Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Smell good stuff

This was one of the best weekends I've had in a looooooong time! It was sunny and warm- just the way I dig it.

Mom and I were outside for most of the weekend. I always look forward to sitting outside because:
- I get a big bowl of water with ice cubes
- I love chomping on ice cubes
- I get to roll around in the grass
- See people walk by
- Sniff like crazy
- Lay in the sun

The other day mom came home early from work. She wanted to wash her car, Jetson, so I got to watch her. I didn't like it when she used the hose- made me want to jump through it, but mom kept saying that I couldn't.

I don't understand why she can play with all these cool things, but I can't.

After washing the car, she started spraying this stuff around the house. It smelled sooooooo good, I immediately ran over to it and rolled around in it. I was so happy, I showed mom my new trick!

Except, she wasn't as happy about it as I was.

"JACK! NOOO- that's BUG KILLER!"

Uh oh.

Mom ran me upstairs to give me a bath. Darn it- I liked the way I smelled!! Mom must have heard me whining and, rather than drying me with the mean hair dyer that makes too much noise, she opened the door for me to leave.

Hu?

She never lets me leave the bathroom wet. I stood at the top of the stairs looking at her. "Go on, outside" she said. OUTSIDE?! REALLY?

As soon as the screen door was opened, I was outta there! Rolling around in the grass, laying on the lounge chair next to mom and then bringing her a tennis ball to say 'thanks'.


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Mom Entry (yes, another...)


He caught me off guard when he asked, "...by the way, how is your book going?". It was a simple question, but it really meant a lot to me. No one has asked, since I let it be known that I was planning on putting together a children's book- "how is it going?"

My brother in law is one special man- and for making my brother so happy and giving me so much love and support, I thank him for that.

His words gave me the kick in the butt that I've needed to put my thoughts onto paper for the book. I have no idea how its all going to come together, but by-golly, I'm getting there.

I made a bubble diagram today with all the ideas I have for books (yes, PLURAL!). I used highlighter colors to make it look pretty and even started naming some of the other characters in the stories.

Thinking about writing about "Just-Jack" makes me excited, but I know I need more substance to sustain readers. Because of this (and thanks to the bubble diagram) I've narrowed down the list of animals that Jack comes in contact with.

The stories are all based on Jack's life, obviously things have been exaggerated and because they are told from his point of view, they don't always reflect the true/real-world meaning. I think that makes it rather fun and more child-like because kids are mostly misunderstood...

Winston: the fickle sleeper



When I go to sleep during the week, I walk into my house (some might call it a "kennel") and I go to sleep. I don't sleep walk. I don't move during the night. I just sleep.

Winston is a different kind of sleeper than I am.

Winston doesn't have a set sleep-place. He just sleeps wherever he's comfy for that time.

Case in point, Sunday morning mom and I come down stairs to eat breakfast and go potty, but we couldn't find Winston!

During the week he has slept on his bed, under his blanket, in front of the coffee table, next to the couch, behind the couch- so you can imagine my shock when I couldn't find him! He couldn't have gone very far since he can't go up the stairs...

Finally, I found him! He fell asleep under a table that has the big Stitch on top of it.

Mom said he blended in, which is why she didn't see him at first. I couldn't believe that he fit under there! When I was younger, I used to walk under the table, but never SLEEP under it! What a silly guy!


I miss playing with my buddy though. Mom keeps saying that I'll get to spend plenty of time with him and Grammy and Grampy soon when she and dad go on vacation...How come I never go on vacation with them??

Monday, April 20, 2009

Awww man, Winston went back home!

I had such a nice weekend with mom, dad and Winston. Saturday was so warm and sunny- mom, Winston and I laid in the backyard on the lounge chair and sunned.

Last night Winston went home. Mom started to pack up his stuff earlier in the day, so I knew something was up. Then last night, Winston was laying by the door!

"Hey, W, what are you doing over there?" I asked him.

"Mom and dad are coming to get me...I just want to be ready" he said.

And sure enough they came late last night. I was so happy to see them- Winston was right! Gosh he's smart...I mean, he's old, but he's smart!

Today is going to be a restful day- already I've banked a few zzz's. I'm going to ask Mom to post some pictures tomorrow :)

Gotta go back to sleep now.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Mom is volunteering! (another mom entry)


Since I'm down to four days a week at work- I decided, rather than sitting at home on the extra day, I'd start volunteering for the Medina SPCA. They needed a Humane Educator Leader...someone to go to elementary schools, talk to kids about being nice to animals and shiz...and being the "face" of the SPCA.

Since I'm so shy (cough cough) I thought this would be awesome!
Yesterday my job was to go to Garfield elementary (which is where Cinco will go one day!) and meet with the student council to accept a check on behalf of the SPCA.

Their meeting started at 3.35. I think, "Oh, I can SO do that!"
I get all excited, I'm there early- or so I thought. I couldn't find a parking space, anywhere!

So after making several u-turns, coming within inches of hitting a crossing guard (what was she doing in the middle of the dang street?!) I pull Jetson (my car) into a parking lot. "Thank God, I made it!"

