It's So Dark.

I'm not even waiting until the last hour to get today's post written.

It's literally 5:55 PM.

And it's practically pitch black outside.

I mean. I can't see anything.

And as much as I love the cooler weather?

I am not a fan of DST.

I mean - I know - who is, right?

But man.

It's so so dreary when it's dark early.

It gives me a bit of a headache, and I want to turn on all of the lights in my house.

Which I sometimes do.

Which probably isn't the best scenario - but hey - I do what I want.

Remember that cute cat mug flashing the middle finger at y'all I shared a while back?

I think I might need one like that for myself this fall/winter season. Looks like that exact one might have sold out, but, well, I kinda still want and need something like it. Though how do you explain to your 10-year-old that the cat on your mug is flashing an eff off but you don't really mean it?

(affiliate link below)

But look how cute it is ...

And I'm so in a happy cranky cat mode - because we've currently got a fourth addition to our feline brood. Meet our neighbor's cat, Brutus. He's living with us right now because - well - they've moved and we're not sure that anyone is coming back for him.

But he's so danged cute. Cuter than the mug, even. I mean, look. Poor sweet thing.

And there you have it. That's my weekend wrap-up for you.

I'm consistent, at least. I've been writing every day - even if today's just sort of a free write and I'll be damned - I'm not even going to create a title image for this post. Woo Hoo! Look at me go!

Are you participating in National Blog Posting Month and looking for a place to share your posts?

Come on over to my Write With Me group on Facebook and leave me a comment to let me know you requested to join. I'd love to see you there!

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I Woke Up Sad Today

I woke up sad today.

And it would be easy to say I didn't know why.

But I do.

I woke up sad because of many things.

I woke up sad because a short bit ago we had to say goodbye to our dog Dexter.

Our dog who we loved since he joined our family in 2003.

That's a really long time.

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Ten Things You Need to Know About Me.

My lovely friend Tia over at BecominNeurotic tagged me in a post on Friday with some questions. And because she is quite so lovely and a sweetheart and a half, I'm open to answering them.

Her friend asked her some questions, which she answered, and then she decided to ask me and some other fun peeps some questions, too.

It's old school blogging - and it's perfect - because I'm in need of a post prompt and this seems to be it!

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Five minutes in my brain.

It's 7:45am.

It's way too early for me to be up on a Sunday. 

The dogs did it. 

Well, one of them. 

Our older dog, who I love with my entire heart, wakes us up earlier on the regular and tends to cry like a baby when we leave him and his sister pup downstairs. 

So there's no (or minimal) going back to bed anymore. 

I slept in yesterday so today I came back down so my husband could get the extra rest. 

I know y'all are thinking, 7:45??? Goodness, woman, that's late!

Well - not in my house. We're lucky. Or not. We're lucky because our daughter sleeps in late. Later than late if we don't wake her sometimes. 

And we're not lucky because that means bedtime is late. 

Oy. 

Have you ever read my bedtime-related posts here? Let me tell you that there were many a nights I wanted to call Samuel L. Jackson and have him come read that Go the Eff to Sleep book. That might not be the exact name ... ehem. 

It's 7:48 now.

I type kind of quickly when I free write. 

Kind of just get all the words out there and breathe as I do it. Or hold my breath in until I "break" for a sec. 

The dogs are in right now. And old man pup is crying. It's this whining, wheezing, almost - kind of cry. And it makes me NUTS. 

And they're right behind me. I'm at my desk, on the laptop. They're RIGHT. THERE. RIGHT. THERE. And he whines. Poor guy. I know the day will come and he won't be here anymore and i'll bawl my eyes out like a baby and beyond. But for now I just wish the whining would be less frequent. Because I don't know what it's about when he's eaten and he's gone potty several times, and had water, and a cookie (biscuit). And what else? Oy. 

And I just remembered I've got an Oprah Chai in my fridge. 

Ahhhh. The stuff dreams are made of. 

7:50. 

Catch ya' later!!

Also - p.s. SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!!

