Our first Award!

LOL, and it couldn't be more appropriate! We got this form Sophie, Dixie and Harley's mom; thank you! How perfect is this:

The 'Strange Dog Warning' award! lol! That certainly describes our hoursehold!

Benign!

I know it's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday but the vet just called with the results on Ickis' biopsy! It's benign! Woohoo! I can't remember the term she used for the tumor but it sounded bad so I was very anxious until she told me it was benign and they got all of it so once he gets his stitches out he's cured!

Thank you all for your well wishes!

*does the happy dance*

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Decorating

We finally got our tree on Friday night, Ickis stamped his approval on it Saturday morning by peeing on the lower branches. :p Hubby trimmed the lower ones off to give a less inviting place to pee and so far it has helped. We let it open for a day and then decorated it Saturday night. Here are a few pics; one taken Saturday night and then brighter one taken Sunday morning:

As you can see we have a red and silver theme going on for the tree. I love it. I didn't even get all of our ornaments on it this year; I have a bunch of silver roses that I usually put on but they are just a bit too heavy for the branches I think. I still like how it turned out though.

Did you notice all the stockings by the fireplace? Everyone in our houst gets one; Me, Hubby, Ickis, Tank, Pearl and our two cats Neko and Carmy. :) Santa already actually visited our house for the stockings as they are filling up; Santa likes to keep the things he picks up in one place and its easier to stuff the stockings than to try and store things. ;)

Miss High Maintenance

Pearl is alot of work. Every morning she is the first one up; as soon as the alarm goes off she is bounding around the bed waking the rest of us up. She has to be monitored during mealtimes or else she will eat her brothers meals as well as her own which she bolts as soon as the bowl is set down. Anytime I sit somewhere she has to be on me and has to be getting loved until she falls alseep. Once she is sleepy though she doesn't want to be moved even the slightest bit and will grunt her displeasure if you do.

Hubby brought home this t-shirt a little while ago and I snapped a pic of it this weekend.

I think it fits in more ways than one. ;)

Ickis is out of surgery

He is waking up, doing ok and the growth has been removed and will be sent out for biopsy. I should know something within a week. The cost of today almost doubled from the quote I got last week(from $235 to $425); he needed all his vaccinations done too as well as bloodwork this morning. So I'm stressed out about that but there is nothing I can do about it. Thank goodness both Hubby and I got paid today as well as my bonus came through.

On a bad note the doctor called me this morning and wanted to do a dental cleaning on him because she said he has dental disease and may have to have three teeth extracted. :( I told her we couldn't afford it todday but she mentioned that they were having 'Dental Month' in january and february and it would be 10% off so maybe when we get our taxes I can get the pugs done. I hope.

Thank you all for your well wishes on this, please continue to send good thoughts until we get the biopsy results back next week.

My favorite snow picture

The above is my favorite snow picture of all time. It was Ickis' first snowfall and he was a little hesitant at first but soon was racing around the yard in it. He was bounding in great leaps over the snow when he came to his first snowdrift. The above was taken the second he went face-first into the snowdrift and emerged seconds later shaking himself off and very unhappy. ;)

It's been pretty cold here in North Texas; it was in the 20's this morning! No snow yet but there has been snow south of us already so I'm sure it's just a matter of time! We hope everyone out there is staying warm!

Wordless Wednesday

Pics from Saturday

This is another hobby I have when I'm not at home with the pugs. I'm the one with the red hair and red roses on my half turban. ;)

Monday Mornings

Oh how I loathe thee. Why is it the bed seems more comfortable, the pugs seem more cuddly, the air outside the bedcovers so much colder? Today is a cool, cloudy day here in Texas and I did NOT want to get out of the bed. Tank was cuddled up at my belly, Pearl at my feel and Ickis at my back. Hubby was snoring softly nxt to all of us. It was blissful.

Until the horrible alarm clock put an end to it all. *sigh*

This weekend was a nice one; Hubby and I stayed home on Friday night with the pugs, lit a fire, had some drinks and relaxed. it was lovely. Saturday I had a bellydance show that night so the morning was spent sewing, the afternoon was spent getting ready for the show and I was off at 5:30pm with my dancemates to the restaraunt. The show went really well, the food the fed us was outstanding too. I ended up walking away with a chef catered sushi party for 6 which I bid on at the silent auction they were having. Yum!

Sunday lots more cuddling. Ickis goes in on Friday to have his growth removed from his face so he is seeing a little extra loving from me right now much to his dismay. lol. The pugs like to ALL lay on top of me when I am on the couch; here is a pic I snapped of them this weekend:

You can see Ickis' growth on his cheek; he's in the middle. I hope it turns out to be nothing!

