Gingerbread House Unveiling

(DRUM ROLL PLEASE.......)
PREEEEEE-SENTING, HOLDEN'S 2008 GINGERBREAD CHATEAU!!!!!!!!!!!


Ta-dah! It's Chateau LeClair! (haha...mom's maiden name). Holden just completed a unit at school about French forts and even built one out of popsicle sticks, so the French theme was fresh in his mind.


Here is the front view. Notice the Smarties stamped concrete front walkway and the Rice Krispie Treat trees/shrubs! Since this is a French Chateau, the peppermint "cartouche" above the front door was a very nice touch!


Here is a side view of the Rice Krispie shrubbery. The marshmallow snowdrifts are SO realistic! Check out the marshmallow snowman with his black gumdrop hat!


This is the back view of the Chateau. The lemon Starburst patio and blueberry candy cane rail is a great place to entertain and sip fine champagne. Holden said that the black jellybean figure is a scarecrow (clearly, he's right!) but Kevin (the history buff of the family) said that it was a very authentic Frenchman with his arms up in surrender. Hmmm....


Here is the right side view. The authentic candy rocks at the base of the flagpole were mined from nearby cupboards!


All Salinger has to say is "MON DIEU! CAN WE EAT IT NOW???????????"

Great job Holden and great job to the project foreman, Salinger. The Chateau looks fabulous!

(Note to parents of human children...this is a great project to keep kids busy for almost an ENTIRE snow day! It was GREAT! ;-)

FIRST Christmas present of the year!!!

WHOOHOO! I got my first Christmas present of 08 in the mail today!!!! It came from Grandma and Grandpa Neff! Here is a video of me opening it.

Sorry that you'll have to tip your head to the left to watch it. Mom turned the camera longways while she was shooting it and now she doesn't know how to turn the farkakte picture right side up!!!



Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! I can't wait to go shopping soon!!!!!

No school!!!!

We had a lot of freezing rain/drizzle last night here in Indy, so today there was NO SCHOOL for Holden!!!!
YAY!
Mom got a text message about the closing, so she just let brother and I sleep in!

Mom is letting Holden stay in PJs all day and as soon as she finishes up some work stuff, they're going to build a GINGERBREAD HOUSE! I hope they let me help!

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

It was FIFTEEN DEGREES this morning in beautiful Pendleton, Indiana

FIFTEEN!!!!!

Mommy put her electric blanket on the couch for me (turned to low) and I decided that's where I'm going to park myself today with a new chewie and Animal Planet on TV.

Ahhhhhhhhhh....so nice and warm!

I'm afraid to go out and pee...I've seen "A Christmas Story" and don't want my "business" getting stuck on anything out there! Maybe it will warm up later!

Stay warm everyone!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!!!!

Yep...my daddy is turning 44 today (Sunday December 14). Mommy helped me put together a very special blog to celebrate his big day!

This is mommy's favorite current picture of him!

SO handsome!!!!

Daddy (aka Kevin to some of you) grew up in Greenville, SC and went to The Citadel in Charleston, SC. Here is a picture of him when he was a REALLY young Cadet!


Here he is 25 years later, back visiting The Citadel (this time with mommy). I don't appreciate him talking to that BULLDOG, but I guess it's ok since he's bronze.


Speaking of BULLDOGS...look what daddy has on his arm! Most people don't know he has this!

SUCH a tough guy!

I think it's safe to say that daddy now prefers PUGS to bulldogs! Here's proof....this is the day I picked him to be my daddy!

I kissed him, mommy and Holden! That's how they knew I wanted them to be my family!

Daddy helped take such good care of me when I was a tiny puppy!


We became good buddies as soon as they brought me home!


Here are some interesting facts about my daddy....

His family heritage is Irish (can't you tell by looking at him? hahaha!).


He doesn't normally talk like the Lucky Charms man...but he can do it when he's being funny!

Daddy loves HOCKEY (mommy does too, but this blog is about DADDY!)

It's the STANLEY CUP!

