There's No Place Like Home

I am dog tired. It's very hard work being a movie star. We shot for over 2 hours tonight under hot, hot lights. Toto wasn't in every scene, just the ones that Dorothy (aka Tierney) was in. We were filming the yellow brick road part. The reason the background is green is because they will digitally create the background on the computer. I'm not sure why people are not wearing shoes. Tier had special sparkly ruby slippers too. The good witch was very beautiful and the bad witch was really frightening. I also got scared when the lion jumped out at Dorothy and roared, but I didn't let it show on my face. What a pro!! I was given lots of breaks to rest in front of the air conditioner and a few times I got to wait outside on the grass until it was our turn again. I never made a peep or tried to jump out of my basket. Everyone said I was a perfect Toto. I did see two guys dressed up as flying monkeys and heard they will be shooting a scene Saturday in the woods. NO WAY am I going to allow myself to be carried away by the monkeys ! I'm calling my agent!

Awwwww Moment

Linda has to admit, as annoying as Chim can be sometimes, right now he is so cute it's breaking her heart. For two hours, he has been running, leaping, chasing, and spinning around the backyard chasing bugs (or imaginary friends since it looked like he was just acting crazy.) She let him inside and he ran right for Mutilated Coyote. He was dragging it around, showing off his kill, but at the same time he was so tired that he was staggering and tripping over it's body. Finally, he jumped up on the love seat with us and continued to chew on whats left of Mutilated Coyotes face. (He's chewed off the nose, mouth, ears, eyes and tail.) Chim's eyes were closing and he kept nodding off, but continued to gnaw until he fell dead asleep with Coyote in his mouth. It eventually dropped out of his mouth onto the carpet. It reminded her so much of the babies in the nursery that are so tired, but they won't sleep because playing with the toys is so much fun

Water, Water Everywhere

I got to sleep until my normal time this morning because Linda shut the bedroom door after Chimmie finished his outside time. He did whine and cry to try and get in and jump up on The Big Bed, but he could not open the door. Neither one of us have a big appetite for breakfast. I think it's because we did not get much exercise yesterday. Linda is feeling better in her tummy, but now her left heel is very bruised and painful to walk on. How in the world did that happen? It feels like she smashed it down on concrete while she was barefoot. She still has 3 water fitness classes to teach today on a hard pool deck, so it needs to get better fast or she'll just have to deal with the pain. The weather is beautiful, but she wonders if she should walk us or let her foot rest? I'm not sure if I'm needed on the set tonight for Toto, Linda hopes not because she would love to get home early and ice her foot. Before she goes to the Dr., she is going to try new sneakers. It's been almost a year since she replaced her stock, so that might do the trick. Also, just water, water and more water to drink and NO diet coke!

Linda Needs a Drink

It's the only time I can remember that Linda has been home on a Wednesday night. She usually has church and really looks forward to going each week. Tonight, she is not feeling that great. It could be a quick tummy virus, but she thinks that it might just be dehydration. In the last 36 hours she has taught 7 hard classes. Last night, she almost passed out on the pool deck when she was using the wrench to try and put the lanes back in place then stood up. Her skin is doing exactly what this photo shows, one of the signs of dehydration. This afternoon, she HAD to cut the grass, front and back. It's been many, many weeks since the Lawn Fairy magically mowed and the backyard weeds were three times taller than me! After mowing and teaching 2 classes this afternoon, she was woozy and nauseous. Now, she has chills and is wrapped in a sweatshirt. No walk for us tonight and I won't whine one bit about it. Chim is out back since he was annoying us both. In a few minutes, she is going to take a hot bath then curl up in The Big Bed with a giant glass of ice water.

I'm Really Sorry

I was hopping mad this morning. Linda got up early like she always does. Chim is an early riser too and was waiting quietly and expectantly in his bed to go outside and take care of business. As soon as Linda's feet hit the floor, I make my way under the covers for another hour of sleep. After Chim finished outside, Linda let him back in while she made our breakfast. Chim raced down the hall, jumped up on The Big Bed, found me under the covers and started wrestling with me! I was yipping and crying. By the time Linda ran down the hall, I was already wide awake from trying to defend myself. Cripes! I did not want to wake up at the crack of dawn. Thanks a lot Chimmie. Linda is trying to teach him that he is NOT supposed to jump up on The Big Bed. Hopefully, she scared him enough this morning that he won't do it again.

If Chim Only Had a Brain

Turns out that I wasn't needed on the set tonight for my Toto role. Tierney picked me up at 5:30 and I spent a few hours at her house. At first I did not like it there since it was strange and Linda wasn't with me. Then she boiled me some chicken breast and I was happy. Then we went to the filming for her Wizard of Oz production. Everyone was nice. All I had to do was sit on Tier's lap while other people did their roles. Luckily, I did not see any flying monkeys or scary witches. Linda picked me up after her classes. Now we are home and I'm so tired I would not mind of Linda put me right in The Big Bed. Chim is out in the backyard finishing his supper and getting some exercise.

