That was me and dogs. I was always afraid of dogs. I don’t know why. My father was never a dog person, so we were never allowed to have one and . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: The One About Pitbulls and Babies]]> You know how you can be afraid of something just out of sheer ignorance because you don’t know much about it?

That was me and dogs. I was always afraid of dogs. I don’t know why. My father was never a dog person, so we were never allowed to have one and I just always found myself being afraid of dogs. My older sister is afraid of dogs too, though she probably wouldn’t admit it to you. LOL

Then I met my husband. He has always had dogs in his life. He wanted a boxer. I was hesitant, but when we saw that little face at 6 months old- he stole my heart.

Look at that little baby face!

I bought books on the boxer breed to learn about what I was in for. I bought Cesar Milan’s book on training your dog and I bought a few other books on training puppies. Almost all by myself, I trained out little guy into the loveball he is today.

Hubby and I socialized him early- taking him to dog parks to horse around with other dogs- he was SO afraid at first- there were greyhounds and labs and they were all bigger than him. He went to the dog beach and we learned early on that Kingston was not a fan of water. He also had many visitors in our home back in Florida- all of our friends would come over.

He learned how to play nicely with other dogs. He learned how to behave around other humans besides his owners. Most importantly, we provided him with an outlet for his energy. Hubby took him rollerblading and running (and still does).

I have never owned a pitbull, but I have definitely considered it. Remember those gorgeous blue nose pit puppies I saw at Walmart?

Pitbulls and Boxers belong to the same bulldog family- along with the English Bulldog, American Bulldog, Bull Mastiff, Boston Terrier and so many other breeds. Why is the pitbull the only one in that bunch that is “aggressive”? I am convinced that if we wanted to raise our boxer to be aggressive- we could have.

This article from Mom Logic highlights the recent death of a 2-year old to the family pitbull. The first thing that came to my mind was- what is the dog’s history. Did they adopt the dog? Did they have it since it was a puppy? Do they monitor the children’s interactions with the dog? How was the dog introduced to the baby? Is the dog provided with enough ways to release it’s energy? I am in no way blaming the family for this event and I pray for them- I would not wish this on anyone. But these are the things that I considers even for my dog.

When we brought Baby C home from the hospital- we did the “bring the blanket home for the dog to smell.” We even bought a CD with sounds of a baby crying and played it from time-to-time for Kingston before Baby C came home- and it’s a good thing because he was in for a boat load of crying!

Even now after almost two years of being with Kingston, I still monitor her interactions with him. Kingston has a lot of energy and Baby C doesn’t know her boundaries with him. She “pets” him really hard, pulls his ears, tries to climb on his back and hugs him almost to the point of choking. He has growled at her before and tried to jump on her once because he thought she was playing with him. These behaviors are quickly corrected- not only with the dog but with Baby C as well. She needs to know how to properly interact with the dog and what things are not okay.

Smacking Kingston in his head and pulling his ears- not okay.

Trying to climb on his back? Not okay.

Trying to feed him rocks? Not okay.

My husband cautioned me to not sound like I am making excuses for the pitbull, so I hope that is not how I sound. I guess what I am trying to say is that we don’t know all of the facts. Before we write off pitbulls and other “aggressive breeds” for good, we should know all of the facts.

Would I own a pitbull with my kids? Yes. I have even considered a Rottweiler. I wouldn’t rescue a pit or rottweiler, though. I wouldn’t rescue a Doberman either- though Hubby’s dad owns a gorgeous Doberman wit a big attitude and loud bark over in Nebraska. Why is she so angry? Her past history with old owners. We don’t let Baby C near her because of that. She’s a sweet girl deep down, but not socialized for kids.

What do you think about pitbulls and other “aggressive breeds”? Do you own an “aggressive dog”- would you?

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It was a bird. Not a giant bird like you . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: The One About A Dead Bird and Deez]]> A few weeks ago I was sitting on the sofa and heard a crunching sound- the same noise that I am used to hearing when the dog is eating his food- except the dog was sitting right at my feet. What the…

It was a bird. Not a giant bird like you would think- though we do have a crow issue here in the desert- it was a regular ol’ little bird sitting on the edge of his dog food bowl eating his kibble. And if you know anything about birds, they kept comin’ back and comin’ back. They told all of their homies that there was food on our patio and they came too.

