Magic, not illusion!

I have discovered something so incredible that I must share it with you: Magic is real. It is. Before you think I’ve lost my walnuts, let me at least defend my belief. I have found a magical blanket. It’s true. For those of you that have been reading faithfully, all one of you, you heard me mention that, on my no good day, I’d taken a shine to a blanket, pillow and sock set that Husband gave me for our anniversary. What I’ve found, since then, is that this blanket is MAGIC. When they call it the nap blanket, they aren’t kidding.

Within 10 minutes of curling up with it, any member of our family is asleep. Look, I can’t guarantee that yours will be as magical as mine, but, in our house, it even works for dogs. Let me rephrase that: In our house, it especially works for dogs. Particularly those fond of little boys who like to snuggle when the little boy magically falls asleep within 10 minutes of wrapping himself up in the blanket.



It’s magic. You won’t convince me otherwise.

Happy Thoughts Compilation from the last week

I don't know if anyone actually comes to my blog or if everyone just reads through a reader of some sort, but every day or every other, I make changes to my sidebar. They are just little thoughts that aren't big enough for a whole entry, though they might eventually make up an entry. They are still things I want to remember, however, so here they are.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

When I'm sick, my dogs are as concerned as any human being I've ever met.

Monday, March 23, 2009

When I'm away from home and feel sad, upset or stressed out, the only place I want to be is at home and cuddling my dogs or talking to my family. They are my happy place.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Every time I teach my class teaches me more than I teach them. And they make me smile. A lot.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A test is really just a piece of paper with an ink on it. The only importance it has is the importance I give it and my self-worth isn't based on how I do on it. Thank you, Dr. Chris Blazina for the cognitive reframe today.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Life DOES come with extra credit. It's called McDonald's reduced fat vanilla ice cream.

Everything fell so perfectly into place...

A while back, before Christmas, we had decided to do something special. We'd commissioned artwork before, with disastrous results. When I say disastrous, I will just say it was a learning experience, as those commissions were through a previous friend who has a good heart, but is still learning how to be a professional. As such, we were wary of artists in general and worried about getting jerked around.

For the last year, I've been fascinated with the artwork of Kurt Halsey. Kurt rarely, if ever, does commission pieces, and, as an established artist, I think it's awesome that he is at the level where he is comfortable establishing those boundaries. After being friends with an artist, I know commissions are not fun. The suck the creativity out of an artist faster than most anything and people are picky, finicky and, since it's their money, they want it like Burger King: to have it their way.

It just so happened that I'd met Kurt online and had the chance to talk to him a couple of times. After I got over my initial awe of his talent, because trust me, I can't draw stick people and you could ask anyone that knows me about that, I decided to keep an eye on his work. Eventually, as most do, I collected a piece here, and a piece there, as they related to me, AJ or Husband. None of them related to all of us, though, and the pets are our family, too.

So, when I saw that Kurt had ebayed a commission, I was miserable to have missed it. I hinted---ok, strongly suggested---to Husband that Kurt may be willing to do a second piece, with it being around the holidays and all. It turns out, I was right. And he did. We got this around the end of January/beginning of February. This is ours. This is us. This is my family. Duder is there, so is Pea. Weiner and Francis are there in their glory. AJ is playing in the leaves. And Husband and I are doing what we do best. Thank you, Kurt. This is special. This is my life through his eyes. And mine. I love it.

Random Happy Thoughts from this Week

Sunday March 15, 2009


Like most nights, I was reading to go to sleep last night. The book was huge and I had propped it up on something to hold it as I prefer to wait until I'm older to deal with unnecessary carpal tunnel or tendon strain, etc. I was turning a page and realized that Pea had stuck her head to the left of the book and was looking at me pleadingly for cuddles. Sometimes, I forget that even the wee ones need a little affection because they had a bad day. After an hour of cuddling, Pea was under the covers snoring like an 85 year old man and I was back to reading my book.

Monday March 16, 2009


"Mama, I love you more than the Milky Way. More than the stars. More than the GALAXY!"