Money Money everywhere

Well everywhere but here. :( Just got the information on how much my bonus is going to be and its about $600 less than what we were expecting thanks to the economy. So now we can't afford to get the dogs teeth done especially since its not covered at all by the pet insurance that we pay SO MUCH for (I am exceedingly upset about that).

Ickis will still be going into the Vet on the 12th to get the growth on his left cheek removed and biopsied if it looks suspicious. It will still be a stretch for us to pay for that but at least the insurance will return some of that money to us.

Money is so frustrating. There is never enough.

Long delayed post

Wow its been a bit since we updated! I don't get as much time in front of the computer at home when I am not in work and I haven't been at work since the 25th. :p Thanksgiving was wonderful and relaxing; Hubby and I stayed home with the furkids and did dinner on our own which was lovely. I made a 6 pound turkey breast in the crock pot which came out really moist and yummy as well as all the fixings for it. The pugs were VERY interested in the goings on all day and yes; they did get some yummy turkey with their dinners. ;)

The rest of the time off I spent relaxing, visiting with friends that were in town for the Holiday and also doing a little bit of sewing. Need to do more of that!

Hope everyone had a great Holiday!!

Teeth Cleaning

I've been planning on getting the boys teeth cleaned for a while now as their breath has become pretty horrible. I am getting my yearly bonus on December 13th so I called the Vet today to get quotes on getting this done as well as getting a wart removed from Ickis' face which will probably have to be biopsied. She just called back and it's going to be $275 a pup for teeth cleaning plus $60 each for x-rays if I want them for more detail on the teeth. Ickis will cost a total between $275 and $475 for the cleaning and the removal of the wart!

OUCH!

I think my pocketbook is going to be hurting more than the pugs! I just hope that they don't have to get any teeth pulled in addition or else it will be even more! *cries*

Ickis' new mission

I think Ickis has a new plan on how to make Mommy crazy. I believe his mission is to poop as many times as possible on one walk as to make Mommy crazy. He must have pooped 5 times yesterday on our walk; the last time being just a little pea size bit of poo that he could have easily pooed with the last round but No! Seperate poo!

I think I am going to rig one of those poo catchers the horses in NYC wear as they are pulling buggys up to Ickis' bum. It would be so much easier.

Wordless Wednesday

Mealtimes

The pugs love food, Pearl especially. She has a Brake-Fast Bowl to try and keep her form bolting her food. I have to stand and wait till everyone is done eating so if the boys don't finish off their food she doesn't swoop in and finish it off for them! She's on a diet. ;)

Heres a pic of the pugs how I see them pretty much every mealtime as I prepare their food:

That reddish orange thing at the bottom is my bathrobe. ;)

Be home by dark!

The pugs and I learned a few new things last night on their walk. I got home about an hour later than usual as I had to go to the fabric store to get sipplies for a weekend sewing project. After that I ran to the pet store to get some more doggie poo bags; I opted for the 120 pack in blue rather than my usual grey bags... I don't know why.

When I got home and got ready to take the furkids out it was about 5:45 rather than 4:30 like usual. It had already started getting dark but we live in a lovely neighborhood and wasn't worried about safety or that sort of thing so we set out.

The pugs soon started making with the pooping and I discovered that the blue bags I purchased really weren't compatible with my carrying case that I already had. The holder is made to work with the grey bags which feed bags from the cener of the roll. The blue bags feed from the outside. It worked ok for the first two poops but just as Ickis took his turn in pooping I discovered that it wasn't going to work anymore.

We were standing next to the bridge that leads into the park and I tried to pull another blue bag out. Instead of pulling out the bag the plastic cover to the case got stuck on the bag and came off allowing the tube of rolled up bags to pop out and go rolling across the grass. I scrambled to try and pick all the bags up while Ickis finished pooping and all three pugs were pulling me in every direction. I stuffed the bags into the larger plastic bag I carry for holding multiple mini-bags and went to scoop the poop with the remaining bag I left out.

Problem was I couldn't FIND the poop. I had laser eye surgery in August of this year and while my eyesight is near perfect in the daytime I am still having trouble with my nightvision. So there I am, three pugs pulling me in every which direction while I'm straining to find Ickis' poop. Eventually I guiltily gave up, I couldn't see it and we returned home.