“I have got to get a bird feeder.”

So that’s what I did. I got this snazzy bird feeder and hung it up. It took a while, but the birds, they came. I was kinda happy because all of a sudden birds were comin’ outta the wood works like I had never seen. Pretty ones too! I was just hoping the crows would stick to eating dead coyotes on the side of the road and not choose my backyard as a feeding ground.

THAT folks is a dead bird. May s/he rest in peace!

MY DOG IS NOW A MURDERER!

I called my friend Marita right away horrified when I saw him pushing and kicking this around the yard like a damn chew toy. Not only is she my friend, but she’s my go-to animal expert having years of experience working with animals- dogs in particular. She’s my personal Dog Whisperer- move over Cesar Milan.

Anyway, when I told B (as I so affectionately call her) that Kingston ate a bird there was silence on the other end (like ooookay- and?) and she basically told me to get my panties out of a bunch cause that’s what dogs do. (She didn’t use those words, she’s way too nice for that) I’m all like “he’s never killed a bird before!!!!!”

I guess 2+2 always makes 4, though. I now have a bird feeder, so the birds will come, so they will intrigue him and if the bird feeder is close enough to the ground where he can jump and possibly hit one- he will. He’s a dog. SO I moved the bird feeder from the light post out back into the tree high up. Hopefully he doesn’t leave anymore surprises for me to pick up.

Luckily, the Circle Of Life stepped in and a crow took it away before I had to go and scoop the dead bird up. Thanks, crows- you serve a great purpose.

In Other News

Baby C is learning how to use the word ‘please’ properly.

She’s been able to say please for a while, though of course, she didn’t really know how to use it in context. It was more upon request. I have been trying to teach her how to say please and when it’s the right time to use the word.

This morning while eating her breakfast, I was clearly not putting the food on her tray fast enough and she started to “eeehhh, ehhhh” Yeah… I don’t like that- use your words. We have been practicing things like:

“What do you say?“

“Say Please, Mommy or Please, Daddy“

Blah, blah, blah

She wanted more oatmeal, so I said “What do you say?” and she says:

“Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez” (aka Please)

Yessssssssss.

Mommy Success.

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Sleepy Girl, Sleepy Dog- Happy Mommy.

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This is the kind of stuff I have to deal with daily. Living in the desert means constant dust because it is SO windy. Add the dog hair to the mix and you have dust bunnies almost the size of your FIST. . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: Bunnies!]]> But not the cute kind…

This is the kind of stuff I have to deal with daily. Living in the desert means constant dust because it is SO windy. Add the dog hair to the mix and you have dust bunnies almost the size of your FIST. Sweep, dust, sweep, dust. Can I put that on my resume? My friend Jill is such a cleaning whore, she would DIE if she lived here!

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We took a family trip to Wal-Mart to buy groceries, like we usually do on Sundays.

Right outside of Wal-Mart are two guys, each holding one of these:

Image taken from OLX.com

If you don’t know much about dog breeds, this, . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: Milk, Eggs, Bread… Puppy]]> What? That’s not your average grocery list?

We took a family trip to Wal-Mart to buy groceries, like we usually do on Sundays.

Right outside of Wal-Mart are two guys, each holding one of these:

Image taken from OLX.com

If you don’t know much about dog breeds, this, friends is a “blue nosed Pitbull” aka one of the cutest dogs EVER. Besides my bad ass dog, of course.

I asked the guy how much and without even blinking he said $600.

HA! Are you smoking crack bald guy standing outside of Wal-Mart trying to sell pitbulls which I’m sure is illegal but maybe it’s not in this crazy ass state of California. (yup, that’s one sentence)

I pet the dogs and whispered sweet nothings in their ears, then proceeded into Wal-Mart to buy my groceries… Six Hundred Dollars. Yeah right! We only paid $350 for our defective ass dog. Probably cause he was the only one left from the litter. Probably because as a pup he had every medical problem a puppy could have…. and he’s a little slow on the uptake. Maybe that’s why he was on sale.

