Sunday Spring

On Friday, I dropped Zeus off at 2PM to get a bath at the groomers-Petco. He smells SO fresh now. I think he likes being clean. I left a note for hubby on his windshield under the wiper. He was surprised to get it after work.

Bud was determined to come with us and even jumped the gate to get out of the backyard. He came sprinting down the driveway after the truck! Fortunately, I saw him & put him in the back of the pickup for the ride with us.

Hubby picked Zeus up after work & came home. All the dogs attacked Zeus with doggie kisses & smells when he came in the house.

I retired early with more tooth pain & painkillers. Saturday morning, the railing guy came by to measure the railings yet again. I can't understand what the problem is. He is supposed to be a professional at this, yet he can't figure the rise on a set of stairs! It's been over 5 months since this first started...

After sleeping in late on Sunday morning, the Kid called to see if we were going dog walking at the park. She joined us along with M who met us in A-town as we were driving down to pick up lattes. This was my first latte in over a week as I have abstained from caffeine lately.

Walked the dogs in the park - Zeus decided he wanted to pull out of his collar & run off. M went to get him. The walk was quite long & fun. Afterwards we came home, the kids helped put stuff out in the garage for spring, washed their new tires & wheels, put garbage in pickup. While hubby & M went to the dump, the Kid made Chili for lunch. After lunch my tooth pain started again and I finally couldn't stand it any longer. The kids had to leave and I doused myself with loads of painkillers & went to bed. Woke up several hours later & watched a little TV with hubby. Then went to bed early again. Ugh. Hope they get the dental insurance figured out soon. So much pain.

Valentine's Day

Had flowers delivered to KRL-N's work & home. Sent birthday cards to her home via snail-mail. Also emailed a card to her. We also got her favorite - Chocolate Covered Strawberries delivered!

Then on Sunday, we went over to their house to celebrate her birthday. Took her presents - a heart shaped whisk, a heart shaped bottle opener, a fruit tart instead of a cake -HEALTHIER! Gift certificates from Olive Garden & Forever 21, Heart shaped cookies, 4GB pen, chocolate candy in a heart-shaped box, a Valentine's bear, heart shaped helium filled balloons and more cards! Hubby hung up a "Happy Birthday" banner for her outside their house!

Also took some spicy meat sticks for M.N., a couple auto books for him, and Reese's pieces in a heart-shaped box. Didn't want him to feel left out!

MN wanted to eat surf&turf so we took the kids out to lunch at Red Lobster on Division. There was a 45 minute wait so K and I went to DSW Shoes to look around. Then met the guys at the bar. Had a couple drinks. Lunch was good. Lots of seafood. M's parents came to meet the kids while we were halfway through. We had brought Bravo, Bit & Bud and they were completely good kids out in the truck. Bravo went home with his mommy & daddy after a short potty.

It started raining just before lunch. On the way home it was really pouring & cold. Brrr.

Lappy is a Pain

Got the desktop compy back. Hate the lappy. It bounces. It deletes. Hate it for typing.

Not sure that I like all the settings that the desktop has on it now. Just got it back from the computer repair. How's come it always acts up just prior to preparing taxes. Had to AGAIN replace the DVD drive. Now instead of two, I have just one working DVD drive. It just gets too expensive to keep replacing them over and over. The computer guys tried to talk hubby into purchasing an altogether NEW computer for the incredibly low price of $1100. my ass. I hate retrieving all the info off the old and putting it on the new one. I would rather limp the old one for a bit longer.

Lil Bit deliberately jumped out of the backseat window of the truck while I went for a latte this morning. With a vehicle oncoming, they stopped and BEEEEEEEEEPed (like I didn't see the dog jump out-duh) I threw the truck into park & jumped out for him. He did not seem to be injured - but I had not seen how he landed. On his butt? On his face? Poor little guy. Bud seemed oblivious to the activities going on. He was surprised that his friend had jumped! I found a little tiny scratch on Bit near his nose when we got home. Crazy dog.

Hubby's day off was Monday and he had to work on Saturday Feb 6. We drove over to Spoky-Jo to get my nails done. They are SHORT. Never had them this short. But - they will grow.

Am taking Celadrin for joint pain which seems to be Working!!!! I don't squeak in my knees & I can get around better. Also taking Biotin for my hair & nails and it also seems to be helping. My hair is healthier.

