Once in a Blue Moon

How cool is that! (The blue moon, not his death..)

I was super excited to check out the rare "Blue Moon" tonight.  It's been in the headlines for days. The Blue Moon, in it's full glory at 9:58 p.m., will be the last one for three years. Linda said to calm down Lil' Choop, the moon won't actually look blue.  It's called a Blue Moon because two full moons won't rise in a single month again until July 2015.  According to an article Linda read, the Blue Moon is just accidental folklore anyway.  It was mistakenly named in 1946 in the pages of Sky & Telescope magazine.  (P.S.  The article was long and Linda was hungry, so she didn't finish it.) I'm sure PW will fill her in on the specifics!)

Future Mudder

Next weekend is Tough Mudder.  For the 12 people on the planet who may have never heard of it, click on the link to see just how crazy Mudder's are.  Linda won't be actually doing all the obstacles or running 13 miles, but she will be there supporting Taylor and a bunch of his friends.  Linda, Sarah and Penny will be at the major obstacles cheering.  Taylor has been training hard for the race and plans on a strong finish.  Penny will be picking up some tips from Daddy so she can start preparing for the race when she is older.

"I'll be back!"

 
This year the course is flat, but a little longer. Hopefully it won't be too hot for the athletes when they run through the FIRE PIT and then make their way through the LIVE ELECTRICAL WIRES!

Bookish Baby

Penelope is following in her Aunt Tierney's footsteps and loves to read.  Linda can't remember a time when Taylor ever read a book for "fun."  Tier on the other hand, would re-read a book the second it was done if she liked it.  Two of the series Linda remembers Tier reading when she was 7 or 8 were Boxcar Kids (or something like that) and Nancy Drew.  For now, Penny likes to read the tags hanging from her play mat.

"I like the plot on this one."

"This book is a real page turner."

After Penny's mat time, she played in her sit and spin.  It's hard for Linda to get a photo of her in it because she moves so fast that as soon as the camera focuses, Penny walks away.

"Oh... this toy is hard to reach..."

"That's much better!"

Besides a short nap, mat time and her sit-spin; they went for a walk and enjoyed some deck time listening to the birds.  The four hours just flew by.  Linda wish she didn't have to come home to get ready to teach her classes this evening. 

World's Biggest Chihuahua?

Whenever someone new meets Chimi for the first time, they immediately think he is a Miniature Doberman. Chim is a solid 15 pounds of muscle with zero body fat.  He has the exact look and body type as a min-pin and looks nothing like a Chihuahua.  If Linda didn't see him with his parents and litter mates with her own eyes, she would not believe it either.  Plus, his personality takes after my beloved Snickers who was 1/2 Doberman.  Sweet, loving, super smart, loyal, non-aggressive, cuddly, and everyone who enters the house is his new best friend forever.  Lot's of Chi's don't like new people in their house, can be biters and hard to train. 

That's him on the left.

Here he is with his brothers and sisters.  You can see they are all about the same size.  When Chim was ready to be picked up and come to his forever home at 10 weeks, he was already 4 1/2 pounds, only 1/2 pound less than his Daddy!

His first day home

 Chim kept growing and growing... eating and eating until he looked like this.

This is an older photo, he's even a few pounds bigger and more muscular now.

He could so be plopped down into the middle of this litter of puppies and fit right in.

Yes, this is one litter of Doberman puppies. 

This Little Piggy Went To....

"Thumbs are for babies. I go straight for the toes!"

It looks like all those personal training sessions Linda did with Penelope has paid off.  Look at that flexibility!  Her little core is also super strong from the planks and balance work Linda does with her.  When Taylor was an infant, she did the same kind of exercises with him every day.  He grew to be 6'5" of solid muscle and excels at every sport he tries.  It looks like it's time for Linda to move on to phase two.  She'll continue the stretching and core work, but will add hand to eye coordination drills.  (Her Daddy was shooting the Nerf basketball into the little net before he could walk.)  Her training diet is the best.. just Mama's milk!  Could Penny be destined for the 2028 Olympics?  Will she be a gymnast, volleyball player, basketball player or track and field star???

