How Theo Feels about Walks

Shhh! He is so sleepy and snuggled. He must not have slept for days.

But the weather was so nice outside. I had to ask him, "Want to go for a walkie?"

Before and After

Theo's before and after grooming photos will never get old to me since we let him get so fluffy he looks like a little bear before I call and make an appointment. Actually we've been through two groomers since moving back. This groomer is definitely a winner even though she said Theo is a little needy. Theo? Wanting your full attention 100% of the time? Can't be my dog. 

On our way to get a haircut! He assumes the most absurd positions in his Snoozer Lookout car sear. 

Enjoying his yard and the sunshine now that he has lost five pounds of fluff.

Yoga

He likes to do prenatal yoga with me.

A Day at Work with Theo

He works hard for his 10 kibbles an hour.

McSuperfluff

We started calling him Goosie Bear because we bought him a little bear toy in the 99 cent bin at Target. The name stuck since he was starting to look like a fluffy bear. However it was time to shed the winter fur. Here's his Before and After shots.

Wordless Wednesday

Survival of the Cutest

I promise I won't rant too much about Theo's allergy issues this year. I'm sure I did it enough last year and if you really want to hear the details then feel free to poke around through July- September's posts. In short, the itchy feet are back. The cone of shame is back on except this time it's larger and has duct tape on it. He's currently on an antihistamine, a steroid, and now Atopica which is an immuno-suppressant. If the Atopica doesn't help then we're seriously considering allergy testing him.

So basically we decided that Westies have survived due to their cuteness. Theo would not make it in the wild on his restricted diet. We also think he would try to befriend and cuddle a bear which would not go over well.

How can you not love that face? I'm telling you. It's the cuteness.

Theo the Portuguese Water Dog

We hope you all enjoy Theo's latest passion, water fetch. Today we decided to try a new dog park that is about 15 minutes from our house. Theo was sure glad we did. He had the best day of his life, even managing to attack a 70lb American Bulldog. Biting that dog on the throat and hanging in the air for a few seconds was the 2nd best part of his day.

Spring Walks

We're so happy it's warmed up. Time to start our daily walks again. Theo found this branch on the way up the hill.

The trees are in bloom! The ones that I showed you last year are in bloom across the street and it almost looks like they are covered with snow. Here's a picture from our walk. Can you see someone else who is happy to see the flowers?

When we get home we chill out. On our bed that had been temporarily placed on the dining room chair.

I am anxiously awaiting the tulips! Last year they were in bloom all over the city. I saw a few yellow ones just up the hill from us.

The Biggest Loser: Pet Edition

It was actually just haircut time.

A Lion and His Prey

I know. You're sick of seeing my super cute dog. Well, I'm not sick of talking about how cute he is. You remember Bolt from the previous post. Not a day after he's out of surgery Theo is working on his injured leg.

This photo reminds me of a show I saw about lions on Animal Planet. The host of the show would try to get as close as possible to the lions to see how they react. I don't know what the point was, but the lions would look up from their dinner and watch the crazy man creep closer. Theo is probably just posing for the picture, because he does that. Or it's just more proof that he is, in fact, part kitty. My favorite part about that photo is the way Theo is holding Bolt.

The Surgeon

Michael got to perform two surgeries today all by himself!

That's right, folks. $40,000 later, Bolt and Dirty Rotten Kitty are back in action.

So Much for National Blogging Month

I'm sorry I'm doing an awful blogging job. I had a whopping one post in November. This is what has been consuming my life.
I mailed the majority out on Tuesday, and since I subbed yesterday I am a bit behind in finishing. But I can say for certain that they will be done and mailed on Monday.

The cough from hell that I had last year for the entire winter is back. I'm going to get someone out here to test the air quality in case it's something like mold. I don't feel sick, but I sound like I have the plague and I'm sure that's bad for business.

We went Christmas tree shopping the week before Thanksgiving in order to beat the fake Christmas tree rush. We checked out Kmart before heading to Big Lots where we got a sweet deal on a 6' pre-lit tree.
I intended to take silly pictures like my family does when picking out a real tree. I got this one shot in Kmart and completely forgot to take more in the midst of all the excitement at Big Lots.

