Hmmmm.....

When I was younger, I'd hang upside down from the couch and sing, "I am so bored –bored, bored, bored. I am so bored –bored, bored, bored." I'd drive my Mom nuts. I'd wander from room to room looking for something to do. There wasn't one thing to do in my room which was filled with toys, music, art supplies, dress-up clothes and books. There wasn't one thing to do with my brother, who was always bugging me to play. There wasn't one thing to do outside where my bike, sandbox and the park across the street were. Everything was boring. Bored. Bored. Bored.

So now, at 31, when I seem to be constantly busy and running around like a crazy person, how can I possibly feel bored? I find myself wandering from room to room, the Puggies following close behind. Guess what song is in my head! "I am so bored –bored, bored, bored. I am so bored –bored, bored, bored." How the heck on earth can I be bored?!

The Puggies have stopped following me. They are perfectly content to lay on the living room floor, chew their tug ropes and hack up a brightly colored mass of string every five minutes or so. Mikey is gone to hockey. The house is quiet, the TV is mine, I have paints and canvases, I have phone calls to return and emails to answer, Christmas baking to do, presents to buy, a new digital camera to figure out and most of all two loveable Puggies to play with. And I am bored? More like insane...

I don't know if this is a case of boredom, or more a case of "What should I do?". Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's some weird energy sucking parasite that is feeding on me....or.....maybe I am just being LAZY!!!!! I don't know. All I know is that I have about ten friends who would kill (okay, not really commit a homicide, but they might be tempted) to have a free hour, never mind a whole evening.

I don't feel like thinking about it. That's boring. I think I'll go sit on the couch and wait for something interesting to happen.

Comfort Food

Soft pillows of happiness. It's that time of year again when I turn out two or three batches of perogies in preparation for the Holiday Eating Frenzie my family calls Christmas. Mikey was home sick yesterday so I came home in the afternoon to keep an eye on him and thought it would be the perfect opportunity for perogy batch #1. I pulled out Mom's dough recipe (it's one of those passed down for three or four generations) and went to work. 10 cups of flour, eight pounds of potatoes, a huge block of Old Cheddar, blood, sweat and tears. I made 15 dozen and they are super-wicked-awesome-tasty. Of course Mikey and I had to try a couple for dinner last night....quality testing and control don'cha know. I would like to say they cured his illness, but alas, comfort food isn't a cure-all...it's just that - COMFORT. Yummy, hot, cheesy pillows of comfort.

Mikey's got bronchitis. Hack, hack, hack....sniff.....blow....hack....yuck. Poor thing. He's been sick for over a week now. Everyone is sick at work too. I managed to fight thorough the week without catching the horrible cold...until now. STUPID, STUPID aaaaaaaand STUPID! While cleaning up the kitchen last night, I started to feel that little tickle in the back of my throat. Oh, no! I crawled in to bed with flannel PJ's, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt and two extremely hot little furnaces - The Puggies - in hopes of sweating it out before it fully arrived. Guess what? I woke up this morning aaaaaand............I have a cold. CRAP!!!! Double CRAP!!!! Double CRAP ON A STICK!!!!

So, my plan for the day is to lay on the couch and watch a movie with my puggies and my perogies.

Feed a cold? I think that's what it is.

Baby it's cold outside!

I can't believe how cold it is...okay, wait, I can't believe how cold it feels. I hate that transition from later fall to winter. The first day it hits the -10ºc mark and everyone starts running around digging out their mitts, hats and scarves...that's when you know there is no hope and winter is on it's way.

But, the upside is that there is snow. I do like snow. It makes everything look so clean and peaceful. I love being outside at night after a fresh snowfall when it is crisp and the moon is bright. It is silent. It is the silence that is perfect, refreshing and calming. It is the cold that you see your breath in. It is the crispness and the cool blue that falls over everything that makes me like winter.

The Puggies, on the other hand, aren't too happy with the outside lately. This is Stella's first winter and I don't think she knew what to do when I opened the door at 7:00 the other morning. She bounded down the stairs to the door and promptly stopped...well, her front end did anyway. When her back end caught up to her front she did a kind of summer salt out the door in to the snow, jumped up, turned tail and headed back to the door. Guinness on the other hand sniffed...sniiiiiiffffed....sniffed, sneezed and decided it was okay to proceed. When they finally made it to the back yard, it was a Puggy Winter Wonderland Free for All and they chased each other, rolled in the fluffy white that had covered the ground and then both came in looking like wet rats.

I guess that's what it's like for us all...a few sniffs, a quick adjustment to the icy chill and then back to living in the deep freeze for the next few months. Everything still, everything silent, everything calm.

Pug-o-ween

Days late, but finally here are the Puggy Halloween pics. Guinness the Lobster and Stella the Lizard. It was a total struggle to get the costumes on them, and an even bigger fight to keep them on. After a bit Guinness didn't really care as he had a new, green, moving Lizard toy to play with. Poor Stella...Ginny thought she was a new toy he could wrestle with.

And how did they really REALLY feel about the costumes?

They were quite happy once they had torn them off and conquered them!

The pumpkins at the top of the pictures were mine. I love carving pumpkins, but by the time I got around to it this year, I was soo tired I kept messing them up, cutting off pieces that weren't supposed to be cut off and eventually having to carve something simple on the opposite side. LAME!!! At any rate, they turned out okay...nothing special like I usually do, but okay.

