cold morning, cold nose

bird-dog...

...fierce hunter of ducks and pheasants.

dessert.

travis and olivia came over last night for apple blossoms and ice cream. they also brought this wiggly cuteness with them. she entertained us all with her girly wiggles and whines and overall adorableness.

finally...

...we're home. :)

updates!

first update??? we finally got approval on our home! our projected move-in date is november 28, (my mom-in-love's birthday) so we could be there in time for christmas! we're meeting with our home loan officer today to get our paperwork in order and hope to schedule a home inspection next week. this picture is the original picture i found on the internet months ago, i hope to post my own pictures very soon. :) whoo!


my second update is that joey turned 6 years old on tuesday! now that's he's considered a middle aged dog, (although papillons have been known to live until 18+ years) i bought him some old man treats with glucosamine to help with that aging. happy birthday joey!


update number three is my new phone. it's pink! i don't know why having a pink phone is so incredibly enjoyable for me, but it is. i've never had anything other than the cheap flip phones you get with a new phone plan and i'm not a very "girly" girl, so i've sorta hit two birds with the same stone with this one. also, it plays music! (another completely new concept for me.)

oh, and happy halloween everyone!

"i'm uncomfortable..."

joey has a "hot" spot which is dog-owner lingo for "uncontrollably itchy" spot. he's hates wearing his cone-collar but his hot spot is in the most uncomfortable spot ever, err uh, in between his legs. (let's just say it's a good thing he's neutered.) he doesn't want to walk around because it's just too itchy and it's just gotten too sensitive. i've bought him new cookie treats and given him lots of love but he still fills the apartment with drama. hopefully the evil cone-collar will help speed recovery.

friends & fireworks.

today our friends paul, jen and their adorable daughter franny are driving back home to arizona. they and chris stayed with us on thursday night and i was surprised how easy it was to sleep that many people in our little apartment. in the morning the boys went for a bike ride and the girls had breakfast and took joey to the dog park.

after they left to visit with paul's brother for the fourth of july, mike chris and i drove up to big bear to see the fireworks at the lake. it was amazing. i love big bear, but especially on independence day. last year we stuck around riverside and it was just not fun. we drove up to a park on the top of a hill but there weren't any good fireworks worth seeing. while we were sitting on the grass and just starting to think of leaving, the sprinklers suddenly turned on and we had to make a mad dash to the cars.

we were able to spend last night with paul and jen again before they left and i was glad we did. we had a great time. hopefully we can return the favor and go visit them in arizona real soon. too bad it's about 114 degrees there!


although he doesn't show it here, joey was extremely happy to be at the park. really.


this is a friendly pug that we quickly made friends with. he was very chubby and couldn't breathe very well without snorting.

chikkens and rice?

i've put joey on a boiled chicken and rice diet after having a discussion with my friend teri, who is a veterinarian. joey has been throwing up a few times a week in the mornings, usually when he has an empty stomach. it maybe started about a year ago, but has slowly become more frequent. he seems his typical spunky self and hasn't shown any signs of distress so teri guessed it might be acid reflux or some other stomach ailment caused by too much fat in his dog food. taking her suggestion, i've decided to feed joey only boiled chicken (to cook out all the fat) and white rice for a week to settle his stomach. (it's sort of a dog version of 'tea and toast.') i feed joey an all natural holistic dog food, but i would consider changing his diet to something low-fat if it comes back again. it's going to be hard to get him to eat when i take him off the chicken and rice diet and back to dry food, he really loves his chicken and rice!


