YUCK!

As I was updating my blog... my lovely teen comes to tell me that she just picked the biggest booger ever! Said it was "nasty"!

Fun huh!

Teens... gotta love em!

Camping...

Just a quick note to say that camping with my dog was something. It was her first time camping, and my first time being by myself in the cabin with her on Friday night. Anyway... as soon as we left home, Brandy was so restless in the car. She could not stay still! It drove me nuts!!! And when we got to Luray for a "pit stop", I had to go get food and go to the bathroom... but Brandy would not go! She sniffed and sniffed and sniffffffed... nothing came out. Took a good 20 minutes then I gave up. Got back in the car and hit the road to Bentonsville.

We get there... I tie her up with a 20 foot long leash... she was not used to all the freedom a 20 inch leash would allow!! She ate EVERYTHING off the ground... bark, rock, ciggie butt, sticks, grass, leaves, rabbit poop, you name it... EAT EAT EAT! UGH. Normally when she does that at home, I try to stop her... cuz she threw up last time... but this time.. it was too much. I gave up. She finally trained me to just roll my eyes and do whatever I need to do when she is eating off the ground outside.

We go to bed... it was fine.. but she got up at 3 am pawing me and my face! So I get up drowsily and take her to pee. I look around... the campground was sooo quiet... not a soul was there that night. Then I wake up at 7 am... do the routine... 2 hours later I am too tired and I had just finished bawling my eyes out reading "Marley", so I take her back to bed. We slept till a dark figure comes in the cabin (my friend Christy).

Saturday she was sooo restless... so we threw a ball over and over (let her off the leash from time to time) so she could run free. By 10 pm she was pooped. Looked like she could barely walk! I felt sorry for her so I picked her up and cradled her... usually she would kick and squirm to get out of my arms. Not this time. She was tooo tired. Boy she was heavy! (she is 37 lbs now at 4 months old). Then finally we go to bed. Everything was peachy!

Sunday she was more tired than playful. She was so exhausted from morning to night. Poor dear, but looks like she had fun! :)

Poor Nikki

I thought it was about time to update you guys on my lil teen.

She is approaching 14 very quickly!!! Come November 16th, that will arrive! YIKES!! 14!!! The age that some of my freshmen students are at! It's official... 4 more years. Just 4 more years. Then I am going to hear all "I'm 18, you cannot do anything about it" a thousand times. I know because I did that too. I remember running out to the mall the weekend I got home (naturally that was the same time I just turned 18) and got my ears pierced for the 2nd time. Then when I got home, I told mom, look... see... can't do nothing! GOSH! The horror... I can see mom saying this now "payback!"...

Anyway, for the last 2 weeks or so, I have been snapping and nagging nonstop at Nikki. Poor girl. Keeps making small mistakes and me making a big deal out of it. Last night, it hit me. ENOUGH. Pick your battles... you do not want her to shut down. Snapping gets nothing done, helps nothing. So... I am going to try my "bestest" (grin) to reduce snapping! It is not a good feeling. Nope... no siree. After all, I only have 4 more years with her!

:(

My gift from Brandy

This morning was just like every day.

Normally, I get up, take the dog out to pee/poop, feed the dog, get dressed/ready, take her outside again for another round of pee/poop, and then finally putting her in the crate. This is my routine. Lucky me!

But... this morning something was off!

I get up, take the dog out to pee/poop, only she peed. That's it. OH NO! Schedule and routine thrown off!!! I take a breather, bring Brandy in and tell myself... hey don't worry, she will poop on the 2nd bathroom trip. Boy was I confident! So, I go get ready for work... as I brushed my teeth, I felt funny. Yeah, I always... I mean ALWAYS have this knack of knowing something is wrong. Kid, relationship, pet, whatever, I can tell something is off! Yeah, I was born with a 6th sense! :) Anyhoo, as I was saying, I felt funny. I began to panic... so I rushed to finish the teeth thingy, and the minute I walked out of the bathroom.... I caught a whiff of this familar stinky smell. OH NO, OH NO!!! So I run in the living room...