This is Halloween...Everybody moan and scream

Yes, Halloween is here! YAY!

My favorite day of the year...okay, next to Christmas and my birthday....but none-the-less, IT'S HERE!

It's also a good day because it is Mikey's and my first anniversary!!!! Where did that time go?

At any rate, HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all ghouls and ghosts, witches and warlocks and anything else of the sort!

I will post again tomorrow with pics of the Puggies in Halloween costumes and pumpkins carved and glowing!!!

Happy Howling!

I surrender.

I don't have anything left for today. Not one ounce of energy or creativity. I was just sitting here, in my world of corporate beige, staring at my monitor...day dreaming. You wanna know what I was dreaming about? Nothing. Nothing at all. It was one of those hazy moments where you can't blink, you can't move, you can't think and then all at once you snap out of it and wonder if you were day dreaming or if aliens abducted you and then hours later returned you to the exact same place and position they found you in. Fortunately, it was only a couple minutes and I don't have any mysterious implants or anything that would lead me to believe I was abducted. Although, if I was, that would explain a lot.....

These are the days when a half hour seems like a lifetime. When all you want to do is run screaming from the building because you can't handle being at work anymore. I think I must have been attacked by an awful energy-zapping Brain Sucker who extracted every last brain cell and left me in a mushy pile of goo.

So I thought, "Hey, I should post something on my blog". I tried to think of something interesting to say, or some cool art to create relating to this crazy exhaustion I feel. You know what popped in to my mind? NOTHING!!! Again, nothingness.

I've lost the fight...I give up, I surrender. I am not going to even try to think, create anything or chip away at anymore of Mount-work-pile that is staring at me. I am done.

If anyone knows where my brain is, can you let me know?

Complete Chaos

Ever feel like you are spinning and spinning...Tazmanian Devil style and everything around you is doing the same? Like everything is out of control and the harder you try to control it, the more insane it becomes....

I'm there. It seems like everything around me is a mess/unorganized/chaotic. Just one of those days I guess. I knew I should have NEVER stepped out of my bed today. I knew it would be one of those days...I felt it. And there it was, just like I expected, a miserable day. It's my chaos theory...I knew if I got out of bed and went on with my day things would all turn chaotic. So, maybe if I stayed in bed all day and just hid...let the bad 24 hours pass...then everything crappy would pass too? Huh. Maybe a theory I will test out one time - not anytime soon though, things have to be controlled, chaos halted and everything ordered and restored to a soothing cadence. Wait, let me put my super hero cape on....

At any rate, we spent Thanksgiving weekend in Regina with my parents, my brother and his wife. I roped my brother, Cam, in to doing a photo shoot of Mike and I and taking some nice pictures of The Puggies. If you'd like to see some more of Cam's stuff, go here

Here are a few of the photos we had done...awwww PUGGIES!!!!







These last two photos were taken at Darke Hall - the old University of Regina Campus and one of the "Most Haunted Places in Canada". Only fitting I guess since Halloween - one of my favorite days of the year - is scarily fast approaching!

What are you thankful for?

I think it is kinda silly that we (meaning I) don't take more time to think about what we are thankful for. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how fortunate I am quite often, but don't really take the time every day to think of the individual things I am thankful for. Nothing says focus quite like a list, so in light of the season, here is my list of things I am thankful for this year (in no particular order)...

1) My family - the best family
2) Mikey - my everything...I think that about sums it up...
3) My Puggies - they are chasing each other like crazy people around the coffee table right now
4) My friends - some of the best friends and surrogate family anyone could have
5) My creativity
6) The fact that I am loved and I love
7) Laughter
8) My senses - often taken for granted, I see, smell, touch, taste and hear life around me everyday
9) My strength
10) My life - in general, pretty darn good...I AM LUCKY!!!

There are many, many more things that I am thankful for, but it it 10:40 and I have put off packing long enough. Tomorrow I get to see my family! I am Flying in to Regina tomorrow night. Mikey and The Puggies will follow on Sunday. I am so thankful I get to be out of this city, with my family and feasting on all the super-awesome and fantabulous (I know it's not a word, duh) food my mom and I will make.

What are you thankful for?

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

Puggy Parade

Our friends, the Thibodeaus invited Mikey and I -and the pugs- over for an awesome fall barbeque on Saturday. We packed our little flea circus in to the Element and headed off to visit Kelly, Michael, Sophie, Max and Koda (the Cockapoo) for the evening. Okay, with the two crazy pugs, it was more like we descended on their house in whirlwind fashion.
Sophie and Max are two awesome kids! Not only are they fun to visit and hang out with, but they spent pretty much the entire evening playing with the pugs and keeping them from driving the rest of us (including Koda) insane. THANK YOU!!!!!

Michael and Kelly made us a to-die-for dinner and fed me way too much wine! OH! The most amazing part - Caramel Tarts. Yes, I said it, CARAMEL TARTS!!!!! Michael made us a batch of wonderfully delicious little tarts that were filled with a creamy bit of heaven. They tasted like those little square Kraft caramels wrapped in the clear plastic that you always got in your Trick-or-Treat loot at Halloween! Mmmmmmmm....... I think I could have eaten the entire batch!

Good food, good company, good wine and one great visit! THANK YOU guys!

