"Super" Weekend Is Almost Here

Hello furiends, it's the little dude, it's a big weekend! There's a Super Bowl on Sunday and a Puppy Bowl too. But before all that, tomorrow we are having a get-together for my grandparents. It's a combo birthday party for the two of them. My mom actually just got home from the store as she was busy shopping for stuff.

Having company come over two days in a row...can you imagine the fun I'm going to have? I love my grandparents. Grandma spoils me with ice straight out of her glass, plus she lets me climb all over her. My great-grandma is very into me. Only problem is she never lets go if she gets me. But hey, who can blame her. Lol! My grandpa is cool too. He lets me climb on him too and plays rough with me, which I enjoy. I'm a roughy! My aunt, uncle and cousin will be here too to show me some love.

Mom said I better rest up for all the excitement while she bakes a cake later. I might take her advice . Then again, I might get distractions by other things.

One more thing before I get back to other stuff like chasing a squirrel out of my yard. Look what mom made me...my very own puppy bowl "trading card". Was she nuts to make this or just nuts about me...maybe both. Either way I enjoy seeing myself in trading card form.

Landon's Video Message

Earlier today I received a special message, a message from Landon. Apparently he knows how to talk now. Who knew? Well I guess his daddy knew because I think he helped Landon make this video to send to me. I loved seeing my baby boy chat with me in a message. What a delight! I especially loved the "eyebrow" action!

To Landon, I definitely agree 150% that your daddy chose the most perfect puppy. You, my furry-son are the best!

Friday

That's me soaking in those rays of sunshine. I missed the sun. We've had too much rain this week. Yesterday it started to clear up. However, not in time for dad to get his tennis pals organized for tennis practice. Mom's been a little under the weather this week. Oh don't worry, I've been taking care of her when dad's not here. I smother her in kisses every time she lays down. Yes, literally every time she lays down. I can be on the other side of the room and hear mom lay down on the couch and boom...I'm there to kiss her. 

Mom is starting to feel better, most likely due to my kisses, plus it's supposed to be a sunny weekend with good temperatures. If I had thumbs, I'd post a pic of me giving two thumbs up. Happy Fri-yay pals!

Honey and Slippers

Two short stories for this holiday Monday. Anyone have anything planned? I know the NBA now claims this day, featuring one showcase game on NBATV and a triple header on TNT, those games start this afternoon and go into the night. Brad's actually still in bed as I type this. We have already planned on having a lazy day at home today, per Brad's request. So playing video games, watching some NBA and the Australian Open is most likely what this household will be doing. Oh and wrestling with the little dude here and there. He loves to wrestle! Now to my two stories...

The other morning Brad was getting a cup of coffee and Landon was directly under him at his feet. Brad stopped to talk to me while he had something in his hand. I didn't instantly pay attention to what the "something" was in his hand until I noticed Landon making some weird movements, which included backing away from his daddy. Brad had opened the lid to the honey but as he chatted with me he wasn't paying attention to the fact the honey was dripping out of the container. Dripping out of the container and falling down on Landon's head, the back part of his head right at the "nape of his neck". No, he did not get his first taste of honey because there was no way his tongue was reaching around his head for a lick. Lol! Needless to say he was "headed" for a bath just as soon as possible(pun intended). It wasn't easy getting that darn honey out of his type of fur. He was a sticky situation!

Now another short story, this past Saturday night was "date night" for us. Just because you get married doesn't mean you stop "dating" one another. We still have date night's weekly, usually on Saturday nights. Anyway, I went in our bathroom to freshen up my makeup and change tops before we left. A few minutes later we were set to take off. We're in the car and Brad has backed us out of the garage and we are now in the driveway, all of a sudden I say, "wait, stop the car." Brad quickly brakes as he asks why? I exclaim, "my slippers, I still have my slippers on." We both busted out laughing at my rather big oversight. What a dork I am! Yes, I wear my slippers a lot...perhaps, too much. But it was a Saturday and we had a casual day around the house, plus it's too cold to be barefoot right now. It provided us both with a nice laugh at the start of date night. LOL!

Hat Day

#nationalhatday #borroweddadshat #wearingmyhatbackwardsbecauseiamcool #headtiltonpoint #headtiltedandhatstayedon #nike 

Quick Snap Sunday

She goes outside now! After months of documenting the amount of times little brother went outside and returned, likely careful to note he has yet to be eaten by the backyard, she decided she needed to see what the backyard was all about. Overall I think this is good for her. New scenery to see and investigate. Also when the two siblings are out there together its good "bonding" moments. She just doesn't want him to get too rambunctious around her. But that's all the time, inside or outside. Brad has assured me she will not leap over the fence and be gone. I'm still a little nervous to allow her out there too long, I keep a watchful eye on both of them yet try to allow them a little independence. Thin line at times as a pet parent. ;)

Big Bad Nothing

Landon is not the bravest dog in the world. He's the type that needs to see and be around people and dogs a few times before he's going to "warm up" completely. There are a few exceptions to this but generally the more frequent he sees you the more he's going to feel comfortable.

