31 Kids

Yesterday's weather wasn't nearly as nice as predicted.  It was overcast and drizzly, not the 70 degree sunshine that we were expecting.  Linda was invited to a friends for lunch after church.  (He made four kinds of fish... including shark.  She wasn't brave enough to eat it.)

super cute drawings... cowshell.com 

 Poor Linda is frazzled and exhausted after her TKD classes this afternoon.  Thirty-one kids age 4-12 can make anyone feel tired or... she might be getting sick.  She was hoping to take a quick shower and head up to the basketball games at church, but that's not happening.  She has been sneezing all day and now has a sinus headache, so it might be a cold and not just the 31 kids.  (Kind of like the old Baskin Robbins 31 flavors.  The BR by our house might have 12 flavors now, but they do have lots of donuts!) 

A Quite Morning

Linda was never so happy to go to bed last night.  She taught 4 classes Saturday, cleaned the entire house (well, a cleaning on top of the cleaning she did yesterday), baked brownies and cookies and then set up for the Bible study.  Her friend Bob offered to help with the outside chores.  He raked, pruned and weeded the entire front yard. It looks so good! One friend actually noticed the big difference from the last time she was over.  The first time Linda really sat down all day was at 6:00 p.m.  It's a good thing she picked an uncomfortable chair or she might have gotten drowsy during the meeting.

"What do you mean I make a lot of noise?"

 The house is so peaceful this morning.  Chimi had a sleepover at PW's last night.  It feels strange and empty without his clickty-clack paws on the hardwood, or his wiggly body trying to get under the afghan while Linda reads her Bible.  There is total silence in the house.  Even when he's napping, he talks in his sleep with little yips and moans or wakes up every 5 minutes to give Linda licks to make sure she is OK.  I went to Jerry's for the afternoon and evening while everyone was at our house.  We did 3 walks on the trail behind his TH and took 2 long naps.  I love visiting his house because I always get my rotisserie chicken from Wegmans for dinner. 

"My favorite bed matches my fur"

The meeting went great last night.  There were even two extra people that came, but we had just enough chairs.  Linda didn't think that 25 people could sit in our little family room and actually have room to breath.  Linda made 50 little meatballs and ended up sending 30 home with a carnivorous family.  People said they were good, there was just sooo much food: baked ziti, 3 large pizzas, pork roast, sloppy joes, taco casserole, fried chicken, PLUS all the sides, dips and desserts.  By 11:30 p.m., Linda had finished re-cleaning the house.  She always feels like she needs to clean again after a party.  She does the bathrooms, floors, dusting, mirrors, windows and kitchen exactly the same way she does it before people come over.  No joke, she had to stop herself from cleaning the bathrooms 1/2 way through the party.  There was a bunch of pink liquid soap squirted all over the sink (and back of the toilet??) but she left it there because cleaning your bathrooms during a party is just wrong.  Linda is not obsessive compulsive or a cleaning freak (to the people who don't like cleaning, it might seem that way though.)  She's just doesn't like any dust, clutter, spots, trash, stuff, streaks, or dirt anywhere where she can see. Plus, she loves seeing the "before and after" effect of cleaning.  Closets, cupboards, spare rooms and under the bed are definitely not neat. 

Hostess (Not the Cupcakes)

We've got company coming over tomorrow evening.  Not just one or two of Linda's friends, but 23 of her friends!  It's our turn to host the monthly small-group from church.  Some people think our house is far from church. There are lots of people who live less than 5 minutes or even walking distance!  In non-rush hour, Linda has gotten home from church in 8 minutes.  Since the folks are coming at 5:00 on a weekend, there shouldn't be hardly any traffic.  She loves when it is her turn to be Hostess.

Because Linda enjoys cleaning  (she really does!) she has been having a good time rearranging the furniture, cleaning the never-used family room and downstairs bathroom.  A lot of people need to fit in a very small space for the Bible study/sharing part, so the room is now basically empty except for the couch and two small tables.  By the time it is all set up, the whole room will be lined with folding chairs.  She also moved some furniture out of the den so the kids would have floor space to play. (Except we don't have any toys. They will have to bring their own.)

 Guess what party food she is making?  She is using her new Crock Pot to make meatball subs! With real meat. She also bought yummy sliced Provolone cheese to put on the rolls.  It is the first time meatballs have ever been made in our house. She is also cooking some vegetarian non-meatballs since 1 of the 23 people doesn't eat beef. 

