Think Thin and Positive!

My prize came today.  A few weeks ago we entered a contest on one of the blogs we read.  I'm thankful they picked my entry as a winner.  What a nice surprise for Linda to to come home to.  Yay!! for some new energy bars to try.  Since they are not dog friendly, Linda will have to review them. 

Tonight at church, Tierney told Linda to quit complaining about her kitchen.  She chided her for not being thankful for having a kitchen, and actually teased her for getting so upset about it.  Lots of their church family in Africa cook over an open fire outside. Even though all three people who have seen it said it looks bad and even said the counter looked bad (Which she kind of thought looked OK), she is starting over fresh.   Linda is not going to focus on any of those bad feelings anymore.  Thank you Tierney for setting her straight and telling it like it is.  If people don't like it, they don't have to come to our house, right?  So far, she loves the paint color on the walls, loves her wood floor, loves the new hanging ivy light and can't wait for the carpet to come.  ONLY LOVE from now on.  NO NEGATIVENESS. Tomorrow before Noah comes, she is going to try her hand at painting the bathroom.  Stay tuned for lots of photos.  They are going to be wonderful.  (And Linda is taking Noah to Chuckee Cheese for lunch.  You won't want to  miss those photos.)

Here Lizard, Lizard...

The painting man is here.  Look what he did to our living room.  There are 20 buckets of different tools, rollers, brushes, plastic sheets, and paint cans.  Linda is home for a few hours between her classes.  We've been hiding out in the bedroom with the door shut while he works to stay out of the way.  He'll be here for 4 or 5 days, so it's going to be tricky to find a place to hide once he starts in the bedroom.  There is always downstairs, but since there is no heat vent in the family room, it can get very chilly.  We'll have to bring the portable heater and blankets to keep us warm.  John had an idea for the cabinets, but he was too busy to tell her about it while he was working.  She'll talk to him tonight after church.  The new foyer and hallway light will be hung tomorrow.  Linda found a pretty one with bronze leaves winding up the chain where it hangs from the ceiling.   When Linda was having her cabinet meltdown yesterday, she had to go to Lowes to buy new cabinet handles.  She HAD to do something, and it was the only quick solution she could think of.  They had the best selection of fun hardware. 

She really wanted the green lizards (or geckos?)   They are almost the same color Sarah picked for the kitchen walls.  The lizards would have been so amazing that no one would have even noticed the fake-wood grain.  Since she needed 19 handles and they were $6.00 a piece, she decided that over $100 was silly to spend to make her feel better.  She ended up getting plain bronze ones for a fraction of the price.   (Where is that line from... Here Lizard, Lizard...  It's from a movie or TV show, but she can't remember where she heard it.) 

The Paint Whisperer

John the Painter man will be here today to start working on our house.  He will be doing the entire upstairs, except for the two bathrooms.  Linda is going to try to tackle those herself with the help of expert painter Sarah.  John is all business.  He is not the kind of guy who gets down on his knees to play with us.  In fact, he totally ignored the fact we are in the room.  Chimmie never once greeted him, jumped on him or bought him a toy.  Even the cat just sat there looking at him and did not run and hide like she does 100% of the time when new people come over.  It was like he put up a force shield around him and we couldn't detect his presence.   He'll be here about 4 full days, so maybe by the end of the painting job Chimmie might try to be his friend.  John was like Cesar The Dog Whisperer.  When you come into a house with dogs the rule is:  no touch...no talk.... no eye contact.  It really worked!  I hope he has that kind of mojo with a paint brush.

Linda is trying to have a thankful heart about her new wood floor and not think about the cabinets.  When Tier saw the photo Linda sent her of them, she said it's not nearly as bad as Linda was making it out to be.  Even if nothing gets done to them, Linda has to stop whining. 

The first way to get over her pride of them looking bad is to just let it all hang out.  Even the handles are broken on some of the doors.  Maybe when she puts on all the new handles and knobs, it will make a huge difference, right? 

Real vrs. Fake

Linda wouldn't even take a photo of the cabinets.

