Take One Fudge and Call Me in the Morning!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I have never had a problem sleeping.  My oldest sister reads a book while she walks, can’t sit still for a minute and thinks naps are a waste of time.  We once went on a ski trip with her and her family and I felt like I was at boot camp with Jillian Michaels or the Energizer Bunny.  We would finish one activity and she would immediately want to know what we were doing next.  If I said we were going to our room to relax, she wanted to know for how long and if I gave her any kind of a timeline, she would be at our door the minute our time was up.  I kept asking her husband why he couldn’t find an activity for them to do together, but he seemed relieved that she was otherwise engaged.  She is going to retire soon and I expect my retired brother-in-law will soon be looking for a job just so he can get a 15-minute break here and there and a lunch hour.  Whatever gene she got that causes this behavior clearly bypassed me, because I think naps are wonderful and siestas should be mandated in all states.

 

Sometimes, I think another great idea besides naps would be separate bedrooms. It’s not that I don’t like sleeping with my husband, but I don’t like coming to bed in complete darkness.  I don’t seem to have great night vision in our dark bedroom and I hate having to feel my way as I try to get to my side of the bed.   First of all, I never know where a dog leg or tail is going to be as I walk around to my side of the bed and more than once I have tripped over one of them and alerted John to my presence with my loud apologies to Fudge or Vern.  Secondly, John’s method of getting into bed at night is to just scoot anything on the bed over to my side.  I once came to bed to find the laundry basket of clean clothes pushed over to my side preventing me from getting into bed.  A lesser woman might assume this could be a hint of some kind, but not me, I just said as loud as I could, “seriously?” and turned on a light and then added, “gosh, I hope I didn’t wake you when I moved the laundry basket.”  I can understand an occasional hanger or a magazine, but a basket of clothes seems more like a giant middle finger covered in clean towels and underwear aimed in my direction.  There is really no excuse that the pusher of said laundry basket could give that would be plausible, but he still looked me right in the eyes and said he didn’t know where to put it when he came to bed and when I gave him a great suggestion, he said he didn’t think it would fit there. In the end, I had to add another rule to my long list of “Things I Never Thought I Would Have to Say Out Loud” rules needed by only one man in the universe.  I think I placed the rule somewhere below “if you can’t push the garbage in the garbage can any further down, it is time to take it out,” and above, “if you don’t want me to know you ate a sandwich over the silverware drawer, then close the drawer first.”  I think we are up to Volume Two in my rule book and I suspect someday when the kids are going through our stuff, they will turn to each other as they read some of the rules and say, “Who doesn’t know this stuff? It just seems like common sense to me.”

 

I took a turn there for a minute, but I was talking about sleeping before I went off on a tangent and getting back to that topic, once I get safely into bed I usually breathe a sigh of relief and hope Fudge is there.  For as ornery as Fudge can be outside, she is a dream dog in the house.  She can be a bit of a bed hog, but I just sleep better when she is near.  The good thing about Fudge is she is extremely malleable when she is sleepy and reminds me of Gumby.  When she is outside, it takes two hands, a little trickery, some quick thinking, and a stern voice just to remove sleep from her eye, but inside I could fold her in half if I wanted to, pull her to me, flip her over, and hug and kiss her a million times until another human says I am starting to make them uncomfortable.  Fudge has such a soft, silky coat and unlike another Doodle I know usually smells pretty good, so as bedmates go, she is a keeper.  I love cuddling with Vern, too, but he takes up far more room on the bed and never stays asleep the entire night and is not very gentle about easing you out of your sleep state. Being thumped by a large paw repeatedly is the technique he has perfected and then that is followed by “I need a treat” before I am jumping off of this bed, (yes, I am still talking about Vern), so is it any wonder that most of us prefer he fall asleep on his own bed.

 

There is just something about having Fudge beside me that makes me feel calmer and more relaxed.  I highly suspect that she gives off some kind of a sleep pheromone/furmone because one minute I am watching The Property Brothers and the next thing I know it is two hours later.  As far as I am concerned it is just another benefit to having a dog and sure beats a sleepless night or insomnia. If only I could bottle this, I would be rich.

My mom says I have furmones :)

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Fudge, you are so stinkin' adorable and I love that you have furmones.  I think Eloise must have furmones, too, because I sleep so much better when she's beside me.  Miss Beasley seems to be a giant cuddle-bug, but she still gets to sleep in her crate at night.  She gets snuggles on the couch, even if she is really stinky a lot of the time and don't tell her I said that. :)

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Love this blog Laurie.  And the photos are absolutely wonderful!  Charlie is my comfort too and Beau sounds like Vern - he starts on the bed for nightly tummy rub, lights out he goes to the cold bathroom tile and then intermittent visits to see if we are all there during various times through the night!  I do have to give Beau kudos for being careful for not stepping on DH, me or Charlie! 

