New Kid On the Block or What Were We Thinking?

As some of you may know, we lost our precious Zack the Wonder Dog to a quick growing cancer in July of this year.

Zanna the Wonder Dog misses him.  And we miss him. 

So much that we made a quick decision (i.e., we weren’t thinking, didn’t do the research, we weren’t thinking, (oh yeah, I already said that, didn’t I?) didn’t look at the big picture) to adopt a dog that we had decided to foster.

Before we even got him into foster status.

His name is Dexter.

He is wrecking our house.  He regularly believes table tops, no matter the height, should be his perch from which to gain purview of everything.  So that he might find something else to chew up. Tear up. Throw up in the air and catch with his mouth.

So, if I’ve been a little distracted, I believe it's because I have a toddler in my house.

And Janie the Dog Whisperer has officially hung up her hat in an admission of failure.

We have had to call in a dog trainer.  One who thought he could turn Dexter around in 45 minutes. (Even he quickly changed his mind, haha!)

We laugh, now.  And ThatManILove says that, with every act,  Dex is just trying to fill up his love bucket.

It’s been four weeks and Dexter is making huge progress but he is still stretching us to the max.

Insofar as we can tell, Dexter was a chained up yard dog, with virtually no human interaction.  It took us almost 2 weeks to establish eye connection with him.   

I hate it when my carpet has stuff on it, like pieces of pig ears, fabric,  and plastic.  It drives me bonkers.

And he loves to tip over the grands’ storage toy buckets.  LOVES their stuff.

Right now, I’m just walking over, under, or by the mess, and putting on Young Living Stress Away Essential Oil.

If I get out the vacuum cleaner, it will be certain death to that machine…because Dex will want to play with it.  He LOVES to help me dry my hair.

If you can imagine a dog with interest in E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G., you might have a wee idea of what animal we have.  Add the German Shorthair hunting instinct?  And just a tad of young pup?

Voila.

Dexter.

And he has absolutely stolen our hearts.  He makes us laugh, ‘til we cry.

Playing the "Don't Cross The Barrier" Game.

 And Zanna?  Is back to her wild ways, getting Dex to chase her, play fighting, and (gulp) even flirting.

She LOVES him.

All is well in her world.

Dexter is officially part of our house.  He's been neutered, chipped, and sleeps on our bed about half the night.  He's in like Flynn.

If you’d like to foster or adopt a German Shorthair Pointer, let me suggest www.texasgsprescue.com.  They’re great people – and you will fall in love with a German Shorthair. 

Venice...Mind? Blown.

We have trekked miles, and ridden water taxis all over Venice in three days.  And all because we won a trip in a Young Living contest!

I’m sure we missed quite a bit, but my feet are saying…”Girl, believe me, you hit it all.”

We went to Saint Marco, and saw the big cathedral.

We traveled down the Grand Canal, right after sunset.

We went to the Guggenheim Museum, where some of Jackson and Charles Pollack's works were shown.  It was a very powerful collection, spanning several years.  They even had some of their familial letters on display. For example, several of the paintings in this room were painted in West Texas.

We went to the island of Murano where the glass blowing factories reside…and amazingly made it out of there with no major purchases.  (Though we almost caved and bought a beautiful piece….maybe someday.)

We stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky – a beautiful property, built into an ancient building.  Good job, Hilton!!

Did I tell y’all anything about eating?  The food, amazing.  The gelato, consumed while walking along the waterfront? Divine.

Watching all the people, from all the nations, tourists and Venice dwellers, was one of my favorite things. Speaking of humans, we met some amazing people on this trip to Venice, Croatia, Turkey, and Greece, and formed some great, godly relationships with some of them.  We know, in our hearts, these friends will be friends for life.  Thank you, Jesus, for your love that knits us all together.

We want to go back to these beautiful countries, and soon.  Thank you, Young Living, for sending us on this amazingly, wonderful journey!

#youngliving #YLcruise #venice #greece #croatia #turkey #guggenheim #oilnatural #essentialoils

Well Planned Gifts Never Go Astray

I love a thoughtful gift.

I'm a giver.  I try hard to help people out and to match the gift to the recipient.  It's not always easy to do, but I try.

The favor was returned, in spades, this past weekend.

Out of the blue, one of my bestie friends and her daughter, also a bestie friend, gave me this.

AND they gave me this.

Both pieces match me to a tee.  

My son is a roper.  I love roping bling.

And as to the Crazy?  Well, you already know.

Spot on, Suzan and Becky.

