Chuck, Chuck, Chuck

Tonight's the night. Bryce is alive and Chuck may or may not find out why Bryce sent him the Intersect. Of course, I'm talking about the NBC show, Chuck. I can't wait until it comes on. The previews looked really good.

Other happenings: Winnie and PJ spent another day outside the pen. Fritz snapped at Winnie and she yipped today. He didn't hurt her though. Well, he hurt her feelings. I took advantage of cyber monday and ordered a ink/paper kit for my new digital camera printer from Staples. There was no easy button - it took me an hour to buy the one little thing. They made me sign up for an online account and jump through all kinds of hoops. And it took forever with my dial up connection. I'm not sure free shipping was worth that.

I still have another day off! Yay!!!!!! I like taking these long vacations.

Sewing Project

I made a pillow for the puppies today for their box. I used the two-toned denim fabric I ordered some time ago for it. The blue side is showing. I didn't want the red showing, it's too much of an excitable color, I don't care if dogs are supposed to be color blind. The end result of the pillow project works. Winnie's sleeping in the box now, despite listening to American Idol Rewind which is highlighting all the bad auditions.

I took the puppies to Grandma's and Grandpa's today and they spent quite a bit of time sleeping on my lap. They are supposed to be paying attention to their grandparents, not me.

And the puppies have been out in the house today too. They spent an extra hour out today because I was watching golf and didn't want to miss any of it to feed Steffi and Fritz.

I think Fritz is doing better with his hair ball issue. I've been feeding him butter and dad went out to tractor supply this morning and I had him buy anything he could find that was formulated for hairballs. He came back with Science Diet catfood. But Fritz eats it too. He coughs a bit now but I think it might just be a sore throat issue.

Billy Ray's New Show

I found Billy Ray Cyrus' new show today and watched it. I was abhorred when I saw that Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey are producers on the show. They were responsible for some of the most insulting, disgusting parts of WCW wrestling. I certainly hope Billy Ray is taking all the necessary steps to protect himself and his family in this new venture.

Not Quite the Plan I Had

I had planned to get back on the diet and treadmill today, but my foot hurts. It's from standing around in walmart yesterday. And I had to go back today for grocery shopping. Plus, I have a headache - I think it's either a cold or sinuses. I tried to nap today and I think that made it worse.

The puppies were out of the pen today. More of the same with them. Fritz has a hairball I think. He coughed up one the other day and now he's coughing again. I gave him some butter so maybe that will help.

I saw a deer in the backyard today. So, one has survived deer season so far.

Money, Money, Money

I spent a lot today shopping. I got up at 3am to get ready for the 5am sale at walmart. Dad wanted to get there by 4am to find out where everything was and to get in line. They 'sold out' of the laptops within minutes (that's in quotes because there were three just sitting there on a counter but the employee said they were sold out. Obviously the employees bought those - not fair that the employees get theirs first, rather than the customers.) Speaking of the employees, they were running through the store with box cutters this morning. The blades were extended. What did we buy? At 5am, we got the SD cards that were on sale, the Garmin Travel unit, the portable dvd player, the $4.00 appliances, and the $29.00 sheets. I went back to Walmart around 7:30am, because as you know I had to go to town again anyway to get my package at the post office. This trip to walmart resulted in me spending about $435.00. I did Christmas shopping and shopping for me. I got my niece and nephew presents, my brother in law a present, mom and dad two presents each, I got Winnie and PJ a pet carrier (and they fit in this one), I bought another Kodak digital camera and printer bundle. I have a camera and printer, but I dropped the camera a while back and figured I should just buy one to have as a back up. I also bought the digital picture frame that was on sale and the new Bo Bice cd and a George Strait cd.

I haven't listened to the music yet. I put pictures on an sd card and hooked up the digital picture frame, then took a nap.

Winnie and PJ are out with the dogs again today. Fritz is still grouchy. Sometimes he's friendly and that confuses the puppies because they then think he's happy all the time.

My package at the post office? It was the sewing basket I ordered from Joann. I wasn't allowed to pick the pattern on the basket, but the one they sent me has cats on it, so it's not so bad.

Turkey Day

Well, Mom and Dad came up early and I let the puppies out. They've been out all day and Fritz is still growling and snapping. Hopefully after a few more days, he will settle down. For dinner, we had turkey, home made mashed potatoes, home made noodles, home made cranberry sauce, stove top stuffing, canned sweet potatoes, canned green beans, heinz gravy, and hot rolls. For dessert, dad made a chocolate cake and brought up some chocolate ice cream. After dinner, we all took naps. Dad had the spare bed, poor mom sat in the chair, and I got the couch with Winnie and PJ. Then Dad and I put plastic up on the windows in the family room to keep some of the cold air from blowing in, I got out my pre-lit Christmas tree for mom to use this year and sacked up their share of the leftovers and they went home.

We are planning to be at walmart by around 4am tomorrow morning to get dad's $4.00 coffee pot. LOL. There will be other things bought. But I think it's funnier to say we are going for the coffee pot. And yes, I know the sale doesn't start until 5am. Dad wants to get there early to find out where everything is going to be so we can get what we want before they sell out. I was hoping I would get to come home and stay home, but no. I have to go back out when the post office opens to pick up a package. So, while I'm out, I'll stop at the bank and then put more money on my prepaid credit card.

There were only two cooking related injuries today: I cut off a nail with my vegetable peeler and then I poked my hand with a knife while I was cutting up the potatoes. And a small matter of pride: the turkey was supposed to take 3 hours and 20 minutes to cook and the pop up timer thing popped up at exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes.

6 Days off - Now That's Something to Give Thanks For

Well, I'm off from work until Wednesday next week. Yay!! I've started with the Thanksgiving Dinner already. I made the cranberry sauce. The only problem is that I didn't have mandarin oranges to go in it. Mom is supposed to bring some up tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to turn the puppies loose in the house while Mom and Dad are here so they can watch Fritz. Maybe after being out for most of the day, the puppies will learn to ignore Fritz and Fritz will learn to not eat the puppies. Tonight I took them all outside, but had to bring them in early. The neighbor's new dog was up here at the house. Fritz chased it down the drive way, then Steffi followed. I had to go get them.

I've got a lot of cooking to do. I have to make the homemade noodles early tomorrow and then set out the rolls. The turkey breast is between 9 and 10 pounds so it will have to cook about 3 hours and 20 minutes I think (20 minutes a pound). It might have to go longer, it's still frozen, even though I set it down in the refrigerator Tuesday morning. I told mom and dad that we only needed some ice cream for dessert. I wasn't interested in eating cake or candy or cookies or anything. But mom said dad was making a cake for dessert. And I saw mom and dad at walmart tonight after work and they were buying ice cream for me. Yay!

Back Home

Well, Monday through Thursday I was at a work conference, far, far away from home. I got home Thursday and was so very happy to be home with my dogs, my cat, my bed and my pillow. Friday I went to work and then stopped at the bank and did a bit of shopping. I had to get money to put on my prepaid credit card so I could start Christmas Shopping. That's what I've been doing this weekend. I bought some things for Mom and Dad and for my sister and brother in law. I haven't started on their kids yet. I figure I can get some of those things locally.

Dad dogsat for me this week and he took the puppies out for their walks and kept up with the puppy pads and even took Fritz out for a walk all his own.

Today, dad said he was going to the day after thanksgiving sale at walmart so he could get a $4.00 coffee pot to keep here at my house. I wasn't going to go to the sale, but I figure since Dad is going, I can go with him. I have to figure out what I'm going to buy. If I wanted to spend a lot of money, I could. I've been wanting a laptop and they have one that I would buy. But, I've heard that with Vista, you pretty much have to get a new printer and other new stuff. Not to mention that with a laptop, you have to buy things like batteries and other accessories. I don't know if I want to go down that road of having to keep buying stuff.

As Requested

I was tagged by Kari to compile a list of courses I would take to fix my life. Here are the rules:
"Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take. Tag five."

So my list would be:
1. Classical Mythology - This is from Kari's list and I would take this class only if real life male models were used for illustrative purposes. LOL. Not sure how this would fix my life, but I wouldn't be bored.

2. Donald Trump's Guide to Making Money - I have a nice nest egg put aside but I would like to turn it into Millions. Well, I'd settle for just one measly Million.

3. Denise Austin's How to Get Fit and Stay There - I was there once and I'd really like to go back.

4. The Lazy Owner's Guide to Training Your Canine Pets - Winnie and PJ need to learn to come when they are called. And Fritz needs to learn to get along with the puppies. Techniques would also work on the human male variety.

5. Self-Hypnosis and You - If Denise Austin's class doesn't stick with me, I can hypnotize myself into working out every day and not overeating.

6. Learn to Speak Spanish - I really need a class to be able to learn Spanish. It will come in handy for the next class.......

7. Spain on $100 a Day - I keep saying that some day I will move to Spain. So, it would be smart to take a class to get me prepared. And if I meet a really handsome and successful Spaniard, I can use hypnosis techniques learned in my Self-hypnosis class on him :)

8. Shy Away From Shyness - If I ever want to actually say something to guys like Sergio Garcia when I'm at a tournament, then I would need to get rid of my shyness and speak out. Those who read my blogs are no doubt stunned that I am not this outspoken in my other life.

Now, I have no idea who I would tag to keep this going. I'll have to think on that.......

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Winnie and PJ are getting into the Christmas Spirit. They have already given me their Christmas Wish list. It includes doggie treats and the Official 2006 Ryder Cup DVD (they have to watch their honorary daddies win).

