For Lindsey :)

Hey Lindsey!!

Here are the latest of my new baby. She just had a drink of water so her muzzle is soaking wet. ENJOY! :)

P.S. I wish you lived closer so you could puppy-sit Stella G when I go on my cruise in January.

Stubborn, meet Stubborn :)

Potty training is going quite well as we haven't had an accident since Wednesday night. Stella seems to be pretty smart and gets what I want her to do. Now if I can just get her to ask to go out.
She's also quite a stubborn little girl. If she doesn't want to do something, she plants her little butt and refuses to move. Guess she found the right home. Luckily for me, she's too little to outstubborn me :)

Jameson & Gage

Allison and her boys met us for dinner last night. They were all spiffed and shined and were very well behaved. Gotta love a guy who can wear pink, huh?

I STAND CORRECTED :)

Alex is on his FOURTH Harry Potter book, not his third as previously reported :)

Book Worms

Alex is reading the third Harry Potter and Sarah is reading the seventh and final one. It amazes me that 6 year old Alex is reading the same series as his 31 year old mother.

UGH!

We've had temps in the 100's for the last few days and my lawn is buring up! Although, they checked the sprinkler system in May, they didn't do anything about the broken one in my area until the 16th of July. I called asking about it on the 7th as the lawn was already burning up. It's been very hot here for weeks now. I am beyond pissed about it all. The president of the association told me that grass doesn't die, it goes dormant but I'm here to tell you, mine is DEAD!!! Yes, we had a lot of rain in May but it needs water NOW and has needed water for over a month! People are asking why my grass is dead. I didn't move into a condo so I could pay fees and have dead grass! I plan to go to the annual meeting in January and bitch!! This is ridiculous. The association across the street has beautiful lawns which make mine look even worse. If Jim were still alive, he'd have been livid over the whole situation. UGH!!

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!

We celebrated David's birthday two weeks early so his North Dakota relatives could attend. Bruce, Carol, Grandma Phyllis, Auntie Allison, Uncle Karter, Alex, Mommy, Austin, Jameson, Gage, Grandma Kathy, Emily, Uncle Joe, Auntie Shari, Matthew and Matthew's friend, Lucas were there to help eat cake. David made quite a mess.

Ladies Who Lunch

Sarah and Allison took all the boys to Splash Down Dakota for the afternoon. Mom, Carol and I went to Up The Creek for lunch. Stella got locked into the laundry room. I had a trophy margarita, Carol had a martini and Mom had a glass of wine. Mom and Carol went home for naps. Me? I want another margarita :)

Can I make you some breakfast?

So, I offer to make scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast this morning. Alex wants only toast with jelly. Grape jelly. OK, I can handle that. Being the good grandma, I go to the frig to get him some milk to go along with the toast. I noticed a glass with a built in straw in there with milk in it. I assumed it was left over from a previous meal. Alex drank it without a word. Later when Sarah looked for the formula she had made up for David's next bottle, she discovered I had served it to Alex. Poor kid.

David

Taking a little tour of Auntie's cabinet.














My, what BIG eyes you have.

Harry Potter

Alex attended a Harry Potter "thing" at the library today. They made a hat, some goop, glasses and a wand that was really a pretzel rod dipped in chocolate with sprinkles added. He's just finishing up the third Harry Potter book and is really enjoying them.

SARAH'S IN THE HOUSE!!!

It's wonderful to have all my kids at home :) Slamming doors, squabbles, noise, boys and all!
It sure makes me realize how old I really am. I don't tolerate the chaos as well as I used to. Actually, I don't think I ever did tolerate it much, but nevertheless, it's sure nice to have them all here at once. I know Jim would've loved every second of it. Wish he were here.

Can it be??

OK, I picked Stella up in Bismarck Thursday afternoon. I have dogged (no pun intended) her every step since then and she's had a total of two accidents. Pretty damn good if you ask me. Yesterday, she went potty only about half the times I took her out. No accidents but she didn't seem to know why I kept taking her out, took forever. Today, she's gone. every. single. time. I've taken her out AND has done it quite quickly each time. It's like it finally clicked :) I realize I still need to be hypervigilant but it's nice to know we're making progress.

I've been shutting her in the laundry room when I leave, where I have her crate and a few toys. The first two times, she cried horribly. She also was crying when I came home. I don't know if she cried continuously or not but I hope she settled down and then started crying only when she heard the garage door opening when I got home. Today when I left, she didn't cry when I put her in the laundry room. She wasn't crying when I returned either. More progress :)

2 MORE SLEEPS!!!

Sarah, Alex and David will be here on Monday!! I'm so anxious to see my boys and to have them here!! I'd better get busy washing sheets and cleaning the spare bedroom. They'll be in on the 4:00PM flight, maybe I should wait and let Sarah wash her own sheets. I think she'll have plenty of time before bed time, don't you?

Thumbs up from the vet :)

Stella had her first vet visit yesterday and she got a clean bill of health :) She gave Doctor Thunshelle a smooch right on the lips that earned her a treat. She's doing well with potty training and the only accident she's had was when Allison was watching her this morning. Oh well, I'm sure it won't be the only one.