It's been a bittersweet day for Linda.  She loves her new wood floor.  It's beautiful and matches our furniture perfectly.  The installers did a great job too and were very professional.  When Linda got home from class this morning, she was super excited to see the finished floors.... Until she looked at them up against the fake wood kitchen cabinets.  The cabinets look so ugly that she got teary-eyed and started to cry a little bit.  The cabinets haven't changed since 1984 when she first moved in to the house.  For 25 years they were OK.  Not beautiful, but they were fine and held the cups and plates.  The floor before the hardwood was 12" square plastic tiles that press down.  The design was a fake butcher-block pattern.  Probably the ugliest floor in town, maybe even the country.  Plus, the tiles were peeling up, so it looked extra bad. When the fake plastic butcher block floor was up against the fake wood cabinets, it all looked bad together and wasn't really that obnoxious.  (Is any of this making any sense, because I don't have a clue what she is talking about.)  Linda is not a decorator.  She could care less about curtains, colors, or furniture.  She's lived with plywood showing through her worn carpet, paneling from the 80's, concrete floor in the laundry room with studs and no drywall for years now.  It's never bothered her a lick.  All of a sudden she is crying over ugly cabinets!  John the painter is going to come over tomorrow and see if he can fix them for her by painting or staining them.  Getting all new cabinets will cost boo-coo bucks.  (For the boys reading this, it would be like getting gorgeous new rims for your truck but the body paint was all peeling, chipped and rusted.  Before the rims, everything would have just looked ugly together. The new rims just highlight how ugly the paint is.)

Is He a Plumber Too?

Yipee! for New Floors!!

Linda had to walk across the sub-floor to unplug the coffee pot.  She didn't know how sticky the plywood was and her slippers stuck to the glue that was holding down the old little vinyl tiles.  She felt like one of those poor mice that get stuck in the glue traps!  Too bad the video camera wasn't going to capture that!  The new kitchen floor is looking amazing.  The wood is a little darker than the photo shows, and it compliments our living room/dining room furniture perfectly.  Linda will have to leave in a little while to go teach her class.  When she gets back, it should be all done.  Now she has to buy a Swiffer to clean. No more mops, buckets and Mr. Clean for this floor.  After the first two cuts inside, they moved the sawing out onto the deck so now Chimmie can relax.  He's on the couch sucking his woobie right now. 

The Geoduck is Safe

"Give me a kiss.. smooch, smooch"

Thank goodness, I'll be able to sleep tonight.  The Geoduck is now protected by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.  What is a Geoduck?  Well, as you can tell by the photo, it's possibly the ugliest creature on the face of the earth.  A Geoduck is the largest, oldest clam species.  People think it taste yummy, because they have been catching them and selling the meat for $160 per pound!  The oldsters can live into their 100's and weigh 10 pounds each.  That's a lot $$$ for one clam. 

Where Are the Ruby Slippers?

The guys feet sticking out from behind the fridge looks like the Wicked Witch from Oz. 

It's a good thing we make Linda wake up at the crack of dawn.  Ali Baba told Linda that the hardwood men would be coming around 9:00 to start working.  At 7:10, they rang the doorbell!  She was still in her robe and slippers, but she pretended she was just wearing regular clothes and welcomed them in.  In less than 15 minutes, the old floor was pulled up and now they are prepping the plywood underneath it.  Linda is so quirky.  She wanted to mop the kitchen floor before they came to tear it up.   I know.... she is weird that way.  She does not like suprize guests because she has to clean before anyone comes over.   At least she got the whole house vacuumed before they arrived.  She wanted the carpet to look nice before they hauled it away in a dump truck.  I wonder what they are going to think about her taking 100 pictures while they work?
 
UPDATE:  They are using a LOOOOUDDD power saw to cut the wood.  Poor Chimmie.  He's literally quaking trying to hide in the covers on the big bed! 

The Decorating Begins Tomorrow!

I can't believe how much Linda got done today.  She moved everything that wasn't furniture into storage. She's pooped, tired, exhausted and glad 1/2 the work is done. The other half will be hanging the drapes and pictures back up and moving all the stuff back into place.   Linda does not like clutter and thought she hardly had any decorations.  Turns out, she had tons of stuff!  Since it was there so long, she just did not realize how much accumulated.  Here are a few of the empty rooms.  Don't be too jealous of the amazing paneling in the family room, OK?

The plans include taking down this super-amazing paneling. 

The little brown cube is so I can get up on the Big Bed.  She wants to figure out a better solution.

How naked everything looks...

...But look how big our room is without all the foo-foo decorations

The only thing left to do is move everything off the floor in the three bedroom closets.  We need to wait to the last minute on that because Linda uses that for her shoe storage.  Sarah is coming over tomorrow to help Linda pick the paint colors.  All the moving and changes have made Chimmie nervous and he's acting weirder than normal.

Even The Dogs Will Be Renovated

These are Chim's "after" nails.  I think they need to be a bit shorter next time.

