Snow day!

We don't get snow very often where we live, so the fact that we've had it two years in a row is pretty amazing! Today's snowfall was light, but there was ice underneath, so many roads are closed. The Engineer is working from home, and the kids and I took advantage of the fun white stuff this morning. It's melting now, and it will be in the mid-50s again tomorrow. (Yay!)

Here's a collage of pictures from our snow day!



I had to include that last photo of Hammer with his paws on the countertop, licking the snow ice cream--just to give you a more realistic view of what kind of dog he is. After my post earlier this week, I got one comment that made me realize I'd inadvertently portrayed my dog as brilliant and well-behaved. Well, he is definitely smart, but unfortunately, he usually uses his brains for evil rather than for good. No food is safe with him around unless it's out of reach...and often "out of reach" is further than I realize. Sigh....

Stay warm and safe out there!

My dog, Pavlov

Like many of you, we had a big storm Monday night. No snow, but wind so violent, it shook our windows.

The next day I let our dog Hammer out in the back yard. A little while later I was surprised to hear him scratching at the front door. I checked the gate outside, and sure enough, it was open--because the wind had knocked a post out of the ground, the post that the gate is supposed to latch to.

I knew that I would need to take Hammer outside on a leash whenever he needed to do his business. But I'm trained just as well as Pavlov's dogs were. Hammer rings a little bell at the back door when he wants to go out. Three times throughout the day, I automatically opened the back door when he rang the bell. One of the times, I didn't even realized I'd let him out until, several minutes later, he once again scratched at the front door.

The Engineer will be fixing the post, but it was anchored in concrete, and it'll take quite a bit of work...work he really doesn't want to do when the temperature is in the 20s. So this morning I realized I needed to find some way to get that gate closed.

I channeled my inner MacGyver, and with supplies I found in the garage and the house (concrete blocks and a broken fold-up chair), I got that gate to stay closed and blocked off Hammer's escape route.



I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm not much of a handy(wo)man, but I proved I could solve a problem. It's temporariy. And it's not very attractive. But it's doing the job! And I can go back to automatically opening the back door when Pavlov...uh, I mean Hammer...rings the bell.

Monday Micro: Growing vocabulary

Our Schnauzer, Hammer, has the typical Schnauzer tail--cropped short and stubby. Zoodle is proud of his anatomy vocabulary and showed off to us a bit yesterday.

Pointing at Hammer's tail, Zoodle happily proclaimed, "A penis!!"

I guess we have a bit more teaching to do....

Hammer

On Twitter yesterday, Call Me Cate said, "I think if I ever have a kid or get a new pet, I'm gonna let you name him/her/it. You come up w cool names. #HammerChickieZoodle."

Well, I had to admit that I didn't come up with the name Hammer. In fact, while Chickie and Zoodle are, of course, not my kids' real names, Hammer is my dog's real name.

Before we had kids, our first dog had to be put to sleep, and we quickly wanted to get another. We contacted a Schnauzer rescue organization, and they put us in touch with a military family that needed to get rid of their (freakishly large) Miniature Schnauzer, since they were planning to move and couldn't keep him at their new location.

We got in touch with them. They told us the dog's name was Hammer. We didn't really care for the name, but figured if we took him, we'd let him keep it; he was over a year old, and we didn't want to change his name.

So we went to meet him, and asked this Marine family why they'd named him Hammer.

"Well," they replied, "his full name is Hammer of Justice." Wow. We decided to lose the last 2/3 of his name and stick with the short version.

So here he is--Hammer, formerly Hammer of Justice. Our crazy, hyper, currently shaggy dog.

I didn't like it when...

Yesterday...

I didn't like it when Zoodle got up at 5:45 yesterday morning.
But I did like when he went down easily for his nap by 11:30.

I didn't like it when I realized Chickie might have a little cold.
But I did like that she was drowsy enough to cuddle, then sleep, with me during naptime.

I didn't like it when I stepped in dog poop in the back yard.
But I did like that the weather was nice enough for us to play outside.

I didn't like it when the dog barked at the Fed/Ex truck and woke up Zoodle and me from our naps too early, and Zoodle proceeded to cry hysterically from tired frustration for nearly an hour (with occasional cuddles from me) before he stopped crying but didn't go back to sleep.
But I did like...
Oh, forget this Pollyanna crap. There was nothing good about that.

Monday Micro: Five things I learned this weekend

1. The key to getting small children to stay still at Starbucks long enough for Mommy and Daddy to enjoy their coffee: A creme (coffee-free) Frappuccino.

2. It's hard to have an appropriate level of mercy for a dog with the stomach flu, when he wakes you up at 5 a.m. as he loses his dinner on the carpet.

3. Eavesdropping on your daughter's Sunday School class as she sings (well, yells) Jesus Loves Me? It may hurt Mommy's ears, but it also warms Mommy's heart.

4. If you let your kids sleep way too long during nap time, it will be hard to get them to bed later in the evening. But if it gives you the opportunity to finish a novel during said nap time, it's totally worth it.