Passing the Hat

"I am the Princess!"

Long time readers know Linda has had a long standing tradition to take funny hat pictures whenever possible.  If I had time, I could go through and post 100's of hysterical hat pictures from when the kids where little right up until this year.  Linda is SO GLAD that Taylor is continuing the family tradition with Penelope!  You can tell by her face how much she is enjoying posing with the Princess hat and purse. 

Big Bad Wolf

She enjoyed the wolf hat too, you just cant tell by her face.  It was a long day at the county fair and she was over the cow riding, pig oinking and hen clucking.

Hey Penelope, even Linda makes me wear hats sometimes!

Get It Done

Linda has such big plans for her almost day off.  She only taught 2 classes, (Pump and Combat) and was done by 10:30 a.m.!  There was so much on her "to do" list and she was planning on making a huge dent.  So far, it's been 5 hours after she is done teaching and exactly one thing is crossed off.  Granted, it's an important thing, but still.  She took us out on a long, long walk in the woods.  It was so quite and peaceful on the trail, she kept making detours and taking new paths.  By the time we got back, she was starving for lunch, sweaty and tired.  After eating, a shower and nap, 5 hours are just gone!  There is still time to get stuff done before she has to leave the house at 6 p.m. to meet up with some of the girls from the gym. 

"Can't we just keep napping Linda?"

It Was the Summer of '51

Next week would have been Linda's parents 61st wedding anniversary if they were still alive.  Thanks to a special someone who gave us a brand new scanner/printer, we'll be able to show you a lot more photos from when Linda was little!  She thought she would start with some of the oldest ones, of her parents when they first got married.  Her dad Nick was so handsome and Mae so pretty. 

Big Jerry

Boy, did we get a surprise today while Linda was teaching.  Both Jerry and his dad Big Jerry came to walk us!  Big Jerry is really the same size as my Jerry, but for some reason Linda always called him Big Jerry.  He is the person that Jerry hiked with to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Big Jerry is super fit and active.  As you can tell, Chim already has made a new friend.  Linda liked him the first time she met him too.  He is so easy going and friendly.   

Linda got home from teaching and decided to try and tackle the lawn.  She only had her left hand and a few fingers on her right hand.  Since she could not pull the little lever that makes the mower easy to move forward, she pulled it backwards behind her like an oxen with a plow.  It took a little longer and now her back hurts, but at least it's done.  She went ahead and bagged it too even though she wasn't planning on it.  If soldiers who lose an arm or leg in the war can still mow their lawns, Linda can do it with a busted up hand, right? When she was done,  she took a cool shower.  Wow, it felt amazing. Now it's time for lunch, hmmmm.... should she go to Sweet Frog?  

Almost Better

Linda had a dream that she woke up and turned off her alarm clocks (she uses two, one as a back up) around 5:00 a.m.  Except it wasn't a dream.  She actually did turn them off  and went back to sleep!  It's a good thing that she is a sporadic sleeper and wakes up at least once an hour all night long (when she doesn't have the insomnia that keeps her up all night.)  She woke up a few minutes after 7 a.m. on her own, only 30 minutes late.  Linda likes to be up two to three hours before she has to leave the house for classes so she can have quite time, read, do chores, update the blog and take her time getting ready.

Yay!  This morning Linda's hand is almost pain-free, it's just stiff to bend her fingers and tender to the touch.  The swelling is mostly down and there is only a small bruise and bump left.  As long as the rain holds off, she should be OK to mow later on.  The injury is on the hand she starts the mower with, so she'll have to get one of the neighbors to pull the cord for her and she'll just have to keep it running the whole time.  (Any excuse not to have to stop and empty the bag of grass!) 

A perfect day to nap.

