Snuggle Dog

I know yesterday you must have missed the daily photo of Chim snuggled against Linda taking his morning nap. 

He likes to have 90% of his body under the blankets and either pressed up against her or on top of her.  Sometimes he finds a good position where he is under the covers and totally on her lap or legs.

This morning he was pouting because Linda wouldn't let him lay on her lap.  If she is reading or watching the news, he's allowed to choose his own position.  If she is on the laptop, he has to lay next to her since there isn't extra space for a 15 pound dog.  He kept gazing at her with these begging eyes for her to move the laptop.  It was making her heart melt.  

Please don't feel bad for me.  I'm not a morning dog and would rather be alone in one of my comfortable beds.  If Linda has chair time in the evening, I am usually up there with them. 

Puppy Bowl

There is so much buzz on the internet about this Sunday's Super Puppy Bowl.  It's been a yearly tradition to hold a Puppy Bowl (with a kitten half-time show) before the actual Super Bowl. If  Chimi was a player in this game when he was little, he would have been MVP for sure.  He would have destroyed he toy they play with on the first play of the game.  Look, this pup from a past game looks a little bit like him! He's even making a face like Chim makes when things don't go his way.  If Linda remembers, she is going to turn it on for us to watch.  If there is a lot of barking, it will hold our attention and we'll probably enjoy it.

  Linda was trying to think back the last time she watched the Super Bowl.  It was before Tierney and Taylor were actually born, maybe in the early 80's?  Even if the home-town team was playing, she still wouldn't watch it.  Watching strangers play sports isn't her thing.  She'd gladly go watch her friends bowl or Taylor play in a flag football at midnight (she's kind of glad that's over though.) 

"Nana!  Why are you posting this unflattering photo of me??"

"This one is way better."

Is It Spring?

We are having some pretty amazing weather! Parts of our area even got to 70 degrees this afternoon. It's not going to stay this way though. Weather guys are calling for flurries on Friday.  Today, Chimi got to split his time between napping in his doghouse (which he enjoys on nice days) and napping on Linda while she took a break between her classes.

He was sleeping so hard his eyes were rolled back in his head!

 You may wonder why Linda has a long sleeve shirt, fleece lined hoodie and is cuddled underneath a quilt when it's almost 70 degrees outside.  It's because our house is kind of cold.  She actually opened the window to warm it up some.  One of these days she is going to get the thermostat fixed, it's just that she hates spending money on stuff like that when she has perfectly good quilts and furry slippers to keep warm. Plus, whenever she is sitting still, there is a 15 pound Chihuahua with a very high metabolism pressed up against her body.  Linda's own personal heating pad. 

( )

I didn't post yesterday because nothing blog-worthy really happened.  (I know what your thinking. This blog has been about nothing for the last 5 years and you are right.)  Linda likes to do it daily as a fun way to go back and remember our puppy-hood; babies growing up; milestones and all the blessings in her life.  I guess if I look at it that way, yesterday was a jam-packed with stuff because the whole day was one big blessing.  She had two great church services (the kind of preaching that goes down deep and sticks), got to feed Penny her bottle while they had some Nana time, did only 15 minute chores (might be a record of the least amount of housework in a day), made a delicious grilled salmon/asparagus salad with Asian Ginger dressing, read her book (about right before Hitler invaded Russia and Stalin's secret war plans), started a new TV series called Parenthood (get the tissues out) and the heat actually felt like it was working full force last night!