There it was!! A lovely brown pile of a small mountain! Fresh and hot! My gift from Brandy dear! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Lesson Learned. Poop must on first trip! Force if have to! :)

Nikki and Brandy

Okay... So, I got Brandy for Nikki, right? Ahh... I should have known that these words "Mommy, you promised to get me a dog as soon as we get a house of our own!!" really meant "Mommy, can we have a dog, so you can become stressed out while I sit on my computer chatting with my friends?". Yeah, the only time the girl walks the dog is when she gets home from school. I have to say I'm surprised she would clean up the kennel, but I want more out of this girl of mine! Here are a few things to show their relationship:

Brandy would nip Nikki’s pj pant which causes her to shriek and run away like a scared little chicken.
Nikki would sit in front of her computer while Brandy runs free around the house doing these things: pooping, peeing, chewing my good shoes, chasing the cats, digging blankets, and chewing the sofa/hamper/chair.
Nikki would sit on the sofa with the phone glued on her ear, allowing Brandy to nip her boots, and then she would lazily kick Brandy gently and laugh.
Nikki would yell “Mom, Brandy won’t listen to me! She’s stubborn” about 100 times a day. (Was the human supposed to tattle tale on the dog?)
If I have to clean up poop elsewhere with those mitt/bag thingies, Nikki would go “EEW MOM! You touched the bag!!” when I touch the outside of the bag to show her how that poop does not seep through or smell. And Brandy would sit there with her tongue hanging sideways.
Convo between them:
Nikki: No!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: No!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: NO! NO!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: Nooooooooo!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: MOM! SEE!!! She does not listen to me!!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Mom: Brandy NO! Sit!
Brandy: pant pant, SITS
Nikki: *rolls eyes*

Ain’t this beautiful?

Trip to DC

I'm thinking, my blog should be "Teens and Dogs, who needs them?". BOY!

Anyway, we went on a trip to Washington DC to go to Nikki's sister's one year old birthday party. We were supposed to leave at 7 am, but noooo... Nikki had to take her sweet time to put make up on and Brandy would not cooperate with me. We ended up leaving at 8:30 am. GRRR. And remember it was raining cats and dogs that day!!!

As soon as we got in the car, Brandy sat on the passenger side, owning the whole thing. Nikki gets in very angrily, staring at me with knives in her eyes going "how am I supposed to be comfortable?" LOL. I say, put her on the floor. Nikki tries, Brandy stiffly refuses to cooperate, so I pull over. I struggle to put Brandy on the floor and make it. Then Nikki slowly becomes happy.

On the way, things were fine... "stay" was said many times prior to Front Royal. We stopped there to take a bathroom break. Then when we got in the car, I was worried that Brandy would refuse again, but she sat there like a good dog :) until we got to DC.

The party was nice, and Brandy was adored by many people... she slept a couple of times... but she was worn out! We even met Robert Strickler! :) On the way back she slept, so did Nikki! We stopped in Front Royal again for a really late dinner. I kept falling asleep on the way due to rain pouring hard at night. Whew... again a potty break and order dinner. While I was waiting for Nikki to go to the bathroom, Brandy threw up. I did not know that because it was so dark, and I put my hand on the chair, and screamed EEEWWWWWW. Poor Brandy was so upset and tried to escape but she just put her head on the back of the chair not facing the vomit. I cleaned up... and finished by the time Nikki got back. Wow took her time! Then we parked at Target to eat, pathetic huh. Then hit the road again. Got home around 11 pm. I was bushed, so was Brandy and Nikki!

What a trip!

New addition to the family!

