Is It Monday Yet?

Let the trash talk begin...Monday is coming! Who's ready for some football? Cowboys are facing the Cardinals in the desert. Glad we are getting this game out of the way early in the season rather than later.

In our house the trash talk began around 7:00 tonight. Yours truly may have been the one that started it. I will not confirm or deny! It's not really trash talk it's more like playful banter.

Here's the thing, tacos are likely my husband's fave meal I make. My spaghetti is a close second. Anyway, perhaps I should make tacos tomorrow night for dinner. One, it's total game time food. But the main reason is because I am such a nice person...I want my husband to have his fave meal while he watches his Cowboys go down! Oh man, I'm so bad! Let's hope Brad never reads this! Or at least doesn't read it tonight. I don't want to bunk with Cody in the pet sleeping quarters. LOL! No offense to Cody!

Quick Snap Sunday

Living with Cody is fun! He's a delight in numerous ways. He has a real issue with these donut beds in our household in recent months. He's crawled under them, flipped them, folded them, and even moved them. He's got talent! Talent to burn! LOL!

 

Well today he was entertaining us again as he messed with his donut bed. Started with pic one when he started to go under the donut bed then it all ended with the video at the bottom of him "wearing" his donut bed. Perhaps he's sending me a message that he wants his donut bed to be his Halloween costume this year. Lol!

 

 He was totally content "wearing" his donut bed, as he talked to me when I spoke to him. As soon as I snapped a pic or two and took a video I had to distance him from his donut bed. He's a trip! #mycrazypug 

 

 

Flashback Friday

While out in our garage unit today I got this brilliant idea for a "Flashback Friday" post, the first ever on this blog. Such an idea came to me when I glanced over at the orange Gatorade cart occupying a spot off to the side in our garage. At first glimpse the memories of the many times I put Simmie-boo-boo in the Gatorade cart then wheeled him up and down the hallways at our old apartment quickly flooded my mind. I always termed those fun rides as the "Simon parade". He was always up for anything! #worldclasspug

Decision Made

So remember how I mentioned the property Brad works at was sold?  Brad and his co-workers here at this complex have decided to stay with the company which means we definitely have to move again since Halloween is the last day his company has this property. New company takes over November 1st. His company has been trying to figure out where to move the entire staff. There's been two options we've known about for the last 10 days now. One possible property we had a name and the other option has been a mystery.

Well who doesn't like a little mystery in their life? Depends, right? Anyway, Brad and his co-workers at this property have decided to allow the company to move them to the mystery property. As of today the mystery property is no longer a mystery. We finally have a destination! Pack your bags, Cody-man because you are moving to....wait for it....Cody is reading this and hoping with all his might he's going to read Florida. Or you know anywhere sunny, because winter is coming and he doesn't do winter very well! Sorry to disappoint Cody, but it's not Florida. It'll likely never be Florida so my little puggie, you can give up that dream. However, I know you likely won't. Back to the matter at hand the next place is in Fort Worth. Oh wait, we currently live in Fort Worth. This will be on the opposite side of Fort Worth. We're heading further out west and further south. We'll technically be in the Benbrook area. It's about 23 miles away from where we are now.

After doing some research this evening it appears this area of Fort Worth we are moving to this time around is a little bit more of a "thriving" section. Nothing against where we are now, but it's a bit of a drive for a lot of things, as I've mentioned many times before on this blog. Anyway the section of Fort Worth we will soon call home is closer to one of Brad's tennis buddies and TCU where Brad likes to play tennis. Plus the Arlington area, where my in-laws live will be easier to get to as well. There's also some pretty good attractions nearby, like the Fort Worth Zoo and the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

Brad is relieved to finally know which property he will be placed at(as am I). The plan is to live on-site once again. As for Cody-man, judging from property pictures, it seems there's plenty of grassy areas for him. Fingers-crossed our next place has lots of windows for Piper's bird-watching pastime. We will make the drive out to the new complex this weekend, to check things out further. Our next move will most likely take place the last weekend in October or first weekend in November. Big goal of mine is to start packing soon. I want to be more ready than we were for the last move.

