Come on, guys.....

It occured to me today, while I was getting ready for work, how crazy some of the things we do really are. I mean, take for instance what I did this morning. I have a doctor's appointment today and as I was getting dressed, without really thinking mind you, I went to put on my under garments and thought to myself "Oh, I can't wear that, I have a doctor's appointment." I proceeded to my drawer picking out my best stuff then even crazier still, again without really thinking, thought to myself, "mmmmm, and the bottoms match the top....perfect!" Let's all think about this....does the doctor REALLY care what the heck you are wearing underneath it all? I don't think so. You take half of it off anyway, before he even comes into examine you, and put on those lovely paper gowns (which I never get on correctly or rip while I'm trying to). Do you really think, when all is said and done, the doctor sits in a room after work with his nurses reviewing what everyone wore underneath it all....."Did you see Mrs. Smith today and those flowered panties....ugh!" "Hey, Mr Brown really should check his underwear in the rear before putting them on!" "Oh, I just loved Ms. Jones' garments today....wonder where she got those...probably from her boyfriend!" Does it really matter? I mean, before I even put on the paper gown, I hide my under garments under my clothes on the nearby chair anyway....no one EVER sees them! So with that thought in mind, wish me luck at the Doc's today (it's just routine...not to worry!) and know that, though it doesn't really matter......I do match!

Sorry....

....that I haven't blogged in a few days....

(this picture was so cute...I couldn't wait to use it.....even if it isn't one of my dogs!)
I really have been busy with a couple of projects as well as the puppies and my son with a few things. Not to worry....I'm still here going strong. Catch ya in a day or so.

What have I gotten myself into....

Okay....so now the secret is out...I need to lose 40 lbs. (Thanks for the link to weight tracker, Kari) At least according to my doctor (who I have an appointment with next week) I really realized this is serious when after walking the puppies and playing with them alot on Monday (check story below), I was aching to no end on Tuesday. I mean, all I did was a little bending and chasing, but I literally felt like I was 100 years old! That is ridiculous. Anyway, to make a long story short, I thought I would attempt to do this two different ways that I've never tried before. One is to post this on my blog for the world to see (and if I fail, I will be totally embarrassed) and the second, alot more extreme mind you.....ask my son for help!! My son is really into this fitness thing and he's done excellent.....then again, if he wasn't, he would be liken to the skinny guys on the beach who get sand kicked in their faces...he just has that type of body. (tho not anymore...he's pretty well-built and I'm really proud of the way he stuck to it for so long) He religiously goes to the gym and eats right! Anyway, I figured he would think one of two ways on this: (1) this is a chance to torture my mom for the hell she puts me through sometime or (2) I could help her get healthy and live longer so she is around to keep working and give me MORE money. I'm gonna go with (2)! Last night was my first workout with him...he gave me a schedule and everything. I did it...30 minutes on the treadmill (I've usually only do 10 minutes...every 6 months!) Tonight the schedule says a Long 60 minute walk....better make out my Will before doing that one! Anyway, wish me luck....I've gotta do this.....alot of crappy things run in my family like high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes of which I'm already on medicine for the first. Weight loss seems to drop alot of the problems if I'm anything like my dad and brother who passed away from heart problems. (and I seem to have their body types) I'm not a smoker so that's in my favor and I'm at the doc's every 6 months for blood tests and check ups which so far everything is good....but I still need to drop 40 and by golly, I WILL....EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!!!!
Now onto crazier things...puppies! First puppy kindergarden last Monday. Sweetie Man was going to take pics but forgot the camera....will remember next Monday. Both pups did well learning some basic sit, lay down, etc with the clicker. Chloe the Terrier threw up in the car on the way over.....she doesn't do well in cars. My son complained I didn't give him good treats for her. (come on...do you want to eat after throwing up...geez, kids!) The trainers told me to not feed her any evening meal class day and give her a couple of ginger snap cookies a little before putting her in the car. (ginger calms their stomachs) Also, put some dryer sheets under her crate in the car to reduce the static which upsets them also. Tonight is a vet appointment for the second round of shots, so we'll see how this works. Eros, the black Mastif/Lab fell asleep in the car before we even got to class.....he snores and he's only a puppy at 20 some pounds...can you imagine the sounds he will make at 140 lbs? That will keep potential burglars away from my house...oh yeah!
Anyway, that's it for today...I'm working on a couple of things that I will try to post pics on tomorrow if my son lets me get into the computer when he's not doing homework or working as an online guide for Cha Cha...his laptop died again and will have to be sent away for a third time. He finally got a job at Panera's also, so I'll definately be able to get on when he is working! So till tomorrow....(gosh, I'm hungry!)....tootles! (PS...thank you all for the wonderful comments about my Monkey stuff.....yinz guys are sooooooo SWEET!)

