Happy New Years

"I knew I should have drank from the toilet instead of the martini glass"

Back in the day, Linda would never in a million years turn down invitations to do something on New Year's Eve.  In fact, she would stress that there wouldn't be any invites and she would be stuck home.  Times sure have changed.  Now, her activity of choice is to stay home.  Being with Tier, Taylor and Sarah would have been nice, but they had plans.  The next choice, get caught up on some TV shows she missed, update her iPod classic and iPhone to sync with the new laptop and eat fun snacks.  Pizza from the corner Eye-Talian joint by our house would be really yummy, but that would require getting out of her jammies and putting shoes on. Maybe they deliver??  The weather is still nice enough for a walk, but her knees are a little swollen from the trail run she did with Chim after his nail fiasco today.  All in all, it's going to be a very, very lazy New Year's Eve.  Yay for us!

World's Smartest Dog

If you want to read a fun Top Ten (OK, Top 7 in this case) about dogs, this is the one of you:  http://theweek.com/article/index/222628/the-7-most-newsworthy-dogs-of-201144

I'm Chaser.  I know over 1,000 words

You can read Chaser's story below.  I 'm super-duper impressed on how smart this dog is: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18dog.html?pagewanted=all

I know a lot of words, and commands, but certainly not 1,000. 

Chimmies Big Adventure

"I'm sorry that I am such a cry baby"

Yay!  Finally, short nails

In a spur of the moment decision, Linda took Chimmie to a salon to get his nails cut.  They were so long that he was scratching her every single time they played.  Plus, it had to be uncomfortable for him because he started biting at them.  There is a place a few miles from her house that has been there for over 40 years.  She stopped in after lunch today and talked to the owner.  She said in her 44 years of dog grooming, there has never been a time when she could not groom or cut a dogs nails.  Linda warned her that Chim would be a special case, but she said "Bring it on!"  Chim peed on the floor as soon as he walked in.  He was shaking so hard that his tags were rattling.  The groomer had Linda hold him and started on his back paws.  He wasn't just crying, he was SCREAMING, SCREECHING, HOWLING and WHINING at the top of his lungs.  Because Linda did not really know how to hold him properly, her neck, chin and face got clawed to shreds by his front paws.  The owner called in reinforcements and had her daughter hold him.  Not only did all his nails get cut, she used the electric grinder on them to smooth the sharp edges out.  Poor Chim, he was just a basket case when it was done.  As a treat after, Linda took him to the Dairy Queen nearby and got him a kids cup of plain vanilla ice cream.  He perked up a bit after that.  Since the DQ was right on the path of  the W & OD Trail, they went for a long run.  It had the exact effect she wanted.  He was totally drained of energy and fell asleep on the ride home. 

Esmeralda

Tonight is Tierney's much anticipated New Year's Eve party.  It will be so much fun because everyone who attends has to dress up in a Disney costume AND come in character the whole night!  Tier will be Snow White.  I'm sure she'll be munching on an apple and talking in a little sing-song voice.  Linda wants to go, but crashing your daughters NYE bash is on the Top Ten List of what not to do to embarrass your kids.  Linda actually does have an Esmeralda outfit that she wore to a costume party about 10 years ago.  She put it somewhere safe, but can't remember where she stashed it.  I'm glad she is staying home since she was out last night and people her age should not go to parties two nights in a row.  You need your rest Linda, stay home and cuddle with us!

Top Ten Addiction

Maybe Linda should get this book.  I'm sure wasting hours on the internet is not in there.

This is New Year's Eve.  It's also one of Linda's favorite internet surfing times.  She loves to read all the top ten list from the past year.  There is a top ten list for everything: apologies, tweets, animal stories, crime stories, movies, books, fashion trends, dumb crook stories, ridiculously obvious study findings, etc. etc. etc....I was a little upset when I didn't  make the top ten animal blogs of 2011, nor did I make the top ten cutest dogs of 2011. Tier told us we are not allowed to talk about page hits and numbers, but lets just say my monthly page views are right at number 5 on the list of the top ten.  I guess it is good that I didn't make it so I stay humble.   Linda has to be careful because reading these lists will suck her into the internet.  An hour will fly by and it feels like 10 minutes.  Since she knows it can be a problem for her, she made a folder in her favorite bookmarks that says "waste of time."  She has saved a bunch of list that she has not read yet.  She set a rule that by midnight on January 1st, the folder will be deleted along with all the bookmarks and that will be the end of the time-wasting lists.