(This is a side note that Theo is currently running laps around the living room. Poor thing, but I really don't feel up to walking him in the cold and cloudy weather. The Puppy 500, as we call it, will have to do for now.)
Theo was pretty excited to put his new personalized dog bone on the tree. This picture was taken before he tried to eat it. The ornaments start about a foot and a half from the bottom of the tree. Oh, Theo.

We missed the community tree lighting this year. Michael was working overnight and I had signed up to chaperone a dance put on by Parks and Rec for 5th and 6th graders. Two straight hours of rap. If I had attempted to dance in such a way I would have surely blown out a knee and not been able to walk the next day. Then again I'm sure I wouldn't have been allowed to go to a dance at that age much less walk home after. Things you keep in mind when they're trying to drive you crazy in the classroom. Not everyone is as blessed to grow up in the home that I did.

Oh well, back to happy thoughts. Here are two custom dog bone ornaments I made for a friend.
I am so happy how they turned out. I used different greens for the holly leaves and I think it really jazzed them up more than Theo's (which can be seen in my Etsy shop). I have two more orders for custom ornaments and I will be starting those as soon as the invitations are done. (And here I am blabbing away on the blog with errands to run and lots of Christmas presents waiting to be crafted.)

And speaking of Christmas presents, here's my wish list on Amazon. Maybe it's tacky, but at least you know :)

Hungry? If you are in the mood for some serious comfort food and have 2 hours to spare Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits will not disappoint. It might disappoint your post-Thanksgiving pre-Christmas diet. But it is amazing. I didn't use those tiny onions and I used half and half instead of heavy cream. Don't be intimidated by the biscuits. Make them. You will not be sorry. We are so sad that the leftovers are gone.
Earlier this week I made pasta primavera. I used this recipe, but subbed green bell peppers for red and I also roasted the tomatoes. I used whole wheat spaghetti instead of bow tie pasta because that's what I had on hand. I bought herbes de Provence since I'm not a huge fan of Italian herbs. And let me tell you.... yum yum yum. Fast and easy. Sorry no picture. Plus my pictures of food usually make the food look gross.

Tiny goose likes to lie underneath things. He's under the couch as I type.

So long for now. Time to be productive.

Avast, me hearties!

In honor of the upcoming Talk Like a Pirate Day (this Saturday) Michael embraced his pirate heritage and brought home the booty. A suitcase full of Vitamin water from his past rotation.
Please don't leave me again. Well, if you do leave- take me with you.

Howdy, It's Your Long Lost Blogger

We love car rides. We went on a hike yesterday with our friends Pete and Fiona. We took Theo even though his allergy issues aren't completely remedied. More on that later. It was a lovely drive out of town on Barracks Road. Soon after you leave the "city" in almost any direction you can see mountains and unbelievably gorgeous farms.
On our way back we walked along the river. I guess you can say we've had a relatively dry summer. Theo jumped off rocks into the cold water.
Here, he checks out some stacked rocks. I think the day went down as one of his favorites.

The update on his condition is that we had to put him on steroids, which has helped. He still gets the urge to lick his paws and manages to lick them while wearing the cone. He is able to hang out without the cone on as long as we are around to catch him when he starts licking every now and then. We are a week into a rabbit and potato kibble diet which will tell us if the continuing allergy problem is from an allergy to his previous food (chicken kibble). With the wearing of the cone has come sleeping in our bed since he can't fit in his crate with the cone. Oh well. I guess we held out as long as we could with that one. I will say that he is quite the cuddler. We like to call him Cuddlefus Rex i.e. the King of Cuddles. It was about time for a new nickname, don't you think?

I am an approved substitute for Charlottesville City Schools and so far I have missed three phone calls. Two during a calligraphy lesson and one while I was volunteering with one of the students I worked with in the spring. One of the ESL teachers contacted me to work with a fourth grader during Math in the morning. This is nice since I think it's good for me to do something productive and being in the classroom environment certainly can't hurt. The automated Subfinder system apparently has some kinks that need to be worked out. It also appears that when you miss a call it moves on to the next person. C'est la vie.

I have started my online felt ornament selling on Etsy. You can see items in my shop on the right side of the blog. I have sold two ornaments so far. Yippee.

I'm almost finished with Calligraphy lessons, I hope. And I'm gearing up for PieFest on October 3rd as well as the Fall Fiber Festival at Montpelier, visitors, and eating donuts from Carpe Donut once it gets really cold. I'm most excited about Michael coming home on Thursday for good until January or February. Hooray!

