The Story of a Bed

The story of this bed is one of intrigue and jealousy. This bed was purchased about 6 maybe even 7 years ago for Storm. She loved it. She loved the high edges and the fact the edges were the same height all the way around. Well, Simon quickly discovered the beauty of this bed once the 5 of us were under the same roof at the beginning of 2013. Soon after Simon discovered it's wonder, Cody discovered it's wonder too. However, as long as Storm was around it was her bed. We did all we could to keep the boys out of it.

Since the days of Storm the bed has been everyone's bed. We tried keeping it as just the "cat's bed", but a little man named Simmie wasn't going to let that go down. He had a knack for getting to it first and keeping it, when mommie didn't have it hiding away in the closet that is. As of now, however, Cody believes he is entitled to this wonderful bed. Should he catch his little sister in it what will his wrath be?  Whine and cry to mommie until mommie makes little sister move.

Now come on, spend a little time with me...whining and crying doesn't work on me. Not after 15 years, sorry Cody! However, guess who came to Cody's rescue? Hmm, take a guess. Though she looks sweet, innocent, and rightfully got to the bed while Cody left it unoccupied she was still forced to move by her daddy. As he moved her out of the bed he asked her why she's such a little thief. LOL!

It's important to note, she's typically not too interested in that bed. She never has been then all of a sudden tonight she wanted to try it out. First time she's been in that bed since we moved to this new place. So perhaps she is being a little bit of a thief by trying to occupy a spot she clearly knows Cody has laid claim to in this new place. Sweet and innocent or a tricky little thief?...you decide.  

Quick Snap Sunday

Don't Mind Her!

Who needs to read the correspondence posted at our door, wouldn't sitting on it be more fun? Cats are interesting! Buy her a $5.00 toy and she plays with it for two minutes. That's if we're lucky to get her to play with the new toy. She's been known to give a glance that reads, "you overpaid" when presented with a new toy. When it comes to toys she seems to have a very specific type she'll consider. As for household items, it's all fair game in her little mind. She likes things that make a little sound when she walks on it.

Before and after this pic was taken she "kneaded" the paper. Anyone that has spent a significant time around a cat knows all about the "kneading". She'll knead our shoes, our feet, toys, a pillow and even a piece of paper. It's rather cute to watch.

Oh How I've Missed Thee!

The weekend is getting closer. Who's ready? We had a nice little break in the week last night as we went out with some friends last night. A mid-week double date night is always a nice thing.

Since we and our friends live on the opposite sides of the DFW area, we met up with them in downtown Dallas. As we drove to the restaurant, I was wide-eyed as I looked out the car window and proudly as well as loudly announced inside the car how much I'd missed the Dallas area, "Oh Dallas, how I have missed thee." Brad laughed with great amusement. It was a nice evening. Did you miss me too, Dallas?

The friends we were meeting up with are surprisingly moving out of the state this weekend. Our get-together was a bit of a send off type of thing! They are moving to Denver. While at dinner they dropped a few hints to Brad and I concerning moving to Denver too. Nothing major, just a few little hints.

Oddly, enough Brad was looking into moving to Denver back in 2009 then he suddenly was told of a new job opportunity in Dallas and he decided to take that opportunity. He still had Denver in the back of his mind but after making the moving to the Dallas property he met me. The thoughts of Denver faded quickly at that point. Now here we are years down the road and married, could a move to Denver be back on the table? After we got home last night Brad went looking around our apartment then mentioned how much stuff we'd need to get rid of before considering a move out of state.

Will we ever leave Texas? Could we ever seriously consider it? Not sure! Stay tuned! I'll say this, it's somewhat doubtful that we'd ever leave the state of Texas. Notice my key words, "somewhat doubtful", I didn't say "highly doubtful"....catch my drift? Right opportunity comes along, what do we have to lose? For our friends the right opportunity came along and it is "peace out, Texas, see ya"!  

In all seriousness...can anyone picture Cody in Denver? Oh geez! He hates the cold weather as has been well noted on this blog!!!

