The Good Flea and Me

Wow, can't believe its Tuesday already. Monday just flew by and I wish it were back, minus the cleaning.

I got up at the butt crack of dawn yesterday morning to finish mowing the front yard and finish cleaning parts of the house before Felicia got here. I was sooo excited to be meeting my first Blog Buddy.

What was really funny is I got an email from her yesteday morning asking if we were axe murderers , lol. We aren't , but like I'd admit it if we were, hahahaha. She said her hubby was a little anxious for her on this trip since she had agreed to stay with people they had never really met in person. What was the funniest is after she got here lastnight and we ate dinner , she called her hubby to tell him she arrived safely. Then she told him she couldn't talk very long because the axe I had her pinned to the wall with wouldn't allow for much conversation!

Anyway, her and her son Thaniel had a safe trip here and didn't get caught up in too much Dallas traffic. They pulled into the driveway about 2 minutes before Chris arrived home from work - what timing! Then we got them settled and the pizza man showed up. Felicia wanted to help pay for the pizza , but we said no, they were our guests it was our treat. As a payment for our hospitality though she insisted on taking us out for breakfast before they hit the road again.

Here are some fun pictures:

This was after we ate dinner , just before I took her on a small car tour of our historical part of town. She took some fabulous pictures and will post those later I'm sure.

Not sure if you can see him very well, but Mr Monkeysuit had to get in on the action with the ladies.

This is where we went to breakfast this morning and totally stuffed ourselves.

We found that we had alot more in common then we had realized and wound up trading books. Here I lent her Because I Said So by fellow blogger Dawn Meehan. She hadn't ever read her blog.
Here is me with two books that she lent me!

Here are the kiddos, who hit it off perfectly. Mr Monkeysuit tried to hone in on this action too, here Nicole was trying to get him to poop on Than's head!
Here is Mr Monkeysuit trying to steal a kiss from Nicole

Here is Than trying to choke Mr Monkeysuit for kissing Nicole !
And of course Mr Monkeysuit got to meet the puppy. He wan't too fond of Korie though - he was afraid he would get eaten as a small snack.

After breakfast we came hom and too soon they were on the road to Louisiana. I wish they could have stayed longer. The short time we spent together was a ton of fun though, and hopefully we can get together again soon.

Enough Reality Already - Geesh

*** Before I get into today post - Please , if you haven't already, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE click on the little widget to the left over there at the top and help Hallie reach her goal. Its for a wonderful cause. There are tons of really awesome prizes up for grabs too! I'm making something atm to send to her for the raffle. She is just a tad over half way to her goal of $5000 - please help her reach it - even if its just with $1!***

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When is it going to be enough people?

I have to admit that I'm getting a bit sick of the whole reality show thing.

Now I do watch Dancing With The Stars. I can tolerate one or two episodes of Jon and Kate as well because my daughter watches it. I like to watch Iron Chef with both Chris and Nicole because the food that comes our of kitchen stadium is too tantalizing to not look at.

I'll even take in a few episods of Mystery Diagnosis or Trauma E.R.

But give me a break guys, why would I EVER want to see the newest one on that I've found and watched in astonishment - PITCHMEN. I don't give a rats ass what products Billy Mays comes across and how he decides to promote or not to promote it.

I don't care about Dirtiest Jobs either - some of those are just plain disgusting. And just how often can you watch people making cakes?

Do you really want to see the struggles of obese people on TV? I'm into weight loss, and I'm happy that those folks are getting healthier though.

There is even a new show I saw advertise the other day - on Oxygen - 'Dance Your Ass Off' with Marissa Jarrot Winoker (sp?) who herself is an overweight actress. She was on Dancing With The Stars a season or two back and now has this new show where overweight people try to dance the excess poundage off. Not sure how they will do eliminations and stuff, but geesh.

They even have dog grooming shows. Oh.My. God.

I could care less if you are great with dog clippers, or you can powder a poodle perfectly. UGH.

I know I can just turn the channel, and I often do, but I just think the amount and content of some of these shows is just stupid.

Reality TV didn't do Jon and Kate much good. And all the cake bakers and food makers will get overweight and have to either dance their ass off or join the biggest loser. They will come out with some new amazing product that can be pitched by Billy Mays. It just never seems to be enough.