We have a new addition to the family!!! A 2 month old German Shepherd/Black Lab mix puppy named Brandy! Her birthday is on July 3rd! Ahhhh too many things happened on that day for sure! She is absolutely adorable! Quite smart for a little baby. As you know, potty training is the hardest thing to do, and she is getting the hang of it... outside = potty. Slowly but surely! Anyway, the story? Well... Nikki has been begging and begging for a dog ever since our dog Lucky the large chihuahua died. But... as soon as we moved to VA, the begging became worse! At first, my excuse was that we rented a house and the landlord did not allow pets, so she backed off.... until.... we bought a house. She says things like "you promised, mom! when? oh please please please! I'll be responsible! mom!!!! oh hey I saw a cute dog at the pet store, can we can we??" etc etc... I hear that over and over... I was planning to get one last spring during spring break, but my tax money fell apart so we did not. She was so upset. Then one day, Tuesday Sepetember 3rd, I go to lunch and decided to walk in the pet store. This puppy won my heart, so I asked questions, and then went back to work... pondered... should I? Can I? Then I thought, I know I can... having someone to love and love you back is a worthy investment. My daughter has only 4 more years with me, and I have always wanted her to have a childhood dog. I did, so I want her to have that too. It is a really wonderful thing for a teen, having someone to take care of! So... time is ticking and here Brandy is! (about the name... well.... we argued about the name all night that night... finally I accepted the name and decided her sign-name is ALCOHOL. See that sign in the pictures? THAT!)


Anyway, the day I got her, she was exactly 2 months old! Right now she is in her crate sleeping away. Boy at night she cries so much. I am hoping the Kong toy with peanut butter will help her start to like her crate! Poor Nikki listening to her bark and whine at night, and I have no clue what she is doing down there! Yesterday I had a scare... I came home for lunch and found her crate in a holy mess, so I cleaned it up and ended up without lunch (I was still on the clock!). Then when I looked outside to make sure she was still hooked on the leash... I got scared because her harness was empty! She got herself loose and was nowhere to be found! Then I started calling her name... nothing. Again... nothing... and then suddenly that little black floppy eared thing starts running to me. She did not escape! WHEW!!!! I so do not need that emotion!

Anyway, then I took her to the vet for her free visit. The vet was very helpful, patiently answering all of my questions about sleeping, feeding, potty training, tidbits on helping her accept separation (yeah, right now she is like a lil baby who does not want to be away from her mommy!!) Now I feel better... I'm gonna do what I can to tackle that potty training! Then I am going to attempt to teach her to be a "hearing dog" to me and teach her signs. I cannot promise that I can teach her tricks but I will try. The only training experience I have had was teaching a dog signs and potty training. This will be a challenge, but my daughter will have to help! Anyway, I am now going to attempt to bring Brandy outside in the lovely rain from Hanna and hope she does not fear rain! Toodles!

FIRST BATH!!! :)

She might end up looking like a German Shepherd... see that face?

Ahh Brandy!

School

I'm happy my child started school again... this gives her something to do and go to bed on time!!! I got tired of that teen clock, going to bed at 4 am and getting up at 1 to 2 pm. YEEEUCK! I met her teachers and so far I am okay with them... I like Mrs. Alexander, her science teacher. She's funny! None of her friends are in her class and she is upset. I am not sure I am... this may be the year she finally pays attention? Hope so!!!

While I'm happy that Nikki is back at school, I am not happy I am! grrr... what a mess this year! I'll not go into details, but wow... who knew things could get really bad? I sure didn't! I love Karen's blog, I can relate to how she feels!!! UGH. This is going to be a long year!

Funny story

As I mentioned recently, Nikki went to the Bronx Zoo with her dad and family... I had to show this picture! People are to take pictures with these huge ears... well, when Nikki walked behind her dad, snickering at him... little did she know that this picture would turn out like her father said: "why are you looking at my butt?!"

LOL!! It does look like she is looking lower than his head, but she wasn't! :)

Boys!!!

Ahhhh.... I am so not ready!!! For what you ask... having boys in my house with my precious little girl!

Yesterday Nikki tells me her three friends who happen to be boys would like to stop by since one of them moved near our house... I was like what... you want them to come here, in your house, in your room... just the three boys and you? Gosh! Seeing how other girls already let them come over, I felt I had no choice but to open the door a little bit. First we went shopping after Nikki got back from Richmond, and then came home to see these not so little boys. I did not want to handle this alone, so Robert came over to lend a hand :) It was not too bad, but 2 hours became 4 hours... ugh. They seemed to behave... well considering how I cannot hear and I did not sit in her room to watch.