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Rachel Ray Nutrish

This sponsored post is brought to you by Rachael Ray Nutrish as part of a Type-A Parent Community Sponsored Post campaign. All expressed opinions are completely my own. Image was taken by me at the event indicated in the post below. 

A few months ago I had the opportunity to meet with Rachael Ray Nutrish while at the Type-A Parent Conference in Atlanta. I was lucky enough to be invited to a private lunch where I ate well (I can't begin to describe that chocolate cake!), chatted with friends, met new people AND learned about Rachael Ray's Nutrish products.

We learned that Rachael's food for dogs is all-natural, contains no filler and nothing artificial. The food and treats are made up of natural ingredients you can feel great about feeding your dogs.

Nutrish even has a line of products that are grain-free. It's like gluten-free for dogs! I sound like I'm kidding, but I am totally serious. The Zero Grain line has several flavors that have no grains, glutens or fillers. Another line that is wheat-free is their Just 6 products. These are corn and soy free, as well.

I got a chance to look at the products up close while at the event. I also received a few samples to bring home to my pups. They devoured the dry samples, and loved the treats I brought home, too. Nutrish has a variety of treats that seem to work well with dogs of various breeds and sizes. My two large mutts enjoyed the large soup bone treats and pretty much gnawed through them as soon as I put them in their mouths! The real meat flavor had to be a hit because they were sniffing around for more once they were done.

If you know me, you know how important my pets are to me. And how much I love animals. What I love most about Nutrish is that a portion of the proceeds goes to Rachael's Rescue, which was founded to help support and spotlight many organizations that take care of animals in need.

I especially loved heading over to her site to find North Shore Animal League America represented as one of the organizations she supports. North Shore is extra special to me because that's where we found our dog Dexter and our cat Harley when we lived in New York. Supporting them (NSAL) has always been important to our family, and I love that Rachael supports them, too.

So, if you're looking for a healthy food for your dogs, one that is completely natural with ingredients you recognize when you're reading the label, I suggest that you check out Nutrish. Rachael is a celebrity who cares about animals. With a pup of her own she recognizes that they're more than just pets, they're part of the family. I can stand behind someone with that mindset and support their mission.

This post was sponsored by Rachael Ray Nutrish. Be sure to follow @nutrish on Twitter, like Nutrish on Facebook and follow Nutrish on Pinterest.

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In 400 words.

I'm forty. Forty years old. A mom. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Sister-in-law. Aunt. Cousin. Social worker. Writer. Dresser of a six-year-old. Launderer of clothes. Non-folder. Friend. Puppy and kitty momma. Animal lover. 

I’m an almond eater. Kale chips fan. Broccoli lover. Anything with melted cheese. Tomatoes with an ‘e’ and mozzarella make me happy. No balsamic required.

I’m an avid reader. I have 900 books on my to-read shelves. Or folders. I’m a recent Kindle user who loves paper in my hands. I have a pen and paper calendar and more journals and notebooks than you could count.

But I live by my laptop and phone. It’s that kind of world I live in these days.

I love to walk, I try to run, I love to dance. Zumba is fun but I don’t do it enough.

I’m recently on this I must go to all the concerts high and trying to do just that. Blake. Miranda. Adam. JT. All.

My allergies suck. I almost always cannot breathe and think that no matter what I try to do nothing will work as I will never get rid of the cats and dogs that are a part of our family. So there.

I’m a native NYer who lives in NC. I wear flip flops all the time. I try to ensure that my toes are always polished. I do them myself.

I’m addicted to reality television, but only when it includes singing, dancing or cooking. I won’t watch someone else eat bugs or worms, as I couldn’t imagine doing it.

I love riding in our boat and going super fast. Wind blowing through my hair, or my daughter’s. Moments of memories. I’ve come to love Go Karts even though I’m a non-driver.

Sparklers and fireworks make me smile. As do cotton candy and Italian ices. I miss NYC pizza so much I wish I could will it here. Not as much as I wish I could do the same with my family. Or my friends. And their families.