People, if you like watching all these shows, good for you, or you can turn the channel or even turn the darn TV off.

Go play a game with your kids, do gardening or walk. Read a book. Go take a cake baking class instead of watching other people bake. Same for a cooking class.

Just enough with reality tv for a bit!

If you have strong opinions about this fine, just don't leave me an ugly comment. Eveyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. Just like you should respect my opinion on this subject since its MY BLOG!!!!

Just Happy

Good Morning to all out there in the blogosphere! Lots has been going on and I'm just now getting a chance to post it!

I'm really happy right now, as I'm child free this week. Nicole is spending the week with my mom and so far they are having a blast. Chris and I dropped her off Friday evening, then went out to dancing with 4 other couples at Cowboys Arlington. We hadn't been there in 5 years and we had a blast. Being old folk though now, none of us wanted to stay past 1130 or so , so we invaded IHOP and ate , laughed, and had more of a good time. We got home around 2am Saturday morning.

Chris had to work later that morning and wasn't pleased but when he got home, we were in bed by 9:30 or so, and finally got to sleep in a bit Sunday morning.

Since it was Fathers Day , and Nicole wasn't here she did call him. I let him do nothing all day, and made him whatever he wanted to eat which included steak and eggs for breakfast, and tuna salad for lunch.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and then bathed all three dogs. The first half of my day was hell, lol. The second half felt like hell due to it being the first day that the outside temp tipped the 100 degree scale. Going outside felt like you were walking into an oven.

BUT! today and the next few days I'm housecleaning and getting more excited. Why? you ask.

Because I finally get to meet a blogger buddy! Flea and her son Thaniel are stopping by and crashing here Monday night. I can't wait! We are both excited to be meeting in person. I'm doubly excited since I've never met any of my blog buddies in person as of yet, although we talk all the time via Facebook.

Well thats all I have time for right now since I have to go get Chris up so he can get ready for work. I will try to pull pictures off of our friends FB page that took tons of pics Friday night at Cowboys and post them - some are really funny.

For those of you not on FB though, here is a really cute picture of the puppy with Chris, and then one by herself. The one where she is by herself , I thought"wow, she sat still so good for that picture!" , then I found out why - she peed on the floor when I took it.... grrrr - though still not many accidents like that. She is now 11 wks old and weighs 12 lbs. Isn't she a cutie?

Happy Fathers Day!

The last few Fathers Day posts I did , I dedicated to my father. He is gone and Yes I still miss him, but I'm here to say Happy Fathers Day to a current father I see every day. The father of my only child.

He is kind, generous, loving , sweet, funny, and stern when the need arises.

Since the day she was born, he has sung to her. Now whenever she is sad or sick, she wants daddy to sing to her. They also love to get into monster tickle fights - and to hear the laughter from the two of them is the best music to my ears.

When she has a tummyache, he cleans up after her, becasue if I did it - he'd havee twice as much to clean up.

When she does well in school , he is right there to give her the praise she needs. When she needs help in math, he is also right there, ready with an explanation to help her.

I couldn't have asked to marry a better man, or to have a better father for my child!

I love you!

Happy Fathers Day Chris!

See? she even looks like him, more than me!

You Shouldn't Fool with Mother Nature

The other night, Nicole , Chris and I were trying to help our neighbor find a place for the three remaining puppies from the litter where we got Korie. One of the ladies I was talking to happened to mention that she had just fostered three little Porkies in her home. It was a cross between a pomeranian and a yorkie in case you were wondering. I've never been a big Pom fan - to me they look like dust mops with feet. The Porkie just looks like a shrunken version, although it is cute...

After I got off the phone, we decided to see just how far some people would go in mixing dogs. There were some hits, and some misses. This is a picture of a Pugador - a pug/labrador.
This one is kind of cute too, but how did it happen? it is a dachsund crossed with a pit bull. um ouch???

Then this poor soul. Sorry folks, but I'm NOT a poodle lover. I'm sure poodles are wonderful dogs, they just aren't too much to my liking. This is a poodle/shih-tzu mix... a pooshitz? or a shihtzpoo?

The one above has NOTHING on this creation. This is a mix of a Bull Mastiff and a Pitbull. All I can think of when I see this picture is that 1 - its scary , 2 - it has no neck and 3 - it kind of reminds me of one of the gargoyles straight our of Ghostbusters...