Image taken from Brooklyn Blue Pitbulls

Look at that face, though. Don’t you just wanna kiss and cuddle it? So cute. So cute. I know that pitbulls have a reputation that precedes them, but like Cesar Milan says, it’s not the dog with the issue, it’s the owner. Kingston belongs to the same family as pitbulls and bulldogs are just sweetie pies.

I know I don’t want another dog. Maybe not until the one we have dies, not that I’m wishing him dead or anything. But they were just so cute!!!

Don’t those idiots know that people shop at Wal-Mart for the cheap prices? Who do they think is walking around with $600 cash in their wallet? I don’t even have 600 pennies in my wallet. Shit, I don’t think I have one penny. It’s all debit. I never have cash.

Oh but those little guys were so cute. I may be adding that to my list of possible dogs to own in the future along with rottweiler and doberman.

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Before you start passing judgment, no, my husband did not ask me that (I think he . . . → Click Here To Read The Full Blog Post: The One Where I Tell You “What I Do All Day”]]> This one really goes out to the Stay-At-Home Moms… only because we are home all day long (for the most part). Has your husband or significant other ever asked you “what do you do all day?”

Before you start passing judgment, no, my husband did not ask me that (I think he knows better)… but I do get the feeling from talking to my Mommy friends that they don’t seem to fully “get it.”

There seems to be some kind of misconception that we are home all day, so clearly, we have lots of time on our hands. Right?

My husband has been making these “jokes” about how I spend all day on the computer. I think he does it more to light a fire under my ass because he knows how much it pisses me off to hear that. Especially since it’s far from the truth.

So today. I set out to document my day. Hold on to your fuckin horses, there are a lot of photos involved in this post and really, I’m not sure if you’ll be able to keep up.

C usually wakes up around 6, 5 if she’s feelin’ frisky. But today she spared me and woke up at 7. I tried to keep her in bed by amusing her with Elmo’s World, but that shit didn’t work. And since my loving husband showed her how to get down from our bed herself- forget it. She’s out and ready to start the day. So, up I get.

We head out into the living room and I look around, sigh, and try to figure out where to start. Now, the house is not a wreck, but when you know that you are going to attempt to clean the WHOLE thing- you’ve got your work cut out for you. Especially with an 11 month old who won’t let you breathe without her permission.

I decide to tackle the kitchen first. Now, I must say that I am not good at sticking to one task at-a-time. I usually get sidetracked and start working on something else completely until I remember that I never finished the first thing that I was working on. I choose the kitchen, though, because I can make her breakfast, feed her and clean it up at the same time. So, I proceed to make her porridge. While I am doing that, I put on my pot of coffee and wash up the dishes. C entertains herself by pulling all of the kitchen utensils out of the drawer and throwing them on the floor. *Note to self, wash ALL of those utensils that are now on the floor.* I feed C, sip on my coffee and decide to head out to the living area- there are toys there and hopefully they can keep her occupied long enough for her to allow me to sweep and mop.

So she may give me about 5 minutes of this- her entertaining herself before she’s over it and SO curious about what I’m doing or where I am.

So during this time I sweep. Around her little ABC mat, on the mat (she likes to eat there) and the entire living room and entryway.

While I am sweeping, C decides that she’s over playing in her play area and wants to venture out into the greater living room. What does she go for? Her activity center, which my husband ever-so-gently tucked away into a corner next to the fireplace. Why? Well our cable wire is hanging under there and he thought if he put her activity center there, she couldn’t go for the cable wire and try to pull it out of the wall. I don’t need to tell you how well that plan worked.

Anywho, she doesn’t like to sit in her activity center- Nooo she likes to climb on the sides and let it rock. She also likes to go underneath it and sit there- she usually gets stuck under there and cries. Well today I got sick of seeing the activity center rock to and fro- knowing that at any second she could tip it over and fall flat on her head on the tile. Um… no thank you. So:

me being the mean Mommy that I am, I took that bad boy up and put it behind the safety gate. Yeah, she was not happy.

