Legally Blonde's Proceedings

Today probably hasn't been as good of a day as yesterday for Lola. She hasn't eaten one bite of anything all day. I have tried chicken, dog food, her favorite treats and even hamburger meat to no avail. I called the vet today and they seemed encouraged that she ate some chicken the night before last and then the couple of handfuls of dog food yesterday. She has been pretty sleepy all day today, but I have gotten a few tail wags. The energy that she had at the end of yesterday to finally jump up on the couch has waned and I've had to lift her up again today. I wish that Lola would eat a little because I don't think she is going to get a lot of energy back until she starts eating. Our big NY Eve plans involve eating carry-out Pei Wei (well, I'll be eating since Lola's on her hunger strike) and watching a West Wing Season 6 marathon... oh yeah, and I will just continue my 24 hour job or worrying about Lola. I hope everyone has a good New Year's Eve and remember...

Okay, so time for the daily Lola update... She did manage to keep down the little bit of chicken that she ate last night. She slept with me and slept pretty well. For those of you who are fearful that Lola is going to get hooked on chicken, never fear! I tried to feed her some more chicken this morning and she ate half a piece and spit out the rest. We have tried chicken several times since, I think only has eaten a total of 1 1/2 bites! I got the canned food out that I'm suppose to be feeding her and she wants no part of that. Now she is more than willing to eat her little biscuit treats. Finally, I decided to open her new dry food (prescription food that she is suppose to be on after she gets better, but for now she is suppose to be on the canned version of this). She ate two handfuls!!!! So far so good. It doesn't seem to have upset her tummy. I'm just so happy that I got her to eat anything. I think Lola and I are going to stay on the couch for the rest of the day. I...

Now that Lola is home and I have been able to download my photos onto my computer, I can do my Christmas posts. I'll start with Christmas Eve... I headed to Nocona on Christmas Eve. After unloading my very full car, we celebrated little Milly's 2nd Birthday. She opened her gifts and then she and Lola played chase and keep away with the new toys. Milly opening birthday presents The chase and keep away is about to begin! After the birthday festivities, we went to my grandparents for lunch. Meme had made a very good lunch for my mom, dad, and me. We were joined by a bullrider, his wife and little 3 year old girl. I might should know who he is, but since I don't have a clue about the world of professional bullriding, I don't. We hung around Meme and Papa's until about 3:00 and then we rushed home to make the dessert to take to dinner and also a couple of things for Christmas lunch. We cooked right up until about 5:15. Then we quickly got cleaned up and ready to head to...

We finally made it home! Lola was released a little after noon today. I took her the chicken and rice this morning and she still wouldn't really eat (she ate a few pieces of chicken). The vet decided to release her because he said her condition was no longer "acute". She smelled like a cattle lot when we picked her up though. You know she is loved because nobody cared, everyone hugged and kissed on her anyway! Here are some photos of Lola. You can see her little bandaged leg from where the IV was and then where they shaved it to put the IV in. She is very close because she kept trying to get in my face (I think she missed her Mom!). The photos are pre-bath, so just imagine the smell of a pee and poop as your read! "Hey, I'm a schnauzer, not a poodle! Who groomed my leg like this?" She still isn't normal Lola. She is pretty weak because she hasn't eaten and kept food down since Christmas Eve. The vet had wanted me to try and get her to e...

The vet called about 2:30 this afternoon and said that Lola hasn't vomited anymore, but that she has also refused to eat. They will not release her from the hospital until she eats and keeps it down. They say that she seems to feel better, but just won't eat. They don't know if it is because she doesn't like her food or won't eat because I'm not around, or something else. So, I'm headed to WF early in the morning with some chicken and rice that I just cooked. Hopefully, Miss Lola will decide to eat the yummy food I'm bringing her and can keep it down so she can be released and we can finally go home!

