Have you ever seen a dog disgusted with life?

A couple of Weeks ago, my pooch , Quincy had to go to the groomers. He was looking gorgeous, just how I like him all white and fluffy, but we are in Texas, it is 100 Degrees and the dog's coat had to go. We took him to the local Petco. Soulmate dropped him off. Now, soulmate loves our dog as much as life itself but it is a bit of an insult to his ego that his dog of choice is a white fluffy Cock-A-poo and not a British Mastiff. Soulmate therefore instructed the groomer to ensure his dog looked manly! Later I get the call from Petco that Quince was ready for pick up. Well, I now have a skinny "Manly" white dog with bushy eyebrows . As you may or not know I am British, so I am unsure if you have heard of the Susan Boyle, Simon Cowell's discovery on Britain's got talent, before the makeover, but that is now my dog!

Anyway, I digress, following grooming, Quincy has been licking his paw, which is not unusual however a few days ago I noticed a nice red bump. Quincy has been licking this crazily and it has been growing and getting bloody. I tried a sock, I tried antiseptic spray with a deterrent, but the last laugh is on me as Quincy LOVED the taste and continued.

Decided it was tine for a vet visit. Quincy has been diagnosed with a Histocytoma, a benign (thank God) tumour that regresses on it's own if the dog stops licking it. If not he will need to have it surgically removed along with the digit. So treatment consist of antibiotics and monitoring. Now, back to the title of this blog entry. To stop himself from licking his paw Quincy has to wear an Elizabethan collar. Now, I put the collar on and after the initial scratching he didn't put up too much fuss until I went to make lunch. Quincy came running into the Kitchen and bounced off the Island, decided to try to pass on the other side and bounced off that too. Quincy is now getting irritated and decided to try one final attempt so he rubs up to me and shoves the collar in the back of my legs to get my attention! Disgusted with the state of affairs, Quincy slouches off.

Feeling sorry for the little guy albeit extremely amused I decided to find him. He is standing in my office, as still as a statue, with a look on his face that just said it all. "why, oh why did you do this to me mum!"

Shame Soulmate had the camera as it was a classic!

First Day

Today is my kids first day of school in Texas. Now, anyone who knows me knows I'm not the sappy kind but there is something about the first day that chokes me up. They look so cleanly scrubbed, excited for the what the day may bring and sooooooo grown up.

Baby is entering first grade. He walked tall carrying his new backpack wondering what friends he will meet and trying to desperately to remember his address and phone number so he can "tell all his new friends".

First born looked so pretty, with a new haircut and clothes. Wanting to walk home from school, worrying about taking a shower in Gym, where her locker will be and wondering how many friends she will make. The both of them are so grown up and time has just gone by in a blink of an eye.

I am so proud of my kids that I can drag them across the country from NY to TX, that they settle into their new life so easily and face this huge step of starting a new school with nothing more then excitement and confidence. I love those kids!

....and me, well I did shed a few tears, have not done too much work today, I keep looking at the clock and their schedules wondering what they are doing right now. But tomorrow, well, that's another day and another story.

My plan for the rest of the week: once the kids are at school, work like crazy to be done by noon and Cannon Balls here I come! Float in the pool for a little R & R after my busy morning and then get ready to pick the kids up from school. .. yeah, I am going to be alright, I am going to be just fine!

Random thoughts

First of all, is anyone actually reading this stuff? Do I have a secret follower of my thoughts or is this stuff just hanging in cyber space and then one day in the future some earthling wonders what the hell a blog is and what would posses a woman to right about it??? Anyway I digress.....

Top 5 funny things that happened recently thanks to baby.

1. Mum, when you were young was Abraham Lincoln president?

2. Standing in the line at Target baby asks the cashier, some 6ft 3" pimply face kid, "Did you like Pokemon when you were a Kid, coz I would like to buy your old cards?"

3. Same line at Target, looks in the return bin while at the checkout and states" scuse me, there is Spiderman stickers in here and since they are not in the right place can I keep them?"

4. Tells some random lady in the store" I am saving my money 'cos I get paid for chores but my mum makes me clean the whole house up and down, for like only 60 cents"

and the number 5 funny thing is....

