Woobie

Tonight Chim decided that just sucking on his woobie wasn't soothing enough.  Linda looked down and saw that he had the entire head in his mouth and was sleeping like a log!  When the flash went off, Chim didn't even blink an eye.  She better go buy another Coyote Woobie for him because when this one is sucked to death, he'll be beside himself if he does not have another one. 

Turn Off Your Lights

Tonight, from 8:30-9:30 it's Earth Hour.  (I never heard of it either, so don't feel bad.) Started in Australia by the World Wildlife Fun as a way to support the planet, Earth Hour now now has 100's of millions of people from all over the world participating.  You are supposed to turn out your lights for 1 hour. Lots of landmarks including the Washington's National Cathedral, Big Ben, the Great Wall of China, the Sydney Opera House, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Tokyo Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, and many more will be in the dark from 8:30-9:30.  The idea is to get everyone motivated to be inspired to make environmental changes.   Linda loves this idea, it gives her a good reason to go to bed at 8:30 instead of 9:30!! 

Spam

I have my own email account, chalupa@live.com.  If you want to contact me, please do!  Linda was going through cleaning out my spam folder, and here are some of the emails she deleted:  Blast Belly Fat, Walk-in Bathtub, Meet Old Singles, Loan Approval, Grow More Hair, Free Lobster, Black People Meet (what?), Police Training, Golf Fuel, Spy Camera, Pills (for something we definitely do not need!), Millionaire Singles Waiting to Meet You.  These are her two favorites:  Mr Wong:  Deal with $17.3 Million Waiting and then: You're a UK Lottery Winner!  Of course we never open and of these, but you can see a little by looking at the subject lines.  We don't look at singles sites, hair growing sites, loans or pill sites or any of the other things.   There wasn't one pet product email (it's the address tied to my blog) and we have never blogged about any of these things.  How weird!

As Good as New

Before, with just one section done.....

Our fence looks brand, brand new!  You can see how dingy it looked before, and now it is beautiful.  Tom also power-washed the front flower bed wood and steps.  As soon as Linda gets the spring flowers planted, she'll post a photo of the front yard.  Now she will have more motivation to keep the grass mowed and looking nice. 

And Ta-Da.... AFTER!

Weddings & A Frog Visit (Hopefully!)

Brook and Timmy

Linda rushed home to let us outside today between her classes.  She only had 30 minutes to drive home, let us out, drive back and then the hardest part... find a parking space at the gym, run inside and line up her kids TKD class.  She made it with 2 minutes to spare.  The Yoga class before hers just finished when she walked up to the door!  Since is was on the coolish side and sunny, we just stayed outside for the 2 hours she had to be gone again.  She'll be heading back out for a wedding this afternoon, but it won't be too long.  Don't they look so cute together? UPDATE:  The wedding was very nice, but Linda didn't take any photos. When Tierney posts hers on FB, we'll borrow some.

The Frog Yogurt place wasn't open yesterday, but it looked like they were setting the bins and cups up.  Maybe it will be today!  If it is, I know what she is having on the way home from the wedding! UPDATE:  For someone so excited about eating frozen yogurt, Linda forgot to stop and see if it was open!

Two Smiles

Whatever caused Linda to be freezing yesterday is gone.  The only thing she can think of (since no flu symptoms showed up today) is that she sweat buckets teaching yesterday and did not drink a lot of water.  The pool deck felt like it was 85 degrees and she was running, jumping and kicking for an hour in what felt like a sauna.  Then, she sweat a ton in the next class an hour later.  For someone who makes me drink water after every single 20 minute walk, she does a terrible job of rehydrating herself with anything other than diet coke (which can make it worse!)

Have a Coke and TWO Smiles!

 

Jerry is on a mini-vacation tucked away in a cabin high in the mountains.  He won't be coming for our Saturday walk today. It's going to be a long morning without company, but we'll survive.  If Chimmie could be a good dog and Linda could trust him not to chew something, he could stay out of his den and play with me. 