I went to see Lola this morning around 10:15. I went in to the clinic and said I was there to check on Lola. They said just a minute. In a few minutes out came a walking Lola on a leash! She was definitely not a perky "normal" Lola, but at least she was walking albeit slowly. Her eyes still don't look super alert and she wouldn't put her ears up much, but when we all said Hi to her, she gave her little stumpy tail a wag. She still has her IV in her leg, but they had just unhooked her from her fluids so that she could go on a little walk. We went out to the vacant lot next door and made a loop. Then after bringing her in we all petted her, etc. and then I walked her back to the back to her her kennel. As I started to leave, she looked really sad and tried to follow me out. Of course, I started crying because she looked so sad. They said that at the point I was there, she had drank some water and vomited it, but had eaten a couple of bites of food and had kept ...

Many of you have already been notified via text messages, but here is the news on Lola (and how we got here). She woke up on Christmas morning and had thrown up in her kennel, but no big deal. She seemed okay all day (well how can you tell if a dog is normal when you have 15 extra people in your house including an 8 yr. old, a 7 year old, and twin 1 year old boys!). Around 4 p.m. she started the vomiting and continued until we went to bed. I let her sleep with me in bed (for the third time in her life) and she didn't throw up during the night, but was breathing heavy and had trouble getting comfortable. When we woke up this morning, I knew very quickly things were not bueno . She had gotten worse over night and didn't even have enough energy to walk. I took her outside, took her to her water (which she drank and vomited 30 seconds later). Off we went to Henrietta, because you know we already had an 8:30 a.m. appointment to get an x-ray to see if her bladder stones had reduced. ...

Well here it is 5:30 on the 23rd. I had hoped to be in Nocona this morning, but had to reschedule plans due to work. While I would have loved to have taken the week off, alas, I am not independently wealthy, so when the clients call, I have to be here to answer! Plan is now to go home tomorrow morning and have Christmas with my Grandparents (Dad's family) at lunch. Then tomorrow evening we will go to church and then out to the Henley's for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Then for Christmas day, my Mom's family is coming for lunch. I'm not sure when we will fit in "our family Christmas". Maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon before church or maybe Christmas morning, but the problem with Christmas morning is that my Dad goes to work and we either have to get up at the crack of dawn to do it, or wait until he gets home (which is usually around 10:30 a.m.) so that can run into our lunch preparations. Oh well, we will figure it out. If I was a betting person, ...

So we are a month out from the long awaited trip to NOLA and I'm currently in food lovers heaven. I just received my "hot off the presses-hot off the UPS truck" copy of the 2009 Zagat for New Orleans. I have methodically gone through the book marking all the possibilities and now am glued to the internet looking up the possibilities and their menus. I called Lisa a bit ago to ask if she thought it was possible to fit in an early and late dinner every night. She said she didn't think so (this from the lady who eats like Templeton the rat at the state fair!). At this point, I'm not sure how we are ever going to choose!

A cold icy day outside...even if you have a fur coat, it's cold enough to add a turtleneck sweater!

Okay, well it is actually a Snow Day minus the snow! Ice day maybe? Frozen rain and drizzle day? None sound as fun as a snow day, and they aren't! So all of McKinney is shut down today... no school, no city offices, no county government offices are open. Of course the State Administrative Judge is still insistent at this moment that we are having ALR (Administrative License Review) hearings today at the courthouse in McKinney, but I'm not sure how she is planning to do that since the courthouse will be locked when she arrives! This is just part of the reason that I have grown to hate bad weather days. Nobody knows what is going on and it is just pure havoc on my lazy day! Some courts expect you to do double duty tomorrow and just bring your people in then for today's settings and some reschedule altogether. More fun...they just expect you to KNOW all of that without anyone telling you!