Linda's Date

Linda will be heading out in a few minutes to a work Holiday party.  I guess they can't call it a Christmas party anymore, plus it's after Christmas, so it is really an almost New Year party.  Next Saturday, another gym she works at is having their Holiday party.  Linda is not much of a party-goer.  You all know she would rather stay home and veg with us.  She took a good friend to the last party and she is coming to this one with her too.  (Laura LOVES Jesus and likes to tell everyone.  It always opens door for great witnessing.  At the last party, a guy asked if either one of them would like to go out with him and they said "NO, not a chance...but do you know Jesus?"  He left them alone after that.)  Anyway, there will be a photo tonight of Laura and Linda at the gathering I'll post later.  This is an old photo of them from last year after they went to Laura's Christmas Eve service at her church.  UPDATE:  Sorry, no new photo.  Linda did bring her camera, but they both ended up sitting at a table talking for 2 1/2 hours straight.  There wasn't any vegetarian food, so Linda was going to order something to eat off the menu.  When the party hostess saw, she went ahead and ordered a slew of vegetarian appetizers!  They turned out to be the most popular too!

Uncle Taylor and Noah Eat a Burger

Enjoying a burger with Uncle Taylor

"I need another napkin, OK?"

"Whew, that was messy..."

"...And fun, I need more!"

Then Uncle Taylor told him NO, and Noah is just testing

First Down!

For the FIRST time ever, Chimmie lasted the entire night in The Big Bed!  Granted, Linda went to bed late after the wedding and got up early, but he still was a very good boy and did not wiggle, shake or lick her until 1 minute before the alarm went off.  She was super careful and wore her robe to bed just in case he crawled under the covers again while she was sleeping.  Chances are she would not get a rash and all itchy, but she wasn't taking any chances.  In other exciting news, Noah is coming over today with Taylor and Sarah!  Linda has to teach all morning and then is meeting them for lunch.  Since she will be gone for hours, Taylor offered to come and let us outside and throw the ball for Chimmie.  Taylor is an amazing athlete and could probably throw the ball the length of a football field if we had a yard that big.  How cool would that be?  Chim would get tired out after only twenty times of fetch instead of the 100 times it usually takes him.

I'm Number 1

Plants are a NO.

Noah likes to explore every inch of the house. Linda follows behind him all day long.  Since our house is not Toddler proof, she has to say "NO" or redirect him if he is getting into mischief.  When he was a baby, he would stay on the blanket and kick his feet at me to entertain himself.  As he got older, he would sit up and actually play with me. Once he started crawling, we really had fun!  This stage, the walking..running..squealing stage isn't my favorite.  He kind of scares me a little bit.  Chimmie loves it though.  It's amazing how gentle Chim is with Noah.  He's never once jumped on him or taken a toy out of his hand.  Linda lets Noah give us cookies, and we take them softly and slowly out of his fingers.  Sometimes Noah pulls the cookie away when we are about to eat it and we just wait patiently for him to put his hand out again.  I'm so glad Noah gets to spend time with us.  It would be so great if one day he could get his own puppy.

Noah the Big Boy

Noah came wearing the cutest little bear hat today!  He's also wearing a big-boy football outfit (in a size 3T!) he got for Christmas. Noah was born in November, so he is just over 1 year old.  Not only is he walking, running, and trying to talk; today he ate his lunch with a spoon.  Linda had to help him just a little with the squash, but he could pick up the green beans and little pieces of fish by himself.  He kept wanting to try Linda's Brussel sprouts and asparagus so she gave him some bites.  He spit both of them out and then grabbed a big handful of green beans to stuff in his mouth instead.  For desserts, he's having yogurt and fruit snacks.  Since his nose seems to be running, Linda isn't going to take him for a walk today just in case he has a little cold.  Plus, there are teeny-tiny snowflakes coming down when she let me outside in the backyard. Now he is taking his nap.  When he wakes up, we'll get a photo of him wearing his bear hat.