Jerry isn't coming today because his Dad is in town from the West coast.  I think they should both come over to walk us, but Jerry said they will be going to be busy with other things.  When Linda gets home from work at 1:30, she is free the rest of the day.  After her chores, we'll do a trail walk together.  She always loves those rare times when there are more than 8 hours of unplanned time in her day. 

Tough Mother

Even though Linda is not actually participating in the Tough Mudder next week (she is just jogging alongside Taylor to watch him do all the obstacles) Taylor still called her a true "Tough Mother" today at the gym.  When Linda has to set up for Aqua class, she has to roll this giant stereo system into the pool area.  It's hard to push and open the heavy glass door at the same time.  Sometimes she ask a member to help her with the door, but no one was standing around.  She decided to do it alone.  Wrong move.  She crushed her hand in between the heavy sound system and the door.  It actually brought her to her knees and she started to get light headed from the pain.  Just like any crushed area of the body, it swelled and turned blue right away.  Her middle finger wouldn't move and she was sure she broke at least one little bone in her hand.  One of the first people to see her crying was a military medic guy.  He examined it, got the first aide kit and wrapped it up tight.  Next came a bag of ice to keep the swelling down.  Taylor was taking a another class and he came out to pray for her.  He didn't think anything was broken. He told another friend if nothing was dangling off her body she would be fine to teach!  Ha!!  She was going to cancel her Aqua class, but there were so many people waiting and she did not want to disappoint them, so she went ahead and did the class without using her arm or hand.  Being a true Tough Mother, she also taught her noon Body Pump class and a TKD class too.  A few hours after the injury, she could move her hand a little more, so she was able to hold the bar with her left hand a few fingers of her right hand.  She just didn't put any plates on the bar.  Now that she is home resting, it's starting to throb more and she is icing it again. Guess the lawn and housework will have to wait until another day.  Now if only Sweet Frog delivered. 

Sleep is for Wimps

This is Penny's "I don't want to stop playing with Nana but I'm too tired to keep my eyes open face."  She only slept 20 minutes in the whole 4 hours Linda was with her today.  They went for a walk, played on the mat, read books, did their stretching and core workout, plus Penny had a super fun time in the bath with her rubber duckies.  Every time Linda would cradle her, she'd start to look like she was falling asleep.  When Linda put her down, she would open her eyes and smile at her.. cooing and kicking her legs around.  As soon as Sarah got home, Penny had some Mama's milk and fell right asleep for a much needed nap. 

Never Say Never

Linda said we are never getting another cat.  Nope, from now on.. we will be a dog only house.  Except her resolve did wave a bit when she saw this photo this morning.  This cat is an EXACT replica of all three of her favorite cats:  Chip on the bottom half; Licorices for 1/2 the face and Pumpkin for the other 1/2!!  Tierney, how crazy is this??

We would name it Chipumplic

Beautiful Baby

Already 4 months old!

This was taken Tuesday night when Sarah and Taylor came over for a visit.  Linda did NOT want her photo taken because in the preceding hours, she taught a TKD class, Body Combat and just came out of the pool from teaching Aqua Boot Camp.  She decided that was just pride and that no one would be looking at her anyway.  You can't help but be drawn to Penelope's beautiful face. Even with wet hair and no makeup, every time anyone takes a photo of Linda holding Penelope, Linda is smiling so big that her face looks like Christmas morning when she was a kid.  She can't help but feel so incredibly blessed that she now has her own grand baby.  Before Penny, she would see people holding their grand kids and think, "Oh, how nice.  Someday I'll hold mine too, but I won't look all sappy and googly-eyed."  As you can see, she looks just like the other grandparents, maybe even a little sappier!  If the Lord tarries and it's His will, she hopes that one day she'll have a mini van full of grand children to cart around. 

Just hours old in this picture!!

And They Call it Puppy Love

Chimi loves babies.  He goes absolutely Ga-Ga (not the Lady kind) over them.  For a totally spastic dog who sometimes can't control his own body from excitement, when a baby is around Chim is gentle and careful.  In all the times Noah played on the floor with him, he never once knocked him over, scratched him trying to get a toy or made him fall when they played tug of war. (When Linda plays tug of war, he can pull her arm sockets out!) Now that he is getting to know Penny, he is being just as sweet. 

