Dogs On ThBREAKING NEWSursday

This "Dogs on Thursday" post is pre-empted to bring you a special pictorial to honor the 11th birthday of our resident feline.

What the heck?!!? You can't do that to His Royal "Hine"ness, the Canine Messiah, King of this middle class castle, Oh Pampered One, Sun to bulldog world galaxy, Fat Bastard (oops), Master of Household Events, (okay, okay....we get it!!!!)

We just did.

Started getting my checkups at some new digs recently. Finally, a place fitting for the feline franchise - Catisfaction Cat Clinic. Dark cats are so passe'.
Oh my! Such bold, red floors, glass tables, the wonder of it all!

Let me tidy up a bit - in style. It would have been in such poor taste if this were leopard print. Yeah baby, this is my flavor!

Does this angle make my tail look too puffy?
I'm here, work with it.
Kitchen management is not my thing, being nearby is important.

Ahhhhh, love it when all the toys are hanging around just for me to investigate. That tree....why isn't it here all the time since venturing outside to climb one is forbidden?

Here's wishing you eleven more years Dudley!
DON'T let it happen again.

Remembering....

Remembering that terrible day ten years ago today, those that lost their lives and their loved ones left behind. My own little tributes is the flag hanging outside the front door and this photo taken from the top of one of the towers along with the ticket. Didn't even know I had them until a while later looking through photos, had to give it a little place of it's own.

Happy birthday to my brother today! (Peewee's dad, from previous post)

Labor Day Weekend Birthday Cake

BigBoy's birthday was this past Friday but we didn't officially celebrate until last night. I baked him his favorite Cinnamon Pull-Apart cake on Friday. Saturday I baked the dome for the decorated portion of his cake and froze it, they decorate easier that way. He requested a Limeade Cake with Strawberry Filling,which is a Paula Deen reacipe. Her recipe actually had raspberry filling, but we didn't care for that flavor when I first baked it. Here are the first two layers with the strawberry filling.

Frosted with a cream cheese and lime icing that is delish! It is a very dense and heavy cake.

Yes, my boy turned 23 but he has always loved cartoons, Disney as a kid, drawing them all the time, then went into doing his own dog cartoons, and the last few years it's Marvel characters. He asked for a Buzz Lightyear on his cake, hasn't had a decorated one since I did Apollo's image on one a couple of years ago. This was the third weekend in a row I've had a decorated cake to get ready......think I'm ready for a break! Standing on my feet so many hours does in my back but he really liked it. fun.

He likes his coffee mugs and I like to look for them at Ross, TJMaxx and Marshall's so he had quite the collection given to him for his birthday.
All the movies that they have made recently with Marvel charachers, he sees them all and has been drawing the characters lately in color pencil just for fun. He is really taking to having finished college and started his new job the first of August, doing free lance work also but likes time in the evening to draw for for fun now.

Hey, rather see him wear Marvell images than beer advertisements!

Happy President's Day

Finally, some art to show again. In honor of President's Day, I dug up these two portraits. These were drawn in 7th grade I believe with a plain ol' #2 school pencil on 9x12 sheets of paper and mounted on a larger black sheet (both similar to construction paper). It was part of a bulletin board display in the main hallway of my school for the month of February. I remember tiring of working on Lincoln's beard and just scribbling to finish. Recall being quite pleased with Washington's nose, though I see it is too small for him and his eyes weren't pleasing to me. Oh well, I thought it would be funny to show them on this day. Hope everyone had an enjoyable day. I'm thankful for great men like these that helped shape our country!

Happy Birthday!!!

"Little" BigBoy is 22 years old today. Promptly arrived on his due date. He was always wonderful to take for photos, always could make him laugh. Only trouble was that he would get so tickled (southern for amused) he would break his pose. He comes home tomorrow for the long weekend. Sadly, he has the crud (southern for stuffy nose, runny nose, cough and sore throat).