However, in the last week my teeth pain has gotten so bad that I was forced to go to the Dr. to get a prescription on Tuesday Feb 9 for pain medication & amoxicillin for the infection. I was going to call the Oral Surgeon to arrange an appointment but found out that those assholes at Verizon had CANCELLED my dental insurance when hubby changed positions in September. I have not had insurance since September. Dumb asses. After 1.5 hours on the phone and several transfers, hubby finally got somebody to reinstate me, but it is going to take a "week". With the onset of computers...why is it taking so long? Assholes.

When I went to check online today to see if they had corrected their computer error, I found out that instead they deleted hubby from dental insurance! Wonderful. Just peachy keen. Assholes.

Hubby had to take Mon 8 Feb, Tues 9 Feb & Wed 10 Feb off due to upper back/shoulder pain. He went into the Chiro on Monday & Wednesday. We also picked up dog food (our 12th bag which was FREE) *hubby's saying - "If it's FREE, it's for me!"

My clothes are all fitting better since I started eating healthier at the beginning of Jan! Can't wait for spring to be here to start biking again!

While in town, got gifts for the kid's birthday which is coming up on Valentine's Day. That was still the best Valentine's gift I ever received. My baby!

Cold with a Chance of Clouds

On Sunday 24 Jan we took the dogs for a walk by the river over on Dufort Road. There is an abandoned subdivision development that has complete paved roads. Isabelle ran wild while the rest of them were on leashes.

Cleared out another drawer for hubby on Monday 25 Jan as he has too many jammy pants; and he needs a separate drawer just for all the new socks he got at Christmas! There are also those god-awful red VZ shirts that he has to wear. They cannot be washed with anything else as they leak color.

Hubby took Tuesday 26 Jan as a day off so that we could get chores done. Registered the gooseneck trailer in PostFalls - then had lunch at a horrible little Italian place. Gross. Hubby's sandwich was served cold instead of hot. I had a terrible little salad. Took Bit & Bud with us - hubby spent most of the day on the cell phone with shop work. He then picked up a truck on the way home to work on it at the shop.

My teeth have been sore - I should get them pulled but don't want to face another weasly dentist. Cold weather has not helped as they ache out in the adverse conditions.

Today I washed Bit & Harriet in the kitchen sink. They smell much better now. I thought today was Friday; but it is Thursday. Lost a day someplace! Tomorrow Harriet has a follow up appointment with the Vet.

It must be a great feeling being a puppy that lives with me. Sitting with daddy & having "daddy talks" before he goes to work, early morning sleep-ins with mommy, out for potty, playtime, naps, then cookies, play outside in the sun, belly rubs, tug-of-wars with old socks, running wild in the house, more belly rubs, cuddling, naps by the fire, ear rubs, playing with the other puppies, more naps, long walks, greeting daddy when he comes home, going to the shop for "shop dog" time. What a fun life!

PS - The dogs also find the time to shred the toilet paper in the bathroom. Honest, I was only gone 10 minutes!

PSS - My Lancome order came today. I did not know that makeup could be this good. Will never use Merle Norman again.

Eating Less

The propane guy came yesterday to fill our tank. $500. Propane went up! OMG!

Puppies, hubby and I are going up to Sandpoint tonight to fetch some automotive parts, then maybe shop at WallyWorld.

I vacuumed the house today. Ugh.

Still putting together the things in our bedroom closets. What a chore. At least they are neat again. I can find my clothes, re-arranging my shoes & sorting through jewelry.

The less I eat the less I WANT to eat. It is getting very difficult to force myself to eat. Eating healthy means you don't want as much to eat. Which is better than wanting to eat ALL the time. :)

The Most Depressing Day Of The Year

As I sit here blogging today, my puppies surround me on the floor of the library. All six dogs are sleeping contently. Angus, Isabelle, Bud, Zeus, Bit & Harriet. What sweeties. It moves me to tears.

Took Bud into the vet at 3:15 to get his Microchip. Both the vet and I had totally forgotten that he was not chipped yet. And when he ran away with 'Lil Bit the other morning, I had thought to check & verify. So all the dogs are now officially chipped.

Today was brilliantly beautiful. The sun was shining and it was quite warm outside. Even though this morning started out foggy in A-town and there were black clouds to the west, it turned into a wonderful winter day. I can tolerate these winter days!

According to someplace on the net, this is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year! Go figure.

Wet Sunday

Slept in later this morning, both of us tired. I had taken a couple OTC sleeping pills and was out all night. Hubby said he was "tormented" by thoughts of having to go into work today. . . even though it was Sunday!