Some pictures of the always growing Guinness and Stella.

Painting The Pug

Just a quick post. I started a painting the other day. I like to paint things I love or things that inspire me, calm me or make me smile, so what better subject than The Pug. 12x12 acrylic on canvas. No special brushes and cheap acrylics - some of them are just craft acrylics I had left over from the fern wall.

I am just getting started and nowhere near being happy with it yet, but it's coming along. He just has sooooooo many wrinkles, spots, and folds. It's going to take me forever.... I'm going to wait until she's a bit older to paint the Princess Stella Pug, but that's probably how long it will take me to finish this one anyway!!!

Hockey and the Sleeping Pugs

No, this is not a story about two sleepy pugs, with tiny helmets and jerseys, who try out for the NHL and end up winning MVP for the 2007-2008 season. And it's definitely not a story about a heard of wild sleepy pugs who decide that hockey isn't just a sport for those of us with opposable thumbs and start a farm team called the Calgary Stampeding Pugs. This is a two part post....


Last night was Mikey's first game as the new Head Coach for the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey team, the Stonewall Jets. Kim, Carson and I thought we should go out and cheer them on as they battled the Charleswood Hawks. I am not sure who was more nervous, Mikey or me. After three periods of bodies being nailed in to the boards, lots of yelling and a few penalties, the Jets emerged victorious by a score of 6 - 3! YAY! I am pretty proud of Mikey. Even though he isn't home a lot, he is busting his butt for something he dreamed of doing!


As for the Sleeping Pugs, I am posting a few photos of them doing what they do best (besides messing up my carpet and having wrestling matches on the bed). They sleep all the time. They sleep in their beds, on the couch, in the middle of the floor, cuddled like babies or pretty much wherever they pass out. We joke that they are our narcoleptic Pugs...one minute running full bore down the hallway and the next dead asleep in some weird twisted position. Week two has gone good so far for Stella. She's a little bigger, a little stronger and still has the appetite of a tiny pony. They make me laugh so much and at the same time make me soooo tired!

Ya don't say?!

What's with the dogs and beer logos you ask? Well, Mikey and I both like Guinness and Stella Artois. Mmmm....quite good imports if you ask me. What else can I tell you about the beer? Stella Artois is brewed in Leuven, Belgium where Mikey played pro hockey...hmmm, let's see, what else? OH YEAH! They are the names of our doggies!

Silly I know, but when we were deciding what to name Guinness, there were a few names...Reggie Dunlop, Gretz - I liked Popcorn or Pickle - but we finally landed on Guinness. We joked then that any other dogs we adopted would have to be named after an imported beer - if it was a girl, Stella and if a boy, Boddington. Stella she is. Thank God it was a girl as I can't yell Boddington really fast without getting tongue tied.

Just to clear things up, if and when we do have children, they will have normal names, and not one of them will be named Kokane, Labatt, Coors or Lucky.

End of week 1 and Stella is doing super duper. I have got her pretty close to being completely paper trained, Guinness is realizing he can't put her whole tiny head in his mouth and not have her squeal and I caved after two days and we are all sleeping in the bed. Yes, it's a bit crowded and noisy (with the snoring competition between the other three as I definitely don't snore) but we all sleep through the night (at least 5 or 6 hours) without the whimpering/whining sessions and a few trips to the puppy crate.

All in all good week. Very tired, but good week.

You know what else? You can love a second thing as much as you loved the first – even if you want to choke them both for incessant barking, whining, growling and living room wrestling matches every half hour!

Bringing home the baby!!!

Hailing from Miami, Manitoba, weighing in at a whopping 2.5 pounds, measuring maybe four inches at the shoulder, she's the beast with the razor sharp teeth, THE MONSTER PUUUUUUUGGGG.......STEEEEEELLLLLLLLLAAAAAA!

Stella's finally here! WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!

She is so much smaller than I thought she would be - in fact, she's TINY. Guinness looks like a giant compared to her. She is doing quite well, eating like a machine, defending herself against her big brother and sleeping quietly - at least this afternoon. It was a rough night. She woke me up whimpering every two hours or so and then it would take about an hour to get her back to sleep. I guess it is much like a baby at night, but at least with a baby they stay in one place, they don't run around like a crazy person and they don't leave "Puppy Spots" all over the carpet. I think I have gone through a half can of Spot Shot and a roll of paper towels in just 15 hours. Ugh.

Well, there she is. The new addition. I'll post more pictures later. She is sleeping right now and I could use a nap too!

Bring it!

What a good night. Stacey and Tams came over. We drank coffee ate Jeanne's marble cake with vanilla ice cream and played Wii sports!!! I boxed Tams into oblivion (heh heh), but Stacers remains the undefeated World Lightweight Champion of the World...okay, not the world, but she rocked the Wii Sports boxing!

They are leaving for Oakville, ON next weekend and I am so grateful they set aside one of their last few evenings left to spend with me! They are both Graphic Designers just like me, but Stacers is living her dream and studying Animation at Sheridan in Toronto. Her passion and motivation are absolutely amazing and she busts her butt everyday to get what she wants. You go Stacers! Pretty much the best ever!!!!!!!

