Dogs On Thursday: I am complex....

Perhaps it is time that I correct some misconceptions about myself this week. First off, I am much more than just a pretty face that rules with an iron paw....

There are many layers, some of them not visible to the eye. My intellectual depth is greater than many of my four-legged peers. Most every day, I take the time to gain knowledge through television viewing. Yeah, yeah, I've heard the criticisms of late; that it turns the brain to mush, but I must disagree with this view....there is much to be learned about our two-legged servants from this media box.

Cleansing of the mind and smell therapy- which is 'relaxation through smell' can be attained through daily strolls lasting all of five invigorating minutes on the sidewalk. Exercise is a must! I find, as a bonus, that it boosts best buddy's self-esteem to provide these moments for moi!

These glorious strolls enhance quality rest as well.

Tonight, I struck a magnificent, if not majestic pose near BigBoy as he worked on his laptop. Then, suddenly, I was just as quickly struck with fatigue and managed this pose for mom just before lying down on the couch. It has been an average week for me, IF one could ever consider my life average. Don't settle for the average, canine friends. Don't just stop and smell the roses, for heaven's sake - SMELL EVERYTHING! Now go forth and lead your life with your nose Snuffles, Annie, Luna, Emma, Penny, Tonka, Presley, Friday, Dizzy and all you other canines! (Caution! Pay NO attention to that 'lapis-eyed' cat's words on the top right corner in the right column.......I will chase him tomorrow!)

SkyWatch Friday

Recent cloud approaching and bringing us a downpour! Check out amazing skies at http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Dogs On Thursday: Doing Fiiiiiiiiine.....

Been a good week for me...still taking little pills. They try to camouflage them and hide them in the food. Fine, let them think they are pulling the wool over my royal optics, gives them some pride in themselves, mere subjects that they are. (His Royal 'Hine'ness looks lovingly at his best buddy after a bout of play)

"Halt there! Where are you going?"

The one that takes me out for the first 'royal wee' gets to rest upon my leather couch.....aaaaaaaah, this is superbly cozy!

May you be treated like royalty Snuffles, Annie, Luna, Emma, Tonka, Friday, Presley, Penny, Dizzy and other 'kept' four-legged, furry creatures!

Stomping Out Fires......

Ta-Da!!!!!! The latest in the 'Maytagarama' series to be completed!!! Biting at the bit to start the next one but I must stomp out the fires as they come......so part of today and tonight is filled with shopping/practicing/packing VolleyGirl for team camp. I've not had any time hardly to leave comments with everyone and I MUST post next time about new awards from Cynthia, A Woman Of No Importance and Soulbrush. Please do not think I am being rude! I have made a bit of time on an afternoon or two and two evenings to get this painting complete-I want these done as quickly as I can.......in between 20 loads of wash each week, cooking two meals a day, sometimes three, picking up....teaching VG to drive (she finished driving class and passed her test!), going to the grocery store....yada, yada, yada. Mr. Unplugged wants me to mess around with PhotoShop and Illustrator in order to get a 'real' job......I am not opposed but when? Okay, that was a 'baby vent' there that just sort of popped out without notice.

Shopped for some undergarments that VG and I should have purchased before today that she needs before the volleyball season kicks in.....hey ladies.....between you and I, the girls choose to wear thong underwear to avoid a panty line in the spandex shorts they wear........sooooooo, seems like that would be uncomfortable to me, VG says it isn't. She didn't start wearing them until ninth grade. Since practice and games will be six days a week starting later in August she needed some more. Also had to get sports bra.........she would die knowing I wrote about it. She doesn't even like anyone seeing us shop for them and she went away as I checked out! I told her ALL women buy undergarments sooner or later! Took her to practice and then ran to the grand Wal-Mart for a few snacks for her and Dudley food AND BigBoy three boxes of cereal...should be good for 3 or 4 days! We began some packing this morning but the bulk of it is tonight. Thankfully they are meeting at 7:30 a.m. instead of 6:00 now!

Just wanted to catch up a bit as the dryer finishes, so I'm off (well, you know that by now), I mean off I go to stomp out present fire! Hope to catch up to you all really soon! :)

SkyWatch Friday

Took this photo late this afternoon as we traveled for over an hour for my best friend's mother-in-law's visitation. That has had me occupied yesterday and today with visiting her and baking for them. Hope to catch up with everyone's site over the weekend. For more great sky photos visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/.

Dogs On Thursday: Taking it Easy

Hello everyone! It's been a decent week around here at my castle. The little spot on my leg is taking it's sweet time to heal but not for lack of quality, compassionate care that I am receiving. My desire to eat has become ferocious due to some of the medicine - can't RUN fast enough to the kitchen when it is my mealtime. Not a big eventful week for me, thank goodness, left that to my mom.

