My nephews and niece are a pretty important part of my life.  They have their own toys, bedroom, and bathroom at my house.  They have toothbrushes and their own cups in a cupboard that they can reach.  None of the kids have their own animals at their house so going to Aunties was pretty cool because I had a cat.  They knew the rules, they could play with the cat but if he went under my bed he was off-limits.

When I brought Panda home the first thing I asked was how she got along with kids because there are children at my house.  Well, Rider, my oldest (almost 7) nephew, grew up with my parents dog.  Now, granted, my parents dog is psychotic, but he knows how to behave around a dog.  Rider is great with Panda.  He can feed her (we have a special food routine where Panda has to sit until invited to eat) without a problem.  He can take her outside, he can walk her (the dog weighs almost twice what he weighs).  He can get her to sit or calm down.  Rider absolute loves Panda and she loves him back.

Ally (my 6 1/2 year old niece) also loves the dog.  Panda is  bit bigger than I think she thought so Ally gets a little overwhelmed at times but, again, Ally can walk her on a leash without problem.  If Panda gets overly excited Ally gets a little anxious but for the most part they are great together.

Then we have Kyle.  Kyle will be 4 in December and Kyle isn’t too fond of dogs.  He hasn’t been around them much and one time he had a dog snap at his face.  Of course, the more afraid he would get the more excited Panda would get because Kyle would start running around trying to get away from her.  Well, we had a break-through this week.  Kyle was in the office and wanted me to put Panda in her crate but I told Kyle to tell Panda that he’s the boss.  So, he did.  And Panda listened.  It was so neat to see.  The next day he was in the office and Panda came up to him again and Kyle put his hands on his hips and said “I’m the boss!”.  Panda sat down in front of him and it’s been a very happy boy and dog ever since.  Kyle also got brave enough to give Panda a treat and now he loves to give her treats and asks me when he comes if he can.  He tells her to sit then gives her a cookie.

I’m one happy Auntie with three kids who now love my dog.

So, I mentioned that I might be dog-sitting.  Well, Miss Chloe has arrived and we’re doing good so far.  She and Jeeves get along fine as long as they ignore each other.  I’ll admit that occasionally they will look at one another and I swear they just do it to piss the other off.  But, they really are fine together.  Honestly, if it weren’t for the beast dogs two doors down that like to terrorize Jeeves we’d probably be fine.  But, yeah, the beasts have ruined life for Jeeves.

But, let me tell you a secret about this dog.  She is completely and totally OBSESSED with my father.  She’s his dog, right, so that would make sense, right.  Except one problem, she was MY DOG FIRST.  My feelings are kind of hurt.  Seriously, she was mine, I adopted her.  I loved her when my father said she was ugly way back when she was missing all her fur from the trauma of her old abuser (aka owner).  But, whatever, now she’s OBSESSED with my dad.  Which wouldn’t be that big of a deal except the dog freaks out if my dad isn’t around.

For example, this morning she was at the office with me.  She was laying nicely on the little bed I made for her under my desk.  My dad got bored so he came to the office for a few minutes.  The dog sees him and when he leaves she whines and carried on until I took her outside so she could see that he wasn’t there.

But, that’s not it.  We had to go by the store tonight because my dad left something there.  I sat in the car with the dog while he ran inside.  The dog literally paced the entire TWO minutes he was gone.  Not in a fun “where’d he go” search but in a panic pacing action.

And, don’t even get me started on bed time.  My dad is trying to convince himself it will be OK for the dog to stay here with me when they go home.  So, she’s supposed to stay in my room at night.  Yeah, that means she paces and cries ALL NIGHT LONG until I give in and let her in his room.  Last night we worked out a deal, sort of, (actually I took charge and told her she needed to get over it) I put her in her crate for a while then told her she could get back in bed ONLY if she went to sleep.  It worked, until 4:30AM (that was at 12:30 so it worked for 4 hours which is better than the night before).

Right now, she’s in her crate, crying.  But, as soon as I publish this I’ll let her out and hopefully she’ll settle down and sleep.  Cause seriously, she’s driving the cat and me crazy.

But, she’s really giving me the “I want a dog” itch BAD.  We’ll see.

OK…she’s barking, gotta go show her who’s boss.