My Monkey!

Okay, I went to a baby shower for my new neighbor. You know I was working on the sock monkey afghan from the Happy Hooker book and I did finish it but I was concerned that I wasn't giving her enough. (I also added the hat and I made a pair of matching booties). I questioned some of the ladies on my Cal Pal about whether this was enough to give. Being as I don't know her all that well, yet anyway, the ladies said that they felt it was enough also considering the fact that is was homemade. Well, they were right. She got alot of great things mind you but when she opened mine, alot of the ladies looked in my direction saying, "Did you make that?"...."ohhh, I want one!" So, needless to say, I felt better. Oh, and my neighbor of course loved it...she was really impressed that I made that for her as I don't think she got any other homemade gifts. So without further adieu.....for your viewing pleasure.....the Monkey Afghan, Hat and Booties.....




The fact that she like it so much makes me want to make more stuff for her. The baby is due in December, so maybe I'll do something for when the baby is actually born.
Oh, well, that's it for now...enjoy your Sunday and....GO STEELERS!!!!

I'm famous!!!!

Found this on Deneen's blog.....so funny!!!!!! I personally think mine and Ed's are waaaaaaay off...my son's is a little better. Check out Deneen's tho....I think they matched it pretty good on her.

What I learned at kindergarden....

Puppy Kindergarden that is! Yep, we went to our orientation of Puppy Kindergarden....no puppies yet as this was just parents night. Ya know, Ed and I met later in life so we didn't have kids together (other than my teenage son), so this is like we're going through an abbreviated version of what it would have been like if he and I raised a child from birth....I mean really.....they were born in May and July and they are already going to attend kindergarden. I think I like this quick version! (and no college expenses!)
Anyway, we did learn alot...first off....

THIS IS A BAD TOY

THIS IS A GOOD TOY


THIS IS A BAD TOY


THIS IS A GOOD TOY



Neat eh? He told us some horror stories about what certain toys can do to your dogs should they swallow pieces, etc.... So needless to say, the pups were a little baffled when I took away some of this crap and replaced it with nyla bones and kongs....they did seem to like it though...especially since there were small treats in the kongs that they could hunt for.
We also learned that depending on what food you feed your dogs, will affect what they poop and the frequency of poop. Here I thought that it was just dog companies charging outrageous amounts of money for the same dog food I can get for half the price...mmmmm....we definately are going to look into that one, especially since I seem to be the designated "pooper scooper" at our home!
Our teacher was very very informative and knew his stuff but (since I'm sure he doesn't read this blog) I must tell you he looked just like a human sheep dog with his long hair, the shape of his eyes, and his beard..so funny! He uses the "clicker" training method which incorporates a clicker to get the attention of the dog and reward them. Very NON-violent...no choke chains or hitting....I'm not a hitter so I really like this method. We had some homework and the pups are taking to it very well...Chloe (terrier) is really quick as I expected she would be.....very smart. Eros (mastif/lab) got the idea too, but he moves a little slower than Chloe. My son and I have both been working with them....I think Chloe may be "Vale-pup-torian" of the class tho.
Next week the pups go with us....Eros is in the young pup class and Chloe is with the older pups.....definately should be fun!
Just for an update for, yinz guys, here are some pics of the kids that the Sweetie Man took this past weekend....(before the yard was cleaned up of all the "bad" toys)...