Linda should make another blog called "Nanahood"

That doesn't mean she didn't get out of bed before it was totally light out.  Even though I woke her up at 2:40 to go outside (some kind of internal alarm that wakes me up every night between 2:30-50 a.m.) for a quick pee-break (remember this is Linda writing in my voice, she didn't go outside to pee. There are people who write her and say they refuse to read a blog written in an animals voice. It's OK. I still read yours though every single post is just one big complaint or mesmerizing photos of what you ate during the day. ) I woke her up at 6:40 a.m. to go back out.  Chimi is so good, he doesn't make a peep during the middle of the night bathroom break, but he needs to go out first thing in the morning.  She stumbled to the sliding glass door and discovered there was a sheet of ice everywhere.  We couldn't even walk on the deck, let alone do the 12 deck steps.  Linda had to get dressed, put on her big coat and carry us one at a time down the slippery steps. (Then wait for us to go and carry us back inside.)   She checked her email  and discovered her classes this morning were canceled. 

She loves teaching her classes, but who doesn't love a Monday morning off!

Don't worry, Linda won't be bored at home.  There is always lots to do and she doesn't get lonely living with a velcro Chihuahua  and a sweet Chorkie pup who loves her.

Chimi would prefer to be against her body and not just her arm. This is a big sacrifice for him.

Update: Now he is totally happy!

 

Be Prepared

Move over  Snuggies because you have some competition.  Now there is a sleeping bag with legs!  Linda would love one of these.  She is always so cold.  One time she actually bought a sleeping bag to a movie theater.  This would also be perfect present to get Tierney. She would want to be prepared to run from a bear sneaking into their tent on the next Young Adult Camping trip.  Tierney is the kind of girl who likes to be prepared in case of any emergency.  

Both Linda and Tierney have footie PJ's. 

Tierney is rocking the leopard, of course!

Linda's are Sock Monkey PJ's

She's pleading the 5th on this photo

Getting Fit

Even though it's cold (but not as freezing as it's been) Jerry came while Linda was teaching to walk us for 40 minutes!  Linda can't believe we went that long AND that Chimi walked on snow covered sidewalks.  Most everything is melted, but there is a light dusting in some spots.  He's brave sometimes and afraid of his shadow other times.  We really needed the exercise.  Linda hasn't weighed me, but it's getting hard for her to pick me up with one hand.  I really need to lose a few pounds and strengthen my heart. Chim needs to burn off excess energy so he's not so wound up in the evening.

Linda had a fun day teaching, but is exhausted.  She is so happy that she is able to add another Saturday class.  Today she had fourteen 2-6 year olds in the Les Mills Kids Class. Helping kids get and stay fit is one of her passions.  Plus, she got to spar all her students in TKD.  Right now the couch is calling her name for a quick nap before grocery shopping and chores.  

Resigned....

One of the main reasons that Chimi stopped sleeping in The Big Bed was because of this very problem.  He would sleep with some part of his body on top of her.  The second she changed positions, he thought it was time to wake up and eat or go outside.  It was so bad that if I changed positions, he would wake up and sniff me to make sure I wasn't eating a cookie or having fun without him. 

I don't mind if Linda moves around, she just can't reach for the iPhone to check the time or hit the snooze button.  No matter what time it is 4:30 a.m. or 7:00 a.m,, if she picks up the phone I jump off the bed and need to go outside.  Early this morning she was very stealth about it too.  She listened to be sure I was sound asleep (I snore) before she slowly checked the time.  Somehow I know she's not just moving her arm, but seeing how much longer she could stay warm under the covers.  There isn't any languishing in bed with dogs.  I woke up and jumped down.  When Chim hears me hit the floor, he wakes up from his bed in the bathroom and wants to go outside too. 

Linda used to have one of those lighted digital alarm clocks.  She had to get rid of it because when she has insomnia, she checks it every 15 minutes to see how much time she has left to try and fall asleep. I guess she'll just keep waking up earlier and use the extra time wisely. 

Schools Delayed

This mornings snowfall on our deck

A few years ago.  The blue chair is on the right under the pile

I know people in Oswego, New York are chuckling at our snow dusting that delayed schools.  The other day, they had up to 32" of snow fall in 24 hours.  Kind of reminds me of our snow storm a few years ago.  These pictures are on our deck. That snow covered our blue chairs and table!  Better safe than sorry though.  The school bus that stops in front of our house has to go down a pretty steep hill with cars parked along both sides of the road.  A friend of Linda's said he came very close to crashing his car driving to work this morning.  She'll have to be very careful driving to Penny's since her KIA isn't known for doing so good in the snow.  (Where, oh where are you old all-wheel drive Subaru with the heated seats?  Why did you have to have so many engine issues??) 