Tuesday March 17, 2009

AJ was asking me about some candy I'd bought for my undergrads at the beginning of the semester. As candy is off limits on every day but Saturday, I wondered what he was doing. It turns out, he was wanting to show his teacher his appreciation. He wrote her a lovely note and attached some candy to it. He has a heart of gold.

Thursday March 19, 2009

School hasn't come easy to my little man, even though he's WAY too smart for his own good. This year, he finally found a teacher who gets him. When this happened, he took off like a shot. After picking him up from school, I wanted to see his report card and he wanted me to wait until we got home. We had a minor spat in the car over this and some other things and when we got home I wasn't in the mood to talk. AJ is a sensitive little guy and he went to the backyard and sat on our swing. I watched him and saw his reflective face. After a little while, he came inside, with a handful of dandelions and said "I love you." He put them in a small glass up on the mantle. Right next to the flowers that his daddy gave me for our anniversary.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

AJ just passed his swimming test after 5 weeks of swimming lessons! On his first try!

The Morning Fake Out

Every morning is an exercise in drama. It's no secret that I adore our pets. We have 3 dogs and a cat.

Duder, not her real name, but an affectionate nickname that she loves, is a 3 year old Wheaton terrier mix who is loyal and friendly and fuzzy. She has a bad, Rod-Stewart hair-do and enjoys a good scritchin. She is mine and my husband's wheat/brown colored shadow.

Weiner, again, not her name, is a 2 year old Dachshund pom mix who is a beast. She's fat and crabby and will growl at you while you are rubbing her belly. However, she is fiercely devoted to our son, AJ and will actually whine and cry for him when he's gone. This has caused us to be very loyal to her. She has the benefit of being incredibly adorable, for all of her miserly ways. She is AJ's little orange/tan shadow.

Pea, aptly nicknamed as she is the smallest of the three dogs, is a 1 year old Chug-- a chihauhau pug mix. With large, frog-like eyes and a small (though ever growing) body, she's gonna have to face it she's addicted to love. Pea was a rescue dog that we found via craigslist and who we almost didn't get because she doesn't photograph well and her picture, well, it scared us. Frankly, she looked a little crazed. However, when we met her in person, after much cajoling on the part of the rescuer, we fell in love. More aptly, I fell head over heels and haven't looked back. Pea is very much my dog. She is a character. She literally dances for treats and likes to cuddle by laying her head on your chest, looking at you with frogger eyes and giving kisses. Pea is my little black shadow.

Then we have Francis. Our cat. She has no cute nickname. The cat hates everyone but my husband. With him, however, she's like a dog. She calls for him in a meow that even sounds like his name. She cries for him when he's gone. She follows him like a dog and laps at his nose. She jumps on his chest and cuddles him and purrs like a motorboat.

Now that you have been adequately introduced, let's talk about mornings. Weiner and Francis spend their mornings on the bottom floor of the house. That leaves my two shadows, Duder and Pea upstairs with me. In our bedroom. They stay up there for a couple of reasons: convenience and longing. Convenience because it's more convenient for me to have them up there than to wake up and yell at them for whining all morning when they can't be with me and have to be downstairs. Longing is on both of our parts. They like being there and I like the security of having them there. I get cold easily. I wake up and with husband and AJ gone I have a Duder on the left side and a Pea on the right. I'm warm, cozy, safe and loved. It's a good feeling.

Here's the issue, when the dogs are sure I'm really awake, it's cuddle time. It doesn't matter what day it is. Cuddle time is every day. The minute they are certain I'm awake. An inordinate amount of time in the mornings is spent pretending to be asleep to avoid the inevitable jumping on my stomach and happiness that occurs when "YOU'RE AWAKE!" happens. There will be slobbering on my face, cuddles, bad breath right below my nose to make sure I'm REALLY awake and the shoving of puppy faces into 2 sleepy hands so they can get their pet on. Cuddling must occur for at least 5 minutes or there will be barking and dismay. Duder is not the love addict Pea is and thus tires of this quickly. She will jump off the bed at which point Pea will growl and bark in a threatening tone at her for her treason. Then Pea will look lovingly at me and give me "cuddles" and gently, in her way, request more cuddle time. Before you know it, I'm running late for whatever it is I was doing.

The moral of the story: I'm a sucker. I love these beasts.