When we did get up at 9:00AM, we got lattes. Then walked all the puppies. After an initial confusion because Isabelle had to pee every 2 seconds and Bud snapped his leash in two, we finally got going. It was a nice day. Cloudy & dreary but still warm enough in the 40s to make the walk worthwhile.

Here is a very cute pic of Bud. NO, Bud is NOT a Pitbull. He is a Dogue de Bordeaux. A French Mastiff.

Then we dropped all the puppies (except 'Lil Bit) off at the house. Went to the furniture store to check on other metal beds. Hubby wasn't too happy. He is very frustrated at having to change beds again! Oh well.

Came home after hubby wanted to get ham for his bean soup. Hubby cooked for the rest of the afternoon making prep for this week's coming Burritos! After he was done in the kitchen, I got to clean up. Lucky me :(

He helped me organize the closets with all my shoes in boxes, and installed the shelf in the extra room.

Hubster sat on the couch with the laptop while I took a bath. Then we played with the puppies until bedtime.

Birthday Girls!

As we had forgotten Harriet's birthday in December, it was decided that lumping her birthday along with Angus' in January would be a great idea. On Friday night after dropping off a customer's automotive rear-end that hubby had worked on tonight we shopped at Super One Foods in Post Falls to pick up cupcakes. Then on to the $ Store for cheap dog toys. Rounding out our shopping, we picked up Wendy's cheeseburgers to feed the puppies.

Arriving home at 7:30, we sang "Happy Birthday" to the puppies, then gave them their treats. Hopefully, on Sunday we will be able to go on a long walk with them - but it has been raining extensively around here. Flooding across the roads & ice beneath. Tho it has been warm. In the mid 40s!

Next morning, Hubby and I managed to sleep until 7:00AM, but the puppies insisted we get up. Went to get lattes in A-town. It is very pleasant to just share mundane things with Greg. I appreciate the time we have together.

Bud and I visited daddy down at the shop on Saturday while 'Lil Bit escaped the house later & trotted down to the shop so that he could spend the balance of the afternoon with the "guys". When Bud was wandering around the shop, one of the guys - Earl - wanted to know if he was a Pitbull! I laughed and said NO! Bud does not have pitbull in him. He is a natural Dogue de Bordeaux or a French Mastiff. He is the friendliest dog you will ever encounter!

It is boring to eat healthy. Granted- some people have a flair for creating an appetizing meal, but I don't. I am stuck in the boring, same-old, stick-in-the-mud food. Chicken, tuna, eggs, salad, raisins, celery, carrots, walnuts, water. Bland. But I am determined to stick with it. My body really needs to cleanse. And I AM feeling better.

Am still slogging away at updating my iTunes. It is taking forever to get the Playlists back together! Also trying to rearrange the bedrooms upstairs. Not happy about the beds, we will go look at some things at Furniture store tomorrow. I also ordered a new bedspread for Isabelle's queen bed at Overstock.com

I Love A Rainy Night

Thursday - Sewed up some things on the sewing machine; Hubby came home at 6:00 and we had to drive to Spoky-Jo to drop off parts at the "old man's" shop. His name is actually Don and his wife is Lucille. They are a wonderful couple. We refer to Don as "the old man" because he is still doing machine work in his small garage at age 91!

Harriet was playing outside today and tore another toenail on the ice. I have scheduled an appointment at the vet for her to go into at 2:30 on Friday. Isabelle has been so upset with not being able to sleep in her own bed all day long that she has been refusing to drink enough or pee. Going outside just once a day to pee is not enough. I think we have another bladder infection on our hands. So Izzy is going into the doctor too.

Friday - It has been raining for a few days now. The snow has been melting & along with the rain, flooding is everywhere. However, the ground is still too frozen for the water to leech into. So our driveway is an ice pond.

I totally forgot that Bud has not been Micro-Chipped, so he goes into the Vet on Monday. Yesterday morning on the way out to the truck with Bud & Bit, both dogs decided to go out to the highway & run away. I panicked for a while, but found them when I saw some cars braking about a mile away towards the west. Driving the truck quickly over the icy driveway, and then out onto the road, I caught up with them. Came up behind them as they trotted down the road, honked at them, threw on my safety flashers & loaded them up into the truck. Bad puppies. Thank goodness they did not get hit. So from now on they are not to be trusted. It was 'Lil Bit that actually was the instigator. Don't really understand why he wanted to run out into the road.

