Day For Two

Today was a day where not much happened yet it was a perfect, memory making, special day despite the appearances of being ordinary.  Nothing amazing or astounding happened. No big life event.  No moment of greatness. Just a continued subtle wonderfulness that won't happen again for quite some time.  I spent the whole day hanging out with my son.  All day long we were together laughing and talking and sharing the day. We didn't do anything extraordinary - except neither of us worked and neither of us had any commitments elsewhere.  We didn't have our cell phones on, we didn't have our computers with us, we just hung out together and enjoyed each other's company for the entire day. It was awesome.  My son is SO funny and so witty. He is a blast to be with.  He had me laughing so hard, I had tears in my eyes and we had just the best time all day long. It was a perfect day.  I think I will make a point to have more days like this in the future.  There will always be a "To-Do" list and there will always be chores and work. However there are hardly enough  perfect days of togetherness where I am submerged in complete happiness just hanging out with my very tall, very mature, very handsome, awesome son. The best part was seeing his smile all day long and knowing without a doubt, he was having a perfect day as well. A day for two? Yes please!!!!!

Pure Bliss

Today....I did.......NOTHING. Yes. Nothing. As in nothing productive whatsoever.  It was pure bliss.  I woke up and sat on a chair in the sun and read...all day long.  I sat in my chair from breakfast until dinner. I didn't work. I didn't email. I didn't really move at all.  I sat there and read the entire book from cover to cover. I can't tell you what a perfect day it was.  I love to read. If I had the time, I would gladly  read every single day. Sadly, I only have a few days a year where I have the luxury of reading so I try to cram in as many books as I can. I usually can read an entire book in a single day and my favorite thing is to have the time to do just that. If I put a book down - who knows how long it will be before I have the opportunity to read again and by that time - I will have forgotten the plot, setting, characters and everything else about the book and have to start over.  I have done that many times thinking...this all seems familiar...oh right..I already started this same book about 10 times. So today was an awesome day. Well at least for me.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres probably doesn't think it was quite so awesome as he had the complete opposite day. Mr. Yesteryear Acres did.....everything. Yes. Everything.  Thank you Mr. Yesteryear Acres! I loved my day!!!!

Beep Beep...Watch Out!

Oh man did we have the BEST day today!  My son and I have permanent smiles plastered to our faces.  We did something we have NEVER done before nor did we ever think the opportunity would arise. Today we rode Segways!!!!!! I don't know about you, but I wasn't all that sold on Segways looking like that much fun, but we were offered a fantastic deal to try one out for 30 minutes and couldn't refuse. OH MY GOSH! They are really really really fun!  My son of course got the hang of it in less that 30 seconds.  My comfort level didn't settle in for about 15 minutes but once it did - I was hooked!!!  It is really a blast!!!! We were doing little back and forth turns and my son did 360* turns with ease.  We got to go full speed and it was just awesome!  My son and I had a whole day off of work. A whole day to be together. AND a whole day of smiles!!!! 

What's my Picture?

To say I am a competitive person would be a slight understatement. I love to play games - and let's face it - I love to win.  Evidently I have passed this trait onto my children as they all love playing games and are equally competitive.  We are really good sports - and are never sore losers - but we do get an extra big kick out of winning!  We love card games, board games, word games - you name it.  I really love playing word games.  I try and play Scrabble every day with my sister - we play one word a day online and never get tired of it. My younger daughter found a drawing game online which is SO much fun.  It is just like pictionary except there is no time limit so you can take your time drawing the clue. I happen to be the WORST artist.  Honestly - even my stick people are awful! The funny thing is  - my younger daughter can guess my drawings just like that!  She is so quick to guess that my horrible oblong sad wimpy blob is actually the globe and the clue is "Earth".  She makes me so happy when she guesses my drawings.  Hers are really cute and now we have started to send each other messages with our pictures so every day I look forward to my picture of the day.  Game playing online - even for just 5 minutes each day - makes the distance between us just melt away.  I can't wait to see what my picture is today!