So, since I don’t have enough that I’m doing right now I offered to dog-sit my parents dog (you know the dog that used to be mine that my dad adopted (or dognapped) from me a few years ago).  They put their house on the market and since they are driving up here next weekend with my sister and Rider I figured it would be a lot easier for them to bring Chloe up here then and be able to show their house without her around plus packing and moving would be easier.

So, here’s the problem, the dog is C-R-A-Z-Y, I have a cat and I’m not sure how either will do with the other.  Plus, the dog is C-R-A-Z-Y.  So, to keep the dog safe, me sane, and my house from getting destroyed by this (C-R-A-Z-Y) dog I am looking for a crate.  (Plus, I just think crates are good for dogs.)  Here’s where I need your help…anyone have any input on crates?

The dog is 8 inches tall and about 12 inches long.  So, I need some input on the right size crate for her.  Also, I’m not sure which type is best.  Chloe is C-R-A-Z-Y but she won’t chew or destroy the crate (honestly, despite my dad’s protests I really think she’ll like it) but I’m not sure which is the best choice.  Ideally I’d like to use this for a future dog that I hope to add to my family (assuming it’s the right size and assuming I find someone who can install a fence for less that the price I paid for my house).

So, with all that randomness, opinions please. 

to say the least.

Got to work and my brother wanted to have a talk.  No big deal.  I’m his sounding board for his business I listen, give advice, he takes it or not. The day started out great.  I was on task. Got a bunch done.  Even made it to a conference call that I always miss.

Then on my way home my dad called.  My grandfather is in the hospital.  (It’s so weird for me to say “my grandfather” I always refer to him a “my dad’s dad” — we aren’t close.)  He’s 97 and broke his femur.  He was supposed to have surgery today but his blood pressure was too low so they  had to take care of that and he’s having surgery tomorrow.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I’ve never had any type of relationship with him.  He doesn’t really even know who I am.  My dad’s feeling kind of weird about it too, I could tell.  He found out about it through my sister (who stays in contact with one cousin — one of the only ones that has any relationship with the grandparents).  He said he called today to talk to his dad but he wasn’t sure he knew who he was.  He even made a comment that he obviously wasn’t important enough since they didn’t even bother to call him.  Even after so many years of NO relationship with his dad I think my dad still wants one.  It made me sad.

Then I got home and was taling to some neighbors and found out that the crazy lady was evicted and has to be out by this coming weekend.  I also found out that one of the neighbors overheard her threatening to “talk to” the bitch and leave some “presents” for some other people before she left.  When I say this woman is crazy, I mean PSYCHOTIC.  I’ve had her husband probation officers talk to me about her.  He was arrested but only because they didn’t have enough on her and she was pressing charges.  I’m 99.9999% sure she’s a drug addict.  I wouldn’t be surprised if someone confirmed she’s a prostitute.  I’ve known enough gang members to know that it’s not a far call to say her husband and/or her boyfriend are probably members.  (Yes, she has a husband and a boyfriend — the husband caught her with the boyfriend which is why he went to jail, thus the probation officer.) I’m kind of weirded out about her.  The probation officers have asked me why I haven’t called the cops on her — IT’S BECAUSE SHE SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME.  In fact, no one has called the cops on her because everyone in the building is afraid of her.  The woman is PSYCHOTIC.  So, I have a feeling it’s going to be a rough couple of weeks for me.  There’s no reason she should do anything to me, but there’s no reason she should do anything to ANYONE in the building.  But, I’m also fairly certain that she saw me talking to the probation officers one time.

It’ll be nice to have her screaming and yelling GONE.  I talked to my sister tonight (the one that works for dispatch for the police/sheriff dept.) and she recommended I log the day I was told of the threats and try to get her license plate #.  “Just in case.”  Of course, my freaked-out brain said “just in case she MURDERS me?!?”

In the mean time, I think I’m going to go get some ice cream tonight.    Yummy.

It’ s a good thing I took Friday off.  My weekend was so dang busy that I needed Friday to prepare for it. 

