Surviving Buzz and the fields

I am trying really hard to socialize this crazy dog so she won't be crazy and viscious all at the same time. Today I took her to the dog park in the morning, hoping to avoid the super busy times that would freak both of us out. We went in to find one canine potential friend there, a Basset Hound/Lab mix. He was solid and low to the ground. Copper was taller than he was, but lacked about 15 pounds of mongrel to equal his girth. She learned very quickly to be sumissive and lay on her back until he decided to let her get up. He was a bit forward, but not mean. She had speed on him for sure, but if she stopped, Lord help her. She was t-boned dog style multiple times and her brown hair had silver streaks all over it from his copious amounts of slobber painting her outside. We left after 45 minutes. It was the best trip ever. She spent the rest of the afternoon resting and recovering in her crate. Socializing continued this evening with the first soccer practice of the season. It was good to meet people, but a cruel exercise with all kinds of bright objects flying through the air and rolling around on the ground. Lots of little boys and girls were at just the right level to lick and beat about with her tail. She took a second trip to the dog park. It was short lived because I am a big chicken. A little dog that resembled a mop head tried to bite her in the face twice. Jenny=Done.

She is currently snoozing on her girl while she watches an episode of Survivor. The snoring is epic. I may have to join her soon.



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Meatloaf double beet loaf

Today was a meatloaf night in our house. I have never been a fan. I loved helping my dad make his, special cooking time, you know? But I was never a fan of any meatloaf that any person made. Not an attack on anyone, just a statement of my palate's dislike for comfort food drowned in ketchup(though to be fair, I'm not sure what my dad used on his, but it really smelled scrumptious). Over the years I have tried, through many failed attempts, to make a meatloaf that I can eat with the rest of the family. I think the whole concept, meat...in a loaf, is just off putting. I now have a recipe for Italian meatloaf that I make that I can eat without holding my nose or spitting in my napkin. Still not a fan, but I can ingest it. That was a long explanation for nothing. After I made the meatloaf this morning, which I mix by hand to make sure it is good and blended, I scrubbed my hands raw to get the meat smell off of them...I thought. Going to play with the puppy was probably the dumbest idea ever. Just like in the movie "Best In Show", see it if you have not, the dog show commentators said of an owner who was attacked by a dog, "The dog went after her like she was made out of ham!". Copper was on me in flash, fighting to get as close as possible to my hands. She kept nosing them around looking for the meat I was obviously holding. Lesson learned. On meatloaf night, someone else take care of the dog. I feel llike I went through battle.




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Waaaaakey wakey!!!!

You know, when you get a 2am wake up call from a sick child burning up with fever, it should be an indicator as to how the rest of your day will go. When G crept into our room and I awoke to see a figure standing in front of our bed, I yelled out loud enough that the hub even woke up. She was feeling dizzy and out of sorts, so we had her sit in the bathroom and await further instructions. I rifled through the cabinets in a groggy state trying to find a thermometer. Even being a foot away, I could feel the heat radiating off of her 9 year old body. The thermometer beeped a red face: 103.5. Trying to act calm, we ibuprofened her, wiped her down with a cool wash cloth, put a fever strip on her forehead and put her on the sick mattress in our room. Let's fast forward to 10am this morning, okay? The hub had mercifully taken S and the boy to school and I was kind of sitting vigil by G's sick bed as she moaned and tossed and turned and sizzled. She finally settled, watching The Incredibles, so I could get some breakfast and exercise the dog a bit. I checked the outside gate. Shut. I let her out and went to toast a bagel and fix a cup of coffee. I ate and watched Flipping Out on Bravo and tried to wake up. Thinking G would like to snuggle with her pup, I called the usual high pitched "COOOPPPEERRRCOPPERCOPPERCOPPERCOPPER!!". Nothing. I did it again. Nada. Down at the fence deep in the backyard, I saw our newish neighbor. I had met her once and knew she worked for a local animal shelter and was a dog kind of gal. Good thing. I noticed, as a walked to meet her, that she was in some brightly colored odd clothing. As I got closer, she said, "Hey! Um, your puppy just crawled and climbed and jumped the fence." I was horrified for many reasons and sighing with relief that she was in a friendly yard. I was also a bit concerned because our neighbor was in her pajamas. The next five minutes of conversation left me wanting to dig a hole in the ground and live there. Apparently my super smart dog hopped over the fence to play with her doggie friends, smelled the path they take in their yard and found the dog door to go into their house. Shall I continue or can you see where the story is heading. She went through the looking glass, AKA the dog door, and got the wife out of bed. Yes. You read that correctly. Needless to say, I carried the dog back to the house and quickly deposited her into her crate for her personal safety. I think I'll rename her "Paul Revere"...going house to house waking everyone up. People wonder why I'm crazy. There's your answer.