Their visit last night made me realize how awesome it is to be blessed with good friends. You know, the kind of friends you can be away from for a while but when you see them again, it's like you never left. You just pick up where you left off and it's like nothing changed. Kinda like family - friends that become your family. These are the type of friends who never make you feel guilty, who celebrate your achievements with you and overlook your shortcomings. They always find ways to make you feel celebrated, appreciated and genuinely cared for. Over the years I have been so fortunate to have gained a circle of these friends who I carry with me all the time -my people. There's one from Elementary school, a couple from Junior High and High School and a few from my "adult" life. (Am I an adult? Really? No, I'm gonna fight it! I will never grow up! I don't wanna and you can't make me!) I don't know if these people know how truly important they have been and are to me, how they helped me to become me. You know who you are so here it is - THANK YOU! Ahhh...good good "MY PEOPLE" those who are not me, but are like me and that I love so much!

Speaking of my people, tomorrow marks the beginning of a couple of insane and stupid-busy weeks! My parent's (and my Beagle-brother Murphy) are coming in from Saskatchewan tomorrow. My cousin is getting married next Saturday so there is much to do. We are going to help my Aunt make all the tortes and cakes for one heck of a dessert table -mocha torte, schmoo torte, cheesecakes, cinammon torte - I am gaining weight thinking about it. She caters specialty desserts and since it is her daughter's wedding, she is going all out sweet crazy! My mom's brother and his family are coming in on Wednesday to stay with Mikey and I too, so in total, we will have 6 adults, 2 cousins, 2 dogs, the dust bunnies I didn't have time to clean and one full liquor cabinet! ACK! Oh yeah, and I have to find time to go to work all week too! My parents leave next Monday, I have one day to catch my breath and then it's time to bring our baby STELLA home!!!!! Sheesh, if anyone has some extra sanity to lend me, please forward it on!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

And she will be known as....

Meet Stella. She is 5 weeks old. She is a fawn Pug.

What's so cool about Stella (I mean besides the fact that she is super-duper cute and she is a Pug)?

SHE IS OURS and the newest addition to the Pug Life family!

Yes, meet our new baby! We don't have her yet as she is too young to leave her Mommy Pug. She was born on July 10th and we get to bring her home on the 29th!!!! Whoop-whoop!

Now everyone, of course, thinks Stella is beyond cute . She is a fuzzy-wuzzy rolly-polley ball of happiness that I can't wait to hold and cuddle and play with. BUT, when I inform anyone that she now belongs to Mikey and I, the reaction is usually "WHAT! WHY? ARE YOU CRAZY?!". I guess I am a little bit crazy...okay, more than a little bit. But, like Dr. Leo Buscaglia said, "...and if you think I'm crazy, that's wonderful, because when you think I'm crazy, that gives me lots of leeway for behavior."

So crazy it is. When Mikey and I brought Guinness home, it was (in no particular order as I was sleep deprived and can't remember how it all went down) days and days of sleepless nights, whining, cleaning "puggy spots" on the carpet, feeding, chasing, lots of "No Puggy! NO!", more cleaning of "puggy spots" worrying, teaching, training, crying (lack of sleep and frustration) and a few trips to the vet. Yes, all this as well as one pair of brand-new boots, a pair of sandals, two pairs of glasses and various other "chewed beyond repair" items.

Along with all those frustrations and trying puppy times came tons of puppy kisses, belly-laughs (he is such a clown), tail wags, cuddling on the couch and infinite amounts of unconditional love and company. It worked out. Plus, he is there going crazy, wagging his tail and waiting for kisses every night when we get home. Ahhh, The Pug makes me happy!

It was this total uncontrolled excitement upon arriving home every night that made us realize something...The Pug was lonely. He sat in the window when we drove away in the morning and I felt so bad because there he was, alone...no one to play with or curl up to take an afternoon nap with in the warm sun. The Pug needed company. And what's two Puggies when you already have one? I know...more insanity, but also more love, more laughs and above all more company.

So there's the why, what and are you crazy of it all.

I am crazy -have always been and always will be. The only difference now is one word - Stella.

Shower Pug

Shower Pug.
Shower Pug.
Does whatever a Shower Pug does.


The Pug wanted in the shower, so we put him in.

He really was happy...after he got out!

No Pugs were harmed in the making of this Perfect Puggy Shot.

Time to stop

How is it that it is Saturday already? It seems like the past 2 weeks have flown by and I don't know where they went. The worst part is that when I took The Pug out for a walk the other evening, there it was...the smell of fall. Dread. It was that smell of damp and cold mixed with grass clippings and transforming leaves. It's only August, but it has changed. Maybe it is just the "Back to School" fliers and the fall clothing in the stores, but I can feel it. Soon, jean capris and thin t-shirts will be replaced by long jeans and zippy-up hoodies. I'll fight it, I hate wearing socks.

It was this feeling of fall-ness that made me think that I should probably take some pictures of my brightly blooming flower bed before it started to fade. As I was taking a shot of one of my "caterpillar" flowers (I think it is a type of Salvia, but they really do look like rainbow caterpillars living in my garden) I saw this grasshopper taking a rest there. I looked closer and was amazed by the detail on his huge legs as well as on his back and head. It is so amazing what you find when you are looking through a camera lens....just the things you normally pass by and never "see". I moved in closer and got this awesome shot of him just hangin out....resting. I watched him sit there for ten minutes or so, rotating his head, rubbing his front legs along the sides of his large face and stretching out his super-powered legs. It was peaceful. Maybe when they said "Take time to stop and smell the flowers", what they actually meant was take time to stop and watch the grasshopper who is resting and enjoying sunning himself on your flowers.