Tweak went to live with the girls at the Latte Stand. They have been talking about getting a Schipperke for a while, and they fell in love with him when I brought him along. They have re-named him Waylon. Such a happy little, panting dude. He smiles all the time. Thank goodness he had a happy ending from away from the drug home! Chyna takes him into the latte stand with her and inbetween smiling at customers, he sleeps in the kennel she has in the corner for him!

While cruising the websites, on Yahoo Groups I found the Dog Rescue Railroad - a group of people that volunteer to Drive dogs to and fro. There was a group on there that was desperately seeking sweaters for Chihuahuas and Pits. So I will go through all my dog apparel & send them some.

Disappointed

Thursday - After waiting paitiently for the carpet installer to get over his "sickness", he finally scheduled to come on Thursday. However, I thought that the 8:00 appointment was still standing and he instead arrived at 11:00 - well - he SAID he was coming at 11:00. He showed up at 10:30 and I had to panic getting the dogs put away.

He had problems carrying the carpet up the circular staircase and should have hired an assistant to help knowing the layout of our home - he actually DROPPED one of the carpet rolls on our leather couch & then wanted me to help him carry it upstairs.

After he worked for quite a bit, he finally finished. I had to make an appointment at the Vet because when I checked on the dogs outside, I discovered that Bud had ripped a toenail off his right hind leg while playing on the ice. So I quickly inspected the carpet, but the installer had not brought his vacuum to finish cleaning up the carpet. There were tiny pieces EVERYWHERE. I was pissed. This guy was not very professional at all. Then at 3:30 I signed off on the paper indicating he had finished the work and hurried to take Bud to the Vet.

Bud was OK. The doctor had me leave him there so that he could put him under anesthesia to cut back his toenail. It had been bleeding profusely for quite a while. Poor dog. When I returned at 4:30 to pick him up, I took Isabelle along for a quick toenail trim for her, also!

I vacuumed for over 2 hours to get the carpet in a shape wherein we could bring the furniture back into the loft. When I discovered the DOUBLE cut seam - I was livid! The seam puckers horribly and instead of one cut, he did TWO cuts; a 3.5 foot piece directly in the middle of the loft. It looks horrible. All puckered. We will be complaining.

I am disappointed that we have yet to find anybody in North Idaho that can do a professional job on anything!

Friday - I kept on vacuuming to get all the pieces up. It was absolutely gross. All the carpet pieces & fluff & dust had fallen onto the main level. There is carpet dust in the air.

Hubby helped me set up the metal frames again. Our old bed frame was transferred into Isabelle's room while we unwrapped the new one to put into our room.

Saturday - Hubby worked at the shop. When he came home, he helped me move the bed frames into the rooms. Isabelle & Harriet still look ragged. They have not been getting any sleep at all because of the carpet install. No beds for them to sleep upon. Poor puppies. Hubby & I are exhausted. The room downstairs is quiet, but different. Difficult to get comfortable.

Sunday - We packed up the trailer & instead of trading our bed for the kids king, we decided to purchase a whole new queen bed for them. Nothing was open until 10AM, so we got lattes at Starbucks & then went to Furniture Row (Denver Mattress) to pick up their queen size bed that was fortunately on sale that weekend! Now the kids get a 10 year warranty & no dog smell on the bed!

We had taken Bud & Bit with us on the ride - at the furniture warehouse loading dock, they both jumped out of the truck. Bit was ready to go into the warehouse - barking all the while! Bud just wanted to get out for a while & walk around. I had already given them a real long walk to potty while we were waiting for the bed to be brought out!

Drove to the kids' house finally arrived at 12:00. Bravo was happy to see us. I had to pee badly. MN was studying at the table.

KN made us brunch after the guys had brought the beds in and made the exchange. Bit had a poop problem in their house & hubby walked him. I was very proud of myself for not eating the pancakes that KN made (even tho she used her griddle for the first time & they looked awesome!) I have not had bad stuff since the first of the year. Finally eating healthy. Even if it kills me! We finally left their house late. Went to Costco to pick up basics & gasoline. At Costco we saw not one, but Two girls that had gone shopping in pyjamas with their mother! Ugh. Even sleep slippers that were absolutely filthy! They were kinda slobby fat - these were not attractive girls. Hair was unwashed & one of them had blue tint in her black hair. Who goes out in the middle of 30 degree weather wearing clothes like that? Not even coats! These people kept following us all through the store; getting in our way. Almost ran me over as they were walking 3 abreast. Wouldn't even move! Stupid cows. Went over to Safeway for yogurt; hubby had to get oriental at the deli & we sat to eat it at the Starbucks tables. Also saw this family at Safeway, too. Fortunately hubby finished eating & we got out of there before we had to see (or smell) them again! Finally got home late at 6:15. Unpacked everything. Set the beds up.