FIRST ON THE RUNWAY, WEARING A CLASSIC CHIC BLACK AND BROWN COAT, PERFECT FOR THOSE COOL FALL MORNINGS IN THE GRASS, IS CHLOE NICOLE.....

"WHEN IS IT GONNA BE MY TURN?"

THIS LOVELY WRAP-AROUND VERSION CONTAINS A SLEEK OPENING IN THE BACK FOR THOSE EVER SO FREQUENT PEE BREAKS.....

"WHATTA YOU LOOKIN AT....I'M BUSY NOW!"

"PSST.....CHLOE, YOU LOOKED REALLY 'HOT' UP THERE ON THE RUNWAY!"

OK, that's it for now, yinz guys...hope you enjoyed the show!

A VERY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY GIFT!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEETIE MAN!!!

I know you’ve probably wondered
Tho not to be forlorn
Just what the Lord intended
The day that you were born

He said, “I’ll take an angel
The sweetest I can find
The one who smiles and laughs the most
For what I have in mind”

And then on Ten October
Send you to be a man
He knew that you’d be needed
For this His special plan

For down on earth I waited
My soul searched far and wide
To find that special someone
The soul mate by my side

The Lord knew I’d be lonely
My spirit He would see
Would need some special caring
So He’d send you to me

So never should you wonder
With God there is a plan
For all my prayers were answered
with you....my SWEETIE MAN!

(cough-cough)

Yep...I've got something....not quite a cough...sorta just alot of congestion! I really haven't been doing much and I'm bummed cause it was such a beautiful weekend and I sorta missed out on it. You see, the Doc gave me some medication that I thought was supposed to clear up the congestion but it was actually a cough suppresent.....so needless to say, the congestion was not going away. PLUS this stuff made me woozy and sleepy and gave me a slight headache as well as the itchy's. (I think I may have been allergic to it!) Anyway, I went back to the old standby....Vick's Vaporub, standard vaporizer, hot tea, Cough medicine that has an expectorant in it, and tropical flavored halls (don't you think I smelled yummy!) Oh, and that sweet sweet man of mine made homemade (from scratch) chicken soup with fine noodles and it tasted just like my mom used to make....was so so good!!! Anyway, I'm feeling a little better and a little less congested and no woozy. So, I'll be getting back to my yarn...I hate feeling yucky! So, that's about it...nothing new other than that. Oh....check me out tomorrow for sure....someone EXTREMELY SPECIAL is having a birthday and I need you to send some special wishes!!! Catch ya later!

Thought you might enjoy this...

STITCHES
One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "My dear child, why are you crying?"The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped his hand into the water and pulled out a golden thimble set with pearls. "Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked. "No," replied the seamstress.The Lord again dipped his hand into the river. He held out a silver thimble ringed with sapphires."Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, "No." The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble." Is this your thimble?" the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, "Yes." The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy. Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, "Why are you crying?"Oh, Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!"The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney." Is this your husband?" the Lord asked."Yes," exclaimed the seamstress.The Lord was furious. "You lied! That is an untruth!" The seamstress replied, "Oh, forgive me, My Lord. It is a misunderstanding." "You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. "Lord, I am not in the best of health and would not have been able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney." And so the Lord let her keep him. The moral of the story is: Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others.
That's our story, and we're sticking to it.
AMEN!

You've waited long enough...

Actually I wanted to get enough of the baby stuff done to show you something productive. And here it is!!!

You remember this from the SNB Happy Hooker book? You know how much I like sock monkeys...well, if you don't....I do. (if you don't ALREADY have my button on the sidebar...and shame on you by the way....you will see it is a sock monkey!) Anyway, I just loved this when I saw it and since my new neighbors are having a baby and a baby shower, I thought it would be so cute. I plan on making the hat, some matching booties, and if I have time, a crocheted sock monkey. I think this pattern is so adorable.
And since you know I took a couple of days off from blogging, I WAS being productive. I was working on my sock as you can see. I started the heel but have a sneaking feeling that I'm going to run out of yarn so I may have to change colors at the toe...but what the heck, I'm the only one who will see it.
And then just for the heck of it, I started this skull cap using the SNB knitting book. I used different yarn and different hooks but sorta got the idea from there. The Bernat Satin is really soft. This isn't done on circular needles (since I'm afraid of them....tho I haven't tried!) either. We shall see what happens with this...it's in my son's college colors...Go Penn State!

