Organizing

I haven't organized much in our house lately, so it was nice to take my CDO (OCD, but in alphabetical order as it should be HAHAH) and use it somewhere else.  I organized and purged Kevin and Debbie's pantry:

It took a few hours to go through everything, but it was actually fun!  Tessa (almost 3 years old) helped me empty the pantry and even Doug and Kevin helped out too.  When Debbie was done working she came in to help, but the poor thing is super pregnant so she can't do much - she cleaned out the cupboard next to the pantry and gave us lots of goodies and junk food!  YAY!  I've never traded my organizing and purging skills before, so that was great too!  I traded a haircut for organizing :)  I do this to our own pantry about 2-3 times a year.

More Crazy Dog Picts

Our puppy can be quite a monster sometimes, but he can also be so cute and lovey.  He learns things really quickly and then goes above and beyond - like he learned how to ring a bell, then would pick up the bell and run around the house with it in his mouth.  A few days ago I was teaching him "Shake" and "Stand".  He picked up "shake" pretty easily, but "stand" was a bit of a challenge.  He's learned the big rectangular portal (refrigerator) in the kitchen has yummy treats and food in it.  He will sit by the refrigerator and wait for a cube of ice.  He knows ice comes from the refrigerator because he was really sick over the weekend and I was feeding him ice to keep him hydrated and just in case he had a high temperature.  He also knows his mashed sweet potatoes are in there as well as his canned puppy food.  We've been giving him boiled, mashed sweet potatoes to help increase his fiber because his diarrhea was so bad. 

Ruger is just a little too smart for his own good....and he can be super stubborn too.

Running through the yard with the milk jug:

 Ripping hair out of his stuffed lion - poor lion:

Speaking of Rocks

We had to cover the rubber bark we had in the yard because Ruger was trying to eat it all the time.  We were going to cover it because we were really sick of battling the cat crapping in our yard - I'm pretty sure it's our neighbor's cat.  Hopefully the rock will keep the dog from eating the rubber bark and hopefully the dog will keep the cats away.  WIN-WIN!!

Stupid Rocks

I'm one car payment into the loan and my windshield already has damage:

Suckie!!!

Doug had the same thing happen when we bought his truck.  He had the truck for 2 months and was hit by a flying rock off of a tire.

Stupid stupid rocks!!

One In How Many?!?!?!

1 in 175 million!!!!!!!!  My brother's wife's parents (I think that's easier to follow than my sister-in-law's parents, since I have so many sister-in-laws now :) ) won a $217 million Powerball Jackpot!!!!

My sister-in-law and my 2 nephews are next to her parents.

News Report:
Business traveler claims airport Powerball prize

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. – A Fredericksburg man, flanked by his wife, daughter and grandchildren, stepped forward today and claimed a $217 million Powerball Prize.

The winning ticket was purchased earlier this month at Richmod International Airport in eastern Henrico.

Dave said he bought the ticket before flying out to Denver for a business convention. He said he learned he won while at the convention and quickly became distracted.

When he called his wife from Denver to tell her about their new fortune, she said she nearly had a heart attack.

He used Easy Pick to randomly choose his Powerball numbers. The winning numbers were 5-27-36-38-41 and Powerball number 12.

The winners, who work for the Department of Defense, chose the one-time cash option and will receive $136.4 million before taxes. Dave said he plans to buy a new car to replace his 13-year-old car with 170,000 miles.

Oranges!

I wish this blog had smell-o-vision and taste-o-vision!!  OR I wish I could send everyone an orange!  It's so exciting that our tree produced so many oranges after years of nothing!

YUMMM ORANGES!!

Growing Too Fast

Our puppy is getting too big too fast!

 Waiting for Doug to walk in the door:

 Enjoying some sunshine:

 Playing in the grass with his fancy Ruger tag:

Being crazy and trying to eat the stuffed, armless monkey:

I guess this blog is becoming an All-Ruger-All-Day blog :)

Socializing Weekend

We had another busy weekend with Ruger.  He sure takes up a lot of our time.  What the heck, can't he figure this stuff out on his own!!?? :)

Socialization, this weekend, started on Saturday with the vacuum and lawnmower.  He was a little fearful of the new noises at first, but didn't care after a couple minutes.