M&K's bed is a regular King size while the stupid bed frame is a Calif King. So it doesn't fit. The box springs are not supported correctly and hubby is whining that they will break without the proper support. However, hubby already tossed the boxes so we cannot return it. The metal frame also looks stupid in our bedroom.

Isabelle is already happy with her new bed; she looks like a little princess on it when she gets up. I sure wish I could have ordered the same metal bed frame for our king size, but they discontinued it and that style can only be ordered in a queen.

We still need to find something unusual in side tables to live with. Hubby doesn't like what I like and I vetoed his suggestion of some sort of automotive part with a glass table on top of it!

Looked all day Monday on line to try to find a new metal bed - but there is not a lot out there. What can be ordered in a Queen size that I like is not available in King. Blah.

Sleep is OK on the new bed. The carpet is soft & thick on my toes; but Isabelle already vomitted on the carpet. Dumb dog. She is SUCH a barfer. And 'Lil Bit already got upstairs & pooped one morning. So we now have the dog gate up 24/7. I don't want them messing it up too soon.

Still Waiting

Here we are. . . still waiting for our carpet to be installed. I absolutely detest sleeping in the basement.

Adam finally called me at 8:40 and said that he would be out between 11:00 and 12:00. Whoop. Hope he doesn't manage to poop everywhere. When he rescheduled on Monday, I asked (politely) if he was OK, which got me a 15 minute rant of how he was constipated because he quit smoking. TMI~!

Even after getting the carpet installed, we still have to put everything stored in the basement back into the loft; purchase a new bed for Isabelle; exchange our queen size bed for the Kid's king size bed this weekend, put together the new bed frame, and then buy a king size memory foam at Costco this weekend! Too much to do!

Took Tweak *the newest Schipperke* into the Vet Wednesday. He weighs 10.6 pounds. Doesn't really feel that heavy! Got all his shots & dewormer. Scheduled him to get neutered, chipped, & baby teeth removed on Feb 2.

Hubby and I picked up groceries in Rathdump Wednesday night. Just a few necessities to get us through. Also got lots of fruit & vegetables to eat healthier this year. So far, I have not had any flour, sugar, or bad products. Even gave up caffeine!

This morning when we got up, we had received a text message from Tom DeLorbe that Tim Weber's mother Catherine had passed away. So sad.

Here is the pet portrait of Isabelle.

Samson's Portrait

Long, long ago. . . we had Rottweilers. Love them. Our original was Shadrach. She was a great dog. Dumb. But great. Once we moved to our acreage, she developed a penchant for hunting porcupine. Bad dog.

But after Shadrach there was Brutus, Ferdinand, Zeus, Puppy and Scout. The best of all the Rotties was Samson. To commemorate his life, I had an artist do a portrait of him from some very old pictures. This is what Samson looked like when he was in his prime.

Eventually, I would like to have Lindsay do portraits of all our dogs for the "dog wall."

Samson would bark at rocks. . . as he rolled them down the drive. He sat in the corner of the shop when he was bad. Samson made rocks into snow boulders. He rolled around his favorite bowling ball on the property. He leaned against your leg. He growled when you hugged him. He was all typical boy. He went to sleep at night on the loveseat in the basement with his favorite Christmas blankie. In the fall, he looked embarrassed when he would wake up in the mornings after sleeping all the night with the kittens & cats in the hay bales. We almost lost him once and paid $1200 for surgery to remove rocks from his stomach. He loved Shadrach. They had lots of puppies. We loved that damned dog so much. But our life was in such a discombobulation at the time we could not afford a fence. Not that we needed a fence. Samson stayed within our property, never straying out towards the road. Until the night 2 neighbor Dalmatians stole his steak we had fed him outside. He ran after them & accidentally ran into the road. We buried him at the corner of the house with his favorite Christmas blanket carefully wrapped around him. He had not suffered any outside injuries. He looked like he had fallen asleep. But it was probably a good way for him to go. He was already crippled with arthritis every morning and it was a struggle for him to get up every day. At least this way, he went romping & claiming his territory!

