Teddy | Mischief

It's been a week of trying to get our feet on solid ground with one large puppy named Teddy. Just when we thought we had the combination of Grandma, Camp Bow Wow and Visiting Dog Whisperer dialed in, Teddy-Mischief managed to injure his muzzle and then continue to keep slicing it back open again, with blood. Which means that instead of fun but wrestling-heavy doggy day care, he's home...in a cone.

More juggling for us.

One of these days I'll have the energy to write about something other than this growing whirlwind of a puppy, but for now, a quick video. Because that's how I roll at the moment:)

Hope you have a terrific week. Without too much mischief.

Camp Bow Wow | Can You Say Halleluliah?

So, puppyness. Puppyness is lots of things, including cute and fun and all kinds of wonderful.

But, also, let's be honest here, hard! Puppies are basically toddlers with sharp teeth who are more than happy to eat things that will kill them, fall into your pool and drown while your back is turned, or just tear up everything in your house.

Meanwhile, you do still need to go to work.

We've been jigsawing things together with a lot of help from my Mom because Teddy can't be in his crate alone for more than four hours and then he really needs a good couple of hours out, actively(!) before he can go back in and nap for a couple of hours more. This is not conducive to any sort of work life for humans. This past week we started bringing in a great lady we met through puppy school to handle two days a week, which has worked out well, but honestly, it's still only two hours. I have been going a little crazy trying to figure out a solution.

Today, she says with all kinds of thankfulness, the puppy help fairy descended in the guise of a little Elk Grove business named Camp Bow Wow. Halleluliah!

This place is exactly what we needed. Lots of dogs to play with, nice people to give attention to our little guy, and as a bonus, live web cams so I can spy on Teddy throughout the day and see that he's happy. Did I say Halleluliah already?

Picked him up after work and he was so tired out that he promptly jumped up on the couch and fell asleep. Several hours later, he's still mellow. This is nothing short of a miracle.

A tired puppy is a good puppy. Truer words, never.

Another bonus? These cute little "daycare" reports from his first day...with pictures.

What's not to love?

And, in case that wasn't enough happiness for one day, our first bloom is officially here.

Happy Friday:)

On Ladybugs

Sunday afternoon, sitting in my favorite spot in this whole wide world, on my shady sofa under our backyard gazebo. Teddy's hanging out with me quietly, worn out from his morning adventures. A pair of finches are here too, in the crepe myrtle over my shoulder, singing. But mostly, I'm noticing ladybugs.

Yep, ladybugs.

I've counted six of them, just looking around from my comfy spot. They are flying happily from rose bush to daisy tree to crepe myrtle leaf, kept company by a few drunken bees.

This makes me very happy.

Last year, I  gave up the chemical soup of fertilizer and systemic I always believed was a requirement of roses. Turns out it isn't. The roses grew fine, some aphids showed up, and soon after the ladybugs did too. Along with the ladybugs came some little brown birds I'd never seen in our yard before, who perched on the bushes and ate up and down the rose stems like little lawnmowers, vacuuming up the aphids.

This year I bought some organic fertilizer and managed to get the front yard roses done, but haven't made it to the back ones. Once again, the bushes are thriving despite my neglect. Until, a week ago, I noticed that the sweet new little buds were COVERED with a thick coating of aphids. I've seen what aphids do when unchecked...the buds literally shrivel up and fall off the plant and no blessing of roses follows. Given that I look forward to the first rose bloom all winter, this is not a scenario I relish.

Luckily, I was too busy with Teddy and everything else it takes to manage our lives to do anything about this bug situation and the aphids stayed.

And then, today, ladybugs triumph. There are barely a few little aphids left and the rosebuds are just fine and healthy.

No nasty chemicals, no work on my part, just mother nature doing her thing.

I get to chill and watch our resident fat squirrel and his tormenter blue jay arrive for their afternoon fun. The squirrel tries to get close to the bird feeder, the jay chases him away, loudly, before coming back for a tasty sunflower seed. Teddy gets to explore the bushes for palm tree bark pieces to shred. The ladybugs get to continue their feasting.

So happy I took a little break to enjoy this day. I'm pretty sure the chores will wait until I surface.

Ah, spring. I do love you.

A Little Headline Humor

One of my favorite ways to get a quick five minute laugh fix is to troll The Huffington Post for the most ridiculous headlines I can find. I literally give myself five minutes for this task, and the outcome never disappoints.

Today, I'm sharing a fast six gems with you...ready, set, five minutes...GO!

     Can Soap Ruin Your Life?

     Penis Size Study Shows Women Find Men With Big Genitals More Attractive.