Today they came back! This time there were 4 boys! Oh my gosh! They all are her good friends, but still! I survived today! At one point I saw two boys sit next to Nikki on her twin bed, so close... she was in the middle. GOSH! That is it... this is just the beginning!

See these pictures? That!

Two nights in college

Sunday night, July 13 I brought Nikki with me to McDaniel College to spend the night. The whole purpose was to help me unload my car and set up my room in the house at McDaniel where I am staying for 3 weeks. She was a good girl! She helped me bring stuff in; however, she did not help me set up my room, instead she decided to set up the lounge area! LOL!

While she was here, she was on my laptop for many hours as she has been computer deprived! Monday came, it was time to go... we watched a movie, then I drove down route 97, not feeling good... Troy told me I could wait till the next day to bring Nikki back. I was relieved because my migraine was painful! I also got to spend time with my baby! Her excitement? The darn laptop!!!

While we were here, she did not pack pajamas! She only had one set of clothes for the next day. My room is freezing, seeing how it is small and the AC is just right there! She had shorts and nothing else!!! So... I told her to put on my big sweatshirt, and she did. When she complained her legs were cold, I suggested one of my sweatpants that are light and thin in material... she gave me a face! I know it is big, dearie, but... do you want to be warm or not??!?!?! LOL. She refused to take them, so when I went to bed, little did I know that during the night she put them on! HAHA she froze. Her bed is right NEXT to the AC!!! I have three pictures below... you cannot see the AC.

Anyway, I enjoyed having her here with me for two nights. We watched movies, ate, chatted just a little, and mostly she was on the laptop.

This is Nikki's bed... I did not bring extra sheets and blankets, so I used my sleeping bag. Lucky her, I had three pillows! :)

This is my bed, with sheets and blankets! You can see two pillows and an arm rest stuffed thingy.


This is my favorite... you can see Nikki is making a face! She is wearing those sweatpants that I spoke of. All the way up to her chest! LOL Steve Urkel, anyone?

And.... 3 more days then I will be home!!! YAYAYAYA

Robert and time

Ahh Nikki was still in New York when this picture was taken. She says she went to the Bronx Zoo, Times Square at night, Jones Beach, Rye Playland, and visited family and friends. Now she is back in DC with her father. I miss this kid so much! In that picture you can see her sister Brianna laying down :)



Now while I was missing Nikki, I played hostess to Robert. He has been at my house from Wednesday till now (Sunday). WOW... the original plan was for him to stay one night, then it turned out into three nights, and finally one more! So he has been here stuck with me and all we do is go to Wal Mart and sit on this couch! We watch movies, and get on our laptops.





The main reason for him staying is because we had a Harry Potter movie marathon! He had never seen the 5th movie and I wanted to see his face when he saw the movie. So we have finished it all on Friday. We also watched Weekend at Bernies I and II. I'm just glad Robert can stand sitting, chatting, eating cardboard pizza over and over, watching movies, and going to Wal Mart and it is not exciting! LOL. I hope he had some fun. He cooked a breakfast casserole for me today! Nice guy :) It helped kill some time that I had!






Now there is only 6 more nights then it is off to Maryland I go. I so want those 3 weeks to speed by so I can return home with my little baby! :)

Oh Delilah!

Umm... since Nikki is not here, I have my cats to keep me busy. Sure yeah, like cats are the most exciting creatures of the world! *groans* (you can see that black cat napping away, that's Grimalkin aka Grimmy) The first three pictures are my favorite of Delilah!


Anyway, these pictures tell you a story... Delilah the cat who follows me!


It starts out in the office where I am making a blog :) she lays on the futon that Harry helped me fix up (and on my VSDB throw)... she was napping while I was on the computer, and then woke up because I was about to move!

So she walks to me (my leg, actually... the blue: my shorts) and acts like she wants me to pet her... or tries to trip me!