Magnolia - We Love You!

My favorite tree is our huge Magnolia tree that is right beside our home. It is always filled with the most beautiful blossoms in the spring. I love to take pictures of the magnolia flowers in bloom. I love to sit under the branches and stare up at the sky through the flowers. I love that tree.  Sadly, our Magnolia tree did NOT blossom this spring!  We have never had a spring without Magnolia flowers! Mr. Yesteryear Acres and I cannot figure out what is wrong with our tree.  We are both so sad as we have lots of fond memories associated with our beautiful tree.  We have taken so many puppy pictures with the Magnolia blossoms behind the puppies. We have pictures of our kids through the years with the tree.  My oldest daughter had her high school senior picture taken under the tree.  Our Magnolia tree is a part of our family.  We are working hard to figure out how to save it. Dear Magnolia tree - we love you!  Come back!  Come back!  Please be okay!

MAIL Call

I love getting emails.  I get mail every single day and every single day, I open an email that just makes me smile from ear to ear.  I am really lucky because my inbox always has something really nice waiting for me.  I love getting puppy updates. I often get pictures of puppies happily living in their new homes.  I love the cute pictures with the puppies sleeping with their blankies from Yesteryear Acres. I love the cute puppy pictures with the puppies romping around in their new backyards.  I really love the cute puppy pictures where the puppy has an older doggie best friend to play with. Those are always so precious. I adore getting mail from families that have our puppies from  years ago. I get lots of "Happy Birthday to "_____" type emails with adorable pictures of our puppies all grown up.  I feel fortunate to have puppy pictures and doggie pictures, and updates, and "look at me now" mail almost every day. It is awesome.  I am also really lucky because my daughters both email me just about every day. I love hearing about their days and all the happenings in their lives.  They can write the funniest emails as well and I find myself laughing so hard, tears roll down my face.  They are great writers and even when they have the worst of days, they turn things around and can make me crack up when they share their tales of woe. So thank you to everyone that has taken the time to email me with your stories! I love reading my mail!

I Believe!

We are actually beginning to make progress on our long long long time project of restoring our bedroom. What was supposed to take a few months to do has now crept up to almost three solid years of agonizingly painfully sloooooow work. It is so frustrating because Mr. Yesteryear Acres works so hard. Every day he works from sun up to sun down. Every free minute he has is spent working.  The bedroom is a non-animate, non-emergency, non-priority entity.  It does not need watering. It does not need bathing. It does not need walks, or nails trimmed, or vet check-ups, or snuggles.  And so it sits.  Day after day after day.  Doggie's and puppies ALWAYS trump the bedroom restoration project. Well FINALLY the dark cloud on the project is lifting! Mr. Yesteryear Acres has finished putting up the crown molding! The plaster has all been repaired! The primer coat is going on!!  I believe! I believe it will get finished! I feel full of happy optimism!! Come on Mr. Yesteryear Acres! You Can Do It!

Hey! I heard that!

The little puppies can now hear as their little ears have opened up.  Now when we walk into the kitchen we get greeted with little tiny "barks" of appreciation.  They are getting bigger each day and it won't be too long before they start doing a little exploring.  They still mostly sleep and nurse but you can see little hints of puppyness in there.  I took all new pictures this morning.  You would think that it is very easy to get pictures of teeny tiny little puppies. You would never guess that I have to take over 300-400 pictures each week in order to get a few excellent shots. Well here is why....
You really really really want this picture.......

Awwwww soooooo cute

But

what happens is

You end up getting 100 pictures just like this one.....

You can't make us say "CHEESE!"

OH how puppies LOVE to turn away at the last second!

Persistence (and lots and lots and lots of photos) does pay off in the end

okay okay...you can take my portrait shot

And when they both look at the camera at the same time....

Awwwwww! Success!!!!!!!

There is always one puppy who is willing to pose

Isn't he adorable?!