Happy Birthday Tierney!

Today is Tierney's 26th birthday, so this is an all Tier post

WE LOVE YOU TIERNEY!  Happy, Happy Birthday!!

Coldest Day In Years

Jerry was brave enough last night to come and take us for our weekly Tuesday night walk.  It was freezing, the coldest day in years.  Linda feels so bad for us on Tuesdays since she doesn't get home from teaching until 8:00 p.m.  It's a long time for us without an outside break. He bundled us up in coats and sweaters and we headed out.  Unless you're a new reader, you know that I am about 9 months overdo for a haircut, so I'm usually fine with my coat on.  Chim has really short hair and freezes when it's 50, even with his parka.  Last night, I'm the one who cried "Uncle" and made Jerry turn around and come home.  In fact, I sprinted up the hill in about 5 minutes just to get home faster.  That same walk can take me 20 minutes if I stop and smell every mailbox. 

"Nana, you just have to learn to dress warmer!"

When Linda got home, she wasn't feeling very good.  Her last class was Aqua Bootcamp and she didn't bother drying her hair before she left the gym.  Plus, she wasn't all the way dry after she changed out of her suit and got dressed, so her body was a little wet driving home.  By the time she got in the house, her teeth were chattering and her toes felt like they were getting frostbite.  Her feet actually burned a little when she got into a warm bath. Lesson learned:  wet hair and single digit temps don't go together... oh, and not wearing flip-flops in the winter after being in the pool for an hour. 

Penelope Rose

It's been awhile since I've done an all-Penny post.  There have been pictures every week, but today is an "AWWW... She is so cute" kind of day.  Besides, I know the earlier post of Sheba's red eyes must have disturbed you.  If you don't want to see one of the cutest baby girls ever.. you should probably skip this one.  Here goes...

Aunt Carlie got her this adorable dress

She's walking like a big girl

"Why am I sitting on this rock Mommy?"

"OH, you want me to pose?"

Penny loves looking at the picture from when she was little.

Want to hear the strangest thing about these photos?  They were taken this weekend!  It was warm enough to pose without her sweater.  Today it's so cold we can't even go for a walk wearing our heaviest coats. Chim was shivering just going out in the backyard for 2 minutes. 

Days of Sheba

It's supposed to be the coldest day we've had in 2 years.  Wind chills will be in the signal digits.  Both Chim and I did NOT want to go outside this morning, but Linda said "I'm Watching You" when she opened the sliding glass door.  If she says that, we know she means business and that we better go down the steps to the yard or she stomps her feet on the deck and it scares us.  I know it's not as freezing as some places in the US where temps get in the below zero double digits, but Linda is pretty much cold all the time. She wears her coat during church; has 3 or 4 big blankets on The Big Bed and wears LLBean thick hiking socks to bed.  Linda's old dog Sheba was a full breed Siberian Husky.  She LOVED the cold weather. It would be hard to get her to come inside.

Her eyes were sky blue but always photographed red!

Sheba could catch a bird mid-flight.  She loved to run (away.)  Linda had to bail her out of the pound more than once because she dug under our wood fence to escape and a few times she chewed through the slats to make a hole.  People thought she was a wolf.  Sheba always had to have the last word and would whine and cry if Linda tried to get her to obey.  Only get a Husky if you want a dog to defy you at ever turn.  Of course they are really warm dogs to cuddle with and she loved everyone. 

Girls Day Out

Linda spent the entire day with Tierney.  They started out having lunch at On The Border.  Linda likes that restaurant because they have a whole separate vegetarian menu, complete with Cilantro Lime Rice.  Most rice in Mexican restaurants have chicken stock, so it's nice that she can order it.  They started out with Avocado Fries. Honestly, if you've never tried it.. Linda said they were delicious!!