I was summoned for Jury Duty last month, but couldn't make it due to my Monday morning classes. One day when I was at the courthouse, I rescheduled in person because they gave me a choice of dates. I selected today because I figured that there wouldn't be that many jury trials the week before Christmas. Today I had to show up for my jury duty. I gambled correctly because there were only two courts that required a panel and I didn't have to sit through the selection of either, so I was done by 10:00 a.m. Jury duty done! I'm very happy to not be having to do jury duty for several reasons but one is because I'm feeling especially tired today. During the night, the door from the house to the garage jarred open (because it has stopped latching properly- my task for some point today will be to fix it) due to the arctic wind storm and set off the alarm system... never a good way to be stirred out of bed in the middle of the night. Poor Lola looked like she was near...

Today is my Mom's birthday! Top 10 Things About My Mom: (10) She has touched the lives of thousands of kids through teaching and administrative positions (including this kid...she was my Kindergarten teacher), and they all love her. (9) She's a little nutty, but fun! (8) She has always sacrificed things for herself to make sure I get the things I need or want... paying for school, gifts, you name it. She's bought me countless designer bags, but only got one for herself this birthday (from Dad). (7) She loves her grand-dogs just like they were actual kids (down to monogrammed Christmas stockings, birthday present and Christmas presents). (6) She can't make a decision to save her life (which Dad & I constantly give her a hard time about), but that is just a sign that she is very easy to please and that's not a bad attribute to have! (5) The example she sets to be thoughtful of others: There isn't an illness or death in town that she doesn't coo...

The Fall Semester is a wrap... I finished posting grades online last night! I hope to be very diligent and adapt my syllabus for each of my Spring classes next week and then I can just enjoy the time off until classes begin again on January 20th. Milly was delivered to me yesterday for a weekend of babysitting. Lola was thrilled (not really). I don't mind keeping Milly, but I do mind sleeping with Milly. Last time she visited, I decided that she was going to sleep in a kennel next to Lola...she screamed for an hour until I gave up. How could having Milly in bed really matter? After all, she only weighs 14 pounds, right? Well, you see, Milly has to be touching you. She won't just sleep at the end of the bed, she is right in the middle of the bed. So I spend the night contorting myself all around Milly! Not to mention the fact that I'm so afraid I'm going to roll over and smother her that I can barley sleep! In addition to having difficulty sleeping because Milly is actu...

...everyone was nestled all snug in their beds, while noises of tornado sirens woke their sleepy heads! Last night at about 11:20, a noise woke me up... that's right, a tornado siren. I turned on the TV quickly and saw that the weather man was on live. At first I heard him say my county was under a tornado warning and wasn't that concerned, then he said if you live exactly where I do, you should take cover. Of course, I was thinking, great, just freaking great! I just got everything decorated and all the presents purchased and now they are going to blow away in a December tornado! A December Tornado?!?!?! I ran to the living room and got Lola from her restful sleep in her kennel. This time we didn't hide out in the closet. Since we had electricity (unlike the tornado warning in the spring) and could watch TV, we rode it out in bed (though we were ready in a seconds notice to spring into the my closet). Luckily the storm was moving at like 40 mph, so it was gone in a jiff......

My Dad just e-mailed me this photo of Milly. He must have just returned home from Wichita Falls with Milly fresh from her trip to the groomer. He has her posing in front of the tree with her little necktie on. My Dad is always quick to tell everyone that this is not his dog, she is mom's. He also tells Mom and me that he has not let himself get attached to Milly like he was to Macy.... yeah right! That's why he sends out cute pics he took of her! Milly is coming to visit Lola and me this weekend, so I'm sure there will be more Milly pics in the future.

I believe that I'll be skipping the Cotton Bowl this year. I'm sure this is a shocker since I've been desperate to attend a game all year, and here Tech will be playing 30 miles from my house. Why? There is really a two part answer as to that question... First, I realized on Saturday that Tech had already sold their allotment of tickets even though Tech had not been officially selected for the Cotton Bowl at that point. I looked on the Cotton Bowl's website and they also appeared to be running really low. I made a phone call to my friend who I was possibly going to go with and said, if we are going then we need to get on this ASAP, give me a call back today. Apparently, I did not have enough urgency in my voice, because that didn't happen. By the time I got back in touch with them on Sunday night, the Cotton Bowl website was so crowded that you had to be put in a queue to even get through. I check early this morning and the only seats available were way upper end...