Tomorrow Linda is going to pack all the pictures, doo-dads, thingamajigs, and breakable items and move them downstairs into the two extra bedrooms.  She also has to take down all the curtains and empty out her closets.  It's kind of like moving, only not as fun because you have to put it all back in the same exact spot when the carpets, hardwood and painting is done.  Here is the schedule:  Pack and store on Monday.  Hardwood is coming Tuesday.  The painting will be done W-F and then again the next week on M-T.  Carpet goes in on Wednesday.  Pictures and decorative stuff gets put back in place on Thursday and Friday.  Linda has needed to do these updates for years and years but has been too lazy and unmotivated to do it.  Since she is a black/white.... all/nothing kind of woman, once she made a decision to spruce-up, everything is getting done at once.  Still to decide:  refinish the kitchen cabinets or just paint them?? New counters and sink or just keep the lame ones?  As soon as early spring comes, the deck revision is definitely next since it's a safety issue.  She said since we are getting hardwood, both Chim and I need to keep our nails short.  I guess she'll be bringing us both to the groomers one day this week so I can get a short haircut (no shedding on the new carpet!) 

Path of Destruction

Linda just got this photo in an email from Paul Walker.  It looks like Chimmie really did a number on his toys and bed this time. He also got spooked by the dryer in the kitchen.  A zipper was clanging away inside the dryer and it scared him so much that he won't go into the kitchen or family room, even if Paul put a cookie on the floor.  He also reported that Chim would not sleep on the floor at night and wanted to get in the big bed.  Since Paul goes to bed at 2 or 3 a.m., Chimmie stayed up way past his normal bedtime.  He has been napping on the deck for the last 4 hours (the entire time Linda wasted her time painting the trim.)   Chim and Paul are best buddies.  When Linda picked him up from his sleepover this morning, Chim ran back to Paul's side and would not leave with her.  Since Paul is retired, he spends every waking second (and sleeping second too!) with Chimmie glued to his side.  No wonder he would rather be there then stuck in a shower stall while Linda is teaching. 

Painting 201

Master Painter Sarah painting her kitchen red!

Judging by Linda's sweatshirt, she turned out to be a very good painter. It's actually way easier than putting on liquid eyeliner on at a stoplight!   There is one tiny paint drop on her shirt, one in her hair, a lot on her hands and zero drops on her pants.  She also only had one ooopsie where paint got on the old carpet.  While she was finishing all the trim painting upstairs, a friend from church came over to give her a quote on doing the walls.  She worked while he walked around the house crunching numbers in Arabic.  Finally he told her to throw away her paintbrush, wash her hands and sit down at the dining room table.  He gave her an amazing deal (including the paint itself!) and said he would be redoing everything she just spent the last 4 hours painting.  Well, OK then... She is leaving the two bathrooms for her and Sarah to do together.  Linda does want to learn how to paint and Sarah will be an excellent teacher. 

Ghost of Dogs Past???

We went to bed at midnight last night, which for us is very late indeed. This morning Chimmie woke Linda up with his whining a 1/2 hour before the alarm went off.  She was like "DOG, go back to sleep!" Usually when she raises her voice, it scares him into submission.  Not this morning.  He kept whining and crying. She pulled the pillow over her head but it would not stop.  I guess it was an emergency and he had to really go outside.  She got up, shuffled to the door of his den (master bathroom) and opened it to find..... NO CHIMMIE!  How could that be?? He was just crying.  Then she remembered that he spent the night at Paul Walkers.  This is 100% true.  She must have dreamed he was crying to be let out.  When she woke up, her mind was still making her hear the crying... even after she was fully awake for a few minutes. Either that, or our house might be dog-haunted.  I wonder how many other times your mind plays tricks on you like that? 

It's a good thing we have 3 full bathrooms since Chimmie has taken over this one!

Men in Skirts

Linda had so much fun at the Gala tonight.  The event was in honor of the USO and The Wounded Warrior Project. The Color Guard came into the ballroom and did their march around with the flag.  Then they showed a video presentation (with the kind of music that makes you cry) of soldiers being reunited with their kids, and hold on to your tissue.... their dogs!  A few soldiers from each armed forces were guests of honor and the announcer also had everyone who served in the military stand up for a round of applause.  Another highlight of the night was the photo booth.  Linda and Laura had fun doing their TKD moves and then Linda put Laura in a choke hold!  The photos will be available online tomorrow, so she will be downloading them to post here!  Tier, you would have loved this part... there was a real red carpet with paparizzi!  Two of Laura's friends, James and Dennis were rocking their kilts.  There is no way Linda was leaving the gala without getting her picture taken with them!!

