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Oh, How Smart

Shannon, our eldest daughter, bought herself a SMART car.

It is very little. And very cute. The perfect car for Shannon. Who also happens to be very little and cute. You can tell she didn’t get any of my big-girl genes! (Though today she did admit to a propensity to buying lots of fresh produce only to have it rot before she uses it. That’s not genetic, but apparently does run in the family.)

Back to the car… did I mention it is VERY small? Look at the size of it next to our mailbox. Hubby is driving. That’s Shannon waving happily from the passenger seat. It’s a two-seater, so I stayed at home with the girls while Hubby and Shannon went for a short spin.

Upon arriving back at the house, Hubby said he did a 3-point turn, also known as a K turn, in our driveway with no problem.

Shannon’s very proud of her cute little new vehicle. It really does fit her well. Next time she comes to visit, she’ll have to take me for a spin.

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A Heat Wave… in March!

This weekend was weirdly warm. It’s the first full weekend in March and we had temps in the mid seventies.

Hammock weather. In March.

The dogs weren’t complaining. This was taken on Saturday when Buddy (our neighbor, the Golden Retriever) came to visit.

This one was shot earlier today after Belle discovered the wonderful bog at the end of our driveway.

There’s some new yard art at the WV place, courtesy of my friend, Carol.

I’ve had this frog for awhile, packed away somewhere. I figured the WV yard would be a good place for him to hang out.

It was so warm, our lizard was out. He’s not really our lizard, he just happens to live in the yard at our WV place.

Belle and I got some hammock time in, too.

Here’s Hubby and Meg enjoying the porch. The weather was nice, even if it was weirdly warm. But I am totally not ready for the warm weather yet. I’m a cool weather girl. Though I am looking forward to Spring, I’m not ready for this sort of heat quite yet.

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The Melting Pot

Eric took me out to dinner last night. I won’t reveal the occasion, I’ll just say we’ve had scheduling difficulties for a while. But we finally did it. And it was fun!

He took me to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. I’ve never been to a fondue restaurant. It was quite interesting.

First we had cheese fondue that we dipped bread cubes, apples, and veggies (carrots, cauliflower, and celery) into. We had a salad, too, which I declined for personal reasons that I won’t go into here (TMI!).

Our main course was pork, chicken, lobster, steak, shrimp, salmon and some sort of ravioli, which were all marinated and had to be cooked in the boiling pot of broth that sat right at the table. The main course also included more veggies to cook and a bunch of different dipping sauces. Once I got past the fear that I wouldn’t cook my food long enough and get violently ill as a result, I enjoyed it.

Finally, it was topped off with chocolate fondue for dessert. We opted for the dark chocolate and marshmallow concoction topped with Oreo cookie bits. We got a whole plate of stuff to dip into that, too. Rice crispie treats – my favorite – strawberries, bananas, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows and cheesecake. It was divine.

We’ll have to work harder to schedule our next night out sooner.

On another note… I’m ending this post with a cartoon Hubby e-mailed me this morning. His note said, “You made it into the funny papers.”

He was right!

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How My Dogs Make Me Smile

I love my dogs. Really. They’re awesome.

I love my dogs for many reasons. What I love most about them, though, is how much joy they bring into our lives. They are quite entertaining. No matter how badly my day is going, or how crappy I feel, my dogs always make me smile.

I’ve snapped a few pictures over the last few days. Let’s see if they make you smile, too.

HINT: if you click on each picture, you’ll get a bigger view.

Too bad you can’t hear them growling. Meg has always been a growler. That’s how she communicates. Belle has learned how to communicate right back.

Belle “pushes Meg’s buttons” by spearing her with her nose, nipping at her ears, belly, and butt until Meg gets tired of it and gives chase.

Belle is very fast.

She’s also very agile. Look closely and you’ll see that Belle is completely airborne in this shot.

Here it appears Meg got a mouthful of something distasteful.

The expressions on their faces just crack me up.

Especially when I call their names. They always stop and give me this look. The one that says, “What? We’re just playing.”

It really is a shame you can’t hear them growling. Perhaps one day I’ll get it on video.

So… did you smile, too?

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An Aesthetic Thing

Anyone who has been to the real ToadMama abode knows I have a country theme for my decor. I’m pretty happy with the way it looks. I think it is cozy. I’ve been told my house “screams country.” But that’s okay. I like it this way. Hubby does, too. At least I think he does.

Every now and then I spot a piece at the store, bring it home, and discover that what I thought looked good is actually hideous. Like this thing.

This is the centerpiece on our coffee table. I hate it for two reasons. One… it just doesn’t go. While I like the red color, the silvery strips are ugly. Two… Moses, my DFC (dumb f’ing cat), likes to chew on the fake grass. Cause she’s a DFC. Said DFC then pukes up chunks of fake grass for me to clean up. It’s annoying.

So, while in PA this past weekend, I decided to replace the ugly centerpiece with this.

Most of my loyal readers know I like arranging flowers. Some don’t. So I figured I’d show the pieces before showing you the final product.

Much better, don’t you think? Take a look at the two side-by-side.


Quite a difference, eh?

Now, let’s just hope my DFC doesn’t like flowers…

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My Snow Dogs

My dogs love the snow. Which is awesome, because I love the snow, too. As an adult, snow can be boring. Unless you have two hairy toddlers like me.

I REALLY enjoy watching these two play together. They are quite entertaining. Belle always give Meg a run for her money, that’s for sure. But Meg does her best to keep up. She does a pretty good job of it, too.

You know she’s going fast when her ears are flying like this. My crazy Meg loves to run. She’s not nearly as spry as she used to be. She is almost 10 after all. But she still loves to run.

Speaking of running… Belle loves to run, too. I can’t imagine not having a fenced-in yard for these two to cavort in.

It really is cute seeing them play in the snow. Just before they come in, they usually stop to munch on some of the cold white stuff. Then, after they come in, I have to pick the ice balls out of their feet. I used Paw Guard to help prevent that, but it doesn’t work nearly as well as I’d hoped. So every time they come inside, I have to pick the snowballs out of their feet. Which they promptly eat. It’s like a game for them. And it makes me laugh.

That’s one of the reasons I love my dogs so much. They keep me laughing.

Now, if only I didn’t have to work, we could play outside all day. Alas, work calls. So I’d better get to it. Soon. Perhaps one more quick romp in the snow is in order first.