A Cody Concert (part 1)

What would I do if I didn't have such wondrous noises to listen to courtesy of my Cody-man? Before I started recording this video his concert was in full swing, going for a decent amount of time. This is only a brief snippet...you're welcome! You have to live with Cody to get the full concert! LOL!

Saturday Struggle

Quite the Saturday for us. It started super early as Brad had a ridiculously early tennis match. I considered sending Brad out the door to his tennis match the night before on Friday night because I wasn't sure how he was going to get up and around so early on a Saturday? LOL! Brad is not a morning person! As for this morning I expect him to sleep in double late, if possible. He will sleep in late enough to make up for yesterday.

I've known Brad for a long time now. That being said without a doubt yesterday when he arrived home from tennis, a match that did not go well, he was the maddest I have ever seen him about tennis. His anger unfortunately carried through the day. I kept thinking as well as hoping that he'd turn the corner and we could have a nice afternoon or evening or late evening...nope he was mad from the second he arrived home from his match which was in the late morning hours until he went to bed at about 2:30 in the morning. It was a very LONG Saturday. I must admit I was at a bit of a loss as to how to help him get through it. Everything I tried to do to help backfired big time. Saturday evening was especially a challenge because I not only had a mad-at-the-world husband on my hands, I suddenly had a mad-at-the-world Cody on my hands too. Well we all have our moments right? Or in this case our days of not being quite ourselves. Brad has few, thankfully. :) Cody however, has numerous! Wink-Wink...Cody I love you no matter your mood! I'm used to you! Should be after 16 years together.

Anyway, the only other thing I'll say about yesterday is thank goodness for Piper. As I've mentioned many times she is a carbon copy of Simon. She never has a moody moment. In her four years on this planet I'm still waiting to see her mad. She is steady as a rock with her personality, like I said, she's just like someone else she idolized!  Perhaps, it wasn't odd at all to find her sleeping in the laundry room in a basket filled with dirty clothes(see Quick Snap Sunday post), it was the farthest away she could get from her crazy, loud, angry big brother.

Quick Snap Sunday

Laundry Room Girl

This was taken at about 3:45 AM, so it counts as a quick snap for Sunday! When I got up to tend to Cody, I couldn't find Piper. I finally went into the laundry room but at first I skipped over her never noticing her in the laundry basket. Upon returning for a second look I spotted the little girl. This is a first, I've never seen her camped out in the dirty clothes. Yes, I would prefer an actual hamper or laundry sorter but I was overruled. We have two laundry baskets, one for dirty clothes and one for clean clothes. As you can see in the pic, Piper doesn't care if the clothes are clean or dirty.

Can you tell I woke her up? Can you tell her eyes are not enjoying the light that suddenly filled the dark laundry room she was snoozing in? Gotta love the one eye barely peeking. Don't worry I turned off the light and left quickly after snapping this pic. Hours later when it was "officially" time to start the day she climbed out of this laundry basket and we had our traditional mommy and Piper morning greeting session.

Cody and Baby Piper

It's Flashback Friday, flashback to that time when baby Piper curled up behind her biggest brother. This was back when Cody was the one that was showing her the ropes, so to speak, and Simon was still trying to figure out if she was worth his time. If she wasn't sticking around then he wasn't wasting time with her. She loved both of them. First she loved Cody because he watched over her, made sure she was not left in a room or something. Then her allegiance shifted more towards Simon. It was obvious she thought Simon was super cool. She seemed to simply idolize him. Copied everything he did.

Her and Cody remain a tight little duo. He tolerates her and now she watches over him. Or she tries to ride him, depending on her mood! LOL!

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Piper on patrol! She's claimed her spot in the house, atop the back of the overstuffed chair. Let the neighborhood be warned, she is on patrol watching all the happenings. Nothing shall go down without her watching it happen!

 

 

Cody is on patrol too. A bit of a different kind of patrol, a sleepsville patrol! Old man needs some extra zzz's here and there but no fear his kid sister is on the lookout. Go ahead and snooze with relief big pug man!  

The Bag

Last week my father-in-law brought over some items they have been storing for Brad until we had more space, plus he brought over a treadmill they happened to not want anymore. Our third room is shaping up to be quite the workout room. Anyone catch my play on words? LOL!

Back to my story, all the items my father-in-law brought over were placed in the garage. Soon after Brad arrived home we moved the treadmill into the house. Which was somewhat easy yet somewhat hard. Skip ahead to a few days later, Brad and I are out in the garage moving the other items his dad brought over a few days prior. While I went to tend to Cody for a brief second Brad stumbled across a bag of weeds from the yard. When I returned to the garage area to see what else I could help Brad put away. He had a bizarre completely baffled look on his face as he peered into the garbage bag of yard weeds. He then looked up at me and said, "Man, I'm really worried about my dad, he brought us over a bag of weeds and stuff from his lawn. What was he thinking?" I quickly explained it was a bag of weeds from our yard from the day before when I picked weeds. With a great sense of relief Brad than responded, "Oh okay, that's a relief. I was really thinking he had cracked up or this was one weird joke he was playing on me."