That's about it. I've been feeling a little yucky...think I caught something from the Sweetie Man who was feeling this way this past weekend...just a little cough and a little fatigued. Oh well...think I'll head to bed early and take two tylenols...once I get the "kids" to bed! Don't worry, I'll definately show you all the completed projects once they are done. Oh, and thanks to all of you who voted for my name on the Crochet Dude's web site. I think I got a total of 9 votes. The winner got 18....and the name that won was "Purl McBig Bottom". (no comment) Anyway, keep an eye out cause he plans on posting that knitted pattern for free and it's a really cute purse. Well, that's it, yinz guys.....catch ya all on the flip-flop!!

URGENT!!!

Hey everyone...the Crochet Dude is running a contest on naming his newest purse. I nominated Lucy or Lucia (he seems to name them girls). LUCY showed up on the ballot......I bugged him once already to name a purse LUCY and now is my chance.....PLEASE GO OVER THERE AND VOTE....and it would be really nice if you voted for LUCY (but I'm not pushing you or anything...but it would be really really nice!) Oh, yeah, voting is going on till Monday! Catch ya later...I promise!

I'm not quite ready to show you my surprise baby project, but I will be tomorrow so in the meantime, check out this quiz. Saw this on Kansas Crochet Mom...

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

don't read if eating....

Okay, consider yourself warned! I just have to relate this somewhat humorous story about the pups. As you know Chloe the little one hasn't been feeling up to snuff lately due in part to what I believe is her insistance on eating the hot banana peppers and tomatoes left in the garden. (not that I don't feed them three times a day along with treats!!!). Anyway, I was outside cleaning up the garden of this nasty crap, when my son called me inside to say that one of the dogs threw up but he didn't know which one. He, of course, had no intention on cleaning it up...his idea of cleaning up dog poop accidents in the house is laying a piece of newspaper over it and calling my name...woo-hoo...don't hurt yourself!!!! Anyway, by the time I got in there, the mess was gone...but....are you ready....Eros the Mastif was licking his chops!!! (I warned you!!!) How gross is that! Now my son, who refers to Eros as "fatty" freaked and kept mumbling "that's sick" as he walked out of the room leaving mom to clean up the left overs! UGH! (I can't wait till he has kids of his own!!!) Anyway, I took care of that but poor little Chloe didn't want to sleep in her crate as I think she associates the crate with treats and didn't feel like eating. I let her sleep where she wanted which was outside of the crate for the night. This morning she was back to her crazy self and eating well. I'm seriously considering crocheting or knitting a sweater for her as I think she is going to be a shiver-er, if you know what I mean. Any good patterns out there, please feel free to email me..easy knit or crochet. Oh, and they both are officially signed up for Ringer's Puppy classes. Check out the photo gallery for dogs with graduation caps....hopefully mine won't flunk out! They start October 9 for seven weeks. I can't wait! Well, that's it for today....check me out tomorrow for something I'm working on for a baby shower....I'm totally in love with it! Till Manana, yinz guys!

(hanging my head in shame)

Okay, okay...so I did have a nice time with my son Monday night! Yes, I admit it. I can even go so far as to say that I wish we had gone earlier in the day, had it not been for work and school, so that we could have had more time. We got there in an hour instead of the hour and a half I thought it would take. This could be because I was knitting and talking to my son and did not pay attention to his speed. I didn't get too far on the sock so I'll post that pic when I make a little more progress.
Anyway, an hour was good. We ate some pizza rather quickly as we had limited time and then started shopping. I was rather impressed with his shopping techniques....he starts at the beginning of the outlets, going to the stores he already knows he wants to hit. He goes through them rather quickly, picking out in his mind what he liked best in that particular store and does he know his prices....geez! He goes for the bargains of course and will pass up what he thinks is too expensive or not exactly what he wants. When he is completely finished, he goes back and tries on stuff and buys...he knows what he liked and where it was. I was truly impressed. I mean, seriously, being as I'm not a clothes shopper, he was a guy on mission and completed it in record time....it was great. I was mostly there for the trying on and opinions. Other times I went to the book stores though there were enough non-clothes stores that I could have definately went had we had the time. I got these couple of things....