Gage and Stella G

Jameson and Gage ran circles in the yard last night, with Stella G hot on their tails. They were all tuckered out afterwards and Gage has a new buddy.

Why didn't I think of that?

Me: Guess what? Stella will be here tomorrow.
Jameson: Is she coming on the airplane?
Me: Yes, she is.
Jameson: I don't want her to come on the airplane.
Me: She's so far away she has to fly here on an airplane.
Jameson: She could run.

Tomorrow's the day!!

I'm driving to Bismarck tomorrow morning to pick up Stella!! YAY!!! Amazingly, the breeder's daughter has now found a way to get up early enough to get her on the plane in Tampa by 8AM, kids, husband and full time job notwithstanding. Last Friday she said it wasn't possible. Stella will be arriving in Bismarck at 12:45. And yes, I have a confirmation number :)

Funny how things work, isn't it?

After about 15 e-mails back and forth over the weekend between the breeder's daughter and I, I think Stella is finally going to come home! First, it was the temperature problem. Then she couldn't get to the airport early enough because she has two kids and a full time job. Next she wanted me to go down there and get her which would cost me roughly $1,700. Then she wanted to ship Stella to Michigan where her Mom is via Delta airlines. Mom would then re-route her on NorthWest to Minot and I would have to pay for shipping on both airlines.

I reminded her that when I initially spoke to her Mom (before I sent the check to pay for the dog), she assured me that shipping NWA wouldn't be a problem. Daughter said she would have to talk to her Mom to see if she had any ideas but hadn't been able to get ahold of her yet. I then told her that when she talked to her Mom, to ask if I would be able to get the $2,000 refunded if I had to back out at this point.

Lo and behold, she has now found a flight!! Furthermore, she is also now able to get to the airport in Tampa early enough to get Stella on the early flight and I'll be picking her up in Bismarck at 12:45PM on Thursday afternoon :) I should've asked for my money back 14 e-mails ago. I just want my puppy.

Frustrated!!

I spent a lovely day at Metigoshe yesterday with Kathy & Jeff. Before I left I had an e-mail conversation with Stella's breeder. Seems they're having a hard time finding a flight for her plus the temperature has to be below 85 degrees for it to be safe to ship her. Because of the distance and because the only airlines that flies in here is NWA, she would have to be on a plane during the hottest times of the day :( Not good for a little 3-1/2 pound pup.

Today when I got home, I checked my e-mail to find that they still haven't resolved the problem. For me to fly down there to pick her up, it would cost $1514 for just the plane ticket. Plus a hotel room for the night and an $85 charge to bring Stella back in the cabin with me. Not happening. I've already paid $2,000 for her, I think they should be able to figure out a way to get her to me. When I initially talked to the breeder, she assured me that it'd be no problem getting her here. It's not looking so good :(

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLISON!!!

Happy birthday, Sweetheart! Where did the last 34 years go?

Cookie Therapy

There's something therapeutic about making cookies. I've always loved to bake and every once in awhile, the mood hits. And when it hits, I don't usually make just one kind. So in preparation for Sarah and the boys' visit later this month, I've been baking cookies. I'll bet Alex and David will be pleased :)
So far, I've baked 6 dozen gingersnaps and 7 dozen oatmeal craisin cookies. I bought the ingredients for and still plan to make snickerdoodles, waffle turtle cookies, s'more clusters, peanut butter cookies and good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. My freezer will soon runneth over. Of course wouldn't you know that when I talked to Sarah today, she said if it were her, she'd bake Grandma's frosted molasses cookies. Hmmm... ya think I should go get the ingredients for those too?

COUSINS

Jason's twins were in town this week and we all got together at Mom's last night. It's so much fun to watch them interact with Jameson and Gage. It usually takes about a half hour for Olivia and Sophia to warm up and then they're all off and running. Literally!
They've got the routine down pat:
Run from one end of the house to the other, loudly. Repeat until the adults holler. Ignore the adults and giggle uncontrollably. Run some more. Refuse to be caught. Throw in some squealing, and ratch the volume up. Repeat until the adults drag you home.
They all had a blast and for sure I know the boys slept well last night. I'll bet the girls did too. This Grandma sure did and I wasn't even running :)

No buts about it!

Jameson to me:" You look like a witch."
Me: No words, just a horrified, quizzical look on my face.
Jameson, backpedaling: "Uhhhh... with your hair and stuff."
Me: Still too surprised to speak.
Jameson, "But I love you anyway, Grandma."

My sister-in-law tried to spare my feelings and said he probably meant a good witch, like Glenda. Had he not added the BUT or ANYWAY into the last statement, I might have believed her just to make myself feel better. And I even had makeup on and had done my hair. Guess next time I won't bother...
Out of the mouths of babes...

Em & Elliott

Emily flew to Minneapolis yesterday and returned this morning with her new baby, Elliott.
She's such a little sweetie and Emily is totally smitten with her. She's a Dorky, half Yorky and half Miniature Dachshund and no bigger than a minute. First I'd ever heard of this combo but then what do I know?

Happy Birthday Bruce!!

Hard to believe you're 41 already! Where have all the years gone?