So, I leave to go to the kitchen to get a drink... she comes running in the hallway to catch up with me. (you can see her paws and if you click on this picture, you will see her meowing! As if she was trying to tell me stopppp come backkkk!)

As I am in the kitchen, she lays on the floor lazily while I get me a drink....

Then I return to the office, so does she! (this is the doorway to the office and she runs fast, so I miss her head often!)

Then I needed to go to the bathroom, she comes running as well. Decides to lay on the mat while I am doing my business!!

I got tired of the computer and decided to come in the living room to watch some TV, and guess who comes running to me? Yeah, Delilah!!! She sits on my lap and tries to bury her face in front of my face! I could not see the TV!

I try to get her to sit down and stay away from my face as I am trying to watch TV... so she tries, BUT....

Sitting there she decides to start kneading my leg, to the point where it starts to hurt!! I know she does this when she's happy, but hey... she even does it when I am sleeping! Sits in front of my face and kneads my arm with her sharp claws! So, I push her off and shoo her.


She finally gave up and went back to her favorite napping place, above my TiVo! Whew!

Where's Grimmy in all of this?!?!

(psst... this whole thing was taken today, but my camera's date and time is messed up! And yeah, all I had to do was carry the camera with me and she did all this!)

Funny incident

Why do I have a picture of a rat, you ask... well... while we were at Toms Brooks, VA waiting for Troy to arrive and pick Nikki up... we were playing a game of Go Fish, and then Nikki decided to hop on the huge rocks that are by the fence. And notified me that she saw a hole in the ground, perhaps belongs to a snake? She started to dance too, so I ask... do you need to go to the bathroom? (she is famous for her bathroom dances! I can always tell!) She tells me no... then a few minutes later, she said "gotta go" and ran to the bathroom. Boy, do I love being right! hehe :-D

Anyway, while I was waiting for her to come back, I was talking to Lauren on my blackberry... I saw a rat run from the rock where Nikki was sitting and moved to another rock. OMG! I laughed, and no I did not jump off the rock where I was sitting, thank you! When Nikki came back, and I told her what I saw... she screamed, hopped back, and threw one flip flop at the rocks. LOL! Silly girl. I'm thinking oh gosh, she is such a city girl! She even freaks out when she sees bugs! Can you guess what happens next? She refrained from the rocks and stayed at the parking. :)

I just had to share this story!

WAAAHHHH!! part 3

I'm happy to see that Karen has joined us in bloggerland! :) Speaking of how young your child was when you got divorced... yeah, it happened to me too. Nikki was 2 and half when her father left me. When I lived in Maryland, she saw her father every two weeks, regularly. It was difficult at first, but once I understood it meant freedom for me to do things I never had the chance to while married, I liked it. But since I moved to VA, things changed. It meant no regular two week visits, and Nikki began to change. Hmmm... I'm no psychologist, but I think her craving for a father started while we lived in VA. She has started to tell me that she felt so and so is like a father to her... and ended up with like 10 fathers! This, of course, scares me into worrying that she will marry an older man, perhaps 40 years her senior! I don't blame her, she needs her father. So, ever since we moved, she stayed with him during the summers between 3 to 8 weeks, depending on the summer. Sometimes during the year she gets to stay on weekends or for a week, but that is rare. Anyhoo, back to how this relates to Karen's experience... Nikki would feel like she needed to pay attention to her father only while she is with him and not talk to me. Jeez! But I manage to get her to say a word or two from time to time! Her father tries so hard to establish a relationship with her, and it is not easy. She sees him less and less and becomes a semi-stranger to him. This is unfortunate. If we still had those regular bi-weekly visits, things may be different. Who knows.

He has a family now, two other daughters. Nikki ADORES her sisters, and so do I! I have a good relationship with her father simply because he was my friend first, and we grew up together. I've known him since we were 6 years old. So, naturally I am able to visit them, have fun, and even spend the night at his house. Nikki's future step-mom is a Bronx native and is cool! She's funny and very friendly. I like her a lot. So, my point in mentioning this is that I am happy Nikki has a chance to live in a family where there is a mommy, daddy, and siblings. The great American dream (minus the white picket fence, of course) She does not get it here. Hence the name of my blog... family of two. She often says that you cannot be a family when there are just two people. She is so wrong, but hey, she's only 13! On the left is that family. Minus Baylee at the time of the photo.