Milks Favorite Cookie

I don't usually blog about artists or share links on artwork. This lady's stuff is so inspiring that you must check out her page! She does art with food things. For instance, these beautiful cameos are carved using the cream filling of oreos! She also has condiment wallpaper, a cereal sampler and embroidered toast! When she was a little girl, I wonder if her Mom told her to stop playing with her food? Linda is feeling inspired to go make a sculpture out of her breakfast banana and whole wheat toast. If it turns out to look like art, I'll post the photo on my next entry. Til then, check out a few of Judith Klausner's other creations.

http://jgklausner.com/series/from-scratch

Shorty

We did our trail walk early this morning before it got too hot. We were still on our street not even to the trail path and I wanted to be carried. The sun was so hot that I was panting and heaving. As soon as we got to the woods, it was cooler and shady so I walked the entire 50 minutes. Usually we don't see anyone or maybe just one lone person jogging. Today we saw 6 people and 1 dog jogging or walking. Chimmie is no longer afraid of dogs as long as they don't act threatening. It's such an disadvantage that I'm so small and short, I could never fight back against a dog who was taller or bigger than me. This big dog growled at us as he went past, so we both hunkered down low to the ground. Linda was right there to front kick his teeth if he would have lunged at us, so we were safe. For some reason, the biting bugs were everywhere and Linda's legs have little welts on them. She'll have to start using bug spray before trail walks from now on.

Hope It's Decaf

The 4th of July is fast approaching. Linda has 2 picnics to go to, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The afternoon one will be fun for us. If it's not too hot, we should be able to come with her since the picnic is up at church. If the weather is steamy or muggy, we'll stay home. Later in the day Emily and Tierney are having another party at Em's swimming pool. Even though Em would love to have me visit her house, there will be fireworks at that one.... and I would have a heart attack. After the party, everyone will carpool to our local downtown to watch the big fireworks display. Linda will probably skip that because she'll need to be home to calm us. Chim has never heard of fireworks since he was born in August and is not yet a year old. I have a feeling he will probably get so scared he'll have major panic attacks. He's afraid of the sound of a leaf blowing on the sidewalk or a plastic bag crinkling. This must be Chimmie's sister. It looks just like him and is doing a naughty thing that Chim would do. If he had coffee, I think he would probably run around the yard 100 miles an hour until his legs fell off or the caffeine wore off.

Good Night

It's not even 8:30 and Linda and I are tired enough for bed. She only taught 3 classes, but this evening we all went on a long, long walk. Chimmie was out of his mind, and Linda knew she had to drain some of the explosive energy or he would have been whimpering all night and up before dawn. Plus, she hates just sitting and watching TV, her brain is fried from all the studying she did already today and honestly, all she really wants to do is sleep. Since it's still light out, she is going to put Chim out back while she takes a bubble bath. Then she'll read and relax until bedtime. This is Sarah and Noah taking a nap on their vacation last week. Awwwww.

I'm Going to be a Star!

Just call me Toto. For real! I will be staring as Dorothy's famous little terrier in a production of the Wizard of Oz. I was not only chosen for my cuteness, but because I basically will sit totally still wherever I'm placed. I won't try to hop out of the basket when Dorothy (aka...Tierney) sets off down the yellow brick road. Filming begins this Tuesday evening. Linda will be on set as my handler to keep me happy and relaxed. I wish there were time to go to Dog-a-Do and get groomed, but I think most of me will be in the basket anyway. I hope there isn't a scene where the flying monkeys get me! If there is, I demand a body double!

Stall-ing

I was stalling and did not want to get out of bed this morning although we all slept well last night. There is nothing as wonderful as a cozy bed in the early morning hours. I love the feel, smell, warmth and comfort of waking up pressed up to Linda. She did keep waking up from weird dreams (in one dream she was in a college course that had bathroom stalls right in the classroom. The professor was explaining the psychological mindset of why people do things like closing the door with their elbow and flushing the toilet with their foot in public bathrooms. I doubt you don't need a college course for the answer: germs!) but she was able to fall right back asleep. The babies were particularly cranky last night at church (except for Noah) and it was nice for her to come home to a quite, peaceful house and go right to bed. Chimmie was even ready to turn in early. He drags his bed to the couch and curls up when he wants to turn in for the night. Linda just picks up the bed with him in it and brings it to his room. I practically leaped up into her arms so she could put me on the big bed. Even Chip was nowhere to be seen when she turned the lights off. It's a very busy week for Linda. She has 5 subs in addition to her heavy teaching schedule. Hopefully, she'll be able to sleep every night this week.