So, she found something else to do: stare out the patio door at the dog. She LOVES to do this. So I thought “sweet,” I can mop the floor while she looks to see what the stupid dog is doing. So, I grab my Shark Steam Mop and start mopping away.

Oh what is that C? You want to help Mommy mop? No thanks, I’m all set. Oh yes, please. Pick up the cord for the Steam Mop and shake it all about- are we doing the Hokey Pokey?

I mop the entryway, I mop the play area, I even use the steam mop on her little ABC foam mat. You know why? She spills things on there and they leave little black marks… well the steam mop cleans that all up.

Then I decide, heck, while I’m deep cleaning- why not take up the rug, sweep under that and mop too? So of course the first thing she does is go over to the rug to touch it. “Hurry up” I say to myself “before the damn rug falls and knocks her in her head…” I assure you, the rug did not fall- and so all is well with the world! While I was sweeping that area, something told me to check under the sofa for goodies. Um yeah, that would be 1 sippy cup and 1 bottle Alex. Depending on how disgustingly old that milk was in the bottle, it would have to go straight to the trash can: Do not pass Go, do not collect $100.

Thankfully, it wasn’t moldy, just stinky- so into the sink it went for a good soaking.

I go in the kitchen to empty the dustpan and soak the stinky bottle and there she is, right on my trail. Making weird noises that I guess she thinks is crying, but I know is just fake random “pay attention to me” noises that she likes to make.

She finds her play area again and decides this time to pull the ABC mat apart… whatever floats your boat honey, as long as it keeps you quiet. I can put it back together at anytime. I know my ABC’s… I think.

Oh yeah, the bathroom rugs are in the washing machine, I should probably put them in the dryer. Here she comes… investigating the “one day I’m gonna have a garage sale and when I do this is the stuff that I’m going to sell” pile o’ crap.

“Ohh lookie here, Mommy left the door open…” “I’ll just help by pulling the rugs out for her!”

After I avert that crisis (of her throwing my clean rugs on the floor). Back into the house we go.

What time is it?

Isn’t she tired yet?

What the fudge?!

Uhh no, Cadence, please get off of the fireplace. I HATE when you climb up there. It’s not safe.

No, no, NO!!! Please stop trying to pull the garland down off of the fireplace. Ugh! This is exactly why the Christmas tree is in the kitchen.

Feed the fish, feed the dog.

“Oh lookie here. It’s Mommy’s water bottle.” Wait, what’s that? Is it… RUUUUuun!!

“Puh-lease pick me up!! I don’t want to see that!”

What could bring her such terror you wonder? Duh-duh-duuuuuh: **gasp** The Vacuum!!

So basically, I have to hold her in my arms and vacuum. Great fun, quite the workout too.

So thanks to the vacuum she’s in a pretty foul mood. It’s after 11. I’m running on coffee and she’s cranky. Ugh. This is not going to end well at all.

Time out to check the diaper, comb her hair (shocker, huh? I know you all think I never comb her hair) and feed her.

There is the proof that her hair was combed today.
Thank you- please hold your applause.

Since I was in her room, the scatter-brain in me decides to clean up in there. C was SUCH a big help. She emptied all of the contents of her diaper bag on the floor… now if I was smart I would learn to keep the zipper closed so she can’t do that anymore… but I can be a little slow on the uptake. Hopefully, though, I’ve learned my lesson!

I had to walk past the bathroom to get back to the kitchen. So what the hell, might as well clean up in there- this should only take a few minutes. Wipe down the toilet and counters with Clorox wipes- check. Clean out the tub -che… uhh, NO CADENCE don’t touch that! **sigh** (Note to self: Please remember that she has a long reach- put everything waaay far back from the edge) Clean out the sink- check.

While I am cleaning out the sink, she decides to pull her ducky tub out of the big girl tub  and then tries to sit in it while it’s on an angle . Yeah… she fell right out of there.

NEXT!!!

It’s 12:20 pm- do you know where your children are?
Mine is wide awake and ready to eat.