Golf Day

Well, today I spent much of the day watching or listening to golf on tv. I dyed my hair this morning and then worked on some sewing. I made the puppies Christmas outfits. I just need to sew on some velcro and then I'll take some pictures. I made Winnie a harness out of blue corduroy. I sewed a strip of yellow ribbon down the center. The blue and yellow theme is supposed to be for the European Ryder Cup team, but I'm sure those poeple here locally will believe Winnie is a WVU fan. Not. We don't like WVU in this house. I also took the puppies out for a walk. PJ got away from me but luckily she was chasing after Fritz so I was able to call Fritz to me and snag PJ's leash as she ran by. It was cold today. I'm glad PJ had her coat.

I've been chatting with Scarlett about dieting. I told her that I might have to give up cooking for Lent and start Lent early, like January 1. I've been watching the LPGA tour and some of those golfers look really fit. I think I need to find a Paula Creamer poster to hang up for inspiration.

I went through my box of unread romance novels and picked out 6 to take with me to the conference this week. I don't think I'll be able to read all of them, but at least I'll be prepared.

Yiippeeee It's Friday!!!!!

I had a busy day off today. I had to travel to another county to get my drivers license renewed - better picture now but I still hate having my picture taken. Then I came home and helped dad take the big air conditioner out of the window on the porch. It's closed off all the time so it didn't matter to me if he took the a/c out or not. I never used it. After that, I went to the bank, shopped at a couple of stores, ate at the Pizza Hut buffet, did the walmart thing, stopped by Krogers and then came home. After I put away the groceries, I started playing with the fabric I ordered. Dad brought it up today and I set out to make the steering wheel cover for my car. It turned out really well. I could have gotten the elastic a little tighter but it works so I'm happy.

One thing I am not happy about is my weight. I weighed myself this morning because of getting my license renewed. I weigh entirely too much. I will have to rededicate myself to working out and dieting come January. I will try to limit the damage until January but this coming week is the conference for work - there's no diet food at the resort, then the following week is Thanksgiving - no diet food there. I'll have a few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas so hopefully I can do something about my weight during those weeks.

On tap for tomorrow - dying my hair, watching golf, playing with more of my fabric and with the puppies. Sunday is the trip to mom and dad's and monday evening I head out for the conference. Sometime this weekend I need to type up the care instructions for the dogs. I wrote them for mom and dad for when they dogsit for me this coming week.

Brrrr...............

Well, they're talking snow on the news. Just flurries and some light snow in the mountains. Why can't it just be 70 mildly warm degrees all year around?

The puppies have not liked it that I've gone back to work this week. They have taken great pains to shred puppy pads these last couple of days.

I watched Chuck last night. Found out that Bryce got Chuck kicked out of Stanford to save him from a career in the CIA - Chuck was too nice of a guy and Bryce didn't want to see him get hurt. At the end of the show, Chuck said that maybe they would find out why Bryce sent the Intersect to him. I think that's pretty obvious - the Intersect in the wrong hands could hurt many, many people. But the intersect in Chuck's brain will only be used by Chuck and his humanity. Chuck has ethics whereas the government types controlling the Intersect probably don't. I hope this show comes out on dvd so I can get it.

I guess the writers' strike will be affecting tv viewing for millions. I tend to have the tv on the golf channel, tennis channel, or the history channel - something like that. I did see a joke somewhere - it said something like "the writers are picketing and holding up their signs, but shouldn't the signs be blank?" Heehee.

I let my Tracfone go dead again by forgetting to buy the stupid year long card of minutes. This time, I got a card that would bring my renewal date to 12/20/07. Surely to goodness I will remember to buy a stupid tracfone card on my birthday every year and not let the phone go dead. At least I didn't lose any of my minutes/units. And I didn't lose my phone number. I could have done with a better phone number. It's not mathematically harmonious. I probably wouldn't forget to buy these cards if I actually used my cell phone.

A quiet Sunday

Not too much is going on today. I took the puppies to see their Grandma and Grandpa this morning. Cleaned their pen and nursery this morning. Did a load of laundry. Ate a pan of brownies. Re-read parts of Winter Roses. Researched sewing machines online. Took the puppies for their walk this afternoon. Fritz threw up again this evening. He's been eating dirt and grass and leaves and stuff. I think I'm going to have to give him some vitamins or something. I got my car insurance bill from the AARP-related insurance that dad signed my car up for. Mine is $1008.00 for a year for one vehicle. Dad's is $1169.00 for two vehicles. How fair is that? And his vehicles are newer than mine. It's all because I drive more than he does. I drive 10 miles a day and he doesn't. I cleaned off the dining room table and dusted it to get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. We are doing Thanksgiving at my house, and Christmas at Mom and Dad's.

I know it seems like I'm wishing my life away, but I only work 4 days this week and then I'll have about 4 days off. I am really looking forward to those 4 days off. Unfortunately, the fourth day will be ruined because of work. I have to go to a conference that starts Tuesday the 13th. Well, my ride is going to the conference site the night before so that means part of my day off Monday will be ruined because that evening will be spent traveling to the conference site. I bought a book light and I'm bringing a stack of romance novels to read. I can read in the car on the way to the conference.

Garden of Eden

On History International there was a show about the search for the Garden of Eden. One scholar suggested that the Garden of Eden was flooded by the melting ice from the end of the ice age. Another said that when the Bible said Adam and Eve could never return, it was really a metaphor for the evolution of the hunter-gatherer society which had learned agriculture and left their nomadic ways behind.

So, in essence, it could be surmised that the Adam and Eve story in the Bible could be a prophetic-type warning about the dangers of global warming.

Winter Roses

I just finished reading the new Diana Palmer book, Winter Roses. I'm going to have to read it again because it's so unexpected. Usually, her male leads are mean to the female leads for most of the book. But this guy was in love with her the whole time. It was so refreshing.

Ugh, Depressing

A commercial just pointed out that 1987 was 20 years ago! My sister graduated in 1986! I was a freshman in high school! This is too depressing.

I went to the store this morning. This wait another week for daylight saving time to end sucks. It was pitch dark at 7am this morning. I wonder how many kids got hit by cars while waiting for school buses because some lobbyist somewhere paid off Congress to change the dates of Daylight Savings Time.

At walmart, I bought this Singer QuickSew thing. It's a hand held sewing machine. I've broken two needles so far. I think if I want a sewing machine, I will have to get a real one. Winnie and PJ would like for their mommy to make them pretty things to wear :)

I got the new Diana Palmer book today in the mail. I'm going to read it. I just don't know when. Probably tonight and I'll end up staying up late.

I took the puppies out for a walk today. They spent a lot of time out there sniffing around and finding things to chew on. PJ had runny poo last night so I did what people on the internet suggested - withhold food for 12 hours and then feed her bland food, like boiled chicken. I had boiled turkey so she got that. I think she's better today. I did get up at 1am last night to check on her.

I still haven't gotten the credit report I requested back at the beginning of September. They said the agency had 3 weeks to process the request. Well, it's been about 8. Bunch of lazy people.

Money, Money

My prepaid credit card has been confusing for the last few days. There for a while, the daily balance email matched my records. Then the other day, it stopped matching. So, I finally went back through three months worth of transaction history online and found what I think happened. I have a pre-order with Amazon that hasn't shipped yet. So, that purchase amount should not have been taken off the card. But apparently it was for a while since the online account's balance matched my own records. Now I think they added that pre-order purchase amount back onto the card.

Speaking of my card, I ordered some fabric online the other day. Some to make harnesses and coats for Winnie and PJ and a small piece to try to make a steering wheel cover for my car. I can't find maroon colored steering wheel covers anywhere here in town so I bought some burgundy (close to maroon) corduroy and plan to try to make a cover. I got some elastic this morning at walmart to use with it. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I also found a dog carrier that's bigger than the one I currently have. It's nylon, like those pop-up cat cubes and laundry baskets so I don't know how good it will be, but I ordered it. Winnie and PJ would like a little more room than they currently have in their carrier.

I've let PJ out into the living room for the past few evenings so she and Fritz could learn to get along. There are times when he will just kiss her and kiss her :) Then there are times when he will growl and snap at her :( I didn't let her out tonight because Fritz threw up again. He had dirt or something in it tonight. I don't know what he ate but he had to have found it this evening when I let him out after coming home.

Winnie and PJ have also been for walks outside these last couple of days. I figure they should get out as much as they can before it turns really cold.

Tonight is Trick or Treat night in my county. I don't get any Trick or Treaters but Mom and Dad might. They didn't last year but you never know.

Well, I missed Chuck last night because I was watching/listening to tennis on the Tennis Channel. I may just have to get the season dvd of Chuck.

A Funny Winnie Story

Yesterday morning, I had the tv on ESPN and the Kianna's Workout show. Well, there was a muscular man on there using some exercise equipment. Winnie looked at the tv and just started barking and barking. She did not like that man. I had to change the channel to get her to stop barking. At least she knows what's important at my house - the TV. LOL

Justice League

I've been reading the spoilers about the upcoming Justice League movie and it looks like this is going to be a pretty good movie. It's supposed to have Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in it. I would think this should be bigger than Spiderman.

Dreary Day

Well, it's chilly and wet and dreary out there today. I've done very little around the house. I hand-washed some clothes, cleaned the puppies' pen area, ate too much, didn't work out. I had to take the puppies outside. They saw me with my shoes on and just went nuts, jumping and crying, wanting to go out. So, I took them out. They jumped all over fritz and he growled and snapped at them. Why didn't he run away from the puppies? That's a good question. I don't have the answer to it. PJ rolled and rolled in the yard and got her pretty coat dirty. I've got it soaking in laundry detergent now. I also sewed the velcro on her coat. It was coming off today. And I sewed the other Spanish flag on Winnie's harness.

