it's the little things...

I saw this comic strip one time where a dog was complaining that he or she was always good, never great.  I don't know why "good girl" flows so much better than "great girl" but it does so that's what you tell them.  This morning, though, I told her she was a great girl.  And she was. We got Maggie about 6 months after we got married.  We knew we wanted a rescue, and I really wanted a Boxer.  I don't know what it was about her little ad that I liked over the others.  I am so sweet and I just roll with the flow where ever I go. Everyone who meets me says that I am just the sweetest little girl! You see, I was lost...and I got picked up by the county animal control. They put me in a large cage with lots of other dogs...but, that did not bother me...I just waited there because I knew that someone would come and see how sweet I am and get me out. Sure enough, one day a nice lady showed up and got me out of there. She put me in her car and I had a lovel...

So Hubby wanted to take some pics a few weeks back so that he could put one on a personal business card. I got to play photographer. This is his running-for-political-office shot. And this is generally what things look like around here. That dog lurves her daddy. See? She even smiles for the camera. If only we could have found a baby or an old person for Hubby to pose with... Maggie poses ok with me, too. And then tries to give kisses. She's a good dog. I think we'll keep her.

It's been a bit crazier around here the last few days. The amount of dogs who normally reside here has tripled. This is Tessa: And her sister, Daisy: Both of them are Maggie's doggie aunts. And just because I'm so proud, I'm going to show you that the ranunculus are still blooming. In my yard. In Texas. Happy Easter, everybody.

We have a fence around our yard and it has two entry points. One is a small, people-sized gate that could lead you to the mailbox if there weren't a giant ditch between the two. The other is a pair of giant swinging gates that allow you to drive your car down the driveway. Now, I never closed those gates ever before Maggie came along. When it's nice weather, we've been throwing her outside during part of the day so she can get some sun and explore her yard. She hadn't been too adventurous (until today). When the Rescue folks came to evaluate our home (to see if it were fit for a dog), they said we had to have locks on all our gates. The people-sized gate always remains locked now. The big gate has a chain and lock on it but generally it's not locked even if the gates are closed. If we're not out there with Maggie, one of us is in the office with a view of said gates. Feel pretty sure we'd notice if someone were to break in. But today! Lo! The gates ...

( It's Maggie. We'll start off with a gratuitous shot of her. She's still doing really well and has put on a lot of weight. Yea! ) I turned 33 on Friday. Can I still say I'm in my early 30s or must I switch to mid? I'd prefer the former. I celebrated with some presents (some I knew about but some I did not). And Hubby and I went to dinner at a fancy restaurant. Then we headed back home for some movie rental/couch cuddling time. It had been a long week and I knew it would be a busy weekend so I chose to be lame. And I'm not ashamed. Yes, I cut my own bangs. No, they don't really look this bad in real life. We also ate cake. Hubby's decorating skilz: On Saturday, we took a photography class from Leisure Learning. Even though I love photography, I just have the ol' point-n-shoot. We took a class on SLR cameras and borrowed the SIL's. I didn't want to buy one before I knew a bit more about them. What if I got one and never learned how...

Hey, it's blog post #500! We should celebrate with cookies. Really fattening cookies... (I sure wish we had sunshine again. Good lighting really helps make better pictures.) It was a good weekend. On Friday, we took Maggie to the vet to have her staples removed. She did so good! There were two badly placed staples that were a bit of a struggle to get out and those were the only two that caused her discomfort. She was a real trooper. Now, I'm about to make a confession. One of those really bad, I'm-a-1950s-housewife confessions. I love my husband. He's done a really fantastic job being a househusband in these sad economic times (aka while he's looking for his next job opportunity). But (here's the confession part) I kind of miss the housekeeping tasks. So on Friday, I went to the grocery store and made dinner and on Saturday I cleaned the entire house. I mean really cleaned. I even did a little laundry. It felt oddly satisfying. He bathed the dog (again, she did...

Check. We adopted this little Boxer girl yesterday. This was her ad on the rescue website: HI...my name is FLO...I am a 1 1/2 year old female Boxer. They named me FLO because I am so sweet and I just roll with the flow where ever I go. Everyone who meets me says that I am just the sweetest little girl! You see, I was lost...and I got picked up by the county animal control. They put me in a large cage with lots of other dogs...but, that did not bother me...I just waited there because I knew that someone would come and see how sweet I am and get me out. Sure enough, one day a nice lady showed up and got me out of there. She put me in her car and I had a lovely ride to the vet. I am all healthy and now they are feeding me so that I can gain a little weight. However, I must admit that I am on the small side at about 45 pounds. And here's her picture from when they first brought her in a few weeks ago: And after some nice foster folks looked after her for a bit (she's actually still...