Ruger was socialized with a few dogs on Sunday - my parent's dogs.  We packed up the car with Ruger's crate, blankets, paper towels and even a tarp.  It was Ruger's first long drive and I was expecting the worst and expecting a lot of dog vomit (especially on the super windy road).  Ruger slept most of the way there:

There were a few deer on the road to my parent's house.  They didn't seem to want to move:

We let the dogs meet each other outside and then we moved indoors.  Trying to get pictures of them all holding still was just about impossible:

 Most of the pictures looked like this:

 Trying to show the size difference between my parent's 8 month old Chihuahua and our dog:

Ruger was trying to play with Jazmine, but Katie (black/white dog in the background of the picture below) didn't want Ruger near her precious Jazmine.  LOL  Jazmine would flip out on Ruger because he liked to put his paw on her to play and then Katie would come in teeth snarling and nip at Ruger.  Ruger thought it was fun and would try to bark and play with Katie.  It was quite an afternoon!!

My parents have been dealing with turkeys and ginny hens all over the yard and even on the roof.  My mom and I laughed so hard while we watched from the kitchen as my step-dad took a long handled garden hoe and threw it up the hill at the birds. It smashed into the tree and the birds freaked out and went away.

My two favorite boys passed out on the way home:

Creepy tree on the way home:



Flowers

Just because they're pretty....

 

 

Valentine's Day

I hope you had a great Valentine's Day!  I was taking the puppy outside and was surprised by a huge bouquet on the kitchen counter. This picture doesn't do it justice at all!

I wore my red heels to work - gotta wear something festive right?  Why not make it a pair of sassy pumps!

Doug made a wonderful dinner last night!  We had steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob - which he cut off the cob for me because I hate biting into it - and a delicious salad.  He stayed up late to make dinner and spend a little time with me.  I'm sure he's exhausted today, but I'm a lucky lady!  Thank you babe!  I love you!

He said he was trying to make the meal picture worthy and I certainly think he succeeded!  I only wish I would have taken a better picture.

Ruger, Meet Ruger

Doug finally got his other gun; we paid for it a month before he was able to get it from the FFL dealer.  I was so tired when he got home the other night that I wasn't very interested in it, but it's very lightweight and small.

We had some crazy dog days lately - meaning the dog is really crazy!!  He likes to run around at warp speed for hours sometimes.  We did some bell (we're training him to ring a bell when he has to potty) training last night and Ruger did very well.  He actually hit the bell a number of times on his own; it's was pretty fun to watch him stare at me while processing why he was getting a "click" and a treat.  He would lean and kind of lift his paw, but not follow through.  Then he would hit the bell with his nose and realize that would get a "click" and treat too.  I got so excited when he clumsily lifted his paw and hit the ground and/or bell.  I wish I could hear what he was thinking.

I already fed him dinner and then 20 minutes of treats (it's just his dog food), so I had to stop.  He is really motivated by his dog food, so he will sit and train as long as I keep feeding him.  He's quite a character.

This was a very proud puppy moment!  Ruger tries to eat his leash, so I haven't done much leash work with him, but we need to start now so when we can take him out for walks it will be an easy transition.  I decided to do his normal training while he was wearing the leash.  If he's distracted by treats and commands, he won't notice his leash right??!  RIGHT!!!

Ruger on a leash, in a STAY command:

I walked about 6 feet from him and dropped the leash; I even had treats in my hand!!  What a good puppy!  You can tell he's about to lose it in the picture. HAHA  He's starting to lean and get ready to run at me, so I had to hurry and give him a piece of food.  He stayed until he got the food though.

Commuting

It's been a while since you've enjoyed a commute photo, so here are two.  This woman is obviously happy to be divorced:

 Yep, this one is an elderly woman reading:

You wouldn't believe....well, maybe you do believe....how much of this crap I see on the road every day.  People reading, doing makeup, texting, pets in their lap, etc.  I watched a young girl stop at a red light to turn right, then she looked down at her phone the entire time she made the turn and even while merging into the next lane over.  People are so ridiculous!

Puppy Playpen

Our living room has become a playpen.  I'm really glad we decided to build a living room playpen because it's become an extension of Ruger's crate while we're home.  He won't pee in his crate and he doesn't seem to want to pee in his playpen.  It's really reduced the amount of accidents in the last few days.  As a matter of fact, he hasn't peed in the house for a few days now!  YAY RUGER!!

I think he might have slipper withdrawals though.  When he is let out of the playpen, he runs to sit or lay on the slippers.

O.M.Scarf!