Next they shopped around the town center.  I've been there before a few times.  There are a lot of pet friendly patio restaurants (if you like that kind of thing.)

After lunch and shopping, Tierney spent some time visiting us.  It's been a long, long time since we've seen her.  You can tell how excited Chim was by the blur in her arms.  Tier was supposed to send Linda all the photos she took of me, but I guess she forgot. 

Next up, a trip to Target for curtains and rods, then Home Depot for paint and supplies.  As part of Tier's birthday present, Linda bought her all the paint and volunteered to help her tonight.  Linda is a pretty good cutter (where you use a brush and carefully paint against the ceiling and molding) except she was using BLACK paint!  It took twice as long since she went so slow. 

Those blue lines are where Tier taped off a design in the wall. As soon as it's all done, we'll post a photo.

Bon Voyage!

Tierney and Taylor will remember back in the day when our house didn't have any furniture.  No living room sofa.  No dining room table.  No kitchen chairs.  It was totally empty.  Each bedroom had a mattress on the floor.  In the family room, there was an old end table with a TV and yep... a mattress on the floor.  Linda didn't mean for a whole year to go by without furniture.  She gave it all away and immediately went shopping to replace it all the next day. Except there was nothing she liked.  Every weekend she would go to a different store, and could never find anything that spoke to her.  The plus side was it was easy to clean the house.  The downside was you had to sit on the floor if you visited. After at least 13 months of looking,  a new collection from National Geographic arrived at a store she'd been to 25 times.  It was a British Safari theme.  There was a virtual home set up as soon as you walked in the store.  Linda stopped in her tracks and knew it was exactly what she'd been waiting for.  She bought it all.  The fabrics were custom ordered and about 8 weeks later it arrived.  That was years and years ago and she still loves it just as much today.

The same thing happened today when she saw this new collection from Restoration Hardware.  She had the exact feeling of discovering what she's been waiting for.  It belongs in our house.  Most people wouldn't look twice at it, but the vintage design and feel just screams "GET IT NOW" to her.

Not a white sofa though.

Look at the trunk!  And the surveyors lamp!  It's called the Mayfair Leather Collection.  It also comes in metal, but that only whispers to her. 

 It has the look and feel of old steamer trunks used on ocean liners and trains.  We need (want) new furniture down in our family room.  This would be a absolutely perfect compliment to what we have upstairs.  Unfortunately, the price isn't so complimentary since we don't have a bazillion extra dollars.

I guess since Linda is only dreaming about getting it, she'll also include this distressed vintage cigar leather secretary with a flip down desk. 

Maybe Restoration Hardware will read this post and give her the whole collection as a prize.  (That has happened before when she reviewed a product that she loved and the company saw the post.)

Mischief and DIY

Chim and I got into some mischief today while Linda was trying to take a nap.  She got home from church and her lunch-bunch outing, fed us some dry food and then took a nap.   Because she was tired, she didn't notice that the bottom cabinet door where she keeps our food.. and plastic container of treats...was left slightly ajar.  She wasn't all the way asleep when she heard something fall over and then a lot of barking.  It's a good thing she decided to get off the comfy chair to see what the ruckus was about.  Chim and I opened the cabinet and knocked the treat container onto the floor.  We were barking at it trying to get it open to get at the cookies! 

If we would have gotten it open and ate all the treats, Linda would have had to perform CPR on us.

Linda found two Do-it-yourself projects that she wants to do.  The first one is using something that we already have at home.  An old, yucky dresser turned into a nice table for the TV.  Now that our den is all fixed up, the TV on top of the dresser looks terrible.  This looks easy and inexpensive, just some paint, baskets and some draw pulls.  