I would know that today was a Monday even if I hadn't looked at a calendar! I had to give a 7 a.m. final exam this morning. I left the house at 6:30 right on time. Usually that puts me to class 10-15 minutes early depending on traffic...not this morning! They had 121 shut down at Coit Rd. due to a big accident. I actually turn on Coit Rd., so this wouldn't have been a big deal except the traffic was backed up for miles, then at Coit Rd. half of the traffic went North and half was going South as detours. It took 20 minutes to get through that light and then of course my normally no-traffic back way of going to the college was completely congested with all of the detour traffic. I was 5-10 minutes late for the exam, but since of course, it was exam day, they couldn't really leave! I started handing out the exam and a student said "Are there only 30 multiple choice, I thought there were going to be 50?". I looked at the test and I guess the last couple of pag...

Well, I'm finally done decorating. I didn't quite put out everything this year, but it is as good as it is going to get! I had hoped to finish earlier in the week, but despite Jennifer and I wanting the firm to be in "December mode" (ie: not doing a whole lot of work and doing lots of shopping and decorating), things haven't worked out that way. No complaints though...new clients are always welcome! Here are the final decorating photos that I will subject you to! Below is the entry table (not real exciting, but I took the photo for some reason). Here is my "Winter Wonderland" tree that is in my bedroom. I was trying to remember when I purchased this Christmas tree and can't quite remember. I know it either originated in Wichita Falls or Lubbock, but either way, I think this is its final showing. It is pretty craptastic (some of the limbs aren't even connected anymore...in the back of course)! I will be closely watching Garden Ridge again ...

I don't recall if I blogged back in early November about my eyes or not. If not, here is a recap...I woke up on November 7th looking very similar to elephant man. My eyes were so swollen. I went to the eye doctor to make sure I had no infection and to get some meds for either an infection or allergies. I didn't get to see my "regular" doc, but a different doc checked me out, said no infection, use benadryl and cold compresses because I don't think it is bad enough for steroids, and that will be $70. YEAH, spend a load of cash and no remedy! I thought at the time that I should have just thrown $70 out the window of the car while driving there, it would have been about as helpful! Well about a month has gone by, and my eyes have been swollen to some degree every single morning. I called the eye doc again yesterday and told them the situation but my regular doc wouldn't prescribe a scip without seeing me. I told them there was no way I was paying $70 again! I wo...

You may think I'm crazy, but my new favorite thing is a PedEgg. (I thought for sure everyone would know what a PedEgg is, but my uncle's wife didn't, so if you are among those people who don't know, you should probably watch more tv, or at least the commercials!) I decided tonight that I was desperate for a pedicure. My polish still looks fine, but not to be too graphic, but my heels looked disgusting! I decided that I would go purchase a PedEgg and give it a whirl instead of going to get a pedicure... I mean if it worked then by spending $10 on the PedEgg, I wouldn't have to go spend $30 on a pedicure. At this point, I will say that I realize I sound exactly like Becky Bloomwood (main character from the "Shopaholic" book series--If you haven't read them, they are great and the movie coming out probably won't do the books justice based on the sneak peeks I've seen, so read the books!). You see Becky had a bit of a shopping "problem...

I don't think I have blogged about the dog food ordeal... Lola is suppose to be on this Hill's Prescription SD dog food for a month to see if that reduces her bladder stones. My vet was out of it and I have been unable to get any until today because the local vet down the road that carries it, won't let me have it without a script from my vet, and my vet was closed until today. Upon finding out that a script was required I thought "Hugh?". It isn't like it is pills that a human could take illegally. What am I going to do with prescription dog food? It's not like I'm going to eat it in an attempt to change the PH balance in my urine! Anyhow, I went to pick up the food today and found out that it does not come in dry dog food, only canned. That was when I said "Good Lord!" #1. Then I started trying to figure out how much she needs to eat per day. Well, there is no clear answer for this either. A dog who weighs 20 lbs. is suppose to eat 1- 1 1/3...

