The Bosley Chronicles, episode 2

Such a sweet, innocent face, right? Two of the most endearing traits this dog possesses are the brown, dotty eyebrows I find completely irresistible and the "who me" face.  I mean, how could something this hilariously adorable possibly cause Shenanigans (yes, indeed, with a capital S)?

I'll tell you.

We knew he was big into shoelaces, having chewed almost through a pair of Damon's, a house guest's, and the ends of some others. We knew he likes paper as he regularly steals from the box of to-be-used-as-firestarting-material. We have caught him redhanded with slippers in his mouth. He has a special fondness for socks, some of which has been encouraged by us as we've tied together mismatched socks as a tug-of-war toy. 

Until recently, it's just possessions which have been left on the floor that we've had to safeguard. In some respects, that's just fine as it teaches the kids to pick up after themselves and not leave their lives strewn everywhere if they don't want their sparring bags and equipment gnawed to pieces. 

However, he's now tall enough to peruse the holdings upon the coffee table. This includes tax bills. And, alas, library books:

Sweet Dada found another copy on Amazon and I did the walk of shame to the library, performed my lament, replaced the book and brought the gnawed one home. Dada looked it over and said, "they didn't mark anywhere on here that it's no longer theirs?" My first thought: we hold these truths to be self-evident...

I had already done another walk of shame into the tax office where I endured a much warmer reception that I'd gotten from the librarian. In fact, there were delighted giggles when I sadly informed the ladies, "I'm 42 years old and, for the first time, can honestly claim 'my dog ate it'..." There was general merriment, inquiries as to what kind of puppy ("some dumb shepherd/hound mix"), and a story about their boss's son's Great Dane who devoured said boss's shoes and then refused to allow the delivery person access to drop off the replacements she'd bought. 

Plus, he's a grade-A Photobomber: 

Still, he is pretty cute, and he is not quite 8 months old yet, so I guess I should give him some slack. And find his Kong.

Such a pickle

This is the jar which holds the pickles that I wanted to add to my sandwich on a cold and wintry day. The first day after winter break when all of our kids were back in school. The first day of quiet and peace and no whining and no arguing and no clomping around. The first day in which I could eat a meal uninterrupted. This is the jar of pickles which is still sealed.

That's right. I had struggled to open something else- I forget what now- and had mused about, "the joy of the Lord is my strength," and "if it was a life or death situation, you'd be able to get it open," when, lo and behold, I got it. I said my thanks and did my rejoicing. Then I realized that my sandwich still needed something and wished there were pickles in the fridge. There were no pickles in the fridge. There were, however, pickles in the pantry. 

Boosted by my previous success, I tried and I pried and I found the grippy which usual doesn't let me down and I attempted to get a knife edge under the seal and... nothing.

Defeated. By a jar of pickles. 

I hope this has no bearing on how the rest of 2018 will shake loose.

Seeing as the kids are all back home today after all of one day in school yesterday for a sub-zero temperature cancellation... I'm blaming the pickles.

*Thanks to Dada, who came home and opened my pickles and saved my bacon.* 

Nothing to see here...

I don't know what would make you think Dada got Sunday morning donuts...

Last taste of freedom... Oops, I mean summer

We went to church on Sunday and snuck a round of mini golfing in as our last day of summer activity. Dada won, naturally, as the rest of us hit plenty of screwy balls that teeter around the rim of the cup and spin off to another side. Of course, then the kids are clamoring about "being bad" just one more time before school starts, and who are we to turn down ice cream? So this happened. Yes, it was dinner. Don't judge. It was delicious and they ate every bite. When else does THAT happen?