Big 'ruff' out to Snuffles, Annie, Luna, Emma, Presley, Friday, Tonka and all you other people lovin' friends!

Is It Really Half-Time?

Yes, it is me.... My brothers and me (left) with beagle puppies.

High School senior picture.

.....this past year.

Today I turn 50!!!! :)

Why so happy about it? Because there is only ONE way to avoid it......................and I prefer to avoid that as long as possible! I recall when my mother turned 50 because I was singing 'happy half-a-century to you!" all day and she was laughing while telling one of her sisters on the phone about it.

Mid-life, is that what 50 is considered? Is mid-life your 40's to early 50's? Obviously, I don't know, which is not much of a surprise, considering what little I knew of menopause as well as many other things...but don't worry, you men that may accidentally wander onto this site...I'm not going to talk about that.

Seriously, for the age of 50 to be considered mid-life, one would be assuming I would live to be 100. Right? Okay, I know that the lifespan has extended over the years and, sorry guys, women tend to live a bit longer. Recently, I have read of a few centenarians that have surpassed the big double O. C'mon though, it's not a common thing at all, chances are that I will not make it to 100 and frankly I cannot imagine it with the way my joints feel now. Hey, if God chooses that I remain here on earth in a bent over position with a head I can't turn and the memory of a gnat, then so be it! Perhaps I will still be able to share with others about all the friends, kindness, their personalities and art that was a part of my 'mid-life' years, waaaay back in the days of laptops and lattes!

I'm thinking that my mid-life has passed already and darn it, I missed out on a good crisis apparently since I've not had a fling with a boy-toy or haven't purchased the very latest, high-speed, high-performance, voice command Kitchen Aid mixer or anything else to commemorate the occasion. Let's face it, I'm on the backside of life now, but I can testify that 50 is still in the middle.........

Being 50 years old means you're too old to wear the fad styles but too young for the snap-front dusters, stockings rolled down above the knees and earth shoe style footwear.

The music still moves you at 50 and though in your mind you still dance well, your kids laugh at your moves and the older ones think how young you are.

Maybe at 50 your hair doesn't look good in the new styles, but still isn't ready to be blue.

Probably at 50 it's difficult to find a new job, but too young to retire.

This 50 is too old to have a baby but still far from the grandbaby years. It better be

50 means most of the commercials are focused on the younger generations, yet too young to qualify for senior discounts.............

So, today will be viewed as the fork in the road for me. I'm good with a fork (ahem) so I will continue on my track for now until I appear adorable as an old dancer , wear snap-front dusters, dye my hair blue, retire, play with grandbabies, and get my senior discounts !

Hurry Up Sunday!

Today has not been the best of Saturdays for various reasons. The blueberry cobbler I made for BigBoy did turn out well at least, the 'boy' ate almost half of it. Guess it would all be gone if there had been vanilla ice cream to go with it.
Mr. Unplugged did not start the day in good spirits which quickly involved and enveloped me as well. A foul mood such as this morning's makes me work alot and I was on my feet five hours then the pain really kicked in but the stubborn streak did as well. Yeah, I know, stubbornness is not a virtue, at least not in this case, but I could make the argument that it can be a useful characteristic at times......save that for another post.
Just yesterday a friend was telling me about her children "fussing and fighting" as she excused herself to count to ten with one of them. I warned her that it would not get that much better. Today, my almost twenty-one year old son and sixteen year-old daughter set out to prove me right. They chose a bad day to pair the "fussing and fighting" with "sick and tired". They were warned that I was about to scream. Sure enough, "would you two leave each other ALONE!" I've not done that in a long time and fortunately for them it was in a mezzo soprano tone as opposed to a high soprano which I've been known to do.....it is very attention grabbing, if not down right painful. Naturally, shortly thereafter, I apologized for yelling at them...BigBoy is sensitive and VolleyGirl, well, she can be too, depending on her mood.
The house is once again quiet. Probably no coincidence that Mr. Unplugged and BigBoy have gone out for awhile. Ahhhh, my blood pressure has lowered, however, the urge to 'scarf' down ice cream has not. Hey, I know it's bad for you but I'm not picking up a cigarette, hitting the bottle or popping a pill. Hmmmmm, maybe I should count to ten...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. There. I still want it.
Okay, though it's close to 9 pm, I will go paint instead, until time for bed.

Note to self for prayers tonight: Please Lord, help my three, ...uh, I mean two children be kinder and more respectful to each other tomorrow and each day after. Thank you for making me a high soprano - just in case they aren't.