Time just goes too fast. I find that life is just so fast paced now. You work long hours, you run to appointments, to the bank, for groceries, you spend time fulfilling obligations to things you have to do and not things you want to do. And then, when you finally stop to take inventory, days, weeks, months or maybe even years have passed and you can't remember where they went. You look around and realize that the things you wanted to be doing have gone undone. Look around...piles of books have gone unread, canvases that should be alive with color are blank, coffees and dinners with friends are left for when there is time and we aren't any better off. You hop from thing to thing stretching and giving and being pulled thin, all the time wishing for some YOU time.

STOP

Just stop it. Take it, take the time now. Do the things you WANT to be doing. Of course there are those things we have to do, like "make the doughnuts" to "bring home the bacon" (or Beggin Strips as The Pug would like to think) but there are so many ways to become un-busy to enjoy some YOU time. I know, this sounds somewhat selfish, but The Givers continue to give and The Takers will always be there to take whatever The Givers are willing to give. In other words, if you don't take care of yourself, no one will. Be a bit selfish! Read the book, go for the coffee or dinner date with the friend and make time for you.

Grasshopper. Soak in the sun. Hop. Hop. STOP!

Don't eat these flowers

I am at home today. Stupid, stupid summer colds! I HATE them. You are soooo unbelievealbly tired, yet when you lay down to sleep you can't. Then you cough...and cough...and cough...and cough some more and if you are one of the REALLY lucky ones, you cough so hard you make sick! Mmmmmm.....yummy. I can't smell, I can't taste, I can't breathe, I can't think and I can't sleep. Brutal.

While wallowing in my feverish self-pity party, I wondered what the common cold virus looked like anyway. Was it ugly and green? Did it have horns? Maybe it looked like No Heart from Care Bears or the Purple Pie Man from Strawberry Shortcake? Thanks to the good old internet, I found out. It isn't mean or nasty, grey or pointy, but rather pretty teals, blues, yellows and greens all balanced in to a crystal-like symmetry. It reminded me of a flower centre of some sort. I decided to see what it would look like if I put some petals on it...pretty no? Hard to think that this colorful fun little thing is making me so miserable. At least it made for some good art inspiration and a nice blog header.

The Pug is on the couch doing what he does best, and after a cup of Green Tea, I think I will join him. Right now, Maury is probably in the process of revealing that someone "Is.........NOT THE FATHER" and I think that his genre of mindless smut T.V. might just put me to sleep.

Ahhhhh.....choo!

The Wall of Fern

The wall is finished...for now. Yesterday I FINALLY finished the fern design mural thingy on my studio wall. It feels pretty amazing to actually finish something that I wanted to. I mean I finished four loads of laundry, organized the massive pile 'o' linens and clothing in the basement, took The Pug to get his nails clipped and made homemade chicken soup for the still sick Mikey, but this was something I REALLY wanted to finish. Now, when I sit at my computer, I am staring at the wall I painted on. My wall in my room filled with my stuff. Happy, happy.


Of course, there are things I wish I could change on it and things I still will, but all in all it turned out well.

As I said, Mikey is still sick. He and The Pug are still in bed. It's really nice, every morning at 7:00, regardless if it is the weekend, The Pug thinks it is time to go outside. Usually Mikey takes him, but today I thought I would let him sleep. I put on my Supergirl capris and hot pink flip flops and with my eyes half shut, took Guinness out for his morning walk. As usual, he had to visit every tree. He sniffed and marked and continued on up and down both sides of our block. When he was satisfied that his morning inspection was thoroughly completed we went back inside. By this time, of course, I was wide awake. Crawling back in to bed wasn't going to happen. I had to face it, it was Sunday morning at 7:30 and I was up for good. The Pug ran around for a couple minutes while I searched for my glasses. When I found them and returned to the living room to get my camera, I was greeted by a fresh pile of Puggy Poo and The Pug standing beside it staring at me with the "What?" face.

Stunned, I stood there staring back at him. I didn't even know what to say...until a frustrated half-yell erupted, "I just took you outside!!!!!!! Do you not know how this works?! BAD BAD PUGGY!!!!" I guess he thought this meant it was time to play because he started barking and growling and bouncing back and forth infront of me, nipping at the bottom of my Supergirl capris. It was either laugh, cry or scream as he ALWAYS does this for ME and never for Mike. I did a half laugh-scream and went to clean his mess. By the time I was done Puggy Poo Patrol, he was nestled back in bed right next to Mikey and that's where he stayed.

Sitting here, I can hear them having a snoring/grunting competition...and I am still wide awake.

Sunday already? When did that happen?

La La La La Lime

I don't know if it's just the heat affecting my brain, but I am still stuck on the "stuff that Kid Summers" are made of. Popsicles. Popsicles were always a lip-licking good part of any hot n' hazy summer day. Since I had the icy treats on the brain, I broke out the colored conté sticks (like charcoal, but harder and less smudgy) and went to work.

La la la la lime.
La la la la lickable.
La la la la lips freeze.