The book was only $4.00 and looked sorta interesting and I really liked the holder that lets you read and do whatever at the same time. I also got some Yankee Votive Candles which I like to melt and my son likes also. That was about it for me. He bought himself some tops and such but that was about it. He said he was pretty happy about what he got.
I asked him who of his friends didn't want to go shopping with him that made him choose me. He said he never asked anyone else...only me. That was nice to hear!
The ride home was a little longer as I couldn't knit and we didn't talk too much just sorta listened to his music....mmmm, which was not really my kind but I don't complain. He's a pretty good driver so I don't do "back seat" driving like I tend to do with the Sweetie Man.
Any way, it was a nice time. I tend to complain before I give something a chance and then 9 times out of 10 enjoyed the experience. I sorta have to be pushed out of my "comfort zone" sometime cause I like it too much. I'm definately a HOME BODY!!!

Tuesday we took the pups to the vet. Little Chloe had a case of poopy runs but the vet said it was most likely something she ate....probably those hot peppers she got into in the garden....time to get that redded up completely too I guess. Other than that, they did super well...no worms, no mites, no bugs. Got their first set of shots too. Everyone at the vets just loved them and I got a bunch of freebie stuff too cause that was their first visit. How cute is that! We're also planning on signing them up for puppy kindergarden starting in October...that should be fun! They graduate with little caps and everything! Can't wait!
Oh, well, that's it for now.....till tomorrow......tootle-lu!

Things I'd rather not do!

There are few things in life that I will honestly take getting my tooth pulled instead of. One of them is what I refer to as "intentional clothes shopping". This is the type of shopping where you go out the door with the intention of going clothes shopping...I just don't do it unless forced into it by guilt. My idea of clothes shopping is one of two things. Either my sister drops by with an outfit she no longer is wearing and says, "Would you like this outfit?" and I say "Sure!" (most times without even seeing it or trying it on)......SOLD! Or...the Sweetie Man and I are in Walmart grocery shopping and we are passing by the clothes section on the way to the checkouts and he says, "Hey, that would look nice on you, and it's on sale!" SOLD!
Unfortunately, my son did not inherit those particular genes of mine....he loves to clothes shop...and I'm not talking Walmart. Tho he has been known to find some tremendous buys at Goodwill of which he was most proud of. (he's learnin") He tends to sell off what he doesn't wear anymore to a place called Plato's Attic for money to buy more clothes and what they don't take he will pack up for the Veterans who will graciously pick up clothing from our house. Which then leads him to say..."I have nothing in my closet to wear!" It's a vicious circle!
Anyway, my point being is that he wants me to go Outlet shopping with him tonight. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE....NOT THAT!!!!!! DIDN'T I DO ENOUGH WHEN I CHANGED YOUR STINKY DIAPERS???? ANYTHING ELSE BUT THAT!!! I tried all of the normal excuses...."I'm broke" (he has money he said)....."Who will take care of the pets?" (okay, that was lame since we will only be gone a few hours!)......"Wife Swap is on tonight." (didn't work...I could tape it!)......"I can't listen to your music!" (he claimed I could listen to what I wanted on the way up). Then he resorted to IT (GUILT)......"Mom, this would give us Mother/Son bonding time!" Now, I'm not stupid....it's just that none of his friends could go with him and he didn't want to go alone since it's an hour and a half drive to the outlets. Don't get me wrong...I'm all for Mother/Son bonding time....but not with clothes shopping.....yucky!!!! Then he throws in, "I need your opinion!" That deserved a good chuckle since my idea of "looks good" is "if it fits...it looks good." And on top of that he said, "There are book stores there" Damn...got me!! He won! I'm going outlet shopping after work! Then I started to think about how I could possibly make this trip better. Okay, what would I be doing at home if I wasn't going, besides enjoying myself...I would be crocheting or knitting. So I immediately started some small project to take with me on the long and grueling trip to the outlets and this is what I came up with.
I've been wanting to start another pair of socks with this self striping yarn....it's Knit Picks Merino Wool in the color Petal. It must be have been a clearance item I got awhile back as I can't seem to find it on the website anymore, so I hope I bought enough to complete two socks. I started it while watching TV in bed last night. Turning out pretty nice. No real particular pattern...just simple ribbing. I love the pamphlet "Learn to Knit Socks". It's how I taught myself. Lots of different easy socks with great explanations. I got this pamphlet book at JoAnn Fabrics.
So, that's it for today.....I'll have to post my progress on the sock tomorrow tho unfortunately I'll only be able to knit on the way up as it will most likely be dark on the way back......keep your fingers crossed tho....maybe one of it's friends will want to go instead and him and I could bond elsewhere....like at JoAnn Fabrics or something..... Till tomorrow!!!