Impatiently Pink

Today's dog walker was Paul. I was glad to see him, but after he put our harness on, I only wanted to walk 5 or 6 houses down the street and I turned around to come home. He bought me back then took Chimmie out for a long, tiring walk. I was still pooped out from yesterdays hour long trail hike. Linda decided that after church she would go get her toenails painted. They match our impatiens flowers that Sarah planted a few months ago. I'm glad she was able to relax with a nice pedicure. She had planned on cutting the yard when she got home from church, but now she does not want to shove her nice toes into sneakers. It takes a long time for them to dry all the way she does not want them smudged. She thought about mowing wearing flip-flops, but that wouldn't be very safe. Instead she barefoot in the kitchen baking some snickerdoodle cookies (not the dog kind of Snickers) to bring tonight to the nursery for the ladies to share. I'm so impatient, the smell is driving me crazy. I probably won't get one anyway since I'm watching my waistline.

Culprit Caught Tan Pawed!

The mystery of the latched gate deck has been solved. This whole time we thought someone was coming up on our deck and latching the gate shut during the night or at weird times when Linda knew she left it open. The gate keeps Chimmie up on the deck and out of the backyard during the day. As you all know, Chim unsupervised in the backyard can be a disaster. Linda put us both outside for a little while and made sure the gate was open. I had just woken up from a long nap and had to use the outside pee-pee pad. She went back to try and figure out her laptop problem (I know, she was supposed to stop but thought she would just give it ONE MORE TRY.) After about 10 minutes, she heard me barking like I was hurt. She rushed to the sliding glass door to see what the fuss was about. Chim came running in, but I wasn't there and she could still hear me crying! Her heart almost stopped. She ran out onto the deck and found me locked off and stuck on the steps crying my eyes out. Chimmie shut and latched the gate, trapping me on the steps!! He is such a brat. She still can't figure out how he does it because the gate is heavy and has to be pushed pretty hard to get the latch to catch.

S T R E S S !

We had a very long trail walk today, and I did the entire thing (except for the main road sidewalk coming home, I have to be carried on that part.) Jerry spent a few hours installing some software on Linda's laptop before he left. When she got home, she tried (for about 2 hours now) to make it work, but can't figure it out. It's important stuff for her work, so she is still at it. Her head hurts from so much technical stuff. Linda knows very little about computers and trying to figure out all these nerdy instructions is not her cup of tea. If any friends know about Windows Vista and finding saved mp4. files, would you call her? The file was saved after it was downloaded, but she can't find it anywhere! It's not where it was saved to. I told her to stop stressing and give the pups some hugs and kisses. That always makes her happy. Or she could look at a photo of Noah smiling... that worked!

You Have to Use Your Beep-Beep

I went missing this morning again when Linda came to wake me up. I think if I burrow way down inside all the covers, she won't find me and I can sleep longer. Even though I kind of match the sheets, she still manages to discover my hiding places. She does have to destroy the covers on the bed to pull me out, then totally remake the bed. I got right up without complaining. This morning, it was Chimmie would did not want to get out of his bed. He is always raring and ready to go no matter what time Linda wakes him up. He was still curled up in Chips little bed (yes, he decided the cats bed was his bed and dragged it back to his room) and had the confused, dazed sleepy look to his eyes when she opened his door. Now he's outside eating his breakfast and I'm curled up for my first nap of the day. Surprisingly, Linda slept great last night which means I slept great too. She did end up going up to family night for a little while, but she left us at home. Since it stays light so much later, they were still playing a crazy soccer game in the big field. This one had two balls, four goals and then even hula-hoops hanging from the top of the goal. If you kicked it through the hoop, you got more points. She was so impressed because a few of the girls that just did the 1 1/2 hour Body Combat class where playing the game. Linda was just happy not to be limping! (Whenever Linda can't find her car in the parking lot, she uses the car key alarm and makes the car go beep-beep. She said if I keep hiding, she is going to find a collar for me that has a beep-beep so she knows where I am.)

That's Me on the Right

Chimmie spent about 4 hours at Paul's today. He was stuck in his little room for hours and hours today while Linda did her Pump practice and Cardio Defense class. She felt so bad that she had to leave again to go do her TKD and 1 1/2 hour Combat class and put him back in the tiny bathroom. Paul volunteered to watch him at his house and she took him up on his offer. They took 4 long walks, wrestled around the floor and then Chimmie totally destroyed the new toy Paul bought him. Linda picked him up after her classes and he fell asleep on the way home in the car. Chim keeps dragging my kitchen bed down the hallway into the den and Linda keeps putting it back. I have to put my paw down about my kitchen bed. It's my favorite and the one I sleep in all day when Linda is working. I don't want it destroyed. I have such a love/hate relationship with Chimmie. At times he is soooooo sweet and gentle playing with me, but he has also pushed me down the stairs on purpose. He's destroyed every single one of my toys, but I love him anyway. Tomorrow, Jerry is supposed to come by while Linda is working to walk us and visit a bit. This is a drawing he did of me when I was little. For some reason he thought it was funny to make me sit on a giant apes shoulder.
UPDATE: OMGosh, Linda just put us out in the backyard for our final pee-pee break. While she was waiting, she decided to lay back on the deck and look at the sky. It was Amazing. The most beautiful night sky she has ever seen in her life. The sky was an incredible color dark blue (I'm sure there is a crayola crayon to describe it, but Chimmie at them all so she can't look in the box and find the name.) and the clouds were puffy white. This is almost 10 p.m. too. She is thinking of grabbing her sleeping bag and pillow and camping out on the deck for awhile.