Noah won tug of war every time.

"Chimi and Penny sitting in a tree.......

K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

5 Years Already?

Wow, it's been 5 years since Sarah and Taylor got married.  Today is their anniversary.  Linda felt so special that they came over to visit her tonight.  Linda was going to go to church since it was her turn to clean the nursery (she'll do it in the morning), but when the call came as she was driving asking if they could come over, she said "OF COURSE!"  They even stopped at Friendly's first to pick up some yummy ice cream.  Linda read Penny a book and they played with the Sit and Spin.  It was Taylor's when he was a baby and still works as good as new.  Penny also got up close and personal with Chim.  Wait until you see the photos!  Sarah is going to send them to her and I'll post them soon.  I was really interested in Penny's car seat, but Taylor would not let me sit in it.

Such a beautiful family

No More Sadness

It's a quite morning in our house.  Linda didn't have her normal 5:30 a.m. "meow" alarm clock to wake her up, so she had to rely on the iPhone crickets.  She didn't get tripped 20 times walking to the kitchen by a very hungry kitty.  There wasn't any use for the Furemover on our living room couch.  No need to go downstairs and scoop the litter box or clean up after a sick kitty.  Chim didn't get pushed off his spot on the sofa by just a glare.  And you know what?  We are all miserable and miss Chip so much.  All those tiny annoyances were nothing compared to knowing she would be waiting for Linda to wake up or come home by greeting her with her head butts and meows.  Linda prayed she would be able to sleep last night and not relive the moment 1,000 times.  After weeks of insomnia, she slept through the night and had no bad dreams. Linda's prayers were heard.  Now if she could only stop tearing up when she thinks about it.  (She knows she will.. it just will take a few days).  Chim knew she was upset when she got home yesterday and never left her side.  He is a world class cuddler, and glued himself to her body for 8 straight hours until it was bedtime.  I usually start the night at the foot of the bed then work my way up by morning.  Last night I started the night tucked under the covers up against her chest.  She held me as she fell asleep. 

"Penny, you better be ready for some extra hugs and kisses this Thursday."

This will be the last sad post about Chip we do.  I know people don't read my blog to be depressed, but it seemed wrong to just write something frivolous. (Like the mom and daughter who kept feeding a little turtle they found in their garden.  When it refused to eat, they put it in a box and took it to the vet.  When the vet examined the turtle and turned it upside, he saw the "made in China" mark stamped on the bottom.  It was a ceramic turtle.  See, you ended up smiling at the end of the post!)

RIP Major Chip Hazard

August 20th, 2012.  Obituary written by Tierney

Chip was not only a good cat, but she was a good sport.  She joined our family fourteen years ago despite Tierney's protests.  See, Tierney wanted a different cat, but her brother (who never had cared about cats before) insisted on Chip.  Many tears later, Chip jointed the family and received her (gender-confused) name.

Major Chip Hazard, the plastic protagonist from 1998's Small Soldiers, served as the inspiration for Chip's name.  The fact that the character was a man, while Chip was a female didn't seem to matter. Chip was a good sport.  Chip's best friend and big brother was a sweet black cat named Licorice.  Licorice was the beloved pet of the family--preferring to snuggle in laps and on the edge of the tubs while her owners took bubble baths.  Chip kept to herself--sleeping on top of the cat tower and squirming when picked up.  

When Licorice went to cat heaven after a tough bout with stomach cancer, Chip took center stage.  Maybe she missed her black-haired friend, or maybe she sensed her owners were sad.  Either way, she started sleeping with Tierney every night--insisting on sleeping on stomachs, chests, or legs.  She had a place at the dinner table--her own chair--and she would only get scraps if she sat politely.  Tierney and Taylor would drop bits of egg, hamburger, or whatever else they were eating on Chip's placemat.  Chip would reach up with a (polite) paw and pick up the bit of food to eat it.  Chip had impeccable manners.  