Like Karen, I am going to simply GO NUTS when Nikki leaves home for good... I so do not look forward to that day!

WAAAHHHHH! part 2

I am home after a long day out of town! Nikki and I went to Harrisonburg mall. She shopped, I tagged along like a puppy, and then we ate at Ruby Tuesday's. After dinner, we went to Target where I decided to buy a cheap game because we would arrive at Toms Brooks early than 9 pm and I wanted to do something to spend time with Nikki. Well... as soon as I was in line to buy the game, Nikki tells me no she does not want to play. That did it, my wall that I built up to hold back my emotions for missing the kid came crumbling down! I cried. Yeah, in line. Nikki was really shocked and tried to tell me to calm down and that she will play with me. That was not the point. I just had a long day, and my emotions ran high. I made it, by the time I got to the cashier, my eyes were dry. However, as soon as we got in the car, I bawled out loud like a baby. Nikki tried to act silly to make me laugh, and naturally soon afterward, I was crying and laughing. They do not mix, I tell ya! I'm such a weenie. I did not want to do this! Poor Nikki lol. She told her dad, and he thought it was so funny. Of course it is! As for the picture on the left, this is Nikki in Target bathroom prior to the bawling :) New and weird sunglasses! Anyway, I'm gonna miss this kid. 5 weeks better hurry by! :)

WAAAHHHHH!

Here it is... the day... I have to let my child go home with her father (pictured on the left). Don't get me wrong, I am always happy when she can spend time with her father and his family, but I miss that kid something awful when she stays away from me for a long time. I get homesick. Usually I give her to her father while I work at McDaniel and become very homesick. Not this time, I am giving her to him BEFORE I even go to work at McDaniel! I am already feeling homesick, and I AM HOME! Weird. That feeling never goes away. I can remember the first day I had to take her to daycare as if it were yesterday. OH BOY! I wept inside silently all day long as I taught kids. It was tough. That day was the worst! Since then time heals you enough that I can stand her going to school now haha. The only thing makes that feeling to come back is when she is away from me for more than 3 days. She's staying with her dad until August 1. Heaven knows she welcomes a break from her nagging mommy because everyday she tells me "go away", "get out of my room", "mommmmmm", etc. Never fear, she will soon start missing her mommy in a few days :)

So, today I am taking her to the mall to shop at all these ridiculous stores... Hollister, American Eagle, Aeropostale, and whatever $40 dollar a sock store she can think of! Then we are going to Toms Brooks to meet Troy (her dad) at 9 pm. Yes, 9 pm. I am going to hang on to every minute until tonight :)

Look alikes

I know many people say that Nikki looks like me, so here are two pictures that make it so.

Silly Nikki

This way? Where? Over my head? How am I supposed to look that way?!?!

What?! Moi? Aw no, I didn't touch the cookie jar!

Oh yeah, it's gonna rain! It's no cookie, but I can taste it!

I'm glamourous, ain't I? Oh shush mommy, don't be such an English teacher! I'll say "ain't" all I want! Ya Hear?!

Mr. Bates is at it again! Run!!!

Loooooookkkk outtttttt!!!! My eye and I are coming to get ya!

I cannot make up my mind... be the pig? Be the wolf? Be the pig? Ahh I will be the wolf!

If you do not let me in, I'll huff and puff and blow your house down! So there! Psst, am I any good, Mr. Wolf?

How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

Oh allright, one...

Two...

Three... Mommy, does this make up for saying "ain't"? Look at me, I'm a poet!

Oops I did it again! Move over, Britney! And, no it was

not the cookie jar!

I know I'm upside down, so what! I'm a bat! See my teeth?

Hope ya'll enjoyed this. Nikki supplied the pictures, I posted them without her okay, and made these comments.