DON'T

Don't jump.  Don't run.  Don't lick.  Don't bite.  

 Just several more don't-do's to add to my list.

Now here's a don't for you.

Don't look at the next picture if you are squeamish.  

According to the nag Mom, these are my bladder stones that she has to take to the hospital lab to have analyzed.

And she wonders why I was peeing on the floor...??? 

 H-e-l-l-o!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to rest.  Thanks for the paw-sitive thoughts and prayers.  XOXO  Gracie.

Surgery for Gracie and Vertigo for Me

Gracie will have her surgery this afternoon.  She shook all the way down there this morning...  Like..  she knows what is coming down.  

As for me...  

Vertigo...  

It started at the vets office and now I am just trying to hang on (literally).

I always try to stay away from medication.  But the doc prescribed Meclizine.  I took 1/2 of one.  Hope it helps.  

Please say a prayer for Gracie today...    

"For the love of Dogs woman...  I'm just minutes away from being called back to prep for my surgery today and you are taking PICTURES?"  

UPDATE:

GRACIE IS OUT OF SURGERY.  SHE IS DOING FINE.  HOPE TO GET HER HOME TOMORROW.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND GOOD THOUGHTS.

on Shopping.

Sharing my Facebook post for tonight.  This was my day.

Bon Ton Aggravation Take Ten: When you wait all week to take advantage of your $50 off of $100 coupon and you carefully and painstakingly select just the right bargain for the day and after half an hour of comparing prices and making sure your final merchandise will be accepted for coupon use you stand in line for 20 minutes holding 4 heavy skillets and your $50 off coupon and the 96YO cashier is talking to the customer in front of you about all the great buys she is getting today and how she can even save more if she digs into the bottom of her purse and finds yet another coupon that is lost there and then she talks about some other things that are of little importance to her job and your hands and arms start shaking because the pans are heavy and finally another cashier opens another register and says I will take the next customer here and you go over there and ask can I use this coupon and she says sure you can and then she scans the skillet and says sorry, this is an exceptional value but it didn't say it was an exceptional value and who can read that teeny tiny print on the back anyhow and then she scans the other pan and says sorry, another exceptional value so you rip the coupon up and toss it in the trash on the way out and swear you will never shop there again.

Surgery for Gracie

Dear Diary,  It started out great.  I was going in the Buick and I was going to get to see Dr. Fox.

But things turned quickly bad when we got there.  First some strange lady stuck something up my butt. So I tried to bite her. (I missed).

Then Dr. Fox made some moves that I found inappropriate so I tried to bite him too.  It was around about that time that Mom asked for a muzzle. 

Now,here's the really bad news.  Doc says I need to have surgery next Tuesday to remove more stones in my bladder.  He gave Mom some antibiotics for me to take until then.  Mom and me are sad.  Daddy is sad too.

Why does life have to be so hard?  Gracie.

Daisy Cake

Today I have overdosed on cake which my husband so kindly had sent to me after an enlightening episode of Shark Tank that covered ~ Daisy Cakes.  *sigh*

First ice cream.  Now cake.

Have I ever told you that I love that show?

I have been shirking my responsibilities as a fellow blogger lately.  I need to get back in the game because I sure do miss everybody!

Dear Diary,

I wish I would have taken a picture.  Honestly, The Nag has lost it.  She was all whoop-de-doo excited when she got this cake in the mail today but that smile turned upside down when she discovered it was rock-solid-frozen!  I tell you..  that woman took a knife to that frozen cake and chiseled out a pile of frozen cake crumbs that would put any cake obsessed/chocoholic to shame.  BTW - I got 2 whole licks of the peanut butter frosting while she devoured that entire pile of cake crumbs.  Selfish?  You be the judge.  Gracie.

SHARKS AND TRUE LOVE

My new favorite TV Show:

Shark Tank, for those who are not familiar with the show, is reality TV - about inventors and entrepreneurs who come to the Sharks asking  for an investment in their company.

You tend to learn a lot on this show and then you end up trying a lot of the stuff.  

Like...  Ice cream...  

Ordered online and delivered to your door on dry ice.  

 This ice cream is Oh-so-Good...