Take Your Dog to Work, NOT!

Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day. Could you imagine what Chimmie would do if Linda took him to the Combat for a Cause class! He would be tearing around the floor like a mad-dog. He'd get front kicked 20 times because he is too dumb to stay out of the way. It would be cute though if she dressed him in a workout outfit. Linda could so take me to all her classes. I would just sit in my carry-me bag and never move an inch. I might peak my head out to see what all the fuss was about, but not in a million years would I set foot outside the bag. All that loud music and people punching, kicking and yelling would freak me out. Linda's friend Lauren took her dog to work today. Here he is prepping for the board meeting. Jock looks like a friendly chap, but if he got mad at me... I would be in his belly in just one gulp!

Lifeguard on Duty

I'm Alive!

Here is a feel-good-fuzzy-warm-feeling story. I bet my readers are sick and tired of posts about a dumb dog eating screwdrivers, sharp nails, chunks of wood decking and poison berries. This story involves an elk and a marmot at the Pocatello Zoo. In case you don't know what a marmot was, I was thoughtful enough to include a photo. Shooter, the 4-year old elk, was enjoying his day when he noticed something amiss in his giant water bowl. His keepers noticed he was extremely focused on the tank of water. They grabbed the video camera and watched an incredible rescue unfold. A marmot had fallen into the pool of water and was drowning. Shooter spent 15 minutes sniffing and pawing around the tank. Dipping his head carefully in the water, he gently picked the marmot out of the water with his teeth and set it on the ground, nudging him with his hoof. The marmot took some time to recover and scampered home. Shooter was a hero! We need him in the backyard to save Chimmie from doing dumb things. If you google Elk, marmot and water rescue, maybe you can find the video.

Screwdriver Recipe: One Part Chimmie-Two Parts Stupid

Chimmie is trying to kill himself. Either that or he is the stupidest dog to ever walk the planet. Today's find, an old screwdriver that must have been buried underground for 50 years. He dug it up and bought it up onto his deck bed for a nice little snack. By the time Linda peeked out to check on him, he had the handle chewed off and was gnawing on the metal. Honestly, she is a good dog owner. He gets walks, she plays with him every second she is home by throwing his toys so he can fetch them, he has nutritious food, he has a comfy bed... everything a dog could possibly want. Why does he try to eat crazy things? Tier, you have to make the video to send to The Dog Whisperer.

Do I HAVE to Wake Up?

This is what Linda found when she peeled back the covers this morning. (The top photo of me, not the dancing girl.) I wasn't in my usual spot which is right under the first bedspread at the head of the bed. I was burrowed under the the bedspread, two blankets and the top sheet. At first she thought I had jumped off The Big Bed myself because she could not find me. Eventually she kept digging and found me under all those covers and hiding behind the pillow she puts between her knees at night! I was so adorable she had a hard time making me get out of bed to start my day.

Linda did her sub class this morning and then took a Bollywood dance class. She liked it! After class, an Indian woman stopped her in the hallway to the locker room and said that she thought Linda was amazing at Bollywood dancing! Linda's favorite part was all the little finger flips and snaps. It is a very pretty dance style and she worked up a good sweat too. It would have been perfect if she got to wear the outfit. Only a few people came to her WIM class at 1:00, but there will be a whole bunch of people in tonight's class. Right now, the power is out at the gym, so she is waiting to hear from her boss if she has to go in to teach.

Slept Like a Baby

Thursdays were supposed to be a light work day for Linda, but not today. She has lots to do. Subbing at 10:00, a Water in Motion at 1:00 and then another WIM at 6:30. There is also a special class called Bollywood Jam that she will be taking at noon. (I wish there were a video camera filming for that class! It will be hysterical to watch.) She'll be able to get home between the 1:30-6:00 to walk us and spend some time home before she heads back out. It's a good thing we all slept last night. I did not have any seizures and Linda took an Advil pill with sleep medicine in it. She hates to do that, but after nights and nights of no sleep, it's dangerous to be driving around or using sharp knives. I wonder why there is a saying "slept like a baby"? When Taylor and Tierney were babies, they woke up every couple hours crying for Mama.