Cold to the Bone

Everyone napped today

Linda has been freezing all day.  It's the kind of cold that starts inside your body.  She took a 30-min nap under 2 quilts and 2 comforters today.  She doesn't feel sick, just chilled to the bone and achy.  No matter how many clothes she puts on, she's still shivering.  Maybe she should break her rule and turn on the heat.  The thing is, the temp on the thermostat is almost 68, so it's not even that cold.  If we had a fireplace she would so start a toasty-warm fire right now.  As soon as she eats, she is going to take a super-hot bath and see if that helps stop her chattering teeth.  Sometime tonight she has to go out and get a wedding card since there won't be time tomorrow after classes and before she needs to get ready for the wedding. 

This is Just a Test

OK, so Linda thought the error message was weird this morning so she decided to try again.  This test image uploaded just fine.  Maybe it was some kind of scam or something.  She still wants to look into it and see if it's true that google limits the amount of photos it stores for you. 

Out of Space?

I am out of space for photos.  When I tried to post a picture, Google said I have used up all my storage space and need to buy more.  Linda needs to investigate.  Has anyone else heard of this?  Why is google storing my photos from the blog?  Before she buys more (it's only $5 for 20x the amount she already used up) she wants to find out if she is doing something wrong.  After all, $5 is 12 oz of Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt! 

Sweet!

The Sweet Frog frozen yogurt place WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE FROM OUR HOUSE is almost ready to open.  Linda peeked in the front door yesterday and saw everything just about finished.  She is going to make a "rule" about how many times a week she can go there.  Once the rule is set in place, it will just become second nature to her not to go every single day (or twice a day!)  Maybe she should do ounces per week instead of visits. The price should be around .39 cents an ounce.  She'll see what the largest size is, and that will be how many ounces she can have weekly.  If she wants to break it up into 2 or even 3 visits, that would be acceptable.  So the budget stays balanced, she'll give out one of her two weekly meals she eats out.  Linda did a little research and found out that small tastes of frozen yogurt is safe for dogs.  It said just never feed them sugar-free.  The chemical they use can be toxic to dogs.  Of course we can't have candy toppings either.  Drat!

Toppings Bar from another Sweet Frog

Sharing Secrets

Noah had a big long conversation with Chip today.  Linda had no idea what he was saying, but Chip seemed to understand.  Chip purred back which made him talk even more.  It seems that Chip loves Noah too.

Photo Bomb

Bob & Chewed Ears

We are anxiously waiting for Noah to come over.  Gretel said it would be around noon, but if he sleeps late from his nap, it could be closer to 12:30.  It's OK.  Linda is staying busy with chores and studying while Chim and I are enjoying our new pig ears.  (Linda says it is gross, but we do love them so much.  She is dying to self and putting us before her preferences. People chew on ribs and legs of animals all the time.  Why can't a dog chew on an ear, right?) 

He even chews the pigs ears off his toys!

We wish we had a Bob Jogging Stroller like Sarah has.  Noah LOVED it last week.  He was clapping and kicking his feet in joy.  There is a little plastic see-thru window on the shade canopy.  He kept looking up and waving at Sarah and Linda during the walk.  I guess we'll have to squeeze him into the small umbrella stroller today.  It holds up to 30 pounds, so technically he can still ride in it.  There is a new thrift store near out house.  Linda will be stopping in to see if they have any cheap strollers that are bigger than the one she has. 

Look, A Doggie Bob Stroller!  We NEED this!

Yay!

So Beautiful!

Sarah looks like one of those catalog models who stuff a pillow under their shirt to model the maternity clothes.  She looks so amazing! The only thing that looks 9 months pregnant is her belly.  Linda said that when she was pregnant with Tierney and Taylor she looked like the Titanic.  Knowing Sarah, she'll be strong and courageous in the delivery room with no whining.  I can't wait to welcome the new baby girl to our family! 