Rider woke up Saturday morning completely rash free.    Yipee, because I had a lot I wanted to do.  Luckily, he was game for all of it.  First thing in the morning we headed to the Farmers Market.  I got some great vegetables (OMG, I made the most amazing zucchini dish with the zucchini – WOW) and Rider picked out one vegetable for himself — no surprise it was snap peas that he snaps and eats the peas out of.  But, I was so proud of the picky little man — he tried Hummus from a vendor that makes and sells it.  He didn’t like it (which didn’t surprise me) but he TRIED IT!

We decided that we wanted to go to the PowWow instead of watching the parade so that helped us not have too much to do.  After the Farmers Market we headed over to the Donut House for a donut and hot chocolate (only I got an apple fritter and coffee).  As we were enjoying our treat I realized that the were in the parking lot, the roads were being blocked off, and the parade was going to start any minute (of course the people sitting on the sidewalk in front of the donut shop and the police turning cars away helped me realize that fact).  I also realized that it was 11:15 and the parade started at 11:00.  I almost panicked when I realized that the only way were were leaving was if we left right that instant or we’d be stuck until the parade was over.  So, we took off.  I could see the parade CLEARLY in my rearview mirror as we drove down the street with parade goers waving to us from the sidewalk (talk about a close call).

From there we headed to JulyAmsh – the PowWow for the Coeur d’Alene tribe.  It was fun.  Rider was a real trooper (of course the promise of a “real” indian arrow helped).  We watched the horse entrance, the eagle staff ceremony, and the grand entrance before getting too hot and moving indoors.  Inside we watched a bit of the dancing then decided ice cream would make a great lunch.  So we ate our “lunch” (actually Rider ate it I didn’t want any) then got his “real” indian arrow and left.  Here’s a picture Rider took of the Grand Entrance. 

From there we headed to the park by my house where we “enjoyed” the city festival.  I say “enjoyed” because he enjoyed it, I was bored.  In the past they’ve had great food and some fun booths to look at.  This year they had the utility company and Dish network (neither of which I care to talk to) along with not one but TWO chiroprators and not much else.  The food — that left a lot to be desired.  But, the kids area was fun for Rider.  He jumped in the jumphouses, talked with the firemen, and won a goldfish AND African Dwarf Frog.  Unfortuntely the goldfish died shortly after he got home.  But, he’s dealing well with learning about the death of goldfish.

Sunday we went to church and unfortunately I guess we got there a little late because his class was full so he had to go to big church with me.  He was amazing though and got a special treat afterwards.  Of course, his chocolate bar ruined his lunch but dude, he sat through the entire church service and only talked when he wanted to tell me that he liked the song we were singing.  Of course, it probably helped that I let him use my camera to keep him happy.

Here’s some pictures of “big church” from a 5 y/o’s perspective.

FYI…the picture above is of my friend who preached for the first time yesterday.  Rider took this after I told him which one was Thad.  Guess he thought I’d want it?

It was a fun weekend.   But, now it’s back to work.

Some fun at the mall with the niece and nephew before they leave on vacation.

Yesterday was AWESOME!    I took the new bike out. Got the breaks to stop squeaking, got a new cushy seat installed.  Loved it!  In the morning I took Ally & Kyle on a ride around the block, then we got some cash and rode to the corner market for an ice cream.  I mapped it when I got back home and realized we’d ridden 3.5 miles.  I was shocked they were able to do the entire thing — they were both pretty beat by the time we got home.

I had Rider Saturday night while Tami worked so he and I rode our bikes over to the corner deli for dinner then decided to go for a ride before we came back for ice cream.  Our little ride ended up bringing us all the way to Ally’s house only to realize they weren’t home (oops, probably should have called first).  It was Rider’s idea and he did GREAT the whole way there.  He was a little pooped (and a lot disappointed that they weren’t home) but he was a trooper and made it all the way back (I think the promises of ice cream were a big help).  We did it — 4.2 miles round trip.  He asked for two scoops of ice cream and said OK (he earned it) and he ate every melted drop of that ice cream.

Today was pretty laid back.  Donuts for me and Rider this morning followed by church.  I needed to go to Walmart and ended up buying Rider the fish he’s been wanting (that his mom said she’d get but hasn’t had time).  He was totally stoked and thinks I’m the coolest thing EVER now.    Tami was going to get him African Dwarf Frogs but I got the $0.28 gold fish.  She can upgrade if she wants.  LOL

Then we met Tami for lunch and I came home to start some laundry and clean up the kitchen.  I was going to go for another bike ride but got a frantic call from Tami — she was on her way to work and Brian & Faye had forgotten they were babysitting and were at a friend’s house for a BBQ.  So, I got the honors.  Rider wasn’t up to another ride or a walk so we stayed home and played Uno and Hit the Deck.  Brian picked him up just as the storm was rolling in.

