A Dog's Day Out

I realized it's been a while since I last posted about our dog-child, Mitzi.  Or, is it Mitzy?  I'm not sure HOW it's spelled because I'm always alternating the "i" for the "y" and vice versa.  Regardless of how her name is spelled--or how creative of a mood I'm in--we all know I'm talking about!

Mitz is our canine companion.  She's a little--well, not so little anymore as she just gained 1-lb in the past three months, whoops--Maltese and we absolutely adore her.  I got her just over 4 years ago from some incredibly sweet breeders by the Nebraska border.  Ever since she came home, she's been spoiled rotten...but considering how cute she was as a puppy, how could I not spoil her?!

8 weeks old and weighing in at 2.5 pounds!

Here we are, full-grown dog and all--and it had become time for her to have her first dental cleaning at our local Vet Clinic.  The cheap-a@@ in me REALLY did not want to get her teeth cleaned...but after my sister adopted two dogs who NEVER had their teeth cleaned and ended up with crazy expensive vet bills post-adoption, I decided it wouldn't hurt to spend a little preventative money!

This morning, I dropped Mitz off bright-and-early at 7:15am.  Every time we go to the Vet, she stands by the door and is ready to leave--but today was different.  We met with a new-to-us vet and Mitzi became ecstatic!  She would not stop giving the vet "kisses" and when we would put her on the ground, Mitz would scratch at the vet's leg for more loving.  Guess she was in good hands!

Going into the procedure, I knew they would put Mitzi out--and of all dogs, yeah, you would want to do that with her!  There's just no poking around in her mouth...I thought I was prepared for the cleaning when the vet asked if I wanted to authorize any extractions...and if I wanted to do blood work...and IV catheters...and IV fluids...!!!  Like I knew?!  Was it necessary?!  If so, why wasn't it included in the basic price?!  I have a hard time with people talking to me before 8am, let alone asking me to make decisions--and expensive ones at that!

After some consideration, I decided to authorize the extractions--if that would even be necessary.  But after reviewing the other options and realizing it would be almost another $200, I did what any wife would do.  I blamed my husband.  I said, "OHHHH, I really want to be a good doggy mom, but my husband would KILL me if I spent that kind of money."  For someone who teaches assertiveness training, I'm embarrassed to admit that I took the easy way out but I was so worried about appear the slightest bit neglectful!

I was finally out the door and on my way to work.  Then, the doubt started in...what IF the blood work would have revealed something super important???  What if Mitz's blood pressure drops and they can't save her because I didn't authorize the stupid IV fluids?!  Out of cheapness, I had just signed away my doggie's life!

All morning long, my mind was just racing.  I eventually went to class and figured that no-news meant good news.  Several hours later, I was out of the classroom and went to check my phone--only to find out that the vet had tried calling me.  My stomach dropped and I immediately pulled up my voicemail so that I could process the information before calling them back.

As one would expect, the voicemail was very non-eventful.  They were calling to let me know that our dog had done GREAT and would be ready to go home later in the day...all of that worry was for nothing!

I was so relieved!!!  And feeling justified...guess there was nothing wrong with being cheap!  My dog DID survive...just like all of the other 10-billion dogs who get their teeth cleaned every year!

A few hours later, I picked Mitz up and I'm not sure who was happier to see whom!   As expected, she was completely wiped out and barely had the energy to bounce off all the walls when she saw me.  It wasn't the most typical Mitzi greeting but she quickly made up for it when I picked her up, put her under my arm and she looked up at me with her big black eyes...and just let out the biggest belch!  Big enough, that the aides heard it half-way across the lobby and couldn't help but laugh!  Yup, my dog was definitely back to her normal self ;-)

Now we're home and Mitz wants nothing to do but lay on her ottoman.  I figure that's okay--the sedation has made for a very quiet evening at our house, allowing this doggie momma a chance to unwind and keep on studyin'!

All grown up and exhausted from her dog-day out!  And weighing in at 10.4 pounds.  About that diet...

Malcolm's "Meetings"

We decided a while ago to make our house kitty an "outdoor kitty."