Chip loved music.  Tierney would sing her songs about household items, the color of her fur, or the day's events.  Chip would come out of hiding whenever the music started and sit in front of her--watching.  Tierney could press her cheek on Chip's back while she sang, and Chip would sit still and listen.  She was a good sport despite the awkward warbling, and sometimes would purr during the musical numbers.

Some people don't like cats, but Chip acted more like a dog.  She always sat at the top of the stairs waiting for her parents to get home.  She would growl deep in the back of her throat when it was someone she didn't know.  She rarely bit or scratched (unless Taylor was trying to make her learn boxing moves), and liked to be pet behind her ears.

When Tierney moved out and Chalupa the Chorkie joined the household, Chip was a good sport.  She was content to sit in the background while the new puppy got lots of attention.  She knew it was her house, and the new puppy soon learned who the boss was.

Chip lived a good, long life full of lots of happiness and food.  She was a good sport, despite being the target of constant snark on Choopie's Blog.  She knew she was loved, and she will always have a special place in the hearts of her family.

Chip is going to cat heaven today.  She is excited to get to sit at a giant table in the cat heaven kitchen and eat some heavenly food, and she is looking forward to all the ear rubs she'll get from the designated lap-cat-petters.  Most of all, she is excited to see Licorice again.  They have lots to catch up on--starting with catching up on their former owners, followed by a long nap in the sunshine.  They might even see Pumpkin, Linda and Tierney's first cat with a pretty orange coat and six toes.  Together, Chip, Licorice, and Pumpkin will live together in their cat heaven mansion--an exact replica of their favorite house in Virginia.  On holidays, they will go visit Snickers and Sheba in dog heaven, where they will pretend to hate each other but secretly love catching up.  Chip will go and have a great time because she's a good sport, and it's what her owners would have wanted.

Rest in Peace, Major Chip Hazard.  Your family will miss you. 

P.S.  This is Linda. Chip is gone, in kitty heaven.  Chip feasted on a boneless chicken breast with cheese from McDonald's as her last meal.  Linda hid the sedative pill in a bite of the chicken and Chip didn't notice it.  As she got more relaxed, Linda gave her scratches in all her favorite places and used the kitty brush.  Chip purred the whole time.  She was awake on the way to the Vet, but still calm.  Jerry and Linda spent 20 minutes alone with her while Linda cried her eyes out.  Tierney called in from work and was listening as the final dose was administered.  She died purring, peaceful and surrounded by love.  Goodbye Chip cat.  This is her last picture as she started to relax from the first shot; before the final kitty heaven dose.

Farewell. You are out of pain and cancer free!!

Kitty Heaven

It's a sad day in our house.  We can't write about it now because it's hard to see the keyboard through the tears.  Linda will write more later after the vet appointment this afternoon.

Quit Horsing Around

Linda is home from her Horse party.  Turns out there were 6 other dogs there (including Bella and Bo- Leslie's dogs who we play with at the park and her house.)  The downside for us would have been the horses.  Granted, it was a horse party, but they were walking everywhere... even next to the food tent. Linda said there where the best brownies and lemon bars she ever ate in her life. (Most of the food was non-vegetarian, but the desserts were amazing!)  Riders were bare-back; jumping over high fences and racing around a ring.  Both Chim and I would have freaked out if one of those 1,500 pound beasts walked next to us.  Better safe than sorry, right?   I'm glad she kept us home.  Linda is going to back up to the farm with us in tow to tour the entire 300 plus acres when there are less people.  Hopefully all the beasts will be in their paddocks and barns and not stomping around where little 6 pound dogs could become pancakes. 

A Full Saturday

Linda is finally home from a long morning/early afternoon of being gone.  The weather is amazing today, so at least Chim could stay outside since she knew she would be gone for over 6 hours.  At the last minute, Jerry was able to come and walk us, but it was later in the morning.  I showed him how I only will walk in the shade now and asked to be carried when it's full sun.  I walk right up to the edge of the shade and stop, waiting to be picked up.  When it's shady again, I wiggle to get down. 