You Can Make a Difference

What if we were hungry?

The ASPCA estimates that almost 2 million pets have been abandoned since the recession began in December 2007.  People who are losing jobs and homes just can afford to feed or house their beloved animals anymore.  Now, a few organizations are stepping up to the plate to help strapped pet owners.  Pet Food Pantries are opening across the country.  Just like a regular food pantry, these are just for pet food.  If Linda was so poor she could not afford food for us, it would be a huge blessing to be able to go and get free Alpo.  In just one year, a pantry that was run out of someones home supplied nearly one ton of food!  Another door has opened for hungry pets.  Meals on Wheels is an organization that supplies meals to home bound seniors.  MOW found out that the old folks were giving their own meals to their pets since they could not afford or were able to get out to buy them pet food.  Now a new branch of MOW called "We All Love Our Pets" or WALOP, is passing out pet food along with their meal delivers to their seniors with animals. You can also go to the site www.freekibble.com to play a trivia game.  With every right answer, sponsors will donate 10 pieces of dog kibble to a shelter.  So far to date, 682,435,830 bites of kibble has been donated.  Contact your local animal rescue organization and see how you can help save dogs (OK, and cats too) lives.

Best Tag Ever!

Linda is still amazed at her Eureka! Gold Air Speed vacuum.  Yesterday, she did the carpets and emptied out a full canister of lint, dust, and fuzz balls.  Since Chimmie got into one of my new Christmas toys (bad dog!) there was more to vacuum up today.  Linda is kind of a completest. She had to do the whole house over and not just the mess Chimmie made.  It picked up another canister of dust bunnies and lint. She also bought some Mop & Glo and did the floors over.  They were clean and shiny yesterday, but the Mop & Glo makes them really sparkle.  If Linda didn't have a real job, she would spend the majority of her day cleaning.  She loves seeing the before and after results.  There are still lots of areas in our house (like the 4 other bedrooms and extra family room) that she does not clean or just does a surface quick-clean.  If she had unlimited time, she would take a week and go through each room and get rid of the clutter and useless things she thought she needed.  (Like the six wire stacking cubes she bought to hold all the stuff she does not need.) 

Don't Be Rash

Every once in awhile for some strange reason, Linda gets allergic to Chimmie.  She can hold him up against her body for 8 weeks straight, and not have any issues.  Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, she'll break out in a horrible, itchy rash.  You can see the redness if you click on the photo to enlarge it.  (This time he was sitting on her lap while she typed and would reach up to kiss her every 3 minutes.  This is what resulted from his fur rubbing against her skin.)  It happened again last night while we were in bed.  She lets him start the night in bed with us.  He was doing sooooo good at being still (plus I slept through the night without waking her up once.) and not wiggling around.  At one point, he crept under the covers to be right against her.  She was almost asleep and not paying much attention, so she did not stop him.  We are not allowed to lay under the sheet, just between the blanket and the top quilt.  In about 15 minutes, she felt like a million fire ants were crawling on her and she was itching like crazy.  Sure enough, she went to the bathroom and was all rashy where his fur touched her skin.  Benadryl keeps her awake so she could not take anything for it. I wonder why this happens?  Taylor gets the same thing every time he holds me.  This morning there is not a red mark on her anywhere. 

I Love Noah

Yes, he really is the cutest little boy every born. 

If The Shoe Fits...