Then yet again, we have another pug mix. This time with a Jack Russel Terrier. A Rug?
And yet ANOTHER pug mix, this time with a Beagle. So its a Bugle????? or a pugle?

Ya know what though folks? I gotta say I've only owned ONE pure bred dog in my life. Actually it was my dads. He always wanted a Schnauzer so we got one when I was in highschool. Let me tell you that was single handedly the most irritating, mean little shit on the planet. He went after me and my mom. He usually only listened to my dad. Fine, I'd rather be far away from that nut case. We think he was inbred and that was his biggest problem, due to the fact that every other Schnauzer owner we knew had wonderful, loving, sweet schnauzers. Not this one. I started calling him Inbred Jed.

So, for me , its mutts all the way!

Anyway, whatever kind of of dog you get , if indeed you are a dog lover I'm sure you will choose wisely and get whatever appeals to you.

I received this in my e-mail the other day and I think its an appropriate ending to this doggy dedicated post -

A PET'S TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. My life is likely to last 10-15 years. Any separation from you is likely to be painful.

2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.

3. Place your trust in me. It is crucial for my well-being.

4. Don't be angry with me for long and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment, but I have only you.

5. Talk to me. Even if I don't understand your words, I do understand your voice when speaking to me.

6. Be aware that however you treat me, I will never forget it.

7. Before you hit me, before you strike me, remember that I could hurt you, and yet, I choose not to bite you.

8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I have been in the sun too long, or my heart might be getting old or weak.

9. Please take care of me when I grow old. You too, will grow old.

10. On the ultimate difficult journey, go with me please. Never say you can't bear to watch. Don't make me face this alone. Everything is easier for me if you are there, because I love you so.

~Take a moment today to thank God for your pets. Enjoy and take good care of them.

Life would be a much duller, less joyful experience without God's critters.

~Now please pass this on to other pet owners. We do not have to wait for Heaven, to be surrounded by hope, love, and joyfulness. It is here on earth and has four legs!

The Sex of A Fly

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her
husband stalking around with a fly swatter

"What are you doing?"
She asked.

"Hunting Flies"
He responded.

"Oh. ! Killing any?"
She asked.

"Yep, 3 males, 2 Females," he replied.

Intrigued, she asked.....
"How can you tell them apart?"

He responded,
"3 were on a beer can,
2 were on the phone."

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HAHAHAHAHA, sorry, just had to share that one! My hubby sent that to me lastnight. After some of the dirty jokes and stuff going around, I thought this was clean and cute!

Hope you have had a good week so far!

Good News

Gosh, I thought with the coming of summer I'd be posting daily, or at least every other day. That does not seem to be the case though. I'm usually up by 7am, feeding three dogs, letting them outside, making breakfast, doing dishes, and then doing something with Nicole. By the time I get some 'me' time, I'm too pooped to type, much less put a post together.

Friday we had Nicole's appointment regarding her knee. She does not have to have surgery on the cyst - he said that should eventually go away. They did additional x-rays and said that she just has 'growing pains'. The doctor explained that kids get pains like she is describing on their knee cap and there is no medical cause for them. He also said that she is tall for her age and that could be putting some extra stress on her knee. He suggested she could do physical therapy to strengthen her thigh muscles and such, so we will wait and see if we decide to do that.

Other than those two days of horrid storms last Wednesday and Thursday we haven't gotten any more bad weather. All the flooding has gone down, and now the temps are up. The other day it was 94 , but with the heat index registered 107!! That makes it very hard to do anything outside but laze around a pool all day.

Since it has been getting so hot, yesterday when I woke up early I made a three cheese chicken casserole, a meatloaf and some breakfast muffins so that I didn't have to cook when it was hot later in the day. Then tomorrow I will get out there about 630-7am and start mowing the front lawn. I thing Chris and I will be doing some edging and stuff tonight.

This coming Friday we will be going out dancing with some friends of ours, and like 3 other couples. Chris and I haven't been to this particular dance club/bar in about 5 years so it should be interesting. My mom will watch Nicole and we will probably go pick her up Sunday.

Well, just wanted to let ya'll know what the doc said about her knee. I'm going to go eat some lunch and fold laundry!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

RAFFLE! RAFFLE! RAFFLE!