Some days I wish I could have everyone that means a lot to me living in one community. Or close enough that we could walk. And we’d have doors open and music playing and our kids would call each other’s mothers mom. Or mama. Momma. Mamacita. Kind of how we did growing up.

I want that, I miss it, I wish it.

Maybe someday.

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Bazinga!

The Big Bang Theory is on in the living room.

My husband and my daughter (yes, she's five) are watching. At the same time she's sorting her "day kit" - which would be more along the lines of what you'd call your first aid kit.

She's taken to Band Aids lately. I don't know if it started before my hand-bite incident, or after, but the Band Aids and their non-name-brand copies are all over her stuffed animals.

Perry (the platypus) had two on his eyes yesterday morning.

Pugsly (her beanie baby pug that used to be mine) had a tiny one on his head, as well.

Pounce (we have a thing for P-names, it seems, he's a beanie baby cat that was mine many moons ago, too) hasn't had any yet, but he's her favorite these days so it's important that he stay healthy.

As I sit here typing this she's telling my husband that he "needs a check-up!" ... come to think of it, it could be Doc McStuffins' influence. Have you watched that yet? It's really super cute. I think it's a nice change from the typical kids' shows out there, especially what's been out there for girls.

We're waiting to start grilling dinner (hamburgers and turkey burgers are sitting on the newly cleared island) - well, my husband is going to. I have never actually learned to use the grill. I mean, I know the concept, but it's not something I have ever tried.

Have I mentioned my daughter enjoys The Big Bang Theory? Lately she's taken to shouting:

"BAZINGA!"

When she teases us about something, or pretends to be.

If you're unfamiliar with the word or the concept, watch this.



The ballpit scenes? All one episode. Pee-worthy.

If we're not shouting that out we're singing the theme song. A little BNL that isn't exactly kid-specific, but she loves it anyway.

And my puppy - the one out of prison? Is sitting here licking the bottoms of my arms, whimpering like a looney toon because she wants to go back to her crate, I'm sure.

Le sigh. Just another Tuesday night at our house.

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Thankfuls

I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for my health and that of my family.

Yes, I have aches and pains. Complaints and 900 meds of late. But I'm healthy. I'm lucky to be so. And my kid, she's a beast when it comes to rock solid health, thank my lucky stars she has the husband's immune system.

I'm also thankful for the rest of my family. I don't mean the rest in the way that it sounds. I promise you that. But I suppose when one gets married it is quite weird to recognize that your spouse ... and any subsequent children, should you have any... become immediate, and anyone else can be looked at as "extended" ... it just sounds iffy to me. How could my parents and my brother become suddenly extended, right? They're my family. That's that. I'm thankful for them. My sister-in-law who is more like a sister (we even started a blog but barely write anything on it, it's called Sisters by Choice - yikes, we have not posted on it since April, that's bad!) and my beautiful niece who is six weeks older than my beautiful daughter.

I know I have more things to be thankful for. And I know that I am thankful for more things. But for right now, today, on this Saturday after Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the newest addition to my family.

I introduce to you ... Bella.

Bella is our new baby. We adopted her today at the local SPCA. We brought Dexter with us to meet her and they hit it off. Fairly well. Okay, as well as an almost 10 year old man dog and a not quite 3 year old little girl puppy can hit it off on their first meeting.

Right now she is passed out next to me on the couch. And Dex is asleep - somewhere - around the other side of us. She is slightly territorial of me already. A total mama's girl. He is protective of us to a small extreme, and aside from trying to take advantage of her head, he's been growling but not aggressive. She is submissive, which is good, so she is letting him see she knows he's Alpha dog. However, we also have one small other issue to consider. Or four small ones.

The feline friends.

Oh, did you not know we have four cats? We do. And Bella doesn't quite know what cats are - exactly. But she'll get there. She has to. Right? After all, we brought Dexter home into an apartment with two cats who were not happy to see him and here we are all these years later with many a cat through our lives and he's been great. Bella will be, too!