And one of the most unusual and perfect 

Valentine's gifts I've ever received!

Don't try to calculate calories though...  

Apparently there are no calories.

I couldn't find anything on the box that said there were.

 So I first enjoyed the Tub o' Hugs 

which is Chocolate Chocolate Chunk.

100% Calorie free and H-e-a-v-e-n-l-y!

Gracie, who now has over 4,000 Facebook friends was invited to a Valentine's Day party this evening online... 

 This is what she commented to her friends earlier....

She is faithful and true to her boyfriend Samson!

To My Valentine

by: Gracie Icantbelieveyoudidthat Phillip

Samson, oh Samson,

You are the only one.

I think of you when the sun comes up,

Until the setting of the sun.

Samson, oh Samson, 

I love your fur of white.

You're big and strong and handsome,

In my world you are my light.

Samson, oh Samson,

I will always be so true.

Cause Samson I could love no other,

Because I so love you.

xoxoxoxo

Your Gracie

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!  

Wordless Wednesday

Book Signing and Forgiving

Some pictures from todays book signing event...

I hope everyone is safe and having a good weekend...   I need to now go and smooth things over with Gracie.  She's a little upset that she was not permitted to attend the book signing today...

"But the book was about me!  I will not forget this  and I will never forgive you for not taking me... unless...  maybe...  do you still have those Nilla Wafers in the kitchen cupboard?"

YAWN!

Wake me when spring has arrived....  or when you're ready to share your cookies.  Whichever comes first.  

Snowy Sunday

It seems like the weekend flies by so quickly..  and before you know it, it's Monday again.

Yesterday it snowed, so we didn't go to church.  Our church is in WV and it's about a 40 minute drive back a country road for us.   I've ventured out that way on plenty a snowy Sunday, but not no more...  I'm not nearly as adventurous!
And speaking of our church on that winding country road, one evening about 10 years ago Lindsey and I left an evening service, got in my red Saturn, and headed for home.  It had just turned dark.  Suddenly WHAM on the drivers side of the car.  I said "WOW!  What was THAT?"  Then I looked into the rear view mirror to see that a deer was pulling itself up off the road and then it ran into the woods.  The $1,000 damage to the side of my car (my door and mirror) was unsettling, but not nearly as unsettling as  *the scare and *knowing if the poor deer was okay.

I'm rambling, I know.

I really missed going to church yesterday.  But I hear tell Spring is next month...  so it's all good, right?

Pip and Puddles Come to Visit!

Mr. Pip and Ms. Puddles continued their world Bucket List tour today and arrived in style on the steam locomotive, Western Maryland's famous tourist attraction, as it chugged into town with the two celebrities onboard.  

Not since Jeopardy's host Alex Trebek visited a few years back has there been such a stir in the Western Maryland mountains.

After a celebrity greet and meet at the station, Puddles car was delivered to her there and before you could say 'It's Groundhog Day' Puddles and Pip were at our door!

I told Gracie, no partying at our house!  (I've heard stories).  So the group took the party to Rocky Gap State Park Resort several miles east of us, where they rented a cabin, a Cheeto bubble machine, and a keg of Bud Light.  Gracie invited some friends to meet the famous P & P.

Wanting to cram as much into the day as possible, the next stop was Deep Creek Lake where the two put on skis and joined others at the Wisp ski resort.  Within seconds, Pip lost one of his ski's and then decided he'd rather be eating cheeseburgers, so the pair of party-ers shot out to Gracie's place for some late day partying antics before the paw-rents got home.

Since there were no chandeliers to hang from, Puddles did some ear-aerobics while Pip watched for the po-po.

Being just a hop a skip and a jump away from WV seemed to bring out the redneck in the team as they partied hardy into the night...  Leaving just minutes before the humans returned home.

Dear Diary,

What a day!  I never knew what I'd been missing until Pip and Puddles came to visit! They taught me some pretty important stuff... like, according to Pip you can never eat too many cheeseburgers and Puddles showed me how to catch vermin. I have been coddled, protected and smothered all of my life.  And now...  I can only dream of someday when I can spend time once again with 2 of the funn-est, funniest, craziest friends I know.  I miss them already.  Gracie.