I haven't been as ambitious as planned this holiday weekend. I had hoped to be almost finished with my decorating by this time, but alas, I'm only about 1/3 of the way there! Part of the problem is that I didn't get started as soon as I hoped. Most of the things I hoped to accomplish on Friday, didn't get done until yesterday. I did finally make that recipe of sausage balls yesterday morning(good thing because that is all I have eaten all day today)! I had little Joshua's 1st birthday party yesterday afternoon (photos to come as soon as Jennifer sends me some because I forgot my camera), and then of course that led right into the Tech game. After the Tech victory, I got out my trees for the kitchen and the living room and started fluffing. I decided last night that there is no part of the decorating that is worse than fluffing the darn trees! My arms look like I've been in a fight with a cat. Today I started dragging out all of the containers of Christmas crap, ...

I always say I'm not going to hit the stores up on Black Friday, but as usual, I had to do a little shopping, though I wasn't there for the door busters. I was seduced by the Target ad this year and that is what got me out this morning. They had crazy cheap DVDs, so I went and loaded up. I got "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "The Holiday" for $3.98 each. For $5.98 each, I bought "27 Dresses", "Juno", and "The Devil Wears Prada". I bought a few other kid movies for gifts too. In addition to Target, I went to the mall in Frisco. I hit up Bath and Body Works for some gifts and stuff for myself, Williams-Sonoma for a couple of gifts and finally Macy's for two bread and butter plates that match my dishes (usually $29 each and I paid $9.50 each). To add an interesting twist to the Holiday shopping, Macy's has employed a transvestite named "Jamie" to work in its china department. As Jamie was checking me ou...

Our Holiday started at the crack of dawn on Wednesday. Lola and I had to head out for Nocona before 7 a.m. because we had to make the vet appointment in Henrietta. All went well on the trip to Nocona (much better than my traffic ridden trip a couple of weeks ago!). After Lola and I finished at the vet, we arrived home to find the party had already started. Dad and my cousin Sam were kicking off the day with a few rounds of bloody mary's. At some point, my Mom (who had gone to Wichita Falls for a hair appointment) called my Dad and was stranded on the side of the road (or as it turns out in the middle of the road) because she was out of gas. Mom was furious with Dad because he didn't fill up her vehicle before she went to WF, and of course, Dad was furious because she didn't look at the gas gauge! The funniest parts of the story to me are that (1) there was a 5 gallon gas tank full of gas in the back of the truck she was stranded in and (2) she just sat there in the mi...

As you may recall, I went to Canton Trade Days earlier this month. I'm finally getting around to downloading a photo of some of my purchases! I've been needing something for above my door which goes out to the garage, so I got inspired at Canton to pay homage to my favorite city, New Orleans, and fill the space with different fleur de lis.

Sweet Lola definitely has bladder stones. I'm not happy that she has stones, but happy that she hasn't just forgotten how to be potty trained! Our plan for treatment is a round of antibiotics and special Hill's prescription dog food for a month. She is suppose to have NO treats! NO TREATS? Can you imagine? Lola is a total treat hound! How am I suppose to get her to anything without a bribe of a treat? The vet did mention that she just isn't suppose to have treats with any calcium, so I may make sure I can find some that she can have, and she is still allowed to have rawhides. We will go back for x-rays in December and see if the stones have reduced. If they have, then we will continue this course of treatment. If not, then we will do surgery. In another note, Lola has gained 5 pounds in the past year and a half. Time for Lola and me to take some walks! I'll have to update on Thanksgiving festivities later but so far we have had people drinking too much ...