(If you look really closely, you can see his brother is facing the wrong way)

And

 if you wait long enough......

Three puppies posing at once!

Yea!

Happy Puppy Picture day!

Spring Break Time!

Today is the last day of school for my son and then SPRING BREAK TIME!  I am really excited for spring break this year.  In the past, I have done some really fun things with my girls over spring break. We have had some wonderful adventures together.  My son however has preferred to stay home with his dad and help get all the work done at Yesteryear Acres.  He is a very committed and hard working boy! Last spring break, at the very last second, my son changed his mind and wanted to accompany me but sadly it was too late. I couldn't change the reservation and add him as no changes were allowed at that point.  I felt horrible because I had to leave him behind. My son ended up having an awesome time at home and Mr. Yesteryear Acres made sure they did some fun things together, but I promised my son that we would for sure do something together the very next spring break. And now here it is!  Spring Break 2012! I haven't gone on a fun adventure (not puppy related) with my son and I am so excited.  The thing I am most excited for is......my son will have a vacation! When I say he always is working - I am not exaggerating. He takes all honors classes in high school and gets excellent grades, runs track and field, works at Yesteryear Acres and in his "free" time - takes the doggies out hiking and swimming.  He is always busy and always working.  It is rare to see him sit down.  He takes after his father that way. Mr. Yesteryear Acres is always working and they are both so dedicated to the doggies and puppies - they are the reason that Yesteryear Acres is full of happy 4 legged furry friends!  My son asked me, "how can I go an entire week with NO work?"  I said, "Today - you will find out!"  Let the fun begin!

Closet Change

I guess it is time to admit that thick heavy sweaters, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc. are no longer appropriate clothing items for this time of year. Today will be the 3rd day in a row we have had temperatures over 80*.  It is flat out SUMMER outside! I just about MELTED last night while trying to sleep. It is HOT in my house!!!! This morning, I went to my closet to find something to wear and all I could say was, "no, no, nope, nuh uh, no way, won't work, nope, nada, no and zilch.  I couldn't bear wearing the same T-shirt again so I had to face reality.  Time to switch my closet!  I don't have enough room to hold both my winter and summer clothes so I have to do the big job of switching all the clothes 2x a year.  I started arduous task by finding my summer clothes.  Right there - that is half the battle!  Each year I label the clothing storage bags  ever so carefully and then up to the attic they go.  By the time the next clothing season rolls along...who knows where my carefully placed bags go!  Santa Claus, Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, pool floats, life jackets, snorkel gear - anything and everything is up in the attic and my clothes end up getting pushed aside into the dark abyss. It is a hot and miserable job just to get to my clothes!  Once I had that accomplished, I looked at all the work that lay before me and thought, "well done you!" I gave myself an A+ for getting down my summer clothes and decided to wait for a cooler day to do all the bagging and switching.  I mean it is miserably hot upstairs! I figured I can tackle that job a little later. Now that I have made a definitive commitment to work on my drawers and closet and put away all my winter clothes.......be ready for the coldest weather week EVER. I am predicting a freak snowstorm/blizzard the moment my winter coat is placed in the attic. If a snowstorm heads your way - you will know - in that precise moment.... I have just put the last of my winter clothes away for the summer! Be ready!

Pretty Spring Day

It is so lovely outside!  The flowering trees are all in bloom and everywhere I look is a kaleidoscope of colors. The grass is already really green as well.  It is so beautiful!  I was lucky today and got to go on a walk with my son. I had everything ready to go on a walk by myself when he offered to go with me. That was super nice of him because he ran several miles for his cross country practice after school today so I didn't think he would want to go! I was really happy to have the company because as we all know.....I have no music!  (My iPod is submerged in a bowl of rice so tomorrow we can see if the trick worked!!!) We talked and laughed and had the best time together.  He is awesome company.  I love it when we have time together. I didn't walk as far as I had hoped but did manage to go 1.5 miles. My ankle held up okay and I really think I am finally making progress. Here is a picture that I took with my son's phone.....