Yesterday, Linda was convicted to stop worrying about what she will be wearing to her friends Cris's  wedding later this week.  She decided on a plain black dress already in her closet and just a tad more makeup than normal. No more focusing on the outside while neglecting the inside.  While she was returning all Tierney and Sarah's wrong gifts today, she wanted to spend the incredibly generous gift card that Cris gave her for Christmas. Well, since she wasn't going to fuss anymore about the clothes and just wear something she already owned, she thought she would spend the gift card on shoes for the wedding. She found a pretty pair with a Tierney style heel.  Since super-high heels are not something she is used to, Linda was a little nervous.  The shoes fit great, but she decided to wear them around the store while she shopped  to make sure they that she wouldn't trip or turn her ankle walking down the aisle at church.  After 15 minutes, her lower back started aching.  In 5 more minutes, the pain was up her spine into her upper back.  Wearing the giant high heels must have pinched the dumb nerve in her back again!!  The rest of the afternoon she was crooked and in pain.  She had to ice and take drugs to be able to teach her 3 classes this afternoon.  Now it's a little better, but she is going to have to take it easy the next few days.  I think if she would have listened to her conviction, the back pain would never have happened.  Oh, and she did put the shoes back and bought a pair of Joe's Jeans instead.  They are super comfortable and soft.  Just her style.

Savage Sword of Choopee

Hey Jerry, it is spelled C H O O P I E

No walker tonight.  Jerry had to work late at his super-secret job doing super-secret work.  When he lived here, he could not even tell Linda where he worked or what his job was.  I think what he really does is sit in a cave drawing monkeys, dinosaurs, barbarians and girls wearing bikinis, but he tells everyone he is saving the world.  He once promised he would make a comic book about me.  He did finish the cover, but I don't think he got much done on the inside.  You have too look really closely, but I'm on the front of the Conan in the little pink carry-me pack! 

First Prize

Henry looking adorable

Little Henry is Megan's baby.  For the long-time readers, you know Megan works in the nursery with Linda and has a pretty nifty food blog called The Red Spoon.  Shes won all sorts of honors in the food blog community. Besides being a good cook, she is almost a professional photographer and writer.  I've been blogging way longer than her, and I've never won any awards :(  Well, technically that's not true.  I placed in the Worlds Cutest Chorkie contest and won a tee shirt one time. If Megan entered Henry's photo in a Worlds Cutest Christmas Baby contest, she would definitely win more than a tee shirt.

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Remember I told you how Tierney was in a Partridge Family skit?  Well here she is playing the girl (who might be Tracy?) and her two of her Partridge brothers.  The third brother who is not in the picture sang an amazing song that will be posted on You Tube soon.  As soon as it does, I'll put the link on my blog.  Ever since Tierney was a toddler, she has loved being on stage and having people clap for her.

What Time Is It?

It's been a rainy cold day, so we haven't walked.  Linda spent the entire morning going to 5 different stores to return the gifts that Tierney & Sarah didn't like or did not fit.  She's super glad she did not have to wait in one return line, at each store she walked right up the the counter.  While she as at Nordstroms, she got the new watched sized Tierney gave her.  She has been trying to get a photo of it, but the flash keeps reflecting off the face.  This is it from the stores website.  Linda just loves watches and she loves brown.  This his her first "big" face watch, so she will have to get used to it.  Before her 3 classes this evening, she needs to clean up the house.  With Christmas Eve, Christmas and getting ready for Cris's shower yesterday, she's let things slide.  How many people can say they actually miss their vacuum? 

You Can't See Me

My New Kitchen Bed.

As much as Linda loves sleeping with me in The Big Bed, she is starting to reconsider.  Every single night I wake her up at least 2-3 times because I need to get a drink or go outside.  Since she is such a light sleeper, she wakes up the second I move from her side.  If she tries to ignore me, I jump off The Big Bed and onto the floor and do a sad little mewl.  After the 2nd time I woke her up last night, she made me stay in the kitchen bed until morning.  Since I got a new bed for Christmas, I adore being in it. I feel like I can hid from everyone, especially annoying cats and pestering puppies.  Linda can put a pee-pee pad down if I do have an emergency.   It will take a little while for her to get used to sleeping without me because she likes to sing me songs as I fall asleep and wakes me up with little coo's.  I'll be mad if she lets Chimmie sleep all night with her though.  I doubt he'll ever be that good even though he's been making improvements.