You know funny thing about weeds in the front and backyards...they keep coming! We need to get some yard work stuff to take care of the yards. There isn't a huge yard but a little and some bushes. It's starting to need some attention. First things first, a trip to Home Depot to get some equipment.

Go Cash In(2nd Annual Post)

Tax day means there's some smart restaurants trying to "help" us all cash in by offering the public freebies. Of course they are hoping you not only take the freebie but you spend a little too. Anyway this is my second annual post about Tax Day freebies. Not sure if anyone remembers but I did this same type of post last year. Since I'm in Texas...my focus is more geared for Texas, concentrating on restaurants we have here in the Lone Star State. However, most of the ones on the list below are not only in Texas but in other parts of the country too. 

Great American Cookie...is giving away free Cookies & Cream Cookies, no purchase necessary.

Hot Dog On A Stick...free turkey or veggie dog.

Hardee's/Carls JR.(they are just starting to open a few in Texas)....free sausage biscuits from 7 to 10 AM.

Piada Italian Street Food...free giant size blackberry lemonade.

Applebee's....will feature $1.00 margaritas on Tuesday. They'll be busy!

BJ's Brewhouse...a free pizookie with a minimum $9.99 purchase....oh sign me up...(however, they are celebrating the day after tax day, so Wednesday night...hmm, I'm thinking it will be date night at BJ's for us come Wednesday!)

Boston Market...they like to be clever...they are featuring a $10.40 meal of a half chicken, with 2 sides, cornbread, and a regular size drink.

Chili's...discounted blue margaritas it'll cost only $5.00...doesn't seem like that great of a deal, but I'm not up on prices of margaritas too much. Maybe their blue margarita is a $9.00 margarita normally. Not sure.

Chuck E. Cheese...to help give the parents a break they are doing buy one cheese pizza get another one for free and the offer is good from Tuesday thru Thursday. So anyone with kids go cash in!

Cici's...adult buffet discounted to $4.17, must get coupon first from their web site.

Corner Bakery Café...mix and match any breakfast, lunch, or dinner items for $10.40...offer good from Tuesday thru Thursday.

Firehouse Subs...get a free medium sub with the purchase of a medium or large sub, chips, and drink.  Offer good from Tuesday thru Thursday, get coupon from their web site.

Grimaldi's Pizzeria(I know of 1 in Grapevine)...a 16-inch cheese pizza for $10.40 on Tuesday.

Hooters....free kids meal with the purchase of an adult meal of $10 or more on Tuesday...who takes their kids to Hooters? Anyway, I'm just listing things, I'll keep my personal feelings aside.

McDonald's...oh yeah, talk to me McD's...each location is said to have some type of deal, you can check their app if you want to see what is offered at locations near you.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop...for their loyalty program members there will be a deal for a buy one - get one deal on Tuesday.

Schlotzsky's....free small original sandwich with purchase of chips and drink...not sure how great of a deal that is but it's something. I'm thinking my husband will be in line at Schlotzsky's on his lunch break come Tuesday!

Sonic....half price cheeseburgers on Tuesday, limit 5 per customer. I predict Sonic will be busy!


These are good, but is anyone else wanting even more options? Me too. Brad is highly likely to cash in on the Schlotzsky's deal on Tuesday. As for the two of us together, we are most likely to cash in on BJ's Brewhouse pizookie deal come Wednesday. We frequent BJ's anyway, so give us an extra incentive by offering a free pizookie and we are totally there!  For those that don't know, a pizookie is a shareable size skillet cookie with a scoop of ice cream on top and usually some extra goodness like caramel sauce or fudge. They offer quite a few different choices. The peanut butter s'mores version is WAY too good! It's sinful! Anyway, I get sidetracked easily. LOL! What about you?...anything listed above worth cashing in on?

Somewhat of a Tough Weekend

I dislike describing the weekend as "tough" but it's been a tough one. Cody has kept me BUSY. Cody has kept me without SLEEP.

Back on Thursday night he kept me up with him for about 3 hours during the night. I went into Friday feeling a little extra tired. However, Friday night was nearly an all-nighter. Actually it was an all-nighter, I went to bed at 5:30 AM after I finally got Cody settled. He was up again by 7:30. Brad got up at one point to check on the situation. Needless to say, yesterday was absolutely terrible for me, I was exhausted. I didn't know how I was going to make it through the day? Plus we had things that needed to be accomplished I couldn't just lay around the house. Not to mention the weather wasn't to my liking. It was super windy and cold. When I say super windy...I mean super windy.