I watched a couple episodes of the new season of Digging for the Truth, with that Hunter Ellis guy hosting. Took a couple of naps.

Big Day

Well, I went shopping. I finally found a few shirts and a set of sweat pants at walmart. And a pair of boots that will undoubtedly break my neck until I get used to them. I have never been so tall as I am in those boots.

I ate at Subway while I was out so my diet is still good. But I didn't work out today. Instead, when I got home I went straight to bed and took about a 3 hour nap. I bet you I'll still go to bed at 9m tonight too. I'm hoping all the walking around I did while I was shopping will serve as my workout for today.

Interesting bit: The sales clerk at Fashion Bug greeted me as I entered the store and pointed me to the skinny clothes :)

#1 Rule of Email Etiquette

Do not send a large attachment without first asking for the recipient's permission!!!!!!!!

Someone I know tied up my computer for over a half an hour trying to send me video of the Tim Conway Dentist sketch. I have a freakin' dial up connection! I can't do video.

I went to my email provider's main site and deleted the email from there so it would no longer try to be sent to me.

My computer has been slow all evening so I think I'm going to have to run all the scans, ad ware and virus scans.

Worked out, but kinda didn't

Tonight instead of the treadmill, I did my pilates dvd. My calf muscle was sore - like after you have a charley horse. So, I thought stretching with pilates would be better for me than walking pretty fast on the treadmill. I don't think I burned very many calories, but pilates does tone and build a little muscle so it will help overall.

I'm very happy to have a three day weekend. I'm looking forward to shopping, even though shopping for me usually means "I'm not paying $15.00 for a pair of pants."

After I got home tonight, I remembered that I had to do something at work. I wonder if I will remember it on Monday.

I don't know what I'm going to do with my weekend, other than the shopping. I made a list while I was at work, but who knows if I'll follow it. This extra day off is supposed to be in celebration of the end of jury duty. Chores don't equate to a celebration in my book.

Yet Another Day

Yet another day on the diet and treadmill. I'm a little hungry tonight though. I think I'm about 100 calories or more short on my supper. I ate a can of condensed chicken noodle soup. It's in no way 350 calories.

One more day at work and then I get three days off. I'm taking Friday off. I was planning to go shopping that day even though they say it's going to rain. Walmart has a roof so the rain shouldn't be a problem - LOL.

. . . . . . . . . .

Well, I just checked the label on the soup can. 175 calories. I need to eat a little more tonight.

Keeping Up

I got back on the diet and treadmill yesterday and kept up with it today too.

It's finally raining here after months of little rain.

Fritz has been keeping his food down so I think whatever was wrong with him is over. I do try to slow him down when he's eating.

I got the newest issue of the Paula Deen magazine in the mail today. She's got a recipe in there for gumdrop cookies. Somehow I don't think gumdrops and cookies go together.

Sunday Too Short

What have I done today? Laundry, went to mom and dad's with Winnie and PJ, made PJ's coat, took the puppies for a walk, watched a little tennis and a little golf, finished up my christmas wish list and emailed it to mom and my sister. What's missing? Working out. I didn't do that today. Soon, I'll be going to clean my bathtub. Fritz has managed to keep some food down today. I read on the internet that it could be due to eating too fast. So, I only fed him a little bit this morning, a little bit more around 11am, and then a little bit tonight for supper. Hopefully, he isn't sick, just speedy.

Big sports news: David Nalbandian beat Roger Federer in Madrid. I'll have to watch that tonight. They have the re-air at 8pm on the Tennis Channel.

PJ's New Coat

PJ loves to show her pride in her honorary daddy's (Jose Maria Olazabal) Spanish heritage and legendary role on the European Ryder Cup Team. I made this coat today with my own very sore fingers, except for the flag - I bought that from a company online.

Odds and Ends

Well, I started making another coat for PJ today. This one is a bit bigger than her other one. I didn't finish it because I wanted to see the golf course the European PGA Tour is playing this week in Portugal, because I needed a nap, because I had to work out, because I took the dogs out for a walk.

Fritz has been throwing up his food lately. I think he keeps doing it because he eats what he's thrown up - probably keeping the illness in his tummy. When I'm home I pick up what he throws up. He might get some chicken soup tomorrow. maybe if I feed him in small quantities he won't throw up.

I've been working on my Christmas Wish List. I added a bunch of stuff tonight to it. I try to have a wide price range and this time it's taken a bit of an effort to find a variety of items to add to the list. There isn't much that I desperately want this year. Well, except for the 2006 Ryder Cup dvd - how can I not have a dvd of Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal's shining moments? I would like a 2007 Rafael Nadal calendar if they are making them. I found the 2006 calendar I think on his website.

It's Friday!!!!!!!

Yay!!! Next week I have friday off so it's only a four day week. It's about time for a break. I worked out again and stuck to my diet today :)

I got the books I ordered from Harlequin today and apparently dad was up to the house when I was at work. He brought me a piece of plywood so I could block the hole the puppies have chewed into the baby gate. And he picked the pods from the Hummingbird vine I have out back. He wants a vine for his house. I googled the pods to see what I had to do with them. Dry them, remove the seeds, put the seeds in an airtight bag, put the bag in an airtight container, put the container in the fridge and leave it there for a minimum of three months. Then plant the seeds in the spring.

I got the Spanish flag patches I ordered for the puppies' coat and harness today. I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do with them. I don't know if a needle will go through them to sew them on and I would hate to iron them on and then find out I don't want them on that harness or that coat. I wouldn't be able to remove them.

Another Day ...

Another day on the diet and treadmill. yay for me.

I apparently finally got the harassing calls to stop. The better business bureau received a response from the company after they had closed the complaint, so they opened it back up and sent me the response. An attorney for the company says the company won't call me again regarding any 'alleged debt i may owe' and it 'apologizes for any misunderstanding' - I think that's legal talk for "I'm saying alleged debt so you can't say the company harassed an innocent person, but I'm also saying we screwed up and called you by mistake."

I still haven't gotten my credit report that I requested over a month ago. I'd hate to have to complain about them too.

Day Three

Yep, I made it another day on the diet and treamill. But I think I need either more iron or more protein. I've taken some deli thin sliced turkey breast out of the freezer and put it in the fridge so I can snack on it in the evenings.

I've been watching tennis this week. Thanks to the tennis channel, I can watch it in the mornings before I go to work and in the evenings too. But tomorrow I think there's a golf thing on that I want to watch.

Two Perfect Days

Yesterday I stuck to a diet and worked out. Today I stuck to a diet and worked out. So, I call those two perfect days. Is the diet perfect? No. I still eat a ton of gobstoppers candy at work which adds a bunch of calories. But, I'm not snacking a bunch in the evenings, not making home made brownies, not eating that deli pizza from walmart. I'm going to try to cut down on the gobstoppers.

As for the working out, I think I'm walking too fast on the treadmill. My goal has been 400 calories/workout. I exceeded it yesterday but didn't quite make it today. My knees are feeling the workouts. My left knee has had problems for months because of the way I sit at work, with the left foot propped up on the right knee. And my feet are hurting a bit too. They aren't used to the workouts and they are flat feet to boot. I do have insoles in my shoes but I think they are worn out.

The puppies went out for a walk yesterday but not today. It was sprinkling today and I didn't want to stand around in the rain while they sniffed dirt for ten minutes. I let them out into the living room tonight for a while. They tormented Fritz and he growled and snarled. Both puppies at one time is just too much for Fritz. The puppies did get to run circles so I'm sure they will sleep pretty soundly tonight.

I noticed tonight that Amazon.com has finally taken the money for my September order off my prepaid credit card. I'm going to have to check to see if that means they are shipping my order out. They aren't supposed to ship until mid-November but the book that's holding the order up is already out. So, I don't see why they can't go ahead and send me my order.

Too Little Time

Weekends need to be three days long, not two. I would really like to have another day to just lay around the house. But we are coming up on vacation and holiday seasons so I'll have some extra time off in November and December.

Winnie and PJ went to their grandparents' house today. They played and ate treats and slept. It was cold at grandma's and grandpa's. They haven't lit the pilot light on their furnace yet. And they had a bathroom window open. It was only probably 40 degrees outside this morning.

I had to help dad load that freezer this morning and then unload it at his house. And mom sewed on PJ's coat today. I think sewing machines are more trouble than they are worth. It took mom an hour. She kept breaking the thread, her bobbins wouldn't work. I would have said "to heck with this, I'll sew it by hand" after just a couple of minutes. Then when mom tried to sew down the velcro (by hand) she bent one needle and broke another.

I've been watching tennis and golf this weekend. Tennis - a russian woman beat Serena Williams to win the event, and in golf Angel Cabrera nearly won the HSBC World Matchplay event in England. Good thing I have the tennis channel. Every time the golf announcers mentioned Tiger Woods, I would change the channel. On my tv, the tennis channel is just one notch down from the golf channel so it was an easy press of the button to escape TigerFest.

Gotcha

Those funny pranksters at the courthouse pulled a little joke on me it seems. Friday, I got a letter telling me to report to magistrate court jury duty on the 18th. Well, I checked my phone messages on Friday when I got in the house, and the prosecutor's office called and said I didn't have to report on the 18th. I will be very glad when this is completely over. I have not been impressed with the competency level of the people involved in running the jury duty.

Today I made a little coat for PJ. She was getting cold when we would go out for our walks. The coat is a little small so the next one I or Mom makes will have to be made a bit larger.

I went to the store this morning. It was cold and foggy, but I got home by 8am. Dad made me go to an estate auction this evening. He wanted me to help him load a freezer he bought. Well, I sat there for about an hour in the truck. He went back to the auction and waited until they were done and bought more stuff! We didn't even get the freezer. We have to go back tomorrow morning and get it. I really don't like how his auction hobby is stealing my time. I don't make him read my romance novels.