Cone head

Theo's paws haven't gotten better. In fact they're worse. One of his back paws started bleeding so we had to go to the vet again today. He has an infection on his paws and will have to endure antibiotics, the cone, and getting his paws dipped in a solution for a week. As you may have guessed, he is not very happy. If you weren't happy you'd want to sit on someone, too.

They Grow up so Fast

Monday was Theo's official birthday. Unfortunately for him he had green gunk in his eyes, itchy paws and a pouting human. We went to the vet and luckily we still had the ointment for his eyes. It's probably just an allergy and it cleared up in a couple days. Westies are known to have skin problems and the itchy paws are indicative of an allergy. He's on Benadryl and I bought a tea tree oil/ oatmeal/ and aloe concoction at Petsmart today to help soothe his paws.

Michael came home last night (YAY) and we celebrated Theo's birthday today by taking him to Petsmart where he proceeded to act like he didn't have any manners by going buckwild. After walking through the store to calm down a bit we headed for the toy aisle to pick out a present. Enter Dirty Rotten Kitty.
I like how they both look crazy in that photo. After Petsmart we went to the Downtown Mall to the Dog and Horse Lovers Boutique where Theo was welcome to come in and shop. He loves to shop. The store has an assortment of treats and we found a cupcake treat!
Happy Birthday little noodle. You bring so much joy to our lives (except for those first three months when I mostly cried and considered selling you.)

Missed me?

We had tons of fun while Andrew visited. I told you about a few things in the last post so here is the rest. The rest of our Saturday consisted of some serious arts and crafts. Michael and Andrew made Napkin Origami. We also made origami stars from a kit I've been having for who knows how long. Here is a rocket and some stars.
We decided on Emeril's root beer glazed pork chops to accompany our farmers' market purchases.
I made vanilla cupcakes with a whipped cream frosting topped with fresh strawberries and lime jello glaze. They tasted like strawberry shortcake. yum! Another hit from my 500 cupcakes book. Saturday evening continued with my second viewing of Tartuffe at Live Arts. On Sunday we went to Michie Tavern to have midday fare at The Ordinary.

Michael had this weekend off and on Saturday we decided to take Theo to the dog park for the first time. He was extremely well behaved and had a blast. There were only a few dogs when we got there but by the time we left there were at least 10 other dogs. He was so filthy so we decided to take him down to the river. There were a few dogs there swimming after a ball and Theo jumped in without a second thought. I didn't get many pictures because we let him off leash and I was paranoid that he would run away. After realizing that the other dogs didn't want to play with him he did decide to do a little exploring so we put him back on the leash and headed home to bathe him and do some intense spring cleaning.
I also worked on a cupcake collage which I made using scrapbook paper and the pattern I made for Christmas ornaments. I'm going to put it in the kitchen above the sink. I'm very pleased with how it came out.
My last day at the high school and the elementary school was this past Monday. Last week the ESL teacher at the elementary school was out so I went to school and basically subbed for her. The two third graders wrote me thank you notes on Monday. If I had a scanner I would scan the one that said that I am the best teacher ever. How cute. The ESL teacher gave me some Lindt chocolates and a magnetic notepad which reads "You are an angel of a teacher." The students in the high school ESL class signed a card for me. They are so appreciative. I really had a great time with them.

Michael left for Nassawadox yesterday. His lodgings are pretty crusty. Upon entering he found a dead mouse and lots of crickets. He acquired a vacuum today and things are a bit better.

Tomorrow will be my last day volunteering at the upper elementary. I start training for summer camp on Monday.

Extreme Makeover

Yesterday I had a play date with Gemma (my German Shepherd bestie). Gemma's people have a fenced in yard so we can run around. They also had a mud puddle that Gemma dug (bonus!). I think it was the best day of my life. Well, until I got home and had a bath.

Before

After

Theo's Big Break

Theo is on a trading card! When I opened his bag of dog food this month I saw a prize. It was a trading card with a dog on it. You can go on Blue Buffalo's website and make a card for your dog. Then you can browse other dogs (or cats). We're hoping the photo's quality is good enough that the company will want to print his card. We're keeping our fingers crossed.