Linda held a party today for one of her assistant TKD instructors who is going away to college.  He got a bunch of money for school supplies/books and some awesome home-made cards from the kids.  Ethan was hugged so hard and often that once he actually was mobbed and fell over. He has been studying TKD with Miss. Linda for 10 years!!   It's too bad so many of the students were out of town on vacation (last week before school) but it was still a good turnout. 

Mr. Ethan is third from the right.

After the party and her classes, Linda went to the car show at church. Man, there were so many cool cars and bikes.  Chim went last year, but he didn't care for it much.  All the vrooom-vrooom racing engines and crowds of people made him nervous.  Everyone seemed to be interested in this Fisker car that has a solar panel for a roof.  It wasn't the most expensive car there, but it sure attracted a lot of attention.

Linda left her camera home, so she had to download a photo of it

Later this evening she'll be going up to her friend Leslie's horse ranch.  There is an open house party for everyone to see the property. (I guess it's technically not a ranch and not a farm.. more like stables where you learn to ride and they have jumping shows. That just goes to show how little Linda knows about horses.)  Dogs are invited, but Linda has not decided if she'll be bringing us.  It's almost an hour drive each way and it wouldn't be fun if we got car sick. 

Farmers Daughter

"Really Daddy?  Do I have to be the pig?"

Why does Penny look so sad at Country Fair?  Sarah sent Linda a bunch of photos and in each one, Penny doesn't look like she is a cow, pig, goat or lama fan.  After all, he farm life is 1/2 of her roots!  Sarah grew up on a working dairy farm and knows her way around a barn!

Sarah is the prettiest farm girl ever!

Maybe Penelope was just in the mood for a shopping trip to Nordstoms that day with her Aunt Tierney instead of getting up close and personal with a chicken.

Tierney can't wait to take Penny on her first Nordstroms trip!

Penny even has John Deer overalls from Aunt Joelle

Half Truths Are Lies

Why does it look like I want down?

A new reader to this blog would be totally confused if they started off by reading yesterday's post.  Since blogs written in a dogs voice are not that common (or popular as Linda has come to find out as shes read on other peoples blogs) people might think it was actually Linda who had to get her glands expressed.  HA!  That's funny and one of the reasons we keep writing the blog this way.  Since we have refused to put ads on the blog to try and earn money and could care less about how many readers we have (well, that last part is a half-truth ... which is actually a lie because a half-truth is not the whole truth and that would be a lie, right?), we just keep on doing what we've done for the last 5 years or so.  The readers we have are the readers we want, so if no one else new ever read the blog again, who cares?  (OK, I might care a wee tiny bit.)  Believe me, neither Linda or I take this blog seriously (the truth) and we don't care who makes fun of us or laughs at our (Linda's) spelling, grammar or punctuation (the truth).  There are daily readers as far away as the West coast (Aunt Jean); New Jersey (cousin Marie); lots of friends from Linda's church and her gyms; all those readers from places like Russia, Colombia, Brazil and the UK; and more than a dozen anonymous Choopie fans who check the blog like clockwork at 5:00 a.m. every weekday morning.  Thank you for following my adventures.. THE TRUTH!

So Tired....

Look Nana!  I'm almost walking!!

It turns out I only needed to be expressed and I don't have impacted glands or an infection.  I have to go back in 10 days for a recheck.  Going to the vet was still traumatic and I hated every second of it.  Jerry felt bad for me after the appointment so he took me to the Town Center with all the fountains, trees and dogs.  I usually love it there, but I wouldn't walk or even come out of the carry-me bag.  When we got home, I refused a walk around the neighborhood too.  Even Chim was acting weird at PW's house today.  When Linda picked him up after work, all he wanted to do was "be the baby." (That's a game we play where she holds us on our back like a baby and we just lay limp in her arms.)   Linda was gone from 8:30 this morning teaching classes and spending the day with Penelope.  She just got home, ate some dinner and is deciding if 8:00 p.m is to early to go to bed.  Both Chim and I are settled in for the night and Linda is not far behind. 