When we got home and I was putting the leashes away I discovered I lost the cap that goes to the container for the poo bags! So now I have to go back to the pet store and either get a new poo bag holder that is compatible with the blue bags or get more grey bags and hope that when I get home today I can go out and find the lost cap before I take the dogs on their walk.

So the moral of this story is to never leave on a walk when its getting dark. Things will go badly!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Veterans Day!

I served 6 years in the US Army's Military Police Corps and I am a Veteran. I will never forget my time in the service and all the good as well as the bad memories it has left me with.

To my Brothers and Sisters in all of the Armed Forces; Thank you for serving alongside me.

To those that went before us and to those that will come after us; Thank you for your service.

To those at home; Thank You for your support and for reminding us what we would lay our lives down for.

2 Year Anniversary!

Today marks two years that Hubby and I have been married! Here is my favorite pic from that wonderful day:

And here are two pics of the boys from that day (we didn't bring Pearl home until a month after the wedding):

More pics here: http://www.rubicat.com/baker/

Licky-loo

It's my experience that pugs love to lick. Fabric especially but also people, other pets and even themselves. Ickis, being half chihuahua seems to have missed out on the licking gene but Pearl and Tank are addicts. Pearl especially so.

Pearl is still adjusting to the time change and therefore is waking up about an hour before the alarm goes off. I try and ignore her, hoping that she will lay back down and go back to sleep. It happens occasionally. This morning though she spent most of that extra hour licking the bedspread; the sound of it was rather soothing and I lapsed in and out of sleep until the alarm sounded. If that keeps her occupied and allows me to get a little bit more sleep then hey, I'm all for it.

I think Hubby might be of another opinion though after he rolled over and into 'the wet spot' and about shot out of bed thinking someone had peed. Oops!

Master Beggars

I can't help but laugh (even though I know I'm not supposed to) at the efforts the pugs go through to get a tiny bit of precious human food. I admit to it, I share probably more often than I should but I can't help it. I have the willpower of a gnat when it comes to those big, glistening puppy eyes which tell me everything in the world would be alright if I just gave them a bit of my dinner.

The pugs all have different begging styles and each looks at the other during these episodes as if to say "No, you are doing it wrong! Look here!" and proceeds to perform their act. Ickis is the most passive of the three; he sits closeby perfectly still as if to say "Look! Look how good I am sitting! I am the best dog ever and you should give me food!" His eyes bulge a little bit as he tries to move the food on my fork to his mouth with the power of his brain but does not break his sit.

Pearl on the other hand takes a more paws on approach. She will sit on the other side of me for a few seconds to see if the 'perfectly behaved' angle will get her anywhere. When it dosen't she will grunt and scoot her bum a little closer and closer, grunting with each scoot she makes. When she is pretty much leaning on my leg she will then try and stand on it, looking from me to the food and back again trying to tell me what she wants as I'm obviously not getting that she is STARVING. Should I pay her no attention she will them try and start straining to snif the food as if to say 'I just wanna smell it. Seriously, just smell it!' until I push her away and then the process will start over again.

Tank, who normally is the quiet one takes the vocal approach. As with the other two he will start with the 'sit' performance, his eyes wide and fixed on my face. Should I not pay him any attention he will start to whuff. The whuffing gets louder and louder to get into barking until I silence him with a look. He wags his tail when I meet his gaze and looks from the food back to me as if I again have no idea that he covets my dinner. I'll turn back to my food and the process starts again.

Not until I am finished and say 'All gone!' do they give up, even if I slip them a bite or two underneath Hubbys dissaproving gaze. They especially go nuts for popcorn which Hubby LOVES and air pops quite often, it amuses me to see how of little interest I am to them when there is abowl of popcorn in the room.

Wordless Wednesday

More SCA pics

My friend Grace took this photo of my Husband and I before his final fight in the competition this past weekend. In the SCA before people fight in Tournaments they are asked to make salutes to people such as the King and Queen, The Baron and Baroness and that sort of thing. They also ask the fighters to make salutes to the person they are fighting for or bears their Favor. The salute can be as simple as a nod in that persons general direction or as elaborate as a fighter likes. My Husband always comes to me on bended knee and takes one of my hands in his while I wrap the other arm around him and kiss his helm and whisper words of encouragement and love. I often end up crying after his salutes especially if it is an important competition. But I am a big sap and cry pretty easily. ;)

Anyways, here is the pic she took, in color and in sepia tones. I can't decide which I like better but one of them is going to be printed proffesionally, framed and hung next to the scroll he won.

State of the Union

Well, everyone knows today is the big election day in the US. Hubby and I voted last Monday so all we can do is sit back and wait for the results to come in. I am thankful that it will all be over by this time tomorrow; its been a long and stressful road!