I had fun at Jerry's while Linda was gone, but Ink Cat was mean to me this time for some reason. Maybe she is afraid I'm moving in.  Chim is sleeping over at Paul's tonight and won't be home until Sunday.  I hope he lets Paul Walker get some sleep this time. Last sleepover he cried and cried in the bathroom until Paul let him in bed with him.

And the Day Begins...

Black Tie

Good Saturday Morning.  Since we all went to bed really early, it was easy getting up this morning. Huh, funny how that works.  I just hope Linda's energy holds up after 5 hours of classes and then her gala this evening.  She can push through being tired, but she is a teeny bit concerned about her back.  She'll be wearing heels tonight (Laura, no commenting again on how much taller she'll be than you!) and in the past, that has caused some serious nerve pinching. (OH MY GOSH.... IT'S SNOWING OUT RIGHT NOW! Maybe we will get some winter after all.)  She is going to slip some of those fold up flat shoes into her purse so if it gets too painful, she can just change shoes.  Stay tuned for some photos of the black belt workout and the black tie gala.  Hey, she could just not change from her workout and wear her black belt to the black tie gala!  Her belt is black and it ties, so all would be good. 

Bed Time (9:02 p.m.) Good Night

It's going to be an epic day for us all tomorrow.  I'll be spending a good part of the day and evening with Jerry at the townhouse.  Chimmie is spending the afternoon and night at Paul Walkers.  All because Linda's day is packed solid from early morning until midnight.  She kind of wishes the day was totally free so she could get some major painting done, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow.  She'll be teaching from 8:30-1:00; then has a Black Belt workout from 1-3 p.m.  At 5:30 she has to leave for a black tie gala at the Hilton.  She's excited about the black tie gala.  Linda has so many beautiful gowns and never any opportunity to wear them.  Maybe she'll bring 4 or 5 dresses and change every hour like the stars do! 

It's nice having too many dresses to pick from!

P.S.  The wind is blowing so hard that she is thinking of going down into the windowless bathroom to hide.  She is borderline scared!  No amount of gold bars on a black belt can save you from tornado force winds rattling your windows and tossing around your deck furniture. 

Painting 101

What's My Bed Doing Way Over There? 

Our kitchen is all discombobulated.  My bed is in a different corner!  I keep barking at it hoping it will move back, but so far it's staying put.  Sarah came over today to get Linda started with the big painting project.  While she was gone teaching, Sarah got all the trim done in the foyer, up the stairs and in the kitchen.  Since Linda already moved everything off the walls, she is just leaving it that way since she is going to try to paint the kitchen herself on Sunday.  How hard could it be, right?  You dip your brush into the paint can then go back and forth until the color is all spread out.  Linda said it can't be any harder than putting on eyeliner, so she is going to take a stab at it.  If the kitchen turns out OK, she'll do the bathrooms next... then if she is really brave, she'll do the rest of the house.  The big problem is lack of time.  Her day is all broken up with classes (9:30, 12:00, 3:30, 4:30, 7:30) so it's hard to get a chunk of time to work on it. 

I Ate What?

Remember the post awhile back about what was inside the chicken nuggets from McDonald's?  I think they stopped using the goop, but a new article I just found makes some very VERY surprising claims of what you can find in most of your popular fast food restaurants.  I am going to just recap and add the link at the end of the article so you can read the whole report for yourself.

"Please don't take my tail feathers!"

1. Duck feathers in apple pies

2.  Sand in chili and tacos

3.  Wood pulp in just about everything, everywhere

4.  Silly Putty in filet of fish and some french fries

5.  Petroleum products in lots and lots of things

6.  Soil Fertilizer in baked goods 

7.   Beetle Juice (I hope they don't mean the guy from the movie!!)

8.  Pink-Slimy-Meat Paste-Goop (the one I talked about earlier)

Go to the article and decide for yourself if you are going to continue those late night fast food drive-thru's or you are going to chalk it up to "When we were young we drank straight from the hose and it didn't kill us" and continue scarfing down the Big Macs? 

  http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/8-creepy-mystery-ingredients-in-fast-food

Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Tierney looks exactly like Linda's Mommy when she was in her 20's.  As soon as Linda gets a scanner, she is going to upload some of her Mom's honeymoon photos and you will be able to see the resemblance.  Linda looks more like Taylor than she looks like Tierney, but Tier and Linda have the exact same personalities.  Sometimes at church when Linda tells a story, people say... "OH MY GOSH, You sound exactly like Tierney!"  These photos are from a shoot showing off some kind of Gossip Girl headband or something.  She did an interview on Ruby Woo with the designer and they sent her these. 