Until I realize, there are a lot of buses around me. That's when they SWARMED me.
Three nice* looking ladies were standing in front of the buses, until they spotted Jetson.

Them: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
T ARE YOU DOING?
Me: (totally freaked out by how fast they went from nice looking ladies to evil pitbulls) AHHH, I don't know!
Them: ITS DISMISSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL
Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Them: WHAT are you here for?
Me: (after wiping away my tears) I'm here to meet with student council
Them: OH! Your from the SPCA
Me: (totally thrown off by the sudden pleasantry in their voices) YES! I don't know where to park...what door to go in...
Them: (realizing I was no longer a threat) Just go park over there (pointing to a dumpster!) and go up those stairs...
Me: Thanks!

...and I floored it away from the mob- and parked next to the dumpster.

I make my way into the office (after a pleasant little person held the door for me, which I thanked. "your welcome ma'am". EEK! I'm so NOT a ma'am!)

The office ladies tell me, "just go up those stairs, open the doors, student council should be meeting right there". Thank you.

Go up the stairs, find the golden doors and open them. JUST TO HAVE 30 LITTLE PEOPLE STARING AT ME. (I didn't know that the officers would be standing in front of the doors, using them as a back drop!)

"Oh! Hi guys! I'm Erin!" (and in my head I'm saying, "oh holy God, please don't let me trip!") As I made my way through their sea of green (apparently they wear green student council shirts to their meetings) I realize that I too am wearing a green shirt.

The kids raised $200 for the SPCA! They presented me with a huge laminated check and the president, Emily (i think...) gave me a hug and said how cool she thought it was that I was wearing green (totally by accident by the way!)

So we took a bunch of pictures, which was AWESOME (I'm so camera shy)...I can't wait to do my next tour of duty for the SPCA...I just hope I don't have to do it around dismissal time. hehe

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

My (other) best friend- Winston


Grammy and Grampy are out of town visiting Grandpa and Tom in Florida. Mom says that's where she is from- but I don't believe her. She's an Ohioan, just like me.

Since Gram and Gramps are in Florida, I get to play with Winston! He's been at our house since Sunday night. Mom says Winston staying with us is my Easter basket that keeps on giving (all week long).

Winston is old, I know this. Every time he comes over he moves rather slow, but he always plays with me for a
while. When Grammy was giving Mom her instructions for the week, I heard her say, "Winston isn't doing well, he can't make it up stairs without help. He isn't eating much- just keep an eye on him".

I know she told mom this, but it was like she was telling me these things too!

When Winston came into the house, he wasn't as excited as he normally is. He came upstairs with me and mom, but he didn't move really fast. I didn't understand- where is my faster (but still slow) moving friend? When he couldn't come up the stairs, I ran down them and gave him a little nudge in the butt.


"
Come on Winston", mom said at the top of the stairs. But, he just turned around and stayed on the first floor. I turned around with him and waited for mom to come back down. I didn't want him to feel bad that he couldn't make it up the stairs.

Winston hasn't wanted to play much- every night I bring out my toys, and wiggle my tail. He only barks for a few minutes, but doesn't play back! To get him in the playful mood, I toss a toy to him (he'd watch it) and I'd jump over him. That usually gets him excited, at least for a few minutes!

He didn't want to play last night at all. He kept growling at me when I tried to get him to play with me, so I did what any smart dog would- I grabbed all my toys and made a pile.

Then I sat on my toy pile, wiggling my tail the whole time. Winston just looked at me as if to say, "your too young to understand".


Seems that Winston gets really
stiff during the night and needs a few minutes in the morning to stretch before going down the back yard steps. This morning Winston went down the steps, but couldn't get back up.

He barked. I walked over to him, "You okay?" "I can't get up the stairs. I need help" he said to me. This was my chance to let Winston know I was his bestest friend ever, I flew up the stairs like Super Man- and started barking and whining until Mom came out.

"What's going on out here?" mom said. And then she saw Winston at the bottom of the stairs. Mom is really like a cheerleader at times, she got down and started clapping for Winston, "come on Winston! Come on, you can do it".

I saw him move his back right foot, but he just couldn't get it up. I moved to the bottom of the steps to give him a nudge, but it didn't help. I whined for mom to stop clapping and give him a boost.

Mom really is a super woman. She went behind him and lifted him up one step, to see if he could walk up the rest. Again, he tried with his back foot, but nothing. It was raining, so mom picked him up and brought him up into the house.

Winston was so happy to be back inside, mom gave both of us cookies and we went back to sleep. Just another day in the life of Winston and Jack :)


Friday, April 3, 2009

At work with mom!


I knew something was going to happen today because after I ate my breakfast, I didn't go upstairs to go back to sleep with dad. Instead, mom put my leash on and went for a drive.

At first I got scared because I thought we were going back to Petsmart to get another "manicure" (that's what mom calls it, I call it a terrible-nail-trimming that makes me wanna cry)...but we kept driving. Then I got excited, "are we going to see Winston?" but we kept driving. After a while I fell asleep and then I realized where we were going when we drove on the bumpy road- WORK!


