Trish's special day...

Trish's son, Andy, is a cameraman for FOX 7 News. They were having a mystery writers seminar in Owensboro, Ky. today, and since Trish's favorite author is Mary Higgins Clark and her favorite actor is Gene Hackman, AND because they were both going to be at the seminar and Andy was filiming it, he arranged for Trish to be in the VIP area to meet them. It was his birthday gift to her, and of course she was beyond thrilled. WOW, Trish, lucky you!!!!!! Great pictures and autographed books, too.... What a fun day she had!!!

This is beyond cute...

Meet Mollie Mae....

Click Mollie's Picture to See Her Up Close...

Such exciting news today, ladies. We're welcoming a new fur child to our household, a 5 lb., six year old Yorkie we're naming Miss Mollie Mae...

Maggie Moo came from AnnStefs, the same breeder that Trish got London from. Anna and Stefanie are two ladies from Bowling Green, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee that breed and show amazing Yorkies. Stef emailed me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I would be interested in taking this dog. Mollie had three litters of pups, it was time for her to retire, she lived in the house with Stef, but she was running out of room. Sometimes breeders have to part with their fur kids due to overcrowding. It was really hard for her to give her up but she knew she would have such a good home with us, I understand why it would be hard to part with her, she's a little love.

Hubby and I both enjoyed having two dogs, Munchie and Maggie were always so cute together, so this seemed like the perfect fit for us. We picked her up yesterday, Mags is adjusting well, after all she was an only child for just a few months, she's used to being around other dogs. She looks so much like Maggie, she has the same smushy little face, she's just a little larger version of Mags, who weighs 3.5 lbs. Hubby already can't tell them apart. I kept telling him this morning that Mollie was the one with the red scrungie. Men Schmen...

This little dogs name was Tok'n, but I wanted to carry on the tradition of the M&M's, so we renamed her. Actually Hooterville named he, she immediately said "Good Gollie Miss Mollie." I'm sure with lots of smooches and treats, she'll catch on to her new name really fast. So thanks Stef for raising such a loving little dog, we'll spoil her rotten.

And since you all know how I like to attach nicknames to my dogs, friends and family, I'm christening Miss Mollie Mae, "Mo" after the very talented designer whose doodads I use over and over again in my pages, MoJackson. Mags and Mo.... works for me!!!

Hugs from Heavensville, Jan and the M&M's...

Heads up, townies...

Japanese Beetles have arrived in Heavensville. Hubby is out spraying the fleurs right now because those little suckers can do major damage in a few hours.

We struggle with this every June. Just wanted to warn others that they need to be checking out their gardens, like NOW.....

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....

Ain't she sweet? See her walking down the street.
Now I ask you very confidentially, ain't she sweet?

It's now 8pm, and after a trip back to the groomers, who took one look at her and whisked her up on the table Maggie is in much better shape. It's still not a good cut because her underneath wasn't trimmed correctly, but if you think this isn't a great cut you should have seen her before. Nothing like a little doggie drama on a Thursday night.

Poor Trish, she had worked all day and was so tired, but she was a trooper, she kept telling the groomer what else needed to be trimmed on Maggie. After a quick trip thru the Dairy Queen for some much needed sustenance in the form of a Buster Bar Parfait for her, a fudgie diet bar for me, we are home and ready for bath and bed.

Click on her picture, check our her scrungie. TO-DIE-FOR - it's a green daisy covered flip flop, courtesty of the Dollar Tree - I got four, two purple, two green for a buck. And if her eyes look a little strange, its my fault, she had red eye from the camera, I edited it out in Photoshop, and didn't do such a hot job... It's late, I'm tired, but...

Life is much better than it was a couple of hours ago. I was in a such a tiz...

I'm having a HELLUVA day.....

I took the Mewster Brewster to be groomed, took the picture, took the typed instructions, oh no problem, they will make her look great. WRONG!!!!

I picked her up, they didn't trim her back and flanks close enough, they didn't clip her tail, the cut is all choppy on the back. I didn't say anything when I picked her up, I guess I was in denial, I thought it would be okay. WRONG AGAIN.

I got home, the longer I thought about it the madder I got. I hustled her over to Trish's, we looked at London, Maggie's cut looks WORSE than something I would do.

So I call up the groomer, told her Maggie looks just awful, and so Trish, London and I are headed back over there for her to work on her.

