Pupdate: Morning Time

I once posted about how our dogs wake us up. . . If you recall, Tucker discovered his nose can turn on the touch lamp on our bedside table and found it is the most effective way to get me up from bed. Now, this pupdate is about when the dogs decide it's time to go back to bed; when they determine it's just too early to be up on a Sunday morning.

You can imagine what this bed would like like completely made. The comforter neatly in place pulled all the way up to the top of the bed. Four decorative pillows were neatly placed at the head of the bed in front of the four well-fluffed sleeping pillows. Only five minutes later, it looked like this: Only two of the four froofy pillows remained on the bed and and the other two were on the floor. The smallest of the four made its way to the foot of the bed where Tucker was resting quietly. When I asked him, "What did you do?", this was his response (below left).  He perked straight up as if he'd been caught. A few seconds later, he realized he wasn't in trouble and went back to his slumber (below right).

However, the real culprit in this bed-messing scheme was Little Miss Lily. She is the one who burrowed through the nicely-made bed to get herself comfortable. Tucker was an innocent bystander enjoying the fruits of her labor. She is the lump under the comforter on the right of the first photo. She hid making him look guilty. Smart little thing! :) Just another example of the many ways they make me smile!

Bearing Fruit: Friendship

Continuing on with my 2011 goal to bear fruit and be abundantly productive in multiple facets of life, I am reminded of what that means in friendship. As we all get older, the concept of friendship changes: the time, shared activities, shared interests, communication methods, interactions-everything. Most often, so do the actual friends. In some cases, there are lucky people who maintain friendships for life. I am currently wrapping up a book that highlights a group lucky enough to have lifelong friendships within a circle of 11 girls from grade school to mid-life. These women have shared experiences from training bras to potty training, wedding planning to divorce decisions, child births to parent deaths and have maintained their connection throughout.

The book is called The Girls from Ames and is mostly documented reminiscing on the part of each woman. Pairing their recollections with the observations of the writer who sits in on one of their annual reunions, the book is a quick read that will instantly make you think of friendships of your own-past or present. They've been through things I have not and some I hope my friends and I will never experience. Amidst the story-telling are splashes of research findings about friendship, marriage, and parenting. The most predominant message is that friendships, particularly and much more so female friendships, are important to a well-balanced life and have impact in our lives and marriages.

Friends serve as a sounding board that sometimes doesn't talk back but often does. They share interests and insights with us our partners might not. They fill a part of our life that we cannot rely on one person alone to fill. If we're lucky, they also reflect God's image and allow us to do the same in each other's lives. I am grateful for my friends. While I did not stay in one school system throughout my entire life as the Girls from Ames did (and many other Iowans I would presume), I can't tell you about the one friend I've had since kindergarten (let alone ten). However, I can tell you that I am blessed in the friendships I keep to this day.

I have friends from high school, college, and since that are prevalent in my life. Each of these friendships have changed and are changing frequently with marriages, children, careers, college and other activities being in our recent past or not-so-distant future. To keep bearing fruit in these relationships takes attention and intentional action. A shift in the life of a friend may require a shift in the friendship. In an effort to keep these friendships alive, I am trying to learn more about the people they're becoming, remind them of the people they were, and praise and celebrate the people they are.

Bearing fruit in my friendships means two things to me. I want to support them in whatever way I can and whatever ways they need. I want the same from them throughout my journey as well. While this changes from sleepovers to dinner parties, from trading clothes to trading recipes, from bachelorette parties to baby showers, I hope I can rise to the occasion. I am blessed to have the friendships I have and look forward to being productive in all of them-old, new, and yet to come.

After Series: Kitchen Sink

In an effort to follow through on my promise to share "afters" of the many projects we take on in our home, this is the first to be shared. As usual, there is no real "before" to be shared. We decided to replace our kitchen sink. The old one was a deep and wonderful white cast iron sink. The depth was great but the color was not easy to maintain. I was tired of bleaching it and Mike was tired of watching the water gather and not fall toward the drain as it should. So, enough was enough!

