manicdote

Well, I’m still waiting to hear back on the biopsy, but I just wanted to drop a note and tell everyone how their thoughts and prayers have made me feel very loved.

No, haven’t heard about the biopsy yet - not supposed to hear until 5-6pm today.

I thought I’d post a few cute pictures of the puggies meanwhile.

Terry captured them while they were alseep yesterday. I love the disgruntled look Poley is giving the camera.

And it cracks me up that you can totally see how much Ruki uses Napoleon as her personal pillow.  Isn’t she adorable?

Also, here’s one of my most recent layouts I scrapped. I’ll let everyone know as soon as I do about the biopsy.

Edit: Heard back from the doctor. They didn’t receive the results from my biopsy from the lab yet. Nurse advises me that I should hear back tomorrow night at this time. Ugh! The suspense is killing me!

I haven’t posted many pictures of the pugs lately…mostly because I don’t think I’d taken any and also because there always seemed something more imporant to discus. But today it’s wall-to-wall Pug action. Prepare yourself for total cuteness. Are you prepared? Are you!!?!

Anyways, Here’s a few shots of them begging for treats. We’re working on a new “trick” - the sit and stay. They have a very hard time with this but cheerios and cheese are good motivators.

Here’s Napoleon looking adoringly at his Mama:

Rukia’s version of “down”…pug-rug style. That’s how she rolls.

Here’s Poley licking his chops after eating a few cheerios. Aww..he’s so cute!

Today on Maurey Povich: Suspicious Pug. Are the Cheerios real or the Wal-Mart knockoff. DNA tests are in!

Here’s my most recent layout…of Napoleon. Isn’t he adorable? I’m starting a seperate scrapbook just for layouts of the pugs. I know, I’m aparently one of THOSE people. But I haven’t started carrying pictures of them in my wallet, so I think I’m only like…HALF one of those people. I do talk to my pugs though. And have conversations. No, it’s not crazy at all. Don’t you judge me!

Anyways:

And a close up of the layout for your enjoyment:

As I get ready to go with a friend to get a quickie pedicure at lunch…I wonder…How many of you have checked out our new sister site? Articdote? Seriously! Check it out! If you don’t…Poley may have to make use of all the gamma radiation I frequently give him. (Just kidding, Peta, I never use gamma radiation on my dogs as a punishment. I just shake this can full of pennies at them menacingly).

So…what’s going on today? Well, first and foremost I’m CRAZY excited that today is friday. Who doesn’t love fridays? I think it’s my favorite day of the week, actually. Even though I have to go to work during the day…I have the evening and the rest of the weekend to look forward to! We have planned…some cleaning. It is time for step two of our “cleaning for the arrival of my father and uncle so they don’t think we live like slobs in a trailer park”. We will be attacking the mud room and the living room. Neither of them are particularly nasty, just need to be picked up.

I also plan on doing some scrapbooking. On that note, here are two pictures of a layout I recently did. It was an inspiration challenge offered by my friend, Martha, who not only has some adorable pugs but is an amazing scrapbooker. She is definatly the artist I most want to be like when I grow up. Anyways, the challenge was about layering and I think that this has anywhere between 8-10 layers depending on how you count them.

And a close-up:

Happy Monday everyone! Well, what did we do this weekend at the Manicdote house? Well, my Dad is coming to visit in 20 days (for my birthday) so we’re in high gear for cleaning. This weekend? Our task was simple. Clean the bathroom. We armed ourselves with rubber gloves, bleachy cleaning products and sponges. We worked our ass off for about two hours scrubbing that bathroom clean. Cleaner than it’s ever been. It’s still ugly, but at least it’s clean! So clean I don’t want to use it. We are weekend warriors…!!!

Next weekend - our target shall be laundry room/mud room and living room. They’re not dirty - just cluttered and need attention! I keep telling the pugs to clean while I’m at work and they’re not listening. Lazy mutts…they’re not earning their keep. Pug kissies don’t pay the bills, baby.

We also played some Grand Theft Auto 4 and World of Warcraft. I’m almost up to lvl 20 so I’m pretty stoked about that. I also scrapbooked. I finished a page I recently did as part of a challenge at a scrapbooking website I frequent. It’s a layout of pictures taken while at Disneyland last summer; Terry on the teacups:

And a close up:

Also - we finally decided on where we’re going for our summer vacation: DISNEY WORLD!!! Of course, we’ll also go to Epcot and all the other parks there. I’ve wanted to go there my whole life so I’m totally excited!