Father's Day Dilemma

Father's day is upon us! Have I decided what to make for dessert tomorrow? Um, not exactly! I have been bouncing ideas back and forth. Father's day poses the biggest dessert dilemma for me each year. My husband vetoed a couple ideas I had earlier this week. Brad and his dad have nearly opposite taste buds when it comes to dessert. Since it's Father's day I always want to cater to my father-in-law's preferences. However, if I mention making the strawberry cake that my father-in-law loves, my husband snarls and responds with this, "I'll eat it to be nice but I won't like it." See what I'm up against folks! LOL!

Is my husband a bit of a picky eater? Let me say this...Cody or his human daddy...which is more picky? Cue the silence! Brad to me is hilarious, he must be told what certain things are before a party we're hosting begins otherwise he'll avoid it. That is unless it's super obvious what something is. For example he needs prior warning about dips, sauces, casseroles, lasagnas, and meatballs. He always wants to know the flavors and spices that went into stuff before guests arrive. He went through an entire Super Bowl party one year avoiding the meatballs I had made because he wasn't sure if they were made from turkey or beef and he couldn't get my attention to ask me since we had a house full of people. Here's the thing he likes turkey and beef. Definitely likes beef more but it's not like he doesn't like turkey so I'm still clueless why he feared the meatballs that particular year. He keeps me guessing! :)

I've been downright baffled before, because when we go to someone else's house he eats without questioning things. Oh but wait he has a reason for that...yes, I asked him once why he questions what I serve but then doesn't question what others serve at get-together's we go to? His answer, "I don't want to be rude so I eat whatever". Well that's a huge difference between him and Cody, no matter where Cody goes or whom offers the nibble of food to him, he's skeptical!

Okay time to get back to my dessert dilemma...cupcakes? pie? Half recipe of cupcakes and a pie? A pie and cookies? Cheesecake? See the dilemma! Too many choices!

Perfect Example

I saw this while out and about online, I had to share. It's super funny as well as cute. A pug in a pizza shirt! Come on, that's priceless, right? Somebody tell me where to get Cody a pizza shirt? He needs one pronto!

In all seriousness I think this pic accurately represents why Cody is not in charge of dinnertime around here. Pizza and mini donuts anyone? LOL! The weekly menu isn't going to be assigned to the fur-babies anytime soon, not in this house at least!

This actually reminds me of the time a few years back when Brad arrived home and heard nearly unbelievable words come out of my mouth after asking me what was for dinner. He truly thought it was way too good to be true. I had to use that particular night to try out a couple recipes because I was in a time crunch to sample the recipes. He was served mini sausages with mac and cheese. Brad could live off of mac and cheese! He was one happy man that night, he had a double serving of mac and cheese with plenty of mini sausages. I hardly ever make mac and cheese because it's hard to make in a healthier manner. To me the meal was something we would've eaten as little kids not grown adults. Things happen and time crunches occur...it is what it is, as they say. Oh and did I mention the sausages were marinated in a made-from-scratch BBQ glaze? Anything slathered in a BBQ sauce, works for 99.9% of Texans! LOL! The approval rating for that night's meal was off the charts! Those night's come around once every few years...believe me!


P.S. to Cody, my sweet puggie, I see a pizza shirt in your very near future! Lucky you!

Relaxed Saturday

The weather has been quite nice here. We had a surprise rainstorm early Friday morning. Thunder wakes me every time. I can't sleep thru thunder.

After a long week and lots of French Open watching Brad was not wanting to go anywhere today. I went out briefly to the grocery store and to put air in the Pathfinder tires, dumb air machine ate my quarters on my first try, otherwise we've been relaxing at home today. I was all geared up all day for the next Stanley Cup Finals game tonight then realized I was wrong, it's tomorrow night. Oh well! We watched shows on DVD instead. Perfect example why my husband shouldn't trust me to inform him of the TV sports schedule. ;) We are more into the hockey than the NBA at this present moment. Both of us are irritated with the NBA! We're keeping up with it but not as into it as we normally would be. I think Brad appropriately described the NBA the other night, it's like there's two All-Star teams in the NBA and all other teams are mediocre. Perfect way to sum it up!