Don’t judge me based on what I feed her…

Moving on.

She starts to look a little tired. So I try, yet again to put her down to sleep and… JACK-FUCKING-POT!!

I’m so excited, I don’t even know what to do first. I consult my planner which contains my list of things to do daily (more about that another time) and I decide to finish in the kitchen.

First thing’s first, dump all of C’s toys into the sanitizer…. do this until all of her toys have been cleaned.

SO I’m washing the dishes and think- Okay, I vowed to try and stop complaining about my days so what’s one good thing that’s happened today?

Well, I thank God for allowing me to see another day with my family- that’s huge. Right?

Then I think, when this day is over, what can I say that I did for myself? (cough, cough- nothing) This is when I choose to work out- this is something that I am doing for me and I will NOT skip a day. Plus, who knows how long I have left in C’s nap. So, workout it is.

Once that’s over and I realize she’s still sleeping I decide to go around and empty all of the trash in the house: both bathrooms & our bedroom.

Back to our bedroom… I turn/flip the mattress (on my list to do today), make the bed, clean off the ironing board (which was becoming a junk pile), clean off the counters/sink area and oh! C’s awake…. It’s after 2. She gave me a good hour plus.

Bring her into the bedroom with me, sweep, NO GET OUT OF THE TOILET!!!

I get the steam mop, bring it in the room, plug it in and wait for it to heat up… once it starts releasing steam. C shouts “hot, hot, hot!!!” Soo funny. Probably the cutest part of today. I always tell her not to touch the steam mop b/c it’s hot. So now when she sees it “hot, hot, hot.”

Somewhere in the midst of my temporary insanity I decide to give the dog a bath. A) Because he smells like shit and B) I’d like to vacuum and febreeze our bedroom carpet. If I do that and a smelly ass dog lays on it, I’m going to be PISSED.

Good thing I already cleaned the guest bathroom. K, let me pick up the rug, remove ALL of C’s toys from the tub and give this dude a bath.

He was fairly good and C was just in awe. She’d never seen him get a bath before. (For so many reasons- including that he doesn’t get bathed as often as he should).

And just for cuteness sakes, here she is trying to give the dog kisses while he gets clean:

K, dog is done. Dry him off, take him out back to brush him off with the deshedding tool. THIS TAKES 100 YEARS. For a short-haired dog, he sheds more than I don’t know what.

Shit, it’s after 3. I need to go to the post office, but most importantly I promised Hubby I would go to the pharmacy and pick up his meds.

I. Promised.

Okay, if I leave by 4, I should be able to get there and get back in time to let him in. (My husband doesn’t feel the need to travel with his house keys)

Febreeze sofa cushions and pillows.

Clean guest bedroom.

Shred papers.

4 o’clock, still haven’t eaten… Running on nothing but Mommy juice now.

Maybe I’ll stop by Subway after I get Hubby’s prescription.

Hop in the car, go to the pharmacy and wait… and wait…

Fuckin small towns- only damn pharmacy in town with 80 people behind there, but only 1 person helping people with pick-ups. Great. There goes my Subway.

What the hell… is that cramps I’m feeling?

Son of a-!$#@*&! I would get my period today.

Oh, what’s that pharmacist, you only have 3 out of the 30 tablets my husband needs and I’ll have to come back on Monday? Oh great… thanks!

K, hurry, hurry. Hubby gets off of work at 4:30, give or take 15 minutes to get home… I have time. Maybe I’ll drive through McDonald’s and… Ohh look at all of the cars in the Drive-Thru.

NEXT!

Headed home, stop at the post-office and it’s empty. Thank You God.

Back in the car…. driving. Oh thank you Lord for that green light. Thank you for allowing me to turn left and YAY!!! (Big sigh of relief) Hubby is just now pulling up as I arrive.

Suh-weet!

It’s 11 pm… I’m writing this blog post. I ate 2 Taco Supremes today and had 2 glasses of wine.

I haven’t showered, or brushed my teeth (headed to do that now, I promise).

Tomorrow is Saturday, so I get to tackle this beast again on Monday.

What did you do today?

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