Daddy's favorite movie is Pulp Fiction


His favorite band is


His favorite TV shows are



His favorite food is

Mmmmm STEAK! Medium rare please!

His favorite restaurant in the whole world is Carey Hilliards...a BBQ joint down south (in Charleston, SC)

Bring me a BBQ sammich and some Brunswick Stew!!!!!!

Daddy loves to be silly and make us all laugh...

We don't know what this is either...but we thought it was funny that they sell it at Sam's!

Daddy with the OSTRICH!

Hahahahahahaaa!


LLAMAS!!!!!

Just look at this goofball trying to make me dance with him!!!


Daddy is not only funny....he is very sweet to me also!

I sleep right next to him in the big cloud bed...

Waaaaake up daddy!

He take me for walks...


Gives me lots of good tummy rubs...


Shares his food with me...


Tells me funny stories...

HAHAHAHAHAAAA! You're funny daddy!!!!!

Takes me shopping...

I love going to PetSmart with Daddy and Holden!

He takes me to lots of other fun places...


But best of all...he just loves me and is a great daddy!


Happy Birthday to the best Daddy in the world!

I love you so so so much!!!!!!

Have a great day!

Typical everyday stuff...

Hiiiiiii Salinger! Did you come here so mommy can give you a tummy rub?


Nope...begging for Daddy's chicken. You DO have a cute puggy butt though!!!!


It must be EXHAUSTING being such an adorable Pug! I don't blame you a bit for needing to rest here on the table.

The Dog and the Yeast Rolls

We did NOT write this...but we got it as an email from my friend Nancy (she owns Gertie, Salinger's Pugmom and his pugbrother Bert).

Please don't email me the dangers of dogs eating yeast, or report me to the ASPCA, or whine about all the typos...*I DID NOT WRITE THIS!* I just thought it was funny and thought I'd pass along a laugh by cutting and pasting.

Enjoy!



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Jasper and the Unbaked Yeast Rolls

We have a fox terrier by the name of Jasper. He came to us in the summer of 2001 from the fox terrier rescue program. For those of you, who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child about whom you know nothing and committing to doing your best to be a good parent. Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He will only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to my face as he can get without actually performing a French kiss on me. Lest you think this is a badcase of 'no discipline,' I should tell you that Perry and I tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several nights. The new door cost over $200. But I digress.

Five weeks ago we began remodeling our house. Although the cost of the project is downright obnoxious, it was 20 years overdue AND it got me out of cooking Thanksgiving for family, extended family, and a lot of friends that I like more than family most of the time. I was assigned the task of preparing 124 of my famous yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts we did attend. I am still cursing the electrician for getting the new oven hooked up so quickly. It was the only appliance in the whole darn house that worked, thus the assignment.I made the decision to cook the rolls on Wed evening to reheat Thurs am. Since the kitchen was freshly painted, you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams #586, I put the rolls on baking sheets and set them in the living room to rise for a few hours. Perry and I decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour. The rolls were ready to go in the oven. It was 8:30 PM. When I went to the living room to retrieve the pans, much to my shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. I called out to Jasper and my worst nightmare became a reality. He literally wobbled over to me. He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated. I ran to the phone and called our vet. After a few seconds of uproarious laughter, he told me the dog would probably be okay; however, I needed to give him Pepto Bismol every 2 hours for the rest of the night. God only knows why I thought a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than my kids did when they were sick. Suffice it to say that by the time we went to bed the dog was black, white and pink. He was so bloated we had to lift him onto the bed for the night.

We arose at 7:30 and as we always do first thing, put the dog out to relieve himself. Well, the dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking, his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction. He couldn't lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline in our back yard he couldn't stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence. His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon. I endured another few seconds of laughter from the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk. He assured me that, not unlikemost binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol. Afraid to leave him by himself in the house, Perry and I loaded him up and took him with us to my sister's house for the first Thanksgiving meal ofthe day. My sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car between Perry and I, we took off.

