Princess who?.....

Does this slightly blurred photo of Lily remind you of a doggy version of Princess Leia or is it just me and Hubby? 

Doggy tripping

Hubby is at work and I thought I would write a quick post about Abi fluff tripping last night. Except I got to reading someone's blog and having a look at their blog roll and then decided to up date my blog reading list and 90 minutes later....you get the idea.  Thinking about it I wish there was a way I could update my site's blog roll of fantastic bloggers easy and simply by being able to copy my reading list but alas I can't and so that is a job for another day.

I was also disturbed by a phone call from Hubby who was reminding me to pick up some computer spray cleaner when I went to Tesco - I had to ask him to remind me why I was going again.  That was to have my nails done so I really should have known that and it now means I have to have a shower before I go there as I have my nails done at the salon that also does my hair and I really cannot go looking like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards.

So it looks like the accounts that were supposed to be started again at 8.30am are going to be started this afternoon!  Yes, I did do some last night - cue round of applause for finally getting round to them.....

Right back to Abi fluff.

Yesterday Hubby was working overtime and I went to pick him up.  Having put most of the weekly shop away I thought it was safe to leave the door to the hallway open.  After all, why are dogs going to try and get into a 6 pack of 7up - right?  

Yes, that is right, they didn't.  What the girlie fluffs decided to do was attack Hubby's packet of Cappuchino's that were also lined up against the wall ready to find a suitable storage space that was not in the dining room which is now my office and must not become the dumping ground for everything again after I cleaned it out ready for Christmas dinnner. Full stop, breathe.

Anyhoo, when we arrived home, as usual Freddy fluff was sat on the couch and looked at me as if to say "It wasn't me....again!" (He refuses to get involved in all sorts of doggy naughtiness after being punished once). 

Around the living room, stairs and landing were various strips of cappuchino packets.  Luckily they are hard to get into unless the dogs find the small strip that I pull back to open the packet.  They had managed to open 3.

My fault, I should have known that if it is related to anything food or drink related that Lily fluff can get into she will.  After all, she demonstrated her abilities to open zips and velcro at any early age when she 'investigated' Hubby's coat pocket and ate his iPod.

Cala and Abi fluff let Lily fluff do the deed and then they help eat the contents.  

The result of last nights endeavours?  Well, after a mad dash around the house for 20 minutes by all 3 girlie fluffs Abi fluff decided to sit on the back of the sofa waiting for anyone to go by when she would dive on them and then just at the kitchen door.  Dare to open the door and she would run in and sit at the spot in front of the cupboard where her food bowl is stored and alternately look at the top of the cupboard and then me.  

Ignore her and come out of the kitchen and she would sit on the back of the sofa, jump off, sit on my knee, move about on my knee, jump off, erratically walk around the room, get back on the top of the sofa, get off and do it all again.  For 6 hours!

Luckily she came down from her high by 11pm and slept soundly last night. 

This morning I took Hubby to work.  I returned home to no barking and Freddy Fluff sat on the sofa looking at me as if to say "It wasn't me....again!"  On opening the living room door the 3 girlie fluffs barked and ran down the stairs.  

I walked upstairs to find that Hubby had left our bedroom door open which is dangerous.  Dangerous why?  Well, Hubby has a bedside cabinet and in that drawer I place all of his "goodies" which at any one time may hold 3 or 4 different kinds of chocolate and sweets because I can't resist buying him things.  Not dangerous you may think except Lily fluff knows how to open that drawer - clever arse of a dog!

More so though she is an expert at zips and my laptop rucksack was on the floor where it has been throughout the Christmas period.  Now, both Hubby and I know to keep the door shut because if Lily fluff can smell any kind of food in a bag she will investigate at first opportunity. The girlie fluffs also know, from experience, that I also store goodies in my bags, especially when I have been travelling with work.

Lily fluff, this morning, in her wisdom decided that it was easier to investigate my bags that Hubby's drawer - after all, opening zips must be easier for her than nudging the bottom of a drawer open with her nose.  Let's just say that the dogs have eaten 2 packets of Toffets (chocolate coated toffee), half a bag of dark chocolate coated honeycomb sweets and were 2 of them were busy trying to open 2 packets of Mars Bar Bite thingies. Ripped sweetie packets are ripped and strewn across the room along with my paperwork - after all, paperwork does not taste as nice as chocolate.

People, I have just shut the door on it....... So far Abi fluff is not tripping.  She may well have stomach ache.

 

A belated birthday cake

My 40th Birthday Cake

Well, it's not, because I did get this 2 days before my actual birthday but as you can tell I have somehow managed to find the link that allows me to upload photographs - I swear that it was not available up until 2-3 days ago!  

I figured I would record for posperity, you know in case Beautiful B ever stumbles upon this blog before I die or after she knows about it when I'm gone.  

Beautiful B and Angel were tasked with designing the cake.  I insisted actually; Hubby had looked like a scared rabbit between headlights so it was best to hand the mantle over to 2 people who know me better than anyone else in the world - after all, there was no way I was dealing with that on top of everything else and I wanted it to be a total surprise.

In no particular order:

Giraffe - I can only assume it has a Christmas hat on purposefully because I am as obsessed with Christmas as I am with giraffes and it killed 2 birds with one stone - giraffes are all over my house - I think they are so very strange looking but so very graceful with it.  Weird?  Probably but nothing new there.