I mentioned this a few days ago, and its now underway - click on the widget button to the left and donate if you can! This is a wonderful charity benefiting organ donation! I'm currently making something for one of the raffle prizes, and there are many other fabuloso prizes up for grabs, so go ahead and DO IT!!!!!!!

A Morning Funny and No Sleep

BEWARE OF THAT UNDERWEAR DUST!!!!!!

One evening a husband, thinking he
was being funny, said to his wife,
'Perhaps we should start washing
your clothes in 'Slim Fast'. Maybe it
would take a few inches off of your
butt!'

His wife was not amused, and decided that she simply couldn't let such a comment go unrewarded. The next morning the husband took a pair of underwear out of his drawer. 'What the heck is this?' he said to himself as a little 'dust' cloud appeared when he shook them out.

'April', he hollered into the bathroom,

'Why did you put talcum powder in my underwear?'

She replied with a snicker. 'It's not
talcum powder; it's 'Miracle Grow'!!!!!
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Sorry folks, just had to add that. After experiencing such an absolute crappy night, I'm glad I had that funny, via my MIL in my in box this morning.

Why did I have such a crappy night you ask? Well, lets see. The day started out well enough. Went and picked up Nicoles MRI films to take to the specialist tomorrow for her knee, then dropped her off at her BFF Carson's for the day and night.
Chris was still home sick although on the mend. His boss didn't want him at work due to him still running a fever.
Anyway, we had a good day, which included me making taco salads for dinner since temp wise its already in the low 90s, and humid, so salads sounded great!
Afterwards we watched an episode of NCIS and then went to go to the computer room and we were going to just mess around, like on facebook and such.
We had a new episode of NCIS turned on when an emergency broadcast came over the tv saying that Dallas County was under a tornado warning. WHAT??? no sirens had gone off yet. So we quickly got everyone ( canine, human and avian) in the bathroom, and listened to the weather. There were several indications of rotation and wall clouds and the storm was moving at least 70-80 mph. This lasted about an hour, with our sirens never going off.

Ok, fast forward around 11:30pm. Chris and I had decided to camp out in the den for the night and keep an eye on the puppy and anymore weather.
With the room pitch black we were awoken with cracks of thunder and lightening. We turned on the channel with the radar on and saw exactly what was coming toward us. Not ten minutes later the tornado sirens went off , so off we all ran to the bathroom again. Talk about having rattled nerves. Tiny bathroom, two adults, three dogs and a bird. /sigh...

This too lasted an hour. Then off and on all night we were awoken with horrendous thunder, lightening, winds , rain and hail. The puppy, when not being woken up by thunder actually slept through the night for the first time! So if it had not been for the storms, we would have gotten a full nights sleep.

I'm supposed to go get Nicole about 1130am, but it is still pouring rain, thunder and lightening, and high winds. I'm hoping it will calm down.

During that first tornado warning, they reported this morning there was an actual tornado on the ground northwest of us. Not sure of the damage yet though.

Heres to hoping it slows down a bit, since this kind of weather completely puts me on edge.

Hope everyone else is doing ok!

Hurry Up and STOP!!

hehe STOP!!! seems to be my most recent favorite word, along with NO!!! STOP THAT!!!!

These are usually directed at the new puppy. For those of you who aren't following me on Facebook, here is a picture of the growing little tyke.

This was taken when she was asleep in my arms the other day , for her afternoon nap. The snoring audio I took with it is funny as hell, but can't download that on blogger atm...( I don't know how)

Anyway, Nicole and I just finishing up our antibiotics for whatever that throat thing was that we had last week. When we thought we had passed it on to Chris, at that time we were wrong because by afternoon he felt fine. He woke up with a 101 degree temp yesterday though and is now home for his second day. He now has antibiotics too,so he is on the mend.

I don't think I have mentioned this in a while, but about a month or so before Christmas Nicole was complaining of her knee. It was slightly swollen and bruised. We took care of it, and within a few days it was gone. A few weeks later it occurred again so the doctor ordered an MRI. The doctor said the MRI was unremarkable except for a small Bakers Cyst behind her knee cap but he said that couldn't be causing her pain. Well her knee still hurt, so when her insurance changed I took her back to another family doctor that Nicole really liked and she referred us to a specialist. We FINALLY have this appointment on this Friday, the 12th. Nicole's knee is still hurting badly. Now there is a large hard knot on the back of her knee and she is complaining of it a lot more than she was, so this appointment can't come fast enough. Seems like it has taken forever. Please pray that all will go well.