Dog Days of Summer

I wonder if this is edible?

The muggy, hot, humid not-good-for-walking weather is back. Even though it's not raining, Linda is afraid of bringing on another seizure if she takes me out in the heat of the day. She'll see how it feels after she gets home from church tonight. Whew, it's miserable with all this fur. I feel kind of bad because Chim did not get walked today either. He could probably walk when it's 100 degrees and not have it bother him a lick. He's running around the backyard right now, playing with his bunny and chasing gnats.

Sleepless Nights

For her entire life, since she has been a young girl, Linda has suffered with bouts of insomnia. It comes and goes, usually staying for 2-3 weeks before disappearing for months at a time. Sometimes its for no reason at all, others she can pinpoint why. I love sleeping pressed up against her in the Big Bed, but she is starting to wonder if I should move to my kitchen bed until she is over this round. Last night, her muscles were twitching and sparking. When they were not vibrating, they felt like they were stretched so tight they were about to jump out of her skin. It feels like fireworks are being set off inside all of her muscles at once. She did teach 4 classes yesterday, but was careful to drink a lot of water. Thankfully, there was only one calf cramp and it went away quickly. Could this be a medical condition or is it just a result of too much exercise? She has a friend who runs ultra marathons. She'll ask today if it every happens to him the night after a race. There were moments when she would drift off to sleep, and then be jerked back awake by a spasm. Linda kept moving me to the foot of the bed so I would not be disturbed, but I kept creeping back up to press against her body. Maybe moving the clock away from the bed will help so she does not see the hours ticking by. Once, I was so tired that I was snoring, barking and running my little paws while I slept. It was the highlight of her night listening to me having a fun dream. She'll have to nap today or staying awake at church tonight will be a problem. There are 4 more classes to do today! I know while she is working, I'll be catching up on my beauty sleep.

Let Them Eat Cake

I'm so jittery. The thunder is crashing very loud, right outside our window. Chimmie is being adorable. He is licking me everywhere and trying to calm me down. I'm tucked up under Linda's arm trying to snuggle as close as possible. He's poking his head close to me kissing my ears and face. Now he's nibbling on my legs. It is taking my mind off the scary thunder, so I don't mind. I'm thankful we got our walk in earlier today, because it's pouring out now. Linda's glad, because her body needs to rest from her hard classes tonight. For dinner she ate a "sausage" that was wrapped on melted cheesy Indian bread called naan. It smelled just like real meat, no one would have known it was fake sausage. Right now she would saw off her arm for a bite of something sweet. She checked every cupboard, the fridge and freezer and there isn't one bit of dessert anywhere. If it wasn't pouring, she would drive right up to the store and buy something yummy. This is a cake she shared with her friend Laura at a restaurant called Champs. It's taller than a fork! It was a long time ago, but she said she remembered it was delicious. It probably has more calories then she burned off in teaching all 4 of her classes today. Instead, we are all going to bed.

We Have Liftoff

Last night, I was the one who kept Linda awake. I had two seizures during the night. The second one was scary for us both. I actually lifted up, body slammed Linda's side and was convulsing. Afterward, I was shaking and scared, but she prayed and calmed us both down. I guess if this keeps up I'm going to have to go on the seizure medicine. There are so many side effects that we have not wanted to do it up til now. This is Linda's heavy teaching day too. Jerry can't come over for his normal Tuesday evening visit since he is on a business trip to Atlanta. She said it really does not matter if I'm alone or not when a seizure comes. There is nothing in the natural she can do anyway. On the plus side, my home-made breakfast this morning was amazing!

Linda had strange dreams again last night. This time, Sarah and Taylor were invited to do a space launch with NASA. Linda and Tierney went with them to stay at this expensive resort at the beach, except it was Las Vegas with a beach, to watch the launch. Sarah and Tierney were at the beach bar, and Taylor and Linda were inside when a giant Tsunami hit. The girls held on to the bar and just got sandy. Linda and Taylor were just shaken up. They went to the front desk to ask if the launch was still on and found out the whole thing was a scam. The resort told everyone the same story so family and friends would come and stay there. Totally disappointed, everyone went to Applebee's for dinner instead.

UPDATE: Seizure free since 6:00 a.m. We did a 30 minute walk, my appetite is fine and I've been snoozing off and on all morning.... which is my normal routine. :)

Chef Linda

Linda is a master chef! She decided enough was enough. To buy healthy canned pet food that is good for us, it cost over $2. a can. You can buy cheaper stuff with fillers and words you can't pronounce, but she likes to keep us healthy. Since she bought her amazing food processor, she decided that she would start to make our food from scratch. For just a fraction of the cost, she whipped up the most delicious food ever. For under $2 dollars she bought a giant bag of frozen peas and carrots. Then, for a dollar she bought a whole box of brown rice on sale. Next, she got a mega 5 pound bag of frozen chicken pieces on sale for a song! After she cooked it, she pureed it up into mush. It made so much, she had to freeze most of it. All I can say is "YUM!!" Even Chip loved it. We begged for seconds and thirds. A baby could even eat it since it's just chicken, rice and veggies. Now she just has to figure out how to make the dry food Kibble she mixes in with the wet food.