I'm Learning

Baby Chimmie when he was 5 pounds.  Now he weighs 15!

We tried letting Chimmie sleep on The Big Bed last night and he was so good!  He is learning that if he lays absolutely still, Linda won't put him in his den.  He used to wake up every 20 minutes to give Linda a kiss before settling back down.  Now, as soon as he kisses her,  she puts him in the bathroom bed and shuts the door so he'll learn still=Big Bed.  He finally is catching on.  Last night he didn't move until 4:00 a.m. before he kissed her.  Turns out he actually had to go outside, so she is glad he woke her up.  Maybe he's not as dumb as a box of rocks after all. 

Oscar Worthy

I was amazing!  My acting debut was a success!  My name was even mentioned when the credits rolled... "and featuring Choopie as Toto!"  Yay for me!  Tierney's Lost skit was also very good, it was Linda's favorite skit not counting my little part. Her final scene with the Smoke Monster ended up on the editing floor, but she said it was epic.   In another skit, she played the girl with the long hair from the Partridge Family who's name Linda can't remember. Tier did an excellent job on the tambourine and singing harmony.  It was all very entertaining, especially when all the church Deacons got up and did a song and dance number.   As soon as I get the URL's for You Tube, I will post them here so you can watch them too!! 

The REAL Reason for the Season

Last Christmas around Baby Jesus

It's been a very relaxing Christmas day.  I love having Linda home for so many hours in a row.  She likes it too since it hardly ever happens.  Tomorrow, she has to teach in the morning, do some errands, go to practice for Pump, and clean the house before she goes to the wedding shower for Cris.  It will be another full day.  There will be some time for a walk or two in there between her commitments.  But now it's time to get ready for church.  She is so excited about seeing me on film!  (Someone has been pulled in front of our house beeping their horn and flashing their lights.  It's a black car Linda does not recognize.  I told her to lock the doors and windows.  Could it be a stalker or just a case of someone at the wrong house?)

What Not to Wear: Baby Edition

Note to Baby:  Not the best outfit to wear when you spit out the 10 cheerios you tried to jam in your mouth at once!

Christmas morning is super special when you get to celebrate it with 7 babies!  Linda did nursery at church this morning.  It was so cute seeing all the babies dressed in their festive holiday wear.  Some of the dresses were so puffy and had so much netting, the girls could not even move or sit in their bouncy seats. Linda did not think to bring her camera, but this was similar to what the girl babies were wearing.  The boys were dressed in a much more practical manner with button down shirts and little sweater vests. When she got home,  Linda made her favorite Sunday lunch:  salmon,  butternut squash and a few Brussel sprouts with asparagus spears that she broiled with yummy seasoning.  Now that she is full and satisfied, she is debating between a nap or taking us on our hike.  Hummm..... it's looking like the nap is going to win.  When she gets up, she'll walk us and then start the baking she needs to do for tomorrow's wedding shower.  Tonight at church is the film debut of my Wizard of Oz skit.  It's also Tierney's first stab at writing, directing and acting in a skit.  Guess what she wrote?  Yep, her favorite TV show... "Lost."  She said I was too small to play Vincent and Chimmie is just to disobedient to follow direction.

Merry Christmas from Dogs Everywhere!

I could of played the part of baby Jesus.

Christmas morning is way different for Linda now that Tier and Taylor are all grown and have homes of their own.  Back in the day, she would be up with them before dawn to start breakfast and try and get them to wait at least a few minutes before they opened their presents.  Now, Chim and I wake her up before dawn, so that's the same but the reason is different!  She loves the old days, but she also loves where she is right now, this very second.  God is directing the path she is supposed to be on and as long as she has ears to hear his voice, she is at total peace (and happy!) with waking up to a quite house alone.  (OK, not so quite as Chip was howling from 5:00 a.m. for some reason.) 

The computer just turned itself off again, right while I was typing.  It just logs out and installs updates by magic.  Her old computer never did that.  A window would pop up and say "do you want to install updates now or later?"  This one is so bossy!!