The day that everyone waits for is almost here....Oprah's Favorite Things. It airs tomorrow (Wednesday). Of course I haven't seen it yet (O doesn't send me an advanced copy of anything), but I'm already disappointed. This year is a "gifts on the cheap" year. How are we suppose to know what really expensive gifts to covet if O doesn't tell us? What kind of crazy crap is that? Economy downturn or not, it isn't like O is having to give on the cheap this year! Can you imagine showing up to Chicago, having them announce "It's the favorite things episode", you thinking "I'm about to pocket 10 grand worth of loot" and the O announces, "This year it is about thrifty gifts!" That has to be the biggest bummer EVER! Today I did so much that I think I am near collapse. I had to take Lola to the groomer, gas up the car, go to court for a juvenile plea, go by Neimans and pick up a pre-order for my Mom, have a 10:30 meeti...

My mom has come into town and we have shopped until we are both ready to drop. It started yesterday and has continued all day today. I realized this morning that I am a really nice teacher. Here it is the holiday week and I figured my students don't really care about learning (not sure they ever do) and I sure don't care much about lecturing, so I showed a great Thanksgiving episode of The West Wing. It is the great one where the President has to pardon two turkeys because CJ is horrified that the one she doesn't choose will get slaughtered (clearly not from Sarah Palin's pagebook ). Well, I discovered that the government teacher who uses the same classroom right after me was giving a test. A TEST! On a holiday week! That has got to suck if you are a student (and the teacher...she'll have to grade over the holiday). P.S. to Emily: Thanks for the shout-out about how happy you were that your Sooners beat Tech so badly. Much appreciated. I will of course b...

After almost 12 hours since our horrible defeat to OU, I think I'm getting some perspective. Instead of feeling the rage and anger that I felt last night, I now feel like someone cut my heart out...while I was awake! Many of you may say that that doesn't sound like progression or gaining perspective on the defeat. Maybe. Maybe that is part of the steps of grief??? All I know is that I still haven't gotten over the intense desire to horse-whip the Sooners Number 5 and probably won't for some time. That kid has a bad attitude and I would like to be the one to give him an adjustment!

Do not wash a featherbed if you have a front load washing machine! I don't care what the instructions say! Lola has again peed on the extra bed and since I hadn't made it up since the last time she peed on that bed, she peed on the featherbed this time. The instructions said you can wash it, but the washer just can't spin it out. If I still had my old washer that you could set to just the spin cycle, then I probably could have ended up spinning it all out, but as my frontload washer doesn't have this option, I think it is just ruined. It is now a big wet heap of a mess in my trash can. P.S. Just in case you think my dog is running wild around here without any discipline, she actually has a vet appointment on Wednesday for an x-ray of her bladder. She is acting an awful lot like Macy did when she had bladder stones...one of the problems is that when they jump up on something they can lose control of their bladder. If that isn't the problem, then she is going to start...

What a horrible game. It isn't even over, but we are getting our butt kicked by OU. Next week I will be rooting for the OSU Cowboys to deliver a victory in Stillwater...then OU would be a two loss team and the only one loss teams would be Tech and Texas. Since we beat Texas, we would still win the Big 12 South. All the planets will have to align.... I think the Longhorns should be thanking their lucky stars that they got to play OU earlier in the season because if they had to play them later, that match-up would have probably gone differently (not to mention they never have to go to Norman to play).

"What am I doing this weekend?" That is a question I have been asked by several people, and I'm still not sure what the answer is! I will tell you that right now, I'm watching College Game Day on ESPN and I know that I will continue to do so until 11:00 when it is over. Tonight of course, I will be watching my Red Raiders attempt to upset OU at home. I have to tell you that I'm so anxious right now I could vomit! I did the major cleaning last weekend, so this weekend, I only need to tidy up a bit. I know that my Mom is coming to visit tomorrow and we are going to Christmas shop on Monday, so I need to "tidy" sometime between now and tomorrow afternoon. I really need to clean out my pantry and closet, but the desire to do that is minimal at best. I think it is more likely that I will get my DVR cleaned out this weekend than a closet!!!! Finally, I thought about getting all my Christmas trees up. I don't really have the energy or desire to decora...