Hmmm, tough choice...

     Why Is This Orthodox Jew Flying In A Huge Plastic Bag? 

Costco Gift Basket Mishap? 

     Roadside 'Sex' Caught On Google Street View (NSFW)

     Reality Star Struggles With Her Short Shorts

And, today's definite winner in the "We'll do anything for clicks" category...drum roll please...

     Victoria's Secret Model Goes Braless, Looks Cold

Rosie, Rosie, Rosie...

Right??

Really, I didn't even need five minutes, and I have no interest in actually reading the stories. I just like to collect the headlines.

And the laughs.

Hope you had a great week:)

                                                    This post inspired by Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writing Workshop.

Puppy Life | Hound Dog

Teddy adventures, week 2.

We're all worn out from life with our toddler. But smiling. Lots and lots of smiles in our house.

Can One Be a Magazineaholic?

Each month a stack of glossy monthlies lands in my mailbox--first a trickle, and then, finally, a deluge. Ron got five subscriptions free as a perk at work and I can't seem to resist the incredible Amazon subscription deals. ($5 for a year, $7 for two years!)  Each one is a promise of a little slice of time to myself, some beautiful pictures, a lunch out at Centro with an iced tea, an evening in bed with the book light shining over my shoulder.

I've loved magazines as long as I can remember, starting with the National Geographics at our house and the Redbooks, Reader's Digests and National Enquirer's at the babysitters'. Not to mention my Dad's Playboys, which back in the 70s were casually displayed on the coffee table. Quite an education I received at their hands, from "Can This Marriage be Saved" to the "Playboy Advisor" with some snarky celeb gossip and alien abduction stories on the side.

Afternoons when I was eight, I'd hunker down on the grass next to yet another babysitter, while she sunbathed for hours (slathered in baby oil of course), my assignment to read out loud to her from Teen. Completely mesmerized by the advice columns, I pored over the answers as if they were tea leaves portending my future.  Later, I fell in love with Seventeen. August was the best...a satisfyingly thick tome filled with all things back-to-school: plaid skirts and sweater sets, backpacks in every color, how-tos on decorating your locker and looking good in your school picture (little did I know then that it was a model in the photo..before and after "styling"), advice on nicely turning down a boy's unwanted invitation to prom stored away for my dreamed of future.

Over the years, I've watched myself grow up in their titles...Highlights, Teen, Seventeen, Glamour, Omni (anyone remember that one?), MacWorld, Cosmo, Vogue, Inc, Brides, Martha Stewart Living, O, Cooking Light, Sunset, Parenting, Family Fun, Better Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, More.

They've kept me company, my magazines. I know the fonts and the layouts, spot a revamp immediately, smile at a freshening up or a new columnist, mourn the moving on of a favorite editor. I tear out articles to save and pictures to paste in my scrapbooks, then stack the issues up in a paper bag to pass on to the thrift store or the library. At this point they are like old friends.

Right now, there are twenty one magazines each month: Vogue, Vanity Fair, Good Housekeeping, Clean Eating, Bazaar, Sacramento Mag, Comstocks, Inc, O, More, Shape, Better Homes & Gardens, Vegetarian Times,  Sunset, Chloe's American Girl, Ron's Entertainment Weekly, plus the Martha Stewart Living and House Beautiful my mom gives me when she's finished with them. I try to keep just the latest issue so that they don't take over the house completely, but still, they are everywhere. Vanity Fair in the bathroom, four Comstocks beneath my desk at work, the stack of Cooking Lights I need to pull recipes from, Martha Stewart barely glanced at before I relegate her to the finished pile, just to be done. Some of the articles don't even get read and when, once in awhile, I pull an old issue from the garage pile, I barely remember having looked at it. Very few photos are torn out for my scrapbooks; my pile of unread books waits, untouched.

Each month, they come...an onslaught, a flood. Remember The Little Prince and his rose? Amazon's cheap subscriptions have given me too many roses. I'm not savoring them anymore; instead the monthly stack feels like one more thing on my already too long to-do list, glossies scolding me from their perches.

Too much, too many, they overwhelm.

I want them to be the gifts that they once were. The slick feel of the paper, the gorgeous photos, the inspirational articles, the sense of promise when I open a cover. A mini vacation in their pages.

I'm ready to look forward to savoring my friends again, to taking them off my to-do list. The best of these, I'll keep...O, More, Vogue, Better Homes & Gardens, Inc, Sunset. The rest, and it's an embarrassingly long list, I'm ready to let go.

Maybe.

                                                                                                          This post inspired by Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writing Workshop