I think I will have to make a quick pit stop on the way home. Mikey is sick and I am sure a box of Popsicles will fix him right up!

Hot Pug in the Summertime

This picture was taken in my parents' back yard. No, there aren't any kids that frequent the backyard to necessitate the Little Tykes inflatable kiddie pool...it's for the dogs. Dad bought it for their Beagle Murphy. When we arrived there, The Pug, of course, had to take a dip. So while the humans were sweating it out on the deck, the pups were lounging by the pool. Spoiled, spoiled dogs.



Now that we are home and the hot weather followed us from Medicine Hat (it was 48ºc with the humidex there everyday!) I think The Pug is wishing he had a pool in his backyard. Poor Puggy.

One thing I realized on our trip is that a week is never long enough. I know now that I took all those lazy school-time summers for granted. Jumping through the sprinkler, eating popsicles and freezies until your tongue was numb, long un-airconditioned road trips (although, my dad tried to convince me the '76 Lemon-Lime Malibu did have 4-60 airconditioning - 4 windows at 60 miles per hour. ha ha Dad) and walking around in your bathing suit all day long. Even now, when I really need to relax and de-stress, I think back to when I used to lay on a blanket on Grandma's lawn listening to the bees buzzing by while the cool breeze passed over me. The smells, the sounds and the feeling of the sun on my skin while I drifted in and out of summer cat naps. Ahhh..... But, needless to say, that was back when you could lay out in the sun and sunscreen only came in SPF 5, 8 and 15!

Today, office fan on high, wearing dress-code appropriate clothing and drinking cold, detoxifying green tea from my thermal Starbucks mug, I hate being a grown-up. I want to eat freezies until my tongue turns purple and goes numb, call all my friends over to open a Kool-aid stand complete with Dixie cups, use the change we make to buy Dicki-dee ice cream and then run through the sprinkler.

I guess summers are for kids - and dogs with kiddie pools!

Just Ducky

It is raining. I love that I have an incredible knack for stating the obvious.

It's also a good day for DUCKS! Maybe this isn't so obvious. For as long as I can remember, my mom used a few key phrases in specific situations. When she would burst in to our rooms in the morning before school she'd energetically fling up the blinds and chirp (in a VERY high-pitched mom voice) "Rise and shine! Bright Eyes, bushy tail!". Not only did this make you curl tighter in to the cocoon of your perrenna (Ukrainian for a Grandma-made, down-filled duvet) but it made it very obvious that my mom was evil - in a cute chipper way. She knew it drove us absolutely insane, but through the years I think she kept up her morning ritual for that exact reason. She probably turned on heel, had a good mom-giggle, and continued on with her morning satisfied that her children would be so annoyed and grouchy that they couldn't possibly sleep in any longer!!!! AGGGHHH!

So on rainy and grey days, much like the current conditions, my mom would also use one of her favorite lines - "It's a good day for ducks". I wasn't exactly sure why she said this, but I noticed that after she said it, she always took a good deep breath and smiled. When I left home to go to school, I was incredibly homesick and wondering why I had chosen to rip myself away from my family. See, my Dad was in the Air Force and then worked for the Feds, so we moved around a lot. Family was all that was constant for me and home was wherever they were. How could I have left the only stable and secure thing I had known? It didn't help that that fall was particularly rainy and gloomy. But, every morning I would get up to grey skies and pouring rain, I would think "It's a good day for ducks" have a little giggle, take the same deep breath my mom used to and smile. Without even knowing it, she turned the grey rainy blah days in to something that made me smile. Ah, gotta love Mom.

Speaking of Mom and family of the sorts, Mikey and I are off to Regina tonight to start our vacation! It won't be nearly long enough I know, but I am super stoked to see my parents, my brother and his wife, my fur-niece Chloe (the Golden Lab) and my fur-brother Murphy (the beagle). The Pug is going with us, so there will be dogs galore! Rrrrruuufff!

Hope everyone is enjoying the day as much as the ducks!

Play in the rain and GO QUACKERS!

Whatcha Thinkin' 'bout

Kal (the awesome [i] Love Life girl I talk about) had a post, or maybe more of a challenge, on her blog:

"Think of three things you like about yourself and write them down. If you're a blogger - POST THEM. I'm encouraging a little self love. We need it."

Why is this always so hard? I mean every time someone asks me what I like about myself, I have one helluva time finding something to say. You wanna talk about things I DON'T like? That's easy, I could go on all day. It seems like I am not the only one as in the last few days I've heard "If only I was [thinner, more talented, less boring] then I would be happy" or, "I wish I had [more money, nicer hair, a cuter smile]." You know, I even notice that it is insanely hard for people to accept a compliment. Even when you tell someone how nice they look, or how awesome their cooking is, I find the usual response to be a quick "thanks" followed by some negative comment about whatever it is you complimented them on. Okay, people, just take the compliment! I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it! BLAAAARRRGH!

Okay, here I go. Three things I like about myself............

1) I am creative.
I love to paint, draw, write, photograph things, tell stories and take everything one step further! Sometimes it gets outta hand, but it makes me happy! The best part about creativity is that it isn't something you can learn from a text book or a class. You can learn to draw or paint or use words properly, but feeling the need to create things (the "Creative Bug") and use your imagination is something you are born with! Celebrate it! Use it! It is something so individual and no one can take it from you!