Oh Christmas Tree

Best Snuggie Ever!

Michael Kors watch, Yay!!

Ohhh!!!

Taylor loved his new sleeper and kitty cap

The real deal

Christmas Eve, a time to be with the people (and pets) you love.  Linda had such a nice time with Taylor, Sarah and Tierney tonight opening presents and eating fun snacks.  One of the best parts for her was listening to Sarah sing all the words to the gazebo dance routine from the "I am 16 going on 17" scene in the Sound of Music!  Linda was blessed with such great presents.  Right now she is cozy in her leopard snuggie that Sarah picked out.  Tierney gave her the Michael Kors watch from Nordstrom that she has secretly wanted forever!  Plus, she got a professional chef quality saute pan, super warm gloves and a very cute navy and white striped tunic dress.  Even though it's still early, Linda really needed to come home and get to bed early from her fun, but busy day. 

Christmas Past

Will the real Tierney please stand up?

While they were eating at iHop, Tierney bought a bunch of old photos for them to look through.  Some were of  Christmas past when they were babies.  There is a little girl at church named Faith that looks so much like Tier did.  The difference is in their personalities.  Tier was Little Miss Outgoing and Faith is Little Miss Don't Look at Me.   Linda can't wait for the kids to open all their presents tonight.  Since they will all be at church on Christmas Day in the morning and evening, they will be gathering tonight for the opening party.  Tomorrow, Linda promised it would be "our" time between churches.  It's supposed to be super nice weather, so we'll hike the trails.  Then for lunch she'll  grill some fish on the deck and make herself a feast of butternut squash and fresh asparagus.  She said we can't have salmon since it made us sick, but she will grill all the pets a piece of plain talipia to share.  That fish is much easier to digest than the higher fat salmon.  Next Christmas, we'll have our own BABY girl to spoil.  Linda already bought her a ton of presents and she's still just living inside Sarah's belly.

Christmas iHop Tradition

 

 

As usual, Linda looks washed out (She did just finish teaching 3 classes though)

Our baby is due in just 3 months!

Traditional Tierney pose at iHop

It would not be Christmas without the traditional iHop Christmas brunch.  Since Linda worked, they could not do it in the morning, so they met at 1:30.   It's been going on for over 10 years now, she does not remember the exact year it started.  It's always a time of laughs and crazy shenanigans.  Tier always gets chocolate chip pancakes and then tries to barter bites for other peoples food.  Taylor eats a huge giant breakfast with all the sides.  Sarah is the back-to-basic eater skipping the toast and pancakes and just going with the eggs.  Linda broke tradition and got one of the under 600 calories breakfast with egg whites and 2 harvest pancakes.  She usually gets a sliced banana and a bagel but decided to go all out this time since it was her first meal of the day and she was starving.  She was a little sad that the blow-up, life-size Santa wasn't in the lobby like last year.  There will be lots more photos tonight when Linda goes to Taylor and Sarah's townhouse to open presents.  Linda said she is going to put a ton of makeup on so she does not look bland sitting next to Tier. 

Chimmie vrs the Cheetah

Cheetahs run 75 miles per hour.  I bet Chimmie could take him

Linda started a new tradition with us today.  From now on, after she does her normal walk with us she is going to put me back inside and run with Chimmie.  He is not that used to running on the leash and is very confused by what is going on.  Since Linda is about 20x slower than he is (he runs like a Cheetah) his running pace on the leash is like a very fast walk or slow, slow trot when she is jogging.  He needs more exercise than he is getting, so running is a short-cut to tire him out.  Linda's knees don't like running on pavement, but she'll have to suffer so he can get tired out. I wish she knew a fast runner that lived nearby where he could really gallop while on the leash.  I guess she could ride her bike and let him run.  Today, Taylor came over while she was working to play with us.   He threw the ball a bunch of times with Chim and taught him some new tricks.  I only stayed outside for a few minutes and wanted to come back inside.  I don't do well with people I'm not close to on a daily basis. 

