Monday, August 25, 2008

I hate to tell you this but...

Lola took up smoking! And the way those eyes look, me thinks it's those funny cigarettes too!



Send your smoke-free puppy vibes!
M

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mass, Meatballs and Merrells

Bunches of ya have heard about me talk about Fr. Bill, I just adore this man. He's pictured in a another blog post below. He is now 84 and still living life to the fullest and best of all appreciates my sense of humor. :-) He has a niece in the next town over so when he comes for family events he stays at my house because I have less dogs. The niece has five which is too many....I have two.

So I clean like crazy so he doesn't think I'm a pig, and put him in my foo foo girl guest bedroom and hope he doesn't take too close of a look of the "Bad Sunshine Sue" quilt and find the stipper. Something I just can't explain but just love and it still brings a smile to face whenever I see it. :-) Here's a link on it that explains it all and it's well worth it!

M&M's Bad Sunshine Sue Quilt

He didn't think he would make it back home in time for a mass, so we had a little morning mass here at home. I was a bit nervous about it, mass at home, in my house, it was a bit strange to me, so I asked my neighbor to come over for a little support. I didn't know she would have to do the reading, I owe her one. :-) Peace be with you neighbor!

Fr. Bill knows I'm not the best Catholic, and he asked me what Mass Day it is? I said......I don't know what I said, St. Michelle maybe? It turns out it was St. Pius X Mass Day, which is the church we belonged to in Granger...it's where I took my Catholic classes, became Catholic and met Fr. Bill...I thought it was pretty neat.

Back to the Moore Mass. So Fr. Bill gets his "Mass in a Box", "Mass to Go", "Mini-Mass" ....I could go on and on, but won't,and we sit down at the kitchen table, light a candle and have a little mass. He has some wine in a Dasani water bottle. It's funny when you are not in a church with 300 people how you forget what the responses are that you have repeated thousands of times. We were a bit nervous....we sort of mumbled stuff or just forgot it in general. I had printed out the creed before hand, thankfully we didn't do that part.

It was very pleasant and a nice way to start the day. When he was done, I said, "Is this where we get up before you and run out the doors before you?" I hate when people leave mass before the Priest does. I don't know if they realize that this is incredibly rude, it's similar to getting up at the dinner table and leaving when dinner isn't even finished. One priest told me too..."we know everyone that leaves early!" :-)

Then I spent an hour on the phone with my bestest friend in the whole wide world...what's her name?
(Wishing I had a goofy picture of the woman.)

Then Lisa and I went to lunch at the Macaroni Grill, I had half a meatball (oooooooh that's where the meatball comes in) sandwich and a cup of Chicken Toscana soup, which is my all time favorite restaurant soup.

Got home.... first time Lola has been left for 2 hours by herself...she did beautiful, didn't touch one thing. We don't crate train, nothing against it, just it's been easier with me at home and the other dog as an example for the puppy. She's is growing like crazy, shes 26 pounds of love! The other week I discovered her nose is shaped like a heart!




Then got home and the UPS man came to the door with my new winter boots! Now the last winter boots I bought is when we lived in Vermont and went to an outlet mall in Kittery, Maine.....so 1988! LOL

If you have ever had a pair of Merrell shoes, they are the most comfortable things and spoil you rotten for anything else. So I saw these Merrell snow boots last winter and wanted them, but would never win the bid. I wouldn't go over 65.00, they retail for 140.00. So then these popped up last week for a "Buy it Now" and I did .... 50.00. They are just the cutest things and with my boot purchasing record should last me till 2028!!!!

They came, they are perfect.....love them! I love Ebay!
(sekret message to Janie- you need these boots!)

That's my day so far.
M

Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Long Goodbye....

It's 1989 you have a baby boy, and you think he's going to be a baby forever...



But he grows a bit, and starts to pick up your bad habits.


but he clings to something from his baby years and you think "I might not have to put a brick on his head after all."


Then the birthdays start to come faster...


And the blond hair starts to get darker...


And longer...



The next thing you know, you are filling your pockets with Kleenex while Dad packs the van with college things...you know like a TV and a XBox...
(Brian always pays homage to brother-in-law Will)

Then you leave him in a dorm room not even the size of your sun room with his roommate Pat(left) and another bud Max(right) to begin the next phase of his life.


You get to your car, and you haven't used one Kleenex, you are just so happy he has this opportunity you never had, has his friends around, got the good grades and got it done,then there's the thought of "How is he going to sleep with his head inches from the ceiling?" and that other small incentive that you really don't want to embarrass him in front of his friends by crying.

It's not till you sit at the computer putting together a blog post of your saying goodbye to your little boy that you need to take the Kleenex from your pocket, and realize you didn't put quite enough in there.

M

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Two...two... two websites in one post!

Sue Wilkenson the wonderful lady that did the acrylics of Lego and Montana, and the graphites (there's one to the left) of the boys when they were wee ones, has a new website....made by moi! :-) Always fun to put your own dog and kids in the graphics! *grin*





Here's her site,take a look at her portfolio she is just incredible!

The Art of Surprise

The other site I wanted to share is The Pioneer Woman Blog, this woman has a great sense of humor, great recipes with pictures, and she's a wonderful photographer who shares all her tricks! She was just about to move to downtown Chicago when she met and married a rancher in Oklahoma. She is now a stay at home mom in the middle of nowhere missing Starbucks.

The Pioneer Woman

Not the Pioneer Woman,
M

Monday, August 11, 2008

It's All in a Name!

All our labs have been from AKC breeders, you pay a lot more, but their hips, eyes, now elbows are "certified", meaning they haven't been bred with a dog that isn't certified, in labradors that means certified no bad hips, eyes and elbows. So let's say I buy a pet store dog (i.e. puppy mill) or one advertised for around 250.00 in the Sunday paper, there's a good chance that those dogs will cost you a fortune later in vet bills and will be very very hyper!

We like English labs, they are calmer, stockier, big chest, with a bigger head, compared to a field/hunting lab which their coats are oily,bodies are leaner, smaller heads and usually a bit hyper.

All that to say once you get a AKC labrador you can register it with the AKC. You don't have to but we do just for a silly little certificate with your dogs AKC name. For example:

Lieber


My dad had a dog named Lieber, and I thought it was the cutest German name, so I always knew my first dog would be named that. Lieber's AKC name was "Das Lieber Hund"

Montana


was "ManChuno's Future Promises" the breeders named him, since he was already a year when we got him. He was suppose to be a stud dog hence the "future promises" instead he was a lazy dog who was perfectly comfortable with no pink crayon duties what so ever. Although he did have a crush on the old Brittney Spaniel next door Maggie. We are thinking Maggie was a cougar! :-)

Lego


She is named after Lego's because that's all the kids ever played with when we got her. So the man who invented Lego's name was Legot. Lego's AKC name was "Wegot Legot" So you moms and dads know exactly who to curse when you step on a Lego in bare feet.....Legot!

Which brings us to Lola!


Lola's name just came to me one day in the car, there was no rhyme or reason to it. The kids didn't like it, so we tried for another name but just couldn't find one we all liked. We wanted to name her either after Montana or a German name, so we looked at cities in the state of Montana and didn't care for any, and all the other German names besides Lieber sounded too harsh. I did like Gretel though. So Lola it is, with her full AKC name being... "Miss Lola M" The "M" is for Montana, we really wanted Montana in there somehow when we found out Lola was born the day Montana died.

I just updated Lola's picture page if you want to take a peek HERE!

Hmmmmm wonder what my AKC name would be, I'm thinking...

Ms. Poopie Picker Upper for the rest of her Lifer!

or just.......

M
 

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