Let's hope I have a happier post later this evening. Right now I'm having a hissy.....

I just thought you wold all enjoy seeing how crazy I really am...

Note: This is a picture of London that I took to the groomer.

You all know that I have no problem poking fun at myself, so I'm posting the following letter. It's to the groomer, Maggie is going today, and it's to someone she's never been to before. I know from past experience that if you just "tell" them what you want, by the time they do the groom, they have forgotten half of it you end up with a dog and a cut you didn't want. Heck, we end up with cuts that we don't want ourselves, and we are able to tell people what we want. I'm also enclosing a picture of London, Trish's dog's cut, as they did a great job on her.

I just read the letter to hubby, he said I was totally bat shit crazy and they probably wouldn't groom her after they read this. So here goes, the letter that will be accompanying Mags to the beauty par-lor...

Maggie Moo's New Doo...

Little Miss Maggie had bladder surgery to remove a stone ten days ago. She went to the vet yesterday, Dr. Laura Wagner, a great vet, by the way, and she said Maggie is healing well and it's fine to take her to the groomer, just be careful of her little tummy, it's pretty tender. She still has some glue on her abdomen from the surgery, don't try and get it off, it will come off by itself.

She's up to date with all her shots, including kennel cough.

She's a sweet little soul, she's always good with the groomer.

And now to the cut...

I'm enclosing a picture of London, you did such a great job on her for Trish . I would like for Mags to have the same cut, EXCEPT for the head.

I don't want the clippers used on her face. I don't like buzzed noses or hair clipped around the eyes. I don't want bangs (visor) - I want to keep her head intact. The top of her pony could be trimmed a bit.

I would like to have 1/3 of her ears tipped, the rest of the ear can be shaped as you see fit, but I do like a few wispies left in front to soften her face.

I want her moustache to be the same length as her beard, as it is now. I do think the bottom of the beard could be trimmed and shaped a bit though.

I also like the underbelly clipped, it seems to mat if the groomers don't trim it. Of course the vet trimmed her tummy when she did the surgery, but the breastbone area needs to be clipped.

I don't know if you put your dogs in a blow box, if you do, please be aware of that sensitive stomach and watch her carefully.

Yeah, I'm a worrier. A bit dingy, too but I'm a nice lady, I'm not normally bossy, I'm just crazy about this little dog.

I'm sure you will do a great job, I thought London looked precious.

Oh, one other thing, Maggie has nappy hair, we struggle with it constantly, you will probably want to slather on the conditioner. I try and get her snarls out daily, occasionally we get in trouble, hopefully you won't find too many mats.

She has one area on the under side of her tummy, I trimmed it a bit (can't you tell???) I think they must have gotten glue on her during the surgery, so just kind of work around it, it's okay to shake your head when you see the way I botched clipping it. You will also see evidence of my taking some mats out of her fur. Sorry, I'm a real amateur, I'm thinking I need to invest in a mat cutter. She's dirtier than normal, because I couldn't bathe her because of her surgery. She normally gets a bath weekly.

Enjoy her, she's a love!!!

Jan

La da da da da........

Trish and I are famous for breaking into song on our evening rides on Milly. It's a cool evening in Heavensville, and as we came down the hill by the creek next to our condos she was suddenly chilled. I said I thought it was cooler because we were in the valley. And we were off, riding along singing at the top of our lungs..

Down in the valley, valley so low,
Hang your head over, hear the wind blow
Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow,
Hang your head over, hear the wind blow...

We were talking about how kids don't sing like we used to. They are too busy with their noses in the computer or their ear to the cellphone. It's a wonderful thing, to sing, it's good for the soul, and we don't really give a rat's hiney about how silly we look...

One of the joys of getting older. It's those simple things, again ladies....

How about his, a store with integrity....

THE Puppy Store on Melrose Avenue in LA deserves an ASPCA award. Over the weekend, spies said, Paris Hilton was on her way to a photo shoot and "wanted a puppy in the picture with her so it would look cuter." Hilton waltzed in and tried to buy a Yorkie but was rebuffed by an employee who said it was clearly "an impulse buy." Hilton, who has a menagerie of neglected animals, went "ballistic," we're told. "She started screaming, 'I love my puppies! I want my baby!'" - but to no avail. The store had no comment.

Source: NYT's Page Six

Southerners, you gotta love them, they're so polite, bless their hearts...

