Me from A to Z...simple as Do, Rei, Mi. (Yes, I'm a simple creature folks!)

Ok, so a reeeallly long, long, time ago (and over the hills and through the woods we go), after reading her blog post with all kinds of good tid bits, I told Elizabeth over at Chronicles of Cardigan that I'd share some juicy details of my own. So, here goes it! 

A. Age: hahaha...I'm 27. Yes, but I feel like more of a mother hen around here than my age would suggest. ;-]

B. Bed Size: Queen, unfortunately. Gotta get that king size someday!

C. Chore I Dislike: Cleaning cat litter boxes. And, doing dishes by hand. Yuck. I actually like some chores. (I'm sick, I know!) I think they make a pill for that. =P

D. Dogs or Cats?: Dogs - 1, Cats - 3 (Like Elizabeth, I was a cat person first. heh)

E. Essential Start to My Day:  Shower. No other choice. MUST shower.

F. Favorite Color: A nice, bright orange. However, this changes with my moods as I'm an artist!

G. Gold or Silver: I've been more of a fan of silver lately, with turquoise.

H. Height: bout 5'6''

I. Instruments I Play: I played saxophone for a year in 5th grade, then I got headaches from practicing, so had to quit. =[

J. Job Title: I work for the feds and help veterans on a daily basis. Really. A long shot from what I went to school to be: a relationship/sex therapist. I got burned out after my first four years of school, so grad school just didn't hold its appeal any longer so I joined the adults in the working world instead.

K. Kids: Hopefully two. (Don't have any yet) =]

L. Live: In a house, in Iowa. Originally from Illinois.

M. Most attractive feature: Hmm, I didn't want to put my mom's maiden name like Elizabeth (she said she changed it to suit herself). So, I changed this to be one of those other "standard" questionnaire inquiries. I'd have to say my hands. LOL

N. Nicknames: Umm I don't really have one, but my dad calls me A-Nate' (pronounced "nuh-tay") It's my middle name, like after the perfume.

O. Overnight Hospital Stays: Yes 3 occasions: twice for carbon monoxide poisoning; once for gallbladder removal (cholescystectomy, or something like that).

P. Pet Peeve: Public speakers that say "umm" a lot, liars, a messy house, people who spit with reckless abandon. *shudders* Ew.

Q. Quote from a Movie: "Mock-Yeah; Ing-Yeah; Bird-Yeah! Mocking bird, everybody, have you heard? She's gonna buy me a mockin' bird." Ok, not the same effect as the movie...but it's from Dumb and Dumber. Best ever; and, the only thing I could come up with on the spot here.

R. Right- or Left-handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Yes, a younger sister.

T. Time I Wake Up: 5:08 a.m. on weekdays; 9-10 a.m. on weekends.

U. Underwear: I like the string bikini kind. Too much information?

V. (No one else did 'V', so I'm making one up.) Vacation Wish: Ooh, Irish getaway with horseback riding through the green, green hills. Or, Australia visit to Sydney, etc... PLEAAAASE?

W. What Makes Me Run Late?: Usually my husband not listening to me as I list the things that need to get accomplished before we leave the house, so I have to run around like a chicken with my head cut off to do them myself. Then, he blames it on me. *sigh*

X. X-rays: My right arm, right ankle, teeth. I broke my right radius as a kid, and recently rolled my right ankle. Who hasn't had dental x-rays? I got braces at 23 years old! So fun. Not.

Y. Yummy Food I Make: You ain't had good food til you've tried my home cookin'! *said in the best Southern accent I can muster* I love to cook!

Z. Zoo - Fave Animal: Toughie. I am not sure on this one. Animals are so cool...probably horses cuz they're so beautiful and fun to ride. =]

27th Letter (yet to be designated): ? Hmm, If you caught my spit comment above, you may be wondering what is up with that. I have a bit of a spit phobia. Ewwww. Long story - goes back to high school and watching a brother/sister fight at a friend's house and seeing (in slow motion) spit fly from his mouth into her mouth (inadvertently of course). DIS-GUST-ING. I have to go wash my hands now. ;-]

*****

Ok, I hope I have satiated your lust for personal information about me! heh. Please feel free to re-post this and share you own! Don't we humans just love that little glimpse into peoples' personal lives? We're such voyeurs at heart. ;-]

Cool and comfy for summer

Ok, so this post is not dog-related. Sorry if that's all you tune in for. I do like to feature Reese as the main attraction, but this is just too good to not post!

Loki is no longer Maximus Fluffimus for the summer! See his reaction to this new cut below...

Before

 

After

You should know a little more 'bout the Lok-ster to fully appreciate this clip. He will be 5 years old in a week. His coat has always been longer than his brother's. By the age of 3-4, a Ragdoll's coat should be fully filled in - what you see is what you get, right? Well, we thought so. The really great thing about a Ragdoll's coat is how bunny-soft it is and how it doesn't mat because it has no undercoat. We barely ever needed to brush the two boys because their coats were very low maintenance. Titus has a shorter coat and it has never matted. Now, Loki's has always been longer, but it's never matted until this last 6 months or so. I just couldn't keep up with it. It kept growing and growing, and no matter how much I brushed him, it would always ball up under his armpit area. He hated having to go through wrestling matches with me and the brush. I admit, we even laughed sometimes, because when he tried to lick his chest, his "mane" got in the way and by the time his tongue got to the end, the hair was still stuck to it and he had a heck of a time spitting hair out of his mouth constantly. Poor guy!