Happy Fall!

Thought I would start off today with a little first full day of fall Saturday Sky.

Pretty yucky but still a wonderful day. It actually wasn't too cool and the sun popped out a little but then the rain came in in the evening. That was a good thing cause it gave me a chance to do a little fall decorating as you can see. I made all this stuff through the years.


Check out this scarecrow pic......someone just HAD to get into the picture.

We did a little shopping at Walmart this morning after an early morning breakfast and I came up with these two magazines.

The really good magazines are coming out now with all the holidays. The Easy Crochet one had some nice easy things in it as well as some mittens, hats, and such. They did a really nice job in telling you what yarn was needed as well as giving you a small chart of pictures of each of the types of yarn used in the magazine. Most of it was either Bernat or Paton. Nice mag...check it out.
And of course, I had to get this year's Christmas Ornaments. I think I have about every one of these from each year since it began. I love cross stitch ornaments....not long and really cute. I also get in a cross stitch sorta mood around the holidays as well as doing redwork.

I've been wanting to show you the pic of my first official washcloth. I know most of you knitters have probably seen this pattern around but I definately fell in love with it mostly because of the butterfly. This is the one that I had to frog and begin again since a cute little puppy got hold of it.

Well, time to go watch a little college football with the Sweetie Man whilst I crochet then off to sleep (probably get some reading in there too) The Sweetie Man made a delicious spaghetti dinner with garlic toast and warm apple pie with coffee ice cream for dessert. All those carbs sorta tire ya out if you know what I mean....zzzzzzzz....oh, sorry...till tomorrow yinz guzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

A Friday Smile!

First I want to say that I LOVE my new avatar on the sidebar. It is soooooo ME! They finally put in pictures that you could choose from that are more my size. It is actually under the title of "fuller figure" (I love that term...sounds so sexy!) Those are the clothes I enjoy wearing most with my faithful dog Eros by my side, (they wouldn't let me put more than one pet in the picture), my glasses, and long blonde hair (tho my hair is a little darker blonde....or as my mom would say, "dishwater" to which my brothers found rather disgusting!) Anyway, I love it!!!
And speaking of my Eros (mastif/lab mix, remember....yeah, I know..."how could we forget?)
the pictures below were sent to me in email. They were taken by a friend of a friend who has a full grown Mastif. It just shows you how incredibly gentle and protective they grow up to be...I can't wait! Now mine will probably be a little smaller than this one, but these pics were too cute not to share with yinz guys! (*note: no babies were harmed in the taking of these pictures!) ENJOY!


ATTENTION ALL DOGS!!!
THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVERY DOG TO KNOW

Instructions for properly hugging a baby.

1. First, spy a baby.


2. Second, be sure that the object you spied was
indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques. If you smell baby powder and the wonderful aroma of wet diapers this is indeed a baby.

3. Next you will need to flatten the baby before actually beginning the hugging process.
**Note: The added slobber should help in future steps by making the "paw slide" easier.


4. The "paw slide"
Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.


5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute
the difficult and patented "hug, smile, and lean" so as to
achieve the best photo quality.