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Bubble wrap day

I want to wrap my kids up in bubble wrap and protect them from the world, but that is not a reasonable parenting technique. When I worry about life, I neglect other things. My brain is left to dangle out of my pocket and rock in the wind like the Lego Frankenstein on my keychain:



Today I was worried about a sad child and a headache sick child and completely forgot about the one who was having a halfway decent day. I made a quick run to Walgreens to get some Motrin and I completely leave him at church during G's choir practice. In all fairness, all those moms there are more than authorized by me to be mom in my absence, if they see my children acting like miscreants out in public when they are in high school or if they see they have gotten in a fender bender in front of Walgreens....or if their mother has no brain and leaves him playing the ipad in the choir room with one of his best friends. Just stop writing your speeches right now...I am winning the Mom of the Year award. Hands down.
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I'm a shoe in...okay, that was corny

On my quest in 2014 to become a little more trendy, what, I didn't share that with you? Today's trendy attempt was to find some new trendy shoes. Truth be known, Chucks and Vans are very trendy with the high school boy demographic, but for the 41 year old schlumpy mom set? Not so much. I am not so much into what demographic I fit into, but I was told that if I didn't diversify my shoe collection, it would violently and mysteriously disappear. Um, harsh statement number one. In my quest, I began to notice lots of different kinds of footwear. Anything with a heel more than a millimeter is out. Clutz of the highest order right here friends. So I started to notice that lots of people had on a certain brand of shoe. Heck, I've bought them for my own children. They are a charitable company, providing shoes to children. I don't have to tie them. Why not? When a dear friend found out I had never purchased a pair of said shoes, she said she might have to consider revoking the friend card. Harsh statement number two. On my quest, I learned a lot of things about charitable and eco friendly shoes. My best friend from college and I always joke about a certain actress who we are not great fans of (Natalie Portman) and her choice of foot wear. I found her preference at River Sports today:



Vegan shoes. I could have really gone Hollywood. Sadly, they did not have my size...and I loved them. But what I ended up with was these:



TOMS! I have taken a step, a charitable step, into trendiness. My kids were even proud and unashamed to buy bananas with me at the Kroger. It's a win win. Yes, I did pick the drabbest color that, as my college friend said, I need to introduce color and not look like the late Steve Irwin's cousin from the states. Struck out on that this time...crikey, I'll try harder next time.


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Not a lazy Sunday

I am in the middle of Downton Abbey and am close to falling asleep. Season finale night leads me to stay up intil 11:00. Yaawwwnnn! It was a typical Sunday, busy morning and busy afternoon. I got in a little sewing time and made a few dinobunnies. I went to a meeting this afternoon where a man called something my brother has helped work on "schlocky". Have you ever heard it? This is the meaning:



Let me just tell you that I almost went over the table at him. Nobody speaks to my brother that way, but as always, he handled himself like a true gentleman. I fumed, but that is what I do...red headed temper.

Oh well...Ms. Hughes just found a ticket stub and some bad $#&^ may go down in a minute with the downstairs people. Can't miss a thing.
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Windows open kind of day

What a glorious day we had in East Tennessee today! We made a bagel run and then went to the kids' version of hell: Home Depot. We needed to get some squirt bottles for deterring the dog from putting her paws up on the counter and I needed to look at sinks and faucets for the kitchen for the 75,000th time. Upon our return home, I turned into a candidate for "Worst Mother of the Year" and made the kids super-de-duper clean their rooms before they could go out and frolic in the late winter sun. To say there was some strife would be an understatement, so I'll just say there was. But the desire for a large dose of vitamin D motivated them to hasten the process. "Aunt Julie", the dog trainer, came to work with Copper and got lots of laughs at her and our expense. I think we are her comic relief for the week. Between trying to teach several different age levels how to execute a command and trying to work past puppy ADHD, sometimes her best defense is just to laugh and shake her head. After she left, I did a little cleaning of the patio and backyard and found this little friend:



It caused quite the kerfuffle in our family, but eventually everyone had touched its pretty blue tail. It sunned itself on the hub's hand until it had enough, bit his finger and moved on to browner leaf piles. Whatever. After that excitement, we took the kids for a late afternoon treat of The Lego Movie. Uhhhh, loved it! It was quite funny and I laughed out loud several times...good and snarky. We returned home to run out a bit more energy playing soccer and football. S took the dog for a walk in her new harness and watched the sunset. A lovely end to a lovely day.



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