I was raining so hard when we got to work, but I had to go potty before I went inside. I got SOAKED! When I came into the office, mom had to towel me off- and then I started to run around. Was anyone else here that I can play with? Hellllllllllllllllllllo? But there wasn't anyone else, besides mom, to play with! Weird.

After a while of sniffing, I started to wonder why mom wasn't sitting at her desk, she was sitting at the desk that faces her desk. This seemed strange to me so I sat under her chair and whined until she told me to take a nap. I snuggled on her soft cow-print fleece blanket, its so comfy!

Then the backdoor started to make noise. It was Brian! (Mom's boss). I was so excited to see him I couldn't help but
jump up and down for joy! He started barking at me! A HUMAN BARKS? This didn't seem right to me, so I barked back at him. He barked again. I ran away. Later on when he came downstairs I started barking at him again- it wasn't until he rubbed my head that I realized he was just kidding.

But its really not funny, seeing a human bark like a dog. How would you feel if I started talking like a human? That would be weird, right?

To make up for barking at me, Brian and I played with Peanut's tennis ball. (Peanut is Brian's dog, she's cool!) He did something I'd never seen before, someone hiding the ball under their shoe!

Every time he'd roll his foot over the ball, I'd turn my head. After a few minutes, Brian had to pack up and go to a presentation. "But what about playing ball?" I asked. When he left I took a nap, its hard work playing with the boss!


Thursday, April 2, 2009

New blinds!


As if my anniversary present to mom and dad wasn't enough, Grandma and Grandpa bought them blinds! I didn't know what blinds were. I've heard of blind dogs before, but I didn't think Grandma and Grandpa would ever get me a sibling (especially since my list of requirements is so long!)

Sunday night mom came home with all these long, funny-looking boxes. She started to drill into the windows, pull down the old shades (not sunglasses!) and hang the blinds.

I really liked them! They were white and looked so clean- and, what I liked best was that they let the sun come into the rooms...I love sitting in the sun!

Mom said she was going to hang all the blinds on the first floor tonight, and "I'll do the second floor tomorrow night". That didn't really happen.


Turns out she got the wrong size blinds, so they had to be
returned. Then she had to rehang the right size blinds. The "big beast blinds" were cut wrong, so she had to go BACK and get them cut. Then the guy who cut the big beast blinds destroyed one set, so Mom had to go back, AGAIN...

The "two night" project turned into an all week marathon event. I really didn't like all the noise that came along with these new blinds, but I really liked all the boxes that got plied up!! I wanted to climb them, but mom said no!

In the end, all the blinds were hung and everyone was happy. Especially me. After a long days work, I got to sit outside in the sun and watch over my back yard!

Ouch, my eye!

Two weeks ago (in human time) I went outside to play like I always do. Except, I caught the most amazing smell under my nose, so I followed it. I followed it all the way into the thick thorney branches, rolled around in this amazing smell and came back inside hoping mom and dad would enjoy my new scent.

"OHHHHHH JACK! WHAT DID YOU ROLL IN? UPSTAIRS. IN THE BATHTUB, NOW!" Mom said as I walked into the house.

I was so excited to share it with her, but she didn't share my excitement. Instead, mom put me in the tub and hosed me off. Now, I don't mind the water part of getting baths. I really enjoy the bubbles that start piling up under my feet (they feel funny in between my nails). When mom put the shampoo on my head, it started to sting my eye! "OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH, MOM!" I whimpered.

Mom looked at my eye and sure enough, I cut it. Not the actual eyeball, but the skin right above the ball. And it stung. It stung so bad I wanted to cry. Since I was already in the bathtub with water running down my face, I didn't have to worry about my man-card being taken from me and so I cried, a lot.

Mom must have understood how bad my eye was hurting, because she took extra care when drying me off and then inspected it. It was so hard to stand still when she was looking into my eye. I kept making funny faces at her, but she didn't laugh at them!

Before mom lets me leave the bathtub, I have to "shake it off" (all the extra water). Then mom towel dries me. This makes me think I'm done and ready to leave the bathroom, except one last step that I always try and forget because I don't like it at all, the HAIR DRYER! When will I ever learn?

After I got dry, mom made me show dad what I did to my eye. "Poor guy, it will heal", dad said.

This was over two weeks ago!

All day yesterday my eye was itchy. Mom said this means its "healing" but I thought it meant, scratch it harder and faster. So I did. I managed to move the scab partially off my boo-boo. When mom looked at it last night she got worried so she helped me (against my will, I might add!) and she helped the rest of the scab come off.

She looked soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo grossed out! She put it in her hand and went upstairs to show dad. He said, "oh. uhm, thanks for showing it to me?" Mom and I just laughed...my eye however does feel muuuuuch better now. No longer itchy!

I'm going to ask mom to take a picture of my eye tonight- I just have to stay still long enough...not likely!