Quick Snap Sunday

What you've never seen a cat try to walk a dog? I grab the leash before mommie can get to it all the time! It's my daily attempt to be the chosen one to escort Cody around town. Mommie has yet to give me permission to lead my older brother but I remain hopeful that I will one day get the distinguished honor of walking Cody. #catgoals

2 Stadiums!

There's 2 AT&T Stadiums in the state of Texas. This little factor had my husband rather confused earlier this morning. One is called Jones AT&T Stadium the other is simply AT&T Stadium. But the AT&T Stadium the Cowboys play at is nicknamed "Jerry's World" as well as "The Death Star"(don't get my husband started on that nickname...wink-wink). Well Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones has the last name of what...duh, Jones. I just typed it. Do you see my husband's extreme confusion?

Why was this whole 2 stadiums with such similar names a topic in our household? Because ASU is playing at Jones AT&T Stadium. When Brad realized this earlier this morning he asked if I wanted to go to the game in Arlington tonight, adding that there's likely tickets still available. When I looked at the listing he was looking at, I clued in on the name "Jones" in front of the "AT&T Stadium". He simply assumed they were giving extra credit to Jerry Jones automatically certain it's the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a.k.a. the home of the Cowboys. I however, questioned the "Jones" name being directly in front of the AT&T Stadium listing and I read on to learn it's not the stadium in Arlington. The Sun Devils are down in El Paso at the home of the Red Raiders. They are not near us. Darn! So sad! But hey, not too sad, because it's at least televised here!

In other football news, Texas Longhorns will be playing USC. Nope, I'm not going for the PAC 12 school in that one. No way! I can't tolerate USC, because I'm a good former Zonie! However, Texas has been playing terrible and has irritated Brad greatly so far this season. Perhaps, we'll be watching that game with our eyes closed! LOL! Fingers-crossed Texas can cause an upset!!!

8 Years

This is how the day started...notes to one another hanging on our fridge. All of us got up early around here today. Usually it's just me and the furries that are up early. However, today Brad had a workshop to go to at his company's corporate offices in Dallas. I left him the note pictured above before I headed out the door with Cody. Once Brad discovered the note he wrote back for me to see when I got back home with Cody.

Today is the anniversary of our first date. It's been 8 years since our first date at Uncle Julio's restaurant. As you can see in the note the last line Brad wrote #thatsawesome! I love the fact that he's starting to catch my hashtag fever! LOL! Just to be funny I use hashtags in speech, texts, and on instagram. #whynot #itsfuntodo #lol

To mark this occasion we went out to dinner at one of our fave places Red Robin. We will now kick back and enjoy the joint gift...The Big Bang Theory season 10. #mykindoffridaynight

LONG Couple of Weeks!

It all started late in the evening on the 26th of August, I noticed my eyes felt a little weird. Couldn't describe the feeling at the time. As the next few days progressed I started realizing I had a lot of sensitivity to light. Official diagnosis from the eye doctor was a swollen cornea along with extreme irritation. Likely caused by wearing contact lens that have too much wear and tear on them. It's been crazy, kind of painful at times too. Being outside was the worst part of it. The elements and the sunshine were not doing anything for my eyes. Well after a long two and a half weeks, which included multiple visits to the eye doctor(I lost count how many visits), I was given the ALL CLEAR today. I am FINALLY back to wearing contacts after waiting for my eyes to heal. First they had to heal then I had to deal with an unfortunate side effect from the eye drops.

When I walked out of the doctor's office late this afternoon I wanted to do cartwheels I was so happy to finally be able to see again. I could hardly wait to arrive home, scoop up my little "kids" in my arms and admire their extreme cuteness...you know since I can see them once again. I've been wearing outdated glasses while I waited for eyes to heal. I do not wear glasses much at all so I don't update them very often. This is the first time me choosing not to update my glasses in forever has haunted me. But it wasn't only the outdated glasses that were preventing me from seeing very well during this time, my eyes have been very weak due to the cornea issue.

It's been a long two and a half weeks! Brad has had to read numerous things to me these last couple weeks, like scores on the TV, the ESPN headline ticker at the bottom of the screen and subtitles in TV shows. I've also logged a significant amount of time sitting on the floor close to the TV. Watching the US Open, I had to sit on the floor near the TV if I wanted to see that little ball they were hitting on the court. LOL! It's been hard to deal with for sure! According to my eye doctor, now in the next two weeks I can enjoy noticing my vision getting better and better as my eyes get stronger thanks to the fresh set of contacts and new prescription. I can't tell you how excited I am right now. I so look forward to football tomorrow night! I'll be able to read the score all by myself! I sound like a little kid with that comment!

It's True

Is the saying, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", true? I think it is. Allow me to detail my early morning walk with Cody.