Thursday Funday!!

"Choopie is mine, there will be no hanky-panky!"

Guess What??  I won a contest at  http://runeatplayblog.com/.  We entered to win some energy bars and they picked me!!  Linda is super happy and excited!!  I'll write a review of the bars when they come.

Paul Walker and his BFF Leslie took us both to the dog park today.  We had the BEST time and made lots of new friends.  See that little brown and white dog that Chimmie is talking to?  He tried to get frisky with me!  Like in the Biblical sense!!  Chim had to set him straight.  I ran to Paul Walker and made him pick me up.  I'm just not that kind of girl who hooks up at the dog park.  

"Should we get the meatloaf or bacon burger?"

Linda and Noah went to meet Taylor today for lunch.  They met at Glory Days.  Noah was fascinated with all the sports on the big TV's.  I think he liked the soccer the best. After lunch, they all went to the pet store to get us some new cookies and a few toys.  Linda found the exact Flat Coyote we wrote about earlier today.  She had to buy it out of sentimental reasons even though she knew it would be destroyed in no time at all. 

"I Love You Flat Coyote"

Her meeting this morning went great with Ali Baba the King of Carpets.   Linda decided to go with some super-duper-stain-resistant carpet with a pad underneath that helps repel spills and stains.  Linda picked hardwood for the kitchen and foyer.  Downstairs, she choose a durable carpet which will hold up to wear and tear.  Sarah came over today and they talked about painting.  She really suggested Linda paint the floor molding first, because it won't matter if paint gets on the old carpet.  Linda is going to go buy the supplies tomorrow and start the trim work.  Even though Linda has never painted before, it won't really matter if she messes up because the carpet will be ripped up and the walls repainted. 

Wood vrs Carpet?

  Excitement for this morning: A man is coming to our house at 9:00 to help Linda decided what to do with our floors.  Carpet?  Hardwood? Laminate?  She really just wants the old fashioned roll-out linoleum so if we have an accident, she can mop it up... no stains at all!  They do make that stuff now that looks and feels exactly like hardwood.  When Linda was in the shop the other day, she could not believe it was a giant piece of plastic made to look like wood.  Even though 99.0% of her friends and advisers would pooh-pooh the idea, she was like "Hey, you come and live here and try to keep a flooring clean when you have a barfing 15-year old cat, a dog who chews carpet threads down to the plywood and another dog whose bladder is the size of a teaspoon."  OK, we're going with the old-school linoleum... How Much? she asks.  The guy tells her it's more to buy, prep and install than the most expensive carpet in his store.  Apparently, you have to basically redo the sub flooring in old houses to get it to lay right.  Updates to follow on how the meeting goes. 

This could be our after kitchen.... As if!!

Frustrating!

Chimmie has destroyed 10x more than this!

It exhausts me just trying to keep up with him!

The more Linda thinks about it, the madder she is getting about all the dog toys that are advertised as "MIGHTY durable" or IMPOSSIBLE to destroy."  She has spent in the 100's of dollars trying to find soft toys for Chimmie to play with. She is afraid of the hard plastic toys since he actually swallows pieces of those.  If you are a long time reader, you know that Flat Coyote was Snickers and Sheba's favorite toy.  Snickers, German Shep/Dobie mix and Sheba, 100% demon Husky, both adored the toy for years.  They would chew it, play tug of war with it and Snickers carried it around as his baby until I came along. When he died, I used to sleep on top of it because it smelled like him.  Along comes Chimmie, the 4.5 pound Chichi.  Sure he was adorable and loved everyone on the planet from the second he was born, but before he reached 5 pounds, he was totally destroying entire dog beds, blankets and believe it or not... Flat Coyote.  We're not talking an ear chewed off, I mean the entire thing was gone... torn into a thousand Linda pieces that Linda had to keep picking up or vacuuming off the carpet.  The Pink Pig is still on a table in our den just mocking her.  "I cost $10 of your hard earned dollars and only lasted 5 minutes." 

This was the start of his demise.  He chewed the face off first.

I know I'm Cute

With this warmer weather, I'll need to be getting my short cut again.