We went everywhere looking for the right sink and knew it had to be stainless steel. What we found is that we did have to sacrifice the depth. However, we also found it would only go best if we also added a garbage disposal. That makes sense, right? If you're going to tear the sink apart anyway, you might as well get the whole job done! It's decisions like these that make a small project grow bigger, take longer, and quickly become more expensive. So, under the sink he went. And, the dogs couldn't let him go alone. . .

 

In these kind of working conditions, a weekend project could easily last through Tuesday night and it did! The disposal is certainly what made the project harder. The easy stuff still made it take longer-counter had to be cut, everything needed re-caulked, the faucet had to be replaced to match the new sink, and the sawdust had to be cleaned up. (When I said easy, I meant easy for Mike). That is how this "weekend" project took four days! 

The crazy annoyances and outbursts many wives have imitated from years of home repair were replicated in our house during these days. Despite his agitation while attempting to follow the instructions he actually read while so many men would not have, he got it done! And the "after" is here. It's not that exciting or glamorous but it's the love and labor of my hubby in my home! 

With every sweaty home project, where the end result is not a work of art, I'd still consider it a work of heart!

Pupdate: GRADUATION!

Finally! We are, in fact, rewarded with great pleasure at the end of our dramatic 7-week journey through Beginner's Obedience Class!Our last night was blessed by a talent show from each of the dogs. The kids did wonderfully leading up to the group photo of half the class shown at the bottom of the collage. Lily also played very well with the first group as you can see in the top left corner. Tucker did a great "focus" and wowed the crowd with his "dance" and "pawshake"! Lily did just as well with the typical commands and both got a houseful of smiles on their "up" in which they jump into our arms to be carried to departure!


This led to the resolution of both becoming graduates! Lily wore her cap and gown for the shot on the left.

Tucker hardly wasn't quite as agreeable to adorning the graduation cap but we did get a pic!








Both received certificates commemorating their accomplishment. However, the real work came from us. Not that we deserve all the credit but obedience training takes much more work and training for the parents than the pups! It took a lot of discipline to keep after at-home training sessions, repeat all the commands, and maintain the consistent rewards they need for good behavior while resisting the urge to correct unnecessarily.  We learned a lot. 


There are still plenty of tricks we could learn but we are very pleased with our progress. We think the issues we ran into had a lot to do with the leashes. Our dogs are friendly, fun-loving, people-pleasers who we believe are ready for puppy-mingling play dates and they're looking forward to one next weekend already! We appreciate the training, apologize to our classmates for the growling and are thrilled we had the opportunity to put that frilly dress on Lily (and promise not to make that a frequent occasion)!

Recipe: Wild West Chicken Enchilladas

These started from a Betty Crocker recipe that came with a free calendar. I changed it a bit and believe I may have made it healthier. It was surprisingly tasty and I can't wait to make it again. I even shared it at work so promised to post the recipe for others to access!

Original recipe for Wild West Sizzlin' Chicken Tacos can be found at http://www.bettycrocker.com/.

The re-make:

Wild West Chicken Enchilladas

Ingredients:
3 cups chicken breasts, cut into strips (Instead of breaded chicken strips)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (Added to taste)
8 soft tortillas (Instead of hard shells)
12 ounces baked beans, reduced fat
2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
6 slices turkey bacon, cooked and cut into pieces  (Instead of regular bacon)
2 cups pepperjack monterrey cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In frying pan, cook chicken strips until tender with no pink remaining.

In small sautee pan, cook pepper strips in a touch of oil to soften.

Combine cooked chicken, sauteed pepper, beans, seasoning and barabecue sauce in a medium mixing bowl.

Fill a tortilla with an eighth of the mixture (about 1/3 cup), sprinkle with cheese, roll, and place in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Repeat with all tortillas filling the pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake for 8-10 minutes until heated through.