It took us a long time to be able to get another Rottie, and it just did not feel "right". One of them we tried for a while, then a friend of ours said they wanted a Rottweiler. We graciously gave the dog to them. Instead, we got Isabelle - our Mastiff. She has been the best dog ever since.

On Saturday, hubby went down to work at the shop while I continued to clean upstairs and played with the puppies. Also worked on updating my iTunes and putting away more Christmas decor. It is a never ending project.

Still not sleeping well in the basement. The bed is too uncomfortable and we are in a "strange" sleeping environment. Odd.

Sunday I slept until 8:30. After letting all the puppies out at 5AM. It was difficult to find a comfortable spot to fall back to sleep within. Made French Toast for hubby's breakfast, then we got bundled up (it was icy & cold out; but no rain!) to take the puppies out for their Sunday walk. They were all so excited. Stopped to pick up lattes - nice warmth on our throats! Once we got to the walking area, we determined that along with Bravo, 8 dogs was too many to walk. Plus, Tweak decided that he would "sit" down on the ground instead of walk!

Took the 2 black dogs, Harriet & Isabelle for a walk first. Then came back to get the 2 Saints & Bud for the second walk.

When we returned, the kids came to pick up Bravo. They related how their Anniversary weekend went at Silver Mountain Resort with the indoor WaterPark & Luxury Romance GetAway! Though with the rain they were unable to snowboard as they wanted.

After the kids left, hubby did some honey-dos. Then we decided that we were too tired to go into town & it could be put off until tomorrow.

Rested for the remainder of the day. I finished filing all my iTunes again. Just need to do the Playlists over again.

Happy Birthday To Me! Happy New Year

On Thursday, December 31, hubby awoke early and got me the traditional cupcake with candle. He also let the dogs out to potty, thereby waking me up and spoiling the surprise. But that was OK. I had to pee, anyway! LOL

#3 and Tim came over at noon to get everything moved out of the bedrooms in the loft, then tear up the carpet. It looks like a hurricane has hit our house as there is dust everywhere! They stored everything in the basement and a few leftover yard sale items in the garage. Total chaos. Had to keep the dogs out most of the day. At least it didn't rain or snow. Puppies were very tired when they came inside for the night! The guys finished at 3PM and I vacuumed/swept up the last of the mess on the loft floor. It looks very deserted up there now.

In the afternoon, hubby had flowers delivered to me for my birthday. So sweet.

Hubby texted me to be ready to go out to dinner with the KIDS for my birthday to Outback Steakhouse in the Valley. I took a quick shower & dressed. Hubster arrived home at the exact time I was ready. Since I had already started the truck and had it warmed up, we were ready to go!

Drove to Outback in the Spoky-Jo Valley. Everything went well. We gave the kids their portrait of Bravo that I had ordered for their Christmas present. It is just beautiful. The 3-D overall effect is astonishing!

Hubby's dinner steak came out raw, which grossed him out so much that he couldn't eat anymore. We felt slightly rushed because of the New Year's Eve crowd. The waiter did not have much time to spend with us at all.

The waiter did bring out a "Chocolate Thunder From Down Under" which sounds kinda disgusting. But the staff were kind enough to add a candle. I did forget now what I wished for my birthday wish. Hmmm. Do I get a do-over?

K asked if I wanted my birthday present now or later. To which I replied, "Now AND later!". However, everybody got so caught up in the moment that we forgot about it!

Made the "prisoner exchange" which was more of like a prisoner taking than exchange. Bravo jumped into the truck after a short potty run with mommy. We were babysitting B for the weekend as M was going to surprise K with an Anniversary special overnight!

On the way home, hubby decided we HAD to get Krispy Kreme donuts. Even though I vowed to eat better in the New Year, I did follow him in to the store while he picked them out. We had thought Bravo was A-OK in the truck alone as there was no lattes or coffee he could drink! But we had totally forgotten about the box of leftovers in the backseat. By the time we returned to the truck 5 minutes later, ALL the leftover filet mignon, bbq ribs & bread was gone! Bee-Bo growled at us if we touched him!

I was disappointed when we drove to Starbucks, and they had closed 5 minutes before we got there! They let their employees off early for the New Year's Eve.

Also stopped at Wendy's before they closed to pick up cheeseburgers for the dogs as Bravo had eaten all the leftovers we meant to feed to them. The young man at the drive-thru window could not accept tips, but did welcome a freshly warm Krispy Kreme donut instead!