We stood under several flowering trees and just looked up towards the blue sky and smiled.  I hope your day is filled with beautiful spring flowers too!

The Day the Music.......Drowned

Today was "let's trim all the doggies' hair around their eyes day". Doodle doggies have a lot of hair and sometimes their hair grows down and covers their eyes.  It is important to note that if you can't see your doodle's eyes......your doodle can't see you. You are severely impeding their sense of sight when the coat hangs down too far. We try to keep our doggies' hair trimmed pretty regularly.  It is a good safety precaution as well because you really don't want your sweet doodle doggie running into things and getting hurt. It is a super important grooming maintenance job. So today was "let's trim all the doggie's hair around their eyes day".  And a little bit of "let's trim all the doodle doggie's wet stinky beard day".  I had a bucket of warm soapy water next to me and was happily working away on my sweet doodles.  I had my iPod nano clipped to me so I could be entertained with hours of music while I worked.  I love music.  I love music to shower by. I love music to cook by. I love music to walk by.  I love music to work by.  Music is the best. I love my iPod nano.  All my songs in just a square inch of space.  Miracle.  I use it all the time.  I use the pedometer on it.  I use the clock on it.  I have my playlists on it.  I love love love love it.  Well do you know what?  iPod Nanos do NOT like "let's trim the doggie's hair day".  They don't like falling in buckets of soapy water.  They don't like baths.  They don't like it at all.  I. Drowned. My. Music.  Today is the day the music.......drowned. sigh.  Despite the fact that I am a certified (albeit expired) lifeguard, excellent swimmer, lover of water....I could not save my poor ipod.  It is dead. Poor little iPod. I loved you dearly. sniff sniff.  I will miss you every day!

So that's what you look like!

Our little puppies are 2 weeks old and their eyes have just opened up. They kind of hold up their wobbly heads and look around saying, "OH so that's what you look like!".  They really can't see all that well quite yet but their vision will improve with each passing day.  They still rely heavily on their scent detection to find mommy and each other.  Most of their day is spent nursing, then cuddling, then napping and then nursing some more.  They are all growing nicely and getting cuter each day!

Our 4 Double Doodle Girls

Our 3 Double Doodle Boys

Our Apricot Labradoodle Boys

Our Chocolate Labradoodle Girls

Our Chocolate Labradoodle Boys

Look for more Watch Me Grow pictures next week!

Target "Tunnel"

I had to run to Target this evening to quickly pick up a few items for my son as he likes to grow taller overnight.  Each week I say something like, "you seem taller again" and then each week he tries to outgrow something. Target had a few men's clothing items on sale so I definitely had to go before the YOU ARE SO TALL clothes were all gone.  They never stock very many items for really tall men so whenever there is a sale, I try to get there that same day. My plan was simple.  Quick in. Quick out. My son and I were almost to the register to check out when we were ushered to the back of the store.  All the store personnel were herding shoppers to the tunnel.  I didn't know Target had a tunnel!  Our county was under a tornado warning so we were not allowed to check out and we were not allowed to leave.  We all headed back to the tunnel. We will be safe from the storm in the tunnel! My son was actually excited.  What does the tunnel look like?  Where is the tunnel?  Welllllllllllllll Target doesn't have a tunnel. It was the stockroom.  As in just a plain stockroom.  Why they called it "The Tunnel" I will never know.  We ended up back in the "tunnel" for over 30 minutes and waited until the tornado warning passed.  We finally checked out and walked outside to a light sprinkle of rain.  We took about 10 steps before the skies opened, hail fell down, thunder and lightning and torrential downpours hit us.  We made it to the car soaking wet to only find the tornado warning had expired but now we were under a severe thunderstorm warning.  No kidding!  We stayed in the "tunnel" during the NO tornado, NO rain, NO thunder, NO lightning part of the storm and then were released during the most torrential thunderstorm I have ever driven through!  The roads actually looked like rivers with currents and everything!  We made it home safe and sound and as soon as we walked in the door, I said - well at least I know what to write for my blog tonight!  And so I did.  Stay Dry!!!!