Serve with reduced fat sour cream and enjoy!

Reality TV: Afters

One of Shakespeare's many pieces of wisdom told us "All the world's a stage". I've come to believe him. I certainly had a childhood full of stage-ready behavior and a love of drama. I'd like to think my adulthood thus far doesn't exactly match. However, todays'a reality TV would make us think most are stage-ready. Whether it's your average Teen Mom, roadie who's Married to Rock, hopeless romantic single hoping to score the next Bachelor, aspiring Design Star, or working mom making life simple with 5 ingredients or less, there's a stage for all of them. You could even hoard cats, collect antiques, and buy other less fortunate souls' storage units and be ready for TV!

What channel would your life be on? There are channels featuring faith-based programming, DIY tips, home and garden renovations, cartoons only, kid-friendly content, educational programming, animal training etcetera. What would your show be called? I'd like to think I'd make it on HGTV but there's no way I could pick just one topic. As with many other young couples, we used to watch HGTV to see what other people were buying or doing. Now, we watch it for ideas, inspiration and instructions! Mike Holmes may very well be idolized in our household. However, there's one reason I just know I wouldn't make it on HGTV. I never get before shots!

I do projects and then have people ask how'd you do that?. Well. . . let me think. I guess I'm one of those people who only prefers people see the end results-once they're polished and worthy of a moderate amount of showing off. So, forgive me for posting more afters than before & after combinations. And, know that I don't just post for bragging rights. I am actually drawn to share projects for multiple reasons. One-I find inspiration in the weirdest places so who's to say someone wouldn't find it from my own past successes (or tips from our failures)? Two-I'm usually pretty proud of the work that goes into a project. This often includes my husband's effort and learning process and all wives should know that bragging on your husband is a great way to spend your time. Third-this is how I spend most of my time (once you include cooking and cleaning) so what else do I really have to share? So, coming soon-a series of Afters! DIY, Re-makes, Touch-ups, Personalizations. . . you name it-I'll share it!

Pupdate: Redemption

This week, for class, we separated our dynamic duo to see if some of the rowdy behavior would decrease. The first hour was Lily and her mama. She made me a proud mama indeed! She let out a couple nervous barks upon arrival and would have rather stayed in my arms for the first few minutes but it quickly passed! She was awesome at approaching the other dogs during the socialization exercises. Once we moved on to individual training exercises, she did even better. In fact, out of 6 contest held with 4 other dogs present, she won 5! She was amazingly attentive and responsive to commands. The trainer was overjoyed at Lily's demeanor. She didn't have Tucker's anxiety to react to and was able to quickly get over hers within the short training session.

At the end of class, I waited until the trainer was distracted by two other dogs. In fact, they were a brother-sister pair in the naughty corner we usually occupied when we were all together. I took advantage letting Lily approach the dogs she'd been trying to greet off and on in the down time during class. The trainer doesn't normally let us do it but these were not the aggressive ones in the group so, I let her flirt! She was so good. Before we left, three dogs-Lily, a labradoodle named Toby, and a beagle-shelty mix named Wally- were all playing peacefully merry-go-round style with the puppy parents trying to keep all the leashes untangled. It was the best ten minutes of all six weeks of class so far!

The next hour, Mike took Tucker to class and started with the roughest 10 minutes yet. The other 2 dogs in attendance were new to Tucker and were energetic puppies. Again, they weren't allowed to greet each other so his anxiety built. Feeling their energy and excitment, it was harder to deter him from approaching them than it had been in the past (my theory is still that he'd do just fine if they got to meet safely first). After that, he was a champ! Winning contests, staying for extended periods of time in spite of several distractions, and responding very well to praise and commands! I'm so thrilled we were able to display for the trainer that they really are great and people-pleasing dogs!