Free Willy and Ugly Presents

Christmas Eve already!  Linda had her shopping done for awhile now and it was all wrapped, but she had to put name tags on the gifts last night.  There is another tradition (besides breakfast at iHop) that the family does.  First, it's OK, and even more than OK, to wrap the presents a little messy.  No neat corners or lined up prints are expected.  Some of them need to be wrapped in the worst possible way.  Taylor always wins the contest, hands down.  Tierney usually goes the easy route and does not wrap.  She uses the expensive gift bags and red bows that come from Nordstrom's for free when you shop there.  Sarah is just learning the tradition, she usually is very neat in her corners.  Then, in the "from" line, you must use names of all the family pets, both living and dead.  When you run out of pet names, then you can just use your imagination.  For instance, a pair of shoes might be from Jimmy Choo, a basketball from Air Jordan, a new skillet from Rachel Ray.  Linda was tired when she was making the tags last night so there is even one from Free Willy although the gift has nothing to do with whales. (Annoying!  Right while I was typing this the computer automatically shut down and logged off to start adding Windows updates.)

The Days of Kiss, Van Halen and Bon Jovi

Her hair really wasn't orange, it's just the lighting

At first Linda was so embarrassed when Tierney found some of her old modeling pictures and scanned them into the computer.  She said she looks so "early 80's".  Then she realized that everyone looked dorky in the 80's and the Farah feathered hairdo really was in style.  If you could see the rest of this leotard and matching leg warmers, the photo would be so much better.  She remembers her back was killing her from holding the twisty pose so long.  There are lots more somewhere, she just has to find them.  There are even a few when she did some runway when she was 17. One of the first shows she ever did was for a furrier in New York City. Even at that young age, Linda hated to wear animal fur.  It probably contributed to her decision at 19 to stop eating animals who love their mothers.

God's Glory!

YES!  Linda figured it out.  She just snagged this photo that Tony took off his FB page and was able to find it.  There was a setting that she did not notice and once she found it and changed it, the photos are right there and you just drag and drop into "my pictures".   Isn't this sunset amazing?  Tony takes the best photos.  He really needs to have a photography blog of his own. 

Laptops for Dummies

More arms = more hugs.  Linda could use one right about now.

What a morning for Linda.  She has been teaching all day and is only home for a few hours before it's back out for more classes and then to church to watch the babies in the nursery.  She'll never complain about nursery duty.  She LOVES it so much and is glad she is able to contribute to the ministry.  Now if only someone could sit down with her and explain how computers work.  She still can't find the 30 pictures she downloaded and saved this morning.  Paul Walker said they were supposed to be in a folder called "downloads" (duh... you think she would have checked there first) but they were not there.  She tried again and  choose "save in windows photo viewer" but they are not there either.  Plus, since her old computer won't turn on, she can't figure out what to do about her 3 work iPods/and phone that are linked to that computer.  She needs a GEEK who is patient and can sit with her to explain all this. Until she can find the photos, you've never seen this one of Tier and Lindsay hugging the octopus. Maybe Linda will use her $25 Barns and Nobel gift card on a basic computer book.   

New Laptop Debut

Linda seriously needs to take a class on basic computer skills.  We've spent the last hour trying to figure out how to get our pictures to load from last night.  The old laptop was so simple, you plugged in your camera, and up pops a window asking if you want to import photos.  This interface is so tricky.  You have to hunt and hunt for the command to import photos.  She found it, but does not remember how she got there.  Plus, the laptop takes up all of her lap and then some so there isn't much room for dogs. The good part is how amazing it is having such a giant screen and the processor is soooooo fast it does things before you can get your finger off the key!  Oh, and none of her bookmarks transferred.  In a way, that's good because she was spending a little too much time reading strangers wedding blogs and exercise blogs.  All the recipes she saved are now gone though.  I doubt she would have ever made that black bean and avocado with roasted corn burrito anyway. There isn't enough time to get caught up on all the photos since it took too long to figure out the upload process, so here are just a few from yesterday. 

Noah ate almost the whole plate of food (minus the cheese he fed us!)

