Saturday, October 31, 2009

Rudy's Halloween

Tinkerbell and her daddy and I went to the Humble Area's First Baptist Church fall carnival this afternoon and then I hurried home to get Rudy dressed in his costume. Can you tell what he is?



The costume didn't turn out the way I planned, due mostly to my lack of any artistic ability and the difficult task of coloring on a dog. (Let me take this chance to thank my creative consultant from Frankfurt, Care Bear.) (She has a thing for washable markers and drawing on dogs.) When he stands up straight it really looks a little more like a lightning BOLT (hint hint). You may need to squint just right, too. And have really poor lighting.


Edited to add at 7:35pm--Our first Trick or Treaters tonight said "HEY! THAT'S BOLT!"

Friday, October 30, 2009

I know you are jealous of my punkins...



Are you most jealous of the fact that we are playing with Play Dough? Or that Wonder Pets is on? Or that Rudy has a new, annoying sister? OR that my Zoe is still in her jammies?

As if that weren't enough, check this out. Are you not just GREEN?



Zoe's new love, right after Play Dough and Tinkerbell (pictures of THAT tomorrow!!), GLITTER GLUE!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Rainy days and Mondays...







Yes....he's on my bed. With me. On Cuddle Bun's pillow.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Rudy was not harmed in the shooting of these photos...


Rudy has a new kennel. It is bigger since he is growing.









Wonder if I can still get gramma of the year.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Not just vampires and wizards.....

I'm not a very philosophical person. I don't usually sit around wondering why I like what I like or do what I do. (Unless you're talking spiritually, but that is another post.) (We don't have time right now!) BUT, tonight I'm going to my Young Adult Literature Book Club. It has been about a year and a half since I retired as a young adult librarian. And, while it is true I have definitely been reading more adult lit, that lure of YA is still really strong! I was trying to think of any adult book that I have read that I have felt sad for finishing. I can think of lots of YA books that made me wish for more to read. As a matter of fact, we're suppose to talk tonight of our all-time favorite YA book. Just ONE!!

So why is that?

I taught middle school. USUALLY the plots weren't terrible intricate. Maybe that is why I liked them. They fit my intellect. But that doesn't account for UGLIES or it's sequels.

Not a lot of people died. The world wasn't threatened. Except for in THE MISSING PERSONS LEAGUE or Z IS FOR ZACHARIAH.

No major issues. Wait. Not so. (OUT OF CONTROL, THE WAVE, SWALLOWING STONES, THE PINBALLS....)


OK. I like spunky characters. I do know that. Slim in EARTHSHINE. The girl in BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE and the mouse in TALES OF DESPEREAUX. (NOT the movie. I don't even really know how that movie could bear that title.) And all of the characters in HOLES. (Movie for that is acceptable. Very.)

I like wonderful writing. You can't read the first paragraph of INCREDIBLE JOURNEY without knowing that the book was going to be lyrical. INKHEART was like that, too. (NOT the movie!) (And, even though I've read Harry Potter and enjoyed the series, we are NOT talking great literature here.)

I also really liked books that made me think differently about something. EARTHSHINE, again. UGLIES, too.

It is time to go. I am taking my all time favorite book (WHAT IS IT CLASS????) WRINKLE IN TIME. I read it in 1963. The year it won the Newbery award. I'm sure it doesn't scare kids the way it did me all of those years ago, burrowed under my covers with a flash light until 2am because I couldn't put it down.

I'm also throwing in a vote for WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS (yes, the dogs die, but go read it and don't judge that book by the movie, either) and WORDS BY HEART. Not widely known despite the fact it was on the Texas Lone Star list. (Books for middle school kids.) It is an amazing story of faith.

I'm sure all reading this (hi, family members!) will rush right out and read all of these mentioned titles. I may come back and add a few more after our meeting. But, had to post about this other love of my life. All YA lit is NOT about vampires and wizards, despite all of the movie trailers you see.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The Prince of All He Sees



I had a scrapping weekend this weekend. Rudy had to go to the spa. It was his first time in the arms of strangers. I was encouraged when the girl at the desk squealed and claimed she had found a new "desk dog". I was further encouraged when I went to pick him up and the girls squealed again when I said I needed Rudy. (Rudy is used to squealing. I think it makes him feel at home.) He sat on my lap all the way home on his hind legs licking my face. I'm glad I don't live too far from the doggy spa.