Lapcat got into some kind of fight this morning. Her ear was bleeding. The poor thing. It stopped bleeding after a while. The neighbors should keep their pets at home.

Winnie is trying my patience. She is tearing up puppy pads all over the floor. Brand new ones that I just put down. It's getting pretty frustrating. There is puppy pad cotton dust all over the floor now. It looks like snow. Of course, this isn't anything compared to the puppies tearing up the carpet. They are pulling it up by the mouthfuls. If I ever buy a house, it will have hardwood or tile floors, even if I have to put them in before I move in.

Here's the Harness I Sewed for Winnie

She doesn't growl or snap at me when I put it on her or take it off of her so I say this was successful, even though my fingers are sore from pushing the sewing needle through the fabric and sticking myself with the needle. I took it to Mom and Dad's this morning and showed Mom. She was impressed and cut a pattern for a harness out of newspaper. I think she might try to make one too. Her's will probably look a bit better since she'll probably use the sewing machine.

By the way, do you see how much hair Winnie has grown? I can't wait until she gets all of her hair.

Saturday in Town

Well, I went to the Tractor Supply store. They are cheaper on some things than the other farm store in town. And they had some cute toys. I think they were still in the process of stocking some things. I went to the other farm store too. Bought another kind of harness for Winnie - didn't do any good. She didn't like that one either. Ate lunch at Ponderosa and then went to Walmart. Couldn't get near the free sample table of the adopt a pet thing. Apparently, the friends and family of the people who were doing the adopt a pet event stopped by to chit-chat. The dogs and cats were cute, but I have four dogs and a cat. I don't need any more. I got home and spent the rest of the day making a harness for Winnie. I actually sewed it by hand. Not that I would have used a machine, don't have one and don't know how to use one. It turned out pretty good and it worked. I got it on Winnie and we went out. She did growl when I tried to take it off of her. I hope that doesn't mean she's boycotting it now. It's a velcro harness like her old one. I made it out of a pair of my old fat jeans. I think she liked that it smelled like me. I'll have to take a picture of it to post on here. Hopefully, she will be wearing it in the picture. The sewing itself wasn't too great, but it should hold together. I'm going to take it to show mom tomorrow. Then she will have no excuse for not making me more of them if I should want them. If I can do it by hand, she should be able to whip one up in mere minutes on her sewing machine. I gave Winnie and PJ a bath tonight. They've been needing one I think. And mom said she wanted to take pictures of them tomorrow because they were getting so big.

I have a feeling I'm going to develop a big-time headache. I had diet pop today at Ponderosa, not caffeine free diet.

An Extra Day Off, but ......

Well, I get Monday off from work - yay!! BUT, I got a call from the jury duty folks - I have to report to jury duty on Tuesday. I will be so glad when that's over.

The Better Business Bureau closed my complaint today because the harassing phone call people wouldn't respond to them. Proof, I think, that these people are nothing but crooks. Certainly not legitimate businesspeople who are trying to make an honest buck - if they were legitimate then they would be trying to resolve complaints, not ignore them.

Winnie threw a fit over her harness, so she didn't get to go out tonight with PJ. PJ and I went out and left Winnie in the pen. I hated to do it, but maybe Winnie will learn to let me put the harness on her. I think PJ prefers to do #2 outside.

I think I'm going to go to town late tomorrow and check out the new Tractor Supply store. Also, tomorrow at Walmart they are having an adopt a pet day starting at 11 am. I think I want to check that out. I can't adopt a pet, but they are giving away free samples of stuff.

Another Episode Watched

I watched Chuck again last night. I gave up the re-air of the Jennifer Garner episode of the Martha Stewart Show to watch Chuck. I don't know if the holes in the story are going to bother me. One hole - I'm sure most ISPs or Email providers have copies of email stored on their servers for a period of time (I figure there's some supersecret section of the Patriot Act that probably demands they do this) so the government could have gone to Chuck's email provider and gotten a copy of the email that Bryce sent to him. I also wonder if we are ever going to find out why Bryce allegedly turned. I don't think he did.

I saw on Fark.com that the Cavemen show is supposed to be on tonight. I don't think I'm going to watch that. But it depends on what else is on.

Winnie fought me over her really good harness tonight. I had to put the velcro harness on her. She's going to have to get over her temper.

Weekend is Just Too Short

I took the puppies to mom and dad's today. They got to cuddle and lay on laps. The puppies, not my parents. I woke up with a headache. I took some sinus medication, then some tylenol and it didn't help. I napped at mom and dad's and ate some of their chocolate candy and the headache went away. It shouldn't have been a caffeine headache since my multi-vitamin has caffeine in it. But who knows. I got home and did some work outside the house while the puppies slept. Then I watched some of the Presidents Cup coverage and some Women's Tennis, and went and took a nap. I finally got on the treadmill and tried out my workout cd I made. It works really well, I ended up on the treadmill for an hour and only got off the treadmill when I heard the dogs making noise. I thought maybe Winnie had escaped the pen, but it was just Steffi coughing. I fed the dogs and then did my pilates dvd. An interesting note about the pilates: mom cut my hair today and she said that either I was growing or she was shrinking. The pilates has stretched me out and improved my posture.

I could really use about a week off. I'm still all blah from last week's work. It's hard to take time off when I don't know from one week to the next if I'll be forced to attend jury duty. At least we have Columbus Day coming up and I'll get a three day weekend.

I did it

Well, I updated the sidebar links a bit. Though I did a bit of tweaking, I tried to leave the blogs alone, even the ones that lead to nowhere now. I think it's a tribute to those friends I've made since starting this blog. Maybe someday they will come back for a visit and send me a quick email to let me know how they are doing.

Way Too Much

I ate way too much tonight for supper. I ate pizza and a couple of donuts. Someone put a lemon filled jelly donut in with the raspberry ones. Guess who got the yucky lemon one - yep, me. Well, I ate so much because I am very happy that it's Friday. Work was aggravating this week. Not bad, just aggravating. One week out of the year, everyone tries to get a year's worth of work done, and that was this week. We have a big audit coming up and the audit period ends at the end of September.

The Secretary of State for WV sent me a little postcard alleging that the information I submitted with my voter's registration application was incomplete - I haven't voted since 1992. I want them to lose my registration, not renew it. They want me to supply the information but I don't think I will. This must be how I ended up on jury duty. Those idiots over the voters registration records aren't following the law and marking my registration inactive like they are supposed to. It's also how WV became known for its dead voting population.

Speaking of jury duty, next week there was supposed to be a murder trial (yes another one) in my sleepy little town, but it got postponed to November. My time on jury duty ends at the end of October. Yay. I don't know if there will be another trial next week taking the place of the murder trial, so I'm not celebrating or anything.

I watched one of the new tv shows on the networks this week. Chuck on NBC. It's a good concept, not as funny as you might think it would be. I'll watch it again just to see what happens to Chuck. Moonlight is on tonight. If I can stay up past 9pm, I might watch it.

I have been completely derailed from writing my next novel. I started reading Diana Palmer's novels again and now I fear I will have to go through my whole collection before getting back to the romance novel I started writing.

Puppy Update - Fritz and Winnie are actually playing with each other tonight. There was one really bad episode of vicious growling from Fritz but they seemed to get over it.

There is too much golf on this weekend. I know, why would I say something like that. But, there's the Presidents Cup, the Seve Trophy, LPGA golf, and a PGA Tour event. I don't know what I'm going to do. I do know I'l be missing some of something tomorrow while I dye my hair. It's that time again.

And I've played my pilates dvd twice this week. Yes, I followed along and did the pilates too. The pizza and donuts tonight didn't do anything good for me there.

I think I'm going to have to review all the links over in the sidebar. I think some of them are dead. And they say what you put on the web lasts forever. LOL

Troubles

Winnie is now an expert at escaping the pen and getting loose in the house. Fritz growls and snarls and I swear he would bite her. I was afraid to leave them this morning. I put them in the nursery and folded up the pen so Winnie wouldn't have the opportunity to get out but it still worried me. I was on the way to work when I turned around and came home. I put Winnie and PJ in the bathroom and then called mom and dad and asked if they would come up and check on the puppies today. I don't know what I'm going to do with Fritz. I guess this weekend when I'm home all day, I'll have to work on his hostility. I'm thinking of taking him and the puppies to mom and dad's house and putting them together there - on neutral territory.

I'm still getting the harrassing calls. Now I'm getting a live person who just keeps saying "hello" over and over again. I guess these people don't think anyone in America works - that we all just sit at home not answering our phones. Quite a few people have filed complaints with the FCC so obviously the FCC doesn't do anything to help consumers. They are too busy protecting us from naked singers on TV.

bad news, maybe good news

Bad news: the first editor I chose to send book #2 to rejected it. But there are other people to submit the book to so I'll have to look into that this weekend.

Maybe good news: I haven't had the annoying phone calls in three days. Maybe the Better Business Bureau thing worked.

I bought new harnesses for Winnie and PJ today. PJ let me put hers on her, but Winnie threw a fit so she got her velcro harness. Took them outside and winnie came out of her velcro harness again. I told mom she might have to sew a snap on it.

The puppies have been allowed access to their indoor pen during the work days. winnie was escaping anyway so I let her in there and then after a couple of days, I decided pj could join her. I think I might have to tape down puppy pads in the indoor pen for the overnight hours. Winnie escaped the nursery to the pen early this morning. I hard her barking and had to get up early to check on her.

This weekend I will be on a mouse hunting mission. For some reason the mouse I have isn't tempted by the mouse traps. I will have to try harder with the traps.