This indestructible "Kong" toy lasted 5 minutes before Chim chewed both legs off

I love my monkey toy.  Linda is keeping it safe while Chim is free.

Soooo Late

Our new computer is somewhat set up and the photos and music files are all loaded. It took 2 very smart brains to figure it all out while Linda watched. She is just too tired to mess with it now, so we are going to bed and figure it all out in the morning. There will be photos galore tomorrow once Linda loads her camera software and transfers the new photos. Most people would love a new laptop, but not Linda. She wishes her old one still worked and she never had to mess with all this new technology. Thank goodness Tier is letting us borrow the iPad in the meanwhile.

Green Bean M&M's

Noah gave us the most wonderful Christmas gift. He made a handprint in plaster and it has a photo on the back of him wearing the beach hat we got him. As soon as we can, the photo will be added to the post. Today at lunch he ate his green beans like they were M&M's! That might be a new flavor idea. Instead of chocolate coating, they could have some type of healthy fruit shell. He also loved his scrambled egg and wheat crackers. For some reason, he though the little cheese bites were Chimmie's and mine. He kept dropping those on the floor for us to eat. He is already tired and will be taking his nap before our walk. Linda is taking lots of photos so we'll post them as soon as we can.

Hi Aunt Jeannnie!

Day 2 of iPad. I'm still waiting to get he new laptop up and running so I can post photos and type faster. Linda did find out that she LOVES to read on the pad though. Tier had a few books saved and Linda read an hour last night without her eyes getting tired. Hopdefully I'll be back to posting normal soon.

This is Hard!

OK, Tierney gave Linda her iPad since her computer is dead. Until we get our new one all set up and running, we'll have to use this. Linda cant't type worth a lick on the touch keypad. It's taken 4 minutes just to type 4 sentences. Plus we have no photos stored. How do people use these crazy contraptions? I bet Tier's fingers just fly on the keyboard.

A Virus Concealed in an Anti-Virus?

 After rebooting from 6:30 a.m.- 8:45 a.m., the computer came one.  And guess what?  It's the fastest, most lightening speed it's ever been.  No waiting, no pausing, no hiccups...it just is blazing fast.  Linda pressed the restart button probably 40 times and nothing.  Then, BAM! it starts like a champ and runs amazing.  Plus, this McAfee software is installed from cyberspace.  There has never been an icon on the desktop before, it's just showed up and is telling us that our computer needs to be scanned.  What if this whole time it has a virus disguised as McAfee?  It looks true, but Linda pressed ignore scan for viruses just to be sure.  Hopefully, we can get our new laptop and have it set up by this weekend.  Tier has offered her iPad to Linda in the meantime.  It is the same as the laptop, but without the keyboard and DVD reader.  Very strange happenings.

The Real Purse Puppy

This was pre-Chimmie.  See all my toys? 

I remember back in the day before Chimmie came to live with us, I had about 100 toys and Linda carried me everywhere in her purse.  Since Chimmie came to live with us, my life has changed so much.  All my toys are in shreds and I don't go as many places with Linda.  But, I have a friend who loves me and has made my life much happier.  He is such a sweet dog and I'm glad he lives with us.  We both got to take a 30-minute walk tonight with Jerry while Linda was teaching.  He could only stay for a little while because he had plans, but I'm super happy for the time he spent with us.  Before she left for work this afternoon,  Linda tried to get her old-school desktop computer up and running.  No can do.  Tierney had unplugged the keyboard about 4 years ago, and Linda did not know how to plug it back in.  She tried 10 different ports, but they were all the wrong size.  Jerry tried to fix it while he was here, but Linda bent the prongs trying to shove it in the wrong opening.  Yes, she is clueless when it comes to cars and computers (and using most hand tools.)  When people say "Oh, it's so easy... watch me and then you try" it makes her feel so nervous, she stops listening and forgets everything.  I told her shes great at a lot of stuff and not to worry, but sometimes it does make her sad that she is not more handy.  Besides, the most important things don't require tools, wires or ports.   She is the best at what really counts... and that is caring for and loving us!