Valentines Day and Emergency Contacts

Let’s imagine for a moment.

A fun Valentines Day morning, I woke up early to go to the store for some berries to complete our “heart-healthy” Valentines breakfast. While I was out I picked up a small bunch of wildflowers for the table. When I got home I made breakfast. Whole-wheat French toast made with 2 eggs whites, 1 egg, skim milk and agave nectar.

For Valentines I had attempted to give Dear Hubby a valentine everyday for 14 days leading up to V-Day. I didn’t quite make it but here is a run down of what I did:

“I am nutz 4 U” on a can of almonds
“I ‘chews’ U” with a package of gum
“U R my sweetie-pie” on a small pie
“I have a ‘crush’ on you” attached to a bottle of Crush soda

Then I had to go to Colorado for my Sister-in-Laws baby shower and that messed up the flow but when I got home I resumed with:

“U R so HOT” with a bottle of hot sauce
“U make my heart glow” with glow sticks
I made little paper fortune cookies that said “I am ‘fortune-ate’ to have you”
“You Rock” I wanted pop-rocks for this one but they are so hard to find, instead I found a rock in a gift shop.
“I love you a latte” with a new coffee cup
When I was in Colorado I had picked up a book 1000 Places to See before You Die, I gave that to him with a handwritten note.

On V-Day, I gave the Rapscallion a card, a small box of chocolates and a little bear that said “Happy Valentines Day” for Dear Hubby I gave him a card, a box of chocolates (that said “you are too sweet too me!”) and a Hayes manual for our truck with a note that said “You drive me wild!” It was a great day, we went on a bike ride, and we had Chinese take-out for dinner and watched TV in the evening with the Rapscallion before bed.

Last night was the evening for Dear Hubby and I to celebrate together, we went to a little Italian place that we love. We had Cioppinni, which is an Italian seafood stew and crème brulee for dessert. I was a wonderful quiet evening, just what we needed.

When we got home, we were laughing and talking and when we walked in the door we discovered that Puppy Butt had eaten the remaining 4 chocolates that were in the Rapscallions box. I freaked out, I have always heard that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, I immediately “google” MY DOG ATE CHOCOLATE.

Turns out she is fine, but it dampened the evening. So for you my friends, here are some numbers you should keep handy in case of an emergency with your furry little babies:

ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center 1.888.426.4435

National Animal Poison Control Center 1.800.548.2423

if you need to speak to a veterinarian there, this service will be billed to a credit card. An alternate number is (900) 680-0000. A veterinarian's services on this line will cost a flat fee for the first five minutes, and an additional fee per minute for each additional minute. These charges will be billed to your phone bill. (Call them for current pricing)

Kansas State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital 1.785.532.5679

FREE 24 hours poison control hot line for pet owners and veterinarians. Be patient. The person answering the phone may have to take a few minutes to consult the vet on duty.

Hope you all had a wonderful V-Day!

The Things My Cat has Seen

So I have been told by my Dad that I need to share the story of Cat Butt spending the night outside earlier this week.

The weather here in Vegas has been weird, it is getting colder but not nearly as cold as normal for November. We have been keeping the windows open, I like the cooler weather at night and I love having my windows open. I dream of living someplace where I can keep my windows open most of the year, it just makes the house feel less stuffy.

During the day I had been opening up the window in the kitchen, it doesn’t have a screen so I had been making sure it was closed at night. Then last weekend I had a sinus infection and Dear Hubby was mainly running the house for 2 days, while I remained in bed trying to figure out if a “sinusectomy” was even a real medical procedure I could consider. I mean why keep your sinuses, if all they do is: breed new strains of bacteria, ratchet up mucus production and feel like they are about to burst forth from my forehead and engage in a rampage, I assume would be similar to Godzilla verses Mothra wherein they destroy the Las Vegas Strip with all the mutant bacteria that has grown inside them.

So not blaming anyone but the window in the kitchen didn’t get closed one night. Puppy Butt thinks it is her duty to chase Cat Butt out of the kitchen and back over the baby gate that divides the house into 2 sections. One section where Puppy Butt is allowed and one where Cat Butt can go to escape. I basically have a turf war between the cat and dog in my house (god forbid you are wearing the wrong colors in the laundry room) we had to put the baby gate up because Puppy Butt feels that the cats litter box is a great place to sneak a little treat and then lick your face, also she feels like The Rapscallions room is not technically part of the house so she must be allowed to poop in there.

I guess Puppy Butt chased Cat Butt and instead of retreating to the safety of the extra bedroom where she can lay in a laundry basket containing blankets, Cat Butt decided to jump out the open kitchen window. I was in a NyQuil induced slumber and didn’t hear anything and Dear Hubby, well he could sleep through a marching band walking through the bedroom.

In the morning, Dear Hubby got up for work and heard a pissed off cat yowling in the backyard. As he was brushing his teeth, the thought occurred to him that the pissed off cat sounded an awfully lot like Cat Butt so he went to the back door and checked. Sure enough she was sitting on the back steps and glaring at him. She ran into the house meowing and expressing her displeasure with being left outside. Apparently a night out makes a cat hungry, so she ran straight for her food bowl and began eating in haste, while continuing to glare at Dear Hubby and meow between mouthfuls. She then decided it was time to wake me up to discuss how upset she was, she jumped onto my head and meowed in my face repeatedly.

Cat Butt was filthy, her paws were covered in black, I am not sure if she ran the streets for a little while after she realized she couldn’t get back into the house. I can only imagine she ran into the neighborhood tomcat Haggard Cat.

Haggard Cat sleeps under cars and I suspect him of being the one who broke into my jeep and ate a 6 inch Subway sandwich that I accidentally left in the truck one night. Apparently street cats enjoy a Spicy Italian BMT when they can get one. Cat Butt and Haggard Cat have seen each other through the window, he gets up from under a car in the morning looking like he had a rough night of drinking and Cat Butt sits on the back on the couch looking out the window at him and acting like she has it hard because “I had to sleep with the humans, I don’t understand why they sleep in my bed” I can only imagine that if Cat Butt ran into Haggard Cat he was completely sympathetic “where are your humans now?”

So after I calmed her down and she went to sleep on my pillow, I tried to discuss the tensions in the house with Puppy Butt. I figure if Ronald Regan could get Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, I could broker peace between the cat and the dog. It has been a tense peace, Puppy Butt hasn’t chased Cat Butt over the baby gate but then Cat Butt has been strangely cocky since spending the night outside, like we should respect her because she is almost a street cat now and we can’t even imagine the things she has seen.

For Sale

For Sale Cheap! O.B.O.

One annoying Cat Butt and

One gassy Puppy Butt.

For the right price might throw

in a mouthy 8 year old.

Call tired, annoyed

Mom with all offers.

Puppy Butt had gas last night, she got into the trash and ate some broccoli (just a couple of pieces, don't go calling ASPCA on me) had a tummy ache all night. Cat Butt has decided sleeping ON MY HEAD is a great idea, but she has to come in and out of the room all night not to mention that she has to announce herself every time she comes into the room.

I guess these guys are lucky I love them.

Meet Puppy Butt!

This is Penelopi "Penni" our new little fur-baby. She is a 1/2 corgi 1/2 deer head chihuahua. We adopted her from a shelter on Sunday, we are still learning about her personality so I imagine I will have alot more to share about her in the coming weeks.

Cat Butt is less than thrilled about this new addition to our family. but she will live. Cat Butt has been around dogs before (when I was an unfit cat mother and she had to go live my parents) and Penni, from here on known as Puppy Butt, has no interest in Cat Butt.