Laurie, Fudge, and Vern's Blog (342)

I hate fireworks. I am not going to beat around the bush and start by saying I only hate some fireworks, maybe just the loud boom ones. No, I hate them all. As a kid I used to watch them and later when I had kids, we would drive somewhere in horrible traffic so we could watch an hour’s worth of flashes only to have to try and get back home before dawn in the bumper to bumper traffic. It was never my favorite experience and knowing me, I probably offered bribes to my children to make it more…

Yesterday, I was talking to my sister on the phone while I was walking my dogs. In my case, there should be a law No talking, while walking because my dogs are able to sense that my attention is elsewhere and usually act out. Vern takes every opportunity to go right, when I go left and Fudge ups her hunting skills to expert level. At some point in our conversation, I told my sister I had to go because I needed both hands free and I told her to remind me that I was…

There was a time I blogged a lot on Doodle Kisses. It seemed my dogs were always up to something and gave me lots of material. As they have gotten older, mostly I am still dealing with the same stuff I have blogged about for years, so I guess I have less and less to say. I mean, how many times can I blog that my dogs are terrible on leashes, think recall means I just keep re-calling them, and are sometimes on Santa’s naughty list? Well, at the ages of almost eight and nine respectively, Vern…

Yesterday, I mowed the yard and must have picked up some kind of prickers from a bush along the way.  I am not exactly sure what to call these dreaded little things that hurt to touch and stick to clothing, but I do know now that entering “prickers” on Google brings up all kinds of unrelated pictures. 

One of the few times my dogs opt to stay in the house when I am outside is when I mow the yard. Most things that I do I have two nosy dogs following right behind me to see what…

Our daughter recently bought us a sign that said, “Grandparents, so easy to operate, even a child can do it.”  She is right.  Our grandson has up wrapped around his little fingers and can do no wrong in our book.  Unfortunately, we also need a sign that reads, “The people in this house are so easy to operate, even two dogs can do it.” 

We are having a couple of bathrooms renovated and having contractors in our house since the beginning of May has altered the way the dogs…

I love the show House Hunters on HGTV. It always amazes me when a young couple has a million dollar budget and million dollar demands. When we bought our first house, we walked in, took one look, and wrote a contract that day. I wasn’t worried about popcorn ceilings, en suites, or the color of the walls. Up until that point, we lived in a third floor apartment and I was tired of lugging two kids and laundry down to the basement to do a load of laundry in the…

My two-year-old grandson has just decided that he doesn’t want to go to bed.  I have watched him on and off since birth and the fact that he took a beautiful nap and went to bed without fussing always sealed the deal for me when they asked me to watch him.  It meant Grandma could get a break in the afternoon and watch some television at night.  Well, one week before I was to show up to watch him again, they informed me that he doesn’t want to take a nap and has been climbing out of his crib…

I haven’t had very many superwoman moments in my life.  I haven’t rescued anyone from a burning building, saved kittens up a tree, pushed anyone out of the path of a moving vehicle, but I did just travel over 700 miles with two dogs and a toddler.  And I did it all alone. I think that qualifies me for some title, although it may just be Stupid Woman. 

I was more than a little perturbed at my husband that I had to go it alone.  He had work obligations, he said.  How…

I have probably written hundreds of blogs for DK and several of them have been about my mom.  Some of you have followed my mom on her journey to get to a Neil Diamond concert, her stealing a chair right out from under Vern, her reading of romance novels, the day she had to go on Viagra for her heart, her obsession with drinking coffee, and one or two hospital stays.  I know my mom has nothing to do with Doodles, but she always provided me with excellent material and it was fun to share it…

The other day I took the dogs to the park and when I got out of the car, I spotted a penny on the ground, heads up.  Reciting the line, “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you’ll have good luck,” I bent over and retrieved the penny.  I can now say, speaking from experience, that a lucky penny does not really hold all that much luck and any luck it gives you must run out pretty quickly.