Driving in extra ridiculously windy conditions are not my thing. We had to go pick up Brad's motorcycle in the late afternoon. The drive to the motorcycle shop was terrifying, especially crossing over the bridge. The wind was at full force as we crossed the bridge over a lake. Feeling the wind hit the car with that much force was kind of scary. Then knowing Brad was about to get on his motorcycle and have to contend with the wind and other cars around him. Yeah, this wife was not liking yesterday's weather conditions at all. Like I said, the most terrifying drive to and from the motorcycle shop I've experienced in years. But we now have all 3 vehicles at the new place, snuggly fitting into the garage. Brad's motorcycle has been in the shop since the 31st of March. It had some issues while being transported to the new place, so it instead went to the shop. It was spilling gas all over the place when Brad tried to drive it from the old apartment to the new house. Late last night I was officially warned I better not "accidentally" hit the motorcycle when I drive into our garage each day. Don't worry honey, I have a marker on the wall...I won't go past my marker. LOL! Can you imagine what would happen if I hit that motorcycle accidentally while driving in?  Yikes...I'd have to go live with my in-laws. LOL! To my father-in-law...wink-wink..."the wrath of Brad".  

Switching gears(no pun intended...lol...sleep deprived and I've still got jokes, at least a super lame one...tell me you laughed a little?) Anyway, at least last night with Cody was better. He was a little difficult in the early hours of the evening but he was ready for sleepsville around 1:00 AM, he briefly got up at 3:00 AM. However, Brad was still up playing video games so he tended to our little vintage puggie. Brad admitted this morning Cody was "easy on him", went back to bed quickly after wanting some water. Why don't I ever get the "easy" shift? LOL!

So yeah, I'm kind of confused to be sad to see the weekend end or happy to see it end? I'm hoping Cody has a good night tonight. Fingers-crossed, I can go into Monday feeling like I'm catching up on some sleep I've lost.

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Cupcake Counter

 

As soon as we moved in I could easily picture a line up of cupcakes(or cookies). These counters in the new place are ideal for my baking. No need to go make room on the dining table. Nope, it can all be in the kitchen. I even have room for an assembly line of cupcakes. No need to rotate them out once they cool or get frosted/decorated. They all get to hang out together until the entire process is done. LOL! I actually have enough room to dedicate one side of the kitchen to preparing batters and frosting and the other side is all about cooling and decorating. Sweetness! What's a Sunday afternoon without a cupcake?

Schooled By Simon

Someone took excellent notes while attending the Simon School of Hunger Pangs.  His rules were simple...

1) be on schedule
2) beg with your eyes
3) eat as fast as possible, pretend there's a gold medal on the line

Should things backfire and you don't get fed on time then by all means be resourceful...

1)  Look for extra treats in mommie's purse...true story, he found a couple once.
2)  Look for food laying around.
3)  Start following people around until they get the message that your dinnertime has been missed...true story, daddy forgot to feed him while mommy was out Christmas shopping one year. 4)  If all else fails take matters into your own paws!

Little Miss Piper learned well. She was taught by the master and she was an A+ student of his. So somewhere in heaven little Simon was looking down at his little sister this past Saturday likely cheering her on. Likely bragging that he taught her everything she knows.

Here's the story, soon after Brad arrived home from tennis on Saturday we decided to go out to an "early" dinner then go shopping for an area rug for our living room. Our new place is all ceramic tile except for the bedrooms, therefore, we'd like a nice size area rug for us but also for the pets to enjoy curling up on. Needless to say dinner and shopping went a little late. I soon mentioned we needed to wrap things up to get home to the pets. Mainly Piper needed to be fed, Cody has odd eating times these days.

We were home for about 5 minutes when I went into get Piper's food soon realizing the back-up bag of food next to her container of food had been tampered with. Tampered with in a big way...let's say a Simon would have approved type of way! He wouldn't have been able to do any better himself. The bag had food spilling out in two different areas. She had taken matters into her own paws. She had realized dinnertime had come and gone and nothing was in her tummy. What's a cat to do?  Be resourceful! She was very resourceful! I worried all night and into the next day about how much of the bag she had ingested along with the amount of food she scored. Thanks for the extra moments of worry Piper. As if I don't worry enough....but these days it's mostly about Cody, and whether or not he's still breathing.

Let me just say that will never happen again. She can't break into her container of food but a back-up bag is a challenging yet doable task to take on. That being said, in the future I will be more aware of where I place the back-up bag of food. Back-up bags of food and treats will go in a cupboard from now on. Oh wait that sounds familiar....I had to do the same thing years ago when someone named Simon was lurking about. That's why for so many years our coat closet featured dog food and their snacks. My apartments have always had smaller kitchens with small pantries so dog items usually went in the coat closet, odd I know. But you fit things where you can fit things. I believe I made the mistake once with Simon too. Only one time was a bag of food available to him to break into.  I'm a fast learner too. I learned lessons at the Simon School of Hunger Pangs too, my lessons were about how to keep him in check! Learning how to counter his actions! LOL!