Okay, so I’m really getting into two new hobbies. Scrapbooking and World of Warcraft. I know what you’re thinking. These seem like very disseperate hobbies. However, I am a woman of contrasts. And talents! But we won’t go into all my talents because that would take too much of our time.

Now here are some new pictures of my latest scrapbooking page. The pictures are from a Fall Out Boy (FOB) concert that Terry and I went to last June. It was one of our first dates and Terry’s very first concert. I used to work selling insurance to rock bands and FOB was one of my clients so I scored us some free tickets in the 3rd row. We were actually sitting next to the drummer’s family. Anyways, here’s the layout. Sorry the pictures are blurry. I need a new camera. A sexy little birdy told me I’ll be getting a new one for my birthday next month. And that means Terry can’t keep a secret. Have I told you lately how much I love him?

And a few close ups:

One more, because I’m a picture slut:

Also Terry and I are addicted to this World of Warcraft (WOW) thing. It’s SO much fun. I’m playing a Blood Elf Mage and I love it. If you’re on the server “Shadow Council” - let me know! We can go on a raid together! Or we’re also looking for a Guild and we’d love to join yours.

It’s very fun. And addictive, but I’m forcing myself to put the game in its place and not let it take over our lives. We still go to work, eat, walk the pugs, play other video games, scrapbook, etc. WOW will not take over my life! I won’t let it…! But it’s SO much fun, though.

Oh, and here’s some pictures of a baby card that I made for my friend Pher and his wife Jen to celebrate the birth of their newest daughter, Lily:

And the inside:

Hello there, faithful readers. Today is your lucky day. Why, you ask? Because today celebrates one of my favorite things. What am I talking about? Oh yes, Pug Butt. To those of us with Pugs, it is our 2nd favorite end of a pug. Although it is the end responsible for little “gifts” that I find behind the couch, or noxious vapors that I frequently blame Terry for incorrectly, us pug owners know how special Pug Butt is. Here’s even a picture of some gratuitous Rukia butt:

Even IKEA knows how special Dog Butt can be and created the most adorable hooks that we hung on the wall and use to hold the Pugs harnesses and leashes. Check them out (below). Cool, huh? Jealous? Totally!

Happy Monday, everyone! Well, there’s been teaching going on all over our house. First of all, Terry has been reading Cesar Millan’s book, “Be The Pack Leader,” and has found some of his tips and ideas quite useful. We’ve already implemented a few of them and have found success with his methods. Most notably, the “claw-hand” technique where you make your hand into a claw-shape and put it on the back of the dog’s neck, and use it to correct behavior. You’re not pinching the dog or hurting him in any way - it’s supposed to replicate the sensation of when their Mother would bite on their neck in order to correct behavior. So far it’s been pretty darn useful with Napoleon. Rukia is always a different matter - full of willful vigor and defiant spirit.

On my front, I decided to teach myself how to crochet. I’ve always wanted to know how ot knit or crochet, but always thought it would be too hard to teach myself and didn’t know anyone who could teach me. Well, I researched this abit, and aparently, crocheting is easier to teach yourself an knitting, so I decided to start with that. Terry bought me a book called, “The Happy Hooker,” (he always laughs at the name) and I set about teaching myself to crochet. It went okay last night, except the crochet hook I was using was too small and the yarn was bumpy and chunky and frankly, I had a hard time SEEING the V’s and bumps and whatnot that I’m supposed to count and stick the end of the hook into. I’m off to Hobby Lobby at lunch today to buy a larger hook and some really simple (one color) yarn. I made the mistake of buying yarn that I wanted scarf out of, instead of something easy to practice with.

And the dogs are not left out on our current learning kick. We’re continuing with their training, mostly with Rukia as she needs a lot of help. Napoleon caught onto “sit” after one session, but Rukia seems bent on being defiant. Here is a cute photo session of Terry trying to teach Rukia how to sit. I swear she knows what to do, she just doesn’t feel like sitting except when she wants to. Willful creature! I will break you!