That would be Linda!

Rwarrrrrr!!!

It may look like Penelope's crying, but she is just letting Sarah know that she is King of the Nursery and can Rwarrrrr! super loud. When she screeches in excitement, it sometimes sounds more like an eagle getting ready to land on its prey than a lion though.  I think in this photo she is saying "NANAAAAAAA!" Where are you?? 

Sarah made Penny a little play area in the living room.  Now she has her own space with a special cow rug (hopefully it's not from one of Sarah's pet cows she had growing up) and a toy box.  Just for safety, Penny can't actually get her own toys out until Taylor puts a special latch on it so the top doesn't close on her by accident.  I think you can tell by the look on her face how happy she is about it.

Everyone has seen this story already, but I just have to post about it since Penny was practicing her lion roar this morning.  More than a few 911 calls came in to report a loose lion roaming a neighborhood.  The lion turned out to be a dog running off the leash with a "lionish" hair cut!  This is just too funny.

My fur is long enough right now to get this exact same grooming style.  Do you think I should?  The color would be wrong, but I could still pull it off!

Is It Spring?

"Linda, where exactly am I supposed to go to the bathroom?"

Get out your flip-flops and shorts, the temperature will be in the high 60's in the next few days! One report Linda heard said it might hit 70 on Sunday!  So far this winter, we've had just a dusting of snow that lasted a few hours before it melted.  If you like interesting weather facts (which I know you all do!) take note: "Since 1887, Washington has experienced six winters during which fewer than 3 inches of snow fell. Since record-keeping began, two winters saw only a trace of snow."  There have been a few mega storms, one being during the winter of 2009-10 where the snow completely covered Linda's car and the table on our deck. You can see how much the snow was piling up in the above photo.  The National Weather Service says our area experiences a 12-inch or more snowstorm about once in ever 8 years.  According to the graph (Linda is not a graph or a map expert) the pattern looks like it needs to take a turn spiking up some to maybe 10-15 inches.  What do you think?

Or maybe Linda won't have to shovel her driveway, steps, deck and sidewalks at all this winter!!
(Info and quotes from WTOP.. traffic and weather on the 8's)

NO BARKING

Linda is about to shut us both in the downstairs bathroom.  She got home from work at 6:56 p.m.; and we have assaulted her with 50 minutes of non-stop barking, yipping and crying.  We've been out in the backyard, we had our dinner and she gave us both lots of rubs and pets.  Nothing is working to calm us down.  Linda is always laid back and chill.  There's not much that gets her spun up... except when we act like this.  Linda took a video of us being extremely dramatic.. but it's not uploading. (Just like the last two videos of Penny. Drats!)

  It Is Now Twenty Minutes Later

....... Linda ate dinner, did a few chores and it's now 8:19.  We are still crying and barking.  NON-STOP for almost an hour and twenty minutes.  If she wasn't achy from teaching her classes, she would put her sneakers back on and take us running until we were too tired to bark. 

Penelope, on the other hand, was just darling today.  There was lots of smiling, laughing and playtime before she went down for her nap.  Today is Sarah's birthday.  Happy Birthday Sarah!! Even though you are really not a dog person, I still love when you come over and visit. 

The Birthday Girl and the Boy Who Loves Her.

UPDATE:  Chimi cried all night because his Woobie was in his bed and he couldn't get to it because the door was shut.  The second Linda figured it out and opened the bedroom door, he sprinted in and rescued it.  He's been napping and sucking Woobie, totally content.  I was just wound up and barking because he was unhappy.

Lil' Mudd

What a strange coincidence!  Last night Linda was laughing at the video of the dog named Mudd who was jumping on the trampoline.  Today, she was laughing at me and calling me "Lil' Mudd!"  When she let me outside after her classes, I wouldn't come back in.  Chim ran up onto the deck, but no matter how many times she called me, I just ignored her.   Finally, she had to actually search the backyard for me.  I found some mud under the deck and decided it would be fun to dig a big hole.  My snout and front paws were caked with sticky mud!

I only wish it was chocolate cake batter!

I thought the whole thing was pretty hysterical until Linda told me I needed a bath to clean up.  Actually, I an very obedient at bath-time.  I stand perfectly still in the sink and let her soap me up and rinse off with the sink sprayer.  Afterwards, I was back to my clean, sweet self.