Bonus Sunday Pic

Since I wasn't able to post last Sunday on Easter here is a bonus pic for today which is from Easter last Sunday. Cody looking over 2 of his Easter eggs. He loved the treats he found inside of them.

Quick Snap Sunday

There's never been a more true statement displayed on Cody's shirt than this one. He's a big time mama's boy! I love it, the shirt and the fact that he's such a mama's boy. Always has been and always will be!

When he was younger, or basically before he went blind, if I got up to leave a room Cody followed. He couldn't go more than 7 seconds without hunting me down. Even if it was obvious as to what I was doing. Even if there were plenty of other people around, he still always went within a 7 second timeframe to see where I was. These days he resorts to whining. Whining when he senses/worries that I've left the room. Always and forever my little mama's boy!

I'm My Mom

Oh my, first off, I apologize in advance to my mom for this post. Mom, you may want to skip this one. LOL!

This living situation is a little new for us. I haven't lived in a house for quite some time. Anyway, I have often teased my mom about how she spies on her neighbors. My mom knows all the happenings on her street. No one leaves, comes home, or even has a suspicious package delivered to their home without my mom knowing it. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit but what I just stated is rather accurate. LOL! My mom's living room features a big window that looks right out at the entire street. Not sure how many people in her neighborhood realize at any given moment she's watching and so is her dog, Jen-Jen.

Anyway, there I was late this afternoon sitting at my computer doing some research. I soon heard some strange noises. Next I went to investigate. I quickly realized it was suddenly raining outside, the noise I was hearing was rain coming down our chimney. I proceeded to walk across the living room to the front window. A boom of rolling thunder quickly erupted, which was the exact moment numerous people came running out of their homes darting towards their cars as they were set on moving them out of the potential hail causing storm that had just begun. There I was leaning over the back of our overstuffed chair watching people move their cars as well as other items inside and out of the weather. I also watched as a group of kids played football in the street completely unfazed by the weather. After watching the activity in front of our house I soon looked over at my little counterpart(a.k.a. Piper) and thought to myself...'Oh my gosh, I'm my mom!'  A mere 10 days of living in a house and I'm on the fast track to being a nosey neighbor. Wait...no...it's CURIOUS, not nosey! Extra curious about the happenings of the neighborhood...right mom? LOL!

Welcome To April

It's been awhile since I've posted...clearly! The move that has been hanging over our heads for how many months?...um, about 9 or 10 months, is finally behind us. We are feeling more settled in to our new place with each passing day. As you can tell we are also back online in our household.  Our original connection date wasn't scheduled until the 14th, can you believe it? The 14th! I have been calling everyday to see if I could snag a cancelled appointment time. Viola...success!

So here's something noteworthy, while we were still without internet in our place I needed to do a few things online this past Saturday. I figured Starbuck's was the best option. Everyone goes to Starbuck's to guzzle coffee and surf the web, right? I guess not the Starbuck's in our neck of the woods...I mean, our neck of the boonies! The two Starbuck's I went to offered no wifi. I ended up at a McDonald's after noticing their network pop up when I did a search for available networks. Personally, I prefer McD's any day to Starbuck's. I'm not a coffee drinker, unless my mother-in-law makes me a little cappuccino in her Keurig...then I'm a coffee drinker for one cup! LOL!

Worst part about the move...our TV is busted! Yep, a 65-inch flat screen is a done deal!!! I'm currently still working on our claim with the moving company. I can not believe how Texas law protects the moving company. Basically we are out a 65-inch TV and they can offer us in return the pocket change from a few sofas they move. Seriously! Texas law states movers are only responsible to pay 60 cents per pound. Let's do the math...a 50 pound TV, means we will get a whopping 30 bucks!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I can't even begin to tell you how mad I was when I finally got online last night and I could read the finely printed Texas laws concerning items broken by moving companies.

I take a little solace, not much, but a little, in the fact that we live in the information age! The age of social media and internet reviews. It is absolutely guaranteed I will write a bad review on every site I can find. I will also send a letter to the BBB. Two BIG lessons learned...never hire All My Sons Moving, the official moving company of the Dallas Cowboys! And never let a moving company move your largest TV! We usually don't, this was the first time Brad decided to allow the moving company to do it all, except for the fish tank. The fish tank was carefully moved by Brad and a friend this past weekend. It looks sensational in the new place! A fish that was found in the fish tank tubing was even saved. That was a dramatic few moments not just for the fish but for us when we realized there was a fish stuck in the tube. He surprisingly survived a notable amount of time out of water and is now thriving with his friends in a new location.

Below are my treasured little fur-babies enjoying their new place...