And on that note, I bid thee an early good night. As I think tomorrow might be as long a day as today was. Oh, I must add that we took the dogs for a 2 mile walk around the lake, and we, and the kiddo, and the pups, all enjoyed it. If anything I am also hopeful that this addition to the family will get us moving some more. She's a motivated little girl, she needs the exercise and so do WE!

p.s. Fill me in on what's new with you. Any deal catching this Black Friday? Or are you like me - waiting for Cyber Monday to begin? Happy Shopping!

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Capture the Everyday: Our Island

This is the perfect shot of part of our every day life, especially after my PYHO post from yesterday. [Here's that link, but wait til you finish reading this to go read, or read it and be sure to come back, OK? PYHO!] See how I mentioned that so much of my days of late is me trying to (or wishing I could) turn our house into a cleaner and less cluttered place?

This is our kitchen island. And oddly enough, the place I have started with is my kitchen. I am reading a book right now, or parts of it on and off, where they say that if you have anything in your kitchen that does not relate to eating, serving or cooking food get it OUT of there. And so I am trying. So this picture is a bit old, but the island is not yet clear. Interesting how I have half of it with bowls of cat food (never mind that this shot actually captured the cats, that's a whole other aspect of our every day life!) and the other half is clutter.

That's cause I'm trying to get that crap off my kitchen table. And counters. And somehow the island is still fair game. But I'll get through it. Somehow. Eventually. Soon. Or I'll die trying. Not really. But it sounds so serious, heavy and dramatic to say so, doesn't it?

Anyway, that's my shot. That's my every day. With a little picnicking to slap some creative drama into it. And my "watermark" or something. Aren't our sweeties beautiful though? The gray and white one is Angel. She's our only girl. And the other one is our fatty Clyde. He's a feral cat from the streets of Brooklyn. As in NYC. As in one of my peeps. We saved him and he doesn't even let us get close. Remind me to talk sometime about the scene we had in our house when we got all four cats to the vet a while back. Hilarious. Household comedy at its best.

But for now, well, there's my island. Half covered with arts & crafts paper, flashcards, newspaper, coupons and probably some artwork that didn't make it onto the fridge. You can see that in the background. And if you've gotten this far thanks for reading and not just stopping at the picture, Because it is pretty cute. Despite the mess!

I'm Capturing the Everyday today with my friend Melissa from Adventuroo, but for some reason I can't seem to copy over her button coding without ending up with a box around it so I'll skip that and just link back. If you want to join in and share your household piles feel free to do so by heading to her place to link up.

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To Your Dog's Health, Mark Poveromo ~ Book Review

To Your Dog's Health, by Mark Poveromo was a title that piqued my interest as, well, I have a dog!

When I got the book it seemed so short and sweet that I figured it would be an easy read, and I was right. It definitely was. I will confess that I skimmed some of the actual recipes that happened to be in there, but mainly because I'm just not quite that motivated at this point. And fortunately my dog is healthy, as are my cats, so I'm just not in the stage of mind where I'll be making their food from scratch. But these recipes look pretty easy. And somewhat cost-effective, too.

Unfortunately the brand of dog food we feed our dog was not among the brands that he recommended. Most of those were considered more natural and healthy. And pricey. Although he did say that some brands exist out there that are healthier and not as horribly priced. I suppose I could look into those. I guess I sound kind of negative here, but to be honest, I really did enjoy the book.

I could tell that Mark truly cares for animals, not just his dogs, but yours and mine, too! And his suggestions on how to feed dogs with health problems were really great and supportive. I kind of had a rough time reading those parts of the book, because I dread the day that I have to face anything like that with my own dog. I've had enough pain and loss with two of my cats, so when I read about various ailments, it just hurt my heart a little bit.

But either way, dog lovers among us, it's definitely a great resource, an easy read, and worth having on hand should you ever be truly motivated to make your puppy a meal of eggs, brown rice, green beans/yellow squash and unflavored TUMS. Yes, I did say TUMS. Interesting, isn't it?

Check out the book to find out more. And may your puppy (old or young, they're still all puppies, aren't they?) live a long and healthy and happy life with you and yours!