Last night we had a small issue of "the puggie-father doesn't know best"(sorry honey). Cody is a mess when it comes to eating. He's always been kind of a mess but as he's aged and especially since entering his well seasoned years of life he's become a bigger mess. Brad believed Cody needed a bigger bowl to help him out. Bigger bowl to catch all of his mess was the thought process. Well seemed like it would work. But it didn't. Cody ended up stepping in the bowl then somehow flipped it over when he tried to get his one foot out of the bowl. I soon looked around and he had the bowl flipped completely over, covering his food. So he next tried batting at the bowl to get it off of his food. What a mess! And Cody was quite irritated too. He gets agitated at little things quickly. I have no idea where he gets that from...wink-wink! At the conclusion Brad says, "well that experiment didn't go so well". Um, nope! As of this morning Cody was back to his usual bowl!

I'll wrap this up so I can get to bed soon. The French Open men's final is early in the morning. I have to get back from the morning walk and complete all morning chores before it starts. Which shouldn't be too tough but no staying up extra late for me. I got up and around a little earlier than usual this morning too so I could watch the women's final. A young lady from Latvia won. First ever tournament win. A virtual no-name in the game came out of nowhere and took home the French Open trophy on the ladies side. See what happens when Serena is out for the year. Excitement and new winners!

Quick Snap Sunday

Aww, look at my sweet fur-baby duo! A first has occurred! She was determined to get Cody to love her so much he'd let her share his bed. About three and a half months since losing her brother that allowed for such things, Cody threw in the figurative "white towel" by letting his little sister snuggle with him. They stayed like this for quite awhile. She completely snuggled in and fell asleep too. In the pic though, she is saying, "See, I knew I could get him to love me enough to let me share his bed". Yes, Piper you did it! The persistence of a cat is on full display!

Small Dog Owners Beware

First off I don't like starting a post with a bad story but that's what is happening today. I feel this is important to note though since I am a proud human mommie to a toy breed puggie. Word of caution for small dog owners. At a Petsmart here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area a toy poodle was mauled to death by a mastiff. Details are a little sketchy, one report I heard said the owner of the toy poodle was walking thru the Petsmart store with her poodle on a leash and was entering the grooming section when the mastiff suddenly attacked and killed the toy poodle. In another report the owner of the poodle was stated as having already dropped her poodle off at the grooming section and the incident occurred while both dogs were being groomed. Either way a little dog is no longer here sadly. Can you imagine the horror? I refuse to go there with my mind! Not that this next part is important to the story but I'm a detail oriented person, so I'll add, the pic of the dog that was mauled appeared to be a maltese not a toy poodle. Granted both are toy breeds, both are similar in size, and I suppose both can be mistaken for each other.

This is something I have always been so nervous about when going to Petsmart grooming. I just don't like the way their grooming section is set up. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with taking Cody very often at all, once in a blue moon for him. I will say this though, it's been a longtime since I've darkened the doorway of a Petsmart grooming. I prefer Petco. Why? I have two reasons, one reason is not exactly valid anymore but anyway. My first big reason....was Simon! He just seemed to like the groomers better at the Petco near us. He seemed too nervous every time I tried to take him to Petsmart for grooming. One time I left them both at Petsmart, but felt uneasy about Simon's reluctant manner of leaving my embrace. After leaving the boys at Petsmart initially I got down the road about 2 miles then turned around to go get my boys. I booked Petco the very next day and I think that was the last time I took the boys to Petsmart for grooming. The second reason I decided to take the boys exclusively to Petco was oddly enough....the design of the grooming section. I do not like how Petsmart grooming doesn't have more separation. You walk in and theres a half door separating dogs being groomed from dogs being checked in. Plus whether they are coming or going, all dogs have to walk past each dog being groomed. There's just too much going on in one area, it always looked and felt chaotic.  

Here's my humble advice which isn't worth much but nonetheless I'll mention a few things...carry small dogs into the groomers if possible. Book appointments on least busy days, like Tuesday or Wednesday. Stay away from Mondays and Fridays and obviously the weekend. Book morning appointments too, it's definitely more busy as the day progresses.