The pugs got to go for an extra long walk last night since is was so nice out. I don't know if I've been feeding them too much or what but Pearl and Tank pooped twice while we were out and Ickis went THREE times! Good thing I had alot of baggies with me, ugh! The pugs enjoyed the long walk though as did I aside from the leash juggling that happens when you have three energetic pugs on the lines.

I have dance class tonight but I'd much rather be at home, snuggling with the pugs, sipping tea and watching election coverage. Sounds much more inviting to me!

Back from the Event!

We left around noon on Friday after getting the pugs all settled for the weekend. Its still nerve-wracking for me every time I have to leave them alone but they did great as per usual. The dog walker left her activity report for us to find when we got home on Sunday; she said it was hard for her to leave them each time too! Heh, glad I am not alone!

Hubby and I had a great weekend away! The event was really quiet on Friday night; not many people there at all which made for a dissapointing Halloween unfortunately. We made up for it the next day; there were over 400 people in attendance! Hubby competed in the heavy fighting tournament; aka 'The Chivalric List' and went undefeated to become the Champion! Alot of you may think of the SCA as sort of like going to the 'Medieval Times' restaraunt and in some ways it is. One big difference is the fights in competions are not staged at all; our fighters actually FIGHT and try and win. This time, Hubby won! He got a gorgeous framed scroll that we will be hanging up as soon as we find a good spot for it.

Here is a picture of Hubby and me from this weekend:

Here is a pic of the day I took the boys to their first SCA event; if you look really close you can see that they wrapped their coupler leash around my ankles !
We got home around 1pm yesterday and the pugs were VERY happy to see us. Gave them lots of love and after unpacking and organizing from our trip we basically relaxed and snuggled with them for the rest of the evening. I hope everyone had a great Halloween and a relaxing weekend!

A weekend away

Hubby and I are going away for 2 days leaving tomorrow; we'll be heading down to Austin for an SCA event. We decided to forego decorating for Halloween this year as we won't be home for it and I have to say I have really missed out little graveyard that we build in the front yard usually.

The pugs will be staying home on their own as they always do when we go out of town. Rather than take them to a kennel I found a great dog walking service a few years ago when we first moved into our home in 2005. We've used them countless times since then and have yet to have a problem and I much prefer the furkids staying at home rather than a kennel. The only thing bad about them staying home is they don't have supervision the whole time so I stress about things that could happen in between the multiple visits I book per day.

Usually when the pugs are left home alone they go into 'the dog room' which serves as their kennel for the day. Ickis still has the bad habit of marking when he is not watched so while I'd much rather them have the run of the house and use of the doggie door and backyard while I am at work they get 'kenneled' during the day. They sleep pretty much the whole time; waking only to shift positions or move around on the three oversized doggie beds in there. I know this because when we first started kenneling them I set up a webcam to make sure they were doing alright. ;)

When we go away we put a gate around the couch and loveseat, bring the doggie beds out of the doggie room and let the pugs come and go as they please outside as I wouldn't allow them to be locked up for a whole weekend. Still, even though our back gate is reinforced and padlocked after it was opened for the pugs to escape in November of 2005 (I'll share my blog entries somedtime from that horrible day) I still worry that they will get out.

I sometimes take Pearl with me to SCA events but she will be staying home with her brothers this time; she is not pleased with this at all. here is a pic of her from a previous event relaxing in my arms.

What do you all do when you have to leave your puglettes behind?

Mornings

Getting up in the mornings just gets harder and harder as the year progresses. Who wants to get out of a nice, warm bed with two pugs snuggled up against you (Ickis likes to sleep on the doggie bed on the floor right next to the bed) while it's still dark outside? Not me I tell you! I forgot to set the alarm last night but still woke up at the right time but since the alarm didn't go off Pearl didn't want to get up. Once the alarm goes off she is UP and licking Mom to wake up me up if I like it or not. Today though she seemed as reluctant to leave the warmth of the covers as I was.

Tank is not a morning puggie. At all. Once the alarm goes off he will grunt his annoyance at his sisters moving around and if he isn't already there come up the bed to flop down on my pillow and snuggle with me. Once I get up he scoots a little further to center himself on the pillow and makes a puggie loaf of himself by tucking his feet underneath him. There he will stay until I coax him into the living room with promises of breakfast; he'll jump down from the bed only to go to another bed in the living room to wait until I start making breakfast. Once breakfast is done he makes a short trip out into the backyard before coming and getting cozy on one of the beds to sleep again.