First picture. Terry showing her the treat (a fourth of a snausage) and asking her to sit with a calm voice.

Willful Rukia ignores Terry’s command, and tries to climb after the snausage.

Terry pushes her back; No Rukia! Don’t climb on Daddy. Pay attention.

Terry nicely shows her what she’s supposed to do. See Rukia? This is how you sit.

And then…SUCCESS! She sits on her own, after the command “sit”. Woot!

She gets the treat. Here’s a cute picture of Rukia chowing down on the snausage (see all the crumbs around her? Boy, is she a messy eater!) Yum-o!

Of course, Napoleon had to get in on the action!

Oh, and you can see our mesh “PugPen” that we bought to take keep them penned in, yet, still apart of the action. This way we can bring them into the living room, or kitchen, etc. so they’re apart of the family and yet still contained and not running amok. It’s all apart of our crate training campaign. Rukia is still too young to be trusted not penned in. She already pooped in that cute new PugPen. *sigh* Ahh…she is going to be our problem child, I can already tell. Oh well, we still love her. Poop and all.

Let’s see…what happened yesterday? Not much…I’m getting excited because we’re getting Napoleon in less than one week, so I’m pretty happy about that. I can’t wait until he’s here with us and we get to take care of him. ALSO, I talked to my Mom last night and she’s coming out here for Christmas…! Woot! I miss her very much, so I’m really excited to be seeing her. She’ll probally get here sometime Friday night, and will be here until the day after Christmas. She’ll be able to come with us when we get Napoleon, to meet Terry’s mother, as well as just being here for Christmas and being able to go to with us to the Christmas service at church with us.

 Today my agenda is filled with creating some Christmas cards for Terry’s coworkers. I’ve got the paper and the stamps…I just need to make them. Also, I bought clear glass ornaments and I’m going to pour paint and glitter inside them to make marbleized colored ornaments for his coworkers at school (Christmas gifts). I also have to make him 6 dozen cookies for his cookie swap that happens Friday morning.

Oh, here’s a picture of our Christmas tree. I finally got around to uploading the picture of it. Isn’t it pretty..?

Guess what? I just got off the phone with my new employers (local TV station, WRBL) and I’m starting tomorrow!!! I know it may sound strange to be crazy excited about going to work, but I am. I haven’t worked in months and I miss it. And, on top of that, I’m really excited about the actual work that I’ll be doing. AND I’m ready to get paid again. It’s been a hard three months being out of work and it took WAY longer to find a job out here in Alabama than I thought it would. I’m so SICK of being told that I’m “overqualified”. Eek! Hooray for me!

Today my Mom came up to Los Angeles (she lives in San Diego) and helped me pack. I admit, I really needed her help. It’s so hard to pack by yourself…having someone around keeps you motivated and she was very energetic – helping me put things away and organizing things. Now I feel very motivated to get a lot done this week while I’m by myself.  

After we spent most of the day packing, we went and treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, French 75 Bistro. Here is a picture of the Heirloom Tomato Bisque that I had as my first course. It was…the most delicious soup I’ve ever had. I then followed that course with a herb roasted chicken with pomme frites, and the dessert was a Tahitian vanilla crème brûlée. The meal was delicious and the company was wonderful.

After eating that wonderful soup made out of Heirloom tomatoes, I looked them up on the internet for more information on the tomatoes. What exactly is an Heirloom tomato, you ask? An heirloom tomato is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) cultivar of tomato. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. Here is a really cool picture of some of the most popular varieties of tomatoes:

Here is a picture of a hand-made card that I recently sent Van. It was a card that I sent him telling him “Good Luck” for the beginning of his school year, and that I completely have faith in his ability to teach these kids that have been entrusted in his care.

Blerg…it’s Sunday night…this means I have to go to work tomorrow. BUT this will be my last week having to see Bruce, so…that ain’t so bad after all! I am really trying to clean up my accounts and get my entire desk orderly and easy for my replacement to pick up. I know I am leaving, but I have a lot of integrity about the work that I do and I want things to be orderly after I’ve left. I hope my coworkers appreciate that!

*sigh* Yikes! In less than two weeks…right now…I’ll be in Van’s arms! I can’t wait! It’s almost like a dream sometimes…A very wonderful dream.