Creature of Habit

Topaz's back. For good.

A little girl (okay, she's not "little" anymore-Angel always corrects me...) was very happy to have her puppy back.

Yep, he’s done with “training camp,” where his hunting skills were honed by a trainer. German Shorthairs are pointers and he showed potential of being a good hunting dog by the way he sat and put one bent paw up and perked his ears while sniffing a scent. Hubby still needs some "training" to give out orders and see if there's any correcting needed on Topaz's hunting skills.

When we got him, he was only home for about two or three weeks and then wham, off to camp he went.

Once he was brought back home, he acclimated easily. He was still housebroken and did his business outside. He kept himself busy, doing the “petting rounds” (going to anyone who’d give him attention) and playing with Onyx. He and Onyx will always compete for attention.

The first day, they played so much, they tuckered themselves out.

Alas, like kids, when a pet is quiet, does that mean they are doing something that he isn't supposed to be doing??

Looks like he was a little too busy....

Take a closer look at the lamp stand.

Bad dog!!

Yep, he was gnawing on it. I did not expect that at all. I guess I assumed (and we all know what they say about “assume”) that he was completely housebroken. He’s still a growing puppy, after all. He’s a hair taller than Onyx, too. I didn’t even hear him gnawing away at that end table.

That tells me I am due for a map. I can tell things are sounding softer. I’m not hearing things as sharply as before. I don’t hear (or maybe I’m too distracted to notice?) someone walking across the floor.) For those of you who don’t know what a map is, it’s an adjustment (or a tweak) to the cochlear implant (CI). I do have a 6-month map coming up next week, though. So hopefully I'll be back to form.

When it comes right down to it, we are creatures of habit. I could make a pot of chili and eat the leftovers for the next few days (however, Hubby and the girls would not). We all have a routine. We can be prone to addictions. While I don’t smoke or drink, I do have an addiction. Never mind caffeine. I won’t go there.

I am addicted to Facebook. If I wasn’t a computeraholic before (with all the emails, mailing lists, and blogging), I am definitely one now.

Facebook is not just a way to keep in touch with family and friends, but there are applications within Facebook where people send you “requests” for various things. It’s fun to have a virtual pillow fight or snowball fight with someone. There are applications that help the environment or the hungry. I have a virtual farm, too. And there are games to play. I am hooked on a game called Word Scramble that is much like Word Twist. I love that game.

So, I am using more computer time on Facebook and less on blogging. Which is worse, I don’t know.

So, I guess I need to work on time-management.

As other people and bloggers before me stepped up on the podium to officially declare their addictions, I, too, will come out and say.....

Hi, my name is Shari and I am a Facebookaholic.

Roses, Puppies, and Food...oh, my!!!

Hubby peeked through his eyes at me as I popped into our room to do something (obviously not quietly enough, LOL) and then he pointed at the dresser saying, “Didn’t you see that yet?” I follow the direction of his finger and look at the dresser. On top of it was a card and a small package of M&Ms.

Oh, it was Sweetest’s Day. (I forgot. He’d have gotten away with it…LOL)

After reading the card, he says, pointing at the dresser again, “Didn’t you see it?”

I frown at him. What? I look at the dresser again. A good foot from the spot where the card and M&Ms were, off to a back corner against the wall, were a dozen long stemmed roses in a vase. Of course, I didn’t see it. All I saw was the card and candy. The vase was a good foot away, in a dark corner. My mouth opened in shock. I hadn’t gotten roses in a long time. It was always a bouquet of irises or something. Of course, Hubby recently acquired a large vase on one of his successful Household Sales shopping finds. We have a thin vase and that cannot hold a bunch of roses.

I took them downstairs and set them on the counter. (A few days later, Angel informed me that there were 18 roses, not 12.) I just assumed that there were a dozen. I didn’t think about counting them.

(Everybody now….AWWWW). Thanks, Hubs.

Hubby went pheasant hunting early that afternoon with a friend and came home empty-handed. He said that his friend heard about a German shorthair that needed a new home.

Five months old.

Housebroken.

Good hunting potential.

The people who own the dog needed to give him up because the house they were living in changed ownership and the new landlord says: No dogs allowed or they’d have to move.

So Hubby went to check out the German shorthair. And brought him home. The moment I looked into his topaz (a warm golden tan color) eyes, I just melted. He’s so cute. He has a roan coat with white “freckles” all across his body, like a fawn, only that the white "freckles" are just littered all over his body. He has a short, stubby tail that when he wags it; it just makes his whole backside wiggle. Onyx and “Topaz” seem to get along well. They wrestle and play together. Even Onyx, who’s very laid-back and content to just lie around, got more active and somewhat competitive. Can you see the resemblence in this photo? Heads tilted, ears perked...

(Everybody now...AWWWWW.)

Things are livelier around here, that’s for sure.:)

Hubby got more dog food and started mixing two different dog foods. Onyx always seemed “messy” (bits of dog food would be all over her food dish); though I suspect she was just being picky and eating her favorite flavors. Topaz is our “sidecleaner” and cleans up the mess Onyx leaves behind. Saves me the work of cleaning up her mess. LOL. Good boy.

And we were very low on essential foods in the house. Bread. Milk.

Hubby went to a local bread shop and got discounted bread. And then he took us all to the store to get more food to stock up the refrigerator and pantry. Only thing was, it just doesn’t seem like I got a lot. Isn’t that awful? You can get so many bags of food and there’s more money spent than there are food. Arrgh.

I’m going to have to try out a new grocery store and see how that works out. Would I get more for my money? We shall see. For me, I just hate having to familiarize myself with new stores. (Of course, some of the stores I frequent like to move things around every so often and I'd have to re-familiarize myself with where certain items are.)

So, it’s been a pretty big week here.

I don’t have new news to report about any CI (cochlear implant) moments. One blogger mentioned using the phone with her CI and hearing almost everything the speaker said. So I told Hubby to use his cell and call me. LOL. He used random words with one to three syllables so it was harder for me to determine what he was saying. He would say things like “watermelon” and I guessed “walking?” Next time I’ll have to have him say sentences. They’re easier. You get to fill in the blanks if you can’t get everything.

I know, I know. I’ve said it before. I’m becoming a weekly blogger. Sorry.

Dogs...

Kids....

What can I say?

My oldest daughter uses the computer more now to do homework and download songs on her iPod via iTunes. We have a slow dial-up connection, so it's a looonnnggg process.

So I don’t have as much computer time as I used to, either. (With me being done with school, thus no homework to do on the computer, really cuts down on my own computer use, too.) Obviously, there is LIFE out there...

I am still here. I’ll try to stop by and visit your blogs when I can.

HUGS