Dogs, if this is properly done, it will secure you a warm, dry,climate-controlled environment for the rest of your life.

Just for Laughs!!!

A friend of mine sent these to me....they are so corny I just had to share them. (side note: These jokes are sooooooo SWEETIE MAN!!!") ENJOY!!!

1) Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2) Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my electron.” The other says, "Are you sure? ”The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive..."

3) A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything.”

4) Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4a) A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."

5) A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

6) A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

7) Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

8) "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" The doctor replies, "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" the man asks. The doctor replies, "It's Not Unusual."

9) Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly,"I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," said Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaimed Daisy.

10) An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

11) Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

12) A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet and says, "My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?" "Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him." So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he says "I'm going to have to put him down." "What? Because he's cross-eyed?" "No, because he's really heavy."

13) Apparently, one in five people in the world are Chinese. And there are five people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mom or my dad, or maybe my older brother Colin or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu. But I'm pretty sure it's Colin.

14) I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

15) I went to the butcher's the other day and I bet him 50 bucks that he couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, "No, the steaks are too high."

16) A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted,” “Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!” The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"

17) I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.

18) Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

19) What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

20) Two termites walk into a bar. One asked, "Is the bar tender here."

The Picnic Cruise on the Clipper...

As promised, I'm posting some pics of our river cruise on the Gateway Clipper in Pittsburgh on the Three Rivers last Saturday. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.....



















Oops...almost forgot...this was our SATURDAY SKY on the river....

Monday, monday....

Well, it's Monday and I'm sitting here watching the Steelers on Monday Night Football and missing the premier of Wife Swap. Supposedly, it will be replayed tonight at 1 am....of course I'm taping it. It's probably better this way since I would have been switching channels constantly for two hours.
Okay, onto my weekend. It started out pretty good with my Great Bookmark Exchange package from Karla. AWESOME!!!!!

Oh, how I love getting books in the mail....and as you can see she crocheted a beautiful bookmark as well as giving me a cute bee one and a few other goodies including great stitch markers which I do use and beautiful yarn. The colors in that yarn are so so pretty too....thank you sooooooo much Karla. Okay, so I started reading the book too...just couldn't wait....sometimes I'll read two books at one time....crazy, eh?
This weekend we also spent cleaning up the garden. I do have to tell you that I fell backwards into a box of newly picked tomatoes smashing them....now this was hilarious and I laughed so hard while laying on the ground, that Ed had to take a picture. He wanted me to post it, but when I looked at the picture larger than life on my computer screen, I opted not to upload it since it showed a little more of me than I want the zillions of bloggers who read my blog to see....at least until we know each other a bit better. (sorry, Ed!)
In other words, my shorts were hiked up a little further than he noticed while I was on the ground with my "tomato butt!" But I did manage to take an awesome pic of the Sweetie Man with his newly picked tomatoes in hand....or rather, in bucket.

He also managed to catch this beautiful monarch butterfly for me to take a picture of.
He released it unharmed so not to worry.
And, of course, you know I had to take a pic of the kids since they are growing like weeds.

Cutie pie, Eros!!!

Crazy Chloe!
Check out those ears.

They are really like that.....my son insist she has alot of Jack Russell in her....I say it's Rat Terrier.....I'll ask the Vet next week at their first doc appointment. Those two just love each other.....so much so that this evening Eros, the all black pup, just up and peed on Chloe while she was chewing on a rawhide. Chloe was so into that rawhide and so not wanting Eros to have it, she never flinched. He tried it again later in the evening, but that time Chloe noticed. I'll have to find out what that means when dogs pee on each other. UGH!
I have been crocheting but mostly working on my prayer shawl and searching for some upcoming patterns I may be needing but that's really about it. I have a couple of crochet pics to post but probably do that tomorrow.......I'm getting back to my regular crafting now which is good.....I need to to keep myself sane!!!
Alright, that's it for tonight. I wanted to show you pics of our picnic cruise on the three rivers this weekend but the Sweetie Man has to download the pics....so stay tuned later in the week.
Back to the football game...second half coming up and it's still 0/0.....GO STEELERS!!!!!!! Till tomorrow everyone!!!