I recorded another cd of music, this time in mp3 format, and it still won't play in my portable cd player. I haven't tried it in the dvd player - I've got my pilates dvd in there.

I did the pilates dvd twice this week. Then on wednesday we had an appreciation day dinner at work and tonight I stopped at walmart and got a couple of cheese and pepperoni rolls for supper. But for the most part, my diet's been pretty decent this week.

A Fine Line, or Thread

I was in Walmart the other evening and a girl ran past me. She had to be late teens early twenties in age. The first thing I noticed was her cranberry red silk underwear. Then I noticed her sweatpants hanging about 5 inches too low off her butt. To solve the problem of draftiness, the girl tried to pull her shirt down. I understand hiphugging pants are fashionable, but these weren't made for that. If they had been, there wouldn't have been such a gap between her crotch area and the seam of the pants. Her pants were falling off of her. I'm sure the employees will get a kick out of watching her on the surveillance camera tapes. I bet that's what the walmart employees do at their christmas party - a blooper reel of customers from the surveillance tapes.

Free As A Bird!

I took Winnie and PJ out for a walk today. Winnie saw Fritz and wiggled out of her harness and ran after him. Luckily he just stood there and growled at her and when he did finally run, it was to the house. I put PJ in the outside pen and then started after Winnie but by that time she had come to us - checking out PJ in the pen. So, Winnie got put in the pen and I climbed in and put the harness back on her. Then we continued on our walk.

They have been undergoing remedial puppy pad training. They use the puppy pads when they are in their nursery and when they are at their Grandma's and Grandpa's. But when they are in the indoor pen, they prefer the carpet, and then the shower curtain I used to cover the carpet. So, now I'm bribing them with treats. It works some. PJ will now come and look at me when she does something on the puppy pad because she knows she will get a treat.

I had to order the next size up in harnesses for Winnie. Grandpa feeds her way too many treats and she's growing out of the harness she has. I guess I'll give PJ Winnie's old one. It's maybe a few centimeters larger than PJ's though they are supposed to be the same size.

I ordered about 5 or 6 romance novels today from Amazon. All of them but one I could have gotten from Eharlequin.com so I had to go to Amazon and do the $25.00/free shipping thing. Unfortunately, that means I won't get my books until late November. And one of them is the next Diana Palmer book. It's going to be hard waiting that long to read her new book, especially when people on her website already have it and have read it.

I finally got around to playing with the cd burner on my computer. I've only had my computer for 2 years. I got all my cds and downloaded fast, up-tempo country songs, then burned some of them onto a rw cd I have to make a workout cd. The cd won't play in my cd/radio/cassette player, but it will play on my dvd player, so I can turn my tv and dvd player on while I'm on the treadmill and play this cd. Hopefully, I'll actually get ON the treadmill someday and play this cd. I'm so lazy anymore. I blame the puppies and the remedial training. I have to stick close to them in the evenings. In the Lakeside Collection catalog, they have an mp3 player and docking station for $49.95 and they claim it will hold up to 127 songs. It's 512 MB. Well, the cd I used today says it's 650 MB and it doesn't hold 127 songs. I think it might have something to do with compressing files. I haven't fooled around with that yet.

The saga of the harassing phone calls continues. The Better Business Bureau forwarded my complaint to the head company and they have 22 days to respond. Hopefully, they will realize that I'm not the person they want and they will stop calling me.

The people in control of jury duty cheated me out of some money. I'm supposed to get mileage from home to the courthouse, round trip. Well, the last time I had to report, the judge sent us away and told us to come back at 2pm. That would mean another trip to and from the courthouse. I should have gotten two trips of mileage. But they only paid me for one. I knew they would because they weren't making any effort to note who was told to leave and come back. I'm not impressed with the people who work at the courthouse. Well, except for my friend Jenny. She works part time in the assessor's office.

My third romance novel that I'm writing isn't coming along very well. It's pretty slow in fact. I think I'm taking a break after working on the other two. But I need to get this one done because I have a good idea for another book. Again, I blame remedial puppy pad training. I figure I can blame the puppy pad training on a lot of things. LOL. But, on the positive side, I'm getting to watch tv when I would otherwise be ignoring the TV and playing on the internet or working out on the treadmill. And I won't go into all the scratches I've got from the puppies playing on me. If only they would let me cut their nails.......

Continuing on the Religious Theme

I mentioned to a co-worker today how happy I was to see that Martha Stewart's new season of tv shows had started. The co-worker squinted her eyes and I actually felt animosity radiating from her. She said she didn't understand how people who do wrong would be allowed to prosper. That it shouldn't happen. I got the feeling that she felt that it was some kind of injustice that Martha had the show and the company and the co-worker could barely make ends meet and had debts. The co-worker quotes the bible and plays religious music and goes to church and grew up in the church.

I think she would have a happier, more peaceful life if she understood and accepted that we have the lives God wants us to have. And if he wants Martha Stewart to use her fame to employ hundreds or thousands of people, to communicate messages to the masses, and to provide money she earns to charitable causes, then that's what he wants for her. If he wants the co-worker to have to struggle to make ends meet, then that's his plan for that co-worker. I don't think the co-worker sees the other side - if Martha didn't prosper after doing wrong, what a waste of an opportunity that would be. She has the name, the work ethic, and the intelligence to impact so many people.

I also thought that maybe so many 'bad' things happen to the co-worker and her family because they don't quite get what God's trying to teach them. So, he keeps providing them with opportunities to learn and grow.

Yes, today I got the definite impression the co-worker is a 'cut the baby in half' kind of person instead of the 'turn the other cheek, meek shall inherit the earth' kind. Definitely too much old testament for her.

Religious Tolerance

I had an interesting experience the other day at work. I was talking to some co-workers about the Wiccan who did whatever he did religiously to win the lottery. I thought I lived in a somewhat tolerant age, but two of the co-workers, devoutly christian, not only seemed very opposed to the Wiccans but also seemed to be under the impression that Wiccans were evil satan worshippers or something. It's one thing to be opposed to something, but at the very least they could educate themselves on what they are opposing. True Wiccans aren't evil. Wikipedia gives an overview of Wicca. On a more humorous note, another co-worker said "I saw something on tv about that, those people pray naked and some of them shouldn't." She might have a point.

Today

I took the puppies to see their grandparents today and in honor of Grandparents Day, the puppies signed (wink, wink) a grandparents day card for mom and dad. They liked the card. While I was there I checked out mom and dad's new windows. They are great. The house is a lot cooler now that they can open windows. I wasn't suffocating today like I do any other day. I helped mom and dad fix their blinds. The window guys put them up the wrong way.

I'm now getting hang-up calls. When my answering machine starts, whoever is calling hangs up. If it's the harassment call people, then it proves that they are not a legitimate business trying to do business, they are just harassing people. As much terrorists as those with guns and bombs I think. I read on a website that one victim of these people accidentally punched their number into her fax machine by mistake and accidentally attempted to fax something to them 30 times. heeheehee.

I Hate Football Season!!!!!

The Men's US Open Tennis final is supposed to start at 4pm Eastern. Well, the football game wasn't finished by then so CBS continued to air the football game instead of switching to Tennis. What happened once the Steelers game was over? They switched to other games and then to a post game gab session with a bunch of has-beens. Boomer is looking old by the way.

CBS needs to do what they say they will do. Forget the post game crap and start the Tennis.

All the networks screw the tv viewers when it comes to football season. They always run over and we end up missing our shows.

Not really Lazy, but a Procrastinator

I started writing the next book this past week. But I haven't gotten very far (still on chapter 1) and I didn't work on it at all today. I spent most of the time just playing around on the internet. I think I'm procrastinating because the first chapter is boring. I'll have to work on it.

Update

Okay, I couldn't throw the donuts away. They were perfectly good, not spoiled, not moldy. I just couldn't waste them.

The FCC sent me paperwork today - they said I didn't provide enough information for them to do anything - that's government talk for "we're too lazy and too worried about Janet Jackson's wardrobe and the Religious Right to care about you." Maybe they just don't like online submissions.

I did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau this morning. They are supposed to mediate between consumers and companies so maybe they will do something. And I emailed verizon, my phone company, to see if they could either list my number with something other than M Allen or if they could block the call.

A Curious Thought

You know I've been getting these harassing phone calls from crooks in India. The calls are just recordings that are left on my answering machine. So, I got to wondering what would happen if I didn't have an answering machine? Other people who've gotten these calls claim that when they answer the phone there is just silence (they know it's the crooks from India because of caller id). Tonight the message changed and instructed/threatened me to call them within 48 hours. They didn't tell me what would happen if I didn't. I say if they want to talk to me they can send me a letter. But I doubt it's me they want. My phone number is listed in the book as M Allen so they could be trying to harass Mark Allen, Mary Allen, Millard Allen, Mandy Allen etc. I think I might disconnect my phone just to see what happens. They don't want to send me a letter, can you imagine what the postage would be on a letter from India? LOL

Anyway, I've had a really bad week, diet wise. I'm hoping to get back to it tomorrow. I just have to throw away three donuts I have in the fridge. It's a shame to throw them away, but I've got to start somewhere.

I've been watching tennis for the last couple of weeks. The US Open. Not watching golf, just looking at the leaderboard every evening.

Weekend

I've got a three day weekend and so far I haven't done much at all. Actually, I've been working on my book. I was going to submit it (the first three chapters) a week or two ago but decided I needed to work on revising it even more. It's getting better. I need to check on two punctuation questions and put the header on all the chapters.

I took the puppies to mom and dad's today. They loved it and we all took a nap while we are there. I've decided to try bribing Fritz with catfood to try to get him to accept the puppies. He still growls at them.