For a few weeks now I've considered getting Cody a harness. Brad and I have spoken about it together as we were in agreement it might help Cody feel more secure since he's losing his eyesight. In general though, I've been rather undecided considering the use of harnesses since they came on the scene. I think for some dogs it makes sense, especially when you are still in training mode with a dog. But I typically believe a dog should walk calm and polite enough that a harness is unnecessary. Harnesses came along AFTER the boys were pups. I'm not sure if they had been around at the time of the boys puppy days if I would have bought into the argument for them or not. Call me crazy, but as I've stated, a dog should walk calm and polite enough that a harness is not necessary after it's trained. Based on my experience this morning I'm even more undecided if I would do the harness option IF and WHEN a new pup comes into our lives. I guess I'm kind of old school!

On a whim I picked a harness out for Cody yesterday while at Target waiting on a prescription. Upon coming home with the harness I quickly put it on Cody to let him get used to it. I took him out for 2 short walks to get him used to it too.

This morning was the first morning walk with Cody in a harness. How did it go? It was the worst walk I have ever taken one of the boys on. Let me reiterate, WORST WALK EVER! He would take a step then fall over. Take two steps then fall over. He walked with all of his limbs stick straight. Picture a scarecrow, now picture a scarecrow falling over...that was Cody this morning. So there I am "walking" a scarecrow named Cody soaked by morning dew from his repeated falls on to the grass. Mind you all this falling over, stopping, and adjusting of the harness was taking place in front of the outside world. People were passing by with their dogs, we were receiving plenty of stares. It was embarrassing. I tried everything to convince Cody the harness was fine and he could indeed move in it. But no way, he was not buying it. He was convinced the harness was designed to ruin his life. He wanted the confining instrument off of his body right away. After struggling with Cody for about a third of the walk I looked down to see him finally achieve what he would deem "success" as he realized how to squirm out of it. The escape artist pug! At that point I picked Cody up and carried him home. I felt so frustrated that I couldn't get him to realize he could still move in the harness, after all he moved in it the day before. No need to imitate a scarecrow! After arriving home I reintroduced Cody to his collar. Leashed him back up and off we went. World of a difference! He walked like a champ! A slow champ, but with no issues.

Brad thinks we can get Cody used to the harness over time. Cue my skepticism! I don't think I can teach my old puggie to love his new harness. For nearly 16 years he's never been in a harness, I think it's too late in his life to try to make a change. One thing is for sure, if I ever attempt to take Cody on the long walk wearing a harness again I will take the collar along as well.  

Side Story...many cats act just like Cody did this morning. Brad tried getting Storm used to a leash so he could take her outside more. Every time he tried the collar and then clipped the leash on it she fell over. It's a weird animal thing when they are not into wearing a collar, leash, or harness they just fall to the side.

The Mess and The Clean-Up Crew!

 

 Cody making a mess eating dinner. This is the mess he creates every mealtime. Sometimes I wonder how much actually gets in his mouth upon the first try. I think he gets most of it on the second or third try. He does clean it up reasonably well. The white towel is a must so he can see his food and attempt to finish up. Without that towel his kibble blends into the wood floors. Not to mention I would have a panic attack about the gritty kibble bits being on my kitchen floor if that towel wasn't there. Yes, I'm crazy!

 Notice I said he cleans it up "reasonably" well. Every meal time Piper patiently waits in the somewhat close distance to see what he leaves behind. She's quick to notice when he's left a few kibbles. This pic was snapped right before she decided the coast was clear enough to attempt to do a little cleaning up of her own! 

Acorns

In these parts acorns start falling at the tail end of August. They increase their rate of hitting the ground by the time September fully arrives. There is no shortage of acorn trees in Texas! We've always lived near acorn trees.

Here's the kicker, I don't think for the rest of my days on this earth I will be able to look at acorns scattered on the ground and not think about my Simmie-boo-boo. He was a feign for acorns. His eyes got wide and buggy. Wait, he was a pug, his eyes were rather buggy all the time! But that crazed/excited buggy look he used to get was priceless! Absolutely, priceless in the opinion of his human parents. His mommie and daddy miss seeing that excited little face around the house. Actually, no one knows this but Brad does a great imitation of Simon's crazed/excited buggy face. LOL! Super funny to see!

I'm thinking the squirrels that have been good enough to make it to heaven have some serious competition to get to the acorns this year, since Simmie is on the scene! Go get them little man, go get yourself some acorns! But don't spoil your dinner! 