Bath Day

Today was....BATH DAY!  Yea!!!!  Our mommy doggies, Lola and Autumn, both needed baths and today was the perfect day to make that happen. We had baths full of warm soapy water waiting for them and they loved all the attention.  You know how when you go to the beauty salon and the hairdresser washes your hair, and you just never want them to stop massaging your scalp with the soapy delightful shampoo?  You almost purr with how good it feels. I love having my hair washed.  I think it feels absolutely heavenly.  I don't get that treatment very often but just thinking about it makes me smile.  Well Autumn and Lola were both smiling big time today.  They got luxurious warm bubbly baths with a nice long massage and they almost purred with gratitude. Once they were rinsed and towel dried, they went outside and took a nice sunbath to dry the rest of the way.  The sun was so warm and both doggies just laid out in the warm sunshine soaking up all the goodness.  They both really enjoyed their break in the day and have been wagging their tails nonstop....or should I say....wagging their very clean and wonderful smelling tails nonstop. The puppies think they smell good too.  They eagerly greeted their mommies and are all lined up in a row, nursing away, tails straight in the air, happy and content as can be.  Sunshine and bubble baths make everyone smile!

And the Vultures Circled

Ever since my cast came off my broken ankle, I have been diligently trying to get my ankle back into shape. At first perhaps I was too Gung-Ho with the let's pretend my ankle was never broken and go about my daily routine philosophy. It was quite obvious my ankle was NOT the same. I slowed down a bit and started a new walking routine where I walked very slowly with my ankle all laced up in my ankle brace. At the end of each walk - PAIN.  And my ankle was the size of a watermelon.  I was using my ankle brace religiously but nevertheless, the pain in my ankle was really quite uncomfortable so I stopped walking.  I have been working on rotational exercises and range of motion type exercises at home with really no improvement. What is with this ankle???  I have a pretty good pain tolerance so I can push through the pain but I wonder WHY does this ankle still hurt? It is so frustrating.  Today I thought - maybe I am not doing enough.  Maybe I need to leave the ankle brace at home, put on regular walking shoes, and just go at it.  Maybe my ankle needs MORE movement - not less. I started out on my walk thinking...wow my ankle hurts.  I got to the middle of my walk thinking....wow my ankle hurts.  Then I noticed the vultures.  At first I believed they were circling some poor dead carcass out in the field, but then I saw they were actually hovering over my head.  HEY!  Am I REALLY walking that slowly????  Do I REALLY look that close to death?  Evidently the answer is yes.  By the time I crawled back to my car, almost 30 minutes had elapsed and all I had to show for all my efforts was ONE MILE. Yes. That is it. ONE MILE.  Not even 1.15 miles or 1.23 miles. 1.0 miles exactly.  My son who ran over 3 miles in the same time span asked me how it was possible to only have walked one mile?  Well I did have to escape ravenous vultures!!! I am lucky I made it out alive!!!

Beware the Ides of March

My goodness did we have the most torrential storm roll through here last night!  After the loveliest of days we had the stormiest of nights. It just poured and poured all night long, complete with thunder and lightning that kept us all up.  At first I thought Mr. Yesteryear Acres was playing with flashlights in our room. I woke up and started to yell, "WHAT are you doing with those FLASHLIGHTS?!?" when I realized that it was in fact a violent electric lightning storm and not Mr. Yesteryear Acres.  When the morning came - everything was under water.  Local schools were closed because of all the flooding and several roads are completely under water. Many families had to be rescued from their homes by boat. I feel like we are living in some nightmarish weather pattern where we never know what to expect.  Yesterday's forecast called for a possibility of showers. I will now live in fear of a forecast that calls for torrential downpours! Or perhaps that is the day I will plan an outdoor picnic because surely if the forecast has me preparing for the worst, that will be a blissful perfect day for lounging outdoors.  Beware the Ides of March. Tonight's forecast.....isolated thunderstorms.  Translation: it will rain on top of your house for 10 hours straight, flooding everything.