2) I am a good friend.
I like to treat my friends like family and my family like gold. I think that without friends and family to share your life with (the good and the bad), it all would be pretty meaningless and lonely. To have friends to lean on is so important and I want to be there for everything great as well as all the tough crap we all deal with!

3) I work hard.
Anything worth having or doing is worth working hard for. If I am going to put my name to it, it's gonna be the best that I can do. Whether it's the new flower bed in my front yard or the challenging project at work, I always dive in and work at it. Is there such a monster as "good enough"? No! If you say "it's good enough", then it's not the best you can do and you have to work harder. It's goes for everything in life! Hard work is the only way to feel that sense of accomplishment that can be sooooo freeing!

Wow, that was harder than I thought. It's so weird to live in a hugely negative world and try to switch your brain to think of only positive things - especially when it is about you. Now that I shared, you have to share. If you are reading this, you HAVE to write down three things you like about YOU. I AM NOT KIDDING! If you want to leave a comment here and share with me, awesome! If you want to email me, cool! If you don't want to do either, at the very least write it down somewhere. It's not the same just to think about it, you have to write it down and read it.

Just do it, you'll see. Kal is right, we need it! Thanks Kal!

2 Golden Rulz

We've all experienced them. The Starbuck's Barrista who begrudgingly takes your order then rolls his eyes when you take two extra seconds to look for exact change. Or, the miserable receptionist who sighs heavily and glares at you when you request a follow up appointment. The thing is, you didn't do anything to them to deserve the rolling eyes, glares and heavy sighs. They are just like that and if you try to be extra nice to them, they either grunt and mumble something in your direction, or ignore you completely. I have come to the conclusion that they either a)really hate their job b)really hate their life or c)figure the world owes them something. I really hate to be the person to say this, but no one ever said life would be fair or easy. Oh, and by the way, the world doesn't owe you anything.

I am not saying that I am perfect (HA! Not by any stretch of the most creative imagination) or super chipper happy girl all the time. We all have bad days and bad moods, but it is a choice to be perpetually miserable and take it out on other people. And yes, there is a difference between being sarcastic, strong and assertive or being just plain old mean and bitchy.

That brings me to the 2 Golden Rulz. Two really smart people, who I admire and look up to and who did one hell of a job raising a great daughter without an instruction manual, taught me two basic, BASIC rules to live by. My parents are great people who work hard for everything they have, will go without before letting their kids want for anything and who make mistakes, learn from them, grow and move on. Basically, they aren't only awesome parents, they are good, good people who live what they say.

Rule number 1: Treat others as you would have them treat you.
Yes!!!! The Golden Rule. Simple hey? You'd think. That line, or variations of it, was drilled in to my brother and I over and over again. When I gave my brother an atomic wedgie and he cried, my mom said, "Tracy Lee Anne be a lady! How would you like if I did that to you? Treat your brother the way you want him to treat you!" When my brother bit me, my mom bit him back and said "You love it?! Is that how you want to be treated?" And then, when I got payback for something I did to my little bro, my Dad's line was always "You deserve it for [beating, punching, telling on, spitting on, etc.] him".

A fairly simple rule, yet I find more and more often that the idea seems lost in today's society. It's kinda like Karma, do good, good will come - do bad and bad will come. As Justin Timberlake said, "I'm bringin sexy back"...uh....I mean, "What goes around comes back around".

Rule number 2: Be kind to each other
My mom usually says this in regards to family when something isn't quite right or we are going through something. My interpretation of this is that if you love someone, treat them with respect, understanding and kindness. When I think of being kind, I think of unselfish acts of giving or random acts that make a difference in someone's day. It doesn't have to be something huge, but anything that makes someone feel loved and appreciated IS BEING KIND. This doesn't go just for relationships, but for family and friends too. My parents always lived by this. If Dad is coming for a visit and he knows I am having a tough time with something, he stops on his way to pick up flowers for me. Dad also brings Mom a Tim's Large Double Double when out on his Saturday morning paper run....and why? Just because he is kind and he loves her. I think that if everyone did one thing everyday to make a difference to someone, the world would be a much happier place.

After describing these two simple rules, I have to come clean. Sometimes, when I am having a bad day, or storming around complaining about dirty dishes and piles of laundry, I have to stop and listen to my parents in my head (yes, their voices live there along with a few others) reminding me to follow these rules! Shocker!!!! I'm not perfect, I know!

I am not saying that we all have to be dripping with fake sweetness, but if we get over our-bad-selves and realize that things could be way worse, we could relax and enjoy the day-to-day. We all don't like our jobs at some point, we never get enough sleep or downtime or funtime or relaxing time or time to do whatever we want etc., but negativity breeds insanity and unhappiness.

So, I have to say to myself, to the Starbucks' Barista and to the cranky receptionist, "Buck up Sunshine! (thanks Stace for that one) Stop complaining and realize it could be much, much worse than it is."

Suck up and be nice!

