Puphawk.

I figured since Russell enjoyed expressing his creative side so frequently these days, it was only fitting he had a haircut to match.

[before]

 [after]

Thus the puphawk was born.

And he's a lot less of an ass now. Imagine that.

Just a boy with a vision.

This is my sunroom. It has a daybed. It has a lot of pillows. I like pillows. Pillows are comfortable and add interest.

This is my dog. He is cute and cuddly. He sleeps in the sunroom. The sunroom is also known as "Russell's Room.

Let me tell you a tale of these two characters....

Last night, after being tucked in and told "good night, sweet dreams, see you in the morning, love you", Russell the cuddly puppy had a creative vision.

Russell realized no pillows should have corners!

Russell tediously executed his vision while I slept soundly upstairs in my bed.

Imagine my excitement to see what a lovely job of redecorating he did upon my awakening this morning!



Russell did not get a treat this morning. Russell got a spanking. Russell does not have a future in interior design.

Lazy girl dog treats

You know what screams LOOK AT ME, I'M LITTLE MISS DOMESTICATED?
Homemade dog treats.
C'mon, your first thought is who has time to do that.

Me. That's who!

A few weekends ago my mom and I decided we were tired of buying the ridiculously priced dog treats from the store & took it upon ourselves to make our own. The thing is, they're super simple. We even got all cutesy and used a heart shaped cookie cutter since it was lovey-dovey February

Lazy Girl Dog Treats

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine oil, peanut butter and water. Add flour, one cup at a time, forming a dough. Knead dough into firm ball and roll to 1/4 inch thickness. (We used mom's Kitchenaid, with the dough hook)

Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes, or simply cut into squares/rectangles. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

[recipe based on this one]

These got the tail-wag of approval from Russell, Spencer, Bella, Abby and Darby (hey, we like to share!)

So What Wednesday

Link up with Life After I "Dew" if you wanna dish too!

So what if I have maternity leggings on right now. I didn't realize when I was buying them. They fit fine everywhere except the gut... I could stuff a pillow in that bad boy! I just fold them down hah

 So what if I came home Friday after work to a surprise delivery. My 2nd favorite west-coaster, Cody, sent a box of chocolate-covered strawberries. They shifted a bit in transit, but are pretty darn good! 



So what if I took on a little project roughly 4 hours before everyone was slated to show up for Christmas Eve celebrations.

Just a minor thing ;) My dad ended up calling right after this picture & wanted me to come pick him up from the tire store and I ended up getting busted.  Which I guess is good because he helped me finish in half the time!

So what if the bathroom chalkboard got some serious action on Christmas eve. The headline being "MIKE = COUSIN EDDIE" 




So what if, even though I enjoyed having a house full of family, I doubt I will offer to host Christmas again. There was wine spilled on stuff, broken chalk all over my bathroom and a very sick dog because everyone kept feeding him people food. It was more of a mess than when I have all my friends over! =/

So what if I'm absolutely in love with the new baby that was adopted into the family on Saturday! Miss Bella. One of my mom's clients was giving her away because she started a new job, and my mom offered to take her. She's such a doll

So what if Santa knows about my adoration of MattyMc and brought me these for Christmas. Enabler! I think my collection is nearly complete


So what if am LOVING work this week because I am alone in my office. Supervisor takes vacation this week every year and it's so nice and peaceful. 


So what if am currently trying to figure out how many boxes of bandaids and icepacks I need to buy to burn through the $100+ that's still left in my FSA account. Boo on 'use it or lose it'! 
 

What your pup wants you to know

I came across this the other day and I'm not gonna lie, I teared up.  I'll be the first to admit there are those times that I'm trying to get something done and am so frustrated with Russell acting like my permanent shadow following me everywhere around the house wanting to play. But now I have a refreshed view on things! 

10 Things Your Pup Wants You to Know

1 - My life will probably only last 7 to 14 years. It will hurt me more than you know if I have to be away from you for longer than a day or two.

2 - If you have patience with me and give me time to learn what you would like from me, I can promise you, you will never be disappointed.

3 - Trust me with your life and have faith in our future together. If I don't feel that you honestly believe in me, I will suffer great emotional stress. My sense of self-worth is totally dependent upon your confidence in me.

4 - Don't stay mad at me for long or confine me to a cage to punish me. You have your friends, your job, and your recreation. I HAVE ONLY YOU!

5 - Talk to me about anything you want as frequently as possible. Even if I can't comprehend your precise words, I can understand the meaning of what you're telling me by the tone of your voice.

6 - Remember no matter how you treat me, I will NEVER forget it.

7 - When you consider raising your hand to hit me, remember I have teeth that could break the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8 - Before you scream at me for failing to respond to your commands as I usually do, take time to think about what might be wrong with me that would cause me to treat you differently. Maybe I haven't been eating right or drinking enough water. Or maybe my age is catching up with me and I just can't do what I used to do.

9 - Take good care of me when I get old. Someday you will be as old as me and you will see how it feels.