Slushy roads were NOT a delight to drive home upon. I watched a couple Twilight Zone episodes. Stayed up past midnight. Then we retired to the basement. After half the night of tossing & turning we both realized we had not put down our 6 inch memory foam. Wondering why our backs & joints were hurting so much, at 5AM we stagged into the other room to root around looking for our memory foam. Finally got it on the bed and enjoyed a 2 hour nap.

New Year's Day Friday we sat around and rested. Hubby looked at car parts on eBay all day while I worked on my iTunes. Played with the dogs for a while. Mostly vegetated. Relaxed.

1 Day to New Year's

Tuesday night we took the Shaggy dogs to Elk, WA to meet Cheryl. She took foster management of them after that. It was very interesting to meet her.

Thru Wednesday, the last few days have been spent cleaning up the Christmas tree and getting things ready to move out of the loft bedrooms. I think I have enough stuff for another garage sale with the Kid this summer. Tim & #3 are coming tomorrow to move everything to the basement, tear out the carpet, & repair the flooring. Hubby & I will be sleeping in the basement for the next week or so.

Greg brought home another flu. So I was quarantined yesterday (in addition to having a flat tire on the truck which the hubby refuses to fix!) and I refuse to work anymore on iTunes. I am so very frustrated at doing that right now.

We watched 28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later on TV. Quite the unusual SyFy Flicks.

Got all the candies, cookies & holiday food out of the house. Yuck. I feel overfed.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Can't wait. :(

Shaggy Dogs

Because hubby had not worked in the shop on Saturday his usual day, he decided to spend a couple hours working there on Sunday to finish up a couple projects.

Temperatures on Saturday night dipped down to 11 degrees F. It was COLD! After getting lattes in the morning, hubby & I parted ways. He put on his Under Armor long underwear he had gotten for Christmas so that he could work in comfort down at the shop while at home I cleaned out the refrigerator, took care of the new shaggy dogs & started taking down Christmas items. It was depressing.

I sure hope that Cheryl, the rescue rep from Washington comes to take the puppies tomorrow because I feel so sorry for them. They are living out in the garage in a kennel when they really need to be around people. Hazel & Frank are very sweet, loving dogs. Love attention & petting. However. They stink of old barn. They have not been washed or combed in AGES! Poor dogs. Both of them are extensively overweight. Especially Hazel. It looks painful when she walks (waddles). A high protein diet is needed, along with some basic grooming.

Hubby came home at 3PM after putting up my new address sign on the mailbox. One of his honey-dos.

We shared dinner of turkey sandwiches & some play-time with all the dogs inside. Around 7PM, we took Hazel & Frank for a walk around the property. The dogs loved being outside!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Christmas Day-Opened presents, played games, snacked all day. It was very restful & relaxing.

M had to make a hurried trip to Base to reprimand a subordinate. He came back an hour later & took a nap with Isabelle on the couch!

On December 26, hubby puttered around putting things together. Installed our new fireplace blower. Then he worked down at the shop for about an hour, M went to lunch with his mother while K played with her new computer! I cleaned up the house & did dishes.

Later tonight, picked up two new additions to the Saint Bernard Rescue. Frank & Hazel will be staying in the kennel outside until Cheryl can pick them up on Monday. Both of the dogs are very sweet and love attention. Very shaggy, tho. They desperately need grooming. The dogs traveled via friendly transport by Maureen from Missoula, Montana.

Merry Christmas 2009

Picked up lattes & said Merry Christmas to JenBunny, then went to Rathdrum to pick up last-minute groceries and hubby's Tramadol prescription.

Came home to early presents around the tree that the kids had brought by and a wonderful vase full of Christmas flowers & deco. Also Starbucks lattes.

Hubby made a wonderful dog grog for the puppies. Including Bravo. His mommy & daddy had dropped him off before they left to spend Christmas Eve with M's parents.

Wrapped the kids' presents together; then hubby wrapped mine as I sequestered myself in the library on the computer; then I went upstairs to wrap hubby's presents.

Right now, all the dogs are napping. Hubby is also sleeping on the couch.

When M&K return late tonight, we will watch our annual traditional "Muppet's Christmas Carol" and then retire to wait for Santa to arrive!

Nails, Pedicures & Oil Changes

Monday morning found us stopping at the latte stand to discuss marketing with Chyna. Hubby gave her a lot of good ideas. She thanked me profusely for the Tannenbaum Basket that was delivered on Saturday.