I just finished watching Big Brother.  About five minutes into it I texted a friend “5 minutes into it and I remember why I didn’t like Jessie last season, not looking forward to another season with him.”  He’s the reason they have the saying “all brawn but no brains”.  It’s going to be a LONG season if we have to watch him for too long.

Now I’m watching a new show that I’m kind of digging “Drop Dead Diva”.  We’ll see.  I swore I wasn’t going to get hooked on another show but it looks good.

I’m also staring out the window at the awesome lightning show and listening to the thunder roll.    I LOVE it!

I should get to bed before too late…I’m biking to work tomorrow.    Should be fun.  (Yeah, ask me in the morning how much fun that was — and pray it’s not still raining or that idea won’t work.)

Five years ago today this little girl came to grace our family with her joy, giggles, and unique personality.

And now look at her all grown up. 

Happy Birthday, Allyson!  My fun sleepover guest.  My hiking buddy.  My Applebee’s companion.  My lemonade maker.  My afternoon break friend.

Love you Ally-bug.

(And, yes, I realize she doesn’t look happy in this picture…we were about 1/2 way into our 2 mile, uphill hike and she wanted to quit.    We persevered and she finished the ENTIRE hike that the trooper that she is.  Although, she has informed me that she won’t hike “the mountain” again until she’s 7, or maybe 6.)

Ugh, this is my with my head in a bag, admitting that it’s been THREE months since I’ve posted.  Goodness, how did that happen?  Uh, I guess it’s this thing called life.    A lot’s happened in those three months.  I’ll give you the highlights then tell you about the fun I had last night.

February ended with me being extremely busy with work.  So busy, in fact, that I had to hire an assistant in March.  She’s in college, super on it and comes to the office almost every day.  She rocks, I love it.  March also had me traveling down to Texas to visit a great client/friend, Candy of OffAssist in Austin then down to San Antonio to watch my amazing Goddaughter, Bethany, graduate form Air Force BMT.

Of course, if I had a better camera, OK, if I had a camera other than my phone I would have a better picture for you…but I’m still proud. 

April, of course, was the end of tax season and to say it was a blur is an understatement.  I survived it so that’s good.    Tami found out in April that she got a job so she started the plans to get an apartment for her and Rider.  I’m excited that she has her own place and happy to have my place back but I miss them. 

May found me going to Miles City, MT for the Bucking Horse Sale and my mom’s cousin’s 45th anniversary party.  Both were a BLAST.

I came home from that trip to an empty house and lots of work to get caught up on. I swear, sometimes I wonder if vacations are even worth it.

So, here we are to Memorial weekend.  Saturday I was L-A-Z-Y and it was GREAT.  Yesterday we took the boat out on a lake east of here then down the river.  It was SO much fun, except for the light sunburn I got.  But, even that isn’t too bad.  I also got to drive the boat for a while.  Brian would have let me drive longer but I was getting nervous because I didn’t know where we were going and I was getting close to the area that we had to paddle through on the way in because the grass was so high.

Last night I did the insane fun sleepover with ALL the kids.  Yes, I hosted a sleepover for a 2 1/2 year old, almost 5 year old and 5 1/2 year old.  It was a blast.  They got here around 8PM (which was the only bad part but we’d been on the boat all day) and we made homemade lemonade.  Then I downloaded Ant Bully off Netflix for us to watch.  We put the air mattress in the living room and all snuggled down on it to watch the movie.  Kyle and I fell asleep and the older two woke me up when the movie was over.  Then we went to bed.  Rider decided he wanted to sleep with me because “Ally wakes up to early”.  I couldn’t argue.  So asleep we went, at 11PM.    Sigh.

Then, bright and early, Ally and Kyle woke me up at 6AM.  When will these kids learn to SLEEP IN?  Sheesh.  I got up with them and let Rider sleep. I downloaded Madeline on the computer for them to watch and fell back asleep in the living room while they watched their movie.  Rider woke up at the end of that movie and we made pancakes.  The first set were shaped with my pancake shapers (a bear head, heart, and star) but then we just ate circle pancakes.

