No Lizzie here

Just this drawing of a dog on the box.

in answer to kay's question

Like Frick and Frack, peas in a pod, mac and cheese.

It's brining much joy to the house -- the adorable meter has exploded.

One very funny thing is that Frances walks right under Gurty.

Frances

You know what they say about small packages.

For certain.

The one with the sleepy head girls -- that was the first morning with Frances and let's just say, Santa has nothing on puppies.

Home again

Too tired to post pictures, but oh. my. word. Too cute!

3 pounds 4 oz

It would take 3 of her plus another 4 oz to make a Gurtis. I think that's about what Gurty was as a pup, so they should be a matched set for tug-o-war.

Her nicknames are "capital T" (for you know what), "Frances popcorn", and "Poppy".

Holy, leaping lizard Batman -- Tigger has nothing on this one. We are doing the foot shuffle when we walk because she will poing under a foot in a flash. I remember we had to do that when Gurt was a pup too-- I had forgotten.

I will post pics soon.

quotes of the day

Winnie on the phone with her cousin Declan: "Wookies are so annoying, dude!"

Lizzie upon waking up for bath time in the morning and being asked if she wants to be carried, "Yes, princess style please."

Dear God, please do not turn me into an alanis morissette song

My friend said she had a weird feeling about my upcoming trip, "not like your going to die, but like I should warn you to be careful."

Well.

I'm kind of a homebody and the more miles between me and my kids, the weirder I feel -- so it's good for me to push my comfort zone once in a while, lest my children one day wind up locked in a tower "for their own safety".

So if my venture from my home base goes fowl, I'm going after Alanis Morissette -- because I'm rational like that.

Blog friends -- if you read this, do not put worry juju over me. I prefer safe trip and happy puppy wishes, if you please. Thanks.

TTQ loves me

Not only did TTQ burn a fantastic CD for me, but she sent goodies! Lots and lots of goodies.

When my girls saw all of the crown stickers and the many wrapped treats, they asked if TTQ was a real princess. She is.

What more could a person need if they have mojo, Everglade seasoning and bling?

Cookies? Okay, some of those too then. And meaningful bracelets, an inspiring necklace, a sparkle pen, and many other things with a high shimmer factor.

Gurty is suspicious. TTQ has dogs and Gurty thinks the package is from them. She wants to know what they mean by sending their scent into her domain. I tell her it's all good, but look at that face -- I don't think she's buying it.

She's plotting revenge as we type and read...hmmmm.

Oh boy

We got the dog!

Now we just have to get her from Kansas.

Kate's comment wherein she says I'm brave, scares the crap out of me. Brave, loosely translated, means idiot.

I am an idiot.

I just got a shrunken apple head, mangy mutt without having met her -- did the Pascal experiment teach me nothing?

Pascal was one of our old dogs and he was not super keen, bless his heart, he really wanted to be smart and he tried, but he was dumb. Actually, Pascal was Rich's mistake. We actually knew Pascal before we owned him -- he belonged to my aunt, she was tired of dealing with him running away and Rich thought our other dog Izzy would like a friend -- thus Pascal.

Pascal was a great first impression dog, everyone loved him when they met him and then...I don't know how to describe it -- he was overly eager to please, but didn't know what the heck you were asking him to do.

I'm here, I'm ready, I'm your guy -- one more time, now -- what does this, "go lay down" mean?

...Oh my word, who cares? We are getting a shrunken apple head puppy this week! I'm so excited. I'm already practicing, "girls, sit. Good girls."

This is not Gurty

This is Frances and she is in Kansas -- we are thinking of adopting her. She is pug/min pin instead of pug/rat terrier, but she looks an awful lot like my diva dog.

I've talked at length with the humane society that currently has her and her siblings because I want to know just how much of the min pin temperament is shining through.

A sparky dog, yes. A tireless barker? No thanks.

The lady pretty much described Gurty when talking about her sweetness and play to rest ratio. But she is still a pup, so that rest part could be temporary...

One of our employees has a min pin/ chihuahua mix and she is very sweet and not at all high strung. Frances is near my in-laws, so I think we are going to send in the team to investigate.

Maybe she will let Rich hold her like a baby like our friends dog will (unlike Gurty, who fights it with all ten pounds of her might).

I hope they recorded it for training purposes

I just went off on the poor lady who works in the billing department for our energy company.

Because they tacked a deposit on our bill, that's why. A deposit that will earn interest and be refunded after 12 months of on-time payments. It's not a small deposit (well over a thousand dollars) and they will shut our electric off if we don't pay it.

So the mob is running the utilities now and the poor get poorer. Oh, but we are not poor, or they wouldn't be able to tack on the deposit! We are the -- shit out of luck-- middle class who own a seasonal business and pay hundreds of dollars in late fees that the world has gone mad with -- all because we aren't big enough yet to gracefully cash flow our winter season. Which we manage, just not on time -- and let me tell you -- you only have to be late one day to earn yourself a $25 late fee on just about any bill you owe.

How's the greed working out for the country so far?

Every once in a while there is a Falling Down moment. Last one was a couple of years ago on some unhelpful person at t-mobil. At least I didn't swear this time -- I kind of told the t-mobil person that t-mobil could suck my dick -- which upon reflection, I was strangely proud and ashamed of all at the same time, but I decided it best if I didn't do it again. Besides, the electric company lady was genuine -- that other person was a tad on the sadistic side. They should really keep those sadistic people out of costumer service positions because sometimes all I need is for you to open that door...

trying to make-out with gurt

I got my hair cut again. I like to document hair cuts because my hair grows freakishly fast and I have no documentation of many of my haircuts. I know, big deal -- but it's kind of fun to see how many changes I've had -- I'm like Madonna, only on my head -- I don't think I need to document the changes of what brand of sweatpants I'm wearing from week to week (year to year).

Anyway, instead of rocking the mullet all by myself, I thought the pictures would be more interesting with my pal Gurt in them too. She was not interested and it turned into a forced gig. I tried cheek to cheek, snuggle to my neck, plain old holding her next to me...

I thought for sure she would give me kisses -- nothin'.

Look at her pulling away -- I brushed, I swear. The whole time she was very suspicious and having none of it.

No kisses for you!

Spring in swing

I don't know if you remember the whisper leaf from last year, but Lizzie is at it again -- she's wrapping and tying leaves.

These are tiny little purple flowers that grow wild here and there in our lawn. She made this bouquet in anticipation of a visit from my friend Tawny. So delicate and pretty.

She is doing braids on her doll's hair now too -- way better braids than I do -- they're perfect and I don't think it's just because she has little hands -- she's got the gift.

If you are on my side bar, I buy your book when it comes out

I promise I was way more enthused than I look.

At the Barnes and Noble in Brookfield Wisconsin -- Trish's book!!!

I haven't gotten to read any of it yet, but if the chapter titles are any indication -- and I think they are -- this will be a good one. Not to mention, if she writes books as well as she blogs, there will be laughter, points to ponder and stories about "that dog".

Looking forward to some curl up time.

Congratulations Trish!