Needle & thread - very boring of me but I love to do cross-stitch patterns.  It started when I got divorced the first time (don't ask) and moved back to mum and dad's with Beautiful B.  It was the one thing that allowed my mind to quiet.  I started and so far have yet to stop.  They make for fantastic presents - mum has 4 of them, all 4 of which she kept saying she liked when I started them for me - I soon saw a pattern emerging (see what I did there.....)

Pepsi Max - addicted.  It doesn't help that I don't drink coffee, tea, milk or anything similar (milk is only good for making cereal soggy - the remainder gets drained off and the dogs love me for it).  I stopped drinking milk when I was 6 months old (see!  awkward from almost the time I was born!) and mum had to make do with giving me milky puddings to top up the required calcium.  I drank pop and cordial throughout my childhood and have drank Pepsi as long as I can remember.  I prefer full fat Coca Cola but lets face it, the constant fluctuation in weight has a lot to do with the intake of that so Pepsi Max it has to be most of the time (though not at this precise moment in time when coca cola is back in favour but only for another few weeks before I tire of being so fat again).

I drink that much of the stuff that someone once took the time to count the number of cans I drank a day (admittedly Coca Cola at the time - shout out to Glenn).  In fact, if I recall he had a 5 bar gate going......

Anita Blake (Laurell K. Hamilton) books - I read copiously, admittedly usually murder, mayhem and serial killers (they ALWAYS get caught and the good guy always wins).  I found the Anita Blake books by accident and was hooked from book 16 (though I had to go back to book 1 to start the series) and have been hooked on that series ever since.  Her imagination is astounding and I don't know of many other authors who could spin a story out and extend the story line the way she has through 20 books.

Beautiful B wanted to know what my favourite books were.  Truthfully, I don't have one but as I had to name one (pretending I had no idea why she was asking) Anita Blake books are pretty much at the top. So these books signify my love of books. 

So there you have it, a cake that tells anyone what I am like mostly.  It weighed too much for one person to pick up as it was huge and the cake maker refused to add figurines of me, Hubby and Beautiful B, plus the 4 fluff bags and a cute alien (the other loves of my life) as she said it would look to busy.  I have to say I am quite disappointed, even Angel told her that was the point - I am always busy so the cake should be too.  Mind you, on the upside - it provides a great start for the 50th novelty cake!

Smelling beautiful

People think we are crazy to have 4 dogs.  Well, me being crazy goes without saying and Hubby would basically let me do what I wanted (except tell a secret!! - It's our secret, why not - hmmph) and Beautiful B; well she is used to me after 17 years. 

You all know I love little baba fluffs; they give you undying love and affection, you could melt in their eyes (especially if you keep the one with Puss in Boots eyes), they are always happy and they all have totally different personalities so you ignore the bad things.....

Which include:

• gnawing the spindles of a new rocking chair
• chewing a hole in the edging of the new leather sofa chair arm
• Taking great delight at pretending to be an Andrex puppy and toilet paper the house given any opportunity
• waking me up at 4am because your bladder is still to small (Hubby's excuse for baba fluff despite the fact that she just turned 1)
• leaving the kitchen and now living room doors with what appear to be claw marks from the smallest bear ever
• ripping open any package in case there are sweets in there
• being untrainable in the art of not barking
• going out as a twosome or threesome only to be let back in and the other 1 or 2 of you then remembering you need to go out also
• getting far too excitable on the field and legging it over to the nearest giant dog and lying on your back in submission in the hope it doesn't snap you in half
• sitting on my stomach in a morning until your eyes have been cleaned so you can get the jelly bean that has now become habit
• thinking you are the doggy version of a human car wash and must ensure every inch of bare skin is cleaned at every opportunity

This list is not exhaustive.

The joy of having the back garden landscaped with beautiful paving and separated into 2 so that the fluff bags get one half while the other stays clean is that it's much easier to clean than our last concrete monstrosity.  Having 4 dogs makes for a lot of pee so a power washer was purchased and after having to admit defeat and get Hubby to help me put one end of the hose on the outside tap I started to clean the paving. 

I would ask who knew how much fun it would be but if I'm honest I kind of know how much fun it is so I merrily spent an hour in the sunny warm garden with the power washer, lots of water and puddles.  Then I sat in the sun in the somewhat gnawed rocking chair and read in the first real warm sun we have had this year.

So where does smellingly beautiful come in?  Cala fluff cleans everyone; it is her mission in life apparently.  Wagging of the tail and hugs must, apparently, come with lots of sloppy kisses - she obviously thinks it negates the need for a shower as a result.  She won't be told, it is her way of mothering us all.  Pity she cannot clean her own head because at some stage before the power wash she decided to rub her head and neck over some "wet" paving shall we say....and she stunk.

Beautiful B was tasked with giving Cala fluff a bath.  She needs cheering up and sometimes there is nothing better than seeing the sulking of a fluff bag in the bath knowing that the resultant undeniable excitement in Cala fluffs eyes are because she knows that in less than 5 minutes she will be tearing around the house with Lily fluff who waits somewhat noisily and impatiently behind the bathroom door. 

I walked in the house after work yesterday to the normal barrage of barking for Cala fluff to bark longer and louder at me as if she was telling me she had been chucked in the bath and she just KNEW it was my fault.  So I buried my nose in her head and inhaled the scent of a beautiful smelling fluff bag and allowed her the joy of licking my neck to death....

....then I went and had a shower.