then after the appointment, he has to tell Mom what happened because Mom is focussing on not passing out. She's okay with needles and stuff like that, she just doesn't like doctors and has trust issues with them after she had a bad one. If Mom has to take Sasha to the v-e-t and then go to her appointment next week, she may end up in a corner, rocking back and forth, sucking her thumb and babbling and I don't want to see that again!!
Okay, now go visit Mona & The Mommy!

The Letter B

Hi Everybody!! Have you guys seen the letter game being played yet? I've seen a few of you play it and it looked like fun so I asked Lorenza for a letter and she gave me the letter B. I now have to list 10 things I love that start with the letter B. Here is my list.

1. Big Jeep - That's MY Jeep! I don't care that it's in Dad's name or that Dad has had it for a very long time or that Dad has done all the work on it or that Dad is the only one that drives it (Mom drove it a couple times, but it makes her nervous) or that dogs can't legally own a vehicle, it's still MY Jeep!

2. Brown Jeep Truck - I don't have any pictures of my truck!!!! I can't believe this! I'm going to have to have a word with my photographer!!!! The Jeep truck is also MY Jeep truck. I also can't drive it but like I said, that doesn't matter. There is a deck in the back that helps me to lay down and look out the window or into the cab and I love it in there! I will jump into the back of my truck before the tailgate is even town!! Dad is working on reinforcing the deck and putting some more comfortable carpeting on it for me. Moving wasn't nice to my deck.

3. Boyfriend Flash - Isn't he cute? Back off girls! He's My Boyfriend!!!

4. Blue Kia - There are also no pictures of the Blue Kia! What is up with my photographer!! The Blue Kia isn't the greatest vehicle, but it does take us on long road trips which is fun. Mom bought it way before she met Dad. It also takes us to the vet so I let Sasha say it's her's (even though it belongs to me, too).

5. Blogging Buddies - I can't put pictures of all my buddies on here because it would take forever and I would probably run out of memory allowed for this post.

6. BACON - I'm not putting a picture of bacon on here either because I don't want to be respondible for drool on the keyboards, drool on the computer screens or broken or missing computer monitors. It's safer that way.

7. Big House - OH! There is a picture of the Blue Kia! Okay, sorry Mom. You're not slacking as much as I thought you were! You can tell this picture was taken before the garage got organized a little cuz Mom parks in the garage now instead of outside. Our big house is so wonderful! The best thing is, the weather is getting cold outside and we're warm inside and the furnace hardly ever runs!!! If we were still in our old house we would be gathering wood right now for the fireplace to help warm the house without runing the furnace so much.

8. Back Yard - I'm including the fenced area and the run free area in #8. There's grass and lots of places to lay in the sun and the shade and the run free area is so much fun to chase tennis balls and explore! If you look really really really really really hard to the left of that pole you can see the topper on my brown truck. Don't hurt your eyes though!!

9. Balls For Fetching & 10. Big Bed - See that ball in my mouth? It's a really fun ball to play with in the house because it doesn't bounce and break stuff which means Mom doesn't get mad. Mom says don't look at the messy bed, but that's the best part about it! Mom hasn't fully put the bed together since the move. The comforter got stuck in a closet so it wouldn't get messed up during all the unpacking and cleaning of the new house. That fuzzy blanket I'm standing on is Sasha's favorite place to spend the day. I like it, too but Sasha will spend all day curled up in it if Mom and Dad aren't around and sometimes even if they are home but aren't doing anything Sasha things is interesting. Gunnar likes to sleep on it at night on Mom's feet. Mom says he's her foot warmer and massager. When it's cold Gunnar likes to cuddle with fuzzy blankets (the only time he ever cuddles!) and then he purs (the only time he ever purs, too). If you look close at the sheets you'll see that the decoration is labs!!! There's more black labs than any other lab. These are the warm weather sheets. The cold weather ones have fish on them, but I think these are the best sheets because there aren't any cats or dacshunds on them so what does that tell you about who Mom and Dad's favortie is? The big bed is also the best place for snuggles. Mom and I can't start our days without morning snuggles.

This was a fun game. If you would like a letter, just let me know. I promise I won't give you a hard one like "X" or "O".