After breakfast was cleaned up we watched Ant Bully again (well, they did, I fell back asleep).  When that was over they were hungry again so we had chocolate ice cream.  It’s a sleepover, who cares that it was 9AM.  Then we got dressed, and cleaned up for mommys to come.

Today, I’m playing my new favorite obsession game Farmtown on Facebook while Rider watches The Specatular Spider-Man marathon while his mom does some shopping.

So, there you have it.  My life the past three monhts in 700 words or less.

It’s been a while since my niece and I had a sleepover.  So, I decided tonight was the night.  Welcome to our party…

Her daddy dropped her off at the office around 5 and (unfortunately) I had a couple minutes of work left so, she  hung out until we could leave.  We decided to go to Applebees for dinner so headed there straight from the office.

We ordered our favorite “snack” (aka appetizer) “cheese french fries” (aka mozzarella sticks).  She had chocolate milk (which the bar (?!?) luckily had tonight) and with a corndog and applesauce because she doesn’t “like broccoli”.  (Although, seriously why would you put broccoli as the only vegetable option for a kids menu?) I had the mini cheese burgers (which aren’t very good so don’t get them).

Part way through dinner she says (very seriously) “So, Auntie, let’s talk”.  Seriously the last time I heard that I was in trouble LOL.)  I agreed so she says “what have you been up to?”.  We discussed my work and social life (LOL) and I asked her what he’d been up to.  She replied (I kid you not) “I’ve been playing dress up with my young adult friend Baylee” (Baylee’s is 11) “Baylee always wants to play dress up with me” (duh, she’s a live doll LOL).  “I’ve been going to school and watching TV and movies with my parents”.  (Dude, the kid is 4 1/2 where’d she learn to talk like this????)

We decided to go to “the movie store” (aka Blockbuster) to get a movie.  On the way I commented that soon I’d need to have her brother (who’s 2) over for a sleepover.  Her reply:  “No, sleepovers are for professionals”.  So, I guess we’re professional sleepoverers.  LOL

We rented Pinocchio (the Italian live person version — which SUCKED) and came home.  That’s when the fun begins.  LOL  Seems one of my neighbors has pretty much abandoned her two cats (don’t ask, I know the lady, I’m not commenting).  It also seems these cats have a great fondness for 4 1/2 year old blonde headed girls who absolutely LOVE cats and are dying for one of their own.  I made the mistake of telling her that the cats had no home when she asked where they lived.  Guess who wanted to have a CAT SLUMBER PARTY IN MY HOUSE.  Yeah, that got nixed really fast, not having three cats fighting over who’s boss.  But, my lovely niece got it in her head that she’s keeping said cat.  Good luck convincing your father of that one LOL.

So, in preparation of being a cat owner I let her clean the litter box.  (Yeah, that lasted all of two scoops before she was gagging and telling me she couldn’t do it.)  She did take the bag out to the garbage and feed my cat, though.  She was extremely upset when we had to leave these two (really cute, sweet, innocent) cats out in the (freezing, wet, cold) night.

We started our movie (again, it was bad) with her special TV pillow, comfy cozy pink blanket and a bowl of popcorn (that she didn’t eat but insisted she needed).

Movies over and she went to bed.  Of course a couple minutes later I hear “Auntie” followed by the pitter patter of cute little toes.  She comes in my room to remind me that we didn’t have a pajama party.  (OK, I thought watching movies in your jammies in the living room before going to bed at a sleepover was a pajama party but what do I know…guess I’m not the professional of the group.)  So, I wisely ask “what’s a pajama party”.  A pajama party is when you find a radio, turn it on, and dance in your pajamas.  So, we did it.    So much fun.

We have a busy morning.  We still need to have a tea party with my special Beauty & the Beast Tea set in our dress-up clothes.  We have an appointment for another pajama party.  And, we’re  having fruit loops with hot chocolate with marshmallows.  Although, I might nix all that and introduce her to the Donut House for hot cocoa and donuts before dropping her off at 9:45 so I can make my Saturday stamp club that I missed last time because I had to go to CA ’cause my dad was in the hospital.

I love sleepovers.