Say NO to Deer!

It was very fortuitous that Linda waited until her arms were rested before she took us out on the trail. She ended up carrying me 30 minutes. It wasn't because I was tired, it was because I was scared. We were doing our normal trail walk, and I was scooting along just fine. There is a deer trail we take sometimes (where we did the rainbow photo a few weeks back.) I love walking down that trail, but today, I would not budge. As soon as she started to cut into the woods of the main path, I backed up and hunkered down to the ground. Linda was wearing her earbuds listening to her work music (not the smartest thing on a trail alone) so she took them off to see if she heard a dog up ahead. It was quite, so she started walking again this time leaving her music off. I told her not to go, but she picked me up and carried me anyway. Even Chimmie was walking kind of tentatively. About 1/2 way down the trail, there was a huge, loud crash in the woods to our right, and we heard a bunch of splashing through the stream. We scared up a whole passel of deer! I HATE deer. They scare the fur off me. I could smell them and that is why I did not want to go. The whole way back I would not walk so she had to carry me. Next time she'll listen to me. If all these deer came into my yard, I would have a heart attack.

Play with me NOW

I love that Linda does not teach her 11:30 and 12:30 class on Mondays anymore. That means after her 9:30 Body Pump class is done, she does not have to go back out for her next class until 4:00! She said she went really heavy with the weights, so now her arms are too tired to walk us. I know that sounds weird, but she has too carry us both across all the streets. When we cross the streams, she has to balance on stepping stones while she is carrying us, never a safe thing to do when your arms are exhausted. She'll recover in an hour or so and then we will go out. For now, she is going to devote some time to studying her new routine. Chimmie is about 10 seconds away from spending the next hour outside because every 10 seconds he is dropping different toys on Linda's lap.

Don't Google Zombie With an Ice Cream Sandwich

Ugh! I had a very un-restful sleep last night. Since Linda took an hour nap around 3:00 on Sunday, it threw off her sleep pattern when we turned off the light for bed. Both Chim and I were tired from our late night walk, so we were ready to turn in. Chim even pulled out his bed from his den and dragged it to the couch so he could go to sleep. Linda just picked him up in his bed and carried the whole kit-and-caboodle into his room. He went right down, not a peep. I snuggled under the covers too once she put me in the Big Bed. She fell asleep quick, but then woke up an hour later and was awake until the birds started chirping early this morning. I think overall we slept about 2 hours right before the alarm went off. Even her dreams were not restful. She was dreaming there was a virus that turned people into zombies and the first outbreak had been confirmed. In her dream, she put me in her backpack (not Chip or Chimmie) and started for the hills. She ran into her boss from work, and he took her to someones house who had zombie protection. When she took me out of the backpack, I had turned into a melted ice cream sandwich. She put me in the freezer to try and revive me. How weird is this? When I googled "zombie with an ice cream sandwich" my computer detected the photo I chose had a virus! RUN for the hills!!

Splish-Splash

Yesterday's planned rest day for Linda turned out to an all work day cleaning the house. Instead, she decided to take the day off today. For 6 hours between church services, she did not do any chores, any studying and she never turned the TV on. All she did was, read, have some quite time and we all even took a short nap. Before church this evening, she even spent about 20 minutes browsing through the bookstore. The babies in the nursery were very tired and crabby tonight. There were 7 workers for 11 babies! They all needed their bottles at 8:00 and cried loud to let everyone know they were hungry. Noah wasn't there though. He is on vacation at the beach. It looks like he likes his pool, even though there isn't any water in it. When Linda got home from church, we ate dinner then she took us for a 30 minute walk. Monday, she has only 3 classes so we might get two walks in if the weather cooperates. Tomorrow, Taylor starts his new job. I hope he makes friends and gets promoted to a VP in no time at all!

Wrap-Up

We did another walk this evening, this time we went on the wooded trail. Chim did not try to poo, but he does not seem to be in any pain and is acting normal. He ate all his dinner and tried to finish off my bowl too. We'll see what tomorrow brings. It's been a wonderful half-day off for Linda. She finally got her rest time in. After cleaning the house, doing a bunch of laundry, studying her routines, and of course taking us on our long walk... she finally settled down to read and watch her Netflix. It's like TV/Movies whenever you want it. Most of her friends have something called TiVo and On Demand, but we don't have that. For Linda, Netflix is just fine. I love when she goes downstairs to watch TV. It's a giant long couch and all of us can fit on it. Chip lays by her feet, I tuck under her arm and Chim lays by her tummy. It was all great until she turned out the light to come upstairs. Chim forgot Chip Cat was laying there and ran over her in the dark. There was a bunch of hissing-fur flying-yelping going on. Both of them were just scared, no one got hurt. Now it's time for the Big Bed.