Less of Me to Love

I look cute

Linda was snuggling me today and noticed that I didn't feel as chubby.   I tend to keep a  little upper back and shoulder fat.  There wasn't as much to pinch!  She can't weigh be because she put her scale away during the house renovation.  She hasn't decided if she is going to pull it back out.  Linda can get obsessive with numbers if you didn't know.  Not weighing herself all these weeks has been so freeing.  (I like it too.  When she puts me on the scale I get nervous she'll put ME on another diet.)  As long as her jeans fit, she'll just go by that.  Anyway, I think all the walking is really paying off.  Maybe I'll be at my 5.5 pound goal the next time she does pull the scale out.  It will be so much better for my knees if I do weigh less. 

I Can't Think of a Title

It was up to 65 this a.m. (How old-school is our thermostat??)

Once Linda turns the heat off at the end of winter, she never turns it back on unless it's snowing again.  It's one of her rules.  Even though there was a freeze 2 nights ago, it did not matter.  The house was really cold when she got home from teaching last night, but oh well.  The heats off now.  (Of course when the kids lived here she would turn it on again when Tier complained.  Taylor could live with no heat the entire winter.) 

Linda with her friend Connie at a Baltimore Aqua Convention

Linda is so glad that her Water class was cancelled last night.  The heater in the pool was broken and the water temp was hovering around 70 degrees.  That sounds warmish, but she said for a aqua class it would be unbearable.  Imagine how cold she would have been if she spent an hour in the pool and then came home to a 63 degree house?  Jerry was still out walking us since she was an hour early getting home.  When Linda saw us on the sidewalk, she slowed down and opened the window to say hi.  Jerry told her I sprinted after the car for 6 houses at top speed trying to catch her!  We did the long trail walk which takes us over an hour.  Both Chim and I were ready for an early bedtime which was fine by Linda.  We were all snug in our beds before 10 p.m.

The fence fairy came while Linda was at work yesterday afternoon!  Look at how brand new that section of fence looks.  As a surprise, Tom came and power washed one section to show Linda how nice it could look if it was actually cleaned.  Too bad the neighbors didn't plant a bunch of those pink and white trees along their fence line.  Nothing grows in our backyard.  Once Linda planted an entire row of trees, azaleas and forsythia along the fence.  Every single one died but this guy. 

It looks so lonely. 

Knock-Knock

Go ahead, knock.

Knock-Knock

Linda  (Opens door)

Man:  Hello Ma'am, you see that truck across the street?

Linda:  Yes

Man:  Do you see what it says on the side?

Linda:  Yes

Man:  I'm selling meat.

Linda:  OK

Man:  It's really good meat.

Linda:  I'm not interested.

Man:  Not interested in meat?

Linda:  That's right

Man:   How could you not be interested in meat?

Linda:  I'm a vegetarian

Man:  Oh sure, do you know how many times I hear that?

Linda  (shuts door)

 

I'm a Shrimp

Once again, I am reminded just how little I am.  Chim is a little over double my weight, but he looks like a full grown Doberman standing next to me instead of a Chihuahua.  If our positions would have been switched and I was closest to the camera, I would have looked bigger.  Tierney took this of us last night when Linda was giving us a treat.  It was so good to finally see her again.  Even Chip was on her best behavior.  Taylor made Chip do her circus tricks that he taught her when he was little.  Linda could not believe she remembered! 

Family Time

Linda tried to crop this in her photo editing program, but it would not allow her.  Something about the "properties" not being proper.  It was taken with her iPhone, so why can't it be edited?  Anyway, dinner was fun and the food came out delicious.  Thanks Christina for taking the photo.

 Chimmie thought it was fun to stand on Tierney's back with his ball.  He was so hysterical.  Chip was so happy to see her because she is really her kitty.  Yay for Family!!!

UPDATE: As you can see, Linda got the photo cropped.  There seems to be a bug in the Applie iPhone software with Windows.  There were 100's of other people with the same issue on the message boards.  One guy posted a very easy fix, and it worked!  Thanks Harold.  

Tierney took this very photo of me looking very pensive

Chim would NOT stop licking Tierney!