[Becka]

hee hee--Laurie you are so funny and those pix of Fudge are drop-dead gorgeous.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I got to sleep with Fudge  :)   I agree, she is soft and sweet and curls right into you. Lucky me.

As for Vern, I did ask him to join me when I sat in his bed. He has many and I picked one and climbed in. NO Doodle way.  But I did get a woof and I think that's an honor.

[Bonnie and Kona]

First of all, I think our husbands were separated at birth. My DH never takes anything off the bed if he gets in first. I crawl in and am accosted by whatever might have been on the bed pushed over to my side. sigh.

Second, Fudge is definitely a keeper on the bed. I love that you have a malleable cuddle-bug. All my dogs have been dead weight... like sleeping with a giant log. One thing that's sweet about Kona is that he doesn't rest his 50 pound head on me in bed...just on DH. ;o)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I am glad you enjoyed the blog. More and more I am finding a lot of people need my rules to live by :) LOL I do like how you think and next time I am going to bang drawers, etc :) I like when I only have one dog at a time, but it so rarely happens. I am glad Ned gets some "me" time!

Thanks, Robin. You have such a neat arrangement with Libby. What fun to get her for a whole week...enjoy every minute!

F, Thank you! I guess Luca is letting you know if you want him up on the bed, you have to follow his rules. LOL

Michelle, LOL...I do like my tangents :) Thank you so much! Your bed sounds like my daughter's bed. They have cats and dogs up there with them. It ought to be interesting when the baby shows up :)

Cheryl, Thank you! Of course, Finn needs to sleep with you and I like your reference to a teddy bear :)

Lonnie, Libby really does sound like Fudge. Fudge could sleep all day...now, I just need to get Vern on that schedule :) He is just a cat napper.

Camilla, LOL...poor Darwin...he needs to start gargling with Listerine before bedtime. You guys have a great system and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Thank you!

Karen, Thank you! I will have to say Vern got in bed with me last night and started thumping me with his paw a couple of hours later.....maybe you are the lucky one with JD :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Christine and Nancy!

Carol, Thank you!!

Sharon, Oh, I hope you are ok. Yes, I think you should start carrying a flashlight...sure beats hitting your head on a nightstand.

Janie, Yes, John has trouble shutting drawers :) LOL I am sure hoping you start to feel better soon. Glad Jilly has been such a good nurse. Feel better soon!

Thanks, Lori :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sheila, Uh oh....we are married to twins :) Fudge can do the Finnley thing too. She likes to sleep so I have no leg room and I know that AAAAH you are talking about :) Life with dogs...it's never dull. Hope you had a great vacation.

Pat, There you are...where have you been? Out identifying frogs and toads? I draw the line at fleas....LOL!! Yes, I would say that is crazy love :)

Leslie, Fudge starts pacing if I am not back in bed at a certain time. Who is the boss here? I think it is Fudge! Thank you!

Jane, Well, hopefully Dave gives you extra cuddles and lets you rub his tummy :) LOL Vern likes to do the same thing during a thunderstorm....be close to me...I like that too. I am telling you, Jane....my life isn't easy with John :)

[Sheila & Finnley]

Just returned from vacation and catching up. WOW, I am pretty sure John, and my hubs could be the same person, when it comes to this pushing stuff over on the bed ! Scary to think that more men then you know probably do this. The big chuckle was the laundry basket of clothes. I have had that same scenario happen before, and I know I said out loud.... SERIOUSLY ! That is my disgusted word of choice, and I am sure it is way better then some of the others that I am thinking of at that moment.  I also can identify with that packing the garbage down part too. Yup, pretty scary !

You are so lucky that Fudge is soft and pliable. Finnley gets on the bed, and then I think she turns to stone. I need a crane to move her anywhere. Luckily she usually gets off the bed in the middle of the night and moves to her own bed on the floor. I relish that moment with an inward AAAAH, then move my legs, and finally get comfortable.

Loved Fudges pictures, she is the Queen of your castle for sure !

[Pat and Traveler]

Love the blog, and the pictures of sweet Fudge!  I can so relate--Trav always sleeps on the bed, though he might move around to different spots in the house as the night progresses.  He's always snoozing away on the bed when I wake up in the morning.  Love this!!  If you'd like to know how much, he slept on the bed when he had fleas, and believe me, that's love!