After all, we thought he was marking up our area rug and I was not about to have him start marking the couch, our new Tempurpedic, whatever struck his fancy.  Justin was ready to send him to the animal shelter (much against my dismay) when I realized, we could let him outside!

Malcolm was a feral cat when we got him at 6-months old.   When we lived at Shirley Lane, he occassionally, and I mean OCCASSIONALLY, wandered around our backyard for a few minutes here and there.

We moved to our current home and one day we decided to let him out.  And he ran out of the yard as fast as he could.  He was FREE!

His roaming never lasted very long as every day over my lunch hour he would come back to the house to eat.  Then he'd be back by bedtime to eat some more...

Then the flea fiasco of Fall 2010 was more than we could handle so we decided he would never see the outdoors again...that lasted until he started marking on the area rug.

He's been outside ever since.  It started out pretty typical, he'd be gone in the morning and back at night.

Mid-May rolled around and Malcolm disappeared for 48 hours...2 entire days.  No sign of him at all.  I decided he was flat as a pancake on a street somewhere OR he took it upon himself to leave us.  Regardless to say, the sensitive side of me hoped it was the latter of the two.

I had given up on him when the next morning, I got up for the gym and lo and behold, Malcolm was on our backporch at 5am!  I let him in for "treat time," told Justin the exciting news and then put him back out before I left the house.

The day went on and well, Malcolm was no where to be found.  He had definately just used me for some food.

Later that afternoon received a text message from my boss stating her husband had seen Malcolm down by the Chamber of Commerce...what the hell was he doing down there?!   He's not the friendliest of cats and is easily spooked--and he picked a fairly busy part of town to prowl?!  Jezzzzzzus...

I thought about sending Justin down there as I had to be home with the floor guy but we later gave up looking for him (aren't we nice kitty parents???).  If he wanted to come back, he could.  After all, during his absence a super friendly yellow kitten decided to grace our porch and he could easily be replaced!

I still don't know why Malcolm decided to visit the Chamber of Commerce...I like to tell people he was "attending meetings."  He is, after all, quite the serious cat.

Malcolm finally showed up the next day and has stuck close to the house ever since.  He's either in the garage (even though he refuses to come out half the time when we call him) or laying on one of our porches.  It's kinda nice...I don't worry about him being a flapjack...

However, sometimes it's a bit much.  The other day I locked myself out of the house *again* so I decided to kill time by weeding the flowerbed.  Malcolm had a blast rolling around in all the wood chips--but everytime I reached down for a weed, he would force himself under my hand so I would have to pet him.  This charade went on for about a good 30 minutes before he decided to be a good kitty cat and go people-watch from the porch.

On the upside, when Malcolm disappeared for nearly three days, not once did we ever once suspect that someone took him.  One, he won't get near strangers even if they call his name and two, when you're missing half your facial hair, you're just not very appealing...

His hair had started to thin some before we initially let him outside...I didn't think much about it until one day he had NO hair above his eyes. We took him to the vet and turns out, he has Athlete's Foot. On his face. Now we have to put Athlete's Foot medicine on his face and ears twice a day...the hair is slowly coming back but it still looks gawd-awful in person. It's going to be a while before it all returns as 10 -minutes after I put the cream on, Malcolm starts wiping it off. For an outdoor kitty, he's sure become high maintenance!

The Eating Rug

Growing up, we were never allowed to eat on the living room furniture...but how the heck is a kid supposed to eat junk food and watch tv at the same time if they can't sit on the couch?!

Mom's solution was putting down old worn-out quilts that we so lovingly called "The Eating Rug."

At the time it was super annoying...and I'm pretty sure we tried to "forget" to put it down as often as possible.  After all, it was just carpet and you could just grind any crumbs down into the fibers ;-)

Fast forward to adulthood and our child--aka Mitzi--has developed a super annoying habit.

I really didn't notice it until we had company in town for New Year's Eve...Erin pointed out that Mitzi would carry a mouthful of food from the mudroom to the dining room, drop it on the area rug and then start eating it.  Looking back, I assumed she was doing it for attention and/or she wanted everyone to know that she was eating her doggy food (and not people food for once).

