That darn cat dog!

This little dog...

...is so much more evil than her cute little face lets on. She mischievously turned a productive Saturday afternoon at Fort Smith into a scramble fest with the push of a button.

Taking a break from working, I went out to the truck to get my checkbook out of my purse to pay one of the contractors. Gidget hopped right in like she thought we were leaving. Once I wrote the check, I tried to get her to come back out, but she was not having it. She plays this game every so often when we come home from the groomer, and usually, after a few minutes left to herself she jumps right out. So, I just left her in there with the intention of coming back in a few minutes.

15 minutes later, I went out to the truck to let her out, pulled up on the handle and nothing...happened. That little snot had locked us out!! Tony's keys were right there on the console, and she was sitting in the driver's seat - smiling. (Yes, the dog actually smiles - I have photographic evidence.) I tried and tried to coax her back up onto the door in hopes that she would hit the unlock button. But Miss Priss didn't want any part of it. She climbed up onto the console and took a nap...on top of the keys, just to add insult to injury.

I'm sure this went through her evil little noggin: "Keys in the truck? Check. No water bottles in the house? Check. No food? Check. Ridiculously strong winds? Check. Lock truck? Check. Operation Lock Out has commenced. [Insert maniacal dog laughter here.]" Every now and then, we would beat on the door to try and get her attention. She would flick her ears, barely open one eye to check out the hoopla, and then ignore us.

Two hours and numerous creative attempts later, we finally found a way in. It took both of us prying the door open wide enough to shove a piece of copper pipe down and hit the unlock button. And then that little brat had the nerve to jump right out and prance around. She's lucky Tony let her live ride inside the truck on the way home.

There's a reason my mom calls her The Brain (Riley is Pinky, by the way).

Thank Goodness it's Friday!

Yay! This week has finally come to an end! Roxy went to her new home on Wednesday night, and yes, I cried. :( She remembered Lupe right away from all her time spent at the shop, but Lupe's husband Teddy was another story. She growled and barked, but she started warming up to him when we gave him some cookies to feed her. I got a good report yesterday that Roxy and Astrea (Lupe's husky) got along famously. Lupe said they played until 4 am before passing out, and they ate together and everything! I'm glad to hear she's doing well, and at least I get to hear about her progress. And, if for some reason she doesn't work out, I will take her back in a hearbeat! Riley and Gidget have been total slugs since she left, and I kind of forgot how lazy they normally are!

We are going to do lots of work on Fort Smith this weekend - wreck out a wall in the kitchen and hopefully the bathroom. I finally got the layout of the kitchen worked out. Tony and I happened to have a huge brain fart when we were planning the exterior, and we didn't have the window in the kitchen shortened...so we ran into a problem putting the cabinets where we planned. After hours of drawing it out, and an extra trip on Monday to measure again, I created a layout that will work.

It's now one week until our annual trout fishing trip in Arkansas. It's a tradition with some of Tony's family, and it is so much fun. But what makes this year extra exciting is that we are taking our friends Daniel and Priscilla! They live in Lubbock, and we don't get to see them as much as we'd like. Tony and Daniel went to school through high school together, and they are great friends. Daniel and Priscilla got married almost two years ago, and she is such a doll. We have so much fun when we get to spend time with them, but this will really give us a chance to get to know her better. There's not a lot to do in Heber Springs but relax and fish, and we always come home with a ton more than we can actually eat. Hopefully, one of us will catch a monster this year! Ever since I learned that the 40 pound world record trout was caught there, I've wanted to see someone in our group catch a whale!

Floating along the Little Red River...only one more week!!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Do you like my new look? I love it! Shout out to Amanda for the great idea! You can check out more super cute backgrounds here: http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/

Well, it's been several days since my last post, so let me update you on the "stepchild" situation.

The vet gave Roxy dog a completely clean bill of health on the 16th. She was really good on the leash harness at the vet, and she was perfectly still in the bathtub while we cleaned her up. She was so fluffy and pretty once she was clean!

She is getting settled into a routine at the house. She has picked up on "outside" and is very good with "sit." She also definitely recognizes "no!" We had some visitors on Thursday, and she was incredibly timid with them and very attached to us. She's really come a long way in the trust department with us.

She is getting along with the dogs so well - Roxy and Riley run circles around the backyard, and she and Gidget wrestle all over the house. Gidget has really let her guard down, but every now and then she growls at Roxy just to remind her who is boss. But I've noticed that Riley and Gidget haven't really played with each other since Roxy has come into the house, and that makes me kind of sad. She likes to play a lot, and she likes to drag everything out in the backyard.


Today was her first accident in the house in twelve days. It could be due to a number of things. The weather is super crummy today, and Tony took Riley to work with him, so we put Roxy in Riley's crate. She doesn't like it, and she cries when we put her in there since she's not used to being confined. I could smell that she had peed in there when I came home for lunch, and when Tony wasn't looking, she left a present for him in the guitar room. I want to chalk it up to a stressful day for her with the weather, the crate and all.

We are still looking for Roxy a good home (know anyone??), but I go back and forth on whether or not to keep her with us. Part of me thinks it is not fair to her because we don't have enough time to devote to her, but the other part of me sees how settled she has become. I hate to rip her away from all that has become familiar to her. There is a woman in town that offered to help us place her through a rescue group, but we would have to get her spayed first. We already spent $130 at the vet on her - if I'm going to shell out more cash to get her spayed, she's staying with me! I have gotten attached to her, but the three dogs are quite a bit to handle. We'll see how it goes...

We've had a lot of fun in the last several days. Tony has been able to be home more, and I just love it when he is around! On Tuesday, we had a lot of fun playing 31 (a card game) with the guys at the shop. It was my first time to play, and I took the pot home - all $7!! heehee We also went to the casino on Saturday and played roulette for about three hours. Tony and I won $250!! Our friend Josh also won himself some cash monies. We had such a good time!

On Sunday, we took my parents out to Lake Kemp to see Fort Smith for the first time. The workers weren't as far along as we had hoped, but there was enough done to give us an idea of the finished project. They have replaced all the windows and put in the new doors, and the french door looks awesome!



The siding was only done on one side, so it really made for a good contrast with the front of the house in the picture.



It is still so rough, but little by little, it's getting better. We are guessing it will be another week before they are finished, and then we can begin the overwhelming overhaul of the inside. We have less than four months until the big Memorial Day weekend bash - ack!!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to one of our very best friends - Josh!!