The Market, The Headache and The Pug

This morning was perfect. I picked my Kimmy up around 9:30 and after a much needed stop at Tim's we were on our way to the St. Norbert Farmers Market! Something I always look forward to - Saturday morning Tim's, Kim and girly bonding time. Ahhhhh.....breeeaaaathheee. I wish the entire day could have stayed nice and cool like this morning. It was so quiet, calm and refreshingly cool. The market was filled with shoppers and browsers of all ages. I was pleasently suprised by the number of young people there (yes, people our age - young!). Too often we forget about these wonderful places and are stuck in massive grocery stores and malls. It's almost like going to raid Grandma's summer garden, except Grandma's not there and she never made me pay for the young Borscht beets, the dill, fresh tomatoes or the tiny red potatoes. But, with all the fresh garden goods, homemade jams, jellies and pies, and the energetic burst from the Corner Busker's fiddle, it can somehow have the same rejuvinating and deep-breath-catching feeling that the visit to Grandma's always gave me. I got some all-natural no-filler Puggy treats, some French Lavender body toner, Orange Marmalade, butter tarts and lemon poppyseed loaf. What a morning...ahhhhhh. So, so good.

Maybe it had something to do with dropping Kim off and her not being around, but the rest of the day started doing a full-body roll down a grassy park hill from then on - and not in the good "I am seven years old at recess and race-rolling down the hill" kinda way.

The headache from hell started and all I could do was sleep. Woke up, still there. Oh, The Pug's here, good Puggy, good good Puggy. You're tired too aren't you? You're hot too...Puggy, do you have a fever? Ugh, head hurts. Sleep some more...drift in and out....The Pug is moving...what the heck is he....OH MY GOD! Puggy! No!

The headache is gone. The Pug is sick. Poor Pug. After a few consulting phone calls, a trip to the Emergency After Hours Vet, antibiotics and quite a few dollars later, he has a bacterial infection in his intestine. I was soo worried, but Puggy will be fine. I was literally almost in tears worrying about him, I can't even begin to fathom how it must be with a child.

Finally, all is quiet. Puggy is curled up in his bed making grunting gurgling snoring noises and Mikey is on the couch doing pretty much the same. Ahhh...my boys, my awesome boys. And, at the end of the day, I can breathe again.

Speaking of Beginnings...

I have started a "mural" (for lack of better terminology -it's more just a design) on the wall in my studio. As Mikey said, it is kind of "Nightmare Before Christmas-ish" which I don't mind at all because I love, LOve, LOVE the backgrounds, sets and artwork in ALL of Tim Burton's movies!

I was really trying to find something cool to put on my wall that would inspire me, make me want to create and at the same time make me think. WAIT! Before I go any further, I have to say it is pretty awesome that Mikey actually agreed (with little persuasion) to let me paint on the walls in the house! It's pretty much the best thing ever!

Okay, now on with the wall things. They are supposed to represent fern fronds. In Maori symbols and designs, the fern frond (Koru) represents life, new beginnings and life unfolding. The stylization of the Koru in its many forms represents the spirit of rejuvenation. I thought it would be perfect in this room as it's all about renewed spirit and creative ideas. It is also a great reminder that as many negative things happen and surround us, there are always new beginnings. This year, I don't think I will be crowned "Miss Happy Sunshine Girl 2007" so anything around that can renew the spirit and remind me to breathe and see all things new and good, is a bonus.

Not finished, but will be soon. I'll post new pics then!


Okay, now as I sit here finishing this post, Mike and The Pug are having a "wresering" match on the bed. The poor Pug has now been victim of a choke-sram (choke slam), full nelson, half nelson and finally a Sooprex (Suplex) and a Puggy Press! At least at the end of the day I am laughing!!!

In the Beginning

I was trying to find a way to start "this whole blogging thing". To be honest it kinda scares me a bit - that whole everyone-can-see-your-life at all times. But, I realized Facebook is waaaaay scarier and only people who I tell about this will read it and even then maybe no one will!

So, back to the start of this...there should be a story to tell to introduce PUG LIFE to the world - something intelligent, insightful and cool. Well...........I got nothin. Not one specific thing sums up everything. I am not sure what "this whole blogging thing" will turn out to be, but I guess I am here now and shall start.

PUGGY LOVE

This is The Pug - Guinness. I guess he was pretty much the inspiration for the name Pug Life (little_firecracker_girl@blogspot.com and queen_o_mean@blogspot.com were already taken!). He was a gift from my Mikey at a time when he knew I needed a pet and some unconditional love. Funny thing is, The Pug likes him more than me!

This won't be written from The Pug's point of view, although, sometimes he may slip in a story or two in about wizzing on the couch, pooing on the carpet or destroying something of mine. He is just one of the characters that will frequent this space. He is a total clown who makes me laugh out loud as well as scream in frustration. He snores, drools, barks too much, farts (oh God what the hell did he eat?????!!!!!), chews, bites, licks, gives kisses, cuddles and best of all wags his little behind like he hasn't seen me in a month when I get home. So there he is...the Pug of my life.

And there it is. The beginning. Nothing much. I am hoping to put some cool stuff on here...art I am working on, cool quotes, books etc. and maybe share thoughts about goings on in life. In short (ha ha, no pun intended), it's gonna be what it's gonna be and we'll see where it ends up. Maybe it will end up like that oh-so-awesome coffee shop/bookstore I have always dreamed of opening...huge over stuffed chairs, homemade warm sweet treats, books worn by over-reading and re-reading, the best coffee always made exactly the way you like it, super soft blankets to cuddle up with, a warm fireplace and good friends and family. Somewhere that you like to be...somewhere to come home to.

Who knows, we'll see.