I received an e-mail two days ago about a Collegiate SuperStore that was going in at Mockingbird Station. The e-mail came from Red Raider Outfitter in Lubbock and they said they were temporarily setting up shop there. So of course, after the work was done today, I headed down to Dallas. It was really a two purpose trip... First, I have been crazy craving Red Hot and Blue. Second, I could see what the Outfitter has for this Red Raider gal. (at this point, you should be really impressed that I was able to wait 2 WHOLE DAYS before turning my car south on 75 to go and check out the Outfitter's supply!). Since lunch was involved, I was able to rope Jennifer into going with me. We stopped at Red Hot and Blue first. We split a 1/2 order of their wonderful onion rings and split a pulled pork sandwich (we've discovered that when we order rings, neither of us can finish our sandwich). Of course, I wasn't willing to half the order of the "best in the world" potato salad, so ...

As you may notice, I'm desperately trying to make my blog more Sassy and Fun! As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, I ran across the cutest blog ever. I discovered that she purchased her adorable custom design layout from a company called Sweet Cheeky Designs who specializes in such for $45-85 each. As most of you know me well, you know that I think diving in and doing something is half the fun, so I'm trying to amp up the sassy all by myself (also you know I can't stand knowing that someone else has something more stylish or creative than I do!). I have found some really fun new backgrounds and will be trying them out in the future as the holiday seasons change. Over the past 24 hours, I made several changes to the blog, including the addition of a blinkie. At this moment, my creative energies (okay, some might call it my obsessive behaviors) are being limited by not owning Photoshop. I'm trying to remedy this by downloading another program that is suppose to be...

I was blog stalking and looked at this blog of a blogger who follows Abby's blog. Apparently they are Texas Tech fans and have attended at least the Texas and OSU games (you should know that I'm currently sitting here green with envy!). I stole this photo off of her blog and just had to post it because it is seriously one of the funniest things I have seen in a long, long time. I have know idea who this blogger is, but if I did, I would send out a "thanks for sharing" shoutout! Also, she has about the cutest blog I've ever seen. I'd love to know where she got her layout for her blog and if she created it herself, then I'm just speechless!

I received Lola's pictures via UPS today. First, I want to say that the package was very small and light weight for having cost $300! But more importantly... the actual photos are even more adorable than the slideshow online!!!! She looks soooo cute! I wish I could have ordered an 11x14 of each and every photo (instead of my 5x7 or 4x6).

Lola, the great white huntress has succeeded tonight. I came home from class and let her out to potty. As soon as I opened the door and stepped out onto the patio, I could see a little mouse running along the back fence (the bottom horizontal slats). It all happened too fast! Lola saw it as soon as I did, so there was no keeping her inside. She darted after it and I'll be darned if she didn't catch him. I got her to drop him and saw his little tail moving, but then she grabbed him again, and the chase was on (this time between me and Lola). I finally caught her, got her to drop the mouse (which I presumed was dead by this point) and drug her into the house. I went back out with my craptastic flashlight, but couldn't find a mouse corpse. I'll have to wait until the sun is up to initiate the recovery of the corpse. I'm hoping that the little guy was just stunned and was able to recover from the heart attack that he probably had and run off. Lola appeared confused that...

I just spent 5 hours of my Sunday cleaning house. YUCK! I sure miss my housekeeper! Of course, the fact that it took 5 hours probably speaks to the level of filth I was living in! I'll partially blame Lola... I know that all that dirt, grass, muddy paw prints and yes, the dead lizard that I found can all be attributed to her!

Something else interesting on Friday's Oprah was at home DNA testing. It is through this company called 23 andme . You spit into a tube, send it to them and then 4-6 weeks later, you log on and can see your DNA profile. It has been named Time Magazine's invention of the year. They just dropped their price from $1000 to $399. It tells you things about your ancestry , but more importantly, it tells you things about your health including diseases that you may be prone to getting, etc. Dr. Oz said he took the test and found out some things that he is prone to getting and some can be prevented. It sounds very interesting! I think if I could come up with an extra $399, I'd love to do it.