I went back on the diet and exercise last Monday and did well until Friday. Then I ate pizza, donuts and didn't work out. I've been bad all weekend and unfortunately, right now I have a sore foot so I can't even get back on the treadmill. I don't know what happened to the foot, it hurts across the top of it when I move it certain ways. I think it's because I have flat feet.

I didn't have to do jury duty this week - it was a murder case. According to the Saturday paper, the trial wrapped up on Friday and the jury returned a guilty verdict. The defendant was sentenced to life without mercy. So, I'll have to call in on Monday evening to see if I have to report for jury duty again on Tuesday.

I've been watching a lot of tennis this week since it's the U.S. Open. I'm not watching the golf tournament because of Tiger Woods. These Fed Ex Cup playoffs are a joke. The same thirty people on the Money List will end up at the Tour Championship. There's no reason to have a points system because it makes no difference.

Mom and dad are getting new windows put in their house on Thursday. That's exciting. For as long as I've known them, they have never done any home improvement stuff. In 1996 dad and I put a new roof on my house, but that was it.

Well, think I'll go soak my foot in some hot water. I tried the heating pad and it didn't help much.

As far as I know, my problem with the harassing phone calls hasn't been solved. I filed a complaint with the FTC and at least I got a nice automated response from them. I thought about having my number changed or how it's listed, but this company already has my number, so that won't do any good.

Annoying, Harrassing Calls

I've been getting annoying calls from a recording that doesn't identify the company the call comes from. That's against federal law. Anyway, last week I filed a complaint with the FCC and the Do Not Call list. Today, I got two of these calls within the span of three hours. So, I decided that was enough. I contacted Sen. Robert Byrd's office and asked him to help me get rid of these calls.

I think Verizon thought they were being clever when they gave me my phone number. Apparently people who used to have my number also had my last name and their first initial is the same as mine. My listing in the phone book is my first initial, last name and the city. Obviously, I would get a lot of wrong numbers. Verizon people should be smarter than that.

I was called in for jury duty this week. Luckily, they didn't pick me to serve on the jury. But I did have to spend a good part of Tuesday at the courthouse, sitting around.

What's Going On...

It's been a while since the last post. Here's an update:

Winnie and PJ are doing well. They go to their grandparents' house every Sunday. They play and they are now going for walks outside every day. They won't let me cut their nails so I am taking them outside to see if I can wear their nails down. They are in their rebellious phase and will do #2 on the carpet if I leave their sight for any length of time. But the good news is that they have stopped shredding puppy pads. They chew holes in them, but they don't shred them into a million pieces anymore.

Steffi and Fritz are not enjoying this hot, humid weather. Hopefully, it will cool down a bit.

I've been watching the military channel lately. Not really interested in the military but I have to find out how those Navy Seal stories end.

I'm working on my second romance novel. I finished the golf themed one and mailed out a query letter to a publisher. Now I'm working on another one and I thought I had finished it, but it ended up pretty short. So, I'm having to add stuff to it. I didn't think I could add a lot, but I'm rewriting the last chapter and I think it's going to end up being two or three chapters long now. Hopefully, the word count will get better.

I had planned to be done with this book by the end of August and then beginning Sept. 1, I would get back on the treadmill. I had hoped to take one month and lose as much weight as possible (as possible for me - which means I eat.) But, there's an employee appreciation day dinner at work coming up so I thought I should start the workout plan a week early. That means I need to get my book finished by the end of this weekend. That will be a challenge. A lot of typing for me this weekend.

I've been getting these harrassing phone calls from an anonymous recording. I googled the phone number and found out it's a collection agency, but as I don't owe anyone any money, they can't be after me, probably after that Rodney guy I keep getting calls for. Unfortunately, the call is a recording, they don't identify themselves (which is against federal law) and they don't identify the person they are trying to reach. If they were legitimately trying to conduct business, they would do these things. So, they are obviously just trying to harrass people. I filed a complaint with the FCC and the Do Not Call registry about these people. Other people have too. For two days now, I haven't gotten any calls. But I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure I'll get them again. Besides, I've lived at the same mailing address since 1979, if I owed anyone money, I would be very easy to find with a letter. They don't need harrassing phone calls. It's a good thing I never answer my phone.

Work has been work. Same as usual. Work isn't supposed to be a happy place. That's Disneyland and McDonalds and Chuck E Cheese. Hopefully, this writing thing will take off and work will just become an interruption to the writing, rather than the job.

Been a While

It's been a while since I posted last. What's been going on?

I'm working on my romance novel. The puppies are pretty much the same. They got baths today. They don't like water. We've never had a dog who liked water. I had the puppies out for a walk today too. Their harnesses work much better now that mom has sewn more velcro on them. It's been really, really hot around here. Heat index over 105. yuck. Luckily, it's a little cooler now and will be for the rest of next week.

I finally got the Romantic Times Book Review magazine. I ordered it back in June and it's taken this long to get it. There for a while I thought I'd gotten ripped off. And I have a subscription to National Geographic Traveler magazine. It's got a lot of pictures and information in it.

Steffi found a bunch of catfood in one of my snow boots. I guess a mouse was hoarding it.

Odds and Ends

What's been going on here:

Yesterday I spray-painted the outdoor dog pen - it was starting to rust. I staked up a huge tomato plant I have in the garden. I took the puppies out for their walk. I worked on the novel I'm writing. I watched tennis. Took a few mini-naps.

Today, the puppies went to see mom and dad. I did laundry. Washed some dishes. The puppies didn't want to get out of the carrier when I brought them home, so they slept in it the rest of the day. Except for a brief moment when the dragged the newspaper out of it and shredded it. Then they went back to sleep in the carrier. I may have to get them a crate of some kind to sleep in. I don't want to give them Phoebe's crate. I want something smaller, more den like for winnie and pj. Worked more on the novel, watched this thing about Harry Potter. Didn't understand a whole lot of it since I've never read any of the books or seen any of the movies. I'll probably watch Dateline tonight and the interview with JK Rowling. Weeded the garden. Cleaned the bathtub and toilets.

The puppies were terrors today at mom and dad's when it came to doing their business. they just did not want to use the puppy pads. I was cleaning carpet all morning. They are in their rebellious teenage period.

A Good Walk

I took Winnie and PJ out for a walk today. They are getting more comfortable with being outside. They don't like their harnesses too much but they put up with them. They had a good walk - walked down around to the front yard and played with Steffi. Winnie escaped from her harness but she didn't know it. She was busy playing with Steffi. So, I hurried up and got her back in the harness.

I'm taking the harnesses to mom's tomorrow so she can sew more velcro on them. They are still too big for Winnie and PJ.

Headaches and Purse strings

I've noticed that after West Virginia passed the law that makes you sign your life away to buy a box of Sudafed, there was an increase in copper thefts. I guess the people who would have been making meth have now turned to stealing copper to get their money. Well, on the news last night, there was a story about this elderly woman who went to sleep one night, woke up the next morning and found she didn't have any water. So, she called the water company and when the water people came out to her house to check things out, they discovered that someone had crawled under the woman's house and had stolen all of her copper plumbing.

Way to go WV - you may have reduced the meth crime, but you've increased thefts. And we all still have sinus headaches.

Pretty Good Saturday

Got up and went to the store this morning. Spent more money than I needed to because I had coupons to use. Read the epilogue to the last Harry Potter book to see how it ends. Everyone's been talking about it for weeks so I just had to find out. Not that I've ever read any of the Potter books. But I know the names of the kids in the book so I scanned the pages to see what happened to them.

Got home and watched the third round of the British Open golf tournament. Winnie's honorary daddy, Sergio Garcia, is leading going in to the final round.

Worked on my romance novel that I've been writing for over a year. I'm on what I think might be the final pass at editing and revisions. I need to get the synopsis and query letter written and mailed out.

I took Winnie and PJ for a walk today. I put them in their little harnesses and put the leads on them and took them out. They didn't pull me in half today. And they were ok for a while. Tried to play with Steffi. Met Lapcat. But Winnie for some reason got scared so I picked her up and then PJ's little tail drooped and I got her too and brought them inside.

On the back of an insert to the Saturday paper, there's a Dell computer ad for laptops. I'm thinking about getting one. But I don't want to jump into it and get one right away. I am the one who took months to decide to buy a $7.00 purse.

Earlier in the week I got a check for my one day of jury duty that I had last week. On my excuse slip that I have to turn in to my employer it says that jurors will be paid at the end of the term. Well, the end of the term is October but I got paid this week. I think I should take that slip and tell them that since they paid me that means I'm done with jury duty. LOL. I could try to sue, but no attorney is going to take a case that pits them against the judge and the circuit clerk. LOL.

I kept meaning to take a nap today but never did get to it. Between cooking a turkey for Steffi and watching golf and then taking the puppies out, I just didn't have time.

Bad Fritz!!!

I took the puppies outside tonight on the leash. They didn't know how to walk around at first. They were scared and not used to being tied together by the leash coupler thing. But they eventually moved around some and wiggled a lot and kissed steffi and tried to love on Fritz. But Frtiz growled, snapped, and rolled Winnie. Winnie yipped like he was killing her. So, I took the puppies back in the house and left fritz and steffi outside. Winnie's fine. She was just scared. Fritz, however, is going to have to come to terms with the puppies. They are here to stay.

Jury Duty

Well, I got picked for jury duty. Booo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now for 4 months straight I am being held hostage by the county circuit court. I have to be available just in case I am selected to be part of the jury selection process each week. Basically, every Monday I have to call a phone number and listen to a recording to see if my name is there. If it is, I have to report to the courthouse the next day with about 30 other people and of this group, the court will choose the 12 jurors and 1 or 2 alternates.