Zoey's car seat had to be removed from my car in order to load it with way too much scrapping junk. And knitting. And even sewing this time. (That wasn't touched, but when you are away on a crafting weekend, you must have way more stuff than you'll ever need....just in case.) Anyway, I'm guessing Rudy mistook it for his throne. From which to rule his domain.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Spa Retreat Weekend with dog hair...


Rudy and I spent the weekend "babysitting" for Auntie Sandy's two pups. Well, they're not exactly pups. Rudy is still the pup. They actually are more like older cousins and they allowed us entry into their domain. I don't think they'd take too kindly to the "babysitting" word.

Aunt Sandy was in Kansas getting her boychild married off. He really is a catch, Ashley, no matter how crazy he might tell you his mom is.

This is Carmel. Carmey for short.




She is the ruler of the little kingdom. Rudy followed her everywhere, much to her annoyance. She would probably be surprised to find out that it was actually a kind of hero worship with a bit of "She's my human, not yours!" thrown in. By Sunday, Carmey was actually tail wagging with Rudy. Given another day or two, they might have even played tug with the rag bone. Maybe. Carmey may just be too cool to play with babies.

For most of the weekend, though, Carmey wanted on my lap or as close to it as she could get when my knitting needles were going. But then, of course, so did Rudy.



Because of her low tolerance for the kid, she usually gave up and went to the end of the couch. Poor girl. I tried. I really did, Carmey. What are you going to do?



This is Scooter. He has issues. Not of his own making.



Both Carmey and Scooter are rescue dogs. That's right. They rescued Auntie Sandy and Uncle Don from a petless life. But before that, Scooter may have been abused. He is just now, after several months, starting to let me pet him on my terms. OK. Maybe still on his terms. But he does let me pet him and I even got a smooch or two this weekend. (Sorry Cuddle Buns.) He curled up in my lap once before Rudy caught on. Scooter spent much of the weekend here:



Burrowed under his blankie. Beats competing with a little rat-like thing that doesn't even want to use the doggy door.

PS...I had a great weekend knitting and reading and being quiet and dog wrangling. And eating chocolate chip cookies.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Irish Shuffle


I have spent the last week, after getting my body clock back in order, shuffling piles. All of the dirty clothes of course went immediately into the dirty clothes basket so Cuddle Buns could begin his job of laundering them. He is much more able to get right to work and get things organized than I am. The heavy clothes, sweaters, etc. that I obviously don't need since today's weather headline is "Summer Just Won't Call it Quits" sat in a pile on my dresser. Then I shuffled them to the bed so I would be sure to put them up in the closet before I slept. Right. I finally shuffled them to a bottom shelf in the closet knowing that someday I will be cleaning the closet. Did I mention that when I had those sweaters, etc. on the dresser that they covered a whole duffel bag of souvenirs we brought back? Piles. I have shuffled them from our suitcases and tried to put them into piles as to His and Mine. He mixed them up because he shuffled his pile back to my dresser in an attempt to get ready for work. (Poor guy.) Then I shuffled them to the bed next to the clean sweaters because of course I will get everything done before bedtime. They were shuffled back to the dresser. Then some were shuffled to the guest room where they await mailing. Some of them. Those that aren't getting mailed have been shuffled to the kitchen table so I can grab them when I leave if I might be seeing the person I got them for. (Magnet for my hairdresser. Key chain for the miracle worker who gives me massage. Big, important items all over the table.) When that started looking really tacky, I shuffled them back to my dresser.

Some haven't even arrived at the house yet since we had some things shipped. I have a small house. Why did I buy out Ireland?

During this shuffle I am constantly stopping to take away Rudy's new favorite toy: Cuddle Bun's slipper. A billion dog toys clutter the floor. He wants the slippers...



Doesn't seem to matter where we hide them, he finds them.


His little bed here in my kitchen has been moved clear across the room by his running and jumping into it with whichever toy he is mauling. I move it back several times a day. He loves his bed and jumping into it.

When we're not shuffling or chewing on slippers, this is what we've been doing...probably a lot more than the shuffling...





Friday, October 2, 2009

The Best Part of Waking Up....

After leaving a country that was absolutely charming, spending what seemed like DAYS in various airports (JFK-- what a zoo!), collapsing into bed when the clock said it was 11pm but the body knew it was really 4am Ireland time, and then not wanting to wake up when the clock by the bed said it was 6am but your body was awake because it thought the time was 11am, but being so fuzzy brained there was no way the day was going to be put to any good use, it was so good to have a slobbery puppy kiss to the nose. I missed him and it is good to be home.