Ickis is sort of in between his brother and sister; some days he hopes right out of his bed to follow me for breakfast, some days (like today) he lingers; taking a looooong stretch before slowly making his way to the kitchen to wait for breakfast.

Hubby is MUCH more of a morning person than I am; he is on vacation this week and while I grudgingly got ready for work he was already up, making himself breakfast and looking over his 'To Do' list for the day. On the weekends he lets me sleep late and gets up with the furkids in the morning and takes care of their breakfast. *sigh* If only every day was a weekend! :p

Carmy and Pearl pics

I didn't get any pics of them playing; wish I had the video camera on too but I thought I would share these two pics.

Carmy sitting in one of his favorite spots

Pearl being such a little lady. ;)

Fall Weather

It really starting to get cold down here in Texas; there was a freeze warning last night and this morning when I went to work it was 37 degrees out! Brr! The pugs are loving the weather though; they still pant for a bit during and after we finish their afternoon walk but not frighteningly so anymore. Pearl was even feeling so good that after dinner when we went out in the backyard she played chase with one of our cats; Carmy! It was extreemly cute; she is very fast but Carmy is a master dodger so they went round quite a few times before stopping.

Ickis stood by and growled at the activity while Tank barked and watched as well. The boys aren't much for chase; Ickis prefers Tug or Fetch and will want to play till long after the Humans have tired of it. Tank on the otherhand is alot more laid back and would rather just snuggle than play games. Pearl loves to snuggle with me but still has her puppy energy and often tries to engage Tank to play with her without much success so she usually ends up playing 'Keep Away' with a toy and Ickis.

Ickis

People often ask where I came up with the name 'Ickis' and alot of the time want to call him 'Icarus' instead. His name actually comes from an old cartoon that used to be on Nickelodeon called 'Ahhh Real Monsters!'. Ickis was a crazy bug eyed little monster that immediately became my favorite on the show. He was always the one getting everyone else (and himself!) in trouble. I have since heard that you should never use a name that you don't want that person / pet to live up to and it certainly turned out to be the case with Ick. He is our crazy little monster! See the resemblace? ;)

Pug-O-Ween!

What a busy day! Today Pearl, Tank and I headed out to DFW Pug Rescue's Pug-O-Ween in Arlington! Ickis stayed home with Dad as he has a bit of a marking problem in new situations. :p Anyways, we headed out to Arlington around 1:30 to get there by 2 when everything was going to get started. None of is had ever been to a full pug event so we were all very excited!

We got there just before two and Tank hoped right out of the truck and actually gave Mom a rope burn on her hand from pulling the leash through it he was so excited. Ouch! Pearl, who is a shy wallflower took a bit of convincing to get out of the truck but eventually she came out to play. There were already a TON of pugs around and Tank was very excited to meet them all. Pearl stuck close to her brother and was on the reserved side but happily wasn't freaking out or anything.

Not sure what to expect I had dressed the pugs in their Men in Black suits for the costume contest and they looked quite spiffy. We went in and the place was already PACKED with pugs and their people. We found where we were supposed to sign up, did so and then went and sat down to wait for our turn.

The costumes were GREAT! I think my favorite was Morticia from The Addams Family; her owner was dressed as Gomez and they had a whole diorama of the house they lived in, a cauldron flled with dry ice and black roses everywhere. Heehee, the pug even had fake eyelashes on; it was too cute.

We were in the group category; the last group to go. Our thunder was kinda stolen as there was a 'Men in Black' agent in the second group before us who ended up winning second place in that group. Darn it, I wish we would have gone before them! Ah well, it was fun. As soon as the winners of our category were announced I took the pugs out of their costumes; they were pretty warm in them. We hung around for a little while and then headed back outside to head home.

Wouldn't you know it; as Tank was leaving his 'pee-mail' for the day before we left Mom stepped in a HUGE pile of doggie doo; very obviously NOT pug related (it was a BIG as some of the smaller pugs! Ugh!). I can't STAND when people don't clean up after their dogs!

I brought my camera to the event but wouldn't you know it I was so busy wrangling the pugs that I didn't take even one picture? There were a bunch of photographers there though and they said the pics will be up online very shortly so we shall see.

Anyways, the pugs are now passed out as I type this; well Pearl and Tank are while Ickis is in the backyard barking at something or other. Ah, Ick just came back in through the doggie door and is getting comfy on one of the beds nearby. Hubby is home all this week on vacation so the pugs are going to love that; I wish I could stay home with them all. Weekends need to be longer.

More pics