It's ridiculous to be tied up this way for 4 months. Even the defendents get bail but not us jurors. Luckily today all the trials they had scheduled for the week were settled with plea agreements today and I only had to sit in the jury room for 3 hours doing nothing but missing work. They started out with 26 indictments for this court term and so far that I know of, 6 have been settled. There may be more that I don't know of. One that was settled was a murder case which might have taken a couple of weeks so I'm glad that one isn't on the docket. Maybe I won't have to do much this time.

I think they have at least 101 people in the jury pool and probably more. The sign in sheet that I had to sign my name to this morning had numbers beside our names and the numbers were not in order. The highest on the list was 101 so I'm thinking that at least 101 people have been pooled for jury duty.

The court will pay $40.00 a day to each juror who has to be called to the courthouse and they dont' take taxes out. Some people in the jury room were under the impression that this means they don't have to report the jury pay to the IRS. I don't think it's the case that if no taxes are taken out then you don't have to pay taxes on the money. I have to pay taxes on my interest income from my bank accounts. If any IRS folks are reading this, email me and let me know about reporting jury pay. You'd think I would know this as I have an accounting degree, but tax regs are a whole different animal. You could have a 4 year degree just on the US tax code.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read the episode summary on wikipedia for the final episode of Doctor Who that has Rose Tyler in it. It sucked. She tells him she loves him, but he doesn't get to tell her. I watched the first few minutes of the next episode and it was horrible the way the Doctor missed her. She has to come back. Someone tell Billie Piper to forget about being typecast. There's a story to tell and only she can tell it.

Celebrating July 4th

Today, in honor of July 4th and the celebration of America's independence from England, I declared my independence from bath tub soap scum. Yes, it was a hard fought war with toxic tub cleaner raining down on the enemy, but in the end, freedom prevailed. Clean at last, Clean at last.......... you get the idea.

Yuck

Winnie and pj chewed more holes in this little white cabinet I have so I went out to the porch and got a box to get some cardboard to tape on the cabinet. The cabinet is one of those put it together yourself kind with a cardboard backing. Well there was something in the box. I poured it out and a little mouse plopped out. It appeared to be one of those plastic toy mice that the cat would play with. BUT, it had teeth, feet, and a round wirelike striped tail??? I don't remember any toy mouse having feet. Or tails like that. So, I threw this mouse outside into a black square planter that frames the big sink hole next to the porch. There was no way I was going to pick it up to see if it was a toy. I scooped it up onto the cardboard and carried it outside that way. Toy or not, it's gone now.

Vet Check

I took PJ and Winnie to the vet today for another round of vaccinations. The vet checked their poo and found some microscopic worm evidence so he gave them a half a pill each and he's going to check them again in three weeks. The vet said the worm issue wasn't bad considering all the weight they've gained. Their next visit to the vet should be the last one for vaccinations. Weigh in: PJ gained from 1.6 pounds to 2.3 pounds and Winnie gained from 2.4 pounds to 3.4 pounds.

I set up the exercise pen next to the doggie gate that blocks one entrance into their nursery. This gives them about twice the play room. But, I have to be in the exercise pen with them to make sure they use their puppy pads. That's not going too well. They are only so-so on remembering to go back through the gate to use the puppy pads.

And they get to see Steffi more when they are in the pen. I expect them to someday learn how to climb up the pen and try to escape. It wouldn't take much for them to do it.

Other vacation news and notes: I've been working on the golf themed romance novel I wrote last year. Buying the flash drive last week inspired me to work on it. And the U. S. Open golf tournament.

Boo, Hiss

I have to do Jury Duty during July thru October. 4 months of not knowing where I'll be from one week to the next. Sure they will pay me every day I serve and sure my employer will also pay me, but my work is going to pile up sky high. It isn't like someone is there to do my job when I'm gone. The only ray of sunshine that could come from this is if I can miss the statewide conference that I have to go to for work. I would have to spend a couple nights away from home for that and if jury duty gets me out of that, then at least there's one positive. With my luck however, I'll have to do both. Yuck.

More pleasant topics:
Took the puppies to mom and dad's today. They played and played. As it's Fathers Day, I got dad a present. It's one that both he and mom can use - a wireless mouse. Dad tried to tell me that it wouldn't work on their computer, that's because he thought you were supposed to plug mouses in to the headphones jack. Apparently he tried to plug mom's other mouse into that jack and somehow forced something in there and believes he's broken that jack for good. That is such a man thing - rather than thinking it might plug in somewhere else, he tries to make it fit.

Pulled 6 ticks off Fritz yesterday, three today so far. Brushed him and cut some of his hair. I didn't do any laundry today since I'm only working two days this week. I can catch up on the laundry then.

This Week

What's been going on this week? The puppies are pretty much the same. I found a tick on PJ and she hasn't ever been outside to get one. I figure Fritz brought it in the house. He's had tons of ticks this year. I pulled 5 off of him just in one day this week.

My computer crashed the other day. I got the message "disk boot failure. insert system disk and press enter." I was thinking I would have to take it to a repair shop and I would probably lose all my stuff, but before I did any of that, I just unplugged all the cords from the CPU and let it sit there for about 45 minutes. When I plugged everything back in, the computer worked. So, I didn't have to take it anywhere and I didn't have to insert any system disk and press enter.

This morning I bought a 2 GB flash drive at walmart and I've copied my most important files to the flash drive: my pictures, my novel writing, my firefox profile that contains all of my internet bookmarks. I'd really be up a creek without my bookmarks.

I only work two days next week. Wednesday is WV Day, we get that day off and then I'm taking Thursday and Friday off. Friday, the puppies have to go to the vet for another round of vaccinations. Hopefully, they will be weighed again and I'll get to see how much they've grown. And Wednesday, I think I will try turning the puppies loose in the house. I had them in the exercise pen this morning with a puppy pad, and PJ peed on the carpet. I think she's a little slower than Winnie. I will have my work cut out for me when I turn them loose, keeping an eye on them and herding them to their puppy pads.

Pen

I ordered a dog pen for the puppies and it came yesterday. It was already assembled, all I had to do was set it up and I did that in the living room. Last night I had the puppies and Steffi in there and Steffi did pretty well considering. Today I had the puppies in the pen and Fritz was in the house. He barked and growled a lot. I might put him in the pen with the puppies in a day or two. Give him a few more opportunities to get used to them being in the pen before I do though.

And I got the harnesses for the puppies. They fit Winnie, but they don't fit PJ around the belly. She's still too small. I might have to put more velcro on them to cinch them up tighter for her.

Speaking of pens, I'm penned in, so to speak, here at the house. Dad bought more furniture he doesn't need at an estate sale and brought it up here. I don't know what's going on in his head, but he's bought tons of stuff over the last couple of months. There's more furniture in this house now than there was when he and mom lived here.

In Defense of Paula Abdul

PJ got under my feet and I kinda shoved her into a roll. So, it's entirely possible for Abdul to have tripped over her chihuahua.

B-Day and other stuff

Mom claims she doesn't already have the present I got for her birthday. It is a 2 cd pack of gospel music. The cake was good. I had two pieces with chocolate low fat ice cream. The puppies had fun playing at mom and dad's. But when it was nap time, Winnie cried. I think she wanted her bed at her house. I don't think she wanted to sleep at her grandma's house. But she ended up napping some there. I've never had a dog to get homesick before. But then, Phoebe was the only other dog I've ever taken anywhere. All our other dogs have always stayed home unless they were at the vet.

So, I ate too much again today. But I did work out too on the treadmill. I plan to go back to the diet tomorrow too. And to work out. Tomorrow will be a long day. Before work, I have to go to walmart. After work I have to go to the post office to pick up a package and then to Around the Farm to get more no chew spray. At least I won't have to water the garden tomorrow. I did that tonight. It's not even my garden. It's dad's.

Bath Day

Since I decided I was going to clean my bathtub today, I thought I would bath Fritz and Steffi in there first. They needed baths. I got a lot of loose hair off of Steffi and Fritz smells better. Yesterday I cut fritz's hair. I thought he might be a little cooler with a trim. So, I cut his hair around his neck and his belly and his hind legs. He doesn't look bad, but I'm sure a professional groomer would cringe. Oh well, Fritz doesn't care what he looks like.

Winnie and PJ are still chewing up puppy pads. I use the no chew spray, but sometimes they just ignore it. And I'm running out of no chew spray. The farm supply store in town sells an off brand and I got some a few days ago. I'm going to have to go back.

I ordered a wire pen for Winnie and PJ last night. It's a 10 panel, 2ft wide, 2ft high pen. And I can add another pen to it later if I want it bigger.

Tomorrow is Mom's birthday. And it's Sunday which means it's my usual day to go visit her and dad. Winnie, PJ and I will be going tomorrow and bringing a present and a card with us. The only thing is, I think the present I got for Mom is also something I bought for them for Christmas. I'm putting the sales receipt in the bag with the present in case Mom wants to return it.

Back to the Vet

Winnie and PJ went back to the vet today for their second round of vaccinations. PJ was weighed and she went from 1.4 pounds to 1.6 pounds. Winnie went from 1.9 pounds to 2.4 pounds. I don't think PJ's going to get to 6 pounds like the seller said she would. They did fine with the shots and so far they have no worms. They got to meet a husky type dog at the vet's office. Their tales just wagged and wagged. And they got to meet three kids who were there with the husky type dog. Their next trip to the vet is on the 22nd. I might take that day off. We get June 20th off for West Virginia Day. That's a Wednesday. So, I might take Thursday and Friday that week off too. I don't know why all holidays can't be on a Monday or Friday every year. Or better yet, if the holiday is on any day other than Monday or Friday, then the employer gets penalized by giving all employees an extra day off. I like that plan.