Next week is graduation! We'll get certificates for passing the beginners' class and take a class picture! Lily has been invted to attend both sessions next week due to her examplary behavior-I hope she can live up to that for 2 full hours next week. They get to do tricks for the entire class to watch how well they've learned. What I'm most excited for is showing all the tricks Tucker did before we ever even started these classes. Taking classes certainly turned into a whirlwind but I'm hoping grduation week shows it was all worth it. I'll take pictures! This may even call for a new outfit for Miss Lily! I wonder if a child's clip-on tie will fit Tucker's collar. Hmm. . . :)

Bearing Fruit: My Power Source

For the past two weeks, I've heard numerous radio clips regarding the difficulty surrounding New Year's resolutions. Not very often in the past have I taken my own too seriously. This year, I've tried to stay focused on my resolution to bear fruit and be abundantly productive in all aspects of life. In the first ten days of the year, I received a clear message that this is, in fact, the resoultion I was meant to take on and the one that will reap benefits for myself and those around me.

At my church on Sunday, the first few minutes of the service mentioned the exact phrase: "bear fruit" and my ears perked listening even more intently than before. The teacher said that we can only bear fruit if plugged into the power source. So, referring to my original mango tree example from my previous post, the power source would be water mixed with fertile soil and appropriate climate and conditions. For me, the power source is God. To attend the second church service of the year and feel like the teacher was speaking directly to me was surreal. While I would have been able to tell you before that my power source is God, it takes on even stronger meaning when on this mission this year. Thus, I looked for the verse that would directly support my 2011 mission:

John 10:10: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ~words of Jesus

Knowing that I am plugged into the ultimate power source encourages me as I take on the challenge to identify ways in which I already live an abundat life and ways in which I can live more abundantly. This encouragement is further enhanced when reminded that this is the exact intent God had for sending us his son. I hope, moving forward on my mission to be abundantly productive in my relationships, all of you who surround me may be positively impacted on my journey through the next year. I hope that your own New Year's resultions are proving fruitful thus far as well!

This Week's Lesson From TV: Second Chances

This past week, TV stories have had a resounding theme: second chances. Starting with last Monday and the season premiere of The Bachelor, the theme began. The bachelor this year is the bachelor from a couple years ago who left empty-handed with no fiance and is back with his baggage "in check". The premier proved this about second chances: they do not come without skepticism. Every one of the 25 girls came with doubts about his intentions even more so than the 2 girls he left standing alone during his last season. With every step he takes forward and every good answer he gives to the many questions will come more skeptical thoughts and chatter amongst the women. We'll see if that skepticism keeps him from a true second chance or has no effect on it becoming reality.

Another story of second chances came from every major news show on air: The Man with the Golden Pipes. A homeless man held a sign stating that he had the gift of voice and a news reporter took the bait asking for an example. He got one and it became the famous clip that I'm sure you've seen. While the past week has been a whirlwind of TV appearances, job offers, and contract negotiations for Ted Williams, the point from which it started proves this: second chances are hard to come by. While his own actions and decisions led to the circumstances that ruined his "first chance", that same skepticism proven in my first example shows here too. To have been homeless hoping this is the year for the past ten years second chances don't come easy.  There are several reasons the skeptics are out but only time will tell if his voiced commitment and thanks to God will keep him grounded and on track!

The third TV lesson on second chances regarded Heaven and showed that they can be treated wisely and reap benefits! On Parenthood, a bird died on the back porch and the very young girl who lived there, along with her parents, brought it inside to nurse it back to health.  Obviously, you can guess that feat didn't work out so well. 

The parents disagreed on how to explain where the bird would go after dying. Despite the disagreement, the mother, when on the spot, told her daughter about Heaven. Her explanation included some long-awaiting family reunion which included, not only the bird, but Daddy's mommy who died when the girl was really little. Ah-that explains Daddy's rejection of Heaven as the explanation to share. At the show's end, it shows his subtle emotional breakdown and gratitude to his wife for reiterating the realization of Heaven. It was a heartwarming example of a real life struggle others surely face and the relief shown by giving Heaven a second chance. We welcome him back to reality!