This is from last year's birthday. He has requested lemon bars this year....but I'm also making him banana bread. Considering making a strawberry cake too. We'll see. VolleyGirl has the crud a bit also but played great in the volleyball game tonight. She has a tournament Saturday a bit over an hour away, starts early. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, at least all my baby chicks will be in the nest!!!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

Hope all of you that may be observing the 4th, safely enjoy your day and make a memory. I have been absent for so long and anxiously hope that when I get back around to everyone that each one of you have been doing well. One note......today is also the annointed one's 4th birthday!!!!!! Happy Birthday Apollo!

Dogs on Thursday: Special Birthday Edition

Hey everybody! I am finally here to tell you about dad's birthday last Monday! He loves to eat the sugar decorations made for cakes and since his favorite cake is coconut...mom gets them for his cake. She made it square this time, which I didn't care either way cause I just wanted a big bite or at the very least......let the awesome aroma permeate my squashed nose! Best Buddy kept saying it looked like the cakes you buy in the frozen section since it was square.....but hey, I didn't care! IT SMELLED GREAT !!!! Dad did not care at all that I wanted in on the celebration.

Why, he even let me lick on a piece of that scrumptious sugar candy......now I KNOW why he loves it so much. I was in 'dog heaven' (not to be confused with 'hog heaven' - please).

Next, I was allowed to help dad open his gifts.......he really likes those bags with the beautiful dogs on them. I was a whole lot of help!

All the birthday hoopla makes a guy thirsty you know. Summer is a run of birthdays around here with BigBoy finishing it up in September. I am counting on him to share all the fun with me, not too worried, after all, we are pretty tight! May all you two-legged 'pets' and my fur-friends enjoy your days, especially Snuffles, Annie, Luna, Emma, Tonka, Presley, Friday, Penny and Dizzy!

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!)

Yea !!!!!!!!!!!!

Indulge me once again in writing about my dear ol' dad. Today would have been his 80th birthday. This photo was on his 65th I believe. He was doing a lot of woodwork in his shop at the time so I made a cake and put tools on them with icing, using brown sugar for sawdust.
My brain is trying hard to focus on the wonderful birthdays we celebrated with him, but my stubborn heart marches to it's own beat - of course - and it feels soggy and heavy.
On an upbeat note.....

I finished another 'maytagarama'! For those of you unfamiliar with that term...I am painting 2 x 3 foot canvas' in acrylic of old washing machines for a friend's two businesses. There are to be a total of fourteen, a set of seven for each place. I will not have them exactly alike, though they could be, I choose not too. I dubbed them 'maytagaramas' after the Maytag brand washerss. Finding time has been difficult and they are taking longer than predicted. Keep in mind, I have painted less than 20 'real' paintings since I graduated from college so I am improving, getting faster and more confident. BigBoy says that my latest ones are better than the first ones.....probably so......due to my experience but also to the different types. Some lend themselves to become a more interesting, pleasing eye experience than others. I will post them all soon. I have more to do......

Gotta go sketch out the next one AND be ready to go to Target with family when they return from the gym. Hope to catch up with your sites soon!

Always has been and will continue to be a Special Day

All my life, today has been a special day. Not just because it is the eve of Christmas Eve. It was the first family Christmas party, at my paternal grandparents' house, it was my mom and dad's wedding anniversary, but most importantly, it was my mama's birthday! Today, things are quite a bit different, of course, I will not be going to my grandparents house like we did my entire childhood, nor will I sing happy birthday to my mom and present her with a gift that I tried to wrap in order for her not to guess it first. She would have been 78 years old today. In 2000 we celebrated my parents 50th anniversary but in less than two years my mom would be gone and my dad was too, just over a year later. We refer to it as his "bonus year", since the doctor didn't expect it at all. He went into the hospital for the final time on the 23rd. The great thing is their oldest granddaughter's first son was born on the 23rd four years ago today. He was due on the 19th, as soon as we heard that, she and I both wondered if it would be possible. As Christmas drew nearer, her doctor wanted to schedule the delivery, naturally, she chose the 23rd. She prepared to check in the hospital the night before....and did, but she was never induced. She went into labor naturally that evening. So, little Finn came just when he was supposed to, on his great grandmother's birthday, just according to plan! It will always be a special day for sure.

The photo is mom with my daughter just after VolleyGirl's tearful pre-school Christmas program, at least 13 years ago. To be half the mother, I would be greatful.