This is the latest Linda has stayed up in months and months.  She had another case of the guilts for leaving Chimmie in the "hole" for a good part of the day.  (It's not a hole at all, but the master bathroom with a bed, water, toys and plenty of room to move around. He even had fresh air because Linda left the bathroom window open a little bit since it was nice out today.)  Besides her regular classes, she had to leave early for church because she had nursery duty.. plus the service went a little late.  Before she came home, she had to stop at the grocery store so it was way past normal time.  He's finally conked out on her lap, so she can carry him into his bed and he'll go right back to sleep.  He wore himself out with chasing both Chip and I around the house.  Linda wanted to take him for a walk, but her quads feel like someone attacked them with a sledge hammer.  How can she be so sore?  The only different thing she has added this week are 10 minute intervals of either the elliptical, bike, treadmill or stair stepper before and after her classes at the YMCA and Fitness First of her classes.  They better be OK by the morning because it's NOAH day!  The weather is going to reach 70, so we'll be getting some serious exercise in walking with the stroller. 

Dogs Day Out

This isn't Chim.  It's a friend of mine from my Purse Puppy group.  I wish Chim was her size!

Since Linda was gone all afternoon and into the late night yesterday, we didn't have dog walkers.  Instead we got to go to Jerry's and Paul Walkers!  We love going to their houses because they both spoil us rotten.  Jerry actually spoils me more since he makes me delicious meals of chicken and rice, but they both walk us whenever we get the whim. In six hours,  Paul Walker will take me on the trails and around the neighborhood at least 4 times.  Jerry had me for 4 hours and we did 3 walks.  In a whole entire day with Linda we get maybe two walks.  Paul Walker loves to watch wrestling, so that means Chim gets to watch it too.  I think he learned some new moves last night, because he has totally destroyed Pink Pig this morning in half his normal toy-destruction time.  Jerry knows I like to sit on his legs while he watches TV.  Last night we watched the "A Team" movie while our dinner was cooking.  Jerry lives with Lindsay.  Linda was very surprised to hear how quickly I've taken to her.  I get excited and wag my tail when he brings me in and I see her waiting on the couch for me.   Linda is thankful that they are so ready and willing to watch us when she is busy.  I hope she plans another overnight trip soon. (Or even many nights, like when she went to Mexico last fall!) 

James 1:17

Sarah's shower was wonderful last night.  Linda wants to thank all the ladies who helped decorate, who made delicious food, beautiful cookies, amazing punch, bought the new baby cute outfits, hand made truly amazing quilts and knitted adorable baby hats and shoes... the list goes on and on.  Not everyone is in this photo, but most are. Taylor and Sarah loved the jogging stroller too.  I bet that stroller will be handed down to half the new mothers at church when they are done with it!

Meet "Bob" the amazing jogging stroller.

Connie once again pulled off a new design on the cookies to match Sarah's nursery theme.... baby owls.

Hoot.. Hoot!!

 Tierney was the official photographer, so these are the only photos Linda took.  When she gets them uploaded, Linda will post some more.  This sign Carley made sums up the evening:

And the Winner is....

Sheba.. the Demon Money Hungry Dog

Chimmie!  The Mighty Pink Pig did not stand a chance against Chimmie.  Linda has been monitoring his playtime with it so she could watch the clock and see how long it was before first blood was drawn.  In 6 minutes, he had the first ear chewed totally off.  In 15 minutes, both ears and the tail were bacon.  She took the "stubs" away from him and put the pig up.  This morning she gave it back to him while we wrote the shower recap.  In the amount of time it took to do one post, he had chewed off the entire foot and started to pull the stuffing out of Pink. The foot was in a huge piece, so she had to use her CPR skills and do a finger sweep of his mouth to get it out.  She might as well just give him $10 bills to chew up, because it's wasting her money every single time she buys him a toy. SIDE-NOTE:  When Taylor was little, one winter he thought it would be fun to jump off the deck into the 4 foot snow drifts in the back yard.  During his X-Games training, his wallet came out of his pants.  (Don't ask why he had a wallet in his pants.  He probably lost and (sometimes) found 10 wallets in his life.)  Anyway, in the spring when the snow melted he found it....Only Sheba the Husky had chewed the wallet and all the money inside to tiny bits. BACK TO THE STORY:  We seriously need help in finding a toy that Chimmie can't destroy.  For goodness sake, he is just a Chihuahua. There HAS to be toys out there that can withstand serious chewers. 

Chim vrs Pink Pig

And the winner is............