To dig even deeper into second chances: one news story is showing the fight for one. Over the weekend,  Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was shot in the head during an attempted assassination yet to be explained. Continued headlines stress her fight for a second chance at life. This gives yet another lesson about second chances-and perhaps the most important-there is often hope. Skipping the skepticism, helping along the journey and trying to get to the positive ending that a second chance can have leads to the hope that surrounds and the warm fuzzies we all get regarding stories of second chances. Thus, we can all help others in need of or in the midst of second chances by providing hope and encouragement rather than more obstacles through doubt. That is my favorite conclusion of all this week's lessons from TV regarding second chances!

Pupdate

We resumed our doggie training classes after a week off for the holidays. While our little treasures are a joy at home, they resumed their same behavior that the trainer was taken aback by the last 2 classes. At home, we're working on sit, stay, lay, come, kennel, etcetera. There is even a stand and relax command to be worked on. Stand is simply to get them to come up on all fours from a lay or sit position. I'm not sure when it will prove helpful but I still get excited every time they do it when told (and baited with a treat and praised immediately afterward). The relax command tries to get them to lay on their side and is supposed to be used for calming. We're still working it as they do need some calming from time to time.

Tucker is great with people. He jumps to say hello (as you can see) which can be a bit much for a toddler and that will be a hard habit to break. He wants to greet everyone and every dog he meets making this his hardest habit to break. At class, he's not allowed to greet the other dogs because he's gotten so aggressive in trying to do so that it looks more like an attack in the works. Quite a change from the snuggly kisses I'm used to. Tucker not only kisses, he hugs so that makes any growl from him even more surprising. While we've never had an issue outside of class, I hope we can get to a point where he's great even in class so I can feel better that he'll never cross that line.

Lily does really well and is probably even better at class than at home. . . until Tucker freaks out at class and then she barks and gets shaky even though she doesn't seem to know what she's reacting to. They certainly feed off each other. Lily's biggest issue right now revolves around her insecurity. Apparently, it's an issue for both of them (and most other dogs) causing anxiety and reaction to any unfamiliar circumstances. Lily also has a perch that we need to take out from under her. The only times I've ever seen her get growly and snippy are when she's perched in one of her two favorite places: our empty bed and the back of our couch. Most of her pictures are in such spots! So, off the furniture and off the bed.

These new rules are coming from the pack mentality. We have to do certain things that will show them that we are pack leader in the same ways one would in the wild. Eat first. Ignore upon entry. Only play or pet when we want versus when they want. Own all toys and only allow them to have them when we choose. Make them obey a command before any positive interaction: to be petted, let outside, given a dirty plate (not sure that's completely  by the rules). The pack mentality also says that leaders sit & sleep higher and more comfortably than their followers. Thus, we have to get these dogs back down the totem pole so they know who the leaders truly are.

  

For those of you who know us well-this is not an easy feat. What a difficult process this has become. We adore our dogs like they are our kids and that has apparently caused issues we didn't even know we had before  training! So, we continue to work with them and they're likely to pack on some pounds in the process as we use hot dogs and cheese for treats at class!

Goodbye 2010

Saying goodbye to 2010 involves much celebration! This past year. . .
2 of my best friends got pregnant and I'm so excited for both of them!
1 of my best friends had a baby and she's adorable!
We got our new house and shortened our commutes to about 10 minutes each!
We each got different cars! Unfortunately one was due to my being hit in March :(
We added Lily to our family giving Tucker a playmate!
We built on old friendships and watched some lucky friends start new relationships!
I got a new smile! No before and after necessary.
We spent my birthday at Backbone!
Mike spent a weekend in Michigan for his birthday!
Our niece, Libby, started Kindergarten!
Our nephew, Langdon, is in preschool!
The dogs started obedience training ! They're not graduates yet.
We went to Vegas! For work but still. . .
We spent time with family and each other!