10 - Be there for me through good times and bad. Never say you can't handle taking me to the vets for stitches or surgery. Nothing could make me feel worse. Everything in my life is easier for me to deal with when I have you standing by my side. Remember my love for you is unconditional and it will last for your entire life.

[source]

Aww I love my Russell pup, and this reminded me to make sure he knows it!

On the subject of cleaning

I decided this past week that there was just too much cleaning to be done at my house and I didn't have the time, so I hired a cleaning lady.

Err, cleaning lad.






If only I could get him to clean the toilets I'd be elated!

Ruh Roh

Russel - 1, Pillow - 0

Russell stays in his "box" while I'm at work... apparently he was envious of the birds playing outside in the snow, however, and decided to make some of his own!

Catastrophic Monday

I saw sunshine for 3 days straight this weekend! Granted, it was far from WARM and sunny... but it was sunny, and at this point I'll take whatever little glimpse of spring Mama Nature decides to dish out.

1) Chris and I had a nice little dinner date Friday night that we ended with some ice skating... me, being the professional, never fell. Chris, trying to show off, fell once. The dinner - meh. The date - smiles.

2) I had vowed to not let Russell on the couch. He's such a cuddler though, that that resolution lasted nearly 6 hours. 2a) Yes he does go by Russell now. The artist formerly known as Oro. He is actually listening when you say his name now instead of ignoring you and continuing to run rampant through out the house. Although when he's feeling frisky he responds only to Russello d'Oro (and you MUST roll the R)

2b) Russell got a haircut last week. Apparently the lady felt that he was a poodle/SCHNAUZER mix because he has a straight schnauzer haircut. I'm not really a fan. (Side note: we are pretty sure he is, however, indeed a schnauzer mix. When I vacuum and he goes NUTS barking... you can very clearly hear the schnauzy influence of his bark)

3) I popped into Goodwill on Saturday while I was running some errands. This is what I saw.
You already know what I'm going to say next.
I walked out with a dresser. Not literally walked out... fitting a dresser into my car - now THAT's a funny thought.
It has taken up residence in my craft room (that was empty up until this weekend). $24.99... how could I say no?! Solid wood too - that sucker is heavy. Missing a few pieces of hardware, but I've got ideas.

3a) Added bonus: mom and I discovered, while unloading it, that one drawer was still full of clothes (slightly odd, slightly humorous). And then, stuck back behind another drawer, I found a really old picture of two little boys on a swing that is HILARIOUS. I think I will frame it.

4) The weathermen are calling for a "CATASTROPHIC ICE STORM" tomorrow. Won't that mean we will all die? Catastrophic... huh... nice knowing ya'll.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that perhaps we'll get a strong wind and all that snow will come a little further south... I'd much rather have 12" of snow than 4" of ice. I do like the hot pink coloring though. It's like a little glimmer of fun before the CATASTROPHIC event.



I'm linking up to Miscellany Monday with Carissa!

Meet Oro!

He's a quirky little fellow. I picked him up Saturday afternoon and had a first panic attack when he lept out of my shopping cart and I had to chase him through the store!

Silly little guy. He loves to run, yet when I let him out in my (fenced in) back yard, he refuses to go out there unless you go with him... but by golly if you open the front door he's off like a bullet (we learned this the hard way!)

He loves a good ear scratch and any kind of attention, and he LOVES to play fetch!

See that blue Bebo dog in the background? He's already gotten to the stuffing inside of it... He loves to run in laps around the house shaking it around violently. I think he'll be more of a rubber/kong toy type of dog, not a stuffed animal lover!

He also doesn't seem to know his name. Have you ever adopted a dog? Are you allowed to 'change' their name? Not that there's anything wrong with his name being "Oro" but I am beginning to wonder if it's too close to "no" and he's getting confused... thoughts??

I personally think he looks more like a Frederick, or a Glenn or a Russell?

adoption

With a new old "nold" house, and a big ol' fenced in yard and lots of lovin to go around, it only makes sense to look into adoption! Adoption of a pup that is!

I knew for a while that once I got moved into my house I wanted to look into getting a dog of my own. Originally I wanted a brand new puppy. And then I saw the Sarah McLachlan-depressing-ADOPT ME-commercials on tv every hour and knew that I had to save those poor helpless dogs. So off to adoptapet.com I went!

My criteria:
-A small(er) dog, big dogs are great but just not for me. I don't like having a giant lump o' coal laying on my lap or jumping up on me.

-A non-shedding or minimal shedding dog. I am allergic to cats, and sometimes I wonder if that trickles into some dog dander too?

-Non-yippy. I think chihuahuas are adorable, and yorkies sometimes but they are just too loudmouthed for me!

Ideally, I wanted a poodle or a bischon (or some mix of both). That's what my spencerpup is and I love his temperament and think he's just the greatest (doesn't every dog owner think that of their own though, ha?!)

I stumbled upon a curlyhaired apricot fella named Oro (which I've since learned means "gold" in spanish)


I've been emailing back & forth with the shelter he is at and am going to meet this guy on Saturday. He sounds great on paper, so I hope we meld well!