"jenny! i is sad... i needs more chikkens and rice, yes?"

productive?

we may have another month (at the least) before we may be able to move into our new house. so, what do we do with our time before then? well, i haven't been called for work for the last three weeks, so meanwhile joey and i have been making the most of our sweet bonding time. a few times (including this morning) we have hit the dog park and ran errands together but mostly he just sleeps as i read or do housework. i expect to get more calls for work starting this week, tomorrow marks the start of the district's fiscal year and everyone will gain their new vacation/sick days. i feel bad because joey has gotten used to me be being home and i hope he doesn't take it personally when i start work again. i say that seriously too, joey often takes things personally. he's surprisingly quite an emotional little guy.

i'm naturally a very lazy person so it's very hard for me to not sit in front of the tv all day. (especially when there's such great programming on hgtv. i loves me some hgtv!) during my downtime i've kept up with tidying the house and have read sense and sensibility. i haven't read anything by jane austen before this but have always wanted to. last summer i read a biography on austen but it has taken me this long to actually pick up one of her novels. i'm thinking of starting the jungle by upton sinclair next but i'm open to any suggestions. :)



unfortunately, michael hasn't had as much free time as i have, he's clogged with reading and researching for his masters classes. there's piles of "school junk" on the kitchen table and i'm not completely certain which semester it's all from. it's hard not to feel bad for him, he has five hours of classes every thursday night and hours of homework every week. honestly, we'll both be doing a lot better after he's finished with school in the late fall. he'll finally get his life back and i'll finally have my husband (and kitchen table!) back.

a weekend visit.

on sunday we visited my brother and his girlfriend brandi and brought joey to meet brandi's new kitten, izzy. after joey and izzy entertained us for awhile, michael helped james with the BBQ and we soon had lunch ready. after our BBQ chicken, steak, pasta salad, corn on the cob and fruit salad, (mmmm!) we decided to take a walk around abalone cove. i wasn't wearing the right shoes for navigating rocky beaches, but it was really beautiful anyway. it was great to have a cool cloudy day for once, it's been so hot and muggy in riverside lately. after abolone cove we drove to the redondo beach pier and bought ice cream, (for michael) churros (for james and brandi) and coffee (for me, of course!) for dessert.


joey was pretty surprised to be included for once. this is his "no, seriously? we go bye bye???" face.


the introduction of izzy...


the battle is on! joey loves izzy but wanted her to chase him instead of punching him in the face. izzy is fearless and loves a challenge. (izzy won all of their matches, she's a good little boxer)


cleaning up after lunch. mmmm BBQ!


a tuckered out izzy. battling dogs three times the size of you is tiring.


brandi and james, laughing it up at abalone cove. :)

springtime.

i got bit by the gardening-bug so i decided to plant these little butterfly seedlings a few days ago and i'm so glad they're already popping up. i love baby plants! aren't they adorable? i haven't grown anything from a seed for a few years so it's nice to see they're doing so well (so far.) like my painted pot? :)

also, last week i thought that the porch was looking a little bare so i bought two new plants to brighten it up a bit.

joey, proudly showing his favorite pink geranium. (this one's for you momma!)




i thought this was cute. joey is so easily upset by big loud crows.


my beautiful gardenia should (hopefully) start blooming next month.

"munch munch munch"

if any of you have met joey, then you already know how much he LOVES his cookies. when we ask him if he "wants his cookie?" he gets these big eyes and answers us "yes!" by twirling in girly circles and wagging his fluffy tail. on some occasions when he gets extra excited he'll start running around the room as fast as he can. sometimes he gets so playful he forgets all about his delicious cookie and barks at us to chase him.

once i give him his cookie however all of his attention is focused on it. depending on his mood, there are several ways in which he decides to eat it. sometimes he'll grab it out of my hand and devour it in seconds, or he might take it delicately and nibble on it for five minutes. other times he'll stare at me and growl until i toss it at him so he can chase it. but his best choice of all is when he stares at it and stares at it wanting it to jump up and run away. to my knowledge no cookie so far has run from joey, but he stares at it, barks and jumps at it trying to intimidate the poor cookie. it is the most adorable thing ever.


(joey in mid-munch)

sabet 1990-2008

last week i got news that my childhood cat died. sabet was 18 years old and lived quite a life. we brought her to oregon when we moved from california in 1991 and until a few years ago spent a lot of her time outside killing rats and gophers for us. over the years she got more tired and ill-tempered, but never could say no to a scratch under the chin.

~your leaps were powerful, your claws sharp and your vengence swift~