** I was not compensated in any way for this review. I was provided with a copy of this book to facilitate the review. There is an affiliate link in this post.  **

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My workout for the morning

Anyone want a dog? 'Cause I can't decide if I'm going to kill mine, or kiss him.

Our crazy mutt Dexter, who spent much of the winter with some difficulties jumping up on our bed or couch, to the point that hubby had to PICK HIM UP to get him into bed with us at night, yes, that same dog ... found a way this AM to jump up and squish that butt of his through a hole in our back fence.

I kid you not.

See, a while back (I tried to WW post about this, but that particular day blogger was unforgiving of images so it never happened) a tree from behind our yard blew up and over and INTO our yard. Well, not the whole thing, as it's like a zillion feet high. Really. I promise. Anyway, said tree found a way to take the momentum of the wind, and fall over. Onto and through our fence, landing partially on our tree, leaning through this tree and breaking into two once landing IN our yard.

I have the pictures to prove it right here: (And you know what, maybe it's not Blogger. I have a feeling these images are like GIGANTIC and therefore refuse to load when picked. BAH!)

And so, hubby boarded up the fence somewhat, said we should be good to go, and we were. For WEEKS. You know what, maybe even over a month. Until Dexter saw something through that fence. Down in the woods-y area that is partially our property but mostly woods between us and the kennel behind us. I mean completely wooded. Trees and trees and dead trees. Sigh.

So, here I am, calling him. SCREAMING his name. He wouldn't come in. He's still inside the fenced in yard at the time. No dice. I go get hubby's boots and start heading out to him, while seeing that he's decided to go THROUGH the hole in the fence! WHAT!?! Are you friggin kidding me, dog? Seriously? Ahhhhhh!

If the whole neighborhood did not hear me screaming DEXTER I don't know how that would have been possible. I could SEE him for a few minutes, but by the time I went to get a cookie to try to get his attention he was gone. Don't panic. Don't scream. He is chipped. He's not wearing his collar. (Why not, you ask? Because he was in our own friggin yard!!!! Why would he need a collar in our yard!?! I'm sorry, this isn't your fault. Forgive me. Emotions are still running high over here.)

Problem, me, home alone w. the child. Can't exactly take off into the woods w. her, can't exactly leave my 3-yo home alone, now, can I? Thank goodness a friend was home down the street. He took her in to play w. his lil one, they're BFF anyway, so that was easy enough.

I keep looking. Nobody hears me screaming? Really? Nobody? I come home to get the collar/leash and walk down the street. A woman HAS seen him. Down there. She points. I run. No Dexter. I start whistling. A neighbor asks me if I'm looking for my dog. YES! 'We gave him some water. He seemed really friendly. And really thirsty. I knew he was someone's as he was so friendly.' OMG! Where is he? He doesn't know but then, points, there he is!!

DEXTER!!! Come here, buddy! Come on! Come here!!! Get collar and leash on. Start crying. Thank neighbor SO SO MUCH. Neighbor admits to giving Dexter sausage. Of course. Mommy is losing her mind and doggie is living the high-life. Running free and eating sausage. D@mned dog. How much I love you is no reason for you to test me like this. If you'd only be calmer when we have you on a leash we'd walk you more. But that's no excuse. I promise more walks as a family now that it's nicer out. Daddy will come, too. And then you have to promise to never run away again. EVER.

Take that. Now get over here. Mommy needs some lovin'.

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Memory Lane Fridays

Today's topic over at Memory Lane Fridays (at Lisa's "house!") asks me to post about a family pet. I never had pets growing up, but I'll share an old shot of my old man cat Shakan, who passed away before the new year:


These shots are several years old (and I mean SEVERAL) and long before he had any health issues and became super skinny man.

And if you're a new friend and want to see more pics and read my post from when he left us, here's the link to Sad Day.

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You know it's hot ...

When my dog gets into our baby pool, on his own, several times throughout the morning:

And only leaves the water when my daughter climbs in!

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