Proud Penny Keeps on Rolling

I did it myself!

Guess who rolled over for the first time yesterday?   By her proud expression, I think you can figure it out.  Just barely 4-months old and she's already rolling around like a big girl!  Linda thinks Penny will walk before she crawls.  She already is walking if you hold on to her hands, not just flailing her feet and by accident they land one in front of the other.  Tierney was doing the same thing at Penny's age and was walking alone at just 9 months.  Just like Aunt Tier, Penelope already loves watching Elmo and Sesame Street.  If she starts recognizing her ABC's and counting when she is 14 months old, we'll know she is following in Aunt Tier's footsteps.  Let's hope her feet don't get as big as Tier's though.  It's super hard finding cute leopard print flats in a size 11! 

Dr. Tierney Doolittle

I've been quite about the latest problem I've had with my "outside" issues since it's so embarrassing.  Last time I wrote about my impacted glands, Linda was on vacation and poor Jerry had to deal with the fiasco.  The time before that, the photo of the impaction was so horrible that Linda could not even post the photo. I get my glands expressed about every other month, but it does not seem to be working.  I still get clogged and it creates the worst, and I mean worst clean up you could imagine.  Yesterday Linda had to use a pair of old scissors to do the job, half a tub of baby wipes and I had to have a bath at the end of it all.  Jerry is taking me back to the vet today.  This is getting ridiculous.  What if they want to do surgery and take the glands out?  That's how us dogs say "HI" to each other and we remember who our friends are.  If I don't have my own special scent glands, no other dogs will want to be my friend and I'll be an outcast.  Tierney is Ms. Fix it.  She'll have to You Tube how to "do it yourself" so she can come over and express my glands every few weeks.  Thanks Tier, I know you want me to still be the popular dog and have the most friends. 

Just substitute the man in the top hat for this person...

Did I forget to tell you Tier is now a blondie? 

Killer Yorkies

 Linda has been watching a TV show on Netflix called White Collar.  As you know, Linda never has the TV on as "background" noise or just to channel surf.  In fact, for years she never even had a TV.  Linda has an all-or-nothing mentality.  If she reads a book and likes it, she reads every book written by the author.  If she finds a pair of jeans that fit perfect, she buys every color in stock (even the petite size to wear as ankle pants) When she finds a  TV show she likes, she has to watch all the back episodes.  That's how it was with Prison Break, Lie to Me and now White Collar.  It's a good thing it's only been around 5 shows in the past 10 years she got hooked on or it could easily become a TV addiction.  Now that she is caught up on White Collar, she is only going to watch TV once a week for an hour when the show is on.  It will be hard because it's Shark Week.  In the past, she was fascinated with the shark shows.  Once you start watching, you can't help it and get sucked in!

Watch this adorable recreation of  Shark Week starring a tiny Yorkie just my size and a kitty.  I could so see Chip, Chim and I making this video. 

We would have to get an XXL costume for Chip

"I am NOT wearing a shark costume.  Just try and make me"

Splish-Splash!

"I love the swimsuit Nana got me!"

Jerry came tonight to walk us. We were out a whole hour and drum roll please.... I didn't have to be carried one time.  Linda is so glad he was able to visit since her 4 classes today has wiped her out.  There wouldn't have been any walks this evening, that's for sure.  It's been a long time since she'd felt like this on a Thursday night.  She's already in her pj's (not even 9 p.m. yet) and is under the quilt getting ready to watch White Collar on TV.  The second the show is over, she is going right to bed. There is someone else who is going to sleep great tonight.  Penelope spent the day at the pool!  Sarah said she loved every second of it!  When it was time to leave the water, she even cried.  All the swimming and splashing wore her out.

"Whew, I'm Beat!"