I learned a LONG time ago to be on guard at all times when you have small dogs. The amount of big dogs seems to outweigh the amount of small dogs. And in recent years the amount of big and aggressive dogs has grown at a rather alarming rate in my opinion. I feel as though it's becoming a weird status symbol to own an aggressive dog. 

One Point to Little Sis

He gave up! On the left are the stacked beds, one was Simon's and one is Piper's. They're only stacked when I vacuum and stayed stacked if I happen to forget to unstack after I'm finished vacuuming.;) Don't ask me why we still have Simon's bed out when Simon is chilling in heaven. In case his spirit drops by, I guess. Anyway, the big blue bed was purchased for the boys to share but it ended up becoming Cody's main bed. Simon and Piper shared it at times too, but primarily it's Cody's.

As you can see in the pic above little sister wasn't giving up her spot. In a rare moment of niceness(wink-wink) Cody decided not to force the issue and instead he laid down between the beds. At this particular moment little sister won! She got to keep the bed she was occupying before Cody moseyed over near her. One point rewarded to little Pipe!

He has been showing a softer side lately. Not trying to dominate so much. But things have changed in our household, perhaps that's why. 

June Arrives

It's June and so far it's featured only rainy days for us. Granted we're only 3 days in but still that's 3 days more of rain than Cody ever wanted or wished for. Dare I say this...I actually wore a sweatshirt for part of the day yesterday and this morning I walked Cody with a light jacket on. This morning I was more concerned about it starting to rain on us as we headed out, it wasn't completely about the temp outside. Then again, I didn't get extra warm with my jacket on.

I've been working on a big project and I'm finally done with it. I actually feel like I can enjoy a weekend. First weekend that I can fully enjoy since Easter weekend. As I've been diligently doing a specific online project week after week. Whew, I can take a breath and breathe! It was stressful to do as well. A lot more stress than I bargained for! I feel such relief right now! Brad was quick to notice the difference from a stressed out wifey to a non stressed wifey. Much better for him too!

TV in our household has been tuned almost exclusively to the French Open. Every evening the channel is switched between French Open coverage and either the NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Final. those finals take turns each night. They don't overlap. Oh my, oh my, the NBA....I'm sorry folks...but the NBA is broken in my opinion. Yawner! Third year in a row the Finals features the same two teams. If that isn't enough of a snoozer consider the route each of those teams took to get to the current NBA Finals, blow-out game after blow-out game. Umm, yeah can we get some competition please? Even the first game of the Finals made me question numerous times my husband's sanity to leave our TV tuned to ABC for so long as the Warriors kept mounting up their lead. LOL! I'm not a fan of the new trend I call "stacking the deck", my term for teams that have too many big names on one roster. Best example of "stacking the deck", Durant joining an already excellent Warriors team. Maybe something needs to be done with the salary cap, to help shuffle the deck! Because the NBA is getting boring. Then again, I might not think that if I was living in Golden State(yuck) or Cleveland(double yuck). My deepest apologies to anyone that may read this that is from those areas. Sorry but Ohio doesn't interest me one bit. And as for CA, well I'm a former Zonie, I grew up tired of hearing how great and wonderful CA is compared to it's neighboring states.

Well I will wrap this up as the match I've been waiting for is starting in Paris. Since it's Saturday I'm available to watch live coverage out of Paris instead of the tape delayed coverage we typically watch each evening. Woo-hoo! Brad is still sleeping, he's missing the live matches. It's a 1 person and 2 fur-baby watching party in our place. Happy weekend to all!  

Cody Time

It's a super short video post! Up first in video one, I love the look on Cody's face as he looks up at me. My big puggie-man! Never mind the fact he's probably thinking I'm crazy for videoing such a dull moment. In the second video, Cody is showing off his exceptional tennis skills! Wink-wink! He's almost ready for the French Open, well maybe Wimbledon since the French Open already started. He needs a few more weeks to perfect his skills! Pop your collar Cody! Pop your collar!