Chim & Choop: Rescue Rangers

We just did our good deed of the day!  While Linda was walking us, there were two Pitt Bull/Lab mix dogs running lose on the main 4 lane highway!!  They were both sweating and one was limping, so Linda knew they had been lost awhile and she was afraid one of them got hit by a car.  There was no way she was letting the dogs run lose.  She called them over and they both came right up to us.  Both Chim and I made them feel welcome while Linda looped my leash around the limping guys neck.  His sister was more skittish about the leash, but Linda figured she would follow us all home so Linda could put them in our backyard until we found the owner.  Neither dog was wearing a tag.  Nope, she took off in the other direction so we had to run after her.  Finally, we caught up with her heading down the court.  She ran to a house and up unto the porch.  YES!  They found their way home.  No one answered the door, so Linda went to the neighbor.  Turned out the dogs did live there and were real escape artist.  The women helped her get Oreo and Emma into the backyard and in two seconds they had pushed back open the gate!  They caught them again and this time Linda went to the wood pile in the backyard and piled up a bunch of wood in front of the gate.  In all the excitement Linda did not get a picture of them. 

Chicken Dog

We are having Sarah and Taylor over for dinner tonight.  Linda asked Tierney too, but she already has plans, so it looks like she won't make it.  Linda has already made Jasmine rice, cooked chicken and is baking the salmon now.  For dessert, she made dark chocolate brownies and angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whip cream.  When she gets home from teaching, she'll just have to heat it all up and toss the salad.  Check back tonight to see some fun pictures.

"Please make it stop!!"

Linda has the window open in the den and the wind is blowing the string that pulls the shade up.  Chim is petrified because the tip is hitting the windowsill and making a clicking sound.  He refuses to come in the room.  He's the biggest sissy ever.  Earlier, Linda was using the Swiffer mop.  It makes zero sounds, but he runs and hides when he sees it coming.  What isn't he afraid of?   

Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion

So many of the folks at Linda's church are having babies or getting married.  Sometime in the next month, Sarah will be contributing to the already crowded nursery.  Babies and weddings are expensive, that's for sure.  The new baby will have all the clothes she needs until she is at least one years old thanks to the blessings from everyone at her shower.  This weekend one of Taylor's classmates is getting married.   It's going to be beautiful, that's for sure.  But expensive, nope.  Everyone at Linda's church pitches in and helps with decorations, flowers, food, and serving to help keep the wedding reasonable. The average cost of a wedding in the US is now $26,984.  One in Five couples spent more that $30K and 11% spent more than $40K!  This just baffles Linda. How can you justify $40 on a wedding?  If your last name is Trump, maybe.  But yikes, that's a ton of dough for a 4 hour event no matter what your net worth.   A long time ago, Linda was a maid of honor in a wedding that was in the $40K range.  The couple took out a loan to pay for the ceremony and was divorced before the loan was even paid off.

P.S.  Linda said she is by no means condemning people if they chose that route, it's just her opinion it's a dumb choice.  There are people who think not eating meat is dumb, or catering to the whims of 2 little dogs, or teaching 21 classes a week, or going to church service 3x a week.  Everyone has their own opinions.  Someone who Linda used to be very close to had a tee shirt that said "Everyone is entitled to my opinion."  Ha! 

Back in the Day

Chimmie could so do this if the scooter was shorter!

We are sitting watching the 3 little kids across the street riding their razor scooters on the sidewalk.  The 6 year old boy keeps wiping out and falling hard.  Every time he falls, Linda starts off the couch to run out to see if he is OK.  He's not just tipping over, he's tumbling, crashing and sometimes flying off.  While she admires his spirit, there is no doubt that one of the falls will result in a split head or broken wrist.  Right this second (and I'm not kidding either) he has the scooter ON TOP OF 5 bags of piled bags of mulch and is trying to balance on it  The mulch is at the edge of the driveway, he appears to be ready to try to launch the scooter off the mulch bags.  OH NOOOOOOOO.  Whew, he's down safe.  Now he has his little sister laying on the sidewalk...wait, is he going to try and jump over her?  That's it, Linda is going to find the parents.