We finally took pity on him when we moved and realized how it was getting warmer, and how he just looked even more miserable as his coat was growing what seemed like constantly (and the mats were getting worse by the day). I called the groomer up and they said they only do lion cuts. Figures. We'd always laughed at how silly those cats looked, but there was no other choice at this point. Poor Loki.

The minute he got home from his grooming session, he started acting like he owned the place (well, he's part owner anyway, but this was just NOT like him)! You should have see him! This perpetual wallflower strutted around the house like he was the bee's knees.The other cats were horrified. Who was this intruder who smelled all perfumey and looked unlike any cat they'd ever seen? They hissed and growled when he came their way, but Loki paid no mind to these nay sayers. Normally, he would've been cowed into a corner or retreated to a dark room if the other cats had behaved toward him this way. Not anymore.

I am so happy for the big guy cuz he is so much happier than he's ever been. I just wish we'd thought of this about 2 years ago cuz he's always acted hot in the warmer months. Side note: I realize now why he acted this way all those years though...even with his hair so short, you STILL cannot see his skin if you try parting the hair...it's so dense it's unbelievable. And, he's not nearly as fat as he always looked...lol!

Houston, we have a .....CGC?

Today my morning started off with a bang.

Normally, for me a Sunday morning consists of...well, not much. I like to sleep in as long as possible to delay the inevitable return of work the following day. Sure, I have to do chores around the house and run errands that don't get done during the week because of the perpetual shortage of time that occurs on the days from Monday through Friday; however, I also put these off as long as possible (or at least until I've wrinkled myself like a raisin in the hot shower).

Reese got a surprise this morning! I decided we should take advantage of the local rescue league's Canine Good Citizen testing opportunity! So, up at 7:30 for a nice long walk/jog to wear her out (a bit at least!) so that she wouldn't be bouncing off the walls and barking at every moving thing once we got to the facility. It was overcast and windy, but humid as all get out...so we got sweaty, but the wind/lack of sun kept us somewhat cool. We journeyed two miles! Truth be told, we both needed the exercise anyway! By the middle of the second mile, she was stopping off in the grass to test if I'd let her just relax and take a load off. Nope...leisure was not the idea this morning!

Once we got home, we had to coax her toward the car to load up...COAX! The poor pup was grudgingly walking toward the car like we were going to torture her with a trip to the dog park or somewhere else she'd have to walk forevermore! It was too funny to see her expression. =]

Anywho - immediately after we arrive and take her outta the crate, she starts barking at every little thing (unfamiliar territory after all) and she is pulling on the leash like a madwoman with a second wind! I can't believe it and my heart sinks. All I can think is, "Great, so much for THAT brilliant idea...now we're going to look like fools and fail the test because she is going to be a basket case as long as we're here." Luckily, I see there are only a couple of other cars there..."Good, there appears to be a shortage of witnesses for our humiliation." heh

Fancy my surprise when we walk into the building and Reese quiets down and puts on her game face. It was instantaneous. She was curious and wanted to look around and check things out...which the judge excitedly encouraged us to do (she was a VERY nice lady!). I walked her around the training room so she would become familiar with the sights and sounds and she was a dream after that. The judge was taken with her and thought her absolutely adorable. =] We ended up having to go first for everything (wasn't too excited about that), but all went well and I didn't fall on my face or make a fool of myself.

So, that's the long story...but she PASSED with flying colors and will now be a CGC! I will post pictures once we officially receive the certificate in the mail, but it's SO exciting! I couldn't wait to post it. =] I took some great pics of her after we got home and will maybe have to get them framed with the certificate or something. I definitely want to submit the pics to the Corgi Butts "Corgis with blogs" calendar contest!

PS - Reese was interested in the agility stuff on the sidelines and the judge told me they do a 4 week class for agility . We are seriously thinking of signing up for it! *squeal!!*

Ultimate dog tease

Poor blog readers. You POOR, poor things. I know you all miss us... Your nights of longingly clicking on our page with glee building up inside your bellies from the idea that you might find entertainment in the silly antics of our fur-herd or one of Ryan's funny videos, only to have your hopes dashed beyond recognition because we haven't updated the blog in weeks, will soon be over. Not quite what you feel when you click on our blog only to find that we are being very lazy lately? Well, at least humor me. ;-]

We miss you too! I'm dying to get some posts up; my idea list keeps getting longer as the days go by. Rest assured that there will be many fun/amusing posts to come in the near future because we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel! We signed the papers tonight to close on the sale of our house and we have pretty much unpacked everything after moving into the new place. There's less work to do now, so I will finally have time to fill my nights with fun stuff instead of feeling like an overworked elf on Christmas Eve at 10 pm. =]

To tide you over for a little while longer....please watch this amusing video that Ryan found tonight. It made me laugh cuz you just KNOW that is probably what is going through a dog's mind when we talk about stuff they love! ;-]