SkyWatch Friday

Finally, I will post a photo for SkyWatch Friday before Friday is over!!!!!! It is a bit fuzzy (at least that is how I see it) but I just love the colors......it was hurriedly taken with my trusty phone camera. For more lovely skies go to http://skyley.blogspot.com/.
Hey, my posts have been so sporadic lately, be sure to scroll down to read Apollo's latest angst tale (tail?) posted late Thursday.

Dogs On Thursday: Royally Rotten

This very goofy photo that my best buddy and I posed for brought some laughs. Hate to say it, but my buddy looks like some prissy cheerleader or something, he can really ham it up. Myself, on the other hand, looks rather cute? I can't do this while wearing my jewel encrusted crown you know.

It was fun playing around in the floor but shortly after....IT happened. What, you say? A little background (cue violins). A couple of weeks ago Dad and BigBoy took me to that place where they stuck me on that little spot that I love to lick. Though they diligently care for me and watched this interesting place, but they don't lick it, I had to go back to that place at the end of last week. They were sneaking a nasty pill in my food (antibiotic). Now, shortly after playing, I tarted breathing weird and then threw up.......and again, and again, and again, well, you get the picture. Wow, did that bring the attention! They love me so much we had a sleeping party together downstairs that night! Much to my dislike, we went back to that place........the people who pet me there thought it was from that pill. So, now, I have a different pill plus a new one! (steroid) I've been feeling better but haven't got to play as much cause in the beginning it would make me do that disgusting spit up.....not very royal at all. Not been my best week but it is getting better......getting extra petting I can tell.......maybe this situation isn't so bad after all!

Love to my canine buds and a word of advice......avoid the pills Annie, Snuffles, Luna, Emma and all you other men's (and women's) best friends!!!

Celebrations Continue

Yesterday was another festive day, Eli's 3rd birthday! This made three days in a row of celebration! The birthday tyke is in the middle, with his brother, Finn, on the left, and their sweet mom.

Blow that last candle out Eli!!!!

Isn't this the cutest 'sushi' that my niece made for the party! The green 'wasabi' is icing I tinted with her direction.

My niece baked the cake and I offered to make the icings and went over yesterday morning to decorate it. The theme was 'Samuri Jack', the flames up the side of the character on the raised portion are made from fruit roll-ups. The part was molded of rice krispie treats, iced, then decorated. It took a bit longer than anticipated but was great fun spending time with my eldest niece and seeing 3 year old Eli and 4 and a half year old Finn see the cake. We all attended the party later in the afternoon.

It's been another barn raisin' busy week again, aren't they all? Mr. Unplugged wanted to go out of town together for a night, so we went to the casinos a few hours away. It's not my favorite thing to do but we had a really great time. However, I knew that mounds of lovely laundry would be awaiting and since we all went to the pool, cooked out and I made ice cream last night, then we took in the fireworks....well, not a whole lot was done yesterday or today around here so.........I will be bleeding lint the next couple of days. VolleyGirl started a two week driver's education class this morning so I am extremely excited about getting up to get her off before 8:00 for that then straight to volleyball practice this week. That also means the 'cleaning elves' will be responsible for her room that is almost finished....oh, and she has two birthday events to attend this week also and a photo for the team program.

FINALLY finished the volleyball ads last week...$600 dollars worth.....good riddance to that task for another 11 months. Next tasks....back to 'maytagaramas' AND the next art festival is this Saturday............do I dare try to do some small paintings and large zentangles PLUS build a display for it? Hmmmm, not sure, having intense knee and back pain presently, but I really want to. There is good health news, finally had that freakin' abdominal ultrasound last week and I HAVE ALL THE RIGHT PARTS AND THEY LOOK NORMAL...they didn't even comment that I had a fatty liver! Though....I have to dig deeper with a specialist to find out about the elevated liver enzymes.

Dogs On Thursday Special: The Birthday Boy

Wow, can you believe it? I am a whole 3 years old today! It's great that mom and dad took an overnight trip yesterday which allows me to make my post today on MY BIRTHDAY!!! Sitting here, pondering over my short, yet full life thus far, thinking of my life filled with joy, food, happiness, food, fun, food, BigBoy, food, dad, food, mom, food, VolleyGirl, food, Dudley, food, my favorite chair, food, snuggling in the morning on the couch, food, time in the study with dad, food, when BigBoy comes in, food, sniffing outside, food, baths, uh, well, food, and one of my MOST favorite things to do........

riding in the car.....oh, how I love it! My best buddy took me on a long ride to take VolleyGirl to practice today and it was heavenly. Picture this: me, in the front seat with 'buddy' driving, the girl in the back. What a total delight!!!

Yep, it's been a long, lovely ride indeed and now...............

I'm tired. (Too bad Snuffles, Annie, Emma, Luna and all you other pawdners don't live closer........you would SO be invited to my party!)