Noah looks like he likes driving Sarah's new jeep.

Free to a Good Home

This heading might be true if Chim does not get with the program. Linda is pulling her hair out over him and his antics. He is the sweetest, most lovable, adorable pooch ever. But he is as dumb as rocks. And wood. We are convinced that Chimmie is trying to commit suicide through chewing. Thursday after the deck steps were finished, Linda and Paul made sure to clean up every single shred of splintered wood and throw it in the trash. Everyone knows that Chim has a love affair with chewing stuff. Wood, carpet, toys, and just about anything he can pick up in his mouth. Since Paul bought his car and not his truck, he did not cart away the giant pieces of old step. Instead, they piled them up by the gate to deal with later. Bad idea. VERY bad idea. Not only did Chimmie break off huge pieces to chew, but some might have gotten stuck in his intestines. During our walk, he was screaming and crying trying to poop. Linda had no idea what the heck was going on with him. When we got back, she checked around the deck and this is what he had in his outside bed. She is praying if there is a blockage, it will dissolve. She covered up all the wood, but she does not think it will totally deter him from getting to it. Later on, she is going to move it all to the front yard so he does not end up dead as a doornail.

So Much for Relaxing

Let's see, it's now 3:15 p.m. Linda got home at 1:20 and she has already vacuumed the whole house, scrubbed the kitchen, foyer and three bathroom floors AND shampooed the carpet upstairs and in the downstairs family room. She also wiped down the kitchen and all three bathrooms. Oh, and did a load of laundry. What happened to relaxing? When the heck is our walk in the woods? Um....LUNCH anyone??? She said she is on a roll and might as well keep going. At least Tier and Emily are having fun. They went with a whole passel of folks to a Nat's game. They are probably the two prettiest girls there. (If Sarah is there, make that three!)

Taking it Easy Today

Besides teaching 3 classes, Linda has absolutely no plans for today. Some people might be antsy about that, but not Linda. The prospect of having 10 hours that are not scheduled with somewhere she has to be, or something she has to do is wonderful. There are so many possibilities. If it's nice weather, a trail walk is definitely happening. She might devote 1/2 hour to cleaning the house and 1/2 hour to laundry, but she said no more than that. She'll study her routines for a bit, and who knows what else? She did not get a chance to really walk around the huge festival yesterday, so maybe she'll take Chim and I over there today for a bit. I'll ride in the front pack and Chim can walk. He needs to get used to crowds sooner or later. If the grass dries out, maybe she'll mow and weed the flower bed. There is a good possibility she'll find a good book, lawn chair, diet coke, sunglasses and park herself on the deck for a few hours! (The news article said that this giant turtle could eat the little Chi if it was hungry. I thought turtles were vegetarians?)

Chimmie Double

It's always been a mystery to Linda how Chimmie could possibly be 100% Chihuahua. Although she saw his parents and they were pure Chi, he is three times the size of them and he is only 10 months old. She came across this photo of the Inca Orchid dog. They were originally worshiped as far back as 750 A.D. Peruvian folklore says that hugging these dogs can cure all sorts of medical problems. They almost became extinct, but are now being breed and surviving. Tell me this dog does not look exactly like Chimmie if he was shaved! The body style, ears, eyes, nose. long legs... it is his twin. Linda said she is going to make Chimmie lay on her back tonight and see if her back feels better.

Oh No She Didn't

It's 8:30 p.m. and Linda is finally home! I was barking so loud when she walked in the door that I had a little choking fit. Chimmie was excited too since he has been stuck in his den for 4 1/2 hours without a break. He was a good boy and did not have an accident while she was working. Before she did anything, she fed us our dinners since we were both starved. Breakfast was 10 hours ago. Growing dogs need their nutrition! The TKD demo went OK. It started pouring about 2 minutes after she started, so all the kids had to take cover under a tent. They waited 10 minutes for the rain to let up and started again. Anytime Linda does a demo, she kicks extra high and goes extra hard on her punches. I hope she did not hurt herself. As soon as one of the Moms emails her photos, I'll post them...until then here is a photo of me having a bad hair day. What in the world was Linda think letting me get so scruffy? I can't believe I looked so bad.

Where the Road Ends, the Fun Begins!

Check out this beauty! (It's Chimmies favorite crayon color too, Fire Engine Red!) No, it's not ours, we still have our cute red Kia Soul. This Jeep is Sarah's and Taylor's. Sarah has wanted one forever. They both sold (or are selling) their motorcycles and bought this instead. Linda is beyond happy they got rid of the bikes. It always made her nervous when they rode them. This Jeep has a big winch thing on the front in case Linda ever gets the Kia stuck in a snow bank. It could pull her right out! As soon as they drive it over to our house, I'll get a picture with me sitting on that giant tire.