The second one is a desk/vanity for Linda's hopefully soon to be closet bedroom.  She'll have to buy an old crib from a yard sale, but this project looks easy too!   

Do Not Be Afraid

I gave Linda a fright today when I refused to eat breakfast and lunch.  I also have been sleeping more than usual and not playing, so she thought I might be getting sick. She was thankful I finally ate lunch and then dinner a few minutes ago. Plus I did my normal Saturday walk with Jerry without a problem so she knows I'm fine.  Linda is so glad I'm OK and that she avoided a big Vet bill.

The exact number could or could not be true... but the principle is true!

Funsize and Giantsize

No snow yesterday, but it's really cold.  So cold that Chimi was shivering during our walk.  Linda went to the bowling alley earlier to meet some friends.  The alley is probably 200 yards from our neighborhood, so she planned on walking.  The second she went outside, she only walked as far as our driveway and got in the car.  Being at the bowling alley bought back so many memories of good ole' Snickers dog.  Linda used to always walk him to McDonald's for a treat and they would stop half-way at the bowling alley for him to get a drink of cool water and to rest on the side stairway.

It's weird how much Snickers and Chimi's coloring look alike. They both have the little peanuts over their eyes, black stripe down their snouts and the same floppy ears...the exact same colors as a Snickers bar.  Chimi just looks like a mini-Snickers. The big difference- about 60 pounds and a whole bunch of bravery.  Both of them love(d) to cuddle Linda and get lots of rubs, but Snickers would bite your hand off if you threatened Linda instead of licking it to death.

"I've got a lot of growing to do if I'm going to get as big as Snickers"

New Tricks

Penny did so many fun tricks today while Linda was watching her.  Besides crawling at top speed, she was holding on to the furniture walking forward and backwards, playing the "plop-down" game and also twanging the door stop... until Linda made her stop twanging :(

Nine months is such a fun age for babies.  They do something new every day, constantly make you laugh and definitely keep you on your toes.  It's kind of like when Chimi was nine months old.  Linda had to watch him every second or he would get himself into trouble chewing a shoe, taking something off a shelf, or eating something he wasn't supposed to. 

Watchdog

Did you know that Chihuahua's are known to be great watchdogs?  Cesar Milan says so.  They might not be able to physically stop a burglar, but they will let you know someone is trying to get in your house, or already in your house.  Wait.. Isn't Chimi a full breed Chihuahua?  Yep, except watchdog isn't in his vocabulary.  Today when Sarah let herself into the house while Linda was teaching, Chim never made a peep from behind the closed bedroom door.   He just stayed on the Big Bed and slept.  I am only 1/2 Chihuahua and I bark my head off when a car door shuts anywhere on our street.  If the doorbell rings or someone knocks, Linda needs earplugs.  Maybe he could smell that it wasn't anyone to be frightened of, so he just was chill.

Beware of Snoozing Dogs

She is Fierce

"Hear me Roar!"

Penny looks like she is trapped in a cage, but she is actually just sitting in our dining room chair looking down at me. Last night she wasn't so sure she liked me, but today she loved having me around! The second Chim came out of the bedroom though, Penny started whining and getting scared.  We can't figure out why she is afraid of him since he never once did anything to cause her to feel that way.  When Sarah was little, she was afraid of dogs... and still doesn't like them very much so maybe it's just hereditary.     

We better get some extra walks in because it might snow up to 4" by the end of the week.  If it does, we won't be going anywhere except the backyard. 

9 Months Old!

Lil' Baby Penny... so sweet!

Linda was totally lame and didn't take any photos of Penelope during tonight's visit.  Penny was crawling super fast and almost running with Noah's old push-toy.  She still isn't sure about loving me and she definitely doesn't like Chimi.  Penny has a nervous laugh when I get near her; not crying but not totally comfortable either.  Even though I'm gentle and don't move too fast, she still gets a little scared.  Hopefully as time goes by, she'll be OK and grown to love me. 

She's a Big Girl now..9 months old!