I was wrong--Ever since Erin pointed it out, I have come to notice that she does it ALL the time.

We tore apart the kitchen & mudroom last night so we decided to move Mitzi's food bowl to the guest room for the time being.  And guess what?!

The picture is a bit busy but she was bringing mouthfuls of food from the bedroom into the dining room and eating it off of the area rug.  The funny part--I bought a little kitchen rug for her food bowl several months ago and I guess it's not the same as the area rug.  Who would have expected that all these years later I would have my own "Eating Rug" in the house!

A Cat and His Lasagna

Our indoor/outdoor cat, Malcolm, has been a strictly indoor cat since he initiated the Flea Fiasco of Fall 2010. 

He survived being cooped up all winterlong...but as soon as the weather started to warm he had a change of heart and was itching to get outdoors.  They say animals have a way of letting you know when they're upset--and it's certainly true of Malcolm.  In just one week, he managed to chew through our laptop cord and my cell phone charger...both while plugged in. 

As we "adopted" Malcolm, we're not sure of his true birthdate.  However, it would be somewhere around late March/early April.  As he managed to live to see his 3rd Birthday after chewing through the cords, we decided to get him something to occupy his mind.

I'm convinced cats are nearly impossible to train.  And by age 3, cats are supposed to outgrow the cord chewing thing--not START it.  It's easier to keep him entertained and mentally stimulated.  Trouble is, Malc doesn't like the typical cat toys.  The only thing he really likes to do is bat around clumps of dried mud from Justin's boots...otherwise, he just eats and sleeps all day.  We are hoping we have found the solution to the cord chewing problem: K-Mart had their bird baths on sale for 40% off this week.

In all reality, the bird bath may be pure torture.  It's placed in the corner of the yard where Malcolm can see it from both the living room and dining room.  Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully--between napping and eating, he will find some kind of mental stimulation from watching the birds.  And hopefully he'll stop eating our cords.

And on a random note--we've been lauging about how Malcolm is turning into Garfield in his old age...Sleep, eat and do it all over again.  Garfield was a huge fan of lasagna and at lunch today, I was telling my mom and sister-in-law about the best ever lasagna recipe.  It's made in a slow cooker of all things and it's meatless--however, it is so hearty that you won't even notice.  I better hope Justin doesn't read this as he thought the lasagna DID have ground beef in it!  The recipe may sound a bit different than your traditional lasagna recipe, but give it a try--you'll be glad you did :-)

Slow Cooker Pesto Spinach Lasagna
1 (26-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce

1 (10-ounce) box lasagna noodles
1 (11-ounce) container pesto
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (12-ounce) bag baby spinach
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 cup water

Use a 4 quart slow cooker. Put a spoonful of pasta sauce (about 1/4 cup) into the bottom of your cooker and swirl it around. Add a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (you're going to have to break them to make a layer). Smear ricotta cheese and pesto onto the noodles. Add a handful or two of baby spinach, and top with a layer of Parmesan and slice mozzarella cheeses. Repeat layers until you've run out of ingredients. The spinach is fluffy, so you're going to have to squish it down to make it all fit.



Before closing the pot, put 1/4 cup of water into the empty pasta sauce jar and close and shake. Pour this saucy water over the top of everything.


Now cover up and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for about 3 to 4. You'll know it's done when the top layer begins to brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. It will also pull a bit away from the sides. Taste-test a noodle to check texture.


Uncover, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

December 8

December 8:  House Pets.

I'm pretty sure you all know that our world revolves around our dog, Mitzi, and our cat, Malcolm...My brother always says, "You need to find a hobby" whenever I tell him stories about our animals.  I like to think that he just doesn't care because he doesn't realize how cute/funny they are!  And plus, Shawn spends all day around cows and when do they do anything cute?!  He's just missing out on the fun of house pets!