We rushed home as I was supposed to pick the Kid up at 11:00 from the Post Falls Jeep dealer. While the service department worked on changing oil & inspecting her broken windshield, we went to get our nails done. Well, I got my nails done. The kid received "The Works" Pedicure. Trying to return some things to Target, we almost got plowed into by some maniac driver who gave us the finger. Honestly, people suck at driving during this time of year!

Decided not to attempt to enter the Target parking lot. It was overflowing with cars. Instead I took the Kid back to her car & went home.

Puppies were overjoyed to see me. Including Tweak. Tweak is the latest in the dog department. Got him on Saturday night. He does bark a little too much. But maybe he is just settling in. Happy little dog. Stymie (hubby's name for him) stank of meth the first night we picked him up. When I bathed him, he seemed overwhelmingly happy to be clean for the first time in the 5 months of his life.

On Tuesday in the early AM, it snowed about 3 inches. Had hubby take me to pick up the kid at Post Falls Jeep dealership for the 2nd time this week. She had her windshield replaced. It was going to take about 5 hours, so she would spend some time with us at home. However, after eating lunch at The Great Harvest Bread Company and stopping at Les Schwab to look for tires for the new MegaMatt it was time to drop me off while Hubby & the Kid went Christmas shopping for me!

Hubby got home at 8PM and we watched a few South Park Christmas specials before going to bed.

Decorating & Baking

Thursday & Friday were spent decorating, cleaning & baking. Also, hours spent slaving over a hot computer trying to upload my entire library of iTunes.

The kids brought over Mega Matt for us to view after their whirlwind trip to North Dakota. They were very tired and refused to even take a nap. Too much excitement! They stayed the night & on Saturday came up with us to Sandpoint to pick up Gaylord/Duke/Spaz/Stymie/Tweak. (more about him later)

We ate at Panhandler Pies - which was NOTHING like we remembered it. The service was fair, but the food was extremely poor.

The kids returned home on Sunday - after hubby & I took the big dogs for an abbreviated walk in the park - too much ice. The park is now official closed for winter.

On Monday, I met the Kid at the Jeep dealer in Post Falls so that they could look at her broken windshield & change her oil. While the dealership worked on her vehicle, we ran to CDA to get our nails done. Found a very nice shop that was playing some cool techno Christmas songs. I liked a couple of them, but the girl did not know the names of the songs or who sang them.

I was exhausted by the time I returned home at 2:30P. Hubby came up early from the shop by 6:30 and we rested in front of the TV for a while.

Really Nice Looking Family

When I was looking at the picture of everybody at the Christmas tree farm, I realized that I have quite a nice looking family.

Either the kids infected us with something or hubby brought a disease home again with him. We were both feeling like crap on Tuesday. The weather brought a winter storm warning and dumped 8 inches on us. I used my new snow blower as the snow was soft & light - it worked quite well. But I had to blow the decks & walkway off several times. In between, I rested on the couch - still feeling like poopy-ka-ka.

During the night, it started to rain. So all the snow on the roof slid off which started the dogs barking frantically all night. Not fun. No sleep again.

I have such weird dogs. Observe Harriet's ear. It is just sticking up.

And Angus on her back. It CAN'T be comfortable to sleep like that. Odd dogs.

On Wednesday there was a 2 foot berm just outside the side door that the dogs had to climb over. I knew that it would have to be removed before it started to freeze, so I shoveled for over 3 hours - - - trying to get rid of it. Then shoveled the front deck, also. Made more peanut brittle for hubby. Cleaned & washed & dried his boots out from yesterday. He walked in muck and snow all day.

We are going over to Cheney, WA to see the lights at the kids' neighborhood, then go to Lenny's for Italian food. Yum. Can't wait.

Hubby rushed in the door at 5:30, after changing and securing the house, we bolted out the door at 5:41. Took 'Lil Bit & Bud with us. They slept most of the way. Listened to holiday tunes on our iPod.

Arrived at M&K's - piled into their car & drove to Cheney to eat at Lenny's Italian Restaurant. Yummy. They had the Bruschetta "special" again. K also ordered a nice red wine to go along with the meal! Then M took us around their neighborhood to see Christmas Lights. Very nice night with the kids!

It takes us exactly one hour each way if we don't stop for lattes, vehicle parts, etc. Home at 10:30. Opened some more Christmas cards. People must be sending holiday greetings late this year. Thank goodness I got it out of the way!