Demo Day

Linda is scheduled to do a big TKD demo at the local Town Center tonight with one of her TKD schools. Thousands and thousands of people will be attending the festival, she hopes for the kids sake that there will be a good crowd watching them perform. These are some of the kids who will be showing off their kicks. They are holding pieces of paper with their new belt ranks written on them. The belts were held-up in shipping, and she had nothing to pass out at the award ceremony. You can tell by their faces that they didn't care, they were all so happy to get promoted. If it is raining, the demo will be canceled and she'll get to go to Family Night. Either way, we are stuck at home and will miss all the fun.

Coloring Outside the Lines

The mystery of the bright red poop has been solved. Last month, Linda found some poop from Chimmie that was bright red. I mean red as Radical Red. So red, that it could not have been blood because it would have been Brick Red. It would come and go. Sometimes the poo would be normal, then the next week it was reddish again. Today, Linda finally figured out what was going on. She took a break from building the new deck steps to scoop the back yard. Sure enough, there was a pile of bright Radical Red poop.... then a Cerulean poop... and a Carnation Pink poop.... WHAT THE HECK! Suddenly, she had a light bulb moment. Earlier in the week she found this chewed up crayon on the downstairs carpet. Chim found a box of 64-Crayola crayons and had been eating them one by one! She checked with Crayola, and the crayons are non-toxic. If he did not chew it and gulped it whole, then it could become lodged in his intestines but he has been acting fine. She found the stash on the floor in a storage closet and cleaned them up.

Linda Villa- This Old Deck

The new deck steps are done! It took just a tad over 2 hours to tear down the old steps and install the new ones. Once Linda got the hang of hammering the nails straight in, it went much faster. She did not know you are not supposed to hold the hammer that close to the top. Once she learned how to hold it, the nails did not require so much banging. There wasn't one injury either! Chim and I stayed on the deck for the demolition, but once she cleaned up the mess, Chim was allowed to play in the back. Every time Paul would bend down to cut something or pick up a tool, Chim would shove the ball into his hand. The job would have been even faster if they did not have to keep throwing the ball for him to chase!

Lickey the Licker and Other Strange Stories

Linda said she hopes Paul is still coming to help her with the deck steps. It seems to be sprinkling off and on. Not a downpour, just a little rain. On the plus side, it's chilly out. We did not take our walk because I HATE the rain. Chim is fine with it, but the second I get wet paws I do the carry-me look immediately. Linda is amazing the way she can tell what I want just by my body language or facial expressions. She read an article yesterday in one of the on-line newspapers that the scientist have figured out that dogs are somewhat telepathic. Linda has always had strong connections to all of the pets (now I'm not saying shes a pet psychic or anything) and has been able to read our moods or tell when we are sick. She knew Lickey (the black cat) had a tumor by the way Lickey licked her hand and showed her the body part he wanted rubbed (hence the name Lickey) even before the vet told her. Lickey was a huge Linda licker and he did it the same way every time. The day he changed how he did it, Linda knew Lickey's licking days were short. Snickers told her he did not want to go on in pain and his time on earth was over. You can see them having a great conversation. Look how big he was! Linda was having to carry him up and down the deck steps to go to the bathroom because his back legs no longer worked so good. She can hear all my thoughts, all the time. Chimmie, not so much. He is so self-absorbed and crazy that the only thing she hears is "play with me now" and a brick wall could hear that.

Tread Lightly

Tomorrow, Linda is getting all new steps on our deck. Some steps are literally falling off. When Linda carries us down at night to go use the outside pee-pee pad, she is so scared they are going to break and she'll tumble to the bottom. Today Paul bought all the parts and did the cutting, drilling and got everything ready to install. Linda is going to help him as much as she can, but she will probably just get in the way. They are going to tear it all down and start from scratch. Paul is worried that Chimmie will hurt himself, so he wants to get it done ASAP. (I'm sure he cares if Linda falls down too, but Linda thinks he's really thinking of Chim's safety.)

Chimmie vrs. the Sprinkler

For some reason, our beautiful grass died. One day it was green and it seems like the next day it was dead. The people next door (not Paul, he waters his grass every day) and across the street NEVER water their grass and it is still green. Linda is stumped to why it died off so fast. We have a new sprinkler system that will make it easy for us to water the entire lawn and flowers too. One day Linda is going to put it in the back yard to see if Chimmie likes to run and play in the water. I think he will based on how quickly he jumped right into the streams the other day. I bet this will be exactly what Chimmie does to the sprinkler. As soon as she tries it out back, we will take lots of photos of him playing in it. (P.S. At least our backyard looks way better than this one!)