I'm really excited that the third season of Army Wives started this past Sunday. I know I'm not one, but I know a few and they too are hooked on the show. Do any of you watch it? if not, what are you hooked on?

I've finally caught up on my reading. I'm only reading one book, but I"m almost done with it and am wanting to borrow Breaking Dawn from my friend, if not Nicole and I will start making our every other week trip to the library.

I will sign off now and go catch up on the blogs that I haven't been able to read lately. Hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week:))

This Just In

I can't believe it. It just isn't possible. I mean, come on kids - STOP GROWING UP SO DARN FAST!!!

No, I am not talking about Nicole. I'm talking about my cousins kids. First off, I receive this in the mail today:

Sorry if the picture of my cousin Tyler is a bit blurry, but I couldn't get our scanner to cooperate, so I took a picture of his picture with my phone...

Anyway, this is my cousin Alan's oldest son Tyler Anthony Oppenheimer. He graduates tomorrow evening. They live in Minnesota so I am unable to attend his graduation, but he will probably be receiving something in the mail from us within the next week or so!

However, I believe this is a hoax. It just isn't possible that he is old enough to graduate. I have pictures of me holding him when he was barely newborn! His younger brother Aaron isn't far behind him either. They are both growing into handsome, kind, and smart young men, but I'm not sure I can deal with this.

It is making it all the more difficult to handle because my cousin Julie also has two kids. Girls. Young ladies. Wow. I just have to stop suddenly when I think of these two as young ladies. I changed their diapers, and clothes. Fed them, rocked them to sleep, and played with them. Then gladly handed them back to their mom, but since I actually watched these two grow up, well lets just say I'm very proud of them too.

Mollie is on the left and Kimberly is on the right.

The girls just got out of school today. That makes Mollie officially a Senior. O.M.G! And that will be Kimberly in a few years also. Please, someone tell me when this happened!
Mollie is a killer on the volleyball court. Many college scouts have their eyes on her.

As for Kimberly, if you have ever heard of the Texas Girls Choir, well she is a wonderful part of it. She has an absolute beautiful voice.

Well thats it for today! I wish all recent graduates a big congratulations!

Thanks to Specials!

Ok, that title might not fit, but I couldn't think of anything else. First of all , here are the pics of Nicoles awards that I promised. She did not want to model them, so I just took pictures of them without her!

Ok, now for the topic of today.

I know all schools, public and private always need money. For books, the Arts, supplies, or whatever. Sometimes due to lack of money they start cutting classes, usually starting with music , or art class. They say the students can live without these. I'm definitely not one to agree with that statement.

To this day I remember my elementary music teacher, Ms. Doreen Baker, and how she got us involved in music. Now I had her for three years, from 3rd-6th, after I moved down here from Chicago. We went to music and PE - those were our extracuricular activities of the day. We had music just about every day if I remember.

During each school year, we always watched two movies. To this day I watch them whenever I can and can still remember words to alot of the songs. Thats because she drilled them into our brain after viewing the movies. The two movies were The Sound of Music and Calamity Jane.

The particular version of Calamity Jane that I'm talking about is with Doris Day as Calamity, and Howard Keel. Who reading this has ever seen it? I've included one of my favorite songs from that movie that I happened to find on YouTube. Watch it, then if you liked it, try and find the movie -I'm sure you can at Amazon.com!

Of course I love this song because shes talking about Illinois, but anywho....

I'm thankful that the school where Nicole goes teaches them art, music, computers and PE. I hope in the coming school year that other schools realize just how important music and other arts are to a child having a well rounded education. I hope their teachers inspire them to do great things, such as encouraging singing, drawing, instrument playing...

Do you have a fond memory of a favorite teacher? if so tell me! I'd love to hear about them:))

Also, please hop on over to this post on WWoW. ESPECIALLY if you are crafty, or know someone who is crafty. Hallie is asking all bloggers to unite in this cause that is near and dear to her heart. She will reveal more as August draws near, but for those who follow her on FB or read her blog regularly, should know what this auction might be going toward!

Hope everyone is having a great day! now you're done reading this, go tell me about your favorite teacher:)