You Can Tell There's a Full Moon About

Tuesday, I found a small black snake on my sidewalk at my house. Killed it. Dad said "where's there's one, there's more. They're after water since it's been so dry." While that was comforting to know that there were other snakes out there, I thought, "Well, I could dig a hole in the yard and fill it full of water. Then the snakes shouldn't come to the house."

Wednesday, I came home to find Lapcat had killed some big animal and left the animal's internal organs on the stairs and sidewalk. I had to get rid of those as soon as I got home. Then Lapcat had the nerve to come to the porch and beg for catfood.

This morning, the puppies tore up a puppy pad even though I had sprayed it with bitter apple spray. I guess I didn't spray enough of it on the pad. They were good to make more work for me on a workday.

Tomorrow evening, the puppies have to go to the vet to get round two of their vaccinations. They are supposed to be checked for worms too. The vet gave me one vial to collect a sample. But I have two dogs. So, I've put some of the other sample in a ziploc bag. I don't think they have worms. I think the worm medicine the seller gave them before I brought them home worked.

I don't want to think about what else can happen this week. I hope things die down and become very uneventful.

Puppies' Day Out

I took Winnie and PJ to mom and dad's today. They played, and played, and ran circles. They used their puppy pads too. I brought them home around 10am and they've been sleeping ever since. They are worn out.

PJ Has Regressed

She is not using her puppy pads as well as she was during my week off. At first, I thought it was just that she couldn't find a big enough clean part of the puppy pad, but tonight she had clean puppy pads and she still did her business on the floor. I think it's that whole "you left me so I'm going to stand right here at the gate and act out" thing that Phoebe used to do. I have a feeling that this weekend, I'll be sitting on that floor, butt hurting because I don't have any padding there anymore, watching her and waiting for her to do her business so I can pick her up and put her on the puppy pad. Tomorrow isn't going to be good for PJ. Mom and Dad are going to a doctor's appointment in the afternoon so the puppies will be alone for much of the afternoon.

Work sucked today. First day back from vacation is never fun, but this time it just sucked. I didn't even wait a whole day before having to argue policy. I should just take the money I've saved for a house and go back to college. Get a fun degree in something that doesn't suck the life force right out of you.

Bathroom is a No-Go

I put the puppies in the bathroom this afternoon and sat down in there with them. After a half an hour, they seemed to be doing ok so I left to work on their nursery area. Well, they started crying and one of them did #2 in the floor. So, they won't be staying in the bathroom.

I did get to get rid of the crate and tape up the phone jack in the nursery area. I put a big old milk can in front of the phone jack to keep the puppies from chewing on it.

They've been playing with each other for a little while. It's nice that they are awake and NOT crying for my lap.

I got to go for a walk this morning and take a nap too. So, that's good for me. And I baked a pie this morning for mom and dad since they are going to come up this week while I'm at work and keep an eye on the puppies. I used a recipe for a crust that you don't roll out. You use cream cheese in it. So, I had extra crust dough left over since you don't use a whole crust for the top crust and I made little cookies with it. I spread melted butter on them and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar and baked them. I thought they would go well with the carmel swirl ice cream I've got. They are ok. The dough needs more sugar if it's going to be turned into cookies.

Proud of the Puppies

I left them out of the crate last night to see how they would do. I got up at 1am to check on them and they had used their puppy pads and were sleeping. Of course they woke up when I checked on them so I had to get in the nursery area, sit down and let them climb up on my lap like the good lapdogs they are. I also changed the puppy pads last night since I was up. When I went back to bed, my nose got all stuffy and I couldn't get back to sleep for a while. I think tonight I will sleep straight through and not get up to check on the puppies. They seem to be doing fine :)

I did give them a bit of a bath today. I didn't stick them in water since I don't think they've ever had real baths before. I set them down on towels beside the sink and used a wet towel to wash them.

I'm going to put them in the bathroom for a while either this evening or tomorrow so they can get used to it. I pulled up the shower curtain off the floor since the puppies are using the puppy pads. Now I have to tape some cardboard to the bottom of the door that covers the furnace. I don't want the puppies to crawl in there.

Doing well

The puppies woke up from a nap and went to the puppy pads on their own and did #1 and #2 today. So, they seem to be improving. I am going to leave them out of the crate tonight. I placed small bookcases on my side of the baby gates to keep Fritz from jumping on them, so hopefully the puppies will remain in their nursery. I'm going to see how well they do overnight without getting up in the middle of the night.

I wish they would get over that crying thing though. When they remember me, they cry because I'm not in there with them. Then they scratch at the wall.

I went to walmart this morning to get some catfood. Dad was giving whole, big, handfuls of catfood to Fritz and Steffi every time they looked at him I guess. I was running out of catfood so I emailed mom and told her that dad was on a catfood diet until I could get some more food. Unless he wanted to go buy me some. Well, he didn't buy me any. So, I went to walmart this morning. I bought another dogbed for the puppies. If/when I start leaving them in the bathroom all day while I go to work, they will want a bed in there to sleep in. I also bought some more ice cream, a frozen pizza and some pringles minis. I had coupons for the pizza and the mini chips.

Consequently, I ate most of the pizza today and I'm stuffed. I walked a couple times today to try to walk some of it off. At least the ice cream melts so there's always room for that. LOL.

I did some online shopping today too. I ordered some romance novels from Eharlequin.com. They sent me a magazine and said I'm a member of some kind of club, so I thought I would order some books. Plus, on Fridays you get a free book with your order. And I ordered another puppy pad holder. This one is great, it's got a solid base that the puppy pad sits on.

Tomorrow I have to cook a turkey for Steffi. I might try to either bath the puppies or cut their nails. I haven't decided. I think the bath might be more important. They roll around on their puppy pads when they play so they get stinky.

Update on the Housbreaking

The puppies think the crate is for doing their business. I think that's because the seller raised PJ and her littermates in a crate with their mom. I shut the crate door during the day today and you could tell it confused the puppies. But they do use the puppy pads on their own most of the time. They still have an issue with #2. I'm hoping they get over that soon. At least it smells so you know when you need to look for it.

In that last post I told you how I wasn't feeling well, well that ended up with me throwing up that evening. I went to the store the next day and got some saltine crackers and diet sprite. And ice cream. Probably shouldn't have ice cream when you're throwing up, but it didn't bother me.

Today, Mom and Dad stopped by and they had the puppies on the couch and 'interacting' with Fritz and Steffi. It was a big day for the puppies. They slept for 3 or 4 hours after that. And steffi and fritz were so excited to see mom.

And the puppies still don't know their names. The current plan is to puppy pad train them first, then when they are old enough to appreciate doggie treats, teach them their names by giving them treats.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Well, I made chocolate chip cookies today. Actually, they are chocolate chunk cookie bars. And now I'm thoroughly sick. At least there was only a half stick of butter in them and I used light butter. But, sick I am. I wasn't feeling well before I ate them. I've been outside a few times today walking, trying to work whatever's going on out of my system.

I'm All For This Holiday

According to Martha Stewart and this website, tomorrow is National Chocolate Chip Day. Yum!

Update on the Puppies

The puppies are doing fairly well. They know what the puppy pads are for and about 70 to 80% of the time, they use the puppy pads. They currently have an issue because they think the pads are for pee and not poop. But they can overcome that. They don't eat very much, but then they are chihuahuas and have very small tummies. And they are confirmed lap-puppies. They much prefer to sleep on my lap than in their bed. I try not to let them do that too often.

Mom and dad came up today to give me a little help with them and to do some things around the house. Dad mowed the grass and moved a small dorm sized refrigerator out of my way. He also cut Steffi's nails for me. Mom puppy-sat while I did a few things around the house and she cut my hair today. They got to watch the puppies play and see them use the puppy pads.

I've had the tennis channel on all day and I'm just about to the point of insanity over hearing the repeated cheers of "let's go _______, let's go". The crowds are driving me nuts.

I've been getting up at 1:30am to let the puppies out of their crate so they can use the puppy pads. Saturday night, it worked great. Last night, I must have been a few minutes too late. There was #2 in the crate. But it was half on the puppy pad so I think whichever one did it had good intentions.

Meet the Puppies!

The one with the floppy ears is Winnie Garcia, a long haired chihuahua. The one with the pointy ears is Phoebe Josephine Maria Olazabal (PJ for short). She's the short haired chihuahua.

Up until I brought them home this afternoon, I thought Winnie was the cryer. But PJ cries much more. I got them this morning and took them to Mom and Dad's to hang out until the vet's office opened. Mom got to spend a lot of time with them, which is good since she didn't get to visit them any before. When I brought them home, I sat out the puppy pad and PJ went to it and peed on it. But that was a fluke I think. She had been placed on a puppy pad three or four times at mom and dad's so she knew what it was for.

Fritz growls at them through the baby gate. I don't think he would do that if they weren't separated. Hopefully, Winnie and PJ will catch on to the puppy pad training really quickly and I'll be able to spring them from the 'nursery' soon.

I took them to the vet's on the way home to get them checked out. They are healthy, but I think PJ has worms, which isn't unusual for puppies. She and Winnie got wormed on Thursday when they got their first round of shots. The vet's wife works in the office and when I told her who I got the puppies from, she said "Oh, she's good. I've heard good things about her." So, that's comforting.

And I got applications to register Winnie and PJ with the CKC.

The only thing worrying me right now is that they haven't eaten since probably 11am and that was only a few pieces of food. They've been sleeping for a while.

I think I need to go check on them.