When we take our walks there's certain houses we pass where he has a level of "comfort" with the dogs in the backyard. This is especially true if he sees the dogs out and about then comes across the yard they are in, he gets comfortable real quick. Mind you his comfort level is greatly helped by a fence between him and the other dogs. So yesterday I'm walking him, we come along the side yard of a home we pass daily. He's seen these dogs numerous times being walked and he hears them all the time in their backyard. The level of comfort is there. They like to chat back and forth, I mean bark, back and forth. It's all in a friendly manner. Anyway, we're walking along and the dogs in the neighbors yard and Landon through the fence are "chatting" away when all of a sudden a mini dachshund comes around the nearby corner. The dachshund was on a leash but it was one of those retractable leashes so the dog had a ton of freedom. The dog was coming to get involved in the discussion that was going on between Landon and the 2 other dogs inside their fence. All of a sudden Landon sees out of the corner of his eye this mini dachshund...wait let me repeat, this mini dachshund...coming in his direction, as soon as he spots the dachshund he is instantly spooked and begins heading in the opposite direction at full speed. Well it would have been full speed if he hadn't had his mommie holding him back. I had to react quick in order to calm him down because he was heading in the direction of Oklahoma. It was so funny to me afterwards of course. In the moment it wasn't all that funny. He got spooked by a mini dachshund. Lol! I would have understood him being spooked if it had been a dog bigger than him but a mini dachshund? Yes, it's a different body type than him but not an intimidating figure.

He's an interesting little dude. He was acting all big and bad and chummy with his pals on the other side of the fence but when a mini dachshund comes up to join in he splits. What's at the end of my leash that I walk? A dog that thinks he's a big bad dude. But in reality he's a big bad nothing! LOL!

Random Thoughts

It's raining, hail is expected later tonight. Today has been one of those that's kept me tuned to my weather app. Who else is obsessed with a weather app? I have 2 different ones on my phone. 

As I'm typing this post I have my little Landon on my lap and Piper is nearby too. Both of them handle bad weather rather well. Landon is just on my lap per his normal routine, I don't think it's because he's scared. We lost power earlier. There I was trying to sort laundry with a flashlight. That was fun!

So Cowboys have a new coach. I played a small prank on Brad before he had heard the news. I purposely told him an incorrect name first, then quickly followed it up with the correct name of the new coach. The first name I reported to Brad was certainly not his preferred coach for the job. The Cowboys hired someone that's won a Super Bowl here in the Cowboys stadium so I think the consensus is the new coach is a step or two up from the former coach. Here's to the hope the Cowboys can rise above mediocrity!

Reviews

I love reading reviews. I don't read reviews for every item I buy but I read reviews for a lot of items. I'm noticing a bad trend with reviews lately. This bad trend is especially present on Amazon. Let me demonstrate...

Here's a review, a REAL review..."I own a toy breed in the small size range on the size chart, after washing this shirt it's now a little snug, wish it was a little roomier. The design is vivid, colors are great. Quality of the shirt is as good as I expected, it's very soft too."

That review above is concise and gives info to the product. However, the trend online for reviews is looking more like this...."My dog doesn't like wearing shirts." or "My dog doesn't look good in green."

Here's another sample of a dog treat review..."I have a large dog, it's hard finding rawhides challenging enough to keep him occupied. These are great for large breeds. The rawhide is wide which makes it more challenging for him to eat. These rawhides do have a coating on them that might come off on rugs, so we always make our dog lay on a blanket when he has these." 

But once again REAL reviews are surrounded by "comments" like: "DO NOT FEED TO YOUR DOG. Made my dog sick."

I personally don't give much attention to pet owners claiming it made their dog sick because you don't know enough about the dog and the household. I know recall issues can happen but they would be handled differently then in the review section on Amazon. So generally I don't pay much attention to pet owners claiming something made their dog sick. What those pet owners fail to mention is that they have a toddler in the house and the dog ate the toddlers milk, cereal, and applesauce during the day too. Or they fail to mention their dog is a "Simon". When Simon got sick it was hard to pinpoint if it was a treat or something else he may have consumed randomly on the walk. I'm just saying all dogs are different. It's unfair to make such a "comment" on such a public site as Amazon about a product making your dog sick because all dog's are different. What Landon eats might not work for the pitbull named Moose next door and vice versa. 

Now let me briefly mention some other "reviews" I've seen on Amazon recently...

For a puzzle I've seen "reviews" like this: "My kid lost 3 of the pieces and we never finished it." Here's another, "It took up too much room on my table."

Here's a few "reviews" from diet books:

"I don't like vegetables."

"It downloaded wrong on my Kindle. So no stars from me."



Those are comments not reviews. I actually think the root of the problem is the curse of social media. People have grown so accustom to offering up their random comment on any little thing that they don't know how to articulate a REAL review. Review the product people...review it...leave your worthless comments to yourself.

P.S. I'm not trying to negatively single out Amazon. I love Amazon. I love the vast array of products. I even love the fact that so many people do choose to leave reviews on Amazon. However, they have a problem developing and they need to figure out how to create a system that weeds out the nonsense garbage "comments" and leaves the REAL reviews. Other stores/companies like Macy's, Best Buy, and Petsmart don't have as big of a problem with such nonsense in their review sections.

Quick Snap Sunday

 

Tiptoeing thru the clover field like the talented little dude I am! Never mind the grass in my beard. I may have snacked on a few blades of grass.