5. While driving to the ENT baby asked why we keep checking his ears. I replied that we don't want any hearing problems since he has problems with his ears. " Oh no! am I going to be deaf? cos, that means I have to learn that hand stuff"

What a character and his mine, all mine.

Updates

What have we been up to since I last posted?...Well, The kids both had their first check ups with their new pediatrician. We started with Baby because he has ear tubes and many issues. Well, he is 75% for height and he can't hear out of his left ear, so..... referral to ENT and begin all this crap again. Baby has always had issues with his hearing and speech and I had noticed his speech has been declining, well now we know why. Get those ears cleaned out, hearing reinstalled and he will be sounding like a Texan cowboy in no time.

Funny event at the Doctors. During the exam, the Doctor explained that she needed to look in baby's underwear. The face on Baby was priceless! A half lopsided grin with a "I don't know if I like this part" After the Doctor had asked him to cough a couple of time and he was getting dressed Baby stated" I'm not sure if I like her looking at my privates!"

Next was firstborns turn, 95% for height, no surprises there, she is only 4 inches away from me! Well, it comes to the underwear thing again and Baby was also in the exam room at this time. We made him turn and face the wall to give his sister privacy. then, in all innocence Baby loudly pronounced" It's OK. I have always wanted to see my sisters privates!"

I quickly turned to look at the Doctor, Was she laughing ?or at the least please let her have slight smile? or was she about to loose her lunch at this perverted family from NY? Thankfully she was grinning. ........Phew! Guess she has now heard it all!

Boys

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.

Here's proof!

Movie Tavern

Another great weekend completed in Texas. Saturday was a nice lazy pool day. Firstborn had a play date and we all hung around in the pool, had a BBQ and went for ice cream. The perfect idyllic summer day. Sunday was cloudy and storms were approaching therefore we went to the movies. Now, this is something new to me coming from NY, no not going to the movies, but a movie tavern. It is set up like a regular movie theatre but every other row is taken out and replaced with a Bar. You can order drinks and food while you sit back and watch the movie. What More can you want!!! Alcohol to get you through yet another kids movie, in 3D no less.

Actually we saw G-Force which was pretty good. Should I be scared that I like movies with talking Guinea Pigs in them? What happened to the R rated horror movies I loved so much?what happened to the back row make out session hoping my parents didn't show up for the same movie? Oh well, we all change and this weekend we may go see Aliens in the Attic...another round please!!

Getting to know the neighbourhood

Well, it has been 1 month since we arrived in Texas. Feelings so far? Love it! I, of course miss our friends and family but all in all the experience and adjustment has gone smoothly. What have we done so far? Have found the local library, very busy, smaller then we are used to but very nice. The kids and I all became members, checked out books and have already been late returning them so no changes there. This past weekend was very exciting. Our first visit to a real Texas ranch. We set off with excitement in out hearts and even listened to some country music on the way. This was difficult for soul mate who is more used to listening to Black Eyed Peas not eating them. We arrived, and boy it was no disappointment. Cactus, dust, cattle, deer, horses and real live cowboys! Is there anything more hot then a good looking man in tight jeans, stetson, spurs, cowboy boots riding his trusty horse? ( I could think of other things he could be riding but we won't go there!).

Baby had an absolute blast, looking for snakes and coming up to me asking for baggies to take home the bugs he found. Unfortunately mama could just not get her hand on those baggies. Darn it! He also made a new Friend of Black Lab, Halle.

Firstborn enjoyed herself to with the horse riding etc but she did get a little bored looking for deer at 11pm with a spotlight on the pick up. OMG, I think I might be a redneck. Thankfully, there was a beautiful newborn present to keep firstborn happy.

There is nothing like sitting around the fire pit , listening to the occasional whinny of a horse or mooing of a cow looking for it's calf, hearing the gigantic crickets chirping. I wanted to get out my pioneer dress and cowboy boots , cook brisket and start putting my washing through the wringer, but then I realized the only cowboy boots I have were purchased in NY, the closest dress I have to pioneer woman is a little cotton spaghetti strap number, I don't know where to get a wringer and I am a vegetarian! Oh, well it was good while it lasted.