What A Headline

The headline says it all! It was painful! Quite the HORROR and Halloween is still 8 weeks away. Final score was 45 to 44...UCLA over Texas A&M. Picture me with my head down in shame! I know what you are thinking...it was only a 1-point loss. At least they were in the game. It wasn't a blowout. They gave UCLA a run for their money. All 3 of those sentences swirled around in your head, right? Wait, read on! 

There we were watching it, things looked good. Things looked really good when A&M built a 34 point lead. Yes, you read that correct...a 34 point lead. How does a team lose after building a 34 point lead? If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd be questioning that very same thing. Mercy me!

Now imagine my husband as he watched. Bad thing to picture, I know! What's worse a Texas school losing in such an embarrassing fashion or the Cowboys losing in ANY fashion? Umm, about the same.

Now from my perspective(to my husband, don't read this part, stop now)...as I was saying, from my perspective there is a small, very small, amount of saving grace in the fact that such a HUGE comeback feat was done by a PAC 12 school. Furthermore, a PAC 12 school I can stomach for the most part. Wink-wink!

So it wasn't a great start to the college football season for the bigger Texas schools. Down went the Longhorns and A&M. However the Horned Frogs won in a supremely convincing manner. But the talk of the town is not the Horned Frogs, it's the disaster pictured at the top of this post. Cue the shame!

Side note: I just thought of something...can you imagine if that PAC 12 school that pulled off such a feat against a Texas school had been...umm....ASU...Oh my, oh my! I would have been ecstatic of course, but my husband would've been supremely upset as his wife danced around the room. Such excessive celebration on my part would have surely landed me in with the fur-babies for the night. Cody would've had to move over because I would've been bunking with him. LOL! Whew, I guess I can say thank goodness it was UCLA and not ASU to beat up on A&M! ;)

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Let's Workout!

I woke up extra early this morning. Naturally woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to workout. Tomorrow is Labor day, so I might not workout tomorrow. Plus I've gone to bed at reasonable times Friday and Saturday night so tonight I might try to stay up until an unreasonable hour. LOL! Be like my husband! ;) I figure it's a 3 day weekend I need to do something to make it different than all other weekends. Staying up extra late on Sunday, seems like the best way.

Anyway, back to the pic above. Sleepy Cody realized his mommie was up and promptly came over to do his best to workout too...more like get in the way as much as possible. Lol! Good thing I didn't need the pink weights any longer during my session because I would hate to disturb Code-man! ;)

For the most part the furries are super good at staying out of the way. Or at least they were in the past. Now that Cody has lost a big percentage of his sight he can't tell when he's in the way. He can't tell when he's getting too close. He just knows he likes being near his mommie. Therefore in recent months I have become a bit of a master at working out "around" Cody. Most days he's off to the side, but occasionally, I'm trying to do a warrior move or a see-saw move with the added pressure of not losing my balance and falling into Cody. :) Simon was my sous-chef in the kitchen, perhaps Cody is my "trainer". Love my boys! And my little girl too!

September Arrives With A Long Weekend

September has arrived! A long weekend has arrived too! Woo-hoo! Who's excited? We are in this household.

I've been dealing with an eye issue this week, which I was really hoping would be cleared up by today. But it needs more time, more healing. I have a swollen cornea, caused by wearing contact lens that needed to be thrown away for too many hours. My eyes have been quite sensitive to light especially. I've been to the eye doctor twice this week. I go back early next week and hopefully I will get the thumbs up everything is cleared up.

We are starting the long weekend off right...with a movie night! It's a Redbox movie night for us. I went to 2 different Redbox locations before I got lucky and got the movie Brad was wanting. There's US Open tennis on too, we'll be checking on it as well. Brad was all excited a few minutes ago as he started watching an NFL pre-season game that was just beginning. Then his wife had to go and ruin it by telling him it's a repeat, all NFL pre-season games were played last night. The look on his face was complete dejection. Oops, me and my big mouth. Since the Cowboys game was canceled he didn't get any NFL pre-season action last night, so he's a little starved for it. LOL! The good news is college football starts tomorrow. I'm more into college football than Brad, I'll watch any team. Brad's more about keeping it Texas. If it's not a Texas team he doesn't feel the need to watch. Lol! Although Oklahoma can get a little of his attention too!

Hope everyone has an enjoyable long weekend!