5. A guy who will clean up the living room and put both kids to bed while Mom does some Sunday evening grocery shopping? That guy is worth keeping around.

Housesitting confession

We have a fantastic housesitter/dogsitter. When we go out of town Jenni takes better care of our dog Hammer than we do. (I'm not joking.) We're very lucky! Jenni is married now, to a guy who will put a rope toy in his mouth, and let Hammer take the other end so they can play tug-of war. I think Hammer probably wishes we'd leave more often!

When we were traveling home last week, I checked my messages in the airport. Jenni had left me a message. She was laughing as she spoke. It went something like this:

"Hi, Beth (giggle!) Oh, my gosh, we went to see Julie and Julia, and then we were at your house watching Julia Child's old TV show (giggle!) They were advertising her cookbook, and I wanted to buy it, but I didn't get the website written down."

About this time, I was completely flummoxed at why she was leaving me such a random message. I continued to listen.

"So I checked Amazon, and instead of $35, it was $25.98, so I was like, 'Great!' And I saw this option for 1-Click ordering, and so I clicked it! And then I realized, I'd bought it on YOUR Amazon account! I am SUCH a dork!"

As Jenni got to this part of the story, I was smiling. This is definitely the type of mistake I would make.

"So," she continued, "I tried to cancel it, but they wanted your password. And I didn't know your password, because WHY WOULD I?"

I began to giggle right along with Jenni's recorded voice--and when you've been traveling hours with two small children, laughter is a blessed thing! I listened to the rest of the message, as Jenni offered ways to remedy her error. When I called her back, I assured her it was fine, and she could just write me a check.

"If I left my Amazon account open," I told her, "I guess I should be glad all I bought you was a cookbook!"

A great housesitter who's also an honest friend--that's a valuable thing!

Family haircuts

In our family we use a wide variety of different hair stylists. The kids get cuts from me--free except the cost of Dum Dum lollipops. The dog goes to a skilled groomer, which costs more than I'd like, but it's about more than just the haircut. (I really don't want to be the one to trim his nails and clean out his anal sacs.) The Engineer takes advantage of $12 Tuesdays at a local walk-in place.

And after several years of hopping from one cheap walk-in haircut place to another, I've recently found a skilled hair stylist I want to stick with. Yesterday was the third time April has cut my hair, and she is fantastic.

She offers all the stuff any good stylist does--a great cut; styling I don't want to re-do as soon as I get home; and friendly, casual conversation. That might be enough for me to stick with her. But beyond that, there is one thing that puts April way above the crowd.

Her place is amazingly kid-friendly.

• She has an assistant who is happy to watch my kids while I get my hair cut. As April said the first time I called for an appointment and told her I'd have kids with me, "That's why I have an assistant!"
• Zoodle is going through a stranger anxiety mode, and it's fine with April if I hold my little guy on my lap while I get my locks shampooed, cut, and styled.
• The last two times we've been there, April has brought her little dog Devo with her. Apparently the dog doesn't always care for kids, but she and Chickie are somehow best buds. Chickie is in heaven playing fetch with Devo in a spare room, and Devo is just as happy.

Now, the Engineer is suffering a little sticker shock. My haircut is suddenly costing well over double what I was paying at places like Cost Cutters. But, hey, I'm getting the best haircuts I've had in years, and it's one place where I don't have to worry about my kids going crazy or melting down as they wait for me. It's worth every penny.

And best of all...the dog is no longer getting the most expensive haircut in the family.

Hammer and Frosty

I spotted Chickie the other day, sitting with the dog, Hammer.

Something about the sight reminded me of an old photo of me and our childhood cat, Frosty.

Not much changes from generation to generation (except, thankfully, carpet color.)

Playmates

Chickie is finally old enough that our dog Hammer finds it fun to play with her. This is a pretty big deal, as Hammer normally likes to play rough. The Engineer literally picks him up and throws him, and he comes back for more. He doesn't play rough with kids; he just gets bored easily. But Chickie's strong enough now to play a semi-decent game of tug-of-war with him, and they both enjoy it.



I really am glad we've reached this phase. Honestly, since having kids, having a dog is more of an annoyance than anything. (Boy, I hope he's not reading this!) But now that Chickie is learning to play with him I think it'll be a great thing for both of them. Now if I could just keep him from jumping up to get food off our countertops, we'd be in great shape.

Mommy Multitasking

We often take walks in the morning. Ever seen a one man band? You know a street performer with a bunch of instruments all strapped to him in an intricate configuration so he can play them all at once? That's what I feel like on these walks. Here's what I mean:



That's me with Zoodle tied to me in a front carrier, Hammer (the dog) tied to a belt on my waist, and Chickie in the stroller. Often Zoodle nurses as we walk. A friend sometimes comes on walks with us, and she pushes the stroller, which does make things easier.

(To be honest, doing so many things at once makes me feel a little like Supermom! Though I need Superman's phone booth; it takes me forever to get everything ready for our walks.)