Well, the Dad was in the garage sitting on a lawn chair.  He was far enough back that Linda could not see in the shadows.  Luckily, she was able to spy him before she walked across the street to find out why they weren't supervised. (That would have been awkward.)   Maybe Linda is just too overprotective and kids should be allowed to be kids.  Back in the day when she wasn't much older, Linda would race mini-bikes through the woods, swim in water that was contaminated from the DuPont plant down the street,  sit high in the branches of the old oak tree, try and catch wild stray cats to make them pets, play on the train trestle suspended over the river and walk alone across a main street to go to the store for her Mother. All of those things are way more dangerous than falling off a scooter.

The Nerve of the Rain!

The rain kept us up last night.  There wasn't any loud thunder, but Linda kept worrying the water would get in the bedroom window and wet our new carpet.  If she shut the window, then she would have to turn on the AC since the house was muggy and warmish.  Instead of just getting up, closing the windows and spending an extra .63 cents in AC costs, she chose a sleepless night tossing and turning with worry. This is the second night in a row of very little sleep.  She did take a short nap on Friday (20 min) but she is trying not to nap during the day so she'll fall and stay asleep. Tonight might call for drastic measures like taking an Aleeve- PM instead of the regular kind.  Speaking of drugs, from this past Tuesday, Linda's back has been feeling the best it has in a full year.  It's still ouchie, but the pain level  was an 8 or 9 and now it is 2 or 3!  That has happened a few times before and then the sciatic nerve will flair back up again and it is horrible.  This time she is believing she is healed all the way!! 

P.S. Tier, Linda practiced the Katniss braid last night and has it down pat.  She was thinking of wearing it to church today (just to make you say MOM!!!) 

I don't know how this braid stayed in running from the saber tooth tigers.

Choop in Boots

Hey, Get Me Out of Here!

YOL

How sweet, Chimmie is sound asleep on Linda's lap snuggling his Woobie.  He can be so adorable sometimes (mostly when he's sleeping).  Lately he's started doing these charging nose butts on me when he wants all the attention.  The other day he hit me hard enough to make me YOL (yip out loud).  If Snickers was still alive, he would set Chim straight stat!  When Chip used to mess with me the first few months I came home, Snickers would lay the law down and she would hide for hours.  In a way, it's good that I have learned to stick up for myself.  If he takes my bone or gets on my bed, I have no problem letting him know I'm not happy. 

I WILL Eat You

NO SPOILERS.  Linda saw The Hunger Games.  Her favorite line of the movie is when Katniss says to Prim's mean, old, grouchy cat Buttercup  "I Will Eat You."  She thought it was a good movie and she really enjoyed it, a solid 4 starts.  She wishes she didn't go in with such high expectations though.  Sometimes when a movie is so hyped up and you get super excited, you can't help but feel it isn't as wonderful as you hoped.  The actors were perfectly cast in their rolls and she forgot they were acting and it wasn't real.  The music and camera work were amazing.  The actual "games" kept you on the edge of your seat.  The movie stayed true to the book too.  It just wasn't 5 star in her opinion.  She is going to reread the first book tonight as comparison.

No, Really...

We'll see how Linda does today on less than 4 hours sleep. There are lots of people who function just fine sleeping 4-6 hours a night, but not Linda.  She'll be struggling to teach her classes, but there is nothing she can do at this point.  At the sports banquet last night, she had a cup of what she assumed was "decaf" coffee.  She asked a bunch of people which pot was decaf, and nobody knew.  She chose the smaller of the two pots that was pushed towards the back of the table.  That makes sense, right?  Well, either it was full strength 100% keep you wide awake caffeinated kind or Linda is getting her terrible insomnia back.  She read until 1:30 a.m., turned out the light and was still wide awake for what seemed like forever.  Hopefully she can take a quick nap after class to recharge her batteries. 

Happy National Puppy Day

In honor of National Puppy Day, I decided to google "World's Cutest Chorkies" and showcase some of the dogs that came up on the first page:

Oh wait, they are all me!  That's right... all on the very first page.   Then I decided to google "World's Cutest Chihuahua's."  Sorry Chimmie, you were not on the first OR the second page.  I guess since you are in the one with Tierney holding us, you get some bragging rights. 