Why Hello Sunshine!

I hope that wherever you are today - you were able to enjoy some of the BEAUTIFUL weather we were blessed with today!  The sun was out, the breeze was warm and spring was most definitely in the air.  I took a few moments to really appreciate the loveliness of the day and am so glad I did.  The warm sun felt SO good and I sat out on my dock for about 30 minutes just soaking in the happiness.  The fish are just starting to come up to the surface after the long winter and they are even bigger than they were this past Autumn.  It looks like they doubled in size! Maybe I don't want to swim in our pond this summer!  They look like they could eat me!!!!!  Tonight we are going to have good ole yummy hamburgers out on the grill.  I have the homemade potato buns rising in the oven and a quart of our applesauce we made in September is defrosting on the kitchen counter. Sunshine, Blue Skies, Green Grass, Happy Doggies, Nursing Puppies and Hamburger Night......Sounds like a perfect spring day to me!!!  Smile!

My Eyes! My Eyes!

I live in a world where watching a show in "real" time NEVER happens.  If I didn't have a DVR - I would never see a single episode of a single show....EVER.  We have so many interruptions and way too many things going on here to have the luxury of sitting down and watching an entire show, without being late, without pausing, or without missing anything.  Face it - if you have 10 cute puppies running around and one of the puppies has to go potty - you are RUNNING full speed out the door which will be shortly followed by running 9 more times out the door with all the other cute puppies who will instantly think, "I need to go too!" The pause button on my DVR is one of my favorite things in the entire world.  I never miss anything because with just one quick click of the pause button, my show is saved.  It is heavenly. It makes it so I never fret over missing a show.  I know it is safely recorded and waiting for me to watch it whenever I have time.  Sometimes I watch my show later that evening. I usually start watching TV around 11pm or so.  Sometimes it is later in the week or even a week or two later before I get to see my show.  Eventually though,  I get to my shows and I smile. And I am happy. And I watch them with joy. What can go wrong with this scenario? It is perfect right? AU CONTRAIRE! Let's say I am watching a RIDICULOUSLY STUPID show.  And I know it is ridiculous. And I know it has NO redeeming value whatsoever BUT I like it.  I like it and I want to watch it.  Let's say it is a ridiculously stupid reality show where someone gets voted off or someone chooses someone to marry or someone is eliminated from the race or has to pack their knives and go. Now let's say I didn't watch this show when it airs and then the next day I open my email and the header of an email says XXXX chooses XXXX and I see it even though I don't want to see it and then I run around the house screaming, "MY EYES! MY EYES!" because at that moment I KNOW what happens at the end of the show that I DID NOT SEE YET! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Is it too much to ask to HIDE the obvious end of a show inside the email????  Something like - "don't read this if you don't want to know". Or "this email will tell you who won, got voted off, got engaged, or packed their knives" so please don't read it unless you would like to know that information before you ever got the chance to watch it on TV.  It should not say "XXXX chooses XXXXX" so that I see it immediately and despite all my best efforts - it is completely emblazoned on my brain for all eternity. I know have a 3 hour show on my DVR.....and I know the ending. WAH!

Chocolate Doodles, Cream Doodles, Double Doodles, Oh my!

Awwwww our little babies are one week old!  Their little pink noses are now starting to darken in color as their pigment is beginning to come in. The puppies are all nursing like champs and their mommies are doing an awesome job taking care of them. Their eyes will be opening later this week and they will get their first peek at the world.  For now it is still all snuggles and nursing and sleeping.
Here are this week's cute puppy pictures......

Group pose

Time for my close up

Soft blankie!

Soft brother!

Our 2 little polar bear cubs

My favorite pillow

Chocolate Drops!

Shiny soft coats

Are we triplets?

Everyone Loves Chocolate!!!!

See you next week!