My friend Abby is running in her first marathon today in San Antonio (along with her hubby Brian)! YEAH ABBY & BRIAN!!!!!!! While I still think you may be a little mentally unbalanced for running a whole 26 miles when nobody is chasing you with a knife or something similar, it is very impressive nonetheless !! UPDATE: Abby and Brian ran the marathon in 4 hours 20 minutes!

Just got a chance to finish watching my DVR'd Oprah from Friday. She had an announcement that she lost her 14 year old chocolate cocker, Solomon two weeks ago. She lost her black cocker Sophie to kidney failure back in the spring. Here is something you wouldn't normally thing of saying, but boy, I sure feel bad for Oprah. If I had lost my Lola the same year we lost Macy, I think you would have had to bury me too! I can't imagine losing two of your "kiddos" the same year. It made me give my little pup an extra bear-hug and kiss today!

Starting last night about 8:00, it just rained, and rained, and rained some more. Not just light rain showers either, I mean heavy rains that flowed over the sides of the gutters. I thought most of the rain had passed only to be awakened by the heavy rain and storms at 3 different points during the night. Then about 7:30 this morning, as I was laying in bed half dozing/half awake, I heard a loud bang. It took me until about 8:30 to figure out what it was, but a pickup had plowed into the tree behind my back fence. At first I thought, thankfully he hit the tree instead of tearing down the back fence, but then I thought darn, I wish he had managed to tear up one of the side fences that really really needs replacing, then I could have made his insurance pay! Oh well, my luck, he would have been uninsured anyway!

I haven't blogged in a couple of days...it has been a busy weekend. Friday I went to our Junior League's Holiday market, 'Neath the Wreath. I haven't purchased much there in the past, so I was surprised to find many things I wanted to buy. I got a great Christmas shirt. It cost a little more than I would like to spend on a seasonal shirt, but it was made for me... it is a pink thermal t-shirt and it says "Dreaming of a Pink Christmas"! I was also able to purchase some Christmas & Hanukkah presents, so that was a plus too. Saturday I had to go to Nocona for a wedding. It turned out to be the most difficult road trip to Nocona EVER. I got stuck at three wrecks in what should have been the first 30-40 minutes of my journey!!! Two were on Hwy 380. I had to wait for the wrecks to clear and the firetrucks to stop blocking the highway to go on my way (literally I had my car in park on the highway). Then when I got up to the interstate, there had been an...

I finally just decided to bite the bullet and place my photo order with the photographer. I have looked at those pictures until I'm blue in the face and have contemplated my order for over a week. Wars have been entered into with less contemplation!!! I finally decided the problem that I was having was, it was kind of like choosing a favorite Lola. For me and Jennifer (the two who have spent the most time with Lola during her almost 4 years of life), we can never choose a "favorite Lola". Sometimes we discuss that our favorite Lola is sleepy Lola. Then we change our minds and it is mischievous Lola. Then we change our minds and it is snuggly Lola, etc. The photos were the same way, choosing my favorites was like choosing my "favorite Lola" and that is just impossible!!!

Jennifer and I went to Canton today. It was a fairly typical trip (ie: I spent too much money). Jennifer and I are quite the anomalies though... everyone was talking about the nice weather while Jennifer and I were moaning and groaning about the weather. We could have been quoted as saying, "I wish it were freezing." and "I wish we were experiencing a cold rain today.", etc. You see, we were sweating it up today, and that is most definitely something I DO NOT enjoy in November. In addition, pretty weather = bigger crowds. Our favorite Canton trip EVER was in subzero temps! We had the whole place practically to ourselves (never mind the cuddle duds we had to wear under our clothes, the coats, the gloves, the scarves, and the hats that we had to wear!). We stopped back by the outlets in Terrell but didn't get anything there. I mention it because it made me think of a funny story about Lisa and her parents. Lisa's parents Don and Edna live in Terrell. ...