While Linda was picking up a few things for the shower tonight, she saw this stuffed pink pig.  At first she thought it was a babies toy, but then read the tag.  It's actually from a company called Mighty Dog Toys.  The tag shows a pit bull trying to destroy the toy but he is unsuccessful.  The company boasts that "it has multiple layers sewn multiple times" and "no hard edges discourages bad chewing habits."  "It's soft yet MIGHTY STRONG!" screams the  tag.  The company has a rating system from 1-10 of different dog toys.  They claim the number 3 toys are suitable for Chihuahuas.  This pig is rated an 8 for Long Lasting and Very Durable.  Number 10 must be Carbon Nanotubes.  (Linda had to google the hardest substance on earth.  It is no longer diamonds, but something called Carbon Nanotubes.  Huh.)  Let's see how many days (hours??) it takes Chimmie the Chihuahua to totally destroy Pink Pig.  If it really holds up, Linda is going to go to their website and see if they want to send us more products to review.  If it is torn apart in less than an hour (like he did with the Kong toy)... well then, never mind. 

Fat Tuesday

"What?  How could I have gained weight! I've been doing so good!"

Today is Fat Tuesday.  I have no idea why there is a holiday that celebrates fatness, but if there ever was a day to get your inner-glutton on today would be the day.  Linda said it has something to do with a parade in New Orleans where you wear crazy makeup, costumes and throw beads up in the air.  Here in my home town, I would like to celebrate it by eating some extra cookies and a whole slice of cheese!  No can do says Linda.  We need to keep eating healthy so we live long and stay strong.   My added pound and a half is terrible for my knees and breathing spasms.  Linda feels ridiculously better when she eats healthy.  For instance, this morning she had an 8 oz. protein shake (which turned out to be not to be big enough to fuel her through her tough class) and this was lunch: 

Roasted veggies and a sweet potato

So delicious and healthy!  (She'll need to have another protein shake as a snack a little later since there wasn't any included in this meal.) 

Time for a Shower!

Today is the big day!  It's Sarah's baby shower.  Linda just has one class to teach this morning because she got subs for her three afternoon/evening classes.  There is so much to do.  She has to make the food trays, help decorate, wrap presents and buy a few more things.  Since she'll be gone for 6 hours, Chimmie is going to have a play-date at Paul Walkers house.  Linda isn't sure about Jerry since it's always a game day call with him.  If he can get out early from work, we'll have some alone time without an annoying  Chimmie jumping on him for attention.  Chim has such a conflicting personality.   Last night he LOVED Kevin and was in his lap kissing him like his long-lost master.  He is totally not afraid of anyone new.  He is petrified of leaves blowing, plastic bags, certain mailboxes, and anything with wheels.  Linda hopes Sarah has a good time tonight and likes her Bob Jogging Stroller and the fancy car seat.   

Chim would have a heart attack is Linda tried to take him on a jog pushing this! The wheels are bigger than he is!

UPDATE:  Linda did amazing on her clean eating program yesterday.  She lost 3.6 pounds in one day.  That is totally just water weight since she didn't eat any carbs.  Her weight will stay the same for a week or so now even if she chooses the exact same foods she ate yesterday. 

Rat Bite Fever

"I like to play with my food" 

A 26-year old lady from Australia had to spend 17 days in the hospitals intensive care wing because she liked to kiss and cuddle her pet rats.  Turns out, that isn't such a smart thing to do.  Rat Bite Fever or  streptobacillus moniliformis infection is caused by up close and personal contact with rats.  They don't actually have to bite you to get the fever.  I wonder if she raised the rats from newborns or adopted them fully grown?  It just seems weird to me to be cuddly with a rat.  Linda once knew someone who had pet rats.  He told her that rats actually make better companions and have more personality than cats.  Now that I believe!

Bean Bag Heaven

Cris, Kevin and Tom bought Linda her bean bag chair tonight.  It's so humongous, they had to shove and shove to get it down the hallway and into the den.  It's big enough for two people to sit on!  It's so comfortable, that Linda will be letting Noah take his naps on it.  I love it because Chim can't jump up onto it.  When I want some alone time, I can cry for "up" and she'll put me on top.  OK, it might be a wee bit big for the room, but who cares.  Now 4 people can watch TV in our new den.  Plus, she is swapping Jerry our xBox for a brand new Apple TV so we can watch Netflix.  Linda might have to do a movie night and invite a few friends over. 

Do You Want Me To Get My Shoes On?