Atlanta ATC: 'Tower to Saudi Air 511 -- You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R

Saudi Air: 'Thank you Atlanta ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah be Praised.'

Atlanta ATC: 'Tower to Iran Air 711 --You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R.'

Iran Air: 'Thank you Atlanta ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah is Great.'

Brief pause...

Saudi Air: 'ATLANTA ATC! - ATLANTA ATC!'

Atlanta ATC: 'Go ahead Saudi Air 511.'

Saudi Air: 'YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFTS FOR THE SAME RUNWAY GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. WE ARE ON A COLLISION COURSE. INSTRUCTIONS , PLEASE.'

Atlanta ATC: 'Well bless your hearts. And praise Jesus. Y'all be careful now and tell Allah 'hey' for us --

The fleurs are thriving...

I watered my plants by the front door this morning, they look so fresh and summery, so I snapped a picture for you.

Check out the cutey standing in the door, bottom left corner... And that's Jacques standing in the right corner, I pretend he's a francais coq (french rooster). Yeah, yeah, I know he's just Jack, an old concrete country rooster, but he's a goodie....

Oh my....

I was reading another blog this morning, Amy at Inspireco, and she was talking about wrap-around skirts. Now that's a blast from the past!!! I hadn't thought of them in years. I remember Mother making me one in high school, it was madras plaid, and I was so excited I couldn't wait until she finished it.

I looked like CRAP in that skirt!!! What a disappointment. I never had the body for a wrap-around skirt, of course I couldn't understand why, but now I realize it was because I never had a little waist. I never had that tiny little waist that it took to wear a wrap, so of course I looked like a cow in my skirt and I'm sure the plaid didn't help either. But, come to think about it, I don't remember any of my friends looking particularly attractive in theirs, either.

I was, however a total knockout in a mui mui, and I was made for long peasant dresses...

We made mui mui's (I don't know if I'm spelling that right, but you all know what I'm talking about, those wild Hawaiian print cotton gathered yolk dresses that were so voluminous they hid all of your body flaws) in home ec class one year, and my friend, Karen had hers finished, and she was chatting with me while she cut away the stray threads and trimmed the seam of her yolk. She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and she cut a big old slice out of the front her mui mui that she had been sewing all semester. She held it up, saw that gaping hole in the yolk and was so upset she about peed her pants... I remember just howling with laughter, which no doubt upset the teacher to no end. She was a great teacher, I remember her writing in my yearbook that I was the "Magpie" of the freshman class.

I just looked up Magpie, and the web defines a magpie as a chatterer: an obnoxious and foolish and loquacious talker.

Well, that wasn't very nice of that teacher to write that in my book!!!!! How dare she!!!

But I haven't changed much over the years, I still chatter, I'm still foolish and I can be obnoxious, just ask Hooterville, she'll tell you how obnoxious I am. Loquacious, I don't know what that means, and I'm certainly not going to look it up, I'm depressed enough as it is reading the definition of a Magpie. I always thought it was just a cute little bird that talked a lot. Hah!!! So much for my memories of that teacher!!!

Want to see a politician choke on national TV?..... watch this

Talk about an embarrassing moment...

Now why didn't I take a picture....

Last week I bought an electric Wolfgang Puck Pressure Cooker from HSN, after Hooterville alerted me about it, and naturally Ryan couldn't wait to try it out, so we made stuffed peppers yesterday.

We had a "bit" of trouble getting it going, and finally realized the seal wasn't popped all the way down. Once it came to pressure, it took twenty minutes and the results were too amazing for words. OMG, they were so moist, so tender, so perfectly cooked, sez Jan, gushing...

And... Lindsay made her father-in-law a banana spice cake using her grandmother's recipe. It was soooo good....

Seriously, it was an awesome meal, comfort food at it's finest. Stuffed peppers, mashed potatoes, corn, and frosty glasses of iced tea topped off with Dilly's cake. Ryan was growling he was enjoying it so much.

So, I'm looking forward to taking this puppy for many spins in the garage. The garage???? Yeah, I admit, we cooked them in the garage just in "case" it exploded. A mishap we have only seen once, when the boys were small and Mother's pressure cooker exploded and made a hideous mess.

But not to fear, all went well, I'm going to cook pinto beans in it today, nothing like a new kitchen garage toy to get me excited...