Now I know you probably don't believe that dogs burp, but believe me when I say that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that's not the worst of it. Now he was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls. God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth! We endured this for the entire trip to Karen 's, thankful she didn't live anyfurther away than she did. Once Jasper was firmly placed in my sister's garage with the door locked, we finally sat down to enjoy our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness my drunken dog, each returning with a tale of Jasper's latest endeavor to walk without running into something.

Of course, as the old adage goes, 'what goes in must come out' and Jasper was no exception. Granted if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas a dog's digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. I discovered this was a mixed blessing when we prepared to leave Karen 's house. Having discovered his 'packages' on the garage floor, we loaded him up inthe car so we could hose down the floor. This was another naive decisionon our part. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blastfrom the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to setup and cure. We finally tried to remove it with a shovel. I (obviously no one else was going to offertheir services) had to get on my hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn't degrading enough, the darn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed too. Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so we took him home and dropped him off before we left for our second Thanksgiving dinner at Perry's sister's house.

I am happy to report that as of today (Monday) the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolor. None the worse for wear I presume. I am also happy to report that just this evening I found 2 risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door. It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them but decided hiding 2 ofthem for later would not be a bad idea. Now, I'm doing research on the computer as to: 'How to clean unbaked dough from the carpet.'

So how was YOUR day?

Christmas Meme A.K.A. A Way To Keep Mommy Out Of The Nuthouse!!!!

Well...mommy is getting back to her old self, with just a bit more edge than normal. She's very crabby and irritated at the fact that she can't stand upright yet, her skin is very tight and ITCHY and she says "these #$%& pills make me $%^&# nauseous!!!" She says she is going stir crazy so she decided to do the Christmas Meme that is floating around out there in bloggerland to keep her from starting projects she shouldn't be doing.

Here is proof that she's ok. She's being gross and showing off her DRAINS in this picture!!! EEEWWWW!!! She gets them taken out on Friday and promises to show off her new FLAT tummy after then. I can't wait to climb up in her lap! Her Plastic Surgeon said that I can't sleep with her for a while because I might have FECAL MATERIAL on me! EXCUUUSE ME? FECAL???? I am SOOO offended! Fecal indeed!

So I ask you....is this the face of a FECAL Pug?????? Come ON!

ANYWAY.... here it is....the 2008 Christmas Meme. Remember...Mom is bored and has NOTHING better to do (and this meme took her most of the day on and off because typing and reading make her #$%^ nauseous too!)
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1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper, with ribbons and nice bows for most. Mimi (mom's mom) is a very Martha Stewartesque type wrapper and HER mom was a gift wrapper for Hudsons for many years, so Mom says she had good teachers.


This isn't mom's BEST work, but it's typical of this Christmas.


2. Real tree or Artificial?
Normally mom would just answer "artificial" and move on, but her answer right now is...
"Are you frigging KIDDING me? FAKE all the way!!! There is no way in #$% I'm vacuuming up pug hair AND tree needles eleventy five times a week. PLUS...what do you suppose might happen with a big open bowl of water that you stick the thing in??? HELLOOOOO? We'd be at the #$%& vet's office faster than you can say O' Tannenbaum. Yeah, mark us down for FAKE!


3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually the day after Thanksgiving or that weekend after.

VERY cute pic of Holden and I after the lyre tree was finished this year!

4. Wreath on your door?
Yeah, we have one. Here is me looking cute with it.


5. Do you like eggnog?
Mom LOVES it and has a "bariatric friendly" recipe that she makes so she won't get sick or fat from it (both aren't good in her book).
1 pkg (4 serving size) sugar-free instant vanilla pudding
About a tablespoon of Splenda
7 cups skim milk
A few good grates of fresh nutmeg
1 12 ounce can evaporated skim milk
2 teaspoons imitation rum flavor extract

Shake it all up in a big pitcher (or half empty gallon milk jug!) and enjoy it without the guilt or hangover!