Spot on.  I LOVE the necklace and the bracelet.

I've already worn both pieces.

Now, nod for your steer and let's get outa here.

Friday "Why Did I Eat That Much?" Post

Proper utilization of "overet":  I dun over et.  I et too much.  My tummy hurts bad.

I think I ate all day.

Starting with Chex party mix for breakfast.  What the HECK?

No fruit.  No veggies.

Well, until Thanksgiving dinner, around 2 p.m. Pennsylvania time.

But up until that time?

I think I snacked all.day.long. while we were preparing everything.

We had lots of laughs, i.e. the time I forgot to mix the pecans in with the butter/flour/brown sugar mixture (to top the sweet potatoes).  (The topping ended up looking like a big pecan praline…but oh, man, did it taste good!)

I'm gonna try to overload on fruit today.

PS - The Infrared Turkey Fryers are the bomb.com.  No grease.  No mess.  Beautiful turkeys.  Amazing.

Okay.  Going to take a nap.  Right after I eat an orange.

Winner Winner Crab Claw Dinner!

Thursday night, after our National AADE Board meeting, we hosted a dinner at Bistecca, the steak house on the top floor of the Meadows Casino in Washington, PA.  

I had arranged my transportation so I would not have the liberty of gambling, or also staying too late losing money after the event.

Immediately after the meeting, though, we went to go buy our shotgun shells to get ready for the shoot the following day, so we lost track of our group.

When we made it back to the restaurant, we still had 30 minutes to burn.  About half of our group was out on the deck, imbibing.  The other half was in the cigar bar, imbibing.  Of the two, I chose the outside option - I can’t hang with cigar smoke, even residual.  And, I rarely drink.

My friend Tommy had dropped me off, and parked his truck.  Somehow, we missed each other. He called me and told me he was in the cigar bar, and that his wife and son should be walking in any minute.  I had not seen them in a year, so I went downstairs to meet them, and ran right into them.   We exchanged hugs, and Debbie went to the cigar bar to meet Tommy.  Daniel wanted to gamble, so I told him I would go with him for 15 minutes, on my terms only.  He agreed.  

He had no money, so I popped $500 out of the ATM, gave him $200, and off we went to the high limit slots.  

Daniel and I sat together on a bank of 4 machines, and plugged in our money.  Within 4 pulls, Daniel popped a $600 pot.  He started giggling, which inspired me to do the same.  Giggle, I mean.  

Daniel: I’m going to go cash out.  Let’s leave.
Janie:  You cash out, but you have to play that machine at least 4 more pulls.
Daniel:  Why?
Janie:  You never leave a machine while it’s hot.  We need to test it with at least 3-4 pulls.  Then we can leave.
Daniel:  Okay.  I’m going to go cash out.  Stay here.
Janie:  (when he came back)  Okay, put some money back in there.  
Daniel:  Okay.  

Three pulls later?  The munchkin wins $1200.  He starts laughing so hard, I laughed right along with him until I cried.  He had to sit there and wait on a payout (and a 1099).

I moved over to the other side of the same machine bank, and put in my money.

Three pulls later, I won $600, and played it up to:

And no 1099!!

We gambled less than our alloted 15 minutes, walked away winners.  And Daniel paid me back my stake.

Now, people, if you're going to gamble, that’s the way to play.  

In. Out. And QUIT.  Go do something really productive, like hang with friends.  And eat amazing crab claw appetizers.  Man...were they good!!!  As far as I'm concerned, Bistecca gets 5 stars for food, presentation, and service.  If you're ever in the area, go there!

And Daniel, his parents, and I giggled for the rest of the night!  

Remember...it's never boring around here!

Gonna Go Fishing (Maybe)

I have spent the better part of two days trying to reserve a rental down on the coast.

It’s not so easy to do when you’re trying to find (a) beachfront and (2) nice and (3) affordable on the (4) Texas Gulf close to your (5) favorite fishing guide.

I think I’m gonna start drinking.  Again.

That is all...

Sweet Saturdays - Pea-Eyed Parker the Cowdog

Some puppy's been sleeping at my house.

At night, trying to figure out what's best for sleeping...the bed, or the floor.  Because the crate is a n.o.n.-o.p.t.i.o.n. for this Aussie pup.  And by the way, he asks, why can't I sleep under the covers like Zanna the Wonderdog does?

So, in other words, this pup is...

Disrupting my life.

Unraveling my rug.

Uprooting everything in the rope basket (aka doggy stash bowl).

And he's so cute and sweet, he's getting away with it.