When Snicker was with us, Linda taught him that "Do you want me to get my shoes on?" means going for a walk.  I picked it up from Snickers and have taught it to Chimmie.  Linda actually has to close the door on us and go in another room when she gets her sneakers on to teach class.  Even if she does not say the words, as soon as we see her start to put her sneakers on, we go crazy.  If she puts her boots, flats or church shoes on, we don't move a muscle.  We are such smart dogs that we can tell the difference in shoe styles.  Here is just a little clip of how we act when she says those 9 magic words. At the 8 second mark, he almost jumps high enough to hit the iPhone! At the 29 second mark, watch what Chim does every time he hears the word "trail".  It brings out the wolf in him.  That is the only time he'll howl like that.  Cesar would say it's wrong for Linda to do that and she should not get us all worked up, but its been a tradition for over 15 years.   

Squating, Strollers and Carrot Cake

Linda had an amazing Body Pump class this morning.  The room was packed and they actually ran out of space for benches and were short about 4 mats.  Whenever the class is that crowded, she feels pressured to go heavier than she normally lifts.  The adrenaline from so many people somehow fuels her muscles so they can lift more weight.  After the lunge/squat track, her quads actually buckled a little bit while she was walking back to the stereo!  She lifted to actual muscular failure.

What?  That's not squat weight wimp!

  Next she made a Sam's club run to get food for Sarah's baby shower tomorrow night.  It's only a few more weeks before she will give birth.  It's going to be so amazing and such a miracle when she is finally here and Linda can hold her in her arms.  (Of course Linda is tearing up writing this.)  We already have a little pop-up crib, but need to get a stroller and car seat.  Linda wanted to get a double stroller so she can push Noah and the baby at the same time, but the chances of them both being her at the same time are probably slim.  She's just going to get a single stroller that can be used for infants and toddlers.  This way when Sarah comes over to visit or Linda gets an opportunity to babysit, Sarah does not have to lug everything with her. 

Mommy and Daddy

The last bit of news is that Linda is going back to her healthy eating for 14 days.  She is so black or white and is struggling to find that gray area of nutrition.  It's either a perfect clean eating diet or sugar, fats and junk.  Last time she ate zero sugar or bad carbs for 40 days, but then slowly let it slide back into jalapeno poppers, fried veggie spring rolls, pizza and cheesy nachos for dinner.  She is going to bury her carrot cake muffins deep in the freezer so she is not tempted to finish them off.  While she was at Sam's Club shopping, they were sampling this amazing carrot cake!  Linda had to will herself not to stop and get a taste.

Say NOOOOOO to Carrot Cake!

"I'm a Doctor, Jim"

If your too busy to read what's going on in the world today, I thought I would condense some of the top stories from the news feeds.  I've included the source if you want to read any more on the subjects.

1. The chemicals in popcorn bags ruin the effects of vaccines in kids.  This isn't the first time I've read about popcorn bags being dangerous to your health.  Plus, Linda's friends microwave breaks EVERY time they use it to make popcorn.  That just confirms it, pop your corn the old fashioned way: Jiffy Pop!!  ( msnbc)

2. Researchers from Boston University and Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have designed a MRI method that can magically cause you to develop a new skill set by targeting your brain with mojo.  This article was extremely scientific, so I didn't even try to explain how it works.  Linda loves this.  Instead of having to learn all her 3rd degree TKD patterns so she can test for 4th Degree, she can just get them zapped into her brain.   The Atlantic Journal

3 NASA has made something called a Biocapsule.  It's an implant that goes under your skin to diagnose and treat astronauts before they even know anything is wrong with them.  It's like having your own personal Star Trek Dr. McCoy!  Gizmodo

4.  This one scared the pj's off Linda.  People who have trouble sleeping may be at higher risk for developing Alzheimer's Disease as they get older.  Hopefully I'll be long gone by then. I couldn't stand it if Linda didn't know who I was!   we come from the future

5. If you are a fan of martial art fight scenes like Linda is, you want to watch these Asian cinema clips of the very best brawls.    Ayiiiiiah!!

 6.  This is old news, so unless you don't read the papers or watch TV, you already heard about the 45-year old man from Sweden who stayed alive in a snowed in car for two months with no food and only a sleeping bag to keep warm.  It got to 30 degrees below zero.  He went into some kind of bear like hibernation.  He's expected to make a full recovery. 

7.  Linda has been obsessed with cupcakes lately.  Here are some cute ones that a lady named Bakerella made. Look at her site, there are such cute designs:   http://www.bakerella.com/

8.  And last, but by no means least, Oreos now have Funfetti cookies!  They are only out for a limited time, so speed to your local store and buy everything on the shelf