I can't believe I almost forgot to post the latest scarf I finished!  I'm pretty proud of myself!  I was nervous about the colors, but my girlfriend loved it!  I was having trouble finishing it with a new puppy running around like crazy, but it finally got done.  I just might buy that yarn again and make one for myself.

Popular Ruger

Ruger had quite a weekend!  On Saturday he got to hang out with Ben and Breanna and he met Bonnie, Caleb and Aaron. Then Sunday he met Kevin, Debbie, Rachel and Tessa and our friend Matt.  Ruger was completely exhausted Saturday and Sunday nights.  It was wonderful! 

This is Sunday evening – he passed out (so much so that he involuntarily peed when I rolled him onto his side HAHA! Poor puppy!):

I didn't realize the marking on his chest looks like a #1!!

After I got up and moved, he followed me to find a comfy place to nap.  He likes to lay on the back of my legs if I’m sitting (or would it be called standing? Kneeling?) on my knees.  What a weirdo:

Last night was quite a challenge!  Ruger knew Doug was supposed to be home, but he didn’t come home until really late.  The puppy was used to our schedule last week and last night was totally different.  He was completely crazy all night!  He would run around in circles, bark and whine, jump on things he normally leaves alone, flip out on his toys, etc.  He would calm down and start to rest for a moment, but I think he would catch himself falling asleep then realize Doug wasn’t home and he would get up and run around like a weirdo again.  I was trying to control his behavior and keep him in line with the rules, but he wasn’t having any of it.  I would pin him or muzzle him to get his behavior back in check and although he would submit very quickly, he just couldn’t stand it that Doug wasn’t there.  I calmed him down enough to put him in his crate; I knew he was tired and if he just stopped being crazy, he would fall asleep.  He finally rested a little, but then I woke up to a whining puppy.  I thought he might have to go potty and was being a good puppy by letting me know.  I carried him downstairs (I learned that if he has to pee really bad he can’t make it downstairs to the door without stopping to sniff and then he pees a little) and Doug was on the couch trying to relax after work.  No wonder he was whining!!  I took him out to go potty and Doug said his hellos to the puppy.  We put him back in the crate because he needed to sleep, but he was sad and just wanted time with Doug, so I opened the crate and had Doug call to him.  Ruger went flying down the stairs.  He finally got to hang out with Doug and then he slept through the night.  Good grief!!!  Let’s hope tonight is better!

Rummikub

My mom and I have been searching for a Rummikub game like the one we had when I was younger.  We were able to find a few online, but they are cheap plastic.  We found a set, but we couldn’t figure out if the tiles were plastic or more of an ivory material; we purchased it anyways.  It’s perfect!!  I’m so excited!  I have to remember and relearn how to play.  The reason I don’t want the cheap plastic is, well, because it’s cheap, but also because I love the noise the heavier tiles make when they are mixed and flipped over.  It helps me reminisce about my childhood when I used to play this game with my mom, aunt and grandma.

Crab Feed

We went to a company/industry crab feed on Friday.  It was fun!  We ate a bunch of food, got to see old friends/coworkers, laugh and be silly with current coworkers and meet new people. 

 

Someone made a crab feed themed cupcake tower; it was really neat!  There were fondant crabs and starfish on top of the cupcakes.

Puppy Supplies

I can’t believe how much stuff we purchased for this puppy:  crate, bed, food, different food, more different food, collar, leash, retractable leash, blanket, sheets, towel, toys, bones, more bones…and the list goes on.  This $50 puppy has cost us hundreds of dollars so far.  If I didn’t purge all the older stuff we didn’t use, we wouldn’t have needed to buy blankets, sheets or a towel.  While shopping a few days ago, I was looking for a pooper scooper and tennis balls, so I was in the pet area.  Why is it that when I stand back to look at the variety of items, two people step in front of me, like I don’t exist, completely ignore me and do their own shopping???  My tolerance is getting really low for people in general and especially their rudeness.

I’m pretty excited about a self-inflicted purchase we got in the mail yesterday –  Ruger’s new dog tag:  (Click: Dog Tag Art to create your own!! - or pick a premade tag, some are hysterical!  After creating the one below, it was done and shipped the next morning!  They even offer to reprint it for free if it ever fades or rubs off.  It was about $13 with shipping for the larger tag that's about the size of a quarter.  Don't forget to look for coupon codes online.)

Ruger loves a blue monkey I brought home from work.  He had one of its arms ripped off within the day (now both arms are ripped off) and I pulled the stuffing out of the monkey’s body.  He is really good about not eating our shoes or furniture (so far).