But really, I am thankful for our animals.  I could have had the absolute worst day on earth and when I walk through the door to meet Mitzi bouncing off the couch with excitement to see me, it just warms my heart...or when Malcolm decides to stop ignoring us and hang out for a bit, it brings a smile to our faces.

It's common knowledge that people with pets tend to live longer and happier lives...and I can understand why.  Granted, there are days when the animals just drive me nuts, cost us bunches of money or just turn into a major inconvenience...but they're still worth it!



One afternoon I found Malcolm trying to attack the miniature marshmallows...apparently they are super fun for him to bat around!



And when one marshmallow wasn't fun enough, he tried to dump the bag off the counter so they'd spill...smart of him, but annoying!



I took a bathroom break while folding laundry one day and came back to this!  She's always one for making herself comfy



And how can you NOT laugh when a dog comes to a screeching halt and this is what they look like?!

Getting Closer...

The interior of our house is one step closer to "being done."  Our second-to-last piece of furniture arrived today! 

We have been adding the furniture and knick knacks bit-by-bit...Of the things we had at Shirley Lane, we kept only the contents of the spare bedroom and our bedroom.  We started all over in the dining room, living room, kitchen and bathroom.  Okay, so the bathroom is pretty simple to do as it doesn't require furniture or appliances, but it still costs money!

Each time my brother would come by our house, he would tell us what piece of furniture to get and where to put it.  Since when was he the Interior Designer?!  But as I would tell him each and every time, we're buying our pieces slowly to keep from going broke!  Does he know how much furniture costs?!  But thankfully we've found some of our new pieces at great prices and the other stuff was purchased off Craigslist :-)

With that said, the cherry console table was one of the last pieces to buy...we still need another armchair but those are super expensive and can wait :-)  Well, I say that but of course I would LOVE to have an area rug and new headboard--and maybe a matching dresser--for the master bedroom...but we already have a headboard and dresser which nobody ever sees!

Once we finally add the armchair, I will feel confident enough to start hanging things on the walls.  As a childhood friend who also has plaster walls put it, "You only have one chance to hang it in the right place!"

The new table--and I promise it's not crooked in real life!  I sold enough stuff on Craigslist to pay for it without digging into my own wallet :-)  I'm hoping to find some fabric for the bottom rung--the wood-on-wood look is driving me nuts and it needs something to break it up!

Starting to get it decorated for Christmas...then I'll need to figure out some accessories, a table lamp, mirror/picture, etc once the holidays are over

Within minutes, I turned around to find Malcolm licking the nutcracker's hair!  He must have thought it belonged to another animal or something...always the  oddball!

All Cooped Up

I promise we're not white trash!  However, we have had a near-white-trash experience the past couple weeks.

The other day, Mitzi was itching like crazy...after half a day of this, we flipped her over and saw fleas all over her belly.  Gross!  She had been at the Doggy Hotel during our wedding so we assumed she must have picked them up there--but she was still getting a flea bath right away!

About a week later, she was itching again.  She has very sensitive skin to begin with but I'm sure that bathing her in insecticide probably didn't help it any.  I kinda brushed it off but Justin flipped her over and the fleas were back...grrrrrrrrr!

At this point, we decided that Malcolm must have had them as well (even though he didn't show any signs)and they jumped off of him and back on to her.  We spent a Saturday evening giving Mitzy her second flea dip and Malcolm his first one.  First of all, giving a cat a bath sucks...it takes the both of us to keep him in the tub.  But then he has this way of wailing that sounds like a small child being tortured.  It's horrible on our ears and I'm sure people think we're doing awful things inside our house!

Finally, both animals had been "treated" and we were so glad to have the fleas behind us.

Or so we thought.

A few days later we found them on Mitzi for a third time!  I was beyond fed up with the situation.  She was absolutely miserable and keeping us up at night from all the itching.  We had just given both animals another dose of Frontline and all the flea dips weren't doing anything.  I called the vet and our only other choice was giving her a daily pill...at $7 a pop!  I didn't like the cost or the fact that she would be putting that kind of stuff INSIDE her body.