I have been playing musical beds in my house…

It happened again yesterday.  I forgot something.  The older I get the less I seem to remember.  I spend hours each week searching for my car keys, my phone, my purse, and my glasses.  And if I am truthful, I have even forgotten where I parked my car in a parking lot.  Sometimes, I wonder how I got anything done when I worked, but maybe it is because I now lose so much time just trying to find something.  It usually starts with my car keys.  I go to take the dogs for their walk and can’t…

Yesterday was a rainy day.  I love rainy days except for the fact that Vern still thinks we need to keep to his schedule and walk him twice a day.  Fudge is happy to sleep the day away, but not Vern.  So, last night the weather seemed to clear a bit and I suggested a walk at a county park a car ride away and off we went.  The closer we drove to our destination the darker the skies were getting, but I was determined to give Vern that walk.  I learned long ago if Vern doesn’t get his nightly…

We recently had quite the discussion on DoodleKisses and I would like to share some of my thoughts on the situation.  It all started when Ricki (and Tara) posted that she received some buggy bully sticks.  We have had many discussions about bully sticks but I believe this is the first time someone talked about their order coming with bugs in the bag.  As I write, I am starting to feel like saying, “Peter Piper picked a pack of pretty purple peppers,” only changing it up to say, “Beware of…

I used to think parenting got easier as you got older and your kids matured, but I now think parenting gets harder.  Harder because they don’t have to listen to you anymore and my advice, which I always believe is stellar, is not always met with the appreciation and gratitude I think it deserves.  Hayley prefers to call John because she finds him less reactive and better at listening without commenting, all because, once or twice, I yelled out something like “NOT AGAIN!” when she said she…

Lately I have been starring in my own version of the movie, Groundhog Day. If you haven’t seen the movie I can sum it up for you very quickly. It was about a weatherman sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and somehow ends up in a time warp and keeps repeating the same day over and over again.  I really never understood why anyone would leave it up to a rodent to predict the weather, but I do know that once my sister attended a Groundhog Day…

This morning I got up earlier than everyone else and turned on the TV.  There happened to be a show on with a couple of women trying to sell embroidery machines.  I have no interest in sewing, knitting, or needlework of any kind, but I found myself mesmerized by what they were doing and thinking that maybe I needed an embroidery machine.  Keep in mind the last sewing project I did was probably in my high school Home Ec Class where I tried to make a one piece jumpsuit and ended up cutting the…

We have a snake on our property.  The first time we saw it I didn’t actually see it, but John asked me if I noticed it by the gate when I got home.  I had arrived home moments before he did and must have stepped right over it.  Usually, I am on high alert on hikes for snakes, but I didn’t think one would have the audacity to show up at our house.  My neighbor in Pennsylvania always told me that I didn’t have to worry about snakes because they shy away from yards with dogs.  My neighbor was…

I recently reunited with a “step” niece after twenty-six years apart.  The separation was through no fault of our own and we were only able to find each other after she finally joined Facebook, for which I will be forever thankful.  The fact that fate moved us within a couple of hours of each other just sealed the deal.  In preparation for her trip to our house, I wrote her and asked what kinds of things she liked to eat.  I burst out laughing when she wrote back that she loved breakfast…

I think the Lord is trying to kill me.  I know I sound just like my mom when I say that, but hear me out.  My mom has the innate ability to make almost any situation about her.  We could have a nuclear disaster and all she would say is, “why does stuff like this always happen on my hair day?” You could tell her you fell and broke every bone in your body and she would counter with, “How do you think I feel? I’m ninety and I can’t get my Netflix to work.” …

Weird things have been happening around here and it all started when I dropped my phone.  About a month ago I was at my mom’s and for some stupid reason I threw my phone from the chair I was sitting on to her bed.  I forget my phone a lot, so I was trying to make sure I put it next to my purse and apparently, I was too lazy to walk the 5 feet to make that happen.  My mom and I both watched as my throw fell short and my phone slid off her bed and onto the floor.  That throw cost me $230 for a…