6. Favorite Christmas gift received as a child?
This one is easy! Mom says her ROLLER SKATES that she got when she was 8 from Mimi and Pa. She didn't think she'd get them because Mimi and Pa said they were so expensive and she vividly remembers the feeling of sheer joy and amazement when she opened them (and subsequently wore them out along with about 3 other pair!) Here is a pic....

That carpet would have been nice for hiding Pug Puke!!!


7. Easiest person to buy for?
Holden. He's pretty easy. He likes everything Lego or Star Wars related.

This was taken last year around 7am. Daddy is NOT happy!

8. Least easy?
Mommy says that Mimi and Pa are tough. She says she always wants to give them something nice, but they have EVERYTHING.

We REALLY think Mimi and Pa need a PUG to keep them company. Maybe next year!

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
No. Mom says it's probably just as well because she said I'd probably eat the Baby Jesus or a camel or something and then we'd have a huuuuuuuuge vet bill.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
MAIL! Who emails Christmas cards? This was our Christmas Card picture this year.

Notice anything MISSING??? ME perhaps?????? Nice family picture SANS PUG!!!! I guess I was too FECAL to travel to Toronto with them this summer or something. Nice.


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Mom says she's loved every gift she's ever received. It's the thought that counts.
(hahahaha...must be the pills talking! Nice answer mom!)


12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Christmas Story....without question! Mom could watch it a billion times and still laughs!

You'll shoot your eye out kid!!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Mom is one of those people that shop year round. She gets all angsty in crowds, so she likes to avoid the rush and nonsense of actual Christmas shopping.


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Probably. Not sure what...but I'm sure at some point I have.


15. Open presents on Christmas eve or morning?
Depends what the family situation is. We usually just go with the flow and do it when everyone is here and it makes sense.


16. Lights on the tree?
White and ONLY white. Non flashing/seizure inducing. Just plain white.



17. Favorite Christmas song?
Can you believe mom can't STAND Christmas music of ANY sort???? She says that "Do They Know It's Christmastime" song by Band Aid doesn't make her ears bleed....but that's about it.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Stay HOME and out of the insanity if it can be helped!!!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
Yes, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. Mom says that Santa is a pervert to have given all but ONE of his reindeer STRIPPER names.

Maybe Rudolph was the bouncer....


20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
This year we have a Lyre as a topper on one, and a santa hat on the other. We have a pointy thing that we normally do, but didn't use it this year. Mommy does a "Citadel" tree for Daddy in the study and uses one of his old shako hats as a topper (sorry...no pic! Can you believe that?)


21. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
MMMMMM FRUITCAKE!!!!!!! Mommy LOOOOOVES those little Hostess fruitcakes and says NO ONE is allowed to make fun of her until they've gone out and tried one for themselves. They're DELICIOUS!!!!!!!



22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
The crowds and people acting even more rude than normal.


23. Favorite Tree ornament, theme or color?
Lyre tree! Mom has been collecting them since college.



24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Mom has made prime rib OR Beef Wellington for Christmas Dinner for about the last 10 years or so. YUMMMMY!

25. Brussels Sprouts - love or hate them?
They're ok. Daddy loves them the way mom does them with bacon and onion. ME (the Pug) not so much!

Ummmmm....I need to speak with the chef. This simply WILL NOT do!


26. Favorite accompaniment to the Christmas Pud?
Ok, we can only assume this means "pudding" as in that British steamed pudding stuff. Mom doesn't make it because we're not British and the rest of us would rather stuff our faces on cookies anyway.


27. Favorite Christmas Carol?
Ummmm...didn't we already cover this????


28. Your very Favorite Christmas Thing?
Mom says her family and friends. She has the BEST batch of each!

Now THIS is a family Christmas Card picture!!!!! Pug featured prominently in the front!!!


29. A Christmas wish!
To end all suffering in the world, whether it be human, animal, vegetable or mineral. I think that covers it.

30. Tag a Seasonal Six!
If you're reading this.......YOU'RE IT! Have fun. Feel free to complete after a fistful of Vicodin!!!!!