Todays Lesson

Linda was trying to study her new routines for the 1/2 hour break she had between classes this morning.  The Burger Joint is just a few steps from the front door of the gym.  They have outside seating, so she decided to get a soda and study there.  She got her soda, but there was zero studying.  The Coke repair man was there fixing the machine and she asked him why the "water" button came on when she selected "diet root beer?"  For the next 25 minutes, she was treated to the man telling her about concepts, design, costs, repair times/tools used, manufactures, number of machines in restaurants, contract negotiations in the works and that was just the first 1/2 of the conversation!! (Well, not really conversation since Linda never said one word after her initial question).  This is a special computerized soda machine called The Freestyle that has something like 100 different soda choices.  The one thing she does remember is that there will soon be an iPhone app that will let you design your own custom soda flavor and send it to the soda machine of your choice.  You will receive a bar code photo back. When you get there, you will scan the bar code that was sent to your phone and out comes your custom made personalized flavor. 

Chip's Hunger Games

"I will eat you ... NOM, NOM"

It has turned into such a beautiful day.  The fog burned off , it's sunny and the temperature is perfect!  Linda doesn't have time to walk us though. She had a TKD testing this afternoon and then had to run to the store to get food stuff for the Sports Banquet tonight.  She has to leave again in just a little while.  (Chip is Hungry and it's causing her to be crabby to Chim.  I hope she gets fed before Linda leaves or I'll have to be on the lookout for surprise attacks. She thinks it's some kind of game to jump out and scare me.)  Linda is going to try and see The Hunger Games Sunday between church services.  Her day is booked up tomorrow, so she'll have to be patient.  Friends who saw it said it is amazing, even better than the books!!

The Long and the Short of It

My new short haircut makes me ears look so Looooong

Typical Chimmie, trying to get all the attention while I stay in the background

At least they make me look 2" taller since I am so short

And I Thought I Was Tiny!

When I came to live with Linda, I was 1.5 pounds.  I was so tiny that I could sit in her cupped hand.  Compared to this little puppy up for adoption, I was a Great Dane!  The puppy is the size of a business card.  When she was born, she could fit in a spoon.  Her Mommy, a Dachshund mix, was picked up by animal control while she was pregnant.  The pup was the last delivered and was stillborn with no heartbeat.  The vet performed chest compressions and mouth to mouth breathing and the puppy came to life!  I hope she finds a good home and not with some freak show person who just wants to show her off or make money off her. 

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/30732769/detail.html#ixzz1q2KNUJT7

A cookie for a pillow? Chim would have ate that up in a second.

Choopie in the Mist

These pictures don't show how eerie it actually looks outside right now.  The fog is so thick that I was hesitant to go down the deck steps early this morning.  This shot is off our deck:

Our fence is looking pretty ratty, even with the fog hiding it.  Linda is going to try and get it power washed to see if it cleans up some.  She kind of wants to put me out in the fog and take another Zombie photo of me just laying in the wet grass.  That would really be frightening.

This is what it looks like outside our front door. 

 

Which of These Dogs Will Eat Your Brains?

Zombie Dog 1.....

Tell me I don't look like a Zombie Dog!  For some reason, this photo is scaring Linda.  I actually look like one of those taxidermy dogs from that show http://animal.discovery.com/tv/american-stuffers/ where the guy stuffs your pet when it dies so you can always have it with you.  Can you tell which dog isn't full of fluff?

or... Zombie Dog 2?

Will the Real Don King Please Stand Up?

I am so embarrassed that I have been walking around with this hairdo for so long. Notice the resemblance?  Linda took this "before" shot before she left me at the groomers.  My hair is now super short.  It looks kind of cute, but it's going to take Linda awhile to get used to me.  She was so busy with Noah today that she didn't get a chance to take my "after" picture in the natural light.   This shot she took tonight with the flash makes me look like a demon dog, so she is going to wait until tomorrow to post a better one.