I called out to Horticultural Services and they had an insecticide that we could apply to the yard...for $12 :-)  I went out there after work and we applied it to the yard that evening.  The lady at Hort Services said this has been a horrendous year for fleas...guess we weren't white trash after all!  The next day we had a large rain and the insecticide was good to go!

It's been about 10 days since we treated the yard and we haven't found any more fleas on Mitzi.  However, we have kept Malcolm inside this entire time and he is driving us nuts--especially during the weekends when we're home with him.  He's used to going out first thing in the morning, coming in at lunch to eat his food, going back out for the day and by bedtime he's waiting at the back door. But his new routine is a different story--once the sun comes up, he starts crying the most god awful cry nonstop...when that doesn't work, he starts flipping up the edges of the rugs, jumping all over the furniture to get in the windows, pawing on the backdoor and trying to push open the storm door.  After a couple hours, he gives up and finds a sunny spot to sleep in.

All chilled out!

I know he's all cooped up and just wants to be outside, but until we have a few nights of below-freezing temps, he's staying indoors.

We have no idea if our yard already had fleas in it from the previous owner, if they were jumping off other dogs walking down our sidewalk or if Malcolm was bringing them in from roaming the neighborhood.  But regardless of the cause, it was not a fun experience at all!

Malc-Man

2 years ago this month we adopted a feral feline...most of you know him as Malcolm but we also like to call him Malc-Man.  Kinda like Bat Man.  After all, he's black and he can accomplish the most unbelievable things!



Mitzi checking out Malcolm for the first time--he was so itty bitty!



Speaking of being black, I really wanted to name him Cracker when we first got him.  Lots of people thought it would be funny, but in our household, I just can't start throwing racial slurs around like that! 

For the time being, Mitzi was the Alpha animal.  But now Malcolm is bigger than her!

Even though Justin was in Texas when I brought him home, he thought we should name the cat Lucky...that name was WAY to common for animals so we decided to draw inspiration from the cat himself.

As a kitten, he looked like a little black panther.  And next thing you knew, we had decided on the name Malcolm.  Like Malcolm X--the notorious leader of the Black Panthers.



Malcolm has managed to live up to his namesake.  He's black like Malcolm X, he's very independent, quite weird and Muslim.  How do we have a Muslim cat?  Well, Malcolm X was Muslim and Lil Debbie never lets us bring him with us to her house for Christian holidays.  The only logical reason has to be because he's Muslim. 

His favorite hobby, 2 years later--laying around and sleeping with Mitzi!

In fact, Lil Debbie never lets us bring him to the farm.  Maybe that's because Lil Debbie isn't one for house cats--we wouldn't want him to end up like J.T., would we?  When we were little, our one and only house cat was named JT What those initials stood for, I have no idea.  He was the BEST cat ever and one year we bought him a Christmas tree ornament from Wal-Mart and had his name engraged on the back.  Not too long after that, JT "forgot" to use his litter box and Lil Debbie banished him from the house.  We were all freaked out and she promised us that he'd be okay outside.  From that day forward, we never saw him again--apparently it was quite traumatizing as we continue to remind her about losing our cat!!!



The only thing that Malcolm seems to want from Lil Debbie is chex mix.  Not love or attention--in fact, he usually walks off when she comes to our house.  But he LOVES her chex mix--it's about the only human food that he will eat.  The month of September marks the end of Ramadan, the annual month of fasting for the nation of Islam.  What better way to celebrate his observance than with a HUGE bag of her homemade chex mix???  I relayed the message for him back in August and he still hasn't gotten his chex yet. 

In fact, I better remind Lil Debbie to get on the chex mix.  I'm pretty sure Justin and I would enjoy some as well ;-)

A New Face to Facebook

I heard the most ridiculous thing the other day--there's a dog who has its' own Facebook page!  Turns out, this dog is quite popular, too.

Since she's not one to be out done, Mitzi has created her own Facebook account as well.  In our household, we get a kick out of winning unannounced competitions, so we'll see if she ends up with more friends than this other pooch has!

